'The Penetration of Arabia a record of the development of Western knowledge concerning the Arabian Peninsula with illustrations from drawings, photographs, and maps by J. G. Bartholomew.' [‎71] (118/496)

PILGRIMS IN HIJAZ 71
and British invasions of the Moslem lands of the
eastern Mediterranean, to found an ascetic organ
isation, sworn to check Christian encroachment and
restore Moslem supremacy. More than fifty years
earlier still Niebuhr had seen a little cloud no big
ger than a man's hand rising in Arabia, — sign of
appeal from Mahomet of Mecca to Mahomet of
Medina, evoked by the spectacle of the Christian
advance in India and the increasing Christian inter
ference with Moslem shipping in eastern seas and
with Moslem potentates in the Persian and Ottoman
empires.
For nothing does Niebuhr deserve greater credit
than his chapter on " The New Religion of a Part
of Nejed." It may be remarked that he was always
singularly happy in his notes on the essential features
of Arabian religion. He had grasped the purer prin
ciples which underlie the surface of Islam. He knew,
for instance, that its system is not naturally aggres
sive; "Mussulmans," he said, "in general do not
persecute men of other religions when they have
nothing to fear;" and further, he knew that the
Prophet preached a far simpler faith than his modern
disciples profess, and that its superstitious elements,
for instance, its saint worship, are not from the
Founder. Abdul Wahab, therefore (as Niebuhr called
the new Prophet), who taught that " God is the only
proper object of worship, . . . and forbade the invoca
tion of saints and the very mentioning of Mahomet
or any other Prophet in prayer as practices savour-