Back to the Future

[PeteC]

No, I did not discover this passage, nor did I research it for accuracy. However, it is extremely interesting. Pete
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"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its
votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a
man as hydrophobia
in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects
are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems
of agriculture,
sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist
wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded
sensualism deprives this
life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and
sanctity.

The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some
man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a
concubine, must delay the
final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased
to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid
qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social
development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force
exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a
militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout
Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it
not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the
science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of a
modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

-Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II,
pages248-50
(London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).

[Norseman]

That was Sir Winston's second book. Written after the battle of Omdurman in 1900. The british won that battle against the muslims and this was his first meeting with the muslims.
His second meeting was in the dreadful Gallipoli Campaign where the british took a heavy loss of 120.000 casualties and lost the battle.
He mistrusted the muslims for the rest of his life.