n the Koran are
incapable of change; they must co-exist with the faith itself, and last
while it lasts. So long, then, as this polity prevails the depression of
woman, as well as her exclusion from the social circle, must injure the
health and vitality of the body politic, impair its purity and grace,
paralyze vigor, retard progress in the direction of freedom,
philanthropy, and moral elevation, and generally perpetuate the normal
state of Mohammedan peoples, as one of semi-barbarism.

To recapitulate, we have seen:

[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]
_First._ That Islam was propagated mainly by the sword. With the tide of
conquest the religion went forward; where conquest was arrested made no
advance beyond; and at the withdrawal of the Moslem arms the faith also
commonly retired.

_Second._ The inducements, whether material or spiritual, to embrace
Islam have proved insufficient of themselves (speaking broadly) to
spread the faith, in the absence of the sword, and without the influence
of the political or secular arm.

_Third._ The ordinances of Islam, those especially having respect to the
female sex, have induced an inherent weakness, which depresses the
social system and retards its progress.

[Sidenote: Contrast with Christianity.]
If the reader should have followed me in the argument by which these
conclusions have been reached the contrast with the Christian faith has
no doubt been suggesting itself at each successive step.

[Sidenote: Christianity not propagated by force.]
Christianity, as Al Kindy has so forcibly put it, gained a firm footing
in the world without the sword, and without any aid whatever from the
secular arm. So far from having the countenance of the State it
triumphed in spite of opposition, persecution, and discouragement. "My
kingdom," said Jesus, "is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this
world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to
the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.... For this end came I
into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that
is of the truth, heareth my voice."[78]

[Sidenote: Nor by worldly inducements.]
The religion itself, in its early days, offered no worldly attractions
or indulgences. It was not, like Islam, an "easy way." Whether in
withdrawal from social observances deeply tainted with idolatry, the
refusal to participate in sacrificial ceremonies insisted on by the
rulers, or in the renunciation of in