Systems. Islam Its Founder - Forgotten Books

SYSTEMS.

ISLAM ITS FOUNDER.

J . w; H. STOBAR T,B .A.

,

P R I N C I PAL,LA MARTIN IERE COLLE GE , LUCKN OW .

PUBLI SHE D UN DE R THE DIRE CTION OF

THE COMM I TT E E O F GE N E RAL LITE RATURE AN D E DUCAT IO NAP PO IN TE D BY THE SO C IE TY FO R P ROMOT IN G

CHRIST IAN KN OWLE DGE ;

LON DONSOC IETY FOR P ROMOT I N G CHR IST IAN KN OWLE DGE ,

SOLD AT THE DE PO SITO RIE S,77, GRE AT QUE E N STRE E T

,LI N C OLN

'

s-I N N FIE LDSROYAL E ! CHAN GE ; 14, P ICCAD ILLY ;

AN D BY ALL BOOKSE LLE RS.

N ew York : P ott , Young , C O.

D E D I CAT E D

A B E L O V E D M O T H E R

BY’

H E R . S O N .

BON CHURCH,

3 rd Octoéer, 1876.

P R E FAC E .

I AM SO much indeb ted t o th e researches O f

o th er s fo r th e con ten t s O f th i s l i t t l e Manu al,

th a t I s carcely know where t o begi n my ac

knowl edgments. My e sp ecial th ank s are du et o Sir W . Mu ir

,fo r th e valuab l e aid O f his

work 1 - Confess ed ly th e best on th e subj ec t ,which I h ave t aken as my gu id e i n th es e p ages.

Sale ’s trans lat i on is used in th e qu o tat i ons fromthe Koran , and from his “ P re lim inary Dis

cou rs e ” and“ N o tes” I have freely quo ted. I

have al s o found valuabl e aid i n th e wri t ings OfafFreeman (Tne Saracens) , Forster (Geographyof Arabia) , Kasimirski (K oran) , ! I rving (Lifeof Ma/zmnet) , Monier Wi l l iam s (fna

’

ian Wisa’

wn) , Lane (Modern E gyptians, 6 m) , Bu rton

(E l Mecca ana’E l M edinc/i) , Kennedy, th e R ev.

J . (C/zristianily ana’t/ze R el igions of I ndia) ,

Hughes, th e R ev. T . P . (N o l es on Manannna

a’anisin) , Lam art in e, P rideaux, Deu tsch , BOSworth Sm i th! Gibbon‘, and o thers who havewri t t en on th e subj ect.

Li fe ofMahomet, 4 vols. 4 to. London.

B 2

PRE FACE .

I have thought bes t t o retain th e spe l lingMahom et

,

” “Ko ran,

” “C aliph ,

” “Wahabee,

&c .,as being natu ra li z ed in our language, and as

l ikely to hold th eir p lace t i l l som e uniformsyst em O f t rans l i terat ion is general ly adop ted .

1

Wi th regard to th e con ten ts O f th is book,I

am no t consci ous tha t any important m at terconnectedwi th Islam

,o r regard ing i t s founder,

has been om i tted. I n treat ing O f th e leadingfeatures O f the Mahometan system I have soughtto s tate fac ts and res u lts

,ra th er than t o at tribu te

mo t ives ; and, wh i lst comp rom ising noth ing O f

the t ruth,have endeavoured to avoid every

thing wh ich wou ld appear l ike part i sansh ip o r

prej udi c e .

S incere ly t rust ing that I may no t,i n any

particu lar, have negl ec ted the golden ru l e O f

Christ ian Chari ty in speak ing O f “the great

antagonist ic C reed ,”and fu l ly consciou s O f th e

imperfec ti ons O f my work, who se aim is t o bea popu lar expos i ti on O f the subj ect, I now

subm it it to th e indu lgent cri t ici sm O f the

reader.

J . W. H. S .

CLIFTON , 5a 7 m, 1876 .

We meet with Muhammad,” Mohammed ,” Mohammad ”

; Quran, Coran, Al -Coran, C -kooran, &c. The versenumbers are those OfKasimirski.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP . PAGE

I . —GE OGRAPHY, E ARLY H ISTORY, AN D PE OPLI N GOF ARAB IA

II .—AN C IE N T RE LIGIOUS O BSE RVAN CES OF THE

ARABS, AN D AN CE STRY O F MAHOME T

TI L—B IRTH OF MAHOME T, AN DLIFE TO H I S FORT IE THYEAR . 570

I V.—MAHOME T ’

S LE GATION , AN D THE F IRST E STA

BLI SHME N T OF ISLAM . 6 10

V .—EARLY TEACH IN G AT ME CCA

VL—LAST YEARS OF MAHOME T AT ME CCA. [A.D .

6 17

VI I .—THE LATE ST TEACHIN G AT ME CCA

VIII .—MAHOMET’S CARE E R AT ME DIN A 622

I ! .—MAHOMET’S TEACH I N G AT ME D IN A

! I .—SPREAD OF ISLAM

! I I .—CON CLUSION

I SLAMAND ITS FOUNDER.

CHAPTER I.

GE OGRAPHY, EARLY H ISTORY, AN D PEOPLIN G OF

ARAB IA.

“J E ZE R E T-UL—ARAB, or the Chersonese OfArabia

,

is the name given by its inhabitants to the greatpeninsula which

,bordered by the Red Sea, the

Indian Ocean,the Persian Gulf

,and the deserts

which extend to the E uphrates,stretches, in round

numbers,from the 1 2th to the 34th degree Of north

latitude. Its length,from the Mediterranean to the

Straits Of Bab-el -Mandeb, i s about miles, itsbreadth across the neck Of the peninsula is 800 miles

,

whilst its coast-line on the Indian Ocean approachesmiles . “Although Arabia is not greatly inferior

in extent to India,it does not possess a single

navigable river.” 1 Few Of its streams reach theocean . Most Of them exist only when swelled by theperiodic rains

,and, as a rule, lose themselves in the

sandy plains . Arabia forms a part Of that barren andnearly rainless region

,Of which the Sahara, in Africa .

and the deserts Of Shamo, in Thibet, form the eastern

Muir,I . cxlvi.

6 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

and western boundaries . I t embraces, within itsextent, strange varieties Of scenery and Soil

,—barren

hills, vast sandy deserts uninhabited and uninhabitable, a rock-bound coast, stretches of excellent pasturage

«and fertile wadies,which, contrasted with the

bleak wilderness around, charm the traveller with anunspeakable freshness and verdure .The name Arabia was Often used by O l d writers in

a wide sense. Thus it i s applied by Pliny to part OfMesopotamia ; byHerodotus (ii . I 2) to Syria, and to thecoast Of the Red Sea between it and the Nile valley.

The general division OfArabia,by Greek and Roman

writers, is into Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix . Thislatter epithet is probably only a mistaken translationOf E l Yemen,

”—the land on the right hand,that is

,

o f the south, for the Orientals faced east 5 as contrasted with Syria, which in Arabic is called E l

Sham,

”o r the country to the left Of Mecca. The

third division, Arabia Petraea, that is, Arabia OfPetra, first appears In Ptolemy, applied to the Sinaidistrict. Arabia Deserta was inhabited entirely bynomad tribes—Scenitae —tent-men, and Saraceni .Arabia Felix was occupied by more settled tribes, asthe Sabaei, &c . Their principal port was Aden, theArabiae E mporium Of Ptolemy. The Arabians werenever subdued

,properly speaking, as a nation .

Indeed,their innumerable tribal and political divi

sions,and the nature Of the country, rendered their

subjugation to a foreign'

power next to impossible .

They gave to the Great King,as allies, not as sub

jects, a gift Of one thousand talents Of frankincense

(Herodotus, iii .

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . 7

The Emperor Augustus (R C . 24 ) sent an expe

dition Of Arabian discovery and conquest, under[ E l ius Gallus

,the Roman governor Of E gypt ; Of

which Pliny and Strabo have left accounts . Thelatter was a personal friend Of the commander, andhis narration may probably be relied upon . Greatdifference Of opinion exists as to the geographicalinterpretation Of the accounts extant. The expedition embarked from C l eopatris, the modern Suez,and

,after a voyage Of fifteen days, landed at Leuke

Kome,

” a port Of the Hej az, on the Arabian shoreOf the Red Sea. Partly owing to sickness, wh ichdelayed the army a year, and the treachery Ofthe Arabian (Nabathean) King Of Petra—Obodas,and his minister Syl l aeus, who for Six months led theforce alternately through deserts and fertile tracts

,the

expedition failed . Among other places which weretaken and destroyed was Mariaba—a city six milesin circumference . Thence they proceeded to Mar

syaba, the siege Of which, from the strength Of itsfortifications and the scarcity Of water, they wereobliged to raise. They retreated, and in two month sreached “ Nera Kome, whence they embarked andlanded at Myos Hormus, in E gypt. Mr. Forster l hassought, with apparent success, to identify theseplaces 3 but Sir W. Muir thinks it “ impossible to

1Vo l . I I. sec. 6 : Leuke Kome =E 1Hafira,or Horan, north

Of Yembo “ N era Kome”=YembO Of the Cal ingii, or Beni

Khaled . Mat iaba,” identified with Mareb in Bahrein,on the

Persian Gulf not Mareb, the capital Of the Sabeans, in Yemen .

Marsyaba=Sabbia, or Sabe, north Of Jebel

,Cl imax Mons

,

in Wadi N aj ran .

8 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

recognize any o f the towns through wh ich the expe

dition passed .

” 1

The Emperor Trajan (A.D . 105) made Arabia .

from Damascus (E l Sham) to the Red Sea, includingthe kingdom Of N abathea, a province under thegovernor Of Syria, Cornelius Palma . Petra was itschief town ; but it gradually sank with the loss Of itscaravan trade, and Bostra grew into importance . Inthe third century it was divided into two provinces

,

with these two towns as their respective capitals .South Arabia (Yemen) has, from time to time,

felt the influence Of political vicissitude and foreignsubj ection, to which allusion will hereafter be made ;but, generally speaking, Arabia, protected by thedeserts Of sand and sea which surround it, has butpartially, and that only on its border lands, beensubj ected to those political revolutions which haveaffected the neighbouring countries ; and its peoplespresent the picture Of a race still, after centuries,retaining nationally the characteristics of their primi ;tive condition

,unchanged by successive deluges Of

alien immigration or foreign Conquest.A nearly continuous range Of lofty hills and

mountains runs down the peninsula, irregularly parallelto the Red Sea. In some places the hills approachthe coast

,whilst here and there they recede, so as to

leave a broad margin Of low land. From this l ongitudinal chain

,three other ranges extend . In the north

the Jebel Shammar, running eastward from about thehead of the Gulf OfAkaba ; in the centre Jebel Ared,

I . cxxi i .

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 9

extending from near Mecca to the Persian Gulf ; inthe south irregul ar ranges of generally barren mountains overlooking the sea, extend from the Straits OfBab-el -Mandeb through the provinces Of Hadhramautand Oman .

Between the ranges o f Jebel Shammar and JebelAred lies the high central land of Najd . I t i s alofty plateau or steppe, rising to the height Of some

feet,its water-Shed generall y being from west

to east. I t i s a fertile country, and produces the finestbreed o f horses in Arabia .

The Hejaz, lying between Najd and the Red Sea,and running along the latter

,includes the sacred

C ities o f Mecca and Medina,with their respective

ports Of J iddah and Yembo . I t is about 100 milesbroad, the land generally rising to the granite peaksOf Jebel Kora, whence eastward is the high land OfNajd . I t is the holy land of Islam . I t was conqueredby Muhammad Al i, Of E gypt

,and in 1840 incor

porated with the empire of Turkey.

The south-western portion Of the peninsula is thefertile Yemen

, where perennial streams flow from themountains to the sea. I t i s rich in com -fields andcoffee-gardens

,and its soil and vegetation entitle i t to

the name it bears Of “Arabia Felix .

” North Of Yemenlies the district Of Naj ran . Pol itically, Yemen isunder the government Of an Imam who resides atSana its chief port is Mocha.

Hadhramaut lies along the south coast, which,though presenting from the sea a nearly uniform ap

~

pearance of barrenness and desolation, is a short distance inland fruitful in the highest degree . A glowing

I O I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

description Of it i s to be found inWel l sted’

s Travelsin Arabia ” (vo l . i . pp . 1 15 , He says that thecountry about Minna

,in the Jebel-el -Akhdar

, Or greenmountains Of Oman

,abounds in the most luxuriant

cultivation . Verdant fields Of grain stretch for mil es ;streams Of water flowing in every direction

,groves Of

C itron,almond

,and orange trees, and a happy, con

tented peasantry,make up a picture worthy o fAraby

the blest.The chief towns of Oman are Rostok and

Muscat. The Imam Of the latter town exercisessway in Oman

,and as far into the interior as he

can make his influence felt. South Of Yamama liesthe great dessert of Akhaf, which extends fromnear Mecca to Oman . On its border - lands theneighbouring tribes find, after the periodic rains,pasturage for their flocks and herds . Some Of itsarid tracts are reported never to have been explored .

I t i s called by the Bedouins “ Roba-el -Khaly,

” theempty abode. The only habitable spot in its drearyexpanse Of sand is Wadi-J ebryn,

by which place theArabs Of Najd travel .in winter to Hadhramaut .Along the Persian Gulf lies the province of Bahrein .

Arabia is a land of drought and barrenness .Some of its desert sandy wastes and granite hills arerefreshed by scarcely a Single shower in the year atother times violent rains rapidly fill the tanks andwadies

,and give rise to a luxuriant and intermittent

vegetation . The date-pal m is almost the only tree,

and the weary traveller,as he traverses the country

,

finds but scanty shelter from the glaring sun . Aromaticherbs and a coarse undergrowth take the place Of our

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places being fixed at regular intervals, where shade,water

,and provender were to be Obtained . Here the

weary traveller and his more wearied beasts Of burdencould rest and refresh themselves . At some of thesehalting-places regular towns in time arose, supportedby the traffic which in many cases had called theminto existence.There appear to have been two chief routes

one from Yemen through the Hej az, passing Mec caand Petra

,chiefly supplying E gypt and Palestine ;

and another from Hadhramaut by the Persian Gulf,and thence branching Off to the E uphrates val ley, andchief towns Of Syria

,-Damascus and Tyre.

The prophet E zekiel (R C . c . xxvii . , intaking up the lamentation Of Tyrus

,speaks Of its

traffic with Arabia, the multitude of its wares (v.

its spices and gold (v. and mentions some Of theports Of Yemen and Hadhramaut

,Haran

,and Canneh

and E den,which retain their names to this day.

The western caravan route was in use in Mahomet’s time

,and his great-grandfather Hashim

died at Gaza when on a mercantile expedition toSyria. E ventually the growing skill in navigationduring R oman times annihilated the caravan trade,and substituted the sea route. The holy city OfMecca felt the loss Of this inland traffic

,but in its

shrine—the Kaaba,—universally recognized as a place

Of pilgrimage throughout the peninsula,it possessed an

element Of life unknown at Petra ; and with the riseand progress Of Islam c ontinued to flourish, and stillthrives on the stream of pilgrims who visit it.Living thus in tents

, ‘

or in temporary dwellings,

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . I 3

and leading a free,wandering life

,the Arab is simple

and temperate in his habits and wants . He isgenerous and reverential in h is mode Of thought,acute and imaginative

,delighting in eloquence,

and easily touched by the charms Of poetry. Heis sudden and quick in honour, addicted to te

venge as a sacred duty,yet strongly bound by the

laws Of hospitality. His character has its dark Sidetoo. He is careless Of human life, and considersevery stranger who is no t Of h is kindred or tribe, oran ally

,an enemy

,whom

,if occasion require, he wi l l

not scruple to circumvent by the blackest treachery.

He is, as a rule,bigoted and selfish , and prone to

debauchery ; his reverence degenerates into fanaticism

, and he is regardless Of suffering in others .Cleanliness and ‘the ordinary laws of sanitation areignored . Burckhardt draws a deplorable picture Of

the fi lthy state of Mecca during his visit .The remote ancestry Of the Arab race has been

represented as involved in much Obscurity. H istoriansand geographers

,in seeking to fix it with any degree

Of accuracy,have as their guides the following sources

o f information( I ) The Scripture record in the O ld Testament.( 2) The records Of Greek and Roman writers .(3) The present names Of places, regions, and

tribes .

(4) Information regarding the local habits andcharacteristics supplied by modern travellers .(5 ) Arab traditions, and the writings Of their own

historians .Of the above, the Scripture records are the

I 4 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

only sure guides in any attempt to penetrate thedarkness Of their early history. From classicalsources information Of high value is also to bederived

,and the names Of places

,regions, and

nations,either Obsolete or stil l remaining

,form

data Of very great authority in this field Of investigation . Tradition has

,especially with such a nation

,

its value ; but the Arab genealogies and their ownac counts of their early ancestry are so mixed upwith fabulous details, their chronology is SO evidentlymanufactured, contradictory and foolish, as to meritlittle credence .From such authorities the industry Of modern

research seems to have set in clear light the ancestryOf this ancient people

,and demonstrated the strict

and literal accuracy, regarding the post-diluvian peopling Of the world, Of the Mosaic records, and o f theother scattered notices to be found throughout thebooks Of the O ld Testament.1

Any information derived from ethnological or

geographical sources which illustrates and confirmsthe Mosaic record cannot fai l to be Of the highestvalue to the Christian reader and an intimate knowledge OfArabia in its past and present state, its traditions and tribal occupations and local nomenclature,i ts monuments and antiquities

,will be found satisfac x

toril y to sustain the sacred account Of the distributionof mankind after the Flood

,and has paramount claims

on the Christian scholar and theologian .

For however firm our belief in the authenticityOn this subj ect the reader should consult “ The Geography

ofArabia, ” by the Rev. Mr. Forster.


o f the books Of the O ld Testament as the only sureand authentic guide in the study Of the early historyOf our race, still, when we find living memorials andundesigned confirmations o f the same in Arabia, wecannot but receive the same with feelings Of gratefulrecognition . From the authorities mentioned above

,

i t may be Shown that the Arab race is Sprung fromthe five great patriarchal stocks Of ( 1) Cush, 2) Shem ,

(3) Ishmael , (4 ) Keturah , and (5 ) E sau .

The limits Of this work and its especial Obj ectinduce me

,reluctantly, to abandon the attempt to

give the reader any detailed account Of the settlements in Arabia o f the children Of CuSh and Shem ,

o f E sau and Keturah . The O ld Testament records,

by incidental allusions, afford the most literal proofsof their migration thither. l Of Cushite settlementsthe clearest traces are still to be found on the coast Ofthe Persian Gulf

,and in the province Of Oman . In

the word Chuz estan, or the land Of Cush in the namesAsabi or Sabi (Seba ), the Hammaeum Littus Of Pliny(Ham ), the island of Aval (Havilah) , the chief Of theBahrein group

,and in Regma (Raamah), and Dadena

(Dedan ), probable memorials O f the ancient Scripturenames still remain .

2 Sale, in his Preliminary Discourse,” says, Others o f theArabs were the posterityOf Ham by h is son CuSh, which name is in theScripture constantly given to the Arabs and theircountry

,though our version renders it E thiopia ; but,

Conf. N um . xi1. 1 (margin) ; E zek . xxviii . Ps. l xxu.

10 ; Job i . 15 ; Habak . i i i . 7 ; iv . 39—4 1.

2 Conf. Gen. x . 6—8 ; Forster, i . 73 ; Muir, I . cx .

C

I 6 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

strictly speaking,the Cush ites 1did not inhabitArabia,

properly SO called,but the banks Of the E uphrates

and the Persian Gulf,whither they came from Chu

z estan, or Susiana, the original settlement Of their

father ” (p .

Very ancient tradition pronounces the great existingrace Of the Beni Kahtan to be the descendants Of Shem,

the stock Of the patriarch E ber byhis second son]0ktan.

2

This Cherished tradition Of the Arab race, whichc l aims the patriarch Joktan (or Kahtan) as the ancestoro f the race (which has spread from near Mecca in theHejaz, throughout the whole of Yemen and the southcoast of Oman

,and is found also in the Najd

,having

dominated over all other races in those parts), i s supported by strong evidence in the names o f placesand localities still existing. It may be Clearly shownthat the very names given in the O ld Testament areto be identified in the settlement of the great Semit icrace

,and thus that here again the sacred record,

Arab tradition,the statements Of the classical writers,

and modern geography are unanimous in their independent testimony.

The descendants Of Abraham by Keturah , andOf E sau,3 gained a strong and permanent footing inthe northern parts Of the peninsula and on the Shores

On the identity of the name “ Midianite and Cush ite ”see Forster, vol. i . p. 12, cc sec.

2 Conf. D ’Herbel o t,art.

“ Arab,” i . p . 345 ; W . Irving,Life of Mahomet

,

” p. 112 ; Forster, i . 77—175 Muir,

“ The

Li fe of Mahomet,

”I . p . cvii(x). Lamartine, “ Hist . de T,

”

i . p . 370 ; Sale, P. D . ,p. I .

3 Gen. xxv. 1—6 xxxvi . I—43.

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . I 7

of the Gulf Of Akaba ; and frequent reference tothem as peoples Of Arabia is to be found in the pro

phetic books Of the O ld Testament.1 The greatnessOf the race Of E sau

,as foretold in Scripture, was

abundantly fulfi lled in after-times . I t is allowed bythe best authorities 2 that the great Arab nation OfAmalek was descended from the grandson Of E sau ;and the richness and fertility Of their possessions isreferred to by a recent traveller .3 The name o f th israce is stil l imprinted on the Shores Of the Red Sea, in“ R as E dom ” and “

J ez eret E dom ,

”a cape and island

Of the Hejaz . The existence o f the E domite settlements found there, in Yemen, and on the PersianGulf

,supports the statement Of the classical writers

that the E domites are identical with the ancientIdumeans

,who commanded the navigation Of the

E rythrean Sea, and renders the suggestion probablethat the name of this great commercial nation wasonce imposed upon the waters Of the Indian Ocean .

4

As the reputed ancestor of the prophet Of Meccathe descendants Of Ishmael deserve particularnotice . 5 Few can read without emotion the storyOf the expulsion Of Hagar and her son Ishmael

(born B C . 1910) how they wandered in thewilderness Of Beersheba solitary and in exile ; how,

1 Isaiah,xxi. I 3.

Muir,I . cxi ii . , notes .

3 Robinson, “ Bib. Res . , 11. 551, 552.

When theAdites sent messengers to the Kaaba to implorefor rain, Mecca was in the hands of the tribe OfAmalek ” (Sale’sKoran, p .

5 Conf. Forster,i . 176—316 .


when the water in her bottle was spent, she cast theChild under one Of the shrubs Of the desert, lest sheshoul d see him die and yet, how, from this the depthOf her anguish , God

’s providence was fulfilled, howher eyes were opened, and She saw the well Of waterand how that son, for whom the aged Patriarch hadbesought the Almighty (before the birth Of the chosenseed)

“ that he might dwell before Him,

” was blessedexceedingly, and became a great nation, his childrenbeing, “ by their towns and by their castles, twelveprinces according to their nations ” (Gen . xvii . 18

20, and xxv. 1 2

In the book Of Genesis the names of Ishmael ’ssons are given , and the bounds Of their habitation ;for we are told that he l ived “ in the wilderness o fParan

,and that they dwelt from Havilah unto

Shur, that is before E gypt ” (Gen . xxv. Abandoned and almost repudiated by his father, andcoming as a stranger with his mother to these regions,it can easily be imagined that to Hagar alone wouldreference be made concerning the ancestral stock,and this is abundantly found to be the case .

Constant reference is made in Holy Scriptureto the Hagarites and the Hagarenes

,and they are

represented as inhabiting those very parts Of northernArabia, towards which Hagar was sent. Thus, inPsalm lxxxiii. we read of f‘the tabernacles of E domand the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagarenes,

”na

tions dwelling in close proximity,in the lands spread

ing southwards from the Holy Land towards the RedSea. In the days Of Saul (B .C . 1095 the sonsOf Reuben, a pastoral tribe whose settlements lay tc


by him as extending northward from the head of theGulf O f’Akaba to the desert Of Tyh . The whole province Of Bahrein

,which once bore the Cushite name

of Havilah, i s now known among the Arab tribes inhabiting it chiefly andproperly by the Ishmaelite nameOf Hagar. The latter name occurs in Yemen

,Showing

probably that offshoots Of the race migrated thither.j osephus (who flourished in the first century afterC hrist) affi rms the existence o f twelve Arab nationssprung from the sons Of Ishmael and St. j erome alsosays “ that Kedar is a country Of the Saracens

,who

in Scripture are called Ishmaelites .” 1

The descendants Of the eldest son Of Ishmaelare to be identified with the “ Nabatheans Of theclassical writers

,described as the most illustrious king

dom and people OfArabia. They are the Beni NabatOf the Mahometan writers . Petra 2 was the capitalOf their kingdom

,which from it took the name Of

Arabia Petraea,” and was comprised within the limits

Of the ancient E dom . The strength of the sons Of

Forster,i . p . 200. N iebuhr, i i i . 293.

3 Pliny says of Petra that “ the N abataei inhabit a C i ty calledPetra, in a hollow somewhat less than two miles in circumfe

rence,surrounded by inaccess ible mountains dis tant from

the town Of Gaza on the coast 600 miles .” S trabo wri tes thati t is fortified with a barrier Of rocks, has excellent Springs ofwater, and that outside the city the country is a desert. To

Burckhardt belongs the honour of being the first to penetrate tothis long-lost ci ty . Dressed as an Arab Sheikh, he passed themountains of E dom, and on the 22nd August , 18 12, enteredPetra by the wonderful gorge Of Sik. He describes the town assurrounded with vineyards and frui t-trees, the grapes being especial l y fine Alps ofArabia

,

” pp . 201

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . 2 1

Nebajoth was well illustrated,and perhaps explained

by that o f their capital , wh ich , situated in the midst ofdeserts

,and

,itself a natural fortress, became the h igh

road Of the commerce between Yemen and Syria, thePersian Gulf

,and the ports and marts o f E gypt .

Three centuries before the Christian era, wehear o f them baffling the attacks Of the Macedonianmonarchs Of Babylon behind the rocky ramparts O fPetra. Their kingdom extended from E gypt to Palestine

,and down the shores Of the Red Sea . In the

reign OfAugustus we have seen that their king Obodasassisted fE l ius Gallus in his unsuccessful expeditionagainst Yemen . At the beginning o f the Christianera they gradually became dependent on Rome, andtheir kingdom was annexed (A.D . 105 ) by the em

peror Trajan.

The O ld Testament evidences for the existenceOf Kedar, as a powerful people OfArabia, are full andexplicit ;1 and on a reference to these it will be foundthat their details are compatible with the settlementsof Kedar being in the Hejaz, near or between Meccaand Medina and it is on this very ground that Plinyplaces a people o f similar name, identical with theKedarys, or Beni Kedar.The tradition Of the Arabs themselves represents

Kedar to have settled in the Hejaz, and from thispatriarch the family Of the C oreish, the guardians Ofthe Kaaba

,always boasted their descent .2 Though

Isaiah xxi. I I , 17 ; xl n. 10—12 ; lx . 7 ; Jer. i i . 10, 11.

2 Vz’

a’e Forster

,i . p . 25 1, on this point. Muir (Life O f

Mahomet, I . p . ccix . ) gives a quotat ion from M . C . de Percival(vol. i . p . 183) The Arabs O f the Hejaz and N ajd have al

2 2 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

traces Of the remaining sons Of Ishmael are to befound, i t may generally be said “ that they eithermingled with the other tribes, o r, penetrating thepeninsula (south), have escaped Observation .

” 1

In addition to the immigrants whom we have nowconsidered, and who, as a “ mingled people ” (Jer.xxv. formed the permanent inhabitants OfArabia

,

there were in later times large colonies and tribes ofJews scattered throughout the peninsula . They arefound holding lands and castles

,and occupying im

portant positions in the country,especially about Me

dina, in which and in its vicinity numerous powerfultribes Of them were settled . Kheibar was one Of theirstrongholds . In the eighth year of the Hej ira theJews of this place were attacked by Mahomet, theirlands and fortresses fell into his hands

,and their Chief

,

Kinana, tortured to death . Many Of their numbersperished, and those who remained were exterminatedin the caliphate of Omar. Two of Mahomet’s wiveswere of this religion, Safia, widow Of the murderedKinana

,and Rihana.

A force Of 500 Jews formed part o f the con

tingent supplied by the Nabathean king to ZE l iusGallus in his expedition . One Of the kings Of theHimyarite dynasty in Yemen, named Dzu-N owas (A.D.

490 to having on a visit to Medina (Yathrib) ,

ways regarded Ishmael as their ancestor. This convictionthe source of their respect for the memory ofAbraham—is toogeneral

,too deep not to repose on a real foundat ion. In fine ,

Mahomet, who gloried in his Ishmaelitish origin, was nevercontradicted on that point by his enemies the Jews. ”Muir, 1, cxii.

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 23

o f which half the population were Jews, embracedtheir creed

,invaded Naj ran, for the purpose Of extir

pating the Christian faith, which had made very con

siderabl e progress in that province. His cruelties,especially in having thrown the Christian martyrs intoa trench fi lled with burning materials, are alluded toin the Koran (sura lxxxv. 4 et sea) . The number ofvictims are stated at no less than (Muir, 1 .

This persecution o f the Christians Of Yemenmoved to vengeance the Prince ofAbyssinia, who wasOf the Nestorian sect. An army was sent over thenarrow gulf, and the expedition (A.D . 5 25 ) ended inthe death Of Dzu-Nowas

,and the subjection OfYe

men, wh ich became a dependency Of the Abyssinianking.

Aryat and Abraha were the successive viceroys . Vigorous missionary efforts were made toChristianize the country. A magnificent cathedralwas built at Sana, and it was hoped that the Arabtribes would be diverted from Mecca to the newshrine . These hopes were frustrated

,and in revenge

for his disappointment,and for certain indignities

which had been practised in the cathedral itself,Abraha set out to destroy the Kaaba. The expedition (A.D. 570) failed, and its leader perished . Theevent, which took place in the year Of Mahomet

’sbirth , i s recorded in the Koran, sura cv.

, entitledThe E lephant.”

The destruction o f Jerusalem by Titus (A.D .

70) probably scattered many Christians throughoutArabia, in nearly al l quarters Of which they would helikely to meet with sympathizers with their own faith .

24 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

The Christian religion had gradually and partiallypenetrated intoArabia, and gained scattered converts,though it never succeeded in taking a permanent holdthere

,or in superseding the existing idolatry. The

opposition which it would meet with from the Jewsmust not be forgotten ; and we must also rememberhow antagonistic the general habits Of the Arab racewould be to the spread Of the gospel . The haughtytemper and revengeful code Of the Arab tribes

,and

their licentious practices, were al l alike hostile to thehumble and forgiving precepts o f Christian morality.

” 1

Still, Christianity was not unrepresented in thepeninsula. In the fourth century Petra was the residence o f a Metropolitan

,whose diocese embraced

the ancient Idumaea and N abathea and severalChristian bishoprics were established in Arabia subject to h im . Abd-Kelal (A.D . Himyarite kingOf Yemen , was a Christian . He is said to have beenconverted by a Christian stranger, who, in conse

quence Of the king’s defection, was murdered . This

is the first intimation Of Christianity in Yemen .

2

During the reign Of Marthad (A.D . son OfAbd-Kelal, the emperor Constantius sent a Christian embassy to the court Of the Himyarite monarch ,who is called “ Prince Of the Sabaeans and Homeri tes

, and certain privileges were gained from thetolerant king for the professors Of the Christian faithvisiting or residing in Yemen . Three churches werebuilt at I z afar the royal residence, at Aden, and on thePersian gulf. N0 important event followed this em ~

Muir, 1. ccxxxvi. 9 l b. 1. clx.

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . 25

bassy,but the knowledge is gained thereby that the

inhabitants Of Yemen at the time were partly Jewishand partly Pagan . The latter practised C ircumcision,and sacrificed to the sun and moon, and to otherdivinities . 1

The cruelties Of Dzu-Nowas, a subsequent kingo f Yemen

,to the Christians have been Spoken

o f above . Christian anchorites,dwelling in their

solitary cells in Arabia Petraea, must have aided inspreading a knowledge O f their belief. I t reachedthe kingdom Of Hira, a town near Kufa

, on theE uphrates, and the seat o f an important Arab dynasty and, under Noman (3 19—4 18 AD ), spread inhis dominions and there is good reason for believingthat he himself had embraced the same faith . Inthe reign Of Mundz ir II I . Of Hira (5 13—5 6 2 AD . )a Christian embassy Of two bishops, sent by thePatriarch OfAntioch, failed to gain over the king totheir tenets

,though he granted toleration to its fo l

lowers throughout his territories . Noman V .,Of

Hira,the last Of the Lakhmite dynasty (A.D . 583

60 was a Christian . Many Of the Arab tribes wereChristians, and it was generally adopted in Naj ranabout the close Of the fourth century.

2

The princes Of Axum,in Abyssinia

,a powerful

and extensive state,were Christians Of the Nestorian

sect . The persecutions practised in turn by differingChristian sects contributed to scatter believers throughout the E ast, and drove numbers into Arabia .

“ Christianity was there known,l iving examples Of it

Muir, 1. clx . Gibbon, Decline and Fall,

”cap. xx .

2 Muir, I . ccxxix .


were to be found amongst the native tribes the N ew

Testament was respected, if not reverenced, as a bookthat claimed to be divine, and some Of its facts and

doctrines were admitted without dispute .” 1 Yet itsprogress was disabled and impeded by the differenceso f contending schisms, which had substituted “ thepuerilities Of a debasing superstition for the pure andexpansive faith Of the early ages .” 2 To this subj ectwe shall hereafter return, when we come to considerthe nature Of the influence exercised by Jewish andChristian doctrine

,practices

,and innovations on the

religion established by Mahomet. E nough has atpresent been said regarding the existence Of the tworeligions in the Arabian peninsula . Such , then, is ageneral sketch Of the elements which went to makeup the great Arab race .

Muir,

“

1 . cxxix . l b. I . ccxxvi .

CHAPTER II .

AN C IE N T RE LIGIOUS OBSE RVAN CE S OF THE ARABS,

AN D AN CE STRY OF MAHOMET.

WE have the assurance that Noah was a .perfect

man,and walked with God ”

(Gen . vn. and as

a “ preacher Of righteousness (2 Peter ii . havingwith his sons been witness of the Flood

,handed down

to his posterity the worship of the True God. Thisknowledge could no t have been lost when the descendants Of Shem wandered forth to subdue thefertile lands Of the' SOuth , nor at the time when theAbrahamic stocks entered Arabia, for Noah was contemporary with the “ Father Of the Faithful

,

” andShem lived beyond the time when Ishmael andKeturah

,with their sons

,had left their original

homes .Yet we find that idolatry before this had» crept

in,and that Terah

,the father Of Abraham ,

had Ob

scured the worship o f “ the Lord God Of Shem ,and

“ served other gods (Joshua xxiv. z ) ; Laban (B.C .

1739) had images ; and Amaziah (B .C . afterthe slaughter Of the E domites, brought away “ thegods o f the children Of Seir (2 Chron . xxv.

But idolatry,—that yearning Of the heart for a


visible obj ect Of devotion , something that the eye cansee and the hands handle, the worsh ip O f the creaturemore than the Creator, —the idolatry which sprangup among the kindred nation Of Israel was fromtime to time checked by the divine interferencepeculiar to the theocracy under which the chosenpeople lived .

1

Without these restraints, no wonder the lessfavoured descendants Of Shem in Arabia rapidlydegenerated into gross and universal idolatry. Therei s reason for believing that the worship Of the heavenlybodies was the oldest form Of their spiritual decadence ; and it is natural perhaps to expect that,l iving in such a country

,their idolatry would take

that form . Leading a nomad life, their existencewas emphatically one spent in the open air ; by dayamidst their flocks

,and herds

,and encampments,

and by night habitually Sleeping beneath their rainlessheavens . Amid the Silence Of night, with the busyscenes Of day over, and no change visible but thatof the constellations rising and setting

, or fading withthe dawn

,the Chaldean shepherd or the Arab Chief, in

the absence Of a diviner revelation, came to considerthat human events were influenced by these heavenlyluminaries .Seeing the changes brought about by the seasons,

and Observing the influence O f the sun and moonon the earth ; noticing, too, that the products Of

Confer 2 Kings xxiii. 5—11, where we have recorded thatJosiah (B . C . 64 1

—6 10) put down “ them that burnt incense to—the sun and t o the moon and to the planets and al l the hostO fheaven.

” Confer Joshua xxiv. I 4 , 15 Acts vii. 42, 43.

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 3 1

their fields and vineyards and the periodic rainscorresponded with the heliacal rising Of certain constel l ations, they naturally supposed that these phenomena bad influence 1 over the destiny Of individualsand nations . Thus astrology

,or the art o f divining

by the position of the stars,became one o f the Oldest

superstitions Of the human race .

The early religion Of the Arabs,then

,was a

kind Of Sabeanism,and “ chiefly consisted in wor

shipping the fixed stars and planets and the angel sand their images

,wh ich they honoured as inferior

deities, and whose intercession they begged as theirmediators with God.

” 2 This worsh ip Of the heavenlybodies is alluded to in the book o f J ob (xxxviii . 3 13 and the names Of certain constellations whichwere adored are given . Sacrifices to the sun , &c .

,

we learn,took place in Yemen even as late as the

fourth century. Herodotus (iii . 8 ) writes Of theArabs that “ they acknowledge no other gods butBacchus and Urania they call Bacchus O rotal ,and Urania Al il at.” 3 He also states that in givingpledges the hands of the contracting persons werecut, and while invoking their deities the blood wassmeared on seven stones placed between them .

The invocation o f Urania,identical, doubtless, with

The tendency to worsh ip the host O f heaven i s anticipatedin Scripture. Confer Deut. iv . 19, and xvi i . 3 ; 2 Kings xvii .16

, and xxi . 3 ; J erem . xvii i . 13.

2 Sal e, P. D . , p . 15 .

3 The people of Tayif, near Mecca, had an idol O f their owncalled Lat, which they honoured as the Meccans d id that at theKaaba. They were j ealous of the superior fame of the Meccanshrine.


the Meccan idol Allai t and the mystic number seven ,connects their worship with that Of the seven heavenlybodies

,having real or apparent motion

,known to

them. The seven circuits of the devout pilgrimround the chief Shrine

,the Kaaba, are thought to

be emblematical Of the revolutions o f the heavenlybodies .The worship o f rude unshapen stones may have

arisen from the practice Of carrying away to distantparts stones from the sacred inclosure at Mecca, andOf paying to them the ceremonial Observances usualat the Kaaba. I t is easy to understand how in timethe original motive would be forgotten , and the idolsremain to increase and perpetuate idolatry. Fivegods of the antediluvian world are mentioned in theKoran (sura lxxi . 22, and these h aving beenrecovered after the Deluge (P) were worshipped bycertain tribes under various forms . E ach tribe hadits special divinity

,and each family its idol penates,

which were saluted on leaving and returning home .

