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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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 ^l^l/>'^^ 
 
 EX BIDLIOTHECA 
 FRANC. BABINGER
 
 THE 
 
 MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION 
 
 EXPLAINED.
 
 THE 
 
 MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION 
 
 EXPLAINED: 
 
 WITH AX 
 
 INTUODUCTORY SKETCH OF ITS PROGRESS, 
 
 ANI> 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS CONFUTATION. 
 
 ]'>y J. ]). MACRRIDi:, D.C.L, F.S.A., 
 
 PRINCIPAL OK MAODALKN HALL, 
 AND Tin; LOlU) AI.MONKIl'.H UEADKB IN AUAUIC IN TUK UNIVKI18ITV OF OXIOUII. 
 
 EXBIBLIOTHECA 
 
 FRANC. BABINGCR 
 
 SEKLKV, JACKSON, AND HAI.MDAV, TLKKT STHKET; 
 
 AM) I{. SEELEV, HANOVER STREET. 
 
 I.ONnoN. MDCCCr.VII.
 
 V> M WATTS, <110WN OOUUT, TEMPLK liAI!
 
 mo 
 
 h 
 
 fr 
 
 TO 
 
 THE REV. T. V. FRENCH, M.A., 
 
 LATE rELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 PRINCIPAL OF TUE CUURCII MISSIONARY COLLEGE AT AGRA. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 While you have been encountering in public, ^vitll " the 
 sword of the Spirit," the arrogant and captious Moslems, I have 
 in the retreat of our University, which you quitted with the 
 noble ambition of extending our Redeemer's sovereignty, 
 completed this view of Islam, with such suggestions as appeared 
 to me best adapted for the confutation of this plausible, yet 
 delusive system, which offers, indeed, to the idolater, a more 
 rational creed, but cannot speak peace to the conscience of an 
 awakened sinner. I therefore naturally dedicate it, not to any 
 person who might take an interest in it as bearing on a subject 
 of theological and historical importance, but to one who has 
 been actively engaged in vindicating the integrity of the Word 
 of God from the objections of Mohammedan disputants. I say 
 completed, for it was begun several years since, but resumed 
 wlien tlie war with Ilussia brought us into a friendly aUiance 
 and close connection witii the Traditionists of the Sultan's 
 dominions, and it now leaves the press when the mutiny of 
 the Beniral armv, excited, it is said, by the bribery of the 
 schismatical division of the Ajlhnvers of the false Prophet, has 
 cndanfa-red the vast and populous empire which l)i\ ine Pro- 
 vidence has entrusted to England. While so occui)ied, the 
 thought never crossed my mind that your efforts for the con- 
 version of Mohammedans and Hrahnn'nists had been so sud- 
 denly and painfully suspended, and you had been compelled, 
 with our other countrymen, to take refuge in the fort of Agra. 
 Indeed, this awful judgment, more ai»[)alling than storm or 
 pestilence, because manifesting in its most revolting features the 
 
 l'?929S4
 
 wickedness of unrenewed human nature, has taken all by 
 surprise. Happily we do not despond at home or in India, 
 for it has brought us to a throne of grace, to seek mercy and 
 grace for seasonable aid in this hour of need. We have, in- 
 deed, cause to mourn, that for more than the first half of our 
 century of rule the Government of India connected itself with 
 idolatry, and shut out the truth ; and that, even since the renewal 
 of the Charter opened the Company's dominions to Christianity, 
 Missions have not been established and supported with the 
 zeal and energy that might justly have been expected from a 
 nation professing to believe that they are bound to obey their 
 IVIaster's last command to preach the Gospel to every creature. 
 We have, therefore, no services to plead : we can only pray, 
 " O Lord, arise, help us, and deliver us for thy mercy's sake, 
 and — let not the heathen say. Where is now their God?" 
 We are told that the Sepoys are the dupes of political or fanatical 
 Mohammedans, and we are amazed at the infatuation that re- 
 nounces allegiance to over-indulgent masters for bondage to 
 the weak and profligate descendants of their Mogul conquerors. 
 ]\Iay " the Most High, who ruleth in the kingdom of men, and 
 giveth it to whomsoever He will," in judgment remember mercy, 
 and restore to us in its integrity our Indian empire, and may 
 we now accept it as a sacred trust for the promotion of His glory ! 
 Taughtby experience the folly of reliance on worldly expediency, 
 may we no longer encourage the perusal of the Koran, the Vedas, 
 and the Puranas, and ignore the Bible ! But while our rulers 
 tolerate false religions, may they imbibe the spirit of the Bible, 
 and re-establish our Government on Christian principles, and 
 prove by their measures that these principles regulate their 
 conduct. We know, that in our God's appointed time Islam 
 must, like all false religions, fall, since He has promised his 
 Son the " uttermost parts of the earth for a possession ; " but 
 we cannot hope that a faith which has taken so firm a hold of 
 its professors, and has so moulded their characters, can fall 
 without a struggle. Still the Moslem sovereigns now, instead 
 of endangering, as they did formerly, Europe from the West 
 and from the East, are maintained on their throne by the
 
 Ill 
 
 armies or the forbearance of France and England, and there 
 is scarcely a INfohaniniedan state in any part of the -world 
 which does not exhibit symptoms of internal decay. In India 
 they have shewn that they can with Asiatic cunning con- 
 trive or avail themselves of conspiracies ; but where is the 
 ascetic bigot like Aureng Zeb, round whose banner they can 
 collect ; or the intrepid champion, who, like a second Tippoo, 
 will lead them to a holy war for the extermination of those 
 whom they hate as unbelievers, and as their coriquerors? 
 Above all, we are encouraged by the fact that their prophet has 
 been unfaithful to his assumed mission as the Revealer of the 
 Divine Unity, for he has connected it with the ceremonial 
 Law of IMoses, without any suspicion of its meaning, and has 
 encumbered it with the silly rites of Pagan pilgrimage; so that 
 reformers have sprung up among his adherents, in our own as 
 in former ages, to reduce by arms his religion to a simple 
 Deism. May our God, who " moves in a mysterious way his 
 wonders to perform," and controls the political as well as natural 
 storms, cause the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness to 
 break through the black cloud, and enlighten and warm with 
 tiieir full elfulgence the dark realm of Hindustan, which sad 
 experience has now proved to be the habitation of cruelty ! And 
 that you, my dear friend, may be an honoured instrument in 
 this blessed work of briuij-iny both idolaters and Mohannnedans 
 to the acknowledgment of the truth of the Gospel of salvation, 
 is the desire and ])rayer of your fiithfiil fi-ieiid, 
 
 J. I). MACliKIDE. 
 
 Oxford, Octuher !.«/, iH-i/.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The Cliui'ch Missionary Society, in its origin small as the 
 mustard-seed, has in fifty years expanded into a goodly tree, 
 " whose leaves ' are for the healing of the nations." Com- 
 mencing its operations on the -western coast of Africa, it has 
 now entered the interior, and re- appears on the eastern. It 
 has a settlement among the Red Men of America ; it has con- 
 verted the cannil)als of New Zealand; it is formino; Clmstian 
 villages both in Southern and Northern India ; and has begun 
 to penetrate the compact and densely-pco})led empire of China. 
 During the same period, the ancient Society for Propagating 
 the Gospel, to whom Ave mainly owe the Episcopacy of North 
 America, has put forth new energy ; and having received from 
 the Christian-Knowledge Society the care of llic Danish Mis 
 sion in Tranquebar