How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.
The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.
Winston Churchill, 1899: The River War
Since The River War was mentioned, I’ll take the opportunity to strongly recommend reading Churchill’s war correspondent accounts of wars with Muslims. They both should have been immediate post-9/11 required reading for all officers and NCOs in the armed forces, all Foreign Service involved with the Middle East, and all intelligence agency leadership.
They’re both quick reads, as they originated as serial dispatches from the front. Free at Project Gutenberg, read them on your tablet, phone, or computer. Or go dead trees and print them out, heck, I’m OK with that!
The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War
by Winston Churchill
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9404
The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan
by Winston Churchill
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4943
From what I understand these days, any one in the UK who posted Churchill’s words would now be in jail.
First edition only, it was expunged from later editions when he went into politics...
Admiring or quoting Churchill nowadays gets you branded as a racist, misogynist bigot.
If he were alive today, his tweets would be epic bon mots.
Churchill’s words were censored out of later editions.
It was in the first, two book edition published in 1899, but went missing in the one book later edition in 1902.
It may have been mere abridgement, or it could have been early political correctness.