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East is East and West is West, And never the twain shall meet.
To me, with regard to the Moslim world, these words seem almost a blasphemy. The experience acquired by adapting myself to the peculiarities of Mohammedans, and by daily conversation with them for about twenty years, has impressed me with the firm conviction that between Islam and the modern world an understanding _is_ to be attained, and that no period has offered a better chance of furthering it than the time in which we are living. To Kipling's poetical despair I think we have a right to prefer the words of a broad-minded modern Hindu writer: "The pity is that men, led astray by advent.i.tious differences, miss the essential resemblances[1]."
[Footnote 1: S.M. Mitra, _Anglo-Indian Studies_, London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1913, P. 232.]
It would be a great satisfaction to me if my lectures might cause some of my hearers to consider the problem of Islam as one of the most important of our time, and its solution worthy of their interest and of a claim on their exertion.