The worship Of the sun at Saba is mentioned by Mabomet (Koran, xxvii . 24) Of angels or intelligenceswhich they worshipped the Koran makes mention O f

three only,Allat

,Al o z z a, and Manah, who are called

the daughters o f God.

” 1

The heavenly bodies especially worshipped wereCanopus (Sohail), Sirius (Al shira),

2 Aldebaran in

Taurus,with the planets Mercury (O tarod), Venu s

(Al Zohirah), Jupiter (Al Moshtari) and Sale statesthat the temple at Mecca was said to have been

2 Sale, P . D . ,p . 17 ; Koran, sura l i i i . 19, 20.

2 Koran,sura l i i i . 50 .


consecrated to Saturn (Zohal ) . About the Kaabawas the famous idol Hobal, the tutelary deity o f

Mecca,supposed to have the power Of granting rain

,

surrounded by 360 others Of smaller Size, representing the saints and divinities

,which could be invoked

on each day Of the year.1 Of the form of the adoration paid to these idols little is known , but by analogyit may be assumed that the occasions of their pilgrimage would be connected with their domestic orfamily h istory, and chiefly the absorbing desire forOffspring. There is a record o f an embassy sent to theKaaba to implore for rain in a time Of drough t.2

Solemn engagements were ratified before the celebrated Black Stone .” 3

Though there are authentic accounts Of idolatrousShrines and places Of pilgrimage in Yemen

,and

as far as Hira, yet the most famous throughout theentire peninsula was the Kaaba . Arab tradition hassurrounded this Shrine with a C loud Of legendary story

,

and attributed its first building to Adam and E ve,who after their expulsion from Paradise and devious

D’Herbel ot, we. Hobal .

2 Kasimirski,“ Le Koran, p . 350. Lokman.

3 Muir, i i . 49.

“ I t is the characteristi c Of the O riental ,and especially o f the Semiti c mind, to see in every event, eventhe most trivial, a direct supernatural interference, wrought bythe innumerable unseen ministers, both good and evil

,of the

Divine will . The definite form in which the bel ief clothedi tself was, by the admission Of the Jews themselves

,derived

from Babylon . E ven the most ordinary forces Of nature andpassions O f the mind were by them regarded as angels . The

Jews would have interpreted quite l iterally the verse P S. civ .

(Farrar, Li fe Of Christ,” i i . p . 465 , E xcursus vii . )D 2

34 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

wanderings,met at length in penitence and forgive

ness near Mecca,and were allowed to build a temp l e

in imitation Of that in wh ich they had Offered theirpure worship in the garden Of E den 11 Destroyedby the Flood, an angel revealed its Site to the forlornHagar and Ishmael perish ing with thirst in thedesert

,and there

,to their needS ' bubbl ed forth the

waters Of the well Zem Zem .

2 The fountain attractsa neighbouring tribe Of Amalekites, who build nearl tS

‘ waters the town Of Mecca,and with them the

youthfu l Ishmael and his mother find protection andrest.3

Here Ishmael was visited by his father Abraham , who, in Obedience to D ivine command, isabout to offer him up on a neighbouring hill, butsome vicarious sacrifice i s accepted

,and they set

about the work o f rebuilding the Kaaba on its

On the ir expulsion from Paradise, so the story goes, Adamfell in Serendib, or Ceylon, where the footprint on the top ofAdam’s Peak (attributed by his priests to Buddha) was, say theMahometans, made by our first parent . E ve fell in Arabia,near J iddah, and after two hundred years’ separation they werepermitted to come together on MountArafat , near Mecca, wherethey lived many years . The tomb Of E ve i s Shown near Jiddah ,outside the walls. I t i s sixty cubits long and twelve wide, forAdam and E ve in stature equal led the tallest palm-tree Adam’splace Of interment is variously stated to be near Mecca and inCeylon . C f. D ’Herbel ot, art.

“ Adam ”

; Koran, sura i i . 34 ,35 Sale’s note ad l ac.

2 The Mahometans say that Zem Zem and Siloah are the

two fountains Of Paradise (Farrar, Li fe of Christ,” i i . p .

3 The settlement O f Hagar and Ishmael at Mecca i s alludedto in the Koran, thus : O Lord, I [Abraham] have causedsome O f my O ffspring to settle in an unfruitful valley, near thyholy house, 0 Lord, that they be constant at prayer ” (Suraxiv.


distinguished from the progeny Of Kahtan, the samewith Joktan, the son o f E ber, whom they nameAl -Arab-al—Araba

,genuine or pure Arabs .” 1 Ishmael

and the daughter Of Modadh, the J o rhamite ch ief,are the reputed ancestors o f Mahomet, the prophet o fMecca .

“ The ready pen Of the traditionists hasfi lled up the

'

space Of twenty—five centuries, betweenIshmael and Mahomet

,with a list Of progenitors

derived from Jewish sources ; yet Mahomet himselfnever traced his pedigree higher than Adnan, anddeclared that all who went further back were guilty«o f fabrication and falsehood ”

(Muir, I . exciii”)Adnan was the father of Maadd, whose name was

associated with the Maaddite tribes, the ancest orsOf the C oreish, who were in their different familiesdescended from him . The year 130 B C . is given asthe date OfAdnAn’

s birth and from him, in the eighthgeneration, was descended N adhr, born A.D . 134 ,

the grandfather Of Fehr C oreish, who was bornA.D . 200.

Up to this time,under nine generations o f kings

o f their race, the J orhamites had enj oyed the supremacy in the Hej az

,and had asarpea

’ the privilegesof the Kaaba, which, according to the languageof the Moslems

,belonged Of right 'to the lineal

descendants of Ishmael ; when an immigrant tribethe Azdites— from Yemen appeared, and, notwith

standing the opposition of the ruling race, were ablesuccessfully to establish themselves in Batn—Marr, avalley near Mecca. They did not, however, longremain there

,but departed towards Syria, and left

1 Sale , P . D. , p . 8 .

ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R . 37

behind them a remnant the Beni Kho z aa,who settled in Mecca . These

,with the C oreish,

slaughtered or expelled from the country the Jorhamite families and their last king, Modadh. A

struggle now commenced between the rival Maaddite

houses for the administration o f the Kaaba, and thesupremacy at Mecca

,but these were wrested from them

by their former allies,the Beni Kho z aa, and retained by

them for upwards of two centuries till after a varietyOf romantic adventures Cussai, the Sixth in linealdescent from Fehr C oreish, after spending his youthin the highlands o f Syria, returned to Mecca, marriedHobba

,the daughter of Ho l eil—the Kho z aaite king

—and was permitted to assume the immediatemanagement Of the Kaaba.

On the death Of Ho l eil , Cussai set about, with thesupport Of the other C oreish families, to assert anddefend the rial zi Of his family to the guardianship O f

the Kaaba and the government of Mecca. Togetherwith the guardiansh ip Of the temple, he possessedhimself Of the Chief religious dignities connected withthe sacerdotal Office. From the Beni Safa he Oh

tained the “ I jaz a,”

or the right Of dismissing theassembledArab tribes from Minaafter the ceremonieso f the Greater Pilgrimage and

,after much carnage

,

wrested from the Beni Kho z aa the supremacy over theHejaz . This took place about 4 40 A.D . Cussai

gathered together, and settled at Mecca many scattered families Of the C oreish, enlarged the town , builtnear the Kaaba the Council House, where politicalquestions were discussed and social ceremonies solemniz ed. and whence the yearly caravans set forth and


finally succeeded in establishing himself Sheikh Of

Mecca and Governor of the country.

1

The dignities Of which he possessed himselfwere five ‘ in number, -viz . ( I )

“ The Hijaba,which gave him the keys and the control Of theKaaba ; (2)

“ The Sicaya ” and the “ Rifada, or

the prerogatives Of providing drink and food forthe pilgrims ; (3)

“ The Kiyada,” the command Of

the troops in war ; (4 )“ The Liwa

,

” the right Ofaffi xing the banner to the staff and presenting itto the standard-bearer ; ( 5)

“ The Dar-ul -Nadwa,”

the presidency Of the Hall Of Council . Thereligious Observances customary at the time o f

Cussai were those prevailing when Mahomet arose,and, the idols excepted, are there practised, withSlight modifications, to this day.

“ The centre o f

veneration was the Kaaba, to visit which , to kiss theBlack stone

,and to make the seven circuits, was at

all times regarded as a holy privilege ”

(Muir,i . CCVNext was the Lesser Pilgrimage (Haj j al Asghar) ,

which, in addition to the above, included therite Of running quickly to and fro seven timesbetween the hills of Safa and Marwa close to

Prideaux, Li fe Of Mahomet,” p. 2, gives a different versionO f the method in which Cussai gained his position Cosawas very famous among the Koreeshites for gaining to his familythe keeping Of the keys Of the Caaba.

”The government Of

Mecca and the presidency of the Caaba having fallen into thehands Of Abu Gabshan, a weak and Si lly man, Cosa circumvented him while in a drunken humour, and bought of him the

keys O f the Temple, andwith them ,the presidency Of i t, for a

bottle ofwine .”

ISLAM AN D ITs FOUN DE R . 39

the Kaaba.

l This ceremony had especial meritin the holy month Rajab . Lastly, the GreaterPilgrimage (Haj j al Akbar) involving al l the aboveand the additional rite Of pilgrimage to Arafatan eminence of granite rocks, ten or twelve mileseast Of Mecca . Thi s can be performed only inthe holy month “ Dzul Hijja. On the 8 th thepilgrims start from Mecca, spend the 9th at Arafat,and on the same evening hurry back to a spotcalled Mosdal ifa. Two o r three succeeding days arespent at Mimi , and the pilgrimage is concluded withthe sacrifice Of a victim .

2

The country round Mecca to a distance of severalmiles was called sacred (Haram), and during fourmonths Of the year, by general consent, wars andhostilities were laid aside, so that the pilgrims couldtravel unmolested from distant parts

,and

,assuming

the sacred garb (Ihram), perform the accustomedrites inpeace and security.

I t will be gathered from the above how strangelythe idolatrous practices at the Kaaba were mixed upwith the biblical story Of Abraham

,Hagar

,and Ish

mael, to whom the traditions current among theArabs long before the era Of Mahomet attributed thefirst founding Of the temple and its rites . Doubtlessthis legend may be dismissed into the realms Of fancy

,

This act was supposed to be in memory of the distressedmother Hagar, anxiously running in search O f water for herson before the waters O f Zem Zem were miraculously brought tolight in answer to her cry .

2 Muir, 1. Ccvl . Via’e Li fe of Burckhardt

, Chambers’s Miscel l any,

” vol . x . N O . 4 , where an interesting account of the ceremonies Of the yearly pilgrimage is given—Burton, M . andM. ,

vol . i i i .


as devoid Of consistency ; but the question arises howthe worship at Mecca came to be what it was at thetime Of Mahomet’s birth . The worship was made upOf two totally different elements ; viz . pure idolatryand, in addition, rites and Observances which, bytradition

,were associated with the

'

story Of livingcharacters Of the O ld Testament, and the reality o fthat association riveted and certified by the names Ofspots in the

'

neighbourhood which could be seen andvi sited

,and which were intimately connected with the

ceremonies which were performed .

The following is probably the way in which theabove came about. I t may be assumed that the purelyidolatrous practices

,the reverence for the well Zem

Zem and the Black stone and the C ircuits Of theKaaba, &c . were of indigenous growth

,or were im

ported by the tribes and peoples Of Yemen who settledat Mecca. This place owed its importance as a largecommercial centre to its position on the westerncaravan route, midway between Yemen and Petra,and to its plentiful supply Of water.1 Here, it ispointed out, a change o f carriage eventually tookplace, the merchandise for the north and southdividing at this point

,and occasioning thus a per

manent intercourse between i t and Syria, Egypt, andthe ports Of South Arabia. I t i s easy to imaginethat merchants Of various nationalities, and from dis~tant parts

,would from time to time visit the great

entrepot at Mecca,and that the Bedouins Of Central

The well Zem Zem is about seven feet eight inches in diameter and fifty-s ix feet deep to the surface O f the water. The

water is said to be very abundant and wholesome, though i tstaste is brackish.

I SLAM. AN D I TS FOUN DE R . 4 I

Arabia, attracted to the spot, wou ld give to the Shrine,i ts well, and its worship, a kind Ofnational or metropolitan character ; and that the superstitious reverencefor the place prevalent throughout the peninsula wouldcontinue long after its commercial pre-eminence had,with the failure Of the caravan trade, ceased. Thetraditional belief in the Abrahamic origin of theKaaba which is asserted in the Koran (sura ii. 1 18

,

et seg. ) is probably to be accounted for by the earlyand extensive commingling Of the Abrahamic stockswith the other Semitic tribes chiefly settled in Yemen .

Branches of the descendants of Ishmael settled, as hasbeen shown , about and to the north Of Mecca ; and

these, with the Nabatheans, a great commercial nationwho had been attracted by its good business position

,

brought with them to their new settlement the Abrahamic legends, which the Jews who traded there, andwho were settled in considerable force in the country

,

tended to revive and perpetuate . Thus in time theAbrahamic story and the Jewish legends were graftedon to the indigenous idol-worship and became incorporatedwith it. Hence it was that the well Zem Zembecame the scene o fHagar’s relief hence the sacrificein the valley of Mina to typify the vicarious sacrificeOffered by Abraham in place of his son [ s/zmael ;hence Abraham and Ishmael were made the founderso f their temple, wh ich , under the sanction Of the nameOf the Father Of the Faithful and the Friend Of God,was

,in the belief o f the followers Of Islam, to be esta

bl ished as a house Of prayer for all nations . 1

Cussai having thus concentrated in his own

The above account of the origin Of theworship of the Kaabaand i ts ceremonies is adopted from SirW . Muir, 1. cap . i i i. sec . iv.


person the chief temporal and spiritual dignities atMecca

,died

,leaving three sons, viz . Abd-al -Dar

,

Abd-Menei f, and Abd-al -O z z a.

1 To his eldest son

he left all the Offices wh ich he held ; but Abd-al

Déir, less energetic than Abd-Menaf, allowed thelatter to usurp the real management Of public affairs .On the death o f Abd-al -Dar, h is rights passed to h issons and grandsons ; but the latter were too youngto sustain successfully their legal prerogatives againsttheir more powerful rivals

,Al -Muttal ib, Hashim,

Abd

Shams, and Naufal, the sons Of Abd-Menfif. Twohostile factions thus arose in Mecca

,and bloodshed

was avoided only by a compromise,which

,securing

the other Offices to the elder branch Of the family,gave the privilege Of providing food and water toHashim, and the leadership in war to his youngerbrother

,Abd-Shams .

The noble and generous character O f Hashimand his riches prompted and enabled him munifi

cently to perform the duties of the sacred Offices hehad thusObtained. Reservoirs Of water were by hiscare provided for the pilgrims, and food liberally supplied them . He i s said to have fed the people OfMecca during a famine . Commercial treaties wereconcluded by him or h is brothers with the neighbouring powers—with the. Roman emperor, the rulerOfAbyssinia, the king Of Persia, and the princes OfHimyar

,in Yemen . By Salm,

a widow o f Medina,of the tribe Of Khazraj

,he had a son born in his O l d

age (A.D. who was soon after left an orphan

His two sons, Menaf and O z z a, were called after his gods.From the latterwas descended Khadija, daughter ofKhuweil id,andwife of Mahomet .


stroy its formidable rival at Mecca . The failure Ofthis expedition

,and the dignified conduct OfAbd-al

Muttal ib,contributed much to the confirmation Of his

power.But a few months before the invasion Of Abraha

,

“ the year Of the E lephant ” (A.D . Abd-al -Muttalib had betrothed his son Abdallah to a maiden Of

the house Of C oreish, Amina, the daughter Of Wahb,the son ofAbd—Menaf, the son Of Zohra, a brother Ofthat famous Cussai who, more than a hundred yearsbefore, had consolidated the fortunes Of their house .

Abdallah was the best-beloved son Of his father,a child

of benediction,who being once in fulfilment Of a vow

devoted to death,like his storied ancestor Ishmael

,on

the heights ofArafat,had

,at the eleventh hour

,been

saved from the sacrificial fire and given again to life.For Abd-al -Muttal ib had promised, if the Almightywould give him ten sons

,that one Of them should be

devoted ; and it was only after the divining arrows 1

had ten times been cast that the Slaughter of onehundred camels before the idol god was permitted toredeem the victim and absolve the parent from hisrash vow.

2

Conf. Koran, sura v . 4 ; and Sale’s P . D .

,sec. v .

2 Thus Mahometans report their prophet to have said that hewas the son of two sacrifi ces, meaning ( 1) his father Abdal lah,and (2) as being descended from Ishmael, which son, and notI saac

,they bel ieve Abraham to have Offered—Conf. Sale’s

Koran , cap. xxxvii . p . 369 Muir,i . cap . 4 .

CHAPTE R III .

B IRTH OF MAHOMET AN D LI FE TO H I S FORT IE TH

570

BR IE F was thewedded life OfAbdallah andAmina.

Shortly after the marriage her husband set outwith theyearly caravan for Gaza, in South Syria, leaving pregnant the young wife who was destined to see h im nomore . I t was their first and last parting

,for on the

return j ourney Abdallah sickened, and being left withh is grand maternal relatives at Medina, died andwas buried there . For the support Of his widow heleft behind him no richer legacy than four camels

,

a flock of goats, and a slave girl named Baraka .

Wonderful stories are told of the marvels whichaccompanied the gestation and birth of his infantchild. The very powers of the air were Shaken toherald his advent. Al l oracles were dumb , the sacredfire of Zoroaster, guarded for centuries by the Magi,was extinguished before the greater light which haddawned. The evil spirits which dwell in malignantstars were abashed, and fled shrieking, and E blishimself was hurled into the depths of the sea ! Manylegendary tales

,which resemble those told Of our

Blessed Saviour in the apocryphal Gospels, are relatedabout

,and associated with

,the infant son Of Amina,

4 6 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

whose birth,with the nearest approach to accuracy,

is fixed for the autumn o f the year A.D . 5 7o .

lfi r

Under the rocks Of the Abu-C obeis, which riseeastward Of Mecca over the narrow valley, stoodthe house Of Amina, the birthplace Of her only son .

At the time o f the infant’s birth, the aged Abd-al

Muttal ib was worshipping in the Kaaba ; and, takingthe child to the sacred shrine, like Simeon Of O l d, helifted him up in his arms, and blessed God and gavethanks, saying, that he was to be called “Mohammad,”

a name in not unfamiliar use before and at the time. 2

But Amina had not long the comfort Of her son’spresence . I t was then customary for the infants Ofher house to be nurtured among the outlying Bedouintribes . Moreover, grief is said to have dried up thefountain Of her breast, and she was thus, for adouble reason

,cons.rained to part with her son, who,

amidst the valleys and hills which range southward o f

Tayif, with his nurse Halima, breathed the pure airOf the desert. Here, too, he learned the purer speecho f Arabia among the Beni-Saad, to wh ich tribe h isfoster-mother belonged, and for wh ich he afterwardsentertained the greatest affection and gratitude.Strange stories, as usual, are made to surround

the infant child in his mountain home . The houseOf Halima is blessed for his sake ; her flocks andherds are

,beyond hope

,prolific amid the green pas

tures where they lie down, and where the still watersnever fail . The child

,too

,grows and increases in

favour with all ; and, more than this, the heavenly

Conf. W. Irving, pp. 12, 13 ; Muir, 11. p . 12.

2 Muir, i i . p. 16 , and note.


messengers are sent,and

,at God ’s command, wring

from his heart the single black drop Of original Sin,

and, so purified and gifted with the prophetic light,he is thus early selected by the Almighty to be thefuture channel to man Of the last and best revelationOf His wi l l . 1

At the end o f two years the infant was weaned andsent to visit his mother, but the latter, whilst Charmedat his healthy looks

,and dreading the unwhole

some air Of Mecca, sent him back to his mountainhome with his nurse, who had so faithfully watchedover h im . When approaching h is fifth year, heappears to have become subject to certain epilepticfits

,wh ich alarmed his foster-parents, as such attacks

were attributed to the influence Of evil spirits, andmade them resolve to rid themselves Of their charge .SO he was again taken to his mother, and the reasonOf the visit explained to her ; and though persuadedto continue their guardianship for some time longer,they finally restored him to Amina when he hadreached his fifth year.

I t would be manifestly unfair to make Mahomet or l zis doctrine answerable for al l the miraculous incidents whi ch haveclustered round nearly every event of his l ife. TO the Koranalone can we look for the only correct exposition of his views .Some O f the stories which occur in the events of his l ife are so

beautiful, that i t i s certainly a matter of regret to be obliged topronounce them devoid of historical value . The passage (suraxciv. I ), Have we not Opened thy breast and eased thee Of thyburden i s thought by some to allude to the above story but iti s more probable that the text itself gave rise to the subsequentlyframed interpretation . Conf. Koran (sura xlvi i . where Ma

bomet is d irected to ask pardon for his sins , thus acknowledgingh imself to be a Sinner. (Via’e Sale’s note aa’ l oc. )

E

4 8 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

In his Sixth year (A.D . 5 75) he paid a visit toYathrib

,better known by its later name Of Medina.

There he saw the tomb Of his father, and foundyouthful relatives Of a companionable age . AtAbwa,a Spot halfway from Medina to his native place

,he

had the misfortune to lose his sole remaining parent.Though the sorrows and griefs of childhood arehappily brief and evanescent

,time appears never to

have obliterated the memory of his mother,nor the

feeling Of desolation which her loss occasioned him .

Years subsequently,after his prOphetic mission had

been preached and accepted,he visited her tomb,

and there lifted up his voiceand wept, and especiallydidhe mourn that the Almighty would not permit himto pray for the parent he SO tenderly loved, inasmuch as she had died in unbelief

,and ignorant Of that

saving faith which her son was sent to proclaim .

The faithful slave Baraka escorted him back toMecca

,and there

,in the house Of his grandfather,

the little orphan found for two years a happy home ;and when Abd-al -Muttal ib died (A.D. 578 ) he consigned to his son Abu-Talib the charge Of the boy.

In the family Of his uncle he was treated as a son,and faithfully, as we shall see, did the generous Abua

Talib, in adversity, and through evil and goodreport, fulfil the sacred trust imposed upon him.

Living thus in the house Of his grandfather anduncle from his s ixth year

,the youthful mind Of

Mahomet cannot but have imbibed lasting and important impressions, from the domestic and socialcircumstances by which, at his susceptible age, hewas surrounded. Abd-al -Muttal ib was the Chief Of


Mecca,and fulfilled

,as his father had before him

,

the most important Of the sacerdotal Offices connected with the national worship . TO him for foodand help resorted the devout pilgrim from his distanthome

,and in his hands was the custody o f the sacred

well Zem Zem . We read, too, that with the otherch iefs Of his family in Mecca he was wont daily tospend some time beneath the sh I dow Of the Kaaba,and that the youthful Mahomet was there his constantcompanion . The grave and dignified manners andwords Of the Old patriarch, daily association with theceremonies Of the holy house

,the superstitious awe

which surrounded the place, the prostrations, theprayers

,and the pious Offerings o f the faithful

,his

own near relationship to the priestly families, theorder and decorum Of the house Of his guardians

,

where the sacred rites were rigidly Observed,al l these

together doubtless strongly and lastingly influencedh im , and gave that tendency to his thoughts whichmanifested itself in the prOphetic character he afterwards assumed .

l

To the sacred Offices held by Abd-al -Muttal ib,Zobier, his second son, succeeded (for the eldest,Al -Harith, was dead), and from him they descendedto Abu Talib but he was poor and unable to meet

N ote, “ Among the religious Observances of the Arabs intheir ‘days O f ignorance —that is to say, before the promulgat ion Of the Moslem doctrines—fasting and prayer had a foremostplace. They had three principal fasts wi thin the year : one ofseven

,one O f nine, and one O f thirty days. They prayed three

t imes a day about sunrise, at noon, and about sunset turningtheir faces in the direction Of the Kaaba, which was their Kebla,or point of adorat ion.

”—\N . Irving, Li fe of Mahomet,

” p. 17.

E 2

50 I SLAM AN D I Ts FOUN DE R .

the demands which the performance o f the hospitableduties involved

,and so the privilege Of supplying

water was made over to Abbas, a younger and richerbrother ; whilst the right Of giving food to the pilgrims was made over to the descendants Of Naufal, abrother o f the munificent Hashim . Still, from thenobility Of h is character, and the gentleness yet firmness Of his disposition, Abu Talib occupied a com

manding position among the richer chiefs Of Meccaas one Of the guardians Of the Kaaba, though hispositive power was less than that Of the richer descendants o f Abd-Shams . The latter was the fatherOf Omeya

,from whom the royal race Of the Omeyades

took their name . Omeya was the father Of Harb,and

Harb OfAbuSofian, afterwards the obstinate Opponentand bitter enemy o f Mahomet.I t was unfortunate for the preservation Of the

rights o f private property,and the orderly execution

o f the l aw,that the powers of the government had

thus become divided among the hostile, or, at anyrate

,rival branches of the house Of C oreish for the

consequence was that there remained no Single chiefin Mecca strong enough to restrain tyranny and op

pression,and to protect the helpless . The incon

venience o f this state Of things,wh ich threatened

seriously to interfere with the commercial prosperityo f the city, led in time to the formation Of a leagueamong the heads o f the Chief families, called theHilf-al -Fadhul,

” the Obj ect Of which was to securethe due and impartial execution o f j ustice .

1

The arrival of the early caravan on its wayMuir, u. 10.


where, in the dim distance o f the western sky, therewould arise to his view the sacred heights Of Horeband Of Sinai, once the scene Of God

’s message to manthrough that mighty Prophet, to whom in after-yearshe ventured to deem himself more than equal . Hewould visit the rocks Of Petra, the glories Of whichhad passed away ; and so to the halting-place atBostra, beyond the accursed valley, where the watersof the Dead Sea were said to hide for ever the devotedC ities Of the plain .

During these j ourneys Mahomet must without!doubt have come in contact with numerous Christians,who, as we have before stated, were scattered overthe regions he visited and it is not improbable thathe may frequently have witnessed the ceremonies Oftheir worship . The Christian Church in the E asthad been for a long time convulsed by theologicalcontroversies . Bitter disputes for centuries Over thegreat mysteries Of the faith had ended in the production Of a number Of sects . There were the Arians,who denied the essential equality Of the three PersonsOf the Godhead ; the Sabellians, who reduced thesePersons to three relations ; and the E utychians, whobelieved in the fusion Of the Godhead and the manhood Of Christ into one nature . There were theJacobites

,adherents Of the Monophysite heresy, the

N az araeans, and the E bionites, numerous in Arabia ,the Marianites, who made the Virgin Mother thethird person in the Trinity ; the Collyridians, whomade Mary their God

,and worshipped her as such ; 1

Koran, sura v . 115“And when God shall say unto Jesus

at the last day, 0 Jesus, Son Of Mary, has t thou said unto


and other sects there were, o f many denomina~tions

,within the borders ofArabia, wh ich took refuge

there from the proscription Of the imperial edicts ”

(Sale, p . We learn, to o , that the worship Of

saints and images had there arrived at a very highpitch

,and that many other superstitions largely pre

vailed (Sale, P .D ., p .

In Syria, Mahomet w ld see the Christian re

l igion the ruling national faith , in full vigour, withits scenic ritual

,i ts crosses

,pictures

,vestments

,pro

cessions,and regularly-recurring services and these

Observances he would, doubtless, compare with that;gross idolatry, in the practice Of which he had grown .

up to years o fmanhood. Still, though those who cal ledthemselves by the name o f the Saviour were numerous in Arabia, in Syria, at Bostra, and at Hira, andthough he must have had full and ample opportunityOf learning the truth Of the things which they believed

,

“ nothing is more remarkable than the gross ignorance Of some Of the leading features Of Christianity,which , notwi thstanding all the means Of informationwhich, at any rate during his residence at Medina, hepossessed, i s displayed by Mahomet (Muir, I . cxci .note) .In the account Of his first j ourney

,in his twelfth

year, miraculous signs crowd upon us, and the visibleprotection Of Heaven accompanies the youthful prophet. At one time the wings Of his guardian angelShield him from the noonday heat ; at another, the

men, take me andmy mother for two gods, beside God! ” Fromthis passage i t i s evident that this early worship Of Mary wasknown to Mahomet.


withered trees Of the desert are clothed in livinggreen, to afford shelter to the chosen Of Heaven

(W. I rving, p . At Bostra, a city lying eastward Ofthe Jordan

,and chiefly inhabited by Nestorian Chris

tians, where the caravan halted, the prophetic lightwhich shone in h is face

,and the seal O f prophecy

between his shoulders, are seen and recognized by amonk Of a neighbouring convent. By him the youthis ho spitably entertained and instructed in the truefaith Of the living God but especially

,and thus early,

i s there sown in his heart a deep-rooted abhorrence Ofthat idolatry in which he had hitherto been educated .

2

This Nestorian monk is variously called Bahira,

Sergius or J ergis, Felix and Said, and the whole storyis SO mixed up with fable as to make it

,as it stands,

quite unworthy o f belief. I t is quite possible thatMahomet may have imbibed impressions

,or received

instruction similar to that noted in the text,during

one Of his commercial visits to the Syrian towns andwe are further assured that he was on intimate andfamiliar terms with several persons Of the Christianand Jewish faith . I t appears a vain and unprofitabletask to inquire at what particular time he adoptedhis iconoclastic views, and was led to assert hisespecial dogma Of the unity Of the Godhead . Themost superficial acquaintance with the books Of the

This i s an O l dmyth, and occurs in the story of the lambentflame which played in the hair ofAscanius, and that settled onthe cradle of Servius Tullius (Livy, i.

2 Prideaux, Life of Mahomet,

” p . 7 ; Muir, i . 36, note ;Lamartine, i . p . 91 Dr. Sprenger, “ Li fe OfMahomet,” p . 79 ;W. Irving, p . 21. Conf. also Sale, Koran, sura xvi. p . 223,where the question is discussed .

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN D E R. 5 5

O ld Testament—such knowledge as he had ful l andample opportunity Of gaining, would impress on h ismind the great salient fact that idolatry and theworship Of strange gods was the one especial sin whichuniformly provoked the wrath of Heaven, and calleddown temporal punishment upon that chosen nation

,

whose especial mission it was to keep alive in theearth the knowledge O f Him in whose worship nograven image was to take part. If we can assume hisacquaintance with the first two Mosaic commandments

,or if he had learnt the “ Shema (Deut. vi . 4 )

usually taught to Jewish ch ildren, even o f the humbleclasses

,

1 we have sufficient data to account for thetwo special doctrines which he " sough t afterwards toenforce.

2

At the annual fair at O catz , which he attended ,there is reason to believe that he listened to the fervideloquence and pure doctrine preached by Coss

,the

Christian bishop Of Najran,and there he may have

Farrar,

Li fe Of Christ, ” i . 89, note.2 On this head Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi, has kindly favouredme with the following remarks, in answer to an inquiry whetherthe Decalogue formed part Of the daily services of the Jews atthat t ime. He says : “ At the t ime when he (Mahomet ) l ived,i t is probable that the recitation O f the Decalogue did not forman integral portion O f the daily public service ; for we are toldthat the priests recited i t at theTemple service, but that laymenu ere not to include i t in their daily devotions

,les t they should

imagine that these were the only precepts given in the l aw.

(Talmud Berachoth . ) Still the Decalogue is included in everyprayer-book , andwas read as the lesson O f the day on the Feast.O f Pentecost, and on two Sabbaths of the year. Mahomet wouldhave become acquainted wi th the prohibi tions O f images from hisintercourse wi th Jews . ”


imbibed the germs Of that faith round which thetribes Of Arabia were one day to rally. The mutualanimosity Of Jew towards Christian, though both professed to worship the true God, though both appealedto the O ld Testament

,and both equally revered the

name OfAbraham and professed to abhor that idolatryin which he had been bred, may have led him tothink that possibly some divine truth lay hid in boththese systems Of belief

,though covered and concealed

by human inventions, and may have suggested tohim the possibility Of forming out Of these conflictingelements one single simple catholic creed

,and Of

thus uniting mankind in the worship and love Of theGreat Father Of al l f} ,

And so the life of Mahomet ran on. At theage Of twenty (A.D . 5 90) he is found engaged inwhat is called Fijar

,or

“ the Sacrilegious War,

” inwh ich he was present with his uncles and dischargedarrows at the enemy.

” 1 This arose from a feud between the C oreish and the Beni Hawaz in

,a tribe Of

kindred origin,and gained its name from having been

fought within the sacred territory and during one Ofthe sacred months. At this time, too, he was employed

,like Moses and David Of Old

,in tending

Sheep, and in following the ewes great with young, inthe valley beneath the Slopes Of the Jebel Jyad, southo f Mecca. Such an occupation was suited to the contempl ative and thoughtful mind Of the youth , whosepure manners and unobtrusive demeanour gained himthe title of “Al -Amin,

”or

“ the Faithful .”

When he had reached his twenty-fifth year,on

Muir, I I. 6 .


the recommendation Of Abu Talib, he entered theservice o f Khadija, a rich widow Of Mecca. She was

Of the house Of C oreish, the daughter o f Khuweil id,who was the son OfAsad

,the son OfAbd-al -O z z a, the

son of Cussai . With Meisara,her servant, he was

placed in charge o f the widows ’ merchandise ; andaccompanying the yearly caravan to the north

,by

judicious barter with the Syrian merchants Of Bostra,Aleppo

,and Damascus

,succeeded in doubling Kha

dija’s venture . From Marr-al -Tz ahran, the last halt

ing-place on the return j ourney before Mecca, hewas sent forward to announce to h is thrifty and expectant mistress the success Of their j ourney. Thewidow was charmed with the nObl e features Of theingenuous youth

,and her heart was touched with a

soft and irresistible feeling. The negotiations andadvances which her love and modesty set on footsoon brought about the union she desired . Thehome Of Mahomet and Khadija was a bright andhappy one, and their marriage fortunate and fruitful .Two sons and four daughters were its issue . Theireldest son was Casim

,who died at the age Of two

years ; then followed (in what precise order is nuknown) four daughters, —Zeinab, R o ckeya, Om-KO I

thum , and Fatima and lastly a son,generally known

by the name ofAbdallah, who died in infancy.

The wealth of Khadija raised Mahomet to alevel with the other chiefs Of his house, a nd re

l ieved him from the shepherd’s crook and from hisduties among the camel-drivers of Mecca. The loveo f Khadija, who had at first been attracted by hisnoble and pleasing exterior

,increased daily at the


recognition Of the sterling qualities wh ich her partialheartwas ready to discover in the husband o fher choice.

Though usually reserved and thoughtful, he was knownat times to unbend

,and to yield to a vein Of humour,

which occasionally tinged his graver words . He wasable to keep his passions under the strongest control,and in his general intercourse amongst his friends

,the

affectionate though Often hidden impulses o f h i sheart knew how to “ grapple with hooks Of steel ”

those whom h is commanding aspect at first hadawed and attracted . But the chief idiosyncrasy ofhis character was a quiet patient determination Of

will and fixedness g” purpose, which neither years of

Opposition nor personal danger nor exile could subdue, and which “ was destined to achieve the marvellous work Of bowing towards him the hearts of a l l

Arabia as the heart O f one man (Muir, i i .In all his troubles

,and amid all his mental

doubts and conflicts,he had one tender and affec

tionate bosom into which he could pour his griefs,and to which he could

,in later years, confide the

story Of the ecstatic visions which , in the solitary caveo r on the arid uplands, haunted his day dreams andhis nightly vigils . For the heart Of Mahomet didsafely trust her

,and Khadija yielded to him her

faith ; and when the world called him impostor andCheat, she was the first to acknowledge him to beindeed the apostle Of God .

In his thirty-fifth year, the Kaaba having beenseriously injured by the action Of one o f those periodicdeluges to which the valley Of Mecca is to the presentday liable

,the ch iefs Of the Co reish set about the task


belief in the divineness Of his mission , and strengthened his claim on the faith Of his adherents .Though after his marriage with Khadija he still

continued his commercial pursuits, and at timesaccompanied the yearly caravans north and south

,

and visited the fairs Of Arabia, he yet had ampleleisure for that religious meditation to which hewas naturally inclined . The general bias Of his mindin this direction

,fostered by his early training and

associations in the house Of Abd—al -Muttal ib and o fAbu Talib

,inclined him to speculation in matters of

faith and this was further stimulated by the view o f

the gross idolatry which he saw practised at theKaaba

,as contrasted with the more spiritual worship

Of the Christian and Jew, o fwhich he had been witnesson his visits to Syria. With the real doctrines andtrue teaching Of neither Of these religions had hemade himself acquainted . He knew not how in theeternal purpose Of God the ritual Of the Mosaic dis

pensation, its hallowed priesthood, its bleeding sacrifices, its lamb without spot or blemish

,the blood

sprinkled on the mercy-seat, were types and shadowsOf Him who was to come. Of the need Of aR edeemer, “

and Of the finished Afoneznenz‘, he knewnothing ! and he doubtless formed his Opinion Of theChristian religion and Of the Jewish Church chieflyfrom corrupt Chris tian sects who paid adoration tothe Virgin Mary and to saints and images, and fromthe Jewish communities he met on his j ourneys, andwhom he considered no less idolatrous . With sucherroneous notions

,and the sight of the mutual

hatred,the divergent worship and recriminations alike


of Jew and Gentile,i t is scarcely to be marvelled at

that the necessity for some reformation occurred tohim and that his solitary musings aided him in fixinghis mind on the task which he set before himself Offreeing the Observances Of religion from all visibleObjects o f idolatrous adoration , and o f reducing thefaith Of the creature to its Original purity, the sumand substance o f wh ich was to be the worship o f theone only God!Such were probably some Of the thoughts which

occupied him ; but other influences there were at

work which further directed his mind in this field Ofspeculation . In the house of Khadija, Wargca, hercousin, was quent and a welcome visitor. He issaid to have been a convert to Christianity

,and to

have had some knowledge Of the Scriptures o f bothChristian and J ew. From him Mahomet is “ thoughtto have derived much Of his information regardingthese writings, and many of the traditions Of theMishna and Talmud, on which he draws SO Copiouslyin the Koran .

” 1 From Zeid also,

2 his adopted son,sprung from Arab tribes in which Christianity hadmade considerable progress, he would gather somedim impressions Of the teachings Of the Christianfaith and Othman

,

3 too,another cousin Of Khadija,

who had embraced Christianity at Constantinople,

W . Irving, Li fe OfMahomet, p . 29.

