View source for How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! - The River War, first edition, Vol. II by Winston Churchill

{{Book quote
|quote title=How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
|book=The River War, first edition, Vol. II
|author=Winston Churchill
|isbn=0486447855
|pages=pages 248 50
|publisher=London: Longmans, Green & Co.
|date=1899
|wmdsays=
|online source=The Churchill Centre
|link=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/component/content/article/33-datelines/622-datelines-fh-113
|extract="'''''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. Thousands become
the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; 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 civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the
civilisation of ancient Rome."}}
<noinclude>[[Category:Book Quotes]][[Category:Churchill on Islam]]</noinclude>