k place about the year
1870, both in Yunnan and in Eastern Turkestan. As usual, these
fanaticized Moslems displayed fierce fighting power. The Turkestan
rebels found an able leader, one Yakub Beg, and for some years both
Turkestan and Yunnan were virtually independent. To many European
observers at that time it looked as though the rebels might join hands,
erect a permanent Mohammedan state in western China, and even overrun
the whole empire. The fame of Yakub Beg spread through the Moslem world,
the Sultan of Turkey honouring him with the high title of Commander of
the Faithful. After years of bitter fighting, accompanied by frightful
massacres, the Chinese Government subdued the rebels. The Chinese
Moslems, greatly reduced in numbers, have not yet recovered their former
strength; but their spirit is still unbroken, and to-day they number
fully 10,000,000. Thus, Chinese Islam, despite its setbacks, is a factor
to be reckoned with in the future.[40]

The above instances do not exhaust the list of Islam's activities during
the past century. In India, for example, Islam has continued to gain
ground rapidly, while in the Dutch Indies it is the same story.[41]
European domination actually favours rather than retards the spread of
Islam, for the Moslem finds in Western improvements, like the railroad,
the post-office, and the printing-press, useful adjuncts to Islamic
propaganda.

Let us now consider the second originating centre of modern
Pan-Islamism--the movement especially associated with the personality of
Djemal-ed-Din.

Seyid Djemal-ed-Din el-Afghani was born early in the nineteenth century
at Asadabad, near Hamadan, in Persia, albeit, as his name shows, he was
of Afghan rather than Iranian descent, while his title "Seyid," meaning
descendant of the Prophet, implies a strain of Arab blood. Endowed with
a keen intelligence, great personal magnetism, and abounding vigour,
Djemal-ed-Din had a stormy and chequered career. He was a great
traveller, knowing intimately not only most of the Moslem world but
western Europe as well. From these travels, supplemented by wide
reading, he gained a notable fund of information which he employed
effectively in his manifold activities. A born propagandist,
Djemal-ed-Din attracted wide attention, and wherever he went in Islam
his strong personality started an intellectual ferment. Unlike El
Sennussi, he concerned himself very little with theology, devoting
himself to politics. Djema