2 For his previous history, see Muir, i i. 47.2 O thman Ibn-Huweirith, cousin of Khadija . He was put todeath at Constantinople. He is not to be confounded wi thO thman-Ibn-Affan, afterwards Caliph.


would further instruct him in the chief tenets whichhe hecFrom the knowledge thus gained by actual in

tercourse with those who had been instructed,how

ever imperfectly, in a better faith : from the generalSpiri t Of inquiry wh ich is said to have prevailed at thetime ! from what he himself had seen and learnt Ofthe nature of Christi an and Jewish worship

,and from

dim traditions Of the purer faith Of their ancestorAbraham

,he gradual ly became sensible how much

such pure adoration was at variance with the grossand degrading idolatry wh ich prevailed in ArabiaWith a brooding anxiety for something that wouldanswer the secret longings Of his soul

,he began to

withdraw himself from the busy scenes Of the city tothe barren h il l s, whose desolate solitudes were congenial to h is meditative and melancholy nature.

We read that Often with his faithful wife herepaired to the cave Of Hiréi l for meditation andprayer, and that his long and anxious vigils and nightlywanderings were followed by ecstasies, and trances,and convulsive fits long continued

,which alarmed

h is wife, but in which “ the faithful see the beginning of the working Of the Spirit of God, and thethroes Of a mind burdened with a revelation morethan human . His tendency to epileptic attacks, andhis long vigils

,sufficiently account for these pheno

Mount Hira‘. l ies about three miles north of Mecca, and i sabout a quarter Of a league to the left of the road to Arafat, andbeyond the Sherifs ’ summer-house. The cave is about fouryards long, and varies in breadth from one to three yards (wideMuir

,i i . 55, notes).


mena . TO the faithful,however

,they constituted the

ordeal through wh ich he had to pass before he couldbe made the means Of revealing the message OfHeaven .

It i s not easy for an adherent Of any other religionto form an impartial opinion upon the part played bythe founder Of Islam . Of those who deny the truthOf the claims which Mahomet sets forth

,the j udg

ments have been,and probably will continue to be

,

very divergent. Luther looked upon him as a deviland the firstborn child Of Satan .

” The gentle Mel anchthon considered that Mahomet was inspired bySatan , because he does no t explain what sin is, andshoweth not the reason of human misery.

” Maracc i,

on the Papal side,was Of Opinion that Mahometanism

and Lutheranism were not very dissimilar, witnessthe iconoclastic tendencies of both .

”Spanheim and

D’Herbel otwere l iberal in their epithets Of “wicked impostor

,

” dastardly liar,

”&c .

,with reference to h im .

1

By one earnest and learnedwriter 2 he is pronounced awilful and intentional deceiver from first to last, who,for the purpose Of raising himself to supreme power,invented the wicked imposture which he palmed withSO much success on the world . He is accused, inprosecution Ofhis design

,Of having abandoned a l icen

tious course of life, and Of having affected that o f anE remite, in order to gain “ a reputation for sanctitybefore he set up for prophet ” and with his accom

pl ices in the cave, Of having made his Al -Koran ”

whilst pretending that his visits there were for fasting

Quarterly Review, O ctober, 1869.

2 Prideaux, “Life OfMahomet,

” pp. 11, 110.

64 ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

and prayer ; and generally that hypocrisy, the lust Ofpower

,and lechery were the sole and leading principles

Of his conduct. Such indiscriminate abuse is unsup~

ported by facts, and cannot be justified by a referenceto what is known Of his early conduct. His life upto the time of his assumption Of the prOphetiC character is eminently decorous, for all authorities agreein ascribing to the youth Of Mahomet a correctness Ofdeportment and a purity Of manners rare among thepeople Of Mecca.

” 1

Happily the time has come when the use Ofbitter epithets

,and the sweeping condemnation Of

those who agree not with us,are no longer demanded

in religious controversies . Critics Of the present ageare men Of greater enlightenment

, Of truer education,and Of a charity that weighs in a juster balance themotive and deeds Of those mighty men who forgood or for evil have graven their names on thepage Of history. A recent writer 2 rej oices thatjustice can now be dealt to Mahomet without fearo f misconception or misrepresentation .

“ I t is nolonger thought

,

” he says,

“ any part of the duty Of aChristian writerto see nothing but wickedness andimposture in the author Of the great antagonisticcreed.

”

His domestic conduct was that Of a faithful andaffectionate husband

,whilst his reserved, medita

tive, and sober manners in public secured him thelove and praise Of his fellow-townsmen . It i s im~

possible to suppose,if his conduct and character

1 Muir, I I . 14 .

2 Freeman , “ History of the'

Saracens, p . 38 .

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . 6 5

had been licentious and hypocritical, that the reputation which he established and maintained wouldhave been as high and faultless as it was . Judgingh is motives by his acts

,and by those parts Of the

Koran which he first promulgated, our view Of Mahomet will at once differ from those who admit h isloftiest claims, and from those who denounce him as

the worst andmost successful impostor the world hasseen . We shall see in him the picture Of a soul atfirst honestly searching for the ligh t amid ecstaticvisions Of heaven and hel l , under conviction Of theunity Of God, and Of His beneficent kindness , andpersuaded that the raging fire and the pit were forthose whose balances were not heavy with gooddeeds ; 1 Of one believing in the future judgment ofthe righteous God 2 and in the fate Of those nations

,

the ch ildren Of Ad and the Thamudites, who multiplied corruptions on the earth

,and were swept away

for their rej ection Of the Lord and His apostles .3

Amid such visions and fancies,groping his way to a

purer faith , he at length came to believe that thetrances and mental paroxysms

,which drove him to

meditate suicide,

‘2 were the true working of the sameGodwho in ages past had inspired other messengers,and now had selected him for the same high Offi ce .

Koran , sura ci . 1- 8 .

2 Sura xcv .

Sura lxxxiv. 1—8 . Muir thinks that at this period his Speenl ations unburdened themselves in wild and impassioned verses

,

and that these were afterwards embodied and preserved in theKoran .

He was about to throw himself from Mount Thubeir, butwas arrested by a. voice from heaven (Muir, i i .

F 2

6 6 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

Such a thought once harboured in his soul, theidea Of a D ivine commission ” would soon befully formed

, grow strong, and be identified with hisdesire to give to his native land a purer faith ; andthen

,almost unconsciously

,the demon Of spiritual

pride and ambition would begin its subtle work, andthus “ at this crisis the fate Of Mahomet and OfIslam trembled in the balance . I t was his hour Oftrial, and he fell ” (Muir, i i .Assuming that his early longings after a more

spiritual faith , and his searchings after God were earnest and real

,the Christian scholar who contemplates

him at th is, the turning point Of his career, will viewwith regret the melancholy result Of his aspirations .For i t i s hard to believe that the Spiri t Of Truthleaves in darkness and error the honest heart wh ichlooks to Him for light. If Mahomet’s SO l e purposehad been the search after truth , if his eye had beenSingle

,the still small voice would have doubtless sug

gested the way ; some Philip, in his desert Gaza,would have pointed him to the true Light ; the teaching

,which the great Apostle of the Gentiles found in

that land o f Arabia,would have been his also, and

Mahomet might have become a bright herald of thecross to its idolatrous tribes . But the stealthy advancesOf a worldly ambition blinded his mental vision,bluntedhis dependence on a higher Power, and by the suggestions Of the E vil One took captive his soul, andchained it in that delusive

,yet strong and unwaver

ing belief,which swayed his future career, and

retained a paramount influence over him to the houro f his death

,—that he was the ordained OfHeaven, the


knot of devoted friends,without power, but whose

ardent faith and attachment were all in all to him ,

and provided him a more than sufficient recom

pense for the scorn and Obloquy which he had toendure. Thus formany years he persevered, preachingand believing in the truth o f his mission, neverwavering in his faith

,never doubtful Of the reality Of

that revelation which called down upon him ridiculeand persecution

, which compelled some Of his nearestrelatives and followers to take refuge beyond the sea,which placed his life in danger

,broke up his home,

and, as a hunted fugitive drove him at last to takerefuge in exile and in fl ight. Thus

,then, in the

absence Of any more adequate reason, we are led toconsider that a substantial belief in the reality Of adivine commission to preach

,and to re-establish in

the world what he considered the original s implefaith

,sustained and impelled him forward , excited

the enthusiasm Of his adherents,and was the secret

motive which called intobeing those spiritual claimsOf wh ich the results have been SO memorable .

And, as time goes on,we shall also find how

these impulses,wh ich at first may have aimed at the

light, become more and more tinged with the thingsOf earth and the th ings Of sense ; how, by degrees,the forbearance Of his early years is abandoned, andis succeeded by acts Of vindictive revenge, by rapineand lust ; and how still he makes bold in believingthese revelations which

,under the name Of the

Almighty,are invoked to justify his deeds and thus,

by the very deceitfulness Of his heart, he comes toconsider his wi l d and sinful impulse as the will OfHeaven

,and as indubitable inspiration from on high .

CHAPTE R IV.

MAHOMET’S LE GATION AN D THE FIRST E STABLISHME N T

O F I SLAM . 6 10

WITH such religious speculations possessing hismind

,he approached his fortieth year,1 and was

spending the month Of Ramadhan in the cave Of

Hira. I t was the night OfAl Kadr, “ which is betterthan a thousand months : therein do the angels descend, and the Spirit Of Gabriel also, by the permission Of the Lord

,with the decrees concerning every

matter, and it is peace until the rising of the mom”

(Koran , sura —when there appeared to him“one mighty in power

,endued with understand

ing ; he appeared in the highest part Ofthe horizon . Afterwards, he approached the prophet, and drew near unto him, until he was at thedistance Of two bows’ length from him

, or yet nearerand he revealed unto his servant that which herevealed ”

(Koran, sura I t was the angel Gabriel

,who held in his hand a silken cloth covered

with writing, and bid Mahomet read but he replied ,

Conf. Koran, sura x . 17 I have already dwelt amongyou [the men Of Mecca] to the age O f forty years .


that he could no t. Then the angel, repeating part Ofthe ninety-sixth sura

,Spoke as follows Read in

the name o f the Lord, who hath created all things .Read, by the most beneficent Lord, who taught the useOf the pen who teacheth man that which he knowethnot (Koran , sura xcvi . 1 And then the angelleft him , and the words were as though they were en

graved on his heart .1 Such was the first appearanceto him Of the heavenly messenger, and the first intimation o f the Divine will.And then we are told that there was an interval

Of doubt and despondency in his mind he was per

p l exed, and dreaded lest these beginnings Of his inSpiration might in reality be promptings Of evil spiritsand genii ; and, driven to desperation, he contemplated suicide, but was held back by invisible hands .After a sufficient “ intermission, the voice returned ,and the angel

,from a throne between heaven and

earth , thus addressed him Oh , Mohammed thouart the apostle Of God, and I am Gabriel .” This intimation strengthened h is heart, allayed his fears , andat length

,persuaded of his divine appointment

,he

went to announce the glad tidings to Khadija.

Overj oyed at the news, she now understandsthe meaning of the strange visitations which hadfallen on her . husband, at once accepts the truth o fh is divine mission

,and her faith, we learn, comforted

and reassured him . Waraca, too, confirms the agitated mind of the prophet, and tells him that the

Koran , sura l l . 91 :“ For he hath caused the Koran to

descend on thyheart by the permission of God a directionand good tidings to the faithful . ”

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 7 I

angel who had appeared to him was the same as announced to Moses his mission . Zeid , his adoptedson, embraces the faith , and to these were added thenames Of two others, his adopted sonAl i, and AbuBekr, both afterwards caliphs, and both reckonedamongst the earliest believers . Al i was the son OfAbuTalib, and cousin Of the prophet, but nearly th irtyyears h is junior. Abu Talib, however, had fallen on

evil days, and when the burden Of a numerous familypressed too heavily upon him, h is former kindness toMahomet was gratefully remembered, who , beingthen in affluent circumstances , took upon himself thecharge o f Ah , adopted him in place o f his own lostCasim,

and they afterwards felt towards each otherthe mutual attachment Of parent and child. At thetime when Mahomet assumed the prophetic character

,Al i was about fourteen years Of age, but with the

permission Of Abu Talib grew up in the faith O f hisadopted father.Abu Bekr belonged to a collateral branch Of the

house of C oreish, being descended from Taym, theson Of Morrah , the grandfather Of the celebratedCussai. Hewas about the same age, and the bosomfriend Of Mahomet ; h is charity was unbounded , hischaracter gentle and unimpulsive, his passions alwavsunder the control o f reason, and his firm and un

wavering mind manifested no hesitation at the pro~

phet’

s call to accept Islam . His proper name wasAbdallah , and his firm attachment to Mahomet gainedhim the name Of “ Al -Sadiq,” or

“ The True .

” Inhistory he is celebrated under the name OfAbuBekr

,

or “ the Father O f the Virgin,” a surname gained from


the fact that Ayesha, h is daughter, was the only virginbride of the prophet .By the influence o f Abu Bekr five new con

verts were added to Islam : Saad, a nephew OfAmina ; Zobier, a nephew o f Khadija Tal ha

,after

wards a valiant warrior O f the faith ; O thman-ibu

Affan,

l subsequently caliph ; and Abd-al -Rahman ,the son ofAwf, whose four companions, on their firstvisit to the prophet, embraced the new doctrines .O thers were gradually added to the little band o f thefaithful . Of these may be mentioned Said- ibn-Zeid,then a boy

,and his wife Fatima, sister of Zeid

ibn-Khattab,and Of the famous Omar, afterwards

caliph . In al l,it may be assumed that in the first

three or four years a small group Of th irty or fortyconverts were the fruits Of the secret preaching andprivate solicitation Of the prophet . 2

I t was towards the end Of this period that theprophet received, as he supposed

,the divine com

mand to preacnopenly the doctrines he had hithertosecretly promulgated . I t was either on Mount Hira,o r when, after being reviled by certain Of the COreish, he was sitting pensive and wrapped in hismantle,” 3 that the same angelic messenger came, andthus addressed h im thou covered, arise andp reach

,and magnify the Lord

,and clean thy gar

m ents, and fly every abomination and be not liberalin hopes to receive more in return, and patiently wait

O thman was descended from Omeya, a son OfAbd-Shams,and by his mother was a grandson OfAbd-al -Muttal ib.

2 Muir, Life Of Mahomet,

” i i . 111, 112.

3 Sale’ s “ Koran , ” p . 471, note.


for thy Lord . Let me alone with h im 1 whom Ihave created, on whom I have bestowed abundantriches, he is an adversary to our Signs I willaffl ict him with grievous calamities . May he becursed ; (I again may he be cursed ; hewas elated with pride and he said th is is no otherthan a piece of magic, I will cast him to bebound in hell ” (Koran, suraSuch then was the commission to preach Openly,

and as such it affords a view o f the Opposition whichhe had already met with

,and Of the form of that

Opposition . They taunted him with being a magician .

We may also notice how,in his bitter and vindictive

feelings,the authority of Heaven is sought to curse

those who “ frowned on him and put on an austerecountenance

,and turned their backs .” 2 For

,though

1 The person alluded to is supposed to be Wal id-ibn-alMagheira, a chief man among the C o reish—the same who hadbegun the restoration Of the Kaaba. Mahomet treats his uncleAbu-Lahfib wi th similar curses for the bitter hostility withwhichhe sought to Oppose the establ ishment of the new religion .

Thus,

“ Let the hands Of Abu-Lahfib perish (or let him bedamned) , and he Shall perish. His riches shal l not profit him

he shal l go down to be burned into flaming fire and his

wife also bearing wood , having on her neck a cord Of twistedfibres of a palm-tree ” (Koran, sura Abu-Lahfib

’

s Wife,C m-Jemil , a sister Of Abu-Sofian, had offended Mahomet bystrewing thorns in his path, and thus comes in for her reward.

Conf. Sale ’s Koran, ” sura cxi . notes ad l oc. Muir,i i . 80 °

Kasimirski, p . 538 , note ; D’

Herbel Ot, art.“ Abou -Lahab

,

who relates the tradit ional realizat ion O fMahomet ’s curse.2 As a further specimen o f this , the

‘

fo l l owing may be mentioned. I t i s a quotation from the Koran, and i s supposed tobe levelled againSP Wal id-ibn-al -Magheira :

“O bey not any

who is a common swearer, a despicable fellow, a defamer,


hitherto Mahomet had contented himself with makingknown his doctrines privately among h is relatives andfriends , and those whom their conversion allured tothe new faith

,the progress O f his work had been suffi

cient to excite the hatred and alarm Of the C oreish—the priestly caste— from whose ranks converts hadbeen made

,and to arouse the Opposition o f all those

who directly or indirectly were interested in theconservation Of

l

the rites Of the Kaaba, and thecontinuance Of Mecca as a place Of pilgrimage forthe whole o fArabia.

We may be well assured that the chiefs Of theC oreish were deeply interested in the retention Of thatidolatry which made Mecca at once a centre Of rel igions resort and a flourishing and important commercial emporium . To attack its idols was toattack Mecca ; for any diminution Of the supersti

tious veneration in wh ich it was held,would be fol

lowed by a loss Of those pecuniary advantages whichthey derived from their sacerdotal functions , o r theirtrade and so it is found that wh ile calling upon himfor some heaven-sent proof1 Of the truth Of the claims hegoing about to Slander cruel and besides this , of spurions birth we wi ll s tigmatize him on the nose ” (Suralxvi ii . 11 Tradition says that the prophetical menace wasmade good at the battle of Bedr, where Wal id had his nosesl it ! TO reprove common swearing,” and condemn slander ”and cruelty,” is legi timate enough but to reproach anyman

with his spurious birth betrays a degree of personal rancouraltogether unworthy Of the prOphetiC character to which he pret znded. Yet the above are words put into the mouth of theAlmighty !

1 They demanded some miracle, such as turning the l ittle hillSafa into gold , 810 but he refused, declared his inability, and


‘

he may confirm those who believe . We,also, know

that they say,Verily a certain man teacheth him

to compose the Koran ; the tongue Of the personunto whom they incline is a foreign tongue, &c .

1

This person was deeply attached to Mahomet andhis doctrine

,and on h i s fl ight

,abandoning all his

wealth,followed him to Medina.

And SO believers were added till they reachedabout fifty ; among whom are numbered many whowere in menial o r servile positions at Mecca . Theincarcerations and tortures, chiefly by thirst in the burning rays Of the sun , to which these humble converts weresubj ected

,to induce their recantation and adoration Of

the national idols, touched the heart Of Mahomet, andby divine authority he permitted them

,under certain

circumstances,to deny their faith, SO long as their

hearts were steadfast in it. Thus Whoever deniethGod

,after he hath believed, except him who shall

be compelled against hi s will,whose heart con

tinueth steadfast in the fai th, shall be chastised”

(Koran , sura xvi . I t should be related thatthe history Of Islam can afford examples Of those whohave refused to avail themselves Of the permissionhere given

,a permission which must he confessed to

be subvers ive Of all morality .

3

Among the chief Opponents of Mahomet andhis doc trines were, as mentioned above, Wal id andAbu Lahab, his uncle ; to these may be added Abu

1 Koran,sura xvi. 104 , 105 .

2 Conf. Sale, chap. xvi . p . 224 .

3 Conf. also 2 Kings v. 18 , where the heathen N azman ask sforgiveness for bowing in the house of Rimmon .


Sofian, the son Of Harb, the grandson o f Omeya, andgreat-grandson Of Abd Shams . He was a man O f

great wealth,and one Of the most influential men in

Mecca. Abu Jahl,

1a C oreishite, descended from

Yokdha, uncle Of Cussai was also a bitter and abusive opponent Of the new doctrines . One day, havingcovered Mahomet

,whom he met on the hill of Safa,

with a shower Of Opprobrious epithets, and perhapseven blows—al l which were patiently borne— thematter was reported to Hamza

,Mahomet’s uncle, a

mighty hunter,who , with his bow and arrows , was

j ust returning from the chase . Indignant, he pursued Abu Jahl , found h im Sitting in the Kaaba, infl icted immediate chastisement, and at once adopting

1 Abu Jahl . The real name of this man, an implacable ad

versary of Mahomet, was Amru ibn Hestam ,but was subse

quently surnamed Abu Jahl , or the Father O f Folly .

” In theKoran he i s thought to be alluded to thus There is a man

who disputeth concerning God, wi thout either knowledge or adirection—proudly turning his s ide—ou the resurrection we wil lmake him taste the torment Of burning ”

(Koran, sura xxii . 8 ,His injust i ce to an orphan is also supposed to be alluded

to in Sura cvii . 2, though the passage i s also applied to AbuSofian and to Wal id ibn al Magheira. He advised theMeccansto put Mahomet to death. Thus “ Cal l to mind how the nubelievers plotted against thee

,to put thee to death or expel thee

the city, but God laid a plot against them ; and God is the bestlayer Of plots (Koran, sura viii . 30 cl seq. He was a boastful

,

debauched man, and perished at the battle Of Bedr. I t is t elated of him that, being a near neighbour O f Mahomet, he usedto fl ing unclean and O ffensive things at the prophet and uponthe hearth as be cooked his food . His example

,i t i s added,

was followed by some of the neighbours but beyond suchtreatment and invective, Mahomet had to suffer hardly anyinjuryOf a personal nature.


the doctrines and faith Of his nephew,was his faithful

and vigorous supporter till his death at the battle OfObod.

Up to the fifth year o f his m inistry (A.D. 6 15 )Mahomet was probably free from the apprehension Ofpersonal danger, and in this he fared better thanthose converts Of servile position

,who were

,as we

have seen , exposed to chains and imprisonment, andwhose scars and wounds Showed the sufferings theyhad been called on to endure . His steady and

constant protector was the amiable and venerableAbu Talib, who, though poor, yet, as ' the head O f thehouse o f Hashim

,had bOth the power and inclination

to Sh ield from his hostile kinsmen the nephew whohad been intrusted to h is care

,and yet whose faith he

had no t adopted .

I t will perhaps be well at thi s stage to glanceat the internal relations Of Mahomet’s family. As

above related, h is son Casim died at the age o f two

years . His eldest daughter,Zeinab

,had been given

in marriage to a C oreishite o f the house Of AbdShams,Abul-Aas by name, who was also a nephew,

byhis mother, Of Khadija. On Mahomet’s fligh t toMedina, she remained behind at Mecca with herhusband, to whom she was much attached. Thelatter resisted the solicitations Of his relatives to repudiate his wife . At the battle of Bedr, in wh ich hefought against Mahomet

,for he was no t then a be

l iever,he was taken prisoner and liberated on condi

tion of sending Zeinab to her father. She died inthe ninth year Of the Hej ira of the injuries she hadreceived at the hands of the C oreish on her escape

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 70

from Mecca but before her death her husband hadbecome a convert

,and lived for a short time in hap

piness with her at Medina.

R o ckeya and Omm C o l thum ,his second and

third daughters, were married to O tha and O teiba,

sons OfAbu Lahfib . On the assumption o f the prophetic Office, the latter, as we have seen, became oneOf Mahomet ’s bitterest Opponents, and influenced h issons to repudiate their wives . R ockeya was thengiven to Othman -ibn-Affan . She was, as we shallsee

,with her husband, one Of the emigrants to Abys

sinia, and died ten o r twelve years after her secondmarriage at Medina. Omm C o l thum , repudiated asabove mentioned, was, on the death Of R o ckeya,also united to O thman—ibn—Affan. She died beforeZeinab . Fatima

,between whom and Al i an attach

ment had gradually sprung up , was left behind at

Mecca on Mahomet’s fl ight, but j oined him afterwards at Medina, and was married to her betrothed .

Within two years she gave birth successively to twosons

,Hasan and Hosein

,who were born in the years

A.D . 6 25 and 6 26 .

To avoid the indignities and persecution to whichmany Of h is followers were exposed, Mahomet advised them to seek protection in a foreign land .

The suggestion was adopted,and in the fifth year Of

his mission , eleven men, four Of them with theirwives, embarked at Shueiba, a port near Jiddah

,

and found a welcome asylum at the court Of Abyssinia . Three months afterwards the fugitives returned ,having received a report of the conversion Of theC oreish to the new doctrines . This proving, without

G


foundation,a second emigration took place about the

year A.D. 6 16 . Smal l bodies Of converts from timeto time j oined themselves to the little band inAbyssinia, till their number amounted to about onehundred. Some returned afterwards to Mecca

,and

the rest j oined Mahomet at Medina,in the seventh

year Of the Hej ira.

The report which had reached the fugitives con

cerning the conversion o f the C oreish arose fromthe following C ircumstance. I t i s said that at thetime Of their first departure a season Of deep depression fell upon Mahomet. For years he hadsuffered the scorn and malice Of his Opponents ;he had preached and prayed

,and yet but fifty

converts had been the fruits Of his five years’ mission . Barren as had been the results of the past,in the future he had’

before him a dark, Cheerless

prospect of continued opposition, of contumely, and

perhaps Of eventual failure . His heart and soul werewearied with waiting, and he longed, if it were possible

,for a reconciliation . One day

,whilst sitting by

the Kaaba,he uttered

,in the hearing of his oppo

nents, words of compromise regarding their godsAl -Lat and Al -O z z a and Manah that their intercession m ight be hoped forwith God. These words werelistened to with surprise by the idolaters who werepresent

,and a reconciliation seemed possible ; but

Within a few days the concession he had made wasby the prophet attributed to a suggestion Of the E vilOne, was uncompromisingly withdrawn, and the idolworship condemned and reprobated, thus Whatthink ye Of Al -Lat, and Al -O z z a, and Manah, that


other third goddess ! they are no other thanempty names

,which ye and your fathers have named

goddesses (Sura liii . 19— 2

And, again What think ye ! Show me what

part of the earth the idols which ye invoke, besidesGod, have created ! Bring me a book of Scripturerevealed before th is, or some footstep of ancientknowledge

,to countenance your idolatrous practices

if ye be men Of veracity ” (sura xlvi . I 4 , wherehe asserts that no system Of Scriptural belief evercountenanced idol-worship .

The trumpet Of the prophet having given thus nouncertain sound, h is ships were burnt on the strand,and the door Of any compromise with the idolaters shutfor ever. That he had strangely vacillated he longremembered, and felt Often afterwards a deep consciousness o f the danger he had run . In one Ofthe later Meccan suras he thus writes It wantedlittle, but the unbelievers had tempted thee toswerve from the instructions which we had revealedunto thee, that thou shouldst devise concerning us adifferent thing ; and then would they have taken theefor their friend ; and unless we had confirmed thee,thou hadst certainly been very near inclining untothem a l ittl e

”

(Koran, sura xviii. 75 ,Doubtless this circumstance did h im and his

cause harm, gave his enemies a handle to reproachhim with want Of consistency

,to call him a Fabri

cator ” and a Forger,

” 2 and induced them to assumean attitude Of more decided hostility to him thanbefore. Finding that Mahomet was not to be alarmed

,

1 On this see Sale’s note ad l oc.2 Suras xlvi . 6 , 7 ; xvi . 103.

G 2

8 2 I SLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

o r brought to change his proceedings , they made anattempt to alienate from h im the powerful and steadyprotection Of his uncle, Abu Talib and for this purpose sent tO 'him a deputation Of the most powerful andviolent opponents O f Islam . They represented toAbuTalib, who was stil l an adherent Of the Old superstition, that h is nephew had spoken opprobriouslyo f their idols, “ saying that they be no gods which are

made with hands,” and had condemned their rel igion moreover

,that he had abused them as fools

,

and also given out that their forefathers had all goneastray ; 1 and they requested that Mahomet might beleft to them to be dealt with .

Abu Talib,with courteous and gentle words

,

refused to accede to their request, but representingmatters firmly to his nephew, besought him that hewould not lay on him a burden greater than he couldbear. Mahomet was moved to tears by what hethought might end in his being abandoned by hisguardian and protector, yet protested that neither thesun

,nor the moon, nor death itself, could force him

from his undertaking without the permission o f God .

Won by his courage and determination,Abu Talib

bid him depart in peace, with the assurance that hewould not abandon him for ever.2

The circumstances o f the conversion O f Hamza ,called, from his heroism, the Lion Of God,

”

have been related above . I t was about this time

(A.D . 6 16 ) that there was added to the faith a man

who plays a distinguished part in the history OfIslam—Omar-ibn-Al -Khattab—afterwards the second

1 Muir,11. 162.

2 Id . i i. 168 ; W. Irving, p . 4 5.

8 4 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

The words sank deep into his heart,and

,in

true keeping with his impulsive nature,he without

hesitation went to the house o f Arcam,

” Obtainedadmission

,made the confession Of faith

,and was

added to the number o f believers . The adhesion Ofsuch men greatly strengthened Mahomet’s position ;“ no one dared to approach or molest the Prophet

,

being deterred by the looks Of those terrible men O f

battle Hamza and Omar,who

,i t i s said

,glared upon

their enemies like two lions that had been robbed Oftheir young,

» 1 We also read that the Moslems nol onger concealed their worship within their owndwellings, but with conscious strength and defiantattitude assembled in companies about the Kaaba

,

performed their rites Of prayer,and compassed the

holy house,while “ dread and uneasiness seized the

C oreish .

” 2

Now that the followers Of Mahomet had no longerneed secretly to profess and practise their religion ,converts Of social power and influence were fromtime to time added to their number. But the hostileChiefs of the Coreish were not idle, and soon enteredinto a solemn confederacy to place a social and civilban upon the new sect. The terms Of this leaguewere that they would neither intermarry with theproscribed

,nor sell to or buy from them anything,

and‘that they would entirely cease from all inter

course with them . Heavily,indeed, did this ostra

cism weigh upon those who fell under it. To avoidpersonal violence

,they withdrew (A.D. 6 17) to

1 W. Irving, p . 49.

2 Muir,I I . 172.


what is called the Sheb or quarter Of Abu Tal ib ,a secluded part Of Mecca, lying under the rocks O fthe Abu C obeis. A low gateway cut them Off fromthe outer world

,and within they had to suffer al l

the privations Of a beleaguered garrison . N O one

could venture forth except in the sacred months ,when al l hostile feelings and acts had to be laidaside . Supplies at other times were with difficultyObtained

,could be purchased, indeed, only from the

foreign traders,and at exorbitant prices . “The citizens

cou ld hear the voices o f the half-famished childreninside the Sheb ”

;1

and th is state Of enduranceon the one side, and persecution on the other,went on for some three years . Mahomet, in theintervals Of the holy months

,went forth and mingled

with the pilgrims to Mecca,and at the annual

fairs sought to propagate among them the especialdoctrines o f his sect, the abhorrence Of idolatry,and the worsh ip o f the one true God . But fewheeded him : they taunted h im with the disbeliefo f his own kindred and townsfolk, and so, disheartened

,but not dismayed

,he returned to those devoted

few,bywhose faith hewas comforted , andamong whom

he sought strength from God. Shut up thus with hisdisciples

,whose hearts and affections he had won ,

and whose be l ief was confirmed by h is own patientendurance and faith , we may now consider what wasthe nature o f those doctrines, and Of that teachingwhich could so firmly knit to h imself the devotion Ofhis loyal followers .

1 Muir,n . 175.

CHAPTE R V.

EARLY TEACH IN G AT ME CCA. 6 10—6 17 ]

THE Koran , or inspired book Of the Moslems , consists o f one hundred and fourteen chapters o r Suras ,which vary much in length

,some containing only a few

lines,whilst the longest ( the second) has as many as

two hundred and eighty-six verses. I t i s made up Ofthose revelations which Mahomet professed from timeto time to have received direct from God

,which he

repeated to those about him , and Of wh ich, accordingto strict Mahometan doctrine

,every word is Of divine

command. I t i s also by the Moslems considered thefountain head o f all science

,Of all knowledge

,and Of

al l l aw. When made known,the different chapters

,or

parts Of chapters—for it was seldom that an entireone was revealed at once—were by his followers committed to memory, or written down on palm—leaves

,

white stones,pieces Of leather, Shoulder-blades o f the

Sheep and camel ; and these in later years were putinto a Chest in the prophet ’s house

,and subse

quently came into the keeping Of Haphsa, one Of hiswives . Copies Of the suras

,as they appeared, were , i t

seems, made for the private devotions Of his followers.N O complete copy o f the several revelations whichmake up the present Koran appears to have existed


during the lifetime Of Mahomet but during thecaliphate OfAbu Bekr, h is successor, and at the sug

gestion Of Omar,a copy was written out by the

prophet’s secretary,Zeid-ibn-Thabit.

This was doubtless found an easy task, for havingbeen in dai ly religious use, the different chapterswere indelibly impressed on the accurate and re

tentive memory Of the faithful . Indeed, a knowledge Of the Koran in those early days, in addition toits being fraught with Spiritual blessings, was considered the highest title to nobility and certain Of theprophet’s contemporaries

,as is the case at the present

day, were able to repeat the whole book by heart .The copy made by Zeid was retained by Omarduring his caliphate

,and by h im made over to h i s

successor Othman . During h is reign it was discovered that differences Of reading had gradually creptinto many o f the copies made from Zeid’s edition .

These were al l called in by the Caliph,a carefu l

recension made,copies sent to the ch ief cities Of the

empire, and the incorrect manuscripts destroyed . Un

fortunately the sequence Of the chapters in the Koran,

though asserted to be that prescribed by the prophet,

does not follow the chronological order in which theywere given, and is devoid Of any intel ligib l e arrangement, the revelations promulgated at Mecca beforethe Hej ira, and afterwards at Medina

,being throw n

together apparently in the most careless and perplexing manner. 1 Yet there are ample and suffi cient

1 In R odwel l ’s Translation of the Koran , ” the chronologicalorder in which they are thought to have been revealed is preserved .


grounds for believing that the existing Koran consistsOf the genuine words

,and is the original composition

of the prophet,as learned or transcribed under his

own instruction (Muir, i . c . sec.The whole Of the Koran

,therefore, as most prO

bably the original delivered by the lips Of Mahomet

,forms a clear index to his own feelings

,and

ought to give an insight into the varying influenceOf external circumstances

,were it found possible to

arrange approximately the different chapters in theorder and at the particular times when they were publ ished. As it is

,the Chronological sequence Of the

different suras'

i s to be gathered alone from the subj cet matter, and from clear references to passingevents which may be discovered in them . Thosewhich are considered the earliest are also the Shortest,and are distinguished by their wild and rhapsodicallanguage

,the counterpart Of his internal struggles

after the truth .

” 1 For it would seem that the religious emotions Of Mahomet

,and his early specula

tions unburdened themselves in strains Of impassioned poetry ; and Of these fugitive pieces manywhich his followers had committed to memory afterwards found their way into the Koran .

2

Eightgen Of the chapters are assigned to thatperiod Of his career when

,though he believed him

self moved by a higher power to war nand admonish ,

1 Muir, I I . 58 .

2 For an account O f the exegesis of the Koran, according totheir modern d ivines

, the reader should consul t N otes onMuhammadanism

,

” by the Rev . T . P. Hughes (N . Quran) , p . 11,


he had not received that direct commission to

p reach openly,” Of which mention has already been

made .

Of the eighteen 1 suras Of this early period , the following extracts are specimensChapter ciii .

,entitled “ The Afternoon . In the

name Of the most merciful God .

2 By the afternoonverily

,man empl oyeth himself in that which wi l l

prove Of loss except those who believe , and do thatwhich is righ t

,and who mutually recommend the

truth , and mutually recommend perseverance untoeach other ” (conf. Psalm xxxix .

Chapter c . , entitled “ The War-horses which runswiftly. This chapter is cast in a highly poeticstrain ; i t invokes the war-horses which run swiftlyand pant to the battle

,whose hoofs strike fire and

surprise the enemy in the early dawn,to bear witness

that “ man is ungrateful to his Lord but that thehidden thoughts Of men’s hearts wi l l be brought tolight

,and that when the graves give up their dead ,

God will be fully informed concerning them (conf.E ccles . xii. I 3,

Chapter i. , entitled “ The Preface o r I ntroduc

tion .

” “ Praise be to God,the Lord Of al l crea

tures the most merciful,the King Of the day Of

Judgment. Thee do we worship , and Of Thee do webeg assistance. D irect us in the right way, in the

The eighteen suras are numbered in the Koran as under103, 100, 99, 9 1, 106, I , 101

, 92, 102, 104 , 82 , 92, 105 , 89, 90

93, 94, 108 . (Muir, i i . Appendix . )2 Al l the suras except the 9th—the last revealed—begin wi ththis invocation .

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

way Of those to whom Thou hast been gracious notOf those against whom Thou art incensed, 1 nor Ofthose who go astray.

” Th is chapter, which is heregiven in full

,bears the title of “ Al Fatihat

,or the

beginning ; and i s also called “ The Seven Verses,”

The Mother Of the Book,and is held in great

veneration by the Mahometans, and regularly repeatedin their public and private devotions . I t is a prayerfor the guidance o f God, and is directed to be re

peated frequently (conf. Sura xv.

Chapter xcix.

,entitled “ The E arthquake

,teaches

the doctrine that God at the last day will reward menaccording to the deeds they have done and this is insisted on in various other parts Of the Koran . Thus“ Verily, if any do a good action God will recompense I t In His sight with a great reward (conf.Sura Again, “ Verily

,whoso doeth evil

,and i s

compassed with h is iniquities,they Shall be com

panions Of hell fi re (Sura ii . 7 Yet, i t must beObserved

,that Mahomet has also declared that no

person’s good works will be sufficient to gain himadmittance to Paradise

,and that he h imself would

be saved, not by h is merits, but by the mercy of

God .

Chapter ci . , entitled “ The Striking. This isa powerful and vivid picture Of the last day

,and

i s so called because it will strike the hearts Ofal l creatures with terror. In that day we Shall

1 Supposed to allude to the Jews and Christians . As a r ule,Mahomet speaks of the Christians much more tenderly than ofthe Jews ; and we shal l find that this feeling very much regulated his conduct towards the two .


and put thee together, and rightly disposed thee ! I nwhat form He pleased hath He fashioned thee .1 Assuredly. But ye deny the last j udgment as a falsehood .

“

Verily,there are appointed over you guardian angels,

honourable in the sight Of God, writing down youractions

,

2 who know that which you do. The justshall surely be in a place Of delight but the wickedshall surely be in hell they Shall be cast therein tobe burned on the day Of j udgment, and they Shall notbe absent therefrom for ever.3 What shall causethee to understand what the day Of judgment is P I ti s a day on which one soul shall not be able to Ob

tain anything on behalf Of another soul ; and thecommand on that day Shall be God

’s .” The readerwill notice, from the references in the note below, howScriptural much Of the above is . The statement inthe concluding paragraph

,that one soul shall not be

able to Obtain anything on behalf Of another soul,”

i s consistently sustained throughout the Koran, andamounts to a direct denial of the Redemption .

Chapter cv. is a short song of victory, on thedefeat Of Abraha

,who

,in the year of Mahomet ’s

birth,advanced towards Mecca to destroy the Kaaba .

I t is entitled “ The E lephant,” from the animal upon

which Abraha rode ; and is quoted here at length,as perhaps the earliest specimen Of the way in wh ichfabulous traditional stories are introduced into theKoran

,with the supposed authority Of inspiration

1 P S. cxix . 73, and cxxxix . 16 ; Romans ix. 20.

2 Gen . xlvi ii. 16 P S . xci . 11, 12, and lvi . 8 ; St. Matt . xvii i .10 ; Phil. iv . 3 ; Rev . i i i . 5 ; xi ii . 8 ; xx. 12

,13.

