PERFECT RELIGION 57
new and different principle of action can be offered to man, one that inspires him and challenges him to better effort, it is difficult to see how its followers can avoid being left far behind in the march of time.
The efforts being made today in certain Moslem countries, such as Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, to make progress along the lines of Western civilization have come about largely because their leaders have abandoned the fatalistic view of life as found in Islam, and have struck out on new paths. In Turkey, national progress is undoubtedly the guiding ideal and motive for the leadership of President Kamal Ataturk. Islam as a religion appears to be of interest to the present regime at Angora only in so far as it furthers the purposes of nationalism. After all that has happened in Russia, and even in Turkey itself, it is not impossible to imagine that the Turkish rulers might even yet bow Islam completely off the stage should it appear to stand in the way of national development.
THE SECTS OF ISLAM
The simple faith and practice as originally transmitted to the Moslem people by the Prophet Mohammed in the form of Islam, "the perfect religion," later lost its unity and simplicity with the development of different sects. If sectarianism is a hindrance and a weakness to Christianity, it is equally so for Islam. The Prophet is credited with having said that his people would be ultimately divided into seventythree
