al-Ghara ala al-Alam al-Islami
- Author died
- 1348 AH
- Editions
- Manshurat al-Asr al-Hadith
al-Ghara ala al-Alam al-Islami (The Raid on the Muslim World) is an Arabic adaptation of a work by the French orientalist Alfred Le Chatelier (d. 1348 AH / 1929 CE), summarizing the strategies, conferences, and scope of Western Protestant missionary movements targeting Muslim societies .
Origin and Publication
The material originally appeared in the French orientalist journal Revue du monde musulman under the title La Conquête du monde musulman: les missions évangéliques anglo-saxonnes et germaniques (1911–1912) . While working as editors at the Egyptian newspaper al-Mu'ayyad, Musa'id al-Yafi and Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib translated and abridged Le Chatelier's study, serializing it in al-Mu'ayyad in 1330 AH (1912 CE) .
The translated articles were later republished in the Egyptian periodical al-Fath in 1349 AH (1930 CE) before being compiled and published as a standalone book by al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya in Cairo in 1350 AH (1931 CE) . It was subsequently reprinted in several editions, including by al-Dar al-Sa'udiyya li-l-Nashr in Jeddah .
Scope and Contents
The work outlines the history, structure, and logistical organization of Anglo-Saxon and German Protestant missionary societies following the Crusades . It summarizes the proceedings and resolutions of various missionary conferences and draws upon reports compiled by missionary leaders and committees .
The book surveys missionary activities across regions extending from Afghanistan in the east to the Maghreb in the west, and from Southern Africa to Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, India, Malaya, China, Java, and Sumatra . It details the methods employed by these organizations, including missionary schools, medical missions, evangelical publications, and the mobilization of women in proselytization, while highlighting the obstacles posed by Muslim educational institutions and youth .
Reception and Significance
The initial serialization in al-Mu'ayyad provoked controversy in the contemporary Arabic press. Some critics objected to publishing translated missionary accounts in Muslim newspapers without direct refutations, while others viewed the publication as necessary to alert Muslim readers to the expansion of foreign schools and missionary agendas . The Beirut-based newspaper al-Ittihad al-Uthmani and Muhammad Rashid Rida's journal al-Manar also reprinted the texts under the same title .
Later Muslim scholars evaluated the work as an early effort to alert the Muslim public to the dangers of proselytization, while noting that as an Arabic abridgment of a French summary of English materials, it presented missionary perspectives from within their own reports rather than analyzing the broader religious and political consequences .
Answer updated