2 Rev . xiv. 11.


Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with themasters of the elephant ! D id He not make theirtreacherous design an occasion Of drawing them intoerror ; and send against them flocks Ofbirds, which castdown upon them stones Of baked clay ; and renderedthem like the leaves Of corn eaten by cattle ! ” Thecommentators say that flocks Of birds, like swallows,pursued the retreating host, and destroyed it in themanner related above. They also assert that on eachstone was written the name Of its intended victim !The Koran , itself, gives a similar account Of the wayin which the inhabitants Of Sodom were destroyed(Sura xv . 74 ) We turned those cities upsidedown, and we rained upon them stones Of bakedclay

, one fol lowing another, and being marked.

Chapter xc .,entitled “ The Territory,” tells that

there are two highwaysfl the path Of good and the

path Of evil. The former is likened to a cliff,Of

wh ich the ascent is difficult ; for “ i t is to free thecaptive, or to feed in the day o f famine the orphanwho is Of kin, or the poor man who lieth on theground .

” They who do this “ Shall be the companions Of the right hand,” but they who shalldisbelieve in our Signs shall be the companionso f the left hand, and over them shal l be archedfire .

In Chapter xciii . , he comforts his heart witha remembrance Of the goodness and mercy whichhave followed him .

“ By the brightness Of themorning, and by the night when it groweth dark, thyLord hath not forsaken thee

,neither doth He hate

thee. Verily, the life to come shall be better for


thee than th is present life ; and thy Lord shall givethee a reward with which thou shalt be well pleased .

D id He not find thee an orphan, and hath He nottaken care o f thee ! And did He not find theewandering in error, and hath He not guided theeinto the truth ! ”

Such , then , is a somewhat detailed view Of thoserevelations ” which he asserted to have come toh im before he received the direct announcement o fthe angel Gabriel, that he was the chosen prophetOf the Lord, and was directed to preach Open ly andit will be admitted that, as far as they go , there isnothing in their morality to which we, as Christians,need take exception . In them we find him seekingdirection from that gracious Lord, the God Of allcreatures, who knows the secrets o f all hearts, andwho , when the graves are Opened, will bring to ligh tevery secret thing written in the book Of His remembrance .We meet with the statement that men will be

j udged according to the deeds done in the body atthe last day, when the mountains shall be carriedinto the midst o f the sea, and the earth Shall beremoved ; and that the wicked Shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlastinghappiness. We meet with the assertion of the originalpurity, and also Of the fall Of man

,and

' that the mostwise Judge will condemn all

,except those who believe

and work righteousness. Further,we have repeated

warnings Of the folly Of those who trust in their richesto profit them , and to secure immortality. Againstthe slanderer and backbiter wrath and woe are


fresh and unsatiating pleasures to those who be

l ieve.The Chapters revealed between his command to

preach publicly and the time Of the first Hej ira,to

Abyssinia, a period o f two years, are reckoned atabout twenty.

1 They are generally much longer thanthose we have been considering, and to o long forentire quotation

,or even for separate examination .

I shal l, therefore, seek to group them together, andto give such extracts from them as my space willallow, and as may best convey a general idea of theirsubj ect-matter.In the chapters

,then

,Of this second period, the

doctrine Of Predestination,or Fate

,i s inculcated

(Sura l xxiv. 3,“ Thus doth God cause to err whom

He pleaseth,and He directeth whom He pleaseth

and again,in the same chapter (v. 54 ,

“ Whosois willing to be warned

,him shall the Koran warn

but they shall not be warned unless God shall please.This doctrine appears also in Sura xcii . 4 , where iti s stated that on the night Of Al Kadr Gabrieldescends with the Lord’s decrees concerning everymatter regarding which the Mahometans believethat on that night the events Of the ensuing year arefixed by God. This doctrine is further insisted uponin the chapters Of a later date

,and generally leavens

their whole teaching. Thus (Sura xvii. Thefate of every man have we bound round his neckand again (Sura iii . N0 soul can die unless

1 A.D . 6 13—6 15 . These suras are numbered thus —96, 112,

74. 87. 97. 8 8. 80. 8 1. 84. 86. n o,85. 63. 78. 77. 76. 75. 70.

109 ) 107) 55, 56°


by the permission Of God , according to what iswritten in the book Of the Determination Of Things.”1

Thus the Mahometans accept the doctrine OfGod’s absolute predestinating decree, both for goodand evil

,for man ’s Obedience and disobedience, for

h is future happiness'

and misery, and also that theseeternal and immutable decrees cannot by anywisdomor foresigh t be avoided . Carried to its extreme, th isdoctrine Sw w n f; wfl l , renders menblind to the teaching of the past, apathetic in thepresent

,and indifferent to the future . I t makes

prayer an empty form, destroying as it does al l

dependence upon an overruling Providence,and,

pitiless as the grave, takes away alike the power Of'

avoiding Sin, and of escaping its punishment ; makingeven the power and mercy Of the Almighty subjectto the fiat Of an inexorable Fate.But it should be remarked that Mahomet was far

from carrying this doctrine to that extreme lengthwh ich it has reached in the Opinions and practice O fthe great mass of his followers . He seems to havebeen deeply imbued with a belief in the power o f anoverruling Providence

,and in the duty and effi cacy

o f prayer, which, indeed, he says “ preserves manfrom crimes, and from that which is blamable(Sura xxix . Take also the following passage“ Follow the most excellent instructions wh ich have

1 “ This revelation was Obtained to still the murmurs andgrief Of those who lost relatives at the disastrous battle Of Ohod(A.D . where Mahomet was defeated . He assured themthat , had those who fel l in battle remained at home

,they could

not have avoided their fate, whereas they now had the advantage Of dying martyrs for the fai th.

”—SALE .

H 2


been sent down unto you from your Lord, before thepunishment come suddenly upon you and a manshall say

, Alas for that I have been negligent in myduty to God verily I have been one o f the scornersor say, if God had directed me, verily I had been one

o f the pious or say if I could return once moreinto the world, I would become one Of the righteous .But God Shall answer, My Signs came unto theeheretofore and thou becamest one of the unbelievers .” Here is clearly free-will preached . Onsuch a mysterious subject, any teaching is naturallyambiguous

,

“ and the doctrine has given rise to as muchcontroversyamong the Moslems as among Christians .

”1

In the chapters Of this period is seen the firsthint of that doctrine which he probably began to findboth necessary and convenient ; viz . that God had itin His power to annul or abrogate any revelation Ofthe Koran once given, or to supply its place with adifferent one.

“ This doctrine Offered an irresistibletemptation to suit the substance Of the Koran to thevarying necessities Of the hour. ” 2 Thus (Sura lxxxvii .6,

“ We will enable thee to rehearse our revelations

,and thou shalt not forget any part thereof

,

exczpt zonal God snail pl ease ; for He knoweth whati s manifest and what is hidden .

” At a later periodthis power is more strongly insisted on (Sura ii . 100)“Whatever verse .we shall abrogate, or cause thee toforget

,we Shall bring a better than it, or one like unto

it. Dost thou not know that God is Almighty

1 Lane, Modern E gyptians,” vol. i . p . 9.

2 Muir,vol. i i . p . 157. See als o N otes on Muhammadan

ism,

” Hughes, p. 24 , regarding these “ abrogated passages . ”

I OO ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

is Held in particular veneration by the Mahometans,and is declared by a tradition Of their prophet tobe equal in value to a third part of the wholeKoran.

1

The doctrine Of the Unity Of the Godhead,in contradistinction to the Christian belief in theTrinity in Unity, is continually insisted upon in theKoran, and may be said to be the characteristictenet, the foundation-stone Of the faith of Islam.

This dogma, to which is added that Of the belief inthe mission Of Mahomet

,is ever in the mouth Of the

devout Moslem,the formula being

,THE RE I s N O GOD

BUT GOD, AN D MAHOME T I s THE PROPHET OF GOD .

”

I n later Chapters the doctrine o f the Unity Of

God is repeatedly insisted upon in refutation o f

the doctrine held, or supposed to be held, by the

followers Of other religions . Thus (Sura xxiii . 95 )God hath not begotten issue

,neither is there any

othe r God with Him .

” And again (Sura ii .They [the Jews and the Christians] say God hathbegotten children : God forbid ”

! Again (Sura xvi.They [the idolaters] attribute daughters to

God : far be it from Him .

” And again (Sura xxxvii .DO they [the people Of Mecca] not say Of

their own false invention, God hath begotten issueand are they not really liars !At this period we find him clearly renouncing

the idolatry Of the Kaaba. It i s said that certain Ofthe Coreish having proposed to him either to associate the worship Of his God with that of their gods,or to worship them alternately for a year, he at once

1 Sale .

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . I O I

rej ected the compromise,and his refusal is contained

in Sura cix. , entitled “ The Unbelievers .” “ In thename Of the most merciful God .

” “ Say, 0 unbel ievers

, I will not worsh ip that wh ich ye worship norwill ye worship that which I worsh ip .

I t is not to be supposed by th is that Mahometdisapproved Of the veneration given to the holyplaces,” which were hallowed in the traditions of theirfathers, though disfigured by the later introduction Ofidolatry. I t was against the latter only that he wageduncompromising war. I t will be found hereafter thathe upheld the ancient rites Of the Kaaba, and establ ished it as the Kibla

, or Point o f Adoration , towardswhich the Faithful were to turn .

At first, neither he nor his adherents appear tohave followed in this respect any particular use, i tbeing declared to be perfectly indifferent. Thus :

To God belongeth the east and the west ; thereforewhithersoever ye turn yourselves to pray, there is theface Of God, for God is omnipresent and omniscient . ”

But afterwards, when the prophet fled to Medina, and, possibly with the hope O f alluring the JewsOf that place to his worship, he established “

J erusa

lem as the place towards which they were to pray.

2

Th is continued for some time, but failed in ac

complishing the Object Mahomet had in view. Afterwards

,

3 to satisfy his own ardent wish , and the desireOf his Arab followers

,who were deeply attached to the

national Shrine,he made Mecca the Kibla towards

1 Sura i i. 109 .

2 Co nf. 1 Kings viii . 29, 4 4, 4 8 ; P s. v. 7 ; Dan . vi . 10.

3 About Sixteen months after h is arrival atMedina, A.D . 623.


which, in whatever part Of the world they might betheir prayers were to be directed. Thus,1 Turntherefore thy face towards the hol y temple o f Mecca,and wherever ye be

,turn your faces towards that

place .

” And later,2 he received a further revelationon this head , asserting the antiquity Of Mecca as aplace O f worsh ip

,and its being a Kibla for all nations .

Thus : 3 Verily,the first house appointed unto men

to worship in was that which is in Becca ; 4 blessed,and a direction to all creatures .”

T0 this period also belong those outbursts Of vitu

peration against those who opposed him, Of whichmention has already been made . How widely thespirit thus shown by Mahomet differs from that Of ourblessed Lord under like provocation

,who, when He

was reviled, reviled not again and who, with lovestrong unto death , thus prayed for His murderersFather, forgive them,

for they know not what theydo .

”

And yet these chapters contain an interestingproof Of Mahomet’s candour and magnanimity. The8 o th Sura is entitled He frowned,

” and in it he administers a rebuke to himself for having paid morerespect and attention to some Of the powerful Coreish,with whom he was in conversation , than to a poorblind man who came to him and asked to be taughtabout God. Thus : 5 “ The Prophet frowned and

turned aside,because the blind man came to him .

The man who is wealthy thou receivest respectfullybut him who cometh unto thee earnestly seeking

1 Sura n. 139.

2 A.D . 624 .

3 Sura i ii . 90.

1 Ancient name of Mecca.

5 Sura lxxx . 1—11.


war (called “ those whom your right hands possessin addition to their lawful wives . 1 The above permiss ion “ was one o f the earliest compromises by whichMahomet fitted his system to the usages and wants o fthose about him and was

,in after days, largely taken

advantage Of, both for his own indulgence, and as

holding out an inducement for his followers to fightin the hope of capturing females who would then bel awful concubines . ” 2

TO this period finally belong those gross picturesOf heaven and hell

,which

,if accepted in their

literal sense, are suffi cient in themselves to disprovethe claim made by their author to D ivine inspiration .

Doubtless, their material delights would prove irresistibly fascinating to the Arabs living in such aclimate in such a scorched and desert land. Theprospect Of exchanging their toils amid the burningsands and naked rocks Of Arabia for “ long rest anddreamful ease ” upon soft beds

,in cool shaded gar

dens, beside murmuring waters, and tended by thebeautiful black-eyed girls Of Paradise

,must have been

ineffably attractive .

Hell is described in terms O f a kindred colouring.

Thus,

3 the wicked Shall be cast into scorchingfire to be broiled : they Shall be given to drink Of aboiling fountain : they shall have no food

,but of drv

thorns and Again “ The companions o f

the left hand shall dwell amidst burning winds andscalding water

,under the Shade of a black smoke .” 4

1 Sura lxv. iv. 28 .

2 Muir,I I . 140, note.

3 Sura lxxxviii . 3—6 .

1 Conf. Sura xxxvii . 62—66 .


The joys of Heaven are thus depicted.

1 Thejust “ Shall drink Of a cup of wine mixed with thewater Of Cafur,» 2 and shall be rewarded “ with agarden and silk garments : therein Shall they reposethemselves on couches— fruits Shall hang low ” nearthem , so as to be easily gathered . And they Shal lhave besides “ two other gardens of a dark green

“ in each Of them Shal l be two fountains o f waterfruits and palm-trees

,and agreeable and beauteous

damsels having fine black eyes ; and kept inpavilions from public view.

” 3

The sensuous delights of Mahomet’s paradise areby some Of his apologists accepted as allegoricalpictures of more Spiritual pleasures

,and are not

,they

say, intended to be understood according to theirliteral sense.True indeed it is

,that in Holy Scripture God shows

His condescension in the form which He allowsD ivine truth to take

,using

,as He does, human lan

guage,and imagery drawn from material Obj ects

,suited

to the finite comprehension Of His children . Thusveiled

,we are enabled to gaze upon the light o f

heaven,and though softened and tempered to Our

weakness,i t is still the unchanged Word Of God .

Thus the ecstatic vision in Patmos tells us Of thepearly gates and golden streets Of the New Jerusalem ,

of “ the water Of life,

” and the tree whose leaves are

1 Sura lxxvi . 2 Camphor.2Sura IV. The Mahometans assert that there are seven hea

vens,or stages Of celestial bliss in Paradise, and seven d ivis ions

of hell for the reception , respectively, of guilty Mahometans,Christians , Jews, Sabeans, Magi, Idolaters , and for Hypocrites .


for the healing o f the nations moreover, we readhow

,at the Last Supper, our blessed Lord spake Of

that “ fruit Of the vine ” Of wh ich He would drinkhereafter in the kingdom Of His Father. But thesehumanized ideas Of happiness contain no element O fgrossness or possible impurity, and are evidently tobe interpreted by the ligh t o f those other passages,wh ich point to the absence o f al l sin and grief

,and

the immediate presence Of a holy God, as the highestbliss of the Christian heaven .

The Koran,indeed

,teaches that there are

differing degrees Of happiness in heaven,and the

reward O f the most favoured seems associated withthe beatific vision .

1 We read that there,among the

believers,

“ there shal l be no vain discourse,

” andno incitement to wickedness

,

” 2 expressions whichwould imply a state Of at least passive goodness .Yet how can we suppose that grosser j oys and feelingsare excluded

,when we read that in Paradise the true

believers,

“ lying on couches,” shall look down upon

the infidel s [in hell] and shal l laugh them to scorn .

”2

Such feelings surely Could not find place in the heartso f beings who were freed from the dross and corruptiono f earth .

The truth seems to be,that Mahomet was

unable to form any estimate Of celestial happinessapart from the sensual indulgences

,to which the

story Of his life shows him to have been so keenlyaddicted ; and however much some Of his followersmay try to explain away his sensuous descriptions,

1 Sum lxxxiii . 28 .

2 Sura l ii . 2.

2 Sura lxxxii i . 34 , 35 .


a popular character in Arabia at the time of Mahomet,and that he probably drank in with his earliest experience the weird stories that associated Genii withthe deserts and mountains Of his native land .

Poetic fancy,indeed

,in other climes has wan

dered in the same path and peopled the world withtroops Of impalpable beings ; has given the dryadto the woods, the oread to the mountain heights hasconj ured up fay and kelpie

,satyr and fawn

,and all

the el fin crew ; and, with superstitious dread Of theunseen

,has shaped the forms Of wicked sprite, ma

l icious demon,and hideous ghoul, to haunt the cities

Of the dead,and wreak on the living their hatred and

revenge .

1

When such fancies occur in fairy story they findtheir use ; but when they are put forth as facts invested with D ivine authority, the absurdity becomesapparent to intelligent minds .This

,then

,i s what the Koran says of these beings .

They are represented as having been created byGod of “ subtle fire,

”2 for no other purpose than toserve Him.

3 They were believed by the Old Arabiansto haunt desert places

,and to “ protect those who fled

to them for refuge,” and, like the idolaters aroundthem

,to believe that there was no resurrection .

‘1

These words are put into the mouth o f the GeniiAnd we formerly attempted to pry into what was

1 For an exhaustive account of these beings [Jinn, afio’e

Lane,

“ Arabian N ights,” no tes to the Introduction, vol. i .N O . 21.

2 Sura xv . 27 .

2 Sura l i . 5, 6 1 Sura lxxi i . 6, 7.


transacting in heaven,but we found the same filled

with a strong guard of angels, and with flaming dartsand we sat on some o f the seats thereof to hear thediscourse Of its inhabitants ; but whoever l istenethnow,

findeth a flame laid in ambush for him,to guard

the celestial confines .” “And when we could notfrustrate God, and had heard the Koran

,we

believed therein .

”Some Of us are Moslems ”

and whoso embraceth Islam,they earnestly seek

true direction .

” 1

We are told that certain Of the Genn, when theprophet was resting in the valley Of Nakhla

,during

h is escape from Tayif, overheard him reading theKoran

,and believed ; and they are represented as

preaching to their fellows,and urging upon them “

a

belief in Mahomet,to escape a painful punishment. ” 2

The Koran is said to have been sent to save bothmen and Genii .The shooting stars are

,by the Moslems

,believed

to be heaven’s artillery,used for the dispersion Of the

genii and devils,who listen to catch by stealth scraps

Of the celestial secrets, for the purpose Of giving them,

like the Promethean fire,to mortals .3

The Genii are s tated to have been forced towork in Solomon’s presence

,

“ and they made h imwhatever he pleased Of palaces, and statues, andlarge dishes like fish-ponds and

,finally

,his army

is said to have consisted Of “ genii, and men and

birds .” 5

We now enter upon the consideration Of the third

1 Sura l xxu. 6—14. 2 Sura xlvi . 30.

2 Sura lxvii . 6 .

1 Sura xxxiv . 11, 12.

5 Vz'

deD’

Herbel Ot,art. Ginn .

”

I I O ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DER .

group Of suras .1 Here begin the more detailedreferences to the Jewish Scriptures , and the laboriousarguments drawn from the rej ection o f God’s prophets by the Jews, by which Mahomet sought toestablish his own claims against the incredulousMeccans, of which we Shall have more to sayfurther on. Imaginary conversations are held herebetween the ancient people and those who were sentto them , and words are put into the mouth s of theold Patriarchs and Prophets, so that they, like theGenii

,are made to Speak Mahomet’s warnings

,and

express his thoughts,and to thus adroitly support the

teaching which he had addressed to the idolatrousMeccans : and further, the very Obj ections whichthese latter made to him are represented as beingidentical with those urged by the unbelievers informer ages

,and which are Shown to have brought

down upon them the fiery vengeance Of Heaven .

We gather from these suras that his opponentsaccused h im Of imposture ;

2 called him “ soothsayer ” ; 3

denied him the title Of “ an honourable apostle ”

stigmatized him as a distracted poet,and h is warn

ings as “ manifest sorcery.

” 5 They as cribed theorigin O f the Koran to devils,

‘1 and teased h im for aSign o f the authenticity Of his mission .

7

As a specimen Of the kind Of argument usedby Mahomet

,I give the fo l l owing z s—The chapter

1 Vz’

o’eMuir

,11. Appendix . The twenty suras are numbered

in the Koran as follows —67. 53. 32. 39. 73. 79. 54. 34. 31. 69.68. 4 1. 71. 52. 50. 37. 30. 26. I s. 5 1 ; AD . 6 15—6 19.

2 Sura l xxvn. passinz ; l i i . 2, &C.

2 Sura lxix. 4 1.Sura lxix. 5 Sura xxxvi i. 15 .

11 Sara xxvi . 210.

7 Sura xxvi . 187.

9 Sura xv. 1- 15.

1 12 ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R.

kind Of reproach,and pointing out that the Meccans

have continually before them the Signs Of HisAlmighty power

,that He causes the fruits Of every

noble species ” to spring up, and that Of Old He hasshown His wonders and judgments on those whoturned away from Him

,and that, if they accept not

these, no special miracle would have any effect upontheir stubborn and hardened minds .1

On this head i t may be remarked that Mahometalways disclaimed the power Of working miracles,and assumed no higher honour than that Of being aprophet sent by God— “

a warner,” an apostle—theinstrument o f communicating God’s will to men ; andthe honesty o f his conduct in this respect speaks wellfor him, and implies a perfect reliance on the goodness of his cause.To those who demanded from him some miracu

lous proof of the truth Of his claims, he pointed tothe Koran—a book revealed to “ an ignorant andunlearned man,

” 2 as the greatest Of miracles, and heassured the objectors that if not convinced by i t, nosign, however stupendous, would have power to compel their belief.3

During this period he claims for the Koranauthority supplementary and superior to that of the“ Book Of the Law

,

” which had been , given to thepeople o f Israel . ‘2 Thus

,

“We gave to the children

1 Sura xxvi . 1- 5.

2 Sura VI I . 156 .

2 Compare Luke xvi . 31 .

1 Though the Mahometan doctors are driven to say that theKoran has abrogated the O l d and N ew Testaments, there is noauthority for the assertion in the teaching of the book i tsel f.Thus : “ Oh

, children of Israel, believe in the revelat ion


of Israel the Book ‘

Of the Law,and wisdom,

and pro

phecy, and we fed them with good things” but they

fell to “ variance among themselves through envy ”

afterwards , “ we appointed thee, O Mohammed, topromulgate ‘a law concerning the business o f religionwherefore follow the same .

” “ This Koran is a direction and a mercy unto people who judge aright .” 1

Mention has already been made of the angelGabriel , and h is announcement to Mahomet that hewas appointed the “ prophet Of God ”

; and as two

other of these spiritual beings are alluded to in thechapters Of this period, i t may be well to considerwhat is the teach ing o f the Koran, and the belief O fits followers regarding them . They are representedas having been created by God, and as partaking, likethe Genii

,Of the nature of fire,2 as capable o f falling,

but without the gross passions of the Genii . Theyare God’ s messengers to men, 2 and are Of differentgrades . ’2 They are appointed to bear God’s thronealoft at the last day.

5 Two Of them attend con

tinual ly to the work Of noting down the good and bad

actions and words Of each mortal ; 7 and they are

appointed to guard the celestial regions from the nearapproach o f wicked spirits.Of the angelic beings who surround the throne

Of God there are four Of the highest dignity andpower. Gaériel , the Angel Of Revelation, who com

(Koran ) “ which I have sent down, confi rming Ma l zo/z ic/L is

wil l ; you (Sura i i . Cf. “ N otes on Muhammadanism,

”

p . 25 . See also sura v. 52.

1 Sura xlv . 15—19.

2 Sura VI I . 11. Comp . Heb . i . 7.

2 Sura xvii i . 2.

1 Sure. xxxv . 1.

2 Sura lxix. 17.

2 Sura l . 16 , 17.


municated the Koran to Mahomet, 1 and is said thereinto have been sent by God to the Virgin Mary, to promise her “ a Holy Son.

” 2.Mic/zael ,

“ the Friend Ofthe Jews, mentioned in conjunction with Gabriel asone Of those

,enmity against whom involves enmity

against God Himself. 3 Az rael , called “ the Angel OfDeath, who separates men’s souls and bodies,‘1 andwith his assistants either “ tears them asunder withviolence, or draws them apart withf srafi l , whose business it will be to sound the twotrumpets at the last day.

6

The devil,named E bl is in the Koran , was once

one Of the archangels in heaven, and was calledAz az il

, but by disobedience fell, under circumstancesthus related And we created Adam,

and said tothe angels, worship Adam ,

and they al l worshippedhim except E blis ,” who refused, and said, I am moreexcellent than he Thou hast created me o f fire

,and

hast created him o f clay ” ; 7 for this God drovehim down from Paradise, and, being respited till theday Of j udgment

,his business is to “ tempt man to

disobedience on the earth,” but he has no power overGod’s servants, but only over those “ who shall beseduced.

” 8

1 Sure. I I. 91. 2 Sura xix . 17—19.

2 Sura i i . 92. Sura xxxn. 2 .

5 Sura lxxix . 1.

2 Sura xxxix . 68 . Compare 1 Thess . iv . 16 .

2Sura vn. 9

—11.

2 Sura xv. 39—42. A recent writer forcibly points out thepalpable contradiction Of the Koran in the order given by Godto E blis to worship Adam thus '

Satan’s fal l i s representedas caused by his refusal to worship Adam at God ’s commandwhen the other angels obeyed ; that is, for refusing to renderthe creature the homage due to the Creator alone—a sin more


We now come to the doctrine o f the Koranconcerning P rayer. In chapter seventy-three Mabomet inculcates this duty, and the desirabili ty o f

apportioning to it certain stated times . Thus Othou wrapped up

,rise to prayer, and continue

therein during the night, except a small part that isto say, during one-half thereof ; or do thou lessenthe same a little, or add thereto, and repeat theKoran .

” “Verily the rising at night is more efficacions for steadfast continuance in devotion

,

” “ for inthe daytime thou hast long employment .” 1 And

,

again,

“ Regularly perform thy prayer at the deelension of the sun, at the first darkness of the night, andthe prayer Of daybreak for the prayer Of daybreak isborne witness unto by the angels .”2

Mahomet thought prayer so necessary that heused to call it “ the pillar o f religion,” and “ the keyOf Paradise . He continually insists on its practicein the Koran . The pious Moslem performs this dutyfive times every day. 1 . Before sunrise 2

,at noon ;

3 , before sunset ; 4 , after sunset, during tl ie‘

Sl-

iorttwilight ; 5 , when night haS

—S Wherever he

may be,in the desert, at home, in his shop, or in the

crowded street, he steps aside, spreads out some littlecarpet or cloth , takes Off his Shoes, and, with his faceturned towards the Kibla at Mecca

,performs

,Sitting

,

standing, or prostrate, his solemn and picturesque

devotions . Some repair to the mosques for this purpose

,but this

,owing to occupation or distance, is

no t always practicable, and does not seem to beconsidered important.I t is no t to be understood that these five appointed

1 Sura lxxi ii . 1—7.

2 Sura xvu. 8D


times o f devotion are strictly and universally attendedto . Many Of “ the faithful” use no prayers at al l ;

some pray on ly at sunrise and sunset, or attend themosque on Friday at the public prayers .Certain ablutions

,called “ the key o f prayer,

are directed to be used,not before a l l their prayers,

but always when the worshipper is conscious Ofimpurity. The ordinary purification consists inwashing the hands and arms to the elbows, the headand face, and the feet to the ankles ;1 and all theseacts must be conducted with certain short prescribedprayers for God’s pardon and help , for deliverance at the last day and admission to Paradise .

The greater purification is the lustration Of the whole.body on the occurrence o f certain natural defile»

ments . 2 When water cannot be procured,or its use .

owing to sickness,would be dangerous

,fine sand

may be substituted .

3

The “adz zin,

”or call to prayer, is chanted from .

the minarets Of the mosques by the Mueddz in,in words which allude to the maj esty and unity O f

'

God, the mission and glory o f Mahomet, and (atnight) the superiority Of prayer to sleep . The

prayers which are used at the five seasons are said toconsist Of so many rakaats or genuflexions, occurring between Short prayers

,from four to eight i n

number, which are either taken from the Koran or

otherwise appointed.

4

1 Sura v. 8 , 9.

2 Sura iv. 46.

2 Sura v. 9.

‘1 Suras i . cxii . , the declarat ion of the unity, cviii . , or someof the other shorter ones

,are used ; also selections from the

larger. Conf. N otes on Muhammadanism,

” xviii . Prayer 6, 63 .

Prayers from the Koran are entitled Farz Sannat those foundedon the teaching of Mahomet and N afal voluntary prayers.

1 18 ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

On Friday,the day of public assembly, the same

prayers are used,led by some Imam (antistes), who

holds Office at the mosque, for there is no orderof men set apart for the purpose ; and he usuallyreads

,in addition

,some set address (Khutbah) , o r

preaches to those assembled.

Rosaries,consisting Of ninety-nine heads ( the

number of the names Of Allah ), are frequently seenin the hands of the most zealous Moslems, and are

used to count the ejaculatory prayers : such as

‘Praise be to God,” “ God is most great,

”&c. ,

which are directed to be repeated a certain numberof times . On the conclusion o f the set prayers , thedevout

,Sitting cross-legged at their ease

,and with

downcast eyes,may Offer up any special prayer for

which they have occasion .

1

Women are taught that i t i s better for them topray at home ; they are absolutely excluded fromsome mosques , and are seldom seen in the others atthe ordinary times Of prayer. They j oin, however,in the festival of the Moharram,

particularly on the

In Mahometan countries, though there are no regularlyordained clergy, sti ll there are learned men specially appointedto expound the orthodox l aw in ecclesiastical, civi l, and criminalcases . The chief of these are the Qazi (Cadi ), the chief j udgewho passes sentence. (2) The Mufti, the Offi cial referee whosupplies to the judge decrees (fetwa) in diffi cult cases, based onthe Koran or the rul ings O f the great orthodox doctors. (3)Imam, appointed to read public prayers. (4 ) Moul vies,

Moul l as, Mujtahids, learned doctors and teachers of religi on .

The word,Sheikh, corresponding to presbyter or elder, i s a t itl e

of respect. The Sheikh-ul -Islam in Turkey has much power,holds the ecclesiast ical revenues, and i s referred to by the

Sultan as the highest authority in matters civil andecclesiastical .


and to believe in one only God, to follow that whichthe Almighty reveals

,not that which the fathers fol

lowed ; to be constant at prayer, patient under affliction to dread the day of j udgment and to avoid theway Of arrogant and insolent men . This is a specimeno f the artful way in which the prophet seeks to support his special doctrines, by making them part o fthe teaching Of an ancient sage

,and so investing

them with his authority and credit. 1

The other revelations of this period are chieflymade up Of the stories of the O ld Testam en t,adapted so as to support Mahomet ’s claims and hedoes seem to have found means of gaining a fairlycomprehensive idea o f the leading facts Of the Jewishhistories . Curious fabulous additions

,which will be

noticed hereafter, taken from rabbinical legends, tradition

,and other sources

,are interwoven with them ;

but there can be little doubt,from whatever source he

got his information,that many a secret hour must have

been spent in study and composition to enable himto produce the revelations demanded by the pressing necessities of the hour, and the craving faith of

his disciples .As a Specimen Of the introduction Of these O ld

Testament characters into the Koran, and of thej umble made o f their history, which would Often beunintelligible but for our knowledge of the sacrednarrative, the following may be cited 2 Jonas wasalso one Of those who were sent by us when he

1 Vide D’Herbel ot

,art. Locman-al -Hakim ” Sale, p . 335 ,

note . Lokman and the Persian hero Rustum may probablybe placed in the same category.

2 Sura xxxvi i . 133—142 .

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R . 1 2 1

fled into the loaded ship,and those who were on

board cast lots among themselves,and he was con

demned, and the fish swallowed him,for he was

worthy Of reprehension . And if he had not beenOne Of them who praised God, verily he had re

mained in the belly thereof until the day o f resurrection . AndWe cast him on the naked Shore and hewas Sick ! And We caused a plant Of a gourd togrow up over him

,and We sent h im to an hundred

thousand persons,or they were a greater number,

and they believed : wherefore We granted them to

enj oy this life for a season .

” 1

Finally,

as an example Of the way in whichMahomet takes the fancies Of the Talmudists, andthe legends of the Haggidah, and reproduces themin the Koran

,the following may be given. In the

14 8 th Psalm,

“ the sweet singer Of Israel,in the

exuberance of poetic fervour, calls upon the heavensand all the angel host, the mountains and all hills,and even the “ flying fowl

,

” to j oin in praising theLord . Occurring in a poem, such mode Of expressing the gratitude o f the Psalmist for God ’s goodness to him and to all creatures is natural andappropriate . The Talmudists

,however, as was their

wont, notwithstanding the palpable absurdity, havetaken this passage in its bare literal sense

,and

Mahomet, accepting their interpretation, founds uponit this passage We heretofore bestowed on David

1 This reads much more like notes j otted down for a fullerhistory Of Jonah, which have been accidentally incorporated withthe Koran—a supposition not unwarranted by the way inwhichthese compositions were kept by the prophet, and put togetherby his followers .


excellence from Us ; and We said, O mountains, singalternate praises with him andWe obliged the birdsalso to j oin therein ” 1 And in a later sura it i srepeated, “ And we compelled the mountains topraise us with David, and the birds also : and We

did this .” 2

In the Gospels only a few brief glimpses areafforded us of the manner o f life of our blessedLord during those quiet years at Nazareth

,when

,

in Obedience to his parents , from sweet and holychildhood ” to years of manhood He increased inwisdom and stature, and in favour with God andman .

” But this mysterious veil Of silence, whichdivine wisdom has drawn

,was not respected by the

fabulists o f Christendom, who have surrounded H isboyhood with innumerable stories o f the exhibitionO f a marvellous and divine power. In the Arabic“ Gospel Of the Infancy,

” for instance, i t is relatedhow among His playmates He gave life to littleSparrows wh ich He had moulded out O f clay, andwhen He clapped His hands they rose and flewaway. Mahomet, by some means or other, possessedhimself of this story, and in a late Medina sura reproduces it as part O f the “ preserved book.

” 3 Such ,then

,is as detailed an account as our Space will allow

o f those parts o f the Koran revealed up to the timeo f the imprisonment in the Sheb Abu Talib (A.D.

6 17)

Sura xxxiv. 102.

2 Sura xxi . 79.

2 Sum i i i . 43.


Though Khadij a was much Older than the prophet

,and though the custom o f Mecca and his own

revelations permitted polygamy, he is said to haveremained true to her, and never to have wounded herheart or aroused her j ealousy by taking a secondwife during her lifetime . Deeply did he lament herloss

,and to the day of his death honoured the

memory Of her goodness and Of her early unwaveringfaith , and placed her name in the list of the fourperfect women .

1

The loss ofAbu ' Talib he mourned much, thoughhe is said to have died in unbelief

,for it was to

him a loss of great political moment. The wholetenor Of his acts

,and his sacrifices for his nephew,

“ stamp his character as singularly unselfish andnoble .

” 2

For a time Mahomet’s uncle,Abu Lahfib, hitherto

and afterwards his bitter Opponent, undertook totake the place Of Abu Talib, and to be his protector ; but he was soon seduced by the hostileC oreish, and thus Mahomet and his followers becameexposed to the unchecked insults and persecutionsincited by Abu Sofian, Abu Jahl , and others ; andbeing but a handful in the hostile city

,were unable

to cope with its rich and powerful chiefs .At this critical period, either because he found

it unsafe to remain in Mecca, or because he trusted

that his message would find more acceptance else1 Conf. Koran, sura l xvn. 11, 12. The names of these four

women who reached perfection were Asia, wife of Pharaoh ;Mary, daughter of Imran , the mother of our blessed Lord ;Khadij a, thewife of Mahomet and Fat imahis daughter, wi fe o fAl i. Via

’e Sale, note ad Zoe.

2 Muir, i i . 195.


where, Mahomet,accompanied by his faithful freed

man Zeid, set Off to Tayif, a strongly fortified towninhabited by the Beni Thackif, situated some seventymiles to the east o f Mecca.

There is something very touch ing in the view Ofthe . so l itarywanderers as they set forth in faith anddevotion . On they toil ed,

.

across sandy wastes, overburning rocks and barren hills, till they reached theheights Of the Jebel Kora, where gardens, palm-trees,vineyards

,and “ fruits Of plenty spread on every

hand,

” made a welcome and refresh ing contrast tothe dreary wilderness through which they had passed,and cheered the visionary seer and his faithfulcomrade .

And SO they descended into the valley Of Tayif,

which town at that time and long after was one

o f the great strongholds Of idolatry. There a stoneimage

,called “ Al Lat,

” usually adorned with costlyvestments and precious stones, was an obj ect o f worShip and profound veneration , andwas esteemed to beone of the daughters of God . Here for ten daysMahomet preached to unwilling ears, and met withnothing but opposition and scorn from the chief men

,

which soon spread to the populace. At last, with Zeidhe was driven out of the town , and, maltreated andwounded , had to make for the foot of the h ills

,

where he hoped to find shelter among the vineyardsand to escape the pursuit Of the infuriated rabble .

Driven thus forth from the city and worn out, theysat down under a vine in a garden belonging to twoyouths Of the hostile C oreish, who had noticed thefugitives’ forlorn plight, and touched by their sufferings sent them a dish of grapes . Refreshed by the


cleome present, Mahomet set forward on his j ourney,and halfway to Mecca rested in the valley Of Nakhla,where

,as we have seen , the Genii heard him at night

reading the Koran,and were converted . After a few

days ’ rest at this place he returned to Mecca, weariedindeed and disappointed

,but still strong in the belief

of his divine mission .

Mahomet now found himself free from personalmolestation

,under the protection of Mutim, a chief

Of the blood Of Abd Shams . His unsuccessfulmission to Tayif

,which became known to the hostile

faction,procured for him a season Of contemptuous

toleration,more bitter

,perhaps

,to his lofty soul than

active opposition .

At this time (A.D . 6 20) he entered into a doublematrimonial alliance, taking to wife Sawda, the widowOf one of his converts Of the C oreish ; and being betrothed to Ayesha— the daughter Of his bosom friendAbu Bekr- then only seven years o f age.But though thus pleasing himself in his do

mestic life, h is outward circumstances were darkenough . His private means were straitened theconsoling sympathy Of Khadija and Of Abu Talibwas his no more ; for ten long years his life hadbeen a scene Of such care, anxiety, Obloquy, andcomparative failure, as must, at his age (for he wasnow fifty), have weighed heavily on his mind.

H is fortunes, however, had reached their lowestebb, when the tide suddenly turned, and in its flowbore him on beyond his most sanguine expectations .During the season of the annual pilgrimage

,in the

spring,Mahomet sallied forth, as was his wont, and

preached to the assembled crowds .

128 I SLAM AN D rrs FOUN DE R .

explained that their city was rent by Opposing factions, that they could not therefore make him thepromise he desired, but that at the next annual pil grimage they would come and give him their answer.And so they returned home

,and spread his

doctrine, and that with such success that “ thereremained hardly a family in Medina in which mention was not made of the Prophet.” 1 I t would evenappear that the Jews favoured him

,inasmuch as he had

acknowledged the validity of their Scriptures, andtaught some doctrines which they loved . Thus, froma variety o f causes

,Islam secretly and openly took

deep root and spread in Medina.

