Islam Rediscovered
24. A Case of Discovery*
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day, who have expressed their sympathy and
admiration for the faith of Islam.
Not long ago, we all read of a distinguished English
nobleman (Lord Stanley of Alderley) who is
reputed to have declared before his death that he
had all his life been a Muslim! I can assure you, that
there are hundreds and thousands all over Europe
and America, who would do exactly the same, if
they had the requisite moral courage to brave the
social and other disadvantages attending on such a
step. It was not less a man and a savant than Ernst
Renan who has said the following in his famous
lecture on
“L’ Islamisme and la science”
(p.19):
- “Je ne
suis jamais entré dans une mosquée sans une vive
emotion, le dirai-je? sans un certain regret de n’être pas
un Mussulman!”
that is to say, “I have never been
inside a mosque without feeling a strong emotion,
shall I confess it? Without a certain amount of regret
that I am not a Muslim”! When a great scholar and
great sceptic like Ernst Renan could make a
declaration like that, what of humbler persons and
individuals—what about the ordinary unlettered
people of the world? Since it is well-known that
Islam, owing to its simplicity, intelligibility and
