First in a Series
,
Islamic Faith Playing Important
Behind African Nationalism
Fditor'f note: Following li the
first of two dispatches by Louis
Cassels, VPi religion editor, about
me unpununt roie oi tn islamic
laiin in Airica.
By LOUIS CASSELS .
UPI Correspondent
From the long view of his
tory, the key figure in Afri
ca's turbulent political equa-
- th?sl tion mav be
neither Nasser
nor- Lumum-
3 ba, nor even
XT:i.:t . vi
shchev, but a
camel driver
named Mo
hammed who
lived in the
city of Mecca
casseis nearly 1.400
years ago.
Mohammed founded the re
ligion of Islam. For centuries,
Western Christians have r&
garded this religion as mori
bund., But in recent years it
has undergone a dramatic
renaissance. It is now on the
march all over Africa. And it
has become one of the most
dynamic elements in the ex
plosive mixture of anti-Western,
anti-white emotions
which is the driving force be
hind African nationalism.
Westerners Know Little
Despite its growing impor
tance as a factor in the Afri
can crisis, the average west
erner knows little about the
Islamic faith. He may, for ex
ample, refer to its adherents
as "Mohammedans," which
they intensely resent. The
correct name is "Moslems."
There is also a widespread
tendency to think of Islam as
an Arab religion. It is true
that nearly all Arabs are Mos
lems. But not all Moslems are
Arabs by any means. Islam
has always been strong in
such non-Arab nations as Tur
key, Iran, Pakistan and In
dia. In recent years, it has
spread rapidly into "Black
Africa" south of the Sahara
In many of the new African
states, where Christian mis
sionaries have been at work
for more than a century, Is
lam is now winning four or
five new converts for every
one attracted to Christianity.
Gam in United States
Islam has even begun send
ing missionaries to the United
States. And they are winning
some converts, particularly
among American Negroes.
There are now about 80,000
Moslems in the United States,
and mosques can be found in
11 American cities, including
Washington, New York, Chi
cago, Philadelphia, Detroit
and Sacramento, Calif.
Woldwide, Islam has about
400 million adherents or
roughly half as many as Chris
tianity. Although Buddhism
is technically the world's sec
ond largest religion with
about 500 million nominal
followers in Asia - it has not
experienced a r e s u r gence
comparable to that which has
taken place in Islam, and it
has none of Islam's fierce mis
sionary zeal. Islam today
stands alone as a real chal
lenger to Christianity - par
ticularly in Africa.
Islam has at least two tre
mendous advantages in Afri
ca. .
'White Man's Export'
Africans are inclined to
look upon Christianity as a
"white man's export." They
associate it with colonial rule
which they are so violently
rejecting. And they connect
it with the racial discrimina
tion that takes place in some
Christian nations.'
Islam, on the other hand,
can present itself as a faith
"native" to Africa - and one
which has never had any color
line. Racial equality has al
ways been a major emphasis
of Islam. As virtually every
African knows, one of Mo
hammed's four wives was a
Negro.
The emotional appeal which
Islam has for Negroes smart
ing under the stigma of seg
regation has been reflected
in the United States by the
growth of the so-called "Black
Muslim" sect. This sect is not
truly Moslem in its religious
doctrines. Its main teaching
is an implacable hatred of all
white men. But its adherents
take Arab names, wear fezzcs
and otherwise identify them
selves with Moslem customs.
Some of the American Ne
groes who participated in last
week's pro-Lumumba demon
tration at the United Nations
described themselves as Mos
lems. Islam Demands Less
Islam's, second great advan
tage in Africa is that it makes
lighter demands on its con
verts than Christianity does.
For example, an African who
becomes a Christian must also
become a monogamist. But if
he becomes a Moslem, he can
have four wives. This is no
small consideration in Afri
can countries where polygamy
is widely practiced.