Faithful to their promise, twelve of the new con

verts returned at the annual pilgrimage and formallyacknowledged him as their prophet

,and pl ighted

h im their faith, “ agreeing to acknowledge but oneGod

,to act morall y and j ustly, not to kill their

children,and to obey the Prophet in all things

lawful ” Such was the first pledge of Acaba, agreedto in April

, A.D. 6 2 1 . And so they returned to theirnative home, and the faith continued to spread inMedina

,chiefly through the preaching of Musab-ibn

Omeir, a young and ardent Moslem, who had beensent thither by Mahomet at the request of the inhabitants . Their idols were thrown aside, many even of

the hostile factions of the Aws and the Khazraj j oinedin the common devotions

,and thus wonderfully was

a purer theistic faith substituted for the o ld superstitions o f the Arab population .

E xternal events,too, favoured the fortunes o f

Islam . For many years the victorious arms o f the

Muir,’

ii. 2 10 .


Persian Chosroes had humbled the Christian princeso f the E ast but in A.D . 6 2 1 an important and decisivevictory gained by the emperor Heraclius, rolled backthe tide o f invasion from the shores o f the Bosphorus

,

and the Cross triumphed over the fire-worship o f theMagian invaders . This was

,at the same time

,a

triumph for the theistic faith ofMahomet, and seemedin its mystical meaning to prefigure the downfal l ofArabia’s idolatrous rites, for in it true believers sawthe sure accomplishment of a prophecy which theirleader had uttered,1 thus “ The Greeks have beenovercome by the Persians, but after their defeat theyshall overcome the others in turn within a few years

Write, to God belongeth the disposal o f thismatter ” And on that day shall the believers rej oicein the success granted by God .

” 2

The fortunes and hopes of the dej ected prophethaving thus risen , his heart naturally went out tothose who had acknowledged his mission . Meccahad rej ected it, called him “ liar

,

” and his teachingfalsehood.

” 3 No converts were being added tothe faithful few there ; surely it must be the will o fHeaven that he should leave them ! The Meccansmust have been given over to worship their idols

,

and to a reprobate mind 5 and what if his preachingwere opposed to the evident signs o f the Almightywhat if he were found to be fighting against thedecrees of Allah ! Such may have been some o f

Sura xxx . entitled “ The Greeks—Al Roum —properlythe Romans .

2 Conf. Kasimirski, “ Koran,p. 343 ; Sale, notes, da

’10a ;

Muir, i i . 224 Freeman, “ The Saracens,p . 24 .

3 Sura vi . 34—37.

K 2


the thoughts which occupied the mind of Mahometas he reflected upon the hopeless prospect at home,and gazed longingly over the northern hills towardsthe city, where he was regarded as a revered apostle ,and perhaps almost as a prince . And so

,as he

recalled the asylum which in past years the con

verts had found beyond the sea, the picture o f apeaceful haven at Medina

,and of crowds o f enthu

siastic and devoted followers, would grow still brighterand more alluring.

And therefore we cannot wonder that the littleflock are bidden to prepare themselves for abandon~

ing their homes , and that soon the will of Heavenis found to sanction, nay command, the step whichthey meditate o f quitting the doomed city ; thus,“ they accuse thee, O Mohammed, o f imposture, andfollow their own lusts “ and now hath a messagecome unto them

,wherein is a warning from ob

stimate infidelity “ but warners profit them notwherefore do thou withdraw from them .

” 1

Thus the year A.D. 6 2 1 draws to its close, unmarked by any important event . The cry o f theprophet is unheard in the streets, for his thoughtsare far away. Revelations from Heaven come asoccasion requires

,by them the faithful are strength

ened,but still more by the calm trust and undaunted

attitude of their spiritual guide .In the spring o f the next year, during the holy

months,there assembled at the national shrine

at Mecca the usual crowds o f busy devotees ; butamidst the throng one group alone o f about seventypersons need claim our regard . They are the new

Sura l iv. 2 -6 .


’

el uding in some cases imprisonment, as hastenedthe departure o f the believers to the city where theywere assured o f a friendly reception . By permissionof the prophet the emigration began , and within twomonths—with the exception o f Mahomet and AbuBekr and their households, and those who wereforcibly detained in slavery— al l had met with thecordial welcome and hospitality of their brethren atMedina.

1

The devotion of the Moslems at the call o f

their faith and their prophet, and the sight o f theabandoned dwellings, alarmed the hostile chiefs o f

Mecca ; but their deliberations as to how they mighte ffectually extinguish the growing sect, or counteractthe bold step which had been taken

,came to no defi

nite result. The fl ight o f his adherents had placedMahomet more than ever in their power, yet theyseem to have been unable to settle how to act underthe unexpected emergency. Their deliberations, however, were made known to the prophet, and hearingthat certain of their number were appointed to visith is house, he directed Al i to occupy his bed, threwover the youth his red Hadhramaut mantle

,and at

once proceeded to the house of Abu-Bekr,who had

already made the necessary preparations for theirflight.Passing the southern suburb o f Mecca in the

dusk of evening, they escaped to a cave on MountThaur

,a lofty hill some six miles to the south-east.

There they remained concealed for three days, tillthe search was somewhat relaxed . Food was con

veyed to them at night by Abdallah and Asma, theMuir

,i i . 247 .


children ofAbu-Bekr,and they had a plentiful supp ly

o f milk brought them by a faithful shepherd . Thereis, perhaps, no incident in the life o f the prophetwhich more nearly touches the sublime, which setshis courage

,his calm unwavering trust in God in a

more exal ted light than the story o f this cave on

Mount Thaur. If discovered thus alone on thebarren mountain how easily might the assassin haveexecuted his murderous work unseen by mortal eye .

Pursuit was hot, and the less mascu l ine soul o fAbuBekr, fearful for the safety o f the apostle o f God, conj ured up visions o f approach ing foes in each darkshadow o f the fitful twilight and in every rustlingleaf o f the thorny acacias . “ They be many thatfigh t against us, and we are but two . N o t so,Abu-Bekr,” replied the prophet ; “ we are but two

,

but God is in the midst a third .

”

The flight, pursuit, and the safety of the wanderersare, as might be expected, adorned with detailsof the miraculous protection of Heaven . Amongthese is the well-known story that for their safety aspider spun its web over the mouth of the cave and

on a tree which miraculously sprang up the brooding wood-pigeons, undisturbed, showed the pursuersthat no one could have taken refuge within .

1 In one

of the later Medina suras the before-mentioned circumstances are thus referred to : If ye assist notthe Prophet, verily God will assist h im,

as He assistedh im formerly, when the unbelievers drove him out of

Mecca, the second of two : when they were both inthe cave : when he said to h is companion

, God i swith us ” (Sura ix .

Conf. Sale, P . D . , p . 5 1 Irving,p . 72 ; Muir, u. 257.


Two camels had been provided by Abu-Bekrfor their northern j ourney, and on the fourth day

,

leaving their place of retreat, they struck o ff westward towards the Red Sea, passed Bir-O sfan andGodred, and on the eighth day reached the rockyridge whence the traveller looks down on the richvalley in which Medina lies . Their eyes

,wearied

with j ourneying under a meridian sun through barrenand thirsty defi l es, must have been refreshed at thesight which opened before them . They would lookdown on green fields, orchards, and palm groves, ascene to them of quiet, though o f infinite beauty andrepose . TO the right the summit o f Jebel Ayr ;northward, beyond the valley, the granite mountaino f Ohod, where afterwards the sword o f Islam failedin the hand that wielded it ; away to the south andeast, till lost in the horizon, the p lateau o f Najdand below the peaceful suburb of Coba, nestlingamidst its palm groves .Thither the travellers

,

wended their way, and welcomed by the greeting of the exiles who had precededthem , and by the smiles and gratulations of the newconverts, soon after alighted in Medina. Such wasthe celebrated Hej ira, or Flight o f Mahomet fromMecca to Medina

,from which the Mah ometan world

computes its era. He fled from the cave of Thaur onthe 20th, and arrived at Medina on the 28 th June,A.D . 6 22 . Within a few weeks the members of thefamilies ofMahomet and Abu-Bekr, who had remainedbehind at Mecca

,set out leisurely and without mo

l estation, to j oin the rest o f the fugitives at Medina.

136 I sLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

Pharaoh’s rejection o f the words o f Moses, were butso many types o f his m i ss ion to the inhabitants ofMecca

,and o f their reception o f him ; and it is

shown that calamities, similar to those which befellthe nations of o ld, will assuredly overwhelm them ifthey continue to prefer their idols to the worsh ip o f

God,and still rej ect his warnings . His religion

,he

tells them, is freely offered, for he asks no reward ;and he assures them that he is not a preacher of anynew doctrine, no innovator, but sent at God

’s command to instruct them in that faith which is the onlytrue one

,and the rej ection o f which will bring upon

them the judgment of Heaven . Thus : “ He hathordained you the religion which He commandedNoah , and revealed to thee, O Mohammed—andAbraham and Moses and Jesus, saying, Observe thisreligion (Sura xlii .During this period it cannot be doubted that

Mahomet found opportunity, generally wemaybelieveduring the quiet hours of the night , for prosecutinghis study of the Jewish histories ; for he reproducesthe minute details o f the stories of Moses (Surao f Joseph (Sura and o f others, though all aremore or less mixed up with legends and apocry

phal additions o f h is own. In his treatment of theScriptures he shows no comprehensive grasp o f O ldTestament teaching ; his knowledge is purely superfi cial , touching only the outside shell o f facts, andthese are often distorted and strained to suit his ownpurposes

,and abound in fanciful and incongruous

details and fables .Thus he tel ls the story o f the “ Seven Sleepers


dormant in the cave for 309 years, to illustrateGod’s care o f those who avoid ido latry (Sura

the golden calf in the wilderness is madeto l ow (Sura xx . the children of Israel areseduced to idol atry by a Samaritan (H em

, 7,

Joseph is stated to have been sorely tempted by theE gyptian’s wife,

” and the women of E gyp t cut themselves for their love of his beauty (Sura xii .Joseph satisfies his father that he is sti l l alive inE gyp t by sending him an inner garment, the smellof which Jacob recognizes

,and is by it cured of his

blindness (Sura xii . 95) the odour o f the vest isborne on the air to the aged patriarch from E gypt toCanaan (Sura xii . 94 ) the people of the C ity nearthe sea are changed into apes for fishing on theSabbath (Sura iii . Abraham, for speakingagainst the idolatry practised round him , is cast intoa burning pile—but God makes the fire cold (Suraxxi . 6 9) the winds are said to have been subj ect toSolomon, and to have run at his command 8 1)the latter asserts himself to have been taught thelanguage o f birds (Sura xxvii . and talks with alapwing which expresses its belief in the unity of God

(i dem,20—26 ) a terrible genius (in org E freet) brings

to Solomon, in the twinkling o f an eye, the queen ofSheba’s throne (I dem, 40) J ob strikes with his feet,and a fountain springs up as a l iniment for his soreshe is also ordered to beat his wife with rods (l a

’em,

4 1

Such are a few specimens o f the frivolous incidents mixed up with the graver story o f the doingso f the o l d patriarchs . A perusal o f the Koran can


alone give the reader any just idea of the tediousmanner in wh ich certain special subjects ” are re

peated over and over again, with but trivial variation .

In the midst of al l these revelations there occur hereand there excellent moral sentiments to which noexception can be taken . Thus the duty of helpingthe poor, o f relieving the needy traveller, and o f doingj ustice to the orphan, i s insisted on. The love andhonour due to parents from their children

,the per

formance o f covenants, and the use o f j ust weights,

form“part of the believer

’s duty. Liberality is commended, profuseness condemned . The Prophet pointsout, how, at the end o f the world, our words, our

thoughts, nay, the very use of our eyesight, will bebrought into account

,and he states how desirable it

i s for the true believer to l ove God, to pray to Him ,

and to walk humbly in His sight (SuraOn the occurrence o f such sentiments in the

Koran, it may be well to remember, that no civilizedheathen nation ever existed

,in which just, beautiful,

and sublime sentiments were not known and recordedin their sacred books . The works o fConfucius aboundin them the ancient writings

,still held in veneration

by millions in Hindostan,furnish many passages of a

morality as discriminating and high-toned as any tobe found in the book of Mahomet

!

But it i s thejuxtaposition o f other pernicious opinions, claimingequal inspiration and authority, which have evertended to neutralize what was just and true, and torender them without any efficient practical influence .

l

Conf. M . Wil l iams’s “ Indian Wisdom, pp. 3, 38 , 58 ,


we have not related unto thee . In face of the aboveassertions

,if his words are to bear a literal meaning,

we know not how to acquit Mahomet of something ofconscious misrepresentation for i t i s incredible thathe could

,by any tortuous reasoning, construe the

results of his own study to mean direct inspiration ,or that the knowledge which he gained from humanagents was the teaching of God.

In the sixth sura we meet with certain positiveprecepts regarding food, where “ that which dieth of

i tself,or blood poured forth , or swine

’s flesh , or' that

slain in the name of some other god are forbiddenas an abomination (Sura vii . The ancient ritesand ceremonies of the temple at Mecca, the pilgrimage,the circuits round the Kaaba

,the accustomed sacri

fi ces and vows, are still to continue in force, exceptonly that the faithful “ depart from the abominationo f idols in associating any other with God (Suraxxii . 27 The horrible practice o f infanticide

,

viz . burying their daughters alive,which prevailed

among certain o f the Arab tribes,is condemned and

forbidden , and those who slay their children threatenedwith perdition (Sura vi . 138 , and lxxxi . 8 ,To this period, when visions of a j ourney north

ward fl itted before his imagination,

” 1 belongs thestory of the celebrated Night Journey ” [Lail at-alMiraj] of the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem, on

the winged steed Al -Borac,and thence by a ladder o f

light above the seven heavens to the very presenceo f God, whom he saw by the Lote Tree, beyondwhich there is no passing (Sura liii . 13, Fo r

Muir,

“ Life of Mahomet, I I . 219.

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DER . 14 1

the details of this revelation, l with all its later embel l ishment o f curious and extravagant fiction, drawnfrom the legends of the Haggidah, and the dreams ofthe Midrash and the Talmud

,the prophet cannot, in

fairness, be made responsible . His simple accounto f what was probably only a dream prompted by hiswaking thoughts

,i s as follows z— “ Praise be unto

Him, who tra nsported his servant from the sacredtemple (atMecca), to the farther temple (atJ erusal em ) ,the circuit o f wh ich we have b lessed, that we mightshow him some of our signs ” (Sura xvii . I havealready alluded to the repeated direction o f Heavento the prophet “ to withdraw from the unbelievers,”

which occurs in many o f the surasfi" revealed whenthoughts of a sanctuary at Medina were present tohis mind, and when he was on the eve of his departure from Mecca.

Lastly, we have proof that he was now beginning to extend his study from the books of the Oldto those of the New Testament if, indeed, it maybeassumed that he ever consulted the original texts,and did not content himself with gaining h is knowledge from apocryphal sources, wh ich have distortedhis views and tinged his words with their own

colouring. I t may, I think, be assumed thatMahomet got his information chiefly through theseand Jewish channels, and hence we shall see nocause to wonder that he has adopted the teaching o fthose who killed the Prince o fPeace,” and desired

For a curious account of the night j ourney,

”m

’

a’

ePrideaux,

Life of Mahomet , ” pp . 4 I—5 I ; also Muir’s “

Li fe of Mahomet,

” i i . 219—222 ; D’

Herbel dt, art. Borak ” ; Lane, “ ModernE gyptians

,

” i i . 225 .

2 Conf. Suras xl ii i. 89, vi . 112 .

14 2 ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

a murderer to be given unto them ”

;1

and find noreason to marvel at his incorrect views o f the Saviour,a nd o f the introduction into the Koran o f puerilitiesand apocryphal stories found in the “ Gospel o f theInfancy.

” 2

If such were, indeed , the case,3 it would accountto some extent for his unwavering hostility to thedoctrine of the divine Sonship, the mystery o f theHoly Incarnation o f Him whom the Jews crucified

,

and which would form a constant theme o f denial fortheir unhallowed tongues . The Scriptural doctrineof the Three Persons o f the Godhead contained in theO ld Testament, and unfolded in the New, is, asmight have been anticipated, strongly condemnedand repudiated by Mahomet. Thus

,

“ Believe inGod and His Apostles, and say not there be threeGods ; forbear this , i t will be better for you. Godis but one God (Sura iv. and again, “ They arecertainly infidel s, who say, God is the third of Threefor there is no God besides one God ” (Sura v.

I t will be well in this place to consider what theteaching o f the Koran is regarding the birth , theattributes

,the mission , and death o f our blessed

Lord and for this purpose I consider it best to usethe words o f the book itself. The nineteenth sura,

Acts i i i . 14 , I 5 .

2 Vz’

de Sale ’s Koran, pp. 42, [ 18 , notes .3 We cannot doubt that many reasons of the strongest kind

would induce Mahomet to keep the sources of his information,and the names of his instructors ( i f such he had), as secret aspossible . That he was suspected of having teachers we know.

I t seems clear that Mahomet had no correct grasp of theChri st ian doctrine of the tri-unity of the Godh ead .

144 ISLAM AN D I Ts FOUN DE R .

God ; 1 He hath given me the book of the Gospel,and hath appointed me a prophet. And He hathmade me blessed—and dutiful towards my motherth is i s Jesus, the Son o f Mary ; the Word of Truth ,concerning whom they doubt. I t is no t meet forGod that He should have any Son ; God forbid

”

(Sura xix . 31

Little information is given regarding the boyhoodand manner o f life o f Christ. “ God

,

” i t i s stated,“ strengthened Him with His Holy Spirit, 2 andtaught Him Scripture and wisdom and the lawand the Gospel , and appointed Him His apostle tothe ch i l dren o f Israel (Sura iii . The performance of certain miracles is attributed to Him

,

speaking to men in His cradle, making clay birds tofly

,giving sight to the blind, life to the dead, and

cleansing the lepers ; al l done, not by His ownpower, but “ by the permission of God (Sura iii .4 1 , and v.

The child Jesus, in His cradle, i s made to utterwhich are meant to support the Mahometanthus “Wheresoever I shal l be : God hath

commanded me to observe prayer and to give almsso long as I shall live ” (Sura xix. The feeding o fthe multitudes in the wilderness and the institutionof the Last Supper are, it would seem, confounded inthe Koran thus

,The apostles said, O Jesus, son of

l The first words put into the mouth of the child Jesus areintended to make Him deny His divine Sonship and the prominent way in jvhich His human nature is indicated in the wordsSon of Mary ” i s doubtless intended to serve the same purpose .2 Suras i i . 8 1, v . 109.

ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R.

Mary,is thy Lord able to cause a table to descend

from heaven we desire to eat thereof, that we may

know that thou hast told us the truth . And Jesussaid, O God, our Lord, cause a table to descend untous from heaven, that the day o f its descent may become a festival unto us (Sura v. 1 12

With regard to the Death o f our blessed Lord ,the Koran denies that Hewas really put to death : thus,“ And they ”

(the Jews) say,Verily, we have slain

Christ Jesus,the son of Mary, the Apostle o f God !

Yet they slew Him not, neither crucified Him, but Hewas represented by one in His likeness they did notreally kill Him, but God took Him up unto Himself,and God is mighty and wise (Sura iv. Thereis a further account of the crucifixion : thus, “ And

the.

Jews devised a stratagem against Him (Jesus) ;but God devised a stratagem against them ” andthis passage continues thus : “ God said

,O Jesus

,

Verily I will cause thee to die,and I will take thee up

unto Me ” (Sura i ii . 4 7, These apparently contradictory passages have given much trouble to theMahometan commentators

,who explain that God ’s

s tratagem was in stamping the likeness of Jesus onanother person , who was apprehended

,and suffered

the ignominious death in His stead . The deathwhich He is to suffer will

,they say

,occur “ when He

shall return into the world before the Last Day.

” 1

At Medina, in the Hujrah, ” or chamber where Mahometis buried, a vacant tomb is left for Seyedna I sa-bin-Maryam(Jesus Christ) at his second coming, where, on the fulfilment o fHis mission, He is to be buried . C f. Burton

, E l Med . and

E l i i . 89 ; Lane, Modern Egyptians, ” i . 93.

L 2


The Saviour, they add, was al lowed , after God tookHim up

,to descend for the purpose o f comforting His

mother and disciples,and telling them how the Jews

had been deceived ! O ther explanations are given of

His death that i t was a spiritual death to al l worldlydesires ; or a real one lasting a few hours .1 On th ishead it should be added that certain hereticalChristian sects

,

2 at the very beginning o f Christianity,

denied that Christ Himself suffered,but that Simon

the Cyrenean, or Judas, was crucified in His place.Finally

,the Koran

,while acknowledging Christ

Jesus to be “ honourable in th is world and in theworl d to come, and one of those who approach nearto the presence o f God ”

(Sura ii . asserts thatHe is no other than a servant whom God favouredwith the gift of prophecy ”

(Sura xliii . and.

“ i sno t to be associated in that worsh ip which is due toGod only ”

(Sura ix. Such , then , i s the teachingo f the Koran regarding the birth

,the life, and the

death o f our Lord and Saviour.I t i s painful to read such words

,but, such as

they are, they will give the Christian reader a justconception of Mahomet’s claim to inspiration

,and

will satisfy him that the prophet o f Mecca knewnoth ing o f the true nature o f that Christianity aboutwhich he ventures to write . Though he speaks of ourLord always in terms of the highest respect, and makesmention o f certain of His miracles, he had no heartto know the higher andmore wondrous miracle o f His

Conf. Sale ’s Koran,p . 43 Kasimirski, Koran, p . 60,

note.2 The Basilidians, the Cerinthians, and the Carpocrat ians.

CHAPTE R VIII .

MAHOMET’S CARE E R AT MEDIN A 6 22—632

WE now return to take up the story of the prophet’sfortunes at Medina. He remained four days atCoba and having satisfied himself that the general enthusiasm ,

and the curiosity to see the man whose namewas so great in Arabia had lulled the active passionso f contending faction

,he made his almost triumphal

entry into Medina . Seated on his camel, he allowedthe animal unchecked to select the spot for his futureresidence . The place thus chosen was a piece ofwasteground within the eastern limits o f the city, and nearthe house of one AbuAyub,1 under whose roof he re

sided for seven months . His table was amply supplied by the voluntary offerings of the Faithful . Thework of erecting a mosque and suitable dwellings wasthe first business of the prophet and his followers .The ground, which he bought, was cleared and l evel l ed, and a temple, some hundred cubits square,arose on the site where now stands the large and

beautiful mosque which bears his name.2

Th i s Abu Ayub was afterwards (A.D . 672) killed at the

s iege of Constantinople, and gave his name to the “ Mosque ofAyoub

,at the northern end of the Golden Horn .

2 For a detailed description of the Masj id-al -N abi at Medina,wideBurton

,E 1Meccah and E l Medinah, vol. i i . chap . xvi .


Round the temple rose,in process o f time, apart

ments for his wives as they were gradually added .

At first two only were bui lt, one for Sawda, and asecond for Ayesha, then in her tenth year, who for theconsummation o f her nuptials took possession, withunostentatious pomp , o f that chamber wh ich was destined to be the burial-place of her husband . Regularservices were commenced, Mahomet or some vicarappointed by him leading the dai ly public prayers ;whilst on Friday

,at the mid-day office, al l the Faithful

were expected to be present.In h is marriage with Ayesha, which took place in

the winter of A.D . 6 22—6 23, Mtahp f

me t gave p ractical’.

effect wtgw higprevious sanction of. p o l ygamy, . on .wh ich.the following remarks maybe made. I t is not apparent

,from any facts we know

,that Mahomet is per

sonal ly to be blamed for the step he thus took . Inthe histories o f the O ld Testament, o fwh ich he hadbeen no idle student, .he would find numerous examples o f i ts practice by patriarchs and kings

,with

the tacit approval,certainly without the expressed

reprehension,of a higher power ; and though con~

.

demned by the purer teaching of Christianity, wecannot assume that he was aware o f this fact. More»over, he found it sanctioned by the example o f the

Jews, universally the custom inArabia, and practised byh is most devoted followers and it may be concluded

,

either that its practical working failed to impress himwith the desirabi lity o f interfering with its existence,or

, if in any way alive to its evils, that he shrank fromthe task of setting himself in opposition to this

,the

most cherished privilege ofhis pleasure-lovingdisciples.

1 50 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN D E R .

Therefore,though it is to be doubted whether he

ever seriousl y contemplated the practical results o f

his legislation on this subj ect, having in the Koransanctioned the practice o f polygamy, he must be heldresponsible for the long train o f degrading conse

quences which have followed the l icence thus establ ished,

“ which has undoubtedly proved , in its ultimate results, one o f the greatest andmost fearful evilsof the Mahometan system .

” 1

I t may be well in this place to consider what theteaching of the Koran is on the subj ect . In the4 th sura, entitled “ Women

,

”among various direc

tions regarding their years o f orphanage, inheritances, chastity, and the forbidden degrees, permissionis given to the Faithful to take two, or three, or four,and not more women as wives (verse and in ad

dition to these as concubines,the slave-girls , “ wh ich

their right hands possess ” (Sura l xx. that is,

purchased or made captive in war. In reality, thenumber of wives is practically unlimited

,as the Koran

allows an almost unchecked power o f divorce andexchange (Sura iv. The action o f the husband

,

who is expressly stated to be superior to the wife , is

Freeman, “ History of the Saracens, p . 53.

2 Muir, Life of Mahomet,

” i i . 140, note ; i i i . 305 . So long as‘ this unlimited permission of cohabitation wi th their female slavecontinues, i t cannot be expected that there wi ll be any heartyattempt to put a stop to slavery

,whatever form i t takes , i n

Mahometan countries. Though Mahomet, i n some respectsundoubtedly ameliorated the condit ion of slaves, there is sufficient proof that he looked upon i t as a permanent institution(cf. Sura xxiv. 33 Muir, iv. 239, 321 and Hughes, N otes onMahommedanism, p .


andmore favoured stranger. Some Mahometans makea habit of continually changing their wives . We reado f young men who have had twenty and thirty wivesa new one every three month s ; and thus it comesabout thatwomen are liable to be indefinitely transferred from one man to another

,obliged to accept a

husband and a home wherever they can find one, or

in case of destitution , to which divorce may have re

duced them, resort to other more degrading meanso f l iving.

Further evils follow this pernicious system,which

cannot here be particularly recorded . E nough hasbeen said to Show the practical working of the rule so f the Koran on the important subj ect of marriageand divorce - rules which strike at the root o f allm orality, brutalize man , degrade women, and renderthe Christian ideal o f domestic life an impossibility ;and yet for them is claimed a divine origin

,and they

are emphatically called “ the ordinances of God dec l ared to people of understanding 1 (Sura ii . 2

On this subject i t may be well to remark that thepopular idea o f the exclusion of women from theParadise o f Mahomet is quite erroneous . Though nodetails of the delights in store for them are vouchsafedby the prophet— for on this point he observes a prudent reticence—we are informed that “ God will leadthe believers of both sexes to the gardens of delight. ”2

1 Conf. Deut . xxiv. 3, 4 , for the purer and stri cter regulat ionsof the Mosai c l aw of divorce. Conf. Sal e, D . P . , sec . vi . Muir,i i i . 300—307.

2 Conf. Sura xlvi i i . 5 ; iv. 123. The reader will call to mindGibbon’s remarks on Mahomet’ s silence in this parti cular.

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN D E R . 1 53

I t cannot be imagined that Mahomet ’s arrivalin Medina

,and his powerful position there, as the

actual prophet and prince over his own sect, and aspossessing a dominating authority in the city, provedin al l respects acceptable to those who either disbel ieved his claims, or viewed with j ealousy the risingpower o f the stranger. And so i t was that, bothamong the Jews

,who were numerous at Medina, and

the Arabs,who stil l dallied with the o l d idolatry, ele

ments of antagonism came to light. The “D isaffected,”1

as they are called, are bitterly inveighed against inthe Koran ; hell-fire, it is stated, is to be their portion and a whole sura ( lxii . ) is devoted to an exposition of their lying and their wicked conduct inseeking “ to set the inhabitants ” against the prophetof God .

With the Jews, on his firs t arrival

,he made a ]

treaty of alliance,by which the free exercise of their

worship,and the possession of their rights and pro

perty was guaranteed ; but it soon became apparentthat the two sects could not exist harmoniously sideby side . Mahomet’s conduct in his dealings with therival religionists is very instructive . In his earlierinspirations he had spoken of them as the chosen of

heaven , and their books as having divine authority,andhad, as we have seen, heaped together facts drawnfrom their sacred canon to illustrate the truth o f hismission . He had acknowledged that a strict compl iance with the Mosaic ritual was compatible withfuture salvation ; he had fixed upon t/l ez

'

r holy place1 Sura iv. 144 . The original ( “Munaficun i s by Sal e ren .

dered by the word Hypocrites .


at Jerusalem as the Kibla o f h is faith ; and in manyways sought to conciliate them and gain their weightytestimony to the truth of his claims but al l had beenin vain he found that they disbelieved his assertions

,

mocked at h i s revelations,and gave out that in their

prophetic books no authority for his pretensions wasto be found.

Mahomet was no t without resource . He employed his o l d weapons against them accusedthem of rejecting their Messiah ; asserted that theysystematically concealed all the passages foretellinghis appearance ; and that on them as on their fathers ,who had rej ected the preaching o f Noah and o f

Abraham,was fallen a thick darkness

,—eyes that

woul d not see, ears that would no t hear the latestmessage o f Heaven delivered by his lips . To embittered feelings succeeded menacing words ; and theJews o f Medina soon felt the power and hostility o fthe prophet’s arm .

1

E stablished thus in a position o f security, Mahomet began to cast h is eyes abroad upon otherscenes . His strength was to go forward, and to findemployment for the eager passions o f his disciples,who

,in the chilly atmosphere of Medina, sighed for a

return to their warmer home at Mecca. In the wintero f A.D. 6 22—23, and during the ensuing year, variousplundering expeditions, under Hamza, Obeida, andthe prophet himself

,left Medina

,ch iefly with the

object of intercepting the caravan trade betweenMecca and Syria ; and though few prisoners and

1 I t was about this t ime that the “ Kibla,” as above related ,was changed from Jerusalem to Mecca .


The affair at Nakhla was followed by the celebrated battle of Badr. In January 6 24 , on thereturn j ourney o f the Meccan caravan from Syria,Mahomet determined to attempt its capture

,and

for thi s purpose set out from Medina with 305 o f

the Fugitives and Ansar,” and encamped by thefountains . Though Abu-Sofian succeeded by forcedmarches in placing his convoy beyond danger

,i t was

settled that a body o f troops, numbering about 950,which, under Abu-Jahl, had been sent from Mecca tohis assistance

,should advance and measure swords

with the Moslems . The battle began with a series ofSingle combats

,in which Hamza—the Lion of God

Al i and Obeida encountered and slew O tba, Walid,and Shuiba . The engagement then became general,“ the army of the Faithful was borne forward by anenthusiasm which the C oreish were unable to withstand ”

;1 their line

,notwithstanding their superior

number,began to waver, and the retreat quickly

became an ignominious flight. Forty-nine of theMeccans perished

,and an equal number were taken

prisoners on the side of Mahomet fourteen fell .Of the prisoners some were slain on the field, and

others afterwards put to death in cold blood ; forwe learn that on the evening of the battle, in thevalley of O theil , Mahomet sanctioned the slaughterof Nadr and two days after that of one c a, forthe comforting sight of whose blood he returnedthanks to Heaven . A justification of these unwarrantabl e deeds was subsequently vouchsafed, and is

1 Muir, i i i. 105.

I SLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R . 15 7

found in the Koran .

1 A dispute regarding the distribution o f the booty necessitated an especial revelation, wh ich estab l ished the principle that one-fifth

part was to be for God and his Apostle, and theremainder distributed equally between “ those who hadfought and those who had stayed under the ensigns . ” 2

Such was the memorable battle of Badr, insignificant

,perhaps , in the numbers engaged, but

stupendous in its ultimate results . The prophet haddrawn the sword, and submitted the proof and justification o f h is claims to its capricious decision, for onits victory or defeat the cause of Islam was to standor fall .3

On his return to Medina, Mahomet found hisposition much strengthened, and he assumed a dictatorial tone wh ich demanded unhesitating obedience .We can hardly doubt, too, that the sight of thespoils and the prisoners, whose money ransom waspermitted

,provided his disciples with proofs o f the

divinity of Islam as convincing as the laboured arguments and measured cadences of the Koran . Withthe Jews it was different. They were unimpressed withthe validity of such mundane reasoning, refused torelinquish the faith o f their fathers, and still ridiculedthe prophet ; and so the angry feelings o f the two

1 Sura viii . 68—76 .

2 Sale’ s note, “ Koran , sura viii . p . 139 . Also conf. I Sam .

xxx. 20—25 . The prophet ’s fifth part was the Sadacat,” “ for

himself and his family, the orphans, the poor, and the traveller ”

(Sura vi ii .2 The victory is at tributed to the direct assistance of God

, and

i t is intimated that angels fought for the Moslems (Surai i i. 13, 1


sects grew more and more intense ; secret assassinations

,stimu lated by Mahomet, struck them with

an undefined terror, showed the dangerous brink onwhich they stood, and convinced them that a plausibleexcuse only was wanted for open rupture .

Th is soon presented i tself. An Arab girl , thewife o f a convert, was insulted by a youth o f theBeni-Cainucaa, one o f the chief Jewish tribes inMedina ; bloodshed followed , and taking advantageo f this circumstance, the whole tribe was attacked

,

p roscribed, and banished . Their lands,houses

,and

goods were confiscated , and divided among thevictors . In the course o f the same year (A.D . 6 24 )one Kab-ibn-Ashraff, a Jew who had annoyed theMoslems with his verses

,was at Mahomet’s instiga

tion assassinated under circumstances o f the blackesttreachery.

1 In his domestic relations Mahomet hadto mourn the death of his daughter R ockeya. Duringthe winter months he married h is fourth wife, Haphsa,

the daughter o f Omar ; and in January, A.D . 6 25 ,

was born his grandson Hasan, the son o f Fatimaand Al i.At Mecca the tidings o f the disastrous defeat

at Badr aroused the bitterest feelings of anger, andpassionate cries for vengeance arose on every side

,

and in particular from Hind, the wife o fAbu Sofian,whose father

,brother

,and uncle had fallen . On the

opening of the year 6 25 alarming rumours o f an

attack on Medina reached the ears of the Prophet,and soon the news was sent him by his uncle Abbasthat a force of men had taken the northern

1 Conf. Muir, i ii . 143.


others the gallant Hamza, who had been broughtlifeless to the ground by a wild negro, whom the furyHind had

,by the promise of freedom, thus engaged

to satisfy her revenge. After the fight she gloatedover the body o f her victim, tore out the heart

,and

gnawed it with her teeth ! On the evening of thebattle the C oreish retreated, and Mahomet

,after

burying the dead, amidst the wailing of distress,

began the homeward march . I have before mademention of the revelation which came to still themurmurs of those who had lost relatives at Ohod.

During the year 6 25 various expeditions weresent abroad to propagate the faith and to checkhostile movements among neighbouring tribes ; andin these murder and treachery play an importantpart. From certain political compl ications Mahometcontinued, without any adequate reason, to pick aquarrel with the Jewish tribe of the Beni N adhir,whose stronghold, Zohara, lay a few m iles to thesouth o f Medina. R efusing to listen to any explanation

,he bid them, in the name of the Lord, go forth

from their homes on pain of death . They were obligedto obey his stern mandate and give up their housesand lands, which were forthwith divided among theFugitives .” The Koran contains a song of praise toGod

,in which the Prophet records his thankfulness

for having been enabled successfully to accomplishthe spoliation and banishment of th is unoffendingpeople . 1

I retI‘

I rn to the domestic affairs of the prophet.1 Conf. Sura l ix. 1—8 et seq. Muir

,i ii . 208 W. Irving, chap.

xxx and Sale’s notes, (Id l ac.

_I SLAM AN D ITs FOUN DE R 16 1

In December,6 25 , he married his fifth wife, Zeinab,

daughter o f Kho z eima, whose husband had fallen atBadr. In January, 6 26 , a sixth , Om-Salma, widow o f

one o f the heroes o f Obod ; and six months later

(June), Zeinab-bint-Jahsh , the divorced wife of hisadopted son Zeid. On a certain day, Mahometentering unexpectedly the house of Zeid, had a

momentary glimpse of the charms of his beautifulwife

,and uttered a cry o f passionate admiration .

The circumstance was reported, and the disciple, byan immediate divorce, enabled the prophet to add anew bride to his harem .

By these marriages—for he had then six livingwives— the legal number allowed to the Faithfu l 1

had been overstepped, and, moreover, his alliancewith the wife o f his adopted sonwas considered highlyimproper

,if not incestuous . But Mahomet had an

easy and effectual method o f silencing presentscandal and avoiding further complication by an

additional Sura to the Koran ; thus : “O Prophet,

we have al lowed thee wives—and also the slaves .which thy right hand possesseth—and any other believing woman, if she give herself, and the Prophetdesireth to take her to wife . This i s a peculiar privilege granted thee above the rest of the believers(Sura xxxiii . 49 I t is impossible to avoid wondering at the strange credulity of his followers

, who,with seemingly undiminished faith

,allowed ‘him the

aid o f inspiration as a pander to his personal predilections .Regarding the fair Zeinab, i t was laid down

1 Sura iv. 3.

M 2


that she was j oined to the prophet by the will ofHeaven , to Show that believers commit no sin in‘marrying the wives o f their adopted sons. ” 1 Thespecial revelation

'

given forth to sanction this marri

’

age is , by the ablest writer on the subj ect,2 j ustly

stigmatized as an act o f “ impious effrontery ”

; andanother author is obliged to confess that his relaxationof the marriage rules in his own favour “ is the greatests tain

,and an indelible one

,on his memory.

” 3

In the same chapter‘1 certain rules are laid downregarding the conduct to be observed by visitors .Guests and strangers are not to enter his habitationsuninvited ; they are to use no familiarity, but arequickly to depart ; they are to speak to his wivesfrom behind a curtain are to give the apostle o fGod no uneasiness in these particulars ; and , aboveall

,are forbidden “ to marry his wives after him at

any time,—verily that would be an enormity in the

sight o f God.

”

An expedition (December, 6 26 ) to the wells o f

Muraisi, north o f J iddah, on the seashore, resulted inthe defeat of the Beni-Mustal ick and the captu re o f a

1 Sura xxxiii . 37. Zeinab boasted to the other wives of theprophet that fier marriage alone had been ratified in Heaven .

Zeid is the only companion mentioned by name in the Koran(Kasimirski, p .

