[24]. Midhat Effendi himself took me over this particular mosque during one of my visits to Constantinople.
“As a matter of fact, it is wonderful to me how little differentiates the Moslem faith from the tenets of Christianity. It is true we do not accept the Trinity, but neither was it accepted as a dogma by the Evangelists; indeed, it is never once mentioned in the Old or New Testament. Also, at the Council of Nicæa (A.D. 325) only two hundred priests, backed by Constantine the Great, accepted this doctrine, but two thousand two hundred priests refused to subscribe to it.
“We Mohammedans accept Jesus as the Son of God. We also believe in the Holy Virgin. Indeed, in more than one respect the Mohammedans deviate little in their faith from the old Arian Christians of the period of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 400 A.D. It is only within living memory that in self-defence Mohammedans have entered into a polemical contest with the Christian world. Even the notorious Lebanon troubles had little or nothing to do with religion and intolerance as such. They were almost entirely political in origin and character.”
In a conversation which I had in November 1904 with Ahmed Midhat, he gave me the following explanation with regard to the creed of Islam:
“Je crois à un seul Dieu et ses anges et ses livres sacrés et ses Prophètes, et que le Bonheur et le Malheur viennent de lui. Jésus est parmi eux et qu’au dernier jour il sera là comme intercède auprès de Dieu. Nous ne demandons rien de Mahomet. Nous ne nous prosternons pas devant lui; il n’est pas notre idole. Il a besoin de nous. Nous prions Dieu pour son salut dans l’autre monde. Il est notre précepteur, notre Socrate. Pour devenir Mussulman il y a deux phrases qu’il faut citer et croire:
“(1) La ilahe illa Allah: Il n’y a Dieu que Dieu—Allah. Il n’est digne d’être adoré que Dieu.
“(2) Mohammadune ressoul Allah: Mahomet est son prophète.”
Thus far Ahmed Midhat, who at least was[[25]] sincere, living as he preached, according to the laws of Mohammed. He was one of the living forces of the Islamic world, whose name was known and honoured throughout Asiatic Turkey, as I had opportunity to convince myself in the fastnesses of Kurdistan, and have already related.
[25]. Since this was first drafted I have been obliged to alter it into the past tense. For a letter I recently addressed to my friend comes back to me through the British Post Office at Constantinople, with the word “deceased” stamped upon it. When and how Ahmed Midhat passed away I know not; but were he alive I feel sure that the misfortunes of his beloved country would soon have broken his big but childlike heart.