PREFACE

MOHAMMED was, without doubt, one of
the greatest religious leaders that the
world has ever seen. He was a genius
and a poet, a reformer and a great warrior. But
Mohammed could never have said, '^Suffer little
children to come unto me and forbid them not,
for of such is the kingdom of Heaven." His book,
his life, his ideals, are not those of Him who
placed a little child in the midst and gave the
world of childhood an eternal inheritance of
blessedness by His own Incarnation.

The present wide and increasing interest in
child welfare is due to Christianity, and makes
the presentation of the facts here given in regard
to Moslem childhood, timely. "When the whole
world has become one neighbourhood, no individ¬
ual or race can live to itself.

This is not a book for children, but about chil¬
dren. It could not be a book for them if it dealt
faithfully and fearlessly with the real conditions
as observed by eye-witnesses in many lands.
Every paragraph could have been corroborated
by references to authorities and the use of foot¬
notes ; but these have been omitted in order not to

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