2 Muir,i i i . 230.

3 Bosworth Smith, Mohammed , ” p . 88 . Mr. Smith thinksMahomet “ mayhave justified himself to his own mind by theE thiopian marriage not condemned in the case of Moses . ” He

appears t o assume that this was a second wi fe of Moses ; butthere i s no proof of this

,or that Zipporah is not identical wi th

the “ Cushite woman ” (Forster, “ Geog. of Arabia, ” vol . i .p .

‘1 Sura xxxii i . 53.


legislation o f the Koran in this particular, and asregards murder

,theft

,mutilation, &c .

,owing to its

cruelty, inconsistency, and inadequacy, has, in manyparticulars

,been neglected, if not altogether set

aside,in the more advanced countries where Islam

prevails .1 Fornication is forbidden , i s declared tobe wickedness and an evil way

,

2 and is to bepunished, in either sex, by 100 stripes . Marriagewith a harlot is forbidden to true believers .3 But.

‘however salutary Mahomet may have considered theseregulations

,the almost unlimited licence in marriage

anddivorce enables offenders to set them at defiance.

4

The opening of the year 6 27 (March) saw theprophet threatened with a formidable danger. Abu

Sofian, the chief of Mecca, had engaged a number o fBedouin tribes to assist him in making a united attackwon the rising power, and had advanced on Medina with:Some ten thousand men . The Moslems intrenchedand fortified their city

,and were content to repel the

attack from behind their walls . During a fruitlesssiege of fifteen days, mutual j ealousy and disaffectionparalyzed the efforts o f the besiegers . A terrificstorm which fell on their camp hastened their retreat,and fi lled them with the apprehension that the veryelements were leagued on the side of the apostle o fGod .

Then follows a crime memorable for its atro

1 Vz'

a’e Monier Wi ll iams, “ Indian Wisdom ,

p . 273. CodeofMann.

2 Sura xvn. 34 .

3 Sura xxiv. 3.

1 Vz'

a’e Lane

,

“ Modern E gyp tians, I I . 98 , and note. See

also i . 14 1, 409, a! my.


city and for the view it affords us o f the sanguinaryprinciples which

,at this time

,regulated Mahomet ’s

conduct. On the arrival o f the confederates they hadfound means to win over the Beni C oreitz a, a Jewishtribe

,whose possessions l ay exposed to attack, and

who had indeed entered into terms of alliance withMahomet

,but whose compact with h im “ was o f a

weak and precarious nature . Though their defection,which amounted to little more than neutrality, atsuch a critical moment, might have warranted Mabomet in expelling them from their possessions it by nomeans j ustified the slaughter wh ich followed . On theretreat of Abu Sofian they were besieged, reduced toextremity

,and had to surrender at discretion . Their

fate was left to the decision o f a chief of the BeniAws, and by him the men were adjudged to death ,

and the women and children to slavery. In companies o f five or six the horror-stricken Jews

,to the

number of some 800,were led out, and, in Mahomet

’spresence, butchered in cold blood One shudders atthe recital of this horrible transaction, and at thepicture of the man, who, unmoved to pity, nay more,with fierce denunciation, l could witness the awfulcarnage to its end—a deed in its atrocity comparableto the Massacre at Melos

,

2 and to the act o f thatsanguinary wretch who directed the blood-bath o f

Stockholm .

Yet in the Koran this accursed slaughter is ap

pl auded, attributed to divine interposition, and pronounced consonant with the love and compassion

1 Muir,i ii. 277.

2 Thucydides, v.


o f the Al l -merciful ! 1 Muir justly remarks that “ thebutchery of the C oreitz a leaves a dark stain o f infamyon the character o f Mahomet.” 2 Among the cap

tives was a Jewess (Rihana) , whose charms hadcaught his eye . Refusing the position o f a wife

,sh e

became his slave and concubine, on his return fromthe spot where he had just witnessed the bleedingcorpse of her husband

,and the destruction of al l her

male relatives !The truth is that Mahomet had by this time

become deep l y, nay irreconcilably hostile to the Jewsof Medina. At first indeed he had availed himselfo f their aid in establishing himself in their midst, butnow

,when success enabled him to slight their assist

ance,he threw them contemptuously aside, and

eagerly availed himself o f any plausible excuse fortheir destruction . In addition

,his dark suspicions

were aroused that a lingering i l lness wh ich troubledhim was due to certain “ E nchantments ” they haddirected against him . The r 13th Sura i s a Shortprayer to God for deliverance from “ the mischief o fthe night when i t cometh on

,and from the misch ief

of women blowing on knots,&c .

” 3 We may gather

1 Sura xxxii i . 22—27 ; and Sale’s note ; W . Irving, p . 116 .

2 Muir, i i i . 284 . Bosworth Smith (Mohammed, p. 90) call sthis act, “ in al l i ts accessories

,one of cold-blooded and in

human atrocity.2 In accordance wi th their prophet ’s belief in magi c, incanta

t ions, &c. , the use of charms and amulets is universal amongMahometans, t o counteract the influence of enchantments, disease, the evil eye, &c. O f these charms, the most potent is acopy of the Koran ; but the Fai thful , as a rule

,content them

selves wi th certain verses only,invoking God’ s protect ion against


express sanction given to the barbarous practice ofmutilation .

The recurrence o f the holy month, Dzul -Caada,

o f the next year (Feb . recalled to the mind ofMahomet and o f his followers thoughts o f the customary pilgrimage, and of their homes at Mecca

,

from which they had been excluded for Six years . Togratify the wishes o f h is disciples, and to remind themthat the ceremonies o f the Kaaba

,apart from idolatry

,

were included in their faith,he determined to lead

his followers to the holy shrine . Numbering somemen they left Medina

,but

,when within two

days ’ march of Mecca,their advance was checked by

the C oreish, and Mahomet, turning to the west fromO sfan, encamped at Al Hodeibia

,on the border o f

the Sacred territory.

” 1 At this spot, a treaty, called“ the truce of Hodeibia, was concluded, which stipul ated that al l hostilities should cease for ten years,and that for the future the Moslems should have theprivilege, unmolested , of paying a yearly visit of threedays to the holy shrine . After sacrificing the victims,Mahomet returned to Medina.

AS about this period (A.D . 6 28 ) Mahomet sentembassies to certain foreign sovereigns

,inviting them

and their subj ects to embrace Islam, it may be wellto consider the political condition, at the time , of

the countries bordering onArabia.

The royal dynasty of Persia belonged to the raceo f the Sassanidae, o f whom the most illustrious,Chosroes, surnamed Nushirvan , reigned at the time of

1 The “ sacred territory ” (Haram ) extends to a distance ofsome seven to ten miles round Mecca.


Mahomet ’s birth . After the fall of the EmperorAlexander, Persia had been subj ect in succession tothe Macedonian kings o f Syria— the Seleucidae —andt0 ' the Parthian monarchs but

,after s ix centuries o f

bondage, the foreign yoke was broken , and Persiabecame subject to kings o f indigenous birth .

Their religion was the Magian creed of Zoroaster,

which, though acknowledging only the two greatopposing powers o f light and darkness, o f good andevil, o f Ormuzd and Ahriman

,had fallen from its

original purity, and the sacred fire had become thevisible symbol of idolatrous worship .

Chosroes— called also Kho sru Parviz— the PersianKing

,to avenge the murder (A.D . 602) of his

friend Maurice,Emperor of Constantinople

,attacked

the . tyrant P hokas, who had seated himself . on thethrone

,and continued the war against the Byzantine

empire for more than twenty years . Heraclius,

son of the E xarch of Africa,deposed and slew

P hokas and after a variety of fortunes totallyoverthrew the Persians in the decisive victory o f

Nineveh (A.D . Cho sroes was soon after murdered by his son and successor Siroes (Feb .

To Sirocs and Heraclius ambassadors were sentby Mahomet . The former on receipt o f the prophet

’

s letter tore it to pieces ; the latter (who at

the time was on a pi lgrimage from E dessa to Jerusalem, as a thanksgiving for h is victory) received thedespatch with much more courtesy

,but probably

threw it aside, as “ the production of some harmlessfanatic ” .

1

1Muir,iv . 53.


E gypt and Syria had for centuries been portions ofthe Roman Empire

,but, though professing the Chris

tian faith,they had adopted a form o f it alien from

the standard o f Roman and Byzantine orthodoxy .

” 1

In both provinces the Nestorian and Jacobite heresieshad taken deep root

,and other elements of discord

there were, which rendered their loyalty to the central power weak

,and ready to be broken at the ap

proach of the first resolute invader.On the arrival of the envoys, Muckonckas, the

Roman governor o f E gypt, treated them with honour,and sent as presents to the prophet a wh ite mule andtwo Coptic girls . Of the latter

,the fair features and

curling hair of Mary captivated the heart o f Mahomet,

and she became h i s concubine . In Syria, the embassy was treated with contempt by the ChristianPrince of Ghassan . In Yemen , wh ich before th istime had become a dependency o f the Persian Court

,

better success awaited his ambassadors . The governor, Badsan, who then resided at Sana, freed fromhis allegiance by the death of Cho sroes, signified h i sadhesion to the prophet. The messengers to the

Court of Axum in Abyssinia were well received, afavourable answer returned, and the remaining exilesbrought back to Medina.

2

In the autumn o f the year (A.D. 6 28 ) he seton foot an expedition against Kheibar, a town 100

miles to the north o f Medina, inhabited chiefly by

1 Freeman, “ The Saracens, p . 20.

0

2 Among these was Om .Habiba, a widow,the daughter of his

arch-enemy, Abu Sohan . She became Mahomet ’s tenth wi feon his return from Kheibar.

1 72 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R.

Al Caswa, which eight years before had borne him inhis flight from the cave o f Thaur a hunted fugitive

,

the prophet, now surrounded by j oyous crowds o f

disciples,the companions o f his exile

,approached

and saluted the holy shrine . E agerly did he pressforward to the Kaaba

,touched with

.his staff the

Black Stone, seven times made the circuit of the holyhouse

,seven times journeyed between Safa and

Marwa,sacrificed the victims

,and fulfilled all the

ceremonies o f the lesser pilgrimage .

1

While at Mecca he negotiated an alliance withMeimuna, his eleventh and last wife. His marriage gained him two most important convertsKhalid

,the “ Sword of God

,who before this had

turned the tide o f battle at Ohod ; and Amru ,destined afterwards to carry to foreign lands thevictorious standards of Islam .

The services of these two important convertswere quickly utilized . An envoy o f Mahomet to theChristian Prince of Bostra

,in Syria

,having been

s lain by the chief of Muta—a village to the southeast o f the Dead Sea—a force of men unde rhis adopted son Zeid, was sent (Sept . A.D . 6 29) toexact retribution

,and to call the offending tribe to

the faith . On the northward march,though they

learnt that an overwhelming force o f Arabs and

Romans—the latter of whom met the Moslems for thefirst time—was assembling to oppose them, theyresolved resolutely to push forward . The result was

1 Conf. Muir,iv. chap . xxi I . Irving, chap . xxvii . For Kaaba

conf. Suras i i . 119—121, xxii . 27—30 ; for Safa andMar wa, Sura i i .I 53.


their disastrous defeat and repulse . Zeid and Jafar, abrother o f Al i

,fell defending the white banner of the

prophet . Khalid,by a series ofmanoeuvres, succeeded

in drawing off the army and conducting it withoutfurther loss to Medina. Amonth later, however,Amrumarched unopposed through the lands of the hostiletribes

,received their submission

,and restored the

prestige of Islam on the Syrian frontier. Mahometdeeply felt the loss of Zeid and Jafar, and exhibitedthe tenderest sympathy for their widows and orphans .The defeat at Muta was followed, in the south ,

by events of the greatest moment to MahometCertain smouldering hostilities between tribes in‘habiting the neighbourhood of Mecca broke forthabout the end o f the year. These were judged to beinfractions o f the treaty (some of these tribes beingin league with the C oreish) , and were eagerly seizedupon by Mahomet as j ustifying those designs uponMecca which the success of his arms and the dominion he possessed over numberless tribes in thenorth

,in the Hejaz

,and Najd

,nowmade it easy for

him to carry out.Having therefore

,determined to attack his native

city,he announced h is intention to h is followers,

and directed h is allies among the Bedouin tribesto join him on the march to Mecca . Althoughhe took every precaution to prevent his preparationsbecoming known , the news reached the ears of theC oreish, who sent Abu Sofian to deprecate his angerand to induce him to abandon his purpose . Humiliation and failure were the only result o f this m ission .

On the I st January, A.D . 630, Mahomet’s march


commenced , and after eight days through unfre

quented roads and defi l es, the army, swelled to thenumber o f men , halted and lighted their campfi res on the heights o f Marr-al -Tz ahran,

a day’s marchfrom the sacred city. The prophet had been j oinedon his march by his uncle Abbas, and on the night o fh is arrival Abu Sofian again presented himself andbesought an interview. On the morrow it was granted .

Has the time not yet come, O Abu Sofian,” cried

Mahomet, for thee to acknowledge that there is butone God, and that I am hisApostle ! ” He answeredthat his heart still felt some hesitancy but seeing thethreatening sword ofAbbas, and knowing that Meccawas at the mercy o f the prophet, he repeated theprescribed formula of belief, and was sent to preparethe city for his approach .

The Moslems made their entry from four different quarters

,and, with the exception o f the de

tachment under the command o f Khalid, met withno opposition . Seated on Al Caswa, and in the pilgrim garb

,the prophet entered the city repeating

verses o f the Koran . Having approached the Kaaba ,he touched the Black Stone and made the seven prescribed circuits . The custody o f the key (Hijaba) hecontinued in the family of Othman

,a descendant of

Abd-al -Dar, and the cup o f the well in that ofAbbas ,

in whose family it remains to this day. Withoutdelay orders went forth to sweep away all the idolatrous relics from the Holy House, and Hobal and itsfellows were thrown down and destroyed.

The conduct of Mahomet in the treatment o f

his native home was marked with much generosity


by the voice and example o f Abbas . The resultof the conflict, however, was the defeat of theconfederate tribes and the capture o f their wives,ch ildren , and cattle. Mahomet then advanced toattack the strong fortress of Tayif. Once before

,it

will be remembered, he had visited this idolatrouscity and been driven from its walls

,and now again

the s trength of its fortifications and its ample resourcesenabled it to defy all his efforts . After two weeks thesiege was raised and having performed the ceremonies of the Lesser Pilgrimage

,he returned to Medina

(March ,In the distribution o f the booty which had been

taken, much dissatisfaction was felt. But here, again,the tact and good feeling of the prophet enabledhim to Silence all disaffection, and to prevail on thearmy to release the prisoners

,at the intercession o f

the Beni Sad, among whom his childhood had beenspent . The victory of Honein and the boastful confidence of the Moslems is alluded to in the Koran,thus God hath assisted you in many engagements,and at the battle of Honein, when ye pleased yourselves with your multitude

,but it was no manner o f

advantage unto you, —then did ye retreat and turnyour backs . Afterwards God sent His security(Shechina) upon His apostle and upon the faithful,and sent down troops of angels which ye saw not ”

(Sura ix . 25 ,

On his retur n from the conquest o f Mecca, Mabomet, then in his sixtieth year, was gladdened bythe birth of a son by his concubine Mary the Copt.This child o f his o ld age was doubly precious, as,


with the exception of his daughter Fatima and herchildren , all his other descendants were dead. Butfrom the day o f its birth domestic quarrels troubledthe peace of his harem . His other wives , j ealous o fthe good fortune o f Mary, who was a slave, murmuredat the preference shown her

, and their wh isperedcomplaints soon found occasion for open expression .

E ntering unexpectedly one day into her private room ,

Haphsa there surprised Mahomet with Mary,and her

indignant feelings found vent in such bitter reproachesand threats of disclosure as induced him to promisethat for the future he would separate from thefavourite . D iscovering that Haphsa, contrary to herpromise, had made the circumstance known to Ayesha,he separated from them, and soon was granted a

divine message,in which Heaven was made to ad

minister a rebuke to his wives, and threaten themwith divorce

,and to state that the Lord can easily

provide the prophet with other wives who wou ldprove better

,more pious, and more submissive to his

will .1 This especial revelation effectually extricatedMahomet from h is domestic embroilment, was piouslysubmitted to by his wives

,accepted by his fol l owers,

and is to this day regularly read by the faithful asthe word of GodThe conquest of Mecca was followed by the

gradual submission o f Arabia and the acknowl edgment o f the spiritual and temporal supremacy o f

the prophet throughout the entire Peninsula. I n

deed,in the complex system which he had estab

l ished, the spiri tual and secular functions were1 Sura lxvi . 1- 15 .

N 2


intimately blended and involved in each other,and

whilst in his humble home at Medina he retainedstill the Simple manners of his earlier years

, which athis time o f life he had probably no inclination to alter

,

he exercised all those regal and sacerdotal powerswhich the victorious arm s of his lieutenants, o r thevoluntary submission of the most distant provinces o fArabia, had caused to be universally acknowledged .

Tax collectors were appointed to receive the prescribed offerings or tithes, which generally amountedto a tenth part of the increase .

” 1

The city of Tayif,as we have above seen, trust

ing to its natural s trength,constituted itself a centre

o f disaffection but at last driven to extremities,and seeing that all the neighbouring tribes had oneby one submitted

,i ts Chief

,after a vain attempt to

obtain some relaxation in the rules o f Islam , consented to the destruction of the adored idol Lat,and adopted the new faith .

I t was during the time o f the next yearlypilgrimage2 (March , that Mahomet i ssued animportant command

,the crowning stone of the

system he had raised,which shows at once the power

he wielded and the strong hold his doctrines hadalready taken throughoutArabia. Refusing to be present h imself during the ceremonies of the pilgrimage,he commissioned Al i to announce to the assembledmultitudes in the valley o f Mina, that at the expiration of the four sacred months the prophet would

1 Muir, iv. 171.

2 For a detai led account of the ceremonies of the p ilgrimage,vz

'

de Burton,vol . i ii . chap . xxvii i .


the beloved remains to the cemetery o f E l Bakia.

1

N0 spot more sacred than this is visited by the devoutpilgrim to Medina . There lie, with the exception o f

Khadija, al l the prophet’s wives, the Mothers o f the

Faithful,

” as they one by one passed away . There inhis untimely grave lies O thman

,the third Caliph

and there i s seen the sepulchre of Abbas,the

ancestor o f those mighty princes who , on the ruin o f

the house ofOmeya,held high state in Baghdad . Thereare the tombs o f Halima the prophet’s nurse, of threeof his daughters , and o f the murdered Hasan

,hi s

grandson,and there are interred many o f the pious

dead who are accounted martyrs,princes

,and imams

in the calendar of Islam . In this ground,then

,the

little Ibrahim found his last resting-place.Few incidents in the life of the prophet

,i llus

trative of the growth o f Islam remain,which need

claim our attention . I have endeavoured in whathas already been written to give the reader a clearand accurate account of the manner in which hisreligion was begun, developed, and consummated ;and how in all its wonderful growth i t took so deepa colouring from the love

,the hatred

,and the ambi

tion of Mahomet himself. And i t has seemed to methat in showing its intimate association with his owns tory, I should best present a life-like picture of themighty spiritual empire which claims him as itsfounder.

1 For a ful l account of E l Bakia,” z/z'

de Burton ’s E l Meccah and E 1Medinah,” i i . 301. Fatima i s buried in the Hujrahof the mosque at Medina. Hal ima’s intercession with Ma

bomet, for his good offices , i s invoked at her tomb .

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 18 1

As the approaching shadows o f death begin tofall across his path

,i t i s pleasing to notice from

many circumstances that the natural magnanimity o fhis character more distinctly asserts itself, and formsa bright and pleasing contrast with the unscrupu lousdeeds o f his earlier career at Medina. Thoughabating nothing o f his exalted pretension to be thevery apostle o f God, though claiming for Islam a

universal supremacy which was to brook no opposition

,and submit to no diminution

,he yet exhibi ts a

calm submission to the will o f God, and a perfectreliance on His unmerited mercy for admission to theParadise of the Faithful .1

On the return of the sacred month (March A.D ..

Mahomet,

accompanied by all his wives,

selected his victims,assumed the pilgrim garb

,and set

out, on what is called The Valedictory Pilgrimage ”

to the holy places,from which every trace o f the o l d

superstition had been removed,and which

,in accor

dance with his orders of the previous year,no

idolater was to visit . Approaching the Kaaba bythe gate o f the Beni Sheyba, he carefully performedall the ceremonies of the Omra ” or

“ LesserPilgrimage

,

” and then proceeded to consummatethose of the greater. On the 8 th o f the holy monthDzul—Hijja, he rode to the Wadi Mina, some threemiles east o f Mecca, and rested there for the night .Next day passing Mosdal ifa

, the midway station , hereached in the evening the valley in which stands thegranite hill of Arafat. From the “ summit he spoketo the pilgrims regarding its sacred precincts

, an

1 B . Smith, Mohammed,

” p . 103.

18 2 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DER .

nounced to them the perfecting o f their religion,

offered up the prescribed prayers , and hurried backto Mosdal ifa for the night. On the ro th proceedingto Mina

,he cast the accustomed stones, slew the

victims brough t for sacrifice,

1 had his head shavedand hi s nails pared

,ordering the hair, 810 ,

to beburnt ; and the ceremonies ended, laid aside thepilgrim garb . At Mina

,during his three days

’ stay,

he preached to the pilgrims,called them to witness

that he had faithfully fulfilled his mission,and urged

them not to depart from the exact Observances of thereligion which he had appointed .

2 Returning toMecca, he again went through the ceremonies o f theOmra, made the circui t of the temple, drank o f thewell Zem Zem, prayed in the Kaaba, and thus , havingrigorously performed all the ceremonies

,that his

example might serve as a model for al l succeedingtime

,he returned to Medina.

3

The excitement and fatigue o f his j ourney tothe holy places told sensibly on his health, whichfor some time had shown indications o f increasinginfirmity. In the death o f Ibrahim he had receiveda blow which weighed down his spirit the poison o fKheibar still rankled in his veins, afli icted him attimes with excruciating pain, and bowed him to the

1 Called “ The Ransom .

2 At Mina, Mahomet directed that the months of pilgrimageshould be fixed according to the lunar year.

2 Conf. Muir, iv. 235 et seq. Also Burton , vol . i ii . , for detai ls of the pilgrimages . See also “ Chambers

’

s Miscellany,”vol . x . N o . 148 , whichgives acondensedaccount of Burckhardt

’svisi t to Mecca.

184 I SLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R.

room of Ayesha. His illness increasing he deputedAbu Bekr to lead the public prayers, and this wasgenerally understood to intimate, that in the event o fhis death

,he designed him for his successor.

About the 8 th o f June he had regained suffi

cient strength to make a final visit to the mosque .

Viewing with j oy the devotion o f his followers, who,on the news of h is illness had assembled in crowds ,he proclaimed that he had made lawful to them onlywhat God approved, that each one of them must workout his own acceptance with God

,inasmuch as he him

self had no power to save them and after dischargingsome small claims

,he returned exhausted and faint

ing to Ayesha’

s room. With his head on her lap heprayed for assistance in his last agonies, and foradmission to the companionship of God. Ayeshatried in every way to soothe the sufferings o f h is lastmoments . E jaculatory words at intervals escapedhis lips, “ E ternity o f Paradise ! ” Pardon ! ”

The glorious associates on high ! ” -and then all wasstill. The prophet of Mecca was dead .

1

1 Minute details of the death-bed utterances of Mahomet willbe found in the larger works of his l ife . N early al l rest ontradition subsequently collected, and are more or less open tothe suspi cion of having been invented, or coloured by the rivalsacerdotal and polit ical factions which in a few years convulsedthe Cal iphate,—Omeyades, Al ides, Abbassides, and the partyof Ayesha Shias and Sunnis seeking by the prophet ’s utterances to support their polit ical pretensions . Conf. Muir, iv.

pp . 279, 280 W. Irving, pp. 182, 183 Lamart ine, H . devol . i . p . 268 .

CHAPTER I ! .

MAHOMET’S TEACH I N G AT MEDIN A. 6 22—632

I HAVE still briefly to consider the general teaching of the Medina Suras .1 Many of the chapters o f/this period are spun out to great length, and contain repetitions of former revelations which call for nonotice . They contain, however, some points whichdeserve more particular comment. Sura I I .

,the

longest in the Koran,contains reference to a great

variety of subjects, among which is the institution ofthe Fast of Ramadhan (Ramazan) . On this

,the

ninth month of the Mahometan year,the Faithful

are to fast during the day, from dawn, when there i slight enough to distinguish between a white and blackthread, till sunset . Certain relaxations are allowedfor the Sick , and those on a j ourney, &C . Within theprescribed hours no food or water is to pass the lipsand as the month is fixed according to the retrogressive seasons o f the lunar year

,

2 its occurrenceduring the heats of summer cause i t to press with

1 These are as follow - 113, 114 , 2, 47, 57, 8 , 58 , 65, 98, 62,

59, 24 , 637 48 : 6 1, 4 ) 3, 5 , 33: 60) 66 : 49) 9 ”0

015 11111111

: VOL11°

Appendix .

2 Sura ix . 36 , 37. E ach month retrogrades eleven days, according to the solar year.


double rigour in the parched regions o f Africa,Arabia, and India. Those who have dwelt amongthe Mahometans will bear testimony to the exemplaryand patient manner in which the irksome duties o fthe fast are fulfilled by those whose doings are opento observation during the prescribed hours . Many

,

indeed, make a point o f keeping it who neglect theappointed prayers . On the believer’s proceedingsduring the night there is no restriction , as regardsfood

,and social domestic intercourse ; 1 and con

sequently it imposes no restraint on indulgence. Thereader will not fai l to notice how the fasting enjoinedby Mahomet differs from the Christian ideal of abstinence. The one involves a painful duty madefinal and meritorious in itself, and the tendency of itis to alternate with the grossest licentiousness theother, being merely a means to an end, i s wisely leftunfettered by such severe restrictions, and, shunningthe observation o f man, is to be associated with thatgodly sorrow for sin wh ich worketh repentance .

The fast o f the Ramadhan terminates with thefestival o f the “ Bed-al -Fitr,

” 2or

“ breaking o f thefast,” kept on the first three days o f the tenth month

(Shawwal) . I t i s celebrated as a season o f generalrej oicing and feasting. Certain prescribed religiousobservances are attended to, visits o f congratulationmade

,and alms given as offerings to the poor.

The “ E ed-al -Zoha,” 3

or“ day o f sacrifice, was

established by the prophet at Medina, and was

1 Sura 11. 18 1—183.

2 Called by the Turks Ramaram Beyram .

2 Called by the Turks Koorban Beyram .

”

1 8 8 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

i t is kept as a season o f rej oicing. The last daythe “Ashura,

” i s considered sacred for a variety o freasons : because that on it Noah left the ark, &c . ,

butits greatest claim to sanctity is, that on i t the martyrHosein , grandson o f the prophet, was slain in battleat the Kerbela (A.D . The anniversary o f thisevent is kept, especially by the Shias, with expressionso f profound grief.1 In memory o f his death

,models

o f his tomb , called Taz ias,

” are in India buried,and

his name invoked . At Cairo the great mosque inwhich his head is supposed to rest is visited

,prayers

offered, and his martyrdom commemorated .

2

D irections are given regarding the pilgrimageto the holy places

,to Mecca

,appointed a

place of resort for all mankind,

” 3 with the minuteceremonies to be performed by the Faithful . I t i sdeclared to be a positive “ duty towards God

, on

those who are able to go thither,

” 4=but it does notappear to be absolutely necessary to salvation

,though

the Sunnah makes it so .

s The orthodox sects alsodiffer in their interpretation o f the Koran on th i ssubj ect.6 Trading is permitted during the pilgrim

1 The Shias however keep al l the days of the Moharramas a season of lamentat ion, and commemorate on them the

deaths ofAl i and Hasan, who , as well as Hosein, are esteemedmartyrs .

2 There are certain other fest ivals,ofwhich we maymention ,

I . Shub-Barfit, the night of record,

” on which God registersthe act ions of the coming year

,observed on the 15th of the

month Shaban. 2 . Bara-Wafat,the anniversary of the death

of Mahomet, on the 12th of the month Rabi I .2 Sura I I . 119 .

‘1 Sura i i i . 91.

2 Sale, Pre . Dis . , p . 114 .

2Lane,

“ Mod . E gyp . ,i . 131.

ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R . 18 9

age—an astute provision which , with pious gui le,combines in one solemn act the usually antagonisticpursuits o f piety and profit 1

There can ‘be little doubt that Mahomet :associated the pilgrimage to Mecca with some un

defined, thppghfl

real spiritual adyantage. I t was hal—ilowed in his own earliest associations, venerable asthe traditional place of prayer o f Abraham ; andhaving

,as he imagined

,been purged from al l trace

o f idolatry,he considered that from it, “ the first

house assigned unto men to worship,” 2 the prayers o fthe pilgrim would ascend with especial acceptance toHeaven . With such views of the inherent sanctity o fthe spot, we need not be surprised that he included ,in the ceremonial observances o f his religion, theancient rites o f the pilgrimage, which were associatedwith the names o f their ancestors, Abraham andIshmael

,and from which the grosser forms o f

idolatry had been swept away.

By the earnest Mahometan of the present day,the distant journey to Mecca is undertaken as a

matter of obedience to the direction o f his prophet,and from his belief that such visit i s in itself fraughtwith rich blessing

,apart from its effect on his will and

character 3 That such is practically believed may begathered from the fact

,that according to the Hanifees,

the pilgrimage may be done by deputy,and, according

to custom in Morocco,even after a person ’s death .

1 Suva i i . 194 . Com . St. Matt . vi . 24 .

2 Sura i ii. 90.

2 Moslems ( lying on the Pilgrimage are, !pro facto, consideredmartyrs; Each step, too, taken by the devotee towards theKaaba b l o ts out a s in 1


Viewed in its practical working, the visit toMecca

,so far from having any effect in spiritualizing

the life,or improving the character o f the devotees

,

exposes them,according to the testimony of an eye

witness,to the most demoralizing influences . Burck

hardt states that the prevalence o f indecent practicesat Mecca tends in no small degree to poison themorals o f the pilgrims, who have opportunity o f

witnessing places,the most hallowed in their faith

,

polluted by the grossest abominations . He alsostates that he has seen the Kaaba itself made thescene

,at nights, of detestable proceedings , which

were pursued without Shame or censure. Thetruth indeed is, whatever Mahomet hoped fromthe institution , that the pilgrimage has become, o rrather continues to be

,nothing but a superstitious

and idolatrous pageant, worthless for the purpose o ftrue religion, and degrading in its ultimate effect onthe soul.1

The use of wine— including all inebriatingliquors—lots , and all games o f chance, is absolutelyforbidden . Thus, “ in wine and lots there isgreat sin

,and also things o f use to men

,but their

Sinfulness is greater than their use.”2 And, again, at alater time

,and in stronger terms “ wine and lots

1 To the devout and thoughtful Moslem,the ridiculous cere

monies of the Pilgrimage must be in painful contrast wi th theotherwise decorous externals of his faith. Undoubtedly one ofthe idolatrous practices ofArabia, i t was retained by Mahomet,either because i t suited his purpose to do so , or because he didnot feel himself s trong enough to abolish i t, i f indeed such an

idea ever occurred to him.

2 Sura i i. 2 16 .


“ one soul cannot make satisfaction for another,and

that no intercessor will be accepted for any man,nor

shall any compensation be received.

” 1 In these andin other passages of a similar import the idea of an

Intercessor or of any Atonement provided for man isquite repudiated .

Notwithstanding these positive assertions,the deep

need o f fallen humanity for an Intercessor,as a

medium of approach to a holy God,—seen in every

nation,and underlying all religions

,—influences the

practice of the majority of the followers of Islam .

Mahomet is made an intercessor,and saints and

imams have been established in various places,at

whose tombs sacrifices are offered,and whose influ

ence is sought as channels of approach to the Al lMerciful Allah .

2

War against infidel s, as already related, i s commanded ; the prophet is expressly directed to stirup the faithful to its performance

,and the pro

mise,

is held out that superior numbers shall notavail the enemy. In the infancy of Islam it wasshown to be God’s wil l that captive prisoners shouldbe cut o ff ; but afterwards their ransom was madelawful .3

The forty-seventh Chapter directs that the un

1 Sura I I . 45 .

2 Burton,i i . pp . 76- 309. Also Lane, “ Mod. E gyp. , i . pp. 79

129, 132, 325 i i . pp. 175, 295. Also Freeman, “ The Saracens,Dp. 62

, 71. The teaching of the ancient Hindoo faith includesthe doctrine of original sin, and the necessity for regenerat ion ;gives rules for the expiat ion of offences, and inculcates thebelief in some divine incarnat ion and the need of a saviour(Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom,

pp . 146, 245, 278 , 321, et

seq ) .2 Sura viii . 66—69.

ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R. 193

believers are to be slaughtered till all oppositionhas ceased, and God

’s religion reign alone . Theywho fall in the holy war are to be accounted martyrs

,

and their reward is Paradise .1 During the four sacredmonths

,—Moharram

,Rajab

,Dz ul Caada, and Dzul

Hijja, the first,seventh

,eleventh , and twelfth o f the

Moslem lunar year,—war may be made on infidel s

and on those who do not acknowledge them to besacred

,otherwise i t i s to cease while they last .2

Captive women are to be reduced to slavery,and

,

though already married,may be taken as concubines .2

The Faithful are forbidden to contract friendship withJews

,Christians, and unbelievers .1

Wilful murder is forbidden in the Koran,and

its punishment,in the case of the slaughter of a

believer, i s declared to be “Hell fire for ever. ” 5

The law of retaliation is to be enforced for this crime,

the free i s to die for the free,the Slave for the slave

but the heir o f the murdered man—the avenger o fblood—may commute the punishment

,and “ prose

cute the murderer according to what is just,that is

,

accept a fine ; 6 but he i s not, on pain of retaliation,to torture his victim to death

,or to exceed what is a

fitting punishment ] Manslaughter is to be expiatedby a lesser punishment— freeing a believer from cap

tivity, paying a fine, or fasting two months . Of thepunishment for theft I have already spoken .

1 Sura xl vn. 4—7.

2 Sura ix . 36 . Sale, P. D. , p. 149.

2 Sura iv. 28 .

1 Sura v . 56 .

5 Sura iv. 95.6 Sura i i . 173.

7 Sura xvi i . 35. The Moslem code in this particul ar is muchlaxer than the Jewish (N umb . xxxv. As to blood revenge

,

vide Lane,“Mod. i . 145 .

O 2


In the case of testamentary documents thereare to be two witnesses, just men, who, on any dispute

,are to be examined apart after the evening

prayer,and are to give their evidence on oath .

1

By the law of the Koran , primogeniture carriesno especial privileges, but each son has an equalshare in the property of the deceased, and thatShare i s double the portion allotted to a daughter.The testator cannot, i t would seem , will away fromhis fam ily more than one third of his estate

,the rest

goes to his children, or brothers, or parents, and toh i s wives in certain fixed proportions . The rule i slaid down that men and women ought to have a parto f what their parents and kindred leave

,

2 and thisseems to have been worthily designed by Mahomet

,

to stop the common practice o f the pagan Arabs,

who would not allow women and children to haveany inheritance, giving all the goods of the deceasedto those who could go to war.2

Almsgiving is a duty enjoined . Alms are o f

two kinds, legal (Zacat), and voluntary (Sadacat) ,though this distinction is not always observed.

Under the latter head, the prophet’s fifth share o f

al l booty taken in war is included .

‘1 The former, inthe early days of Islam , was collected by officersespecially appointed for the purpose, and amountedto about a tenth part of the increase . Alms aredirected to be given of the good things whichbelievers receive, without ostentation they are saidto be noticed by God ; and, if done in secret, that

1 Sura v. 105 .

2 Sura iv. 8- 18 .

2 Lane, “Mod . E gyp . ,p . 143.

1 Muir, iv. 155 .

CHAPTER ! .

I SLAM .

I T may be proper here to enter somewhat moreful ly than has been done in the preceding Chaptersinto the meaning of some of the principal terms usedin the book, and to enlarge upon some of the divisions o f Islam .

The religion founded by Mahomet is call edI slam,

” 1 a word meaning “ the entire surrender ofthe will to God i ts professors are called Mussulmans,

” 2 those who have surrendered themselves,

or Believers,” as opposed to the Rejectors of the

D ivine messengers, who are named Kafirs, or

Mushrikin,

2 that is,

“ those who associate,are com

panions or sharers,with the Deity.

”

Islam is sometimes divided under the two headsof Faith, and Practical Religion . 1. Faith (Iman)includes a belief in one God, omnipotent, omniscient, all-merciful, the author o f all good ; and inMahomet as his prophet

,expressed in the formula

“ There is no God but God,and Mahomet is the

P ropl fet of God. I t includes, also, a belief in theauthority and suffi ciency o f the Koran} in angels,genii, and the devil, in the immortality of the soul,the resurrection,5 the day of j udgment

,

6 and in1 Sura i i i . 17. 2 Sura i i . 122.

2 Muir, i i . 147.

1 Sura xvi. 91, and vi . 114 . The word Koran (Quréin) i sderived from theArabic, Quaraa, to read, andmeans the reading

,

” or “ what ought to be read.

” I t has a variety of othernames

, Al Katab,”the book AI Moshaf,

”the volume Al

Forkan, the book distinguishing between good and evil, &c .

5 Sura xvii . 52—54 .

11 Sura vi i . 186 , 187 ; lvi . 1—96 .


God’s absolute decree for good and evil .1 II . Praetical Religion (Din) consists of five observances( I ) Recital of the Formula of Belief, (2) Prayer withAblution

, (3) Fasting, (4 ) Almsgiving, (5 ) the Pilgrimage . In the above pages I have made moreparticular mention of these separate articles of faith,and acts of devotion .

I t will be sufficient here to repeat, though everyact is supposed to be prefaced with the words

,

“ Inthe name of God, the merciful, the compassionate ”

(Bismil lah-hir—rahman-nir—rahim), and though in someplaces the Koran seems to deny the meritoriou sefficacy of good works, that, in the belief o f theorthodox

,Paradise is only to be obtained by a

strict performance of all the practical duties aboveenumerated.

The standard ofMoslem orthodoxy is essentially theKoran, and to it primary reference is made but

,thi s

being found insufficient,as I slam extended its borders

,

to regulate the complex, social, and political relationso f the empire

,and

.the administration of justice i

civil and criminal cases,some more extended and

discriminating code became necessary. The deficiencywas supplied by the compilation of the Sun

nah ,” or Traditional Law,

” which is built upon thesayings and practices of Mahomet, and, in the Opinionof the orthodox, i s “ invested with the force o f law

,

and with some of the authority o f inspiration .

” 2

The traditions appear to have remained un

Sura xxx . 29 ; 1. 28 .

2 Muir,i . 31. The collections of these traditions are also

called Hadis (conf. “ N otes on Muhammadanism,

” v. The

Traditions,” p.


recorded for about a century after the death o f

Mahomet,when they were formally collected by

Omar II .,and the work was continued by his suc

cessors. An incredible number of so -called “ Tra

ditions, fabricated for the purpose o f upholding certain political and sectarian claims, weresubsequently rejected

,and the Sunnah condensed

and promulgated for the guidance o f the faithful .“ The six standard Sunni collections were compiled exclusively under the Abbasside caliphs, andthe earliest o f them partly during the reign o f Al

Mamun .