Islam has also been willing
to let its African converts
continue to practice many of
the rituals of their old tribal
religions, including black mag-
Medford
Tribune
SECTION B MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1961 PAGES 1 to 8
-It' X x -x&?ri
fzi ffer W
"TIRED OF RAIN Even Gus, a 4-months-old
lion from the Portland zoo, is getting
tired of the rain in Portland. He enjoys car
rides but rainy weather obstructs his view
of the city. It has rained 11.17 inches in
Portland since Jan. 1. (UPI Telephoto)
B70 Test Pilot Needs To
Be Enqineer and Flier
Los Angeles (UPB A new
type of test pilot is emerging
from the world of the wild
blue yonder.
He's mature and well edu
cated, a flier turned engineer.
Like his predecessor, he loves
to fly, but his compelling in
terest is in solving difficult
aeronautical problems. There
are only a few of his breed.
One of them is Alvin S.
White, engineering and test
pilot for North American Avi
ation, Inc. A pilot since 1941
and an engineer since 1947, he
looks like many another 41-year-old
businessman.
Sometime late in 1962, how
ever, Al White will shed his
coat of conformity and will be
thrust into the limelight as
pilot of the B70, an intercon
tinental super bomber being
rfoeinnprf to conquer- tne so-
called thermal barrier and
cruise 70.000 feet high at 2,000
milps an hour.
Other pilots, flying rocket
powered experimental planes,
will have encountered the
heat barrier for brief moments
prior to the first flights of the
B70. But the big bomber will
be the first airplane capable
of continuous flight at triple
sonic speeds where friction
heats a plane's skin to more
than 600 degrees Fahrenheit,
enough to melt today's alumi
num aircraft.
White must knbw more
about the B70 than any test
nilot ever has known about
his plane on a first flight.
To give him the information
he needs. North American de-
sieners and engineers are log
ging thousands of hours of
"eround flieht" in a variety of
wavs-in computers, wind tun
nels, environmental test cells
One of the most extensively
used is North American's com
puter center where the revolu
tionary bomber is being test
"flown a section at a time, as
a whole plane and even in
groups of up to 150 aircraft.
The number of mathemati
cal calculations required to
design and perfect any new
airplane of major size is stag
gering. Before the B70 s first
flight more than 13,000 hours
of calculations will have been
made on an IBM 7090 com
puter. This computation job
would take 13,000 engineers
with desk calculators more
than 900 years to complete.
The B70s wings and fuse
lage surfaces will be made
of heat resistant stainless steel
in honeycomb sandwich con
struction. And its six jet en
gines, located in the tail near
the center line of the aircraft,
will provide three times as
much power as the fastest
flying bomber today.
Although White believes to
day's test pilot should be an
engineer, he also is convinced
there still is a measure of
"seat of the pants" flying in
testing supersonic planes.
"A human pilot who under
stands his aircraft can do
something that gauges and
meters cannot," he said. "He
can anticipate. His sixth sense
gives him the extra second he
may need.
The B70 will be able to
reach any military target on
earth in a matter of a few
hours. During a recent con
gressional study of the B70
program it was pointed out:
"Should an invasion fleet
set out from China toward
Formosa, some 100 miles from
the Chinese mainland, travel
ing at a speed of 10 knots,
and should word reach the
U.S. military headquarters
one hour alter the invasion
fleet had departed, B70's
scrambled from San Francisco
could reach this fleet (about
6,000 miles distant) before it
arrived at the halfway point
on its journey to Formosa."
ic, which Christian mission
aries cannot condone. In fact
the available evidence indi
cates that no great effort is
being made to get newly-converted
Negro Moslems to ob
serve the detailed precepts of
Islamic faith, as they are prac
ticed in ancient Islamic coun
tries like Egypt or Iran. They
are simply being asked to con
s i d e r themselves Moslems,
and to embrace the one-lino
Islamic creed: "There is no
god but Allah, and Moham
med is his prophet."
i ; J'
t V c
SUBSONIC AIRLINER This is a model for transatlantic fares to S31. Named the
a proposed 300-seat all-wing subsonic air- HPU7, the craft has a luminar-flow wing,
liner which could according to its design
ers, Hadley-Page Ltd. of Britain reduce (UPI Telephoto)
.- .. ;i j-rj j
"Do People Listen
When Yob Talk?"
A New York Psychoanalyst lists the reasons why
the answer to this question is sometimes "Nol"
FEBRUARY 26th IN
With The
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