A Present to Kings — Page 7
( 7 ). Indeed so high was the respect that Islam commanded, that even in the last days of its glory, Hindu chiefs did willing-ly give their daughters in marriage to Muslim rulers, although as a matter of fact, the orthodox Hindu creed far from approving of such union does not permit a Hindu even to touch a Mus™ salman. At the present time religion has not the same hold upon people as was the case during the Mogul rule, and the. Hindu chiefs have now less of power than what they enjoyed in those days-because then they were all but independent and exercised powers far in excess of those enjoyed by the present day Rajas. Still there will now be found no Hindu Raja who professing his own faith will consent to give his daughter in marriage to a European. The fact that the Rajas willingly gave their daughters in marriage to the Mogul kings is therefore a clear evidence of the singular nature of the influence wielded by the Mussalmans and the unique attraction exercised by them. The life of Akbar is an illustration in point. . In contrast to this what is the condition of Islam to-day?. Country after country is passing out of the hands of the Mussalmans. Nay, rather, they have already lost them all and one by one all the kingdoms have been snatched away from them. . It is true, kingdoms and natious do, in the nature of things, come to an end and no one familiar with history finds any reason for surprise in their ruin. For just as the individual is subject to death, so also the life of kingdoms and nations can not help being affected by the passage of time. The nation, that to-day holds the rule, does tomorrow lead a life of dishonour and dependency. Thus, it is a sign of ignorance to grieve over the fall of any nation. But the case becomes peculiarly significant when we find a number of kingdoms belonging to different peoples and situated in different parts of the world, but all professing one common faith, following one another in ruin in such quick succession. It is possible that the different dependencies of one empire may descend the steps of decline at one and the same time, because it often happens that there is a similarity in the condition of the different parts of one empire. But when kingdoms situated so wide apart as Algeria,. Morocco, Tripoly, Egypt, India, Persia, Afghanistan, Turkistan,