1 The four canonical collections o f theShias were prepared somewhat later, and are incomparably less trustworthy than the former, becausetheir paramount obj ect is to build up the divineImamat

,or headship o fAl i and his descendants. ” 2

In cases where both the Koran and the Sunnahafford : no exact precept

,the “ Rule o f Faith ” in

their dogmatic belief,as well as the decisions of

their secular courts, is based upon the teaching o f

one o f the four great Imams,or founders of the

orthodox sects, according as one or another of theseprevails in any particu l ar country.

These sects,though all are considered sound

in fundamentals,differ in some points of l aw and

religion, and follow the interpretation of the Koran ,and the traditions o f the four great doctors , AbuHanifa, Malik, Al Shafei, and Ibn Hambal.2 The

1 A.D . 8 14- 834.

2 Ivl nir, i . 4 1. TheWahabees receive the “ Sunnah, whichi s acknowledged by the Sunnis, and cal l themselves , par excel

l ence, People of the Tradi tions.”2 The Hanifee school which is considered the mos t catholi c

and reasonable,prevails in Turkey, E gypt , and N orth India. In


Mahometans paid a higher capitation tax there thanthe infidel s. In Turkey the great maj ority areSunni . In India the Shias number about one intwenty. The Shias, who rej ect this name, and callthemselves Adliyah

,

”or the “ Society of. the Just

,

”

are sub-divided into a great variety o f minor sects ;but these, whatever their particular views, are unitedin asserting that the first three Caliphs, Abu Bekr,Omar, and O thman, were usurpers, who had possessed themselves of the rightful and inalienableinheritance ofAl i. For this reason, too, they detestthe memory of the Omeyade Caliphs, and especiallyYez id, whom they accuse o f the murder of themartyr Hosein . Of this more particular mentionwill be hereafter made.1

According to the Shias, the Muslim religionconsists of a knowledge of the true Imam , or leader,and the differences amongst themselves with referenceto this question have given rise to endless divisions .”

The twelve Imams of the Shia sect are, 1,Al i ;

2,Hasan 3, Hosein ; 4 , Zain-al -Abid-Din

,and his

eight lineal descendants, the last of whom, thetwelfth,wasAbuKasim,

or, as he is called, ImamMahdi .

1 Freeman, “ The Saracens, p . 227. Humayun, the “ GreatMogul, ” when driven out of India, was obliged

,on pain of

death, to adopt the Shia doctrines, by Tamasp, second Sophi ,”King of Persia. Aurungz ebe was Sunni, and put one Of his

brothers to death on the pretext that he had adopted the Shiaheresy. For an account of the Shia sects w'

de Sale, P. D . ,vi ii .

p . 75 . And for the chief points of difference between them and

the Sunnis, p . 178 . See also “ N otes on Muhammadanism,

xli ii . , “ The Shias, p . 169.

2 N otes on Muhammadanism, p . 171 et seq.


He is supposed by them to be still alive, thoughconcealed from public eye

,and is to come again to

extinguish all disputes among the true believers.Sufi -ism .

— I n India and Persia,and through

out the E ast, there has for centuries existed a pantheistic mysticism which has developed itself chieflyin a search for metaphysical purity

,for the il lumina

tion of the mind, for calmness o f soul, and for thesubjugation of the passions

,by the exercise o f painful

austerities, and the adoption o f an ascetic life . Theadherents o f this system believed that the divinenature pervaded all things

,and gave its very

essence and being to the soul i tself,which thus

sought to gain a conformity to the Supreme Being,and more and more to sever itself from thethings of earth, like a wearied traveller, seeking toterminate the period o f its exile from its divineoriginal . From this pantheistic mysticism

,akin to

the doctrine of the Indian Vedanta,Plato i s sup

posed to have derived the germs of some of his teaching ; and from it the Mahometan Sufis 1 had theirorigin . The final obj ect of the Sufi devotee is toattain to the light of Heaven

,towards which he must

press forward till perfect knowledge is reached in hisunion with God

,to be consummated

,after death

,in

absorption into the D ivine Being. In this spiritualj ourney of the disciple there are various stages he isled up from his natural state

,through science

,love

(Ishaq), seclusion, knowledge, ecstacy, touch, and,

lastly,union with God

,to final extinction . I t should

1 Aword derived by some from suf, wool (Arabic) , the ma

terial worn by the devotees, or from the Greek aopog.


be noticed that the terms love o f God, truth , &C . ,

have,in Sufi theology, an especial and mystic mean

ing,very different from their usual acceptation in

Christian terminology. Their chief doctrines aretaught under the images o f wine, love, flowing ringlets

,and intoxication ; and they are supposed to be

thus set forth in the Anacreontic verses of Hafiz, thedistinguished Sufi poet.1

The Wahabees derive their name from AbdulWahab

,the father ofSheikh Muhammad, their founder,

who arose about the beginning of the last century, inthe province‘ o f Najd, in Arabia. The object o f theWahabee movement was to sweep away all later innovations

,and to return to the original purity o f Islam,

as based upon the exact teaching o f the Koran andthe example o f Mahomet. The principles o f the sectrapidly spread among the Arab tribes , and wereadopted by the sovereign princes o f Darayeh , inNajd. Impelled by religious zeal and political ambition, and allured by the prospect of plunder, theWahabees soon acquired nearly the whole o fArabia,and menaced the neighbouring Pashaliks o f Turkey,and E gypt . Mecca and Medina soon fell into theirhands, the shrine was despoiled of its rich ornaments ,and the pilgrim route to the Kaaba closed for someyears . E arly in this century Muhammad Al i,the Pasha of E gypt, at the bidding o f the Sultan, seth imself to Check the progress o f th is aggressive sectand his son Ibrahim Pasha completed the work ( 18 18 )by the total defeat ofAbdallah, their leader, who wassent to Constantinople and executed. The chief seato f their power at present i s in E astern Arabia, but

1 Conf. Hughes, N otes on Muhammadanism,

” p . 162.


tiated. Some . o f them practise the most severeausterities and mortifications.

The order which has excited most interest inE urope, being popular in Constantinople, is that of theMaul evis,

”or dancing darveshes, whose ceremonies

constitute one o f the principal sights of that city,and

have often been described by travellers and picturedby artists . Their founder was a native of Balkh

,in

CentralAsia, and is said to have exhibited remarkablefaith and miraculous power from his infancy. Thedarveshes or faqirs are either Murids (disciples) orMurshids (guides), and the places where the lattergive their instructions are held sacred

,and careful ly

kept free from pollution . Those faqirs who attain togreat sanctity are called “Walis,

” and the highest rankof these is that of a Ghaus,

” such as the Akhund of

Swat, on the north-west frontier of India.

The particular ceremony or act of devotion common to all classes of darveshes is the Zikr

,

”or

repetition of the names of God in many differentways . It is a sort of physical exercise, dependingupon the lungs

,muscles, and patient practice of the

worshipper,and would appear to a Christian the very

opposite of rational devotion . There are two classesof Zikr

, one which is recited aloud, and the otherperformed with a low voice or mentally and each isdivided into several z arbs, or stages . As an instancethe third zarb of the quiet prayer consists in repeatingthe words La-il -la-ha ” with each exhalation of thebreath

,and I l -lal-la-ho ” 1 with each inhalation and

being performed hundreds, or even thousands of times,

it i s most exhausting, and proportionately meritorious .1 Combined

,these syllables make There is no deity but God .

”

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DER . 205

The meditation (Muraqaba) i s usually combinedwith the Zikr

,and is founded on favourite verses o f

the Koran . I t must, one would suppose, form a

needed rest after so fatiguing an exercise. “ Themost common form of Zikr is a recital of the ninetynine names o f God, for Muhammad promised thoseof his followers who recited them a sure entrance intoparadise .

” 1 To assist this repetition rosaries are used,but not by the Wahabees, who count on their fingers .It has been conjectured that the Mahometans derivedthe rosary from the Buddhists

,and that the Crusaders

again took it from them (A.D. Moulvies declarethat the mind is preserved from the intrusion of evilthoughts by the performance of the Zikr ; but i t i sworthy of remark, that some o f those most devotedto its use are the most immoral o f men.

2

Suffi cient for the purpose of th is manual hasbeen said about the daily and periodical religiousduties of the faithful ; and I now pass to a briefcons ideration of their belief regarding the soul andbody after separation . On the occurrence of death— asburial must

,as a rule

,take place the same day— the

necessary preparations are at once begun . The bodyis washed, wrapped in one or two pieces o f cottoncloth, and so carried to the grave, usually a vaultedchamber, with observances and attendants regulatedby the wealth of the deceased .

The Mahometans bel ieve that the soul remainswith the body during the first night after burialfor the purpose o f being interrogated by the twoangels, Munkir and Nakir. Laid on the right side

,

1 Hughes, N otes on Muhammadanism,pp . 155 .

2 1b . , I 54 .


with the sightless eyes turned towards Mecca,th e

dead awaits the coming of the dread inquisitors .Aroused to a sitting posture and to temporary life, heanswers their inquiries as to his faith in God and inhis prophet regarding the Book o f D irections

,

” theKoran , and whether or not the Kaaba was his Kibla .

If the answers be unsatisfactory, they torture and beatthe dead about the temples with their iron maces ; ifsatisfactory, they give him their peace, and bid himsleep on in the protection o f God . The examinationin the grave is founded on tradition

,and is supposed

also to be twice alluded to in the Koran, thoughcertain sects deny it altogether. Thus How, therefore

,will it be with them (the unbelievers) , when the

angels shall cause them to die,and shall strike their

faces and their backs . ” 1

On the completion o f this examination the souli s conveyed to a place called Berz akh,

2or

“ theBarrier,

” the Hades of separate spirits, there to remaintill reunited to the body. The faithful are, accordingto their works, in various degrees o f happiness . Thesouls of the prophets are at once admitted to Paradisethose of martyrs dwell in the C rops of green birds,which eat of the fruits and drink the waters o f the

happy gardens, &c . ; while the souls o f the wickedhave a foretaste of those torments which, when re

united to their bodies,they are to suffer for ever.

The general resurrection and judgment, in which

1 Sura xl vn. 29. See also Sura vi ii . 52 Sale, P . D . , sec. iv. ;and Lane, i i . chap . xv. At the funeral of the rich in E gypt, asacrifice. called “

the expiat ion, i s offered, generally a buffalo,the flesh ofwhich is given to the poor.

2 Suras xxi ii . 102 ; xxv. 55.

CHAPTER ! I .

THE SPREAD OF I SLAM .

N EWS o f the prophet’s death soon spread amonghis disciples . The fiery Omar combated the assertion

,and maintained that a swoon only had fallen

on him, but Abu Bekr, in words o f” the Koran itself

,1

assured the Faithful that from tne common lot o fhumanity there was no exemption even for the apostleo f God. And so Mahomet’s body was prepared forthe grave, and, C lad in the garments in which he died,was buried in Ayesha

’s chamber, beneath the spot

where the angel of death had visited him .

Abu Bekr, not without some Show of opposition on the part of the Ansar,

” was elected Caliphor successor of the apostle, having, as was assertedby his supporters, been virtually nominated to theoffi ce byMahomet himself.2

The dignity of Caliph, i t shoul d be remembered, carried with it the supreme temporal andSpiritual authority over the Faithful. Throughout

1 Sura xxxix . 31 Verily, thou, O Mahomet, shalt die.2 TheAnséir put forward Sfid, one of their _

number. I t wasthought by the partizans of Al l that his marriage wi th Fatimagave him an inherent right to the succession . This claim, afterwards intensified, divides to the present day the Mahometanworld .

ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R. 209

Arabia the death of the prophet was followed by ageneral spirit of insurrection among the Bedouintribes

,who eagerly sought to shake Off their allegiance

to the new fai th ; but in the first year of his reign,Abu Bekr succeeded not only in reducing them toobedience

,but also, by the prospect of boundless

plunder,and the j oys of Paradise, in enlisting their

numbers,and in pressing into the service o f the faith

the irresistible fanaticism of these children Of thedesert.Under Khalid, the province of Irak was overrun,

and the city of Ambar, and that of Hira’

with itsChristian population, subj ected to tribute. War

was declared against Heraclius, and Syria invaded .

Khalid was directed to j oin his t100ps to those o f

Abu-Obeida in the valley of the Jordan,and at the

battle of Aiznadin the forces o f the Byzantinemonarchy were totally defeated . At this conjuncture .

Abu Bekr died, after a short reign of two years andfour months

,and Omar

,who had been nominated to

the dignity by his predecessor, was regarded asCaliph .

1

‘Under the Caliph Omar (A.D . 634—643) the

tide of conquest rolled on. Bostra and Damascus,

Antioch and Aleppo fell and became tributary,and

Syria was finally subdued . The victory of Yermouk(A.D. 636) gave the invaders entry into Palestine, andJerusalem surrendered to the Caliph in person .

Mounted on his camel,a bag o f dates and a skin Of

1 Abu Bekr was a man of the purest character. His friendship for Mahomet, and unwavering belief In his m ission, are a

strong test imony to the sincerity of the prophet.P 2


water by his s ide— ample provision for his simplewants

,—he made his entry into the sacred city.

Honourable terms o f capitulation were granted to itsinhabitants

,and the provisions o f the treaty faithfully

observed . On mount Moriah, the site o f the templeo f Solomon , he obtained permission to erect “ TheDome of the Rock,

” which,as the Mosque of Omar

,

bears his name to this day.

Meanwhile, the great victory of Cadosia (A.D .

won by his lieutenants over Yesdej irdthe last o f the Sassanidae, -was followed by thecapture of the capitals Ctes iphon and Seleucia whilethe subsequent “ victory of victories ” on the plain Of ‘

N ahavend finally subj ected Persia to tribute or thefaith . E ygpt, too, on the fall of Memphis andAlexandria (A.D . was wrested from the RomanEmpire byAmru, and with part of Libya incorporatedwith the caliphate .

Omar was the first who bore the title o f “ Princeo f the Faithful,

” and though his empire extendedfrom the Orontes to the Arabian Sea, and fromthe Caspian to the Nile, he affected no regal state ,was the friend and companion o f the beggar andthe poor, and in his mud palace at Medina wasready to share his meal with the humblest brother inthe faith. There is a grand simplicity

,and a heroism ,

in the lives of these early warriors of the crescentwhich irresistibly strikes the imagination

,and places

them in noble contrast with the cruel and effeminatedespots who soon succeeded them . Omar perishedby the hand o f a Persian slave (A.D. and withhim the golden age of the undivided caliphate begins


henceforth stains the history of Islam ; and which ,arising from political ambition, and theologi cal disputes regarding de fare and defaa

‘o rights, is to this

day illustrated by the bitterest sectarian feelings, andnot unfrequently by deeds of blood.

The apparently unanimous voice of the peopleof Medina raised to the throne

,Al i, the nearest

relative, and the son-in-l aw of the Prophet. A largesection

,indeed, of Mahometans, the Shias, as I have

above stated, consider that in him and in his sonsHasan and Hosein—the sole descendants o f theProphet—was vested from the first a divine and inalienable right to the spiritual and temporal leadership of the Faithful . They thus look upon the firstthree Caliphs as usurpers . The legitimate successionof these three princes is upheld by the great Sunnisect

,who differ from their Shia opponents in this, and

in other particulars of a more purely doctrinal nature .

The Sunnis assert that Mahomet never intended, andin reality took no steps

,to establish any hereditary

right in his descendants, but left to the Faithful thefree choice of their prince and Imam .

The chivalrous Al i (A.D. the Bayard of thefaith

,had at length reached the goal of his ambition

,

but his short reign was an uninterrupted scene of civilwar, which stopped the conquests begun by his predecessors, and terminated only with his untimelydeath at the assassin’s hand. Amru

,Governor of

E gypt, Ayesha, the “ Mother of the Faithful,

” andMuavia, who ruled in Syria, continued his bitter andsuccessful opponents to the end .

Muavia, the son of Abu-Sohan and of H ind

ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R. 2 13

who owed his fortune and position to Othman,

refused to acknowledge Al i as lawful Caliph, calledhim a “ man of blood

,

” and justified his owndefection under the pretext that Al i had instigated the murder of his predecessor. He furtherannounced his . intention of avenging the innocentblood which had been shed, and for this purposeusurped the independent government of the provincein which he commanded. He was the first Caliph ofthe dynasty of the Omeyades, so called from the nameof his ancestor, Omeya, the son o fAbd-Shams . Fourteen princes of this house reigned at Damascus duringthe next hundred years (A.D. 6 54

—752) till by the

employment of arts simi l ar to those they had usedagainst the family of Al i, their power was undermined

,their race hunted down and nearly exter

minated, and in their place the great house of theAbbassides became rulers of the E astern caliphatefrom their seat at Baghdad . Of the Omeyades oneprince only

, Abd-al -Rahman, escaped the proscription

,and

,making his way to Spain, founded the

dynas ty which continued for three centuries at Cordova (A.D. 756

On the assassination of Al i (A.D . his sonHasan was acknowledged Caliph in Arabia, and inthe province of Babylonia,1 but his pacific dispositiou induced him,

after six months, to surrender hissovereign rights to Muavia, who already reigned inSyria and E gypt. Hasan retired into private life atMedina

,employing his time in prayer and almsgiving,

and was subsequentl y poisoned by his wife at the

1 Irak-Arabi .

2 14 I SLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

instigation of the tyrant whom h is resignation hadconfirmed on the throne.Muavia died inA.D . 6 79, and was succeeded by h i s

son,Yez id. The latter unsuccessfully laid siege to C onstantinopl e, but extended his victories through Khorassan and Turkestan . The C ities of Mecca andMedinahad not, however, been consulted regarding the succession o f Yez id

,and encouraged the general disaffec

tion against him . Hosein,the Second son ofAl i, was

induced, especially by his adherents at Cufa, to raisethe standard of revolt, andassert his sacred and inal ienable right to the sovereign Imamat over the Faithful .There i s no event in history more mournful

than the story of the . martyrdom of the saintedHosein .

1 Overtaken on his way from Mecca to j oinh i s adherents on the E uphrates

,he was surrounded

and perished with seventy-two o f his nearest relatives .The Shia sect, which pays to Al i and his sons honoursnot inferior to those given to Mahomet

,detests the

name o f Yez id, keeps , with demonstrations o f pas

sionate grief, the festival o f Hosein’ s death, and hasmade his tomb at the Kerbela a place o f pilgrimagehardly inferior to Mecca.

2

1 Conf. Ma caulay, “ Life of C l ive ” Freeman, “ The Saracens,” p . 89, et seq.

2 The head of Hosein was sent to Damascus and interred insuccession there and at Ascalon. F inally, i t was taken to Cairoby the Fatimite Cal iphs

,and i s reported to rest in the Mosque

of the Hasanayn’s. At the tomb of Fatima, in E l Bakia, her

sons are spoken of as “the two moons, the two pearls, the two

princes of the youth of paradise. ” The succession of the twelveImams or Pontiffs of the Mahometan Church is continued throughAl i, surnamed “ Zayn-el -Abid in, the sole of the twelve children


Thus the empire founded by the camel-driverof Mecca—the prophet o f Islam—had from hishumble dwelling at Medina

,in less than a century

,

extended throughout Arabia, Syria, and E gypt,

along the coast of Mauritania far into the interiorof Africa, and included within its embrace Spainand part of Gaul . E astward

,Persia and Scinde

had been subdued,and Transoxiana invaded, and

thus the sovereign will of the Commander of theFaithful gave law from the Indus to the Atlantic .

But this greatness was not to last. The immenseempire contained within itself the seeds of its owndissolution

,soon to germinate amidst the ambition

of rival princes and the fury o f contending sects .The Omeyade dynasty was, as above mentioned ,supplanted by that o f the house of Abbas, which ,during five centuries (A.D. 75 2

— 1 25 8 ) gave thirtyseven real or nominal rulers to the E astern caliphate .

Abu Giafar, surnamed Al -Manz or, fixed the s eato f his power at the new capital o f Baghdad . Withhim the golden age of his dynasty begins . Hiscourt became the resort o f the learned, and theworthy rival of Cordova in science, literature, andart. The tales of the “Arabian Nights ” have madethe names ofHaroun-al -Raschid, fifth Caliph , and hisroyal spouse Zobeide , familiar to us as householdwords . From the reigns of his sons Al Amin, AlMamun, and Al Motassem,

the glory o f theirhouse begins to fade away. The ambition of the

thus by internal divi sion,the Moors had to acknowl edge the

supremacy of the Cast il ian kings and finally confined tothe kingdom of Grenada, were driven from Spain


Shia, and other contending sects, and the insolenceof the Turkish mercenaries, whom the Caliphs hadtaken into their pay, introduced universal anarchy,and caused the ruin of the state.It i s about the middle of the sixth century that

history first makes mention of the Turks, Whoseoriginal haunts were the plains of Central Asia

,from

the Oxus to the Arctic Circle, and from the bordersof China to the Caspian Sea. Their western territories being overrun by the Arabs, they embraced thereligion of their conquerors

,and subsequently com

posed the body-guard of the Caliphs . In process oftime the chiefs o f this barbarous so l dieryy l ike thePraetorians at Rome, and the Janizaries of Stamboul,arrogated to themselves the most important offices inthe state

,left to their sovereign only a nom inal

authority,and

,during the height of their usurpation

,

subj ected him to indignity, cruelty, and death .

Harassed thus by civi l disorder and sectarianviolence

,deprived of all power

,and often o f personal

freedom by the chiefs whom he had invited to ridhim of his domestic oppressors, the Caliph wasunable to check the usurpations of those who

,in his

name,ruled the provinces of the empire, and whose

ambition it was to become the founders o f separateand independent dynasties . Thus province afterprovince was lost

,and in the end Baghdad, which

had been a prey to the raging factions o f Sunniand Shia, fell into the hands o f the Mogul Ho l ogu,

whom the Seyuds of the house o f Al i had incitedagainst their sovereign, and the unfortunate Mostad


Thus the empire founded by the camel-driverof Mecca—the prophet of Islam—had from hishumble dwelling at Medina, in less than a century,extended throughout Arabia

, Syria, and E gypt,along the coast of Mauritania far into the interiorof Africa

,and included within its embrace Spain

and part of Gaul . E astward, Persia and Scindehad been subdued

,and Transoxiana invaded, and

thus the sovereign will of the Commander of theFaithful gave law from the Indus to the Atlantic .

But this greatness was not to last. The immenseempire contained within itself the seeds of its own

dissolution,soon to germinate amidst the ambition

of rival princes and the fury of contending sects .The Omeyade dynasty was, as above mentioned ,supplanted by that of the house o f Abbas, which ,during five centuries (A.D . 75 2

—1 25 8 ) gave thirtySeven real or nominal rulers to the E astern caliphate .

Abu Giafar, surnamed Al -Manz or,fixed the seat

o f his power at the new capital o f Baghdad . Withhim the golden age of his dynasty begins . Hiscourt became the resort o f the learned, and theworthy rival of Cordova in science, literature, andart . The tales of the “Arabian Nights ” have madethe names of Haroun—al -Raschid, fifth Caliph , and hisroyal spouse Zobeide , familiar to us as householdwords . From the reigns of his sons Al Amin, AlMamun, and Al Mo tassem

,the glory o f their

house begins to fade away. The ambition of the

thus by internal division, the Moors had to acknowledge thesupremacy of the Cast il ian kings and finally confined tothe kingdom of Grenada, were driven from Spain

2 18 ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R.

hem Billah, the last Caliph Of his race, was put to acruel death .

1

But the Turks were destined to play a more important part in other lands

,for history undoubted ly

proves that the Mahometan conquests would neverhave spread so far had they not been aided by thevast multitudes of Tartars and Moguls, who lent toIslam their numbers and the enthusiastic heroism of

their arms. Without the religion o f the prophet togive these wandering hordes a common bond o f

union,they migh t still have remained buried in the

depths of their primeval solitudes,and never have

Showed their victorious arms on the Bosphorus andthe Danube.

O thman (the ancestor o f the reigning dynastyat Constantinople) was the son o f O rtogrul , and

grandson of a Turkish emir, who, early in the th irteenth century, and on the approach o f the Mogu lGhengiz Khan, left his home in Khorassan in searcho f some safer settlement in Asia Minor. On themarch he perished in the E uphrates, but O rtogrulobtained from the Sel juc Sultan o f Iconium settlements for his followers in the ancient province o f

Phrygia . His son, Othman, extended his possessionsch iefly at the expense o f the Greek emperor, and in1 299, on the death of his patron

,the rul er of

Iconium,assumed the title of Sultan . A succes

sion o f ten great pr inces, who reigned over the

1 A.D . 1258 . Consult Freeman, “ The Saracens, pp. 123

160. D’Herbel Ot, w e. Khal ifat, i i i . p. 455 . The power of

Radhi B illah , z o th Cal iph, did not extend beyond the walls ofBaghdad.

ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R . 2 19

O ttoman Turks,widely extended their territories, and

raised their military power to the first rank inE urope.In 1328 the seat o f the monarchy was fixed at

Brussa,under the Shadowo fMount O lympus, andAsia

Minor was conquered to the Hellespont . SolymanI . first invaded E urope ( 13 and Amurath I . tookAdrianople made it h is capital

,and soon

after Macedonia,Albania, and Servia were subdued.

Bajaz et, his successor came in contact withthe Christians in centralAsia, and defeated Sigismond ,the king of Bohemia and Hungary, at the great battl eof Nicopolis The onward course of Bajaz etwas Checked by the Mogul Timur, who invaded AsiaMinor

,and defeated h im at the battle of AncyraIn 14 15 Muhammad I . invaded Bavaria

,

and conquered the Venetians at Salonica. Thoughthe progress of Amurath I I . was arrested by thefortress o f Belgrade on the Danube, andby the valouro f Scanderbeg in E pirus, he defeated the Christiansat Varna On the 29th May, 14 53, Muham

mad I I . overpowered Constantinople, the last bulwarko f the Chris tians in the E ast, and the noble Constantine I ! ,

the last of the race o f Paleologus,buried

himself under the ruins o f the city he could not save .

Next followed the conquest of the Morea, and E pirusand Bosnia and Trebizond were added to h is

empire. For the next fifty years the Ottoman armswere the terror o f E urope .

Selim I in 15 17, conquered Syria and Palestineand defeated the Mamel o ok—sultan of E gypt. Onhis return to Constantinople he brought with him


Motavakkel Billah, the last titular Caliph o f thefamil y ofAbbas, whom he found at Cairo . From thisdescendant of Dahir Billah— thirty-fifth Caliph of

Baghdad—Selim “ procured the cession of his claims,and obtained the right to deem himself the ShadowofGod upon earth . Since then the O ttoman Padishahhas been held to inherit the right s of Omarand Haroun

,

” 1 and to be the legitimate Commandero f the Faithful

,and as such possessed of plenary

temporal and spiritual authority over the followers ofMahomet.2 Solyman I I

,the Magnificent

,took Rhodes

from the knights o f St. John and onthe field ofMohacz ( 15 26) subdued half of Hungary.Central E urope was threatened

,and in terror

,until

the progress of the Moslems was checked before thewalls of ViennaFrom the P ersians the city and territory o f Baghdad

were wrested Moldavia was made tributary, and tl eOttoman fleets swept the Mediterranean . The powerof the O ttoman Tuiks had now reached its culminating point. E xternal conquest had hitherto suppliedthe sinews ofwar; but having systematically neglectedany attempt to develope the boundless resources o fi ts vast empire

,the nation has continued ever

since to sink lower and lower . While surroundingChristian states have rapidly progressed, the Turks

1 Freeman, The Saracens, p . 158 . Also D ’

Herbel Ot’s

account ofMostanser Billah.

2 I t should be added that the Persian Shias repudiate theseclaims. The Moors also refuse to acknowledge the Spiritualsupremacy of the Sul tan of Turkey, their own sovereign claiming to inherit the t i tl e of Caliph from the Cordovan princes .

2 2 2 ISLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R.

regions in E urope, which have for centuries beenblighted by its presence .

The truth,indeed, i s

,

that so long as Mahometans are true to their own creed, so long will itbe impossible for them

,when they are the governing

power,to grant perfect equality to their subjects o f

other creeds, or, when they are subj ects, to render

loyal and hearty obedience to a sovereign professingany antagonistic faith . For it is manifestly pre

posterous for them to profess obedience to, and actcontrary to the whole Spirit , and to the very letter o ftheir Book of D irections

,

” the Koran,in which it is

laid down that the unbelievers are to be held undertribute

,and the Christians to be reduced low.

1

I have above related how during the reign o f

Valid I,of Damascus, the province of Scinde was

included in the caliphate,and how in the year A.D .

750 the invaders were driven out by the Rajpoots .For two hundred and fifty years India was free fromMoslem attack . During this period

,in the provinces

o f the crumbling caliphate, numerous dynasties ,chiefly o f Tartar blood

,had successively established

themselves westward of the Soliman range, and soonbegan to lend their hardy valour to the disseminationof their adopted faith .

In Afghanistan Sebuktegin, once a Turkish slave ,founded a vigorous government at Ghuznee, anddefeated the Hindoo Rajah o f Lahore , who wasthe first to begin hostilities . His son Mahmoud madethose famous incursions into India which are cele

l Sura ix . 29.


brated in the history o f that country, and annexedthe Punjaub to his kingdom . Driven from theircapital in Afghanistan by the Ghorian princes, theGhuznevide dynasty lingered on for some time intheir Indian possessions

,till swept away by other

powerful invaders (A.D . 1

Unde r a succession o f Pathan princes,who

rose to power with the usual circumstances o f

treachery and murder, the Mahometans establishedthemselves as the dominant power in Hindustan

,and

penetrated into the Deccan .

1 Though the desolatingwave of Mogul invasion had only swept across thenorth of India under Timur his descendantBaber subsequently ( 15 26 ) seated himself on thethrone o f De lhi, in righ t of a pretended conquest o fhis great ancestor.Under the descendants of Baber, from Akbar to

Arungz ebe ( 15 5 6 the empire of the GreatMogul reached its highest power

,but during the

reigns of their feeble successors it rapidly declined .

The plunder of Delhi by Nadir Shah ( I 738 ) was afatal blow to the power o f the Great Mogu l . I t taughtthe hardy tribes o f Rajpoots, Rohillas, Sikhs, Mah

rattas, and the Mahometan viceroys themsel ves,the

weakness o f the central power, and al l sought to enrichthemselves at the expense of their sovereign .

2 Alternatelya puppet in the hands of these nominal subj ects,

1 The Deccan was invaded and subdued byAlla-ul -Din, of theKhilj i dynasty

,A.D . 1295—1317.

2 Powerful Mahometan dynasties rose from time to t ime inIndia, Kul berga ( I3 Bejapore Mo orshedabad, Hyderabad, in the Deccan and in O udh andMysore

Q


the wretched prince was exposedto extortion, indignity,and cruelty,1 til l at length the fallen heir of Timurfound a quiet asylum with the E nglish, whom in afteryears his descendant sought to destroy. With therecapture o f D elhi from the mutineers in 18 58 , thephantom power o f the Great~Mogul came to an end.

Unlike Hindooism, the faith o f Mahomet i s essential ly a missionary religion , and successive Afghan,Persian, and Mogul princes have, by promise of material advantages

,succes sfully allured converts to the

faith . Freedom from the fetters o f caste, and thesocial elevation which accompanied the adoption o f

Islam, induced numbers o f Hindoos, chiefly of thelower Classes, to adopt the ruling religion .

E astward o f India the Mahometan faith hasSpread among the Malays

,a people of Asia who

have adopted the religion and alphabet of the Arabians, and intermarried with them, so that they havebecome separated from the original stock, and forma distinct nation . The first missionaries of Islamreached Malacca and Sumatra in the fourteenth century, and their teaching spread to Java and theCelebes a century later. The Malays appear first inthe thirteenth century in the peninsula of Mal acca,where they built a town of the same name, and theysubsequently spread into Sumatra, the Philippines,the Moluccas, 810. Their supremacy in these regionshas passed away

,chiefly through the working of the

feudal system,which has divided them into number

1 The E mperor Farokshir ( 1715—1719) was assassinatedAhmed Shah ( 1748—1754 ) was blinded and deposed andAlumgir I I. ( 1754- 1759) deposed andmurdered .


difficulty,which is doubtless conscientiously felt by

many devout Moslems .As I have before said, they are commanded to

lay the unbeliever under tribute,and they cannot

easily reconcile with this the duty o f paying tribute toany Cae sar whom they regard as an infidel . To thosewho have no wish to be loyal

,a divine justification o f

their acts is always welcome . Whatever may be thepolitical conjunctions put forward as necessary tojustify a crescentade or holy war for the faith , i tcannot be denied that the normal condition of I slamis one of missionary aggression by the sword.

The conditions necessary to render a“ Jihad

or religious war lawful have been variously interpretedby the different sects . The solution of the questionseems principally to depend on whether the countryin which the Moslems are subjects, i s Dar-ul -Harb,”

the land of enmity, or“ Dar-ul -Islam

,the land o f

I slam . Another condition has been j udged by theSunnis, necessary before the publication o f a J ihad,viz . , that there should be a probability o f victory totheir arms . The Shias also add to this, that thearmies of the Crescent must be led by the rightfulImam .

CHAP TE R ! I 1.

CON CLUSION .

I N the foregoing chapters 1 have attempted topresent as comprehensive an account as my limitswould allow o f Mahomet’s life and work, and nowmust leave to the intell igent reader the task of formingh is independent opinion

,o f the motives which influ

enced his words and his deeds, and of the true val ueo f the system he has given to the world . Towardsthis obj ect the following remarks may be permitted.

Though the life and work o f the prophet havein many respects so much in common, it may befound possible to judge, according to a differentstandard

,the man and the system wh ich he founded.

The one was human, the other claims to be divine ;the one acknowledges himself encompassed with thesins and errors o f humanity, the other asserts its titleto be the pure word o f God ; the one had at lengthto yield to the summons o f the angel o f death, theother cl aims to endure for ever as a direction andblessing to all mankind.

Mahomet arose in a barbarous country,and with

no human aid so great as his own indomitable wil labolished the outward expression of a cherishedidolatry in his native land, bowed to himsel f the heartsof his countrymen, and finally gave to the world thatcreed which has exercised so tremendous an influenceon its destiny. In the man, no one can fail to seeelements of power and human greatness, which com

228 I SLAM AN D I Ts FOUN DE R .

pel our wonder, if not our admiration ; but in thatIslam which he founded, history recognizes, in itsultimate effects

, one o f the greatest evils which haveafflicted humanity, arising both from its hostility to thepurer faith o f Christianity, and also from its essentialantagonism to progress, civilization , and the truth .

Judged by the smallness o f the means at his dis,/ji o sal , and the extent and permanence o f the workhe accomplished, no name in the world

’s story shineswith a more specious lustre than that o f the propheto f Mecca . To the impulse which he gave, numberles sdynasties have owed their existencej fair cities andstately palaces and temples have arisen

,and wide

provinces become obedient to the faith . And be

yond all this,his words1 have governed the belief

«o f generations, been accepted as their rule in life andtheir certain guide to the world to come . At athousand shrines the voices of the Faithful invokeblessing on him, whom they esteem the very prophetof God, the seal o f the Apostles, now passed into thehighest heaven as their intercessor with the Al lmerciful Allah .

2 Judged by the standard o f human re

nown,the glory o f what mortal can compare with his

Attempts have been made to Show that Mahomet was a true benefactor to his own countrymen . I t i s urged that in place o f the gross idolworship which existed

,he gave to Arabia a purer

1 I t is to be remembered that in the belief of a l l the sects,Sunnis, Shias, andWahabees, the words and example of Ma

bomet are considered binding on the true believer.2 The Sunnis believe that their prophet has a l ready receivedpermission from God to intercede for them . TheWahabees are

of opinion that this permission wi l l not be granted t il l the las t(day conf. Hughes, “ Muhammadanism

,p .

230 I SLAM AN D ITS FOUN DE R .

which give their sanction to slavery, and exclude allhope o f advancement in morals and in l aw.

However much , under the then degraded conditiono fArabia, the code o f Mahomet was a gift o f value,and however much it may have succeeded in banish ingthose fiercer vices which naturally accompany ignorance and barbarism, still can it be forgotten at howdear a price the boon was acquired ! In the place o ftemporary and remediable evils, which were honouredin the observance only, and did not seek justificationby any divine sanction, the nation was deliveredcaptive to the guidance of an unchangeable law, which ,whatever the excellence of some of its precepts, poisonsdomestic life, stifles honest inquiry, crushes the righ to f private judgment, has hitherto been found , and isessential ly

,incompatible with constitutional freedom,

and has been followed by that train o f national degradation and evil which the story o f the past and theexample o f the present show to be the constant

,and

i t would seem the inevitable,attendants wherever

Islam holds sway. H istory indeed but too trulyrecords that the faith o f Mahomet i s altogetherpowerless to ennoble or to regenerate a nation .

The partial and specious reforms which i t may

effect are vitiated by the fact that they serve to exelude the highest ; and as the inner life o f families,the whole tone o f society, and the intellectual andmoral standard o f a people depend on the principles

which obtained amongst the ancient Moors and N umidiansSingul i pro opibus, quisque quam pl urimas uxores denas al i i

I ta animus multitudine distrahitur nul l am pro socia ob

t inet parz'

ter owner vil e: am t (De Bello


diffused by the ruling religion, i t seems, from pastexperience

,hopeless to expect that Islam will ever

cease to be,what it has hitherto proved, the mo s t

formidable obstacle to the dawn o f a progressive anden l ightened civi lization .

The question o f the imposture of Mahomet i sone which may best be left to the candid reader,who

,from the records o f his life, will judge how far

he has laid himself open to so grave an imputation .

That he was the impostor pictured by some writers isrefuted alike by his unwavering belief in the truth ofhis own mission, by the loyalty and unshaken confidence of his companions

,who had ample opportuni

ties of forming a right estimate o f his sincerity,and

finally, by the magnitude of the task which he broughtto so successful an issue. N O impostor, it may safel ybe said

,could have accomplished so mighty a work .

N O one unsupported by a living faith in the real ity ofhis commission, in the goodness of his cause, couldhave maintained the same consistent attitude throughlong years o f adverse fortune

,alike in the day of

victory and the hour of defeat, in the plenitude o f hispower and at the moment of death .

There were indeed times , in his later career atMedina, when it is impossib l e to avoid the belief thath is religious enthusiasm degenerated into culpableself-deception, and the idea of a divine impulse ohscured the view o f h is own substantial imposture.1His early career at Mecca was - eminently pure and

1 The affair of Zeinab, of Mary the Copt, and of his especialmarital privi leges, detai led in the Koran, are here referred to .

