Chinese Mohammedan Seeks Converts; Finds Difficulty Among Lama Adherents By Tmerw Tachienlu, Jan. 30, effort to establish itself on the Tibeten frontier, it is seen by he fact that maintained their 1929 level: Prof, Chang, of Loyang, Honan, gathered the population of Tachienlu in the public recreation ground hear his oration on the origin, deve- among the men and the women. Mr. lopment and progress of the faith. Elis, who won the masters' individual Prof, Chang has spent eight years and master in Cairo, has visited Islamic authority on the subject that has bern on the border, He is still a young man, with boundless energy, a wide knowledge of Arabic, Moslem literature and a keen desire to see the spread of Mohammedanism along the frontier and among the Tibetans. H^ has also a knowledge of English and has travelled extensively in India, Right or wrong he placed some extraordinary facts before his audience, He stated that there are 400 million Mohammedans in the world, one fourth of the world's population, and of that number there are 50 million Moslems in China. Tachienlu, he stated, was very backward as a Moslem district, there being only one mosque in the city with only 100 followers of Mohammed, He mentioned that quite recently he had been in Sichang where there were 30 mosques and 8,000 Mohammedans. Something, he argued, must be done in Tachienli to build up the Islamic faith, No Use for Caste He went on to tell his audience that Islamism as a religion, more than any other system, had no use for caste. Believers were all one he said in the religion of Mohammed, Other systems had their classes and their castes and these were not good; but not Islamism, The religion of Mohammed, he maintained, was not opposed to other religions and followed closely the principle of "live and let live" Mohammedanism he said was prepared to unite with other systems in works of charity and time of national disaster, Followers of Mohammed, he stated, were doing their bit in the present time of national crisis and he urged believers in Tachienlu to unite more and more in the defence and salvation of the country. Local Mohammedans were urged to give not only their bodies but their wealth to help the nation in the present national crisis, He maintained that the followers of Mohammed were loyal subjects and adhered closely to the Three Principles as laid down by Dr. Sun, A Mohammedan, he said, could not be a secret believer. Wherever he lived the neighbours knew immediately that a Mohammedan was in their midst. Followers of Christ could live a long time in a place and no one knew they were Christians; but not so a follower of Mohammed, In this way he maintained Islamism always attracted attention.
Mohammedanism as a religion was for world peace; moreover it was a system that appealed to reason, And one of its great characteristics was obedience, God, he said, had given Mohammedans five commands: (1) reading the Scriptures (2) fasting, (3) maintaining right behaviour, (4) attention to lessons and, (5) prayer, Spirit of Unity Wanted Prof, Chang advised Mohammedans among his hearers to do all they could to keep down lawlessness and endeavour to maintain peace and order in the community. He then asked for the spirit of unity among all religions: Confucianism, Bud-diiism, Christianity and Mohammedanism; only thus he believed could there be a lasting world peace, Prof Chang called on the writer and showed a keen interest in Christian mission work among the Tibetans, He appreciated its many difficulties specially the one which the Catholic Missions on the frontier have sought to overcome, namely, the placing of Tibetan Christians on the land, The Catholic church has 7,000 followers on the border, most of whom are working Catholic land, Prof, Chang will meet a serious problem among the Mohammedans along the border, Throughout Minya, west of Tachienlu, there are numerous followers of the Prophet living on Tibetan land; but they carry their rosary, circumambulate the mani mounds, and repeat Om-mani-pad-hum. And when their child falls sick they invite the lamas in to pray. But they wont eat pork, Lamaism, however, has one strong objection to Islamism, namely, the killing of cattle, and so as a faith Mohammedanism is not accepted in the Land of the Lamas, The Tibetan word for Mohammedan is Kache, or big mouth, and is also used for the "natives of Kashmir, Wuchow Census to
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