On this subj ect, conf. Christianity and the Religions o f India(Kennedy) , pp . 2 14

—218 .


decorous,and gained him well-deserved esteem ; and

however much his opponents scoffed at the manwhose conversation was about heaven,” none couldcast in his teeth any charge of depravity. That therewas, amidst much that was noble and great, an activemoral declension in his character when tried in thefurnace o f success

,i t would be vain to deny. But

now he has passed away,with al l his weakness and

frailties,and all his power

,his lofty claims and aspira

tions,his earth-born passions and the secret motives

which influenced him,and may well be left to the

righteous j udgment o f that day when the secrets o fall hearts will be revealed

,and‘when it will be known

“ who are the Lord ’s,and who is holy.

Regarding the system which he inaugurated, Ioffer the following remarks . The view which wetake o f Mahometanism will much depend on our

assurance of the truth of Christianity in its full anddivine meaning. Apply this test to all who havewritten on the subject

,and it wi ll, I venture to

think,substantially account for their varying estimate

o f Islam . Much too,I need hardly say

,will depend

on our belief in the Atonement by the .death o f

Christ,as the means provided by God for the redemp

t ion o f mankind ; for in this, as the foundation o f

our hope,does Christianity differ essentially from the

scheme devised by the prophet o f Mecca.The Koran, as above explained, however much

its followers may have departed from its teaching, repudiates the idea of any vicarious sacrifice forsin, teaches expressly that each soul must accountfor itself to God

,and denying the truth of the Chris


That this i s the practical religion o f all, andeven of some professing Christians, who prefer thepromptings o f reason to the teaching o f revelation,few will deny ; nor can the fact be hidden that thetendency o f all spiritual faiths has been thus todegenerate ; for the human heart i s naturally proneto seek, by outward acts, to buy acceptance with thebeing it adores .The merit of good works once admitted, other

aids to faith,and newmeans of propitiating heaven

are quickly found,and seasons and months and

days , nay, particular spots, are believed to havetheir special efficacy in bearing aloft with acceptancethe prayers o f the faithful. While the Gospel prescribes for the believer’s guidance pure and ennoblingprinciples of action

,the Koran

,with retrogressive

legislation , imposes upon those who receive it thegalling fetters of a burdensome ritual ; toilsome pilgrimages

,severe fastings

,ablutions

,and the mechani

cal observance o f the minutiae o f his faith , are substituted for purity o f l ife and the divorce of moralityand religion soon becomes complete.I need hardly remind the reader how impor

tant a place certain months and days and placesoccupy in Mahomet’s scheme

,and how necessary

they are as adjuncts to the due performance of theceremonies . The prophet of Mecca, whose professed mission was the extirpation o f idolatry

,could

recognize its existence only in its grosser forms andso subtle is its poison

,has himself hopelessly fallen

into the very sin he so vehemently assails . Thus hispilgrimage to the Holy House has especial effi cacy


if performed under the light of one particular moon 1

the prayers of the faithful, to reach the ear of Allah,must be directed towards the one Kibla of their faith ; 2

and their fasting is then fraught with peculiar meritif performed during the month in which 'the Korandescended from heaven.

3

The rapid spread and the permanence o f Islamare appealed to by Mahometans as certain proofso f its divine origin . While repudiating the validity o f this deduction, it must be conceded thatit presents enough to satisfy some spiritual want, andclearly points out that its tenets must have beenfound congenial to the peoples, who, in rapid succession adopted

,and still hold to the observances it

enj oins,and the licence it allows . “ The causes o f

this new religion ’s rapid progress are not difficultto be discovered ; Mahomet

’s l aw itself was adm ir

ably adapted to the natural disposition of man ,but especially to the manners, Opinions, and vicesprevalent among the people of the E ast ; for i t wasextremely simple, proposing few things to be believed ;nor did it enj oin many and diffi cult duties to beperformed

, or such as laid severe restraints on thepropensities .”

If to the above causes we add the powerfulargument of the sword

,and the wealth and honours

which conquest yielded,we Shall have ample reasons

to account for the triumph o f the crescent over thecross in those regions where, in dogma and in practice,a sensuous idolatry and relic worship called itself by

1 Sura i i . 192 .

2 Sura I I . 139.

2 Sura1 Mosheim’s E ccl . Hist. , book ii . chap . i i i . p . 73.


the name of Christ, and for the extension to distantlands of the arms and faith of Islam . In the religioush istory o f man, indeed, nothing is more obvious thanthat he has bent his strongest efforts to gain thesanction o f religion for those vices to which he isnaturally addicted ; and this fact will be found to bethe key to the corruption o f all true

,and to the inven

tion- of all false religions .Regarding its aggressive action at the present

day, the missionaries of Islam (to whose success invarious parts a recent writer refers in terms of undisguised exultation 1) act upon principles, the efficacyo f which should awaken no wonder. Converts areexpected to use only the prescribed formula o f thefaith

,to acknowledge one God, and Mahomet as

His Prophet no examination into the nature andground o f their belief is held

,outward conformity

only is demanded, and time and habit are left tocomplete the work. No immediate repudiation o f

o l d prej udices is required, no intelligent knowledgeo f their new creed necessary. The worship o f visibleidols alone is to be abandoned ; but whether theconvert know anything of his newly-adopted faith, orwhether it serve to produce any practical effect onthe will and character

,are questions altogether foreign

to the object in view. Considering that social elevation follows in the wake o f Islam

,especially in the

case of converts from the ranks of paganism,and that

no real sacrifice is demanded,it will cause no wonder

that it makes its way where the positive prohibitionso f Christianity

,and its stern demands for the fruits

o f a holy and religious life fai l to win acceptance.1 Bosworth Smith, Muhammat p . 40.


sibil ityhe was taking upon himself in arrogating thetitle o f God’s inspired ambassador, and in claiming tobe the successor o f those who in ages past hadbeen theheralds o f His will. The Koran claims to be a con

tinuation o f the earlier messages o f Heaven , and tosupplement and develop the teaching o f the Law andthe Gospel . Assuming such to be the case, we mayfairly look to it to afford us clearer views o f theDivine will and attributes

, o f life and death , o f theprovision made for man’s spiritual and temporaldifficulties ; and in it we should find the way mademore plain for securing to all mankind their inherentrights o f l ife, liberty, and social and political wellbeing . Instead of this

,darkness and retrogression

are engraved on every page of the Preserved Book,”

God’s universal fatherhood is ignored,and in place

of the finished sacrifice,the sinner is bid to plunge

into the dark future, trusting in his own righteousess ; in his service of the Al l -merciful the fetters

o f a minute ritual are substituted for that worship which we are taught is to be in spirit and intruth . Light and darkness are not more opposedthan the loving dictates of the Gospel and the vengeful spirit of the Koran

,in which hatred and oppres

sion take the place o f love and forgiveness o f injuries,and the denunciations o f the prophet contrast withthe voice of the Good Shepherd, which speaks o f

peace and good-will to all mankind .

I N D E ! .

ABBAS (A1). 43 (n). 50. 131. 158.174 , 176 , 180, 216 , 220.

Abbassides (Caliph ofBaghdad),99 (n). 184 (n), 198 , 213.

Abdallah (Father of 43,

44 , 45 ~Abdallah (Son of Abu Bekr) ,132.

Abdallah (Chief of Hypocri tes ) ,159.

Abd-al -Dar, 42, 159, 174 .

Malik (Caliph), 2 15 .

Muttal ib, 43, 44 , 46 ,

4 8 , 49, 60

O z z a, 42, 57.

Rahman (Ibn Awf) , 72.

Abd-Kelal,24.

Menaf, 42.

Shams, 42, 43, 78 , 126,

2 13.

Ablution, 117.

Abraha, 23, 43, 92.

Abraham, 34 a 39, 44 56 : 62)135. 137. 154 , 189

Abst inence, 185 .

Abu-Ayub, 148 .

Bekr, 71, 72, 8 7, 126 , 132,133, 134 , 183, 200 ; (Cal iph ), 208 ; (Death), 209,211 .

Abu-C obeis (Hill ), 4 6 , 85 .

Gabshan, 38 (n) .

Hanifa,198 .

Jahl, 77, 83. 124 ,175 .

Lahab, 43, 73 (n), 76 , 79,124 .

O beida, 209.

SOfian’ 509 73 77: 124 ,156, 158 , 159, 164 , 16 5,I 7O I 73 , I 74 , 2 12

Tahb, 43, 4 8, 49, 5 1, 57.60, 71, 78 , 82 ; (Death),123, 124 , 126 .

Abul-Aas, 78 .

Abwa, 48 , 5 1 .

Abyssinia, 23, 25, 2, 79, 170.

Acaba, 128 , 131.

Acacias, 133.

Ad (Beni) , 65.

Ada, 83.

Adam, 33 ; (Peak ) 34 (n) .Aden (V1de E den) , 6 , 12

, 24 ,

5 1.

Adler [Dr. Chief Rabbi], 55 (n ).Adliyah (The Shias ), 200.

Adnan, 36 .

Adrianople, 2 19.

Adul tery (Proof of ), 163Adzan, 117.

E l ias Gallus , 2 1.

Afghanistan , 222.


Afghan Princes, 224 .

Africa, 5 , 11, 169, 186, 199 (n) ,2 11, 225 .

Afternoon (The) , 89.

Agar (Hagar) , 19.

Aggressive (War) , 139, 155.

Agony (In Garden) , 115 .

Ahmed Shah (Emp. of Delhi) ,224 (n) .

Ahriman, 169.

Aiznadin (Battle of) , 209.

Akaba,8, 5 1.

Akbar (Emp. of Delhi), 223.

Akhund of Swat, 204 .

Al -Amin (Title of Mahomet) , 56,216 .

Arab-al -Araba, 36 .

Borac,140.

C aswa, 172, 174 .

Debaran, 32.

Fatihat, 90.

Forkan (Koran ), 196 (n) .Hajar, 111.

Kadr (N ight of), 69, 96 .

Katab (Koran) , 196 (n) .Mamun (Cal iph), 198 , 216 .

Manz or (Cal iph), 216 .

Mo shaf (Koran) , 196 (n ) .Moshtari

, 32.

Motassem (Cal iph) , 216 .

Muttal ib, 42, 43.

O z z a, 32, 80, 175 .

Sadiq, 71, 203.

Shafei, 198 .

Shira, 32.

Sie (Bridge) , 207.

Zobier, 43, 49.

Zohirah, 32.

Albania,219.

Alcoran (Koran), 63.

Aleppo, 57, 209.

Alexandria andAlexander,169,

210.

Algeciras,215 .

Al i (Ca1iph ) , 71, 79, 156 , 158 ,159, 173, 188m),

199, 200, 203, 208, 211, 212,2 13, 2 17.

Al il at (Idd ), 31.

Allah, 118 , 129, 192.

Al l fit. V ide Ldz‘.Al la-ul -Din (Emp. of Delhi ),223 (n) .

Al l -Merciful, 166 .

Alms, 144 , 186 ,Al umgir II. (E mp. of Delhi ),224 (n) .

Amalekites , 34, 35.

Amaziah, 29.

Amina (Mother of Mahomet),44 , 4s. 46 , 47, 72

Amru, 172 , 173, 2 10, 212.

Amulets, 167 (n ) .Amurath I . (Sultan ofTurks ) 219 .

Amurath I I . (Sultan of Turks) ,219.

Anchorites, 25 .

Ancyra, 2 19.

Andalusia,2 11.

Angel (of Death) , 114 .

Angels, 32, 113 ; (Koran), 115 ;(Bible) , 143, 206 , 207.

Annunciat ion,143.

Ansars, 131, 208 .

Antioch,25 , 209.

Apes (Men changed into) , 137.

Apostles, 139, 142, 144, 162,

167, 174 , 18 1, 228 .

Arabia(Legends), 107; (ConquestofL177.

Arabia,6, 10, 19, 199 (n) .

Arabiae E mporium (Aden), 6 .

Arabian N ights , 2 16 .

Arafat (Hill O f) , 34 (n) ) 39, 44 ,62 (n ), 18 1, 187.

Archangels,113.

Arcam (House of), 75, 84 .

Arians, 52.

Aryat, 23.

Arungz ebe (Emp. of Delhi ),200 (n ), 223.

Asabi, 15 .

24 2

CADE SIA (battle of), 210.

Cadi (Qazi ), 118 (n ).Gafur (water of), 105 .

C ainucfia (Beni ), 158 .

Cairo, 188 , 199 (n ), 2 14 (n) , 220.

Caliph, 71, 83. 99 (n), 180, 195.

198 , 199, 208 , 209, 211, 212,2 13, 2 15, 2 17, 220.

Cal iphate, 22, 8 7, 183 (n ), 184

(n ), 2 10, 213, 2 16 , 222.

Calvary, 147.

Camels, 11, 5 1, 134 .

Camuss,171.

Canaan, 137.

Canneh, 12 .

Canopus, 32.

Captives, 103, 163, 192, 193.

Caravan trade, 11, 12, 4 1, 5 1,154»Carpocrat ians, 146 (n) .Casim (son of Mahomet), 57,71, 78 .

Caspian Sea, 210, 2 17.

Cave of Thaur, 132, 134, 172.

Hira, 62, 69.

Celebes , 224 .

Ceremonies (of Pilgrimage), 18 1.

Cerinthians,146 (n ) .

Ceuta,215 .

Charity, 138 .

Charms, 166 (n).Chersonese (of Arabia), 5 .

Children (Duty to parents ), 138 .

China,217, 225 .

Chosroes (King of Persia), 129,169.

Christ Jesus,122

,143, 232.

Christian (Church) , 60 ; Heaven,105 (n ) ; Doctrine, 142 .

Sects, 146 .

Christians, 23, 25, 26 , 52, 53 inSyria, 54 , 90 (n). 98 , 100,

103, 155, 179 ; Treatment of,

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

DADE N A (Dedan) , 15 .

Dahir Bi llah (Cal iph) , 220.

Damascus (E l Sham ) ,213, 2 14 (n ) , 2 15 , 222.

Danube , 2 18 , 219.

Darayeh , 202.

191, 193 (Christianity), 237,2 8

Chron icles,19.

Chuz estan, 15 .

C ircuit of Kaaba, 140.

C ircumcision, 195 .

C i ty (near the Sea) , 137C leaving ( the), 9 1.

C l eopatris (Suez ), 7.

Climax (Mons ) , 7 (n ).Coba, 134 , 148 .

Godred, 134 .

Collyridians (Christian sect ), 52.

Companions (of right and lefthand ), 103, 104 .

Conception (of Mary) , 143.

Concubines,103, 166 , 170, 193.

Confucius,138 .

Constantine I ! . (Paleologus) ,219 .

Constantinople, 6 1, 148 (n) ,169, 202, 204 , 214 , 218 , 219.

Constantius 24 .

Converts, 76 , 128

,130, 236.

Copt, 170, 176 .

Cordova, 2 13, 216, 220 (n ) .C oreish, 2 1

, 36 , 37, 43, 44 , 50,

C oreitz a (Beni) , 165 , 166 .

Cornelius Palma, 8 .

Coss (Bishop) , 55.

Cross,129, 237.

C tesiphon , 210.

Cufa (Kufa) , 2 14.

Cussai (Cosa), 37, 38, 4 1, 44 , 57,71.

Cyprus,2 11.


Dar-ul -Harb, 226 .

Islam , 226 .

N adwa, 38 .

Darveshes, 204 .

Date-palm,10.

Daughters (of God) , 100.

Dav id, 121.

Dead Sea, 19.

Death, 205 of Christ,232.

Death of Christ (denied ), 145 ;( is to die), 145.

Decalogue, 55 (n).

Deccan , 223D efensive War, 139.

De jure,2 12.

Delhi,223.

Deliverer, 127.

Descendants (of Prophet ), 212.

Devils composed Koran, 110,

I I I .

D’Herbel o t, 33 (n) , 63, 99 (n) ,14 1 (n) , eff arsz

'

m .

Dhurra,11.

Din, 197.

Disaffected (at Medina) , 153.

Divorce,150, 16 1, 164 .

Drowning, 163.

Dryad , 108 .

Dzul -Gaada (Month) , 168, 171,

193.

D zul -Hal ifa,159.

D zul Hijja, 39, 18 1, 187,-

193.

Dzu-N owas,23, 25 , 103.

E

E ARTHQUAKE (The) , 90.

E ber, 36 .

E bionites, 52.

E blis (Devil) , 4 5 , 196 .

E ccles iastes , 89E den (Aden) , 34 .

E dom (R as) , 17 ; (J ez eret), 17,20, 29.

E dessa, 169 .

E ed a l Fitr,186 .

al Zoha, 18 6 .

E freet (J inn) , 137.

E gypt. 7. 12. 18. 21. 137, 163.170, 202

,206 (n), 2 12

,213,

2 16 , 2 19, 225 .

E gyptian’s Wife, 137.

E l Bakia, 180.

E l Haura, 7 (n) .E lephant (The), 23, 44 , 92.

E mbass ies (from Mahomet) , 169.

E nchantments, 166 .

E nglish (The) , 24 .

E pirus, 2 19.

E rythraean Sea, 17.

E sau, 15 , 17.

E uphrates, 5 , 16 , 25, 214 , 218 .

E utychians, 52.

E ve, 33.

E vi l E ye, 166 (n) .E xarch, 169.

E zekiel, 12, 15 (n) .

FABLE S ( in Koran ) , 136 , 137.

Faithful. V ide Mafiomefam orMosl ems.

Fall of Man, 9 1.

Farokshi r (E mperor), 224 (n) .Farrar (The Rev. ; Life of

33 (n) . 237n

Fasting,185, 197.

Fate (Vide 96,221.

Fat ihat (Al ) , 90.

Fatima (Daughter of Mahomet ) ,57. 79. 177. 199. 208 (n) .Fat ima (W ife of Said ) , 72, 83 .

Fat im ite (Caliphs), 2 14 (n ) .Faqir , 203.

Feeding (the Multitude), 144 .

Fehr C oreish, 36 , 37.

244

Festival (Greater) , 18 7.

F ines, 193.

Fitr (Bed al ) , 186 .

F light (of Mahomet ), 132, 134 .

Food (Lawful ), 140.

Formula (of Belief), 198 .

Fornication,164 .

Forster (the Rev . Geographyof Arabia

,

”

7, 17 (n) , 20 (n) ,2 1 (n ), &c .

Freeman , “ The Saracens , 64

(n). 150 (n).192 (n), z oo (n). 215(n ), 220

Friday (Moslem Sunday) , 118 ,149.

Funeral (C eremonies) , 206.

GABRIE L, 351 69, 70) 94a 96a113, I 43

Galatia and Galat ians,19, 2 15 .

Games (of chance), 190.

Gaul, 2 16 .

Gaza, 12, 43} 45°Genesis , 16 , 1Geni i (Jinn ), 70, 107, 108 , 126 ,

Genuflexions, 117.

Ghassan (Prince of), 170.

Ghengiz Khan, 218 .

Ghorian Princes,223.

Ghoul,108 .

Ghuznee, 222.

Gibraltar,215 .

Gilead, 19.

GOD , 103 ; Word of, 107 ;Kingdom

,115 Unity, 117 ;

Worship of,

136 , 139, 142,143 Intercession with, 192Decree, 197 ; Merciful , z

'

é.

Golden Calf,137.

Good Works, 90, 188 , 189 (n) ,

19 1. 194. 207. 234 .

I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DE R .

Gospel (of Infancy) , 122, 142 ,

of Christ , 234 .

Gothic (Monarchy) , 2 15 .

Grand Turk , 2 15 .

Grave (Moslem) , 205 .

Great Mogul, 200 (n ) , 2 15 .

Greek E mperor, 2 18 .

Greeks, 129.

Grenada, 2 16 (n) .Guadal ete

,2 15 .

Guests (to Mahomet ) , 162.

HADE S, 206 .

Hadhramaut, 9, 10, 12, 5 1, 132.

Hafiz, 202.

Hagar, 18 , 19, 20, 34 , 39.

Haggidah , 121, 14 1.

Hajar (AI ) , 1 11.

Halima (Mahomet ’s nurse), 46 ,180 .

Hambal (Ibn ) Hambal ees, 198 .

Hammaeum Littus,I 5 .

Hamza) 43 (n) , 77) 82) 84 ,

155, 160.

Hanifees, 189, 198 .

Haphsa (Wife of Mahomet ) ,

Haram, 39 , 168 (n) .

Harb, 50, 77.

Harith, 43, 49.

Haroun al Raschid, 2 16 , 220.

Hasan, 79, 158 , 180,188 (n ) ,

199. 200. 2 12. 213. 233 01)

Hashim, 12, 4 2 , 78 .

Havilah, 15 , 18 , 20.

Hawaz in (Beni ) , 175 .

Heathen (N at ions ), 138 .

Heaven, 104 , 105 , 154 , 207.

Heavenly Stone, 35 .

Hejaz, 7, 12, 36 , 37.

Hej ira (Flight), 22, 78 , 80,

87. 134.

246

196. 197. 199 (n) ; Spread o f.208 E ffect of

,228, et seq.

I srael , 30.

I srafi l (Angel) , 114 , 207.I ssue (of God ) . 100.

I z afar, 24 .

I ABR . 75Jacob , 137.

Jacobites (Heresy), 170.

Jafar, 173.

Janiz aries, 2 17.

Jebel 7 (n ) .Ared, 8 , 9 .

Ayr, 134 .

el -Akhdar, 10.

Jyad. 56Kora

, 9, 125.

Shammar, 8 , 9.

Jeremiah, 22.

Jeroboam , 19.

Jerome (St. 20.

Jerusalem, 23, 101, 14 1, 154,209.

Jesus, 136 account of in Koran,142, 144.

Jetur, 19.

Jews, 22, 23, 24, 4 1, 90 (n ),100, 101; History of, 107, 127,146 , I 49, I S3, I S4 , I S7, 158 ,166 , 171 Treatment of

,179,

191, 193 (n) ; ( in Spain), 215 .

J ez eret, 5 .

Jiddah (Port of Mecca), 9, 34(n). 59. 79. 162.

Jihad (Holy War), 226 .

J ob. 31. 137John, 143.

Joktan, 16 , 36 .

Jonah, 121.

I onian. 19. 54 . 209.

J orhamite, 36 .

Joseph, 136 , 137.


Josephus, 20.

Journey (N ight ), 140.

Judas, 146 .

Judgment (Day of), 136 , 196,207.

Judz ima (Beni ), 175 .

Jupiter, 32.

Juweiria (Wife of Mahomet ),163.

KAABA (at Mecca), 2 1, 23, 32,33. 35. 37. 38 . 39.

5 1, 58 (Rebu ild ing) ; 80, 100,168 , 18 1, 199 (n ).

Kab-ibn-Ashraff (Assass inationo 15Kadr Al (night of), 69.

Kafirs, 196 .

Kedar,19, 2 1.

Kedarys, 2 1.

Kelpie, 108 .

Kennedy (The Rev . J . ;“ Christianity ” ) 115 (n), 231(nKerbela, 188 , 214 (and n ), 233(n

Keturah, 15 , I 6 .

Khadija, 4 2 (n ), 57. 58. 6 1. 72 ;Death of

, 123, 180.

Khal id, 159, 172, 173. I 74. 175,209.

Khazraj (Beni), 42, 127, 128 .

Kbeibat , 22, 171, 182.

Khilj i (Dynasty), 223 (n ) .Khorassan, 211, 214 , 218 .

Khosru Parviz, 169.

Kho z eima (Beni ), 16 1.

Khoz aa (Beni ), 37.

Khutbah , 118 .

Khuweil id, 57.

Kibla, 101, et seq. , 116 , 154 ,206 .

Kinana, 22, 171.

Kiswa, 167 (n ) .Kiyada, 38 .


Koorban Beyram , 186 (n) .Koran, 11

, 83 History of, 8 6,88 , 89 ; E arl ies t Suras , specim en of

,89, 93 General

t eaching, 94 , 95 ; Second groupof Suras, their teaching, 96 , etseq. Abrogated passages, 98 ;Uncreated , 99 Unity of God,99 Third group of Suras,110

, et seq. A confirmation,1 12 (n) Parody of Scripture,120 Genii

, 126 Latest Meccan Suras

,135 , et seq. Fables,

137 Moral Sentiments , 138 ,139 Puerilit ies

,142 Teach

ing regarding Christ, 142 In

consistency of,

gamy, I 49 5Honein, 176

147 PolyBooty, I 57 3Release of

Mahomet from oath, 177The Medina Suras, 185 , et

seq. ; Teaching, 196 ; Meaning of. I 96 (n) ; Sunnah Suppl ementary, 199 ; Last Judgment, 207 ; E ffects of teach

29.mg, 2

Kul berga, 223 (n ).

LABAN , 29.

Lahore, 222.

Lail at-al -Miraj , 140.

Lane, “ Modern E gyptian and

Arabian N ights, ” 98 (n ), 108

215 (n) .Lapwing (speaks ) , 137.

Las t Day, 94 , 19 1.

Lat. V ide Al l dt, 32, 80, 125.

Legend, 107.

Lepers (healed ) ,Leuke Kome, 7.

144 .

247

Lex Talionis, 164, 167, 193.

Libya, 2 10.

Lion of God, 82.

Livy. 54 (n)

Liwa, 38 .

Lokman , 119.

Lord. V ide Cfirz'st 7mm .

Lo t e Tree, 140.

Lunar year, 185 .

Luther, 63.

MAADD, 36 .

Macedonian Kings, 21, 169.

Magi andMagians, 4 5, 115, 129.

207 (n) .Mahdi ( Imam ) , 200.

MAHOME T (Muhammad and

Mohammad ), the Prophetof Mecca : Ancestors , 36 ;Birth, 45 ; Childhood, 48 ;E pilepti c fits, 4 7 ; to Syria,5 1 Ignorance of Christ

, 53Al Amin , 56 ; Marriage

,

57 ; V is ions, 58 ; Struggles,59, 6 1, 62 ; Motives, 66 ;Divine Mission, 67 ; Ga

briel,69 ; Attempt to Sui

c ide, 70 ; Converts, 72, 74

Commission to preach,

72 ; Repudiates Idols , 74 ,76 , 78 , 80 ; F irmness, 82,84 ; The Koran his work,8 6 ; Magnanimity, 102 ; Lifeat Mecca, 105, 110, 112

,

123 In Peace, 123 To

Tayif, 125 Maltreated there ;125 ; Turn of Fortune, 126 ,at sag ; Pact with Ansars ,131 ; Flight, 132, et seq.

Last teaching at Mecca, 135Imperfect Knowledge, 139 ;N ight Journey, 140 ; V iewsof Christ, 143, et seq. ; I gnorance, 143 Life atMedina,

24 8 I SLAM AN D I TS

148 , et seq. ; Treatment ofJews

,153 ; Treachery, 158 ;

at Badr, 156 at Ohod, 159 ;

Marriage with Zeinab, 16 1

Special Mari tal Privileges,

16 1 Sanguinary conduct,165 Treatment of Jews, 165E nchantments, 166 ; Pilgrimage, 168 Conquest of Mecca,173, et seq. Last I llness,and Death, 182, 184 ; Intercessor, 192 E xample of

,

Will lead Believers toParadise, 207 E stimate ofl ife and death, 227 ; I mposture, 231.

Mahometans andMoslems, 196 .

Mahrattas, 223.

Makhzum, 59 (n).Malacca, 224 .

Malays, 224 .

Mal ik andMal ikees, 198 .

Mamel ook (Sultans of E gypt) ,219.

Manah (Idol ), 32, 80.

Manslaughter, 193.

Maracci, 63.

Mareb, 7 (n) .Mariaba, 7.

Marianites, 52.

Marr-al -Tz ahran, 57, 174 .

Marsyaba, 7.

Martyr, 180, 188 , 189 (n) , 193,

233, n.

Martyrdom of Hosein,2 14 .

Marwa (Hill of), 38 , 172 .

Mary (the Copt), 170 (n ), 176,231 (n) .Mary (the Virgin) , 143.

Maseil ama, 183 (n ).Masj id-al -N abi (Medina), 148 .

Massacre of Melos, 165 ; BeniC oreitz a, 166 .

Maur ice (E mperor), 169 .

Mauritania, 2 16 .

Mecca and Meccans, 9, 10, I 2,

FOUN DE R .

I 6. 21.23. 32. 33. 36 37.

39.Antiquity, 102, 127,I 33. 134. (n). 159.168 , 172 Conquest byMoslems

,173, et seq. ; R ites,

187 Pilgrimage,199. (n). 202. 2 14 .

Medina. 9. 21. 22. 42. 45.

5 1, 78 , 80, 127, 128 ; Spreadof Islam (the), 128 ; Migrat ion to

,130, 131, 134 , 14 1,

I S3. I S7, 159, 163 ; S iege byMeccans

,166 170, 182, 186 ,

202,211, 2 13, 2 14 .

Meimuna (wife of Mahomet ),172 .

Meisara, 57.

Melanchthon, 63.

Mercy (of God ), 18 1.

Messiah, 127, 154 .

Michael , 114 .

Midianites,19 ; (of the wood , )

135 .

Midrash,14 1.

Migrat ion ( to Abyssinia) , 79 ;to Medina, 132.

Mina (Wadi ), 39, 4 1, 178 , 18 1,187.

Minna, 10.

Miracles (asked for), 110, 111,

112,122, 144 .

Mishna,6 1.

Missionary work of Islam, 236 .

Moab, 18 .

Mocha, 9.

Modadh, 35Mohacz (Battle of), 220.

Moharram, 118 , 18 7,

Monophysite, 52 .

Moors, 215, 220 (n ) ; (polygamy). z z 9 <n

Moorshedabad, 223 (n ) .

Moral sentiments in Koran ,138 .

Moriah (Mount), 210.


O udh, 203, 223 (n ) .O xus , 2 17.

O B E IDA, I 54 .

O bodas, 7, 2 1.

O catz (Fair of), 55.

c a, 156 .

O hod, 134 ; Bat tle of, 159,

O l d Testament, 120, 139, 14 1,

I 47 (n). 149O lympus (Mount ), 2 19.

O man , 9, 10, 16 .

Omar- ibn -al -Khattab (Cal iph) ,22

, 72, 82 ; Conversion, 84 ,8 7, 158 , 209, 2 10, 2 11,

OmagII . (benAbdulAziz) , 195,

19Omeya and Omeyades, 43, 50,72 (n). 77. 189

. 184 (n).195, 2 13, 2 16 .

Om-Habiba (Wife ofMahomet),170 (n) .

Om -Jemil, 73 (n) .Ko l thum (Daughter of Ma

homet) ,Salma (Wife of Mahomet ) ,

16 1.

Omra (Lesser Pilgrimage) , 18 1.

O pium (Lawfulness of), 191.

O rmuzd, 169.

O rontes, 2 10.

O ro ta l , 31.

O rthodox Sects, 188 , 197, 198 .

O rtogrul , 2 18 .

O sman (or O thman) , 218 .

O stracism, 84 .

O tba, 79.

O teiba, 79.

O theil (Valley of) , 156 .

O thman ibn Atfan (Caliph) ,72, 79, 8 7, 174 ; Death, 2 11 ;2 13

O thman ibn Huweirith, 6 1 (n) .O ttoman (Sultans ) , 2 19 ; Misrule 221.

Turks,219, 220.

PALE OLo o US (Constantine I ! . )2 19.

Palest ine, 12, 2 1, 209, 2 19 .

Pathan (Princes of India), 223.

Paradise, 34 1 35 1 67, 103) 104 ,114 , I 55 : 184 1 1911 I 931 197,205, 206 , 207, 209.

Paran , 18 , 19.

Parthian (Kings ), 169.

Pashas (Turkish), 221.

Patmos, 105 .

Patriarch, 110, 137, 149,Paul 19, 6 6 .

People of the book, 179.

People of Israel , 112.

Persia,10, 12

,16

,2 1, 24 , 2 16 ,

220.

Petra, 6 , 8 , 20 (n) , 2 1, 24 , 40.

Pharanitae, 19 .

Pharan O ppidum,19 .

Pharaoh, 136 .

Philip, 6 6 .

Philippines, 224 .

Phokas, 169.

Phrygia, 2 18 .

Pilgrimage and Pilgrims , 37, 38 ,119, 126, 140, 168 , 169 ;Lesser, 172, 176 , 18 1; Greater,18 7. 188 . 189. I 9O I 97.202

,234 .

Plato,201.

Pledge,128

,131.

Pliny , 6 , 7.

Plunder,155 , 157.

Polygamy,

124 , 149, 152, 16 1,229Populat io n , 225.

Prayer,118 (n), 119 ; Times of,

Predestinat ion , 96, 97, 221.


Preserved Book, 99, 229.

Pretorians,2 17.

Prideaux,63 (n) , 14 1 (n ) .

Primogeniture,194 .

Prince of Peace, 14 1.

Prisoners, 157.

Prophets,135, 206 .

Ptolemy, 6 .

Punishment (ofAdultery), 163(Theft) , 167 ; (E nemies ofGod ), 167 ; (Murder), 193 ;

(Manslaughter), 193.

Punjaub , 223.

Purificat ion and Purity, 91,

117.

QAZI, 118

Queen (of Sheba), 137 of E ngland

,225 .

RRAB I I . (Month) , 188 (n) .Radhi-Billah (Cal iph) , 2 18 (n ) .Rajab (Month). 39. I SS. 193.

Rajpoots,222

,223.

R akaat, 117.

Ramadhan [Ramazan].o f), 69, 18 5 , 186 .

Redeemer (The), 19, 60.

Redemption (The), 92.

Red Sea, 5 , 6 , 8 , 18 , 134 .

Regeneration , 192 (n ) .Regma (Raamah ) , 15 .

Religious Creeds (N umbers of),225 .

Reservoirs, 42 .

R urrection, 103, 196, 207 (ofAnimals) .Retal iation (Law of), 164 , 167,193.

Reuben,18 .

Rhodes,2 11

, 220.

Rifada, 38 .

(Feast

25 1

Rihana (Wife of Mahomet ), 22,166 .

Rimmon (House of), 76 (n) .Ritual ism ( in Islam ), 237, 238 .

R oba-el -Khaly, 10.

R ockeya, 57. 79, 158 °

Roderic,2 15 .

Rodwell,8 7 (n) .

Rohillas, 223.

Rome and Romans,21

, 170,

Rosaries,118 , 205 .

Rostak, 10.

Rustum, 120 (n )

SAAD, 727 75 '

Saba, 32 .

Sabbath (F ishing on ), 137.

Sabellians, 52.

Sabaeans , 24 , 31, 191.

Sacrifices, 39, 44 , 60, 140, 168 ,172, 182

,186 , 187, 192, 206

(n ), 232.

Sad, 176 .

Sadacat, 157 (n ), 194 .

Safa (Hill of) , 38 , 77, 172.

Safia (Wife of Mahomet ), 22.

Safwan, 163.

Sahara, 5 .

Said-ibn-Zeid, 72.

Saints, 192 .

Salah, 111, 135.

Sale, 15 el passz'

m .

Sallust (View of Polygamy),229 (n) .

Salm, 42.

Salonica, 2 19 .

Salvat ion , 18 8 .

Samaritan, 137.

Sana. 9. 23. 43. 183 (n) .Sand (for Ablution ), 117.

Saraceni, 6 .

Saragossa, 2 15 .

Sassanidae, 168 , 210.

25 2 ISLAM AN D I TS FOUN DER .

Satan , 191.

Satyr,108 .

Saul , 18 .

Saviour (The), 53, 143,Sawda (Wife of Mahomet ), 126 ,149.

Scenitze , 6 .

Scriptures (The) , 136 , 139, 144 .

Sebuktegin, 222.

Seir, 29.

Seleucia, 2 10.

Seleucidae, 1 69.

Selim I . , 220.

Sel juc (Sultan ), 218 .

Serendib, 34 (n ) .Sergius, 54 .

Servius Tullius , 54S even Sleepers , 136 .

Seville, 2 15 (n ).Shaban, 18 8 (n ).Shafei (A1), 198 .

Shawwal , 186 .

Sheb (Abu Tal ib), 85, 122.

Sheba, 19, 137.

Sheikh-Muhammad, 202.

Shem,29.

Shema, 55.

Shepherds (at Bethlehem ) , 115 .

(the Good ) , 238 .

Sherif (of Mecca) , 62 (n ) .Sheyba (Beni ), 18 1.

Shia (the Sect ), 184 (n), 188 (n ) ,199, 200, 2 12

,2 14 , 220 (n),

226 .

Shoaib, 135.

Shooting Stars , 109.

Shub-Barat, 188 (n).Shur, 18 .

Sik , 20 (n ) .S ikhs, 223.

S i loah, 34 (n) .S imeon, 46 .

S imon the Cyrenian, 146 .

S inai, 52. TS irat (AI ), 207.Sirius, 32. TABE RN ACLE (The), 18 .

S irocs, 169.

S lavery, 15 1, 166,

193, 225 ,230.

Social League destroyed , 123.

Sodom ,135.

Sohail, 32.

Solomon, 109, 137.

Son of God , 143 ; of Man,

147.

Sonship (Divine ), 142 .

Solar Year, 185 (n ) .Solym an I . ,

2 19 ; I I . , 220.

Sophi (King ), 200Spain

,2 13, 2 15 , 216 .

Spanheim ,63.

Spider’s Web, 133.

Spiri t (of God), 144 .

Stockholm (Blood Bath), 165.S toning, 163.

Strabo, 7.

Striking (The), 90Succession or Successor, 208 ,211, 212.

Sufi-ism,201.

Suheib, 75 .

Sumatra, 224 .

Sun and Moon (Worship of ),30 31 32

Sunni (The Sect ), 184 (n ) , 198 ,200, 212, 226, 228 (n ) .

Supper ( the Lord ’s ), 106 , 144 .

Sura (see also Koran), 8 6, 8 8 ,90.

Swine’s Flesh, 140.

Sword, 139, 155, 172 ; of Islam,

179.

Syl l aeus, 7.

Syria, 8 , 12, 21, 36, 40, 53,127 (n). 154. 156.209, 2 12, 2 13.

Syud Ahmed , 203.

25 4 I SLAM AN D I TS FOUN DER .

! E RE S,215.

Y

YAMAMA, I o .

Yathrib (Medina), 48 .

Yembo, 7 (n ) , 9.

Yemen,6,8,21, 23, 25, 33,

35. 36. 40. 43. 170. 183 (n) .Yermouk (Battle of) , 209.

Yesdej ird, 210.

Yez id, 2 14 .

Yokdah, 59 (n ) .

ZACAT, 194 .

WYMAN AN D SON S, P RIN TE RS, GREAT '

QUE E N STRE E T, LO N DO N .

i Zacharias, 143.

Zain-al -Abid-Din, 200, 2 14 (n ).Zarb

,204 .

Zeid , 6 1, 71, 125 , 16 1, 173.

Zeid-ibn-Thabit, 8 7.

Zeinab (Daughter of Mahomet ) ,57. 78 . 79

Zeinab-bint-Jahsh (Wife o fMa

hornet) , 16 1, 162, 231 (n ) .Zem Zem

. 34. 39 (n). 49 . 43.

Zikr, 204 .

Zobeide,2 16 .

Zobier, 49, 72.

Zohal , 33.

Zohara, 160.

Zohra, 44 .

Zoroaster, 45 , 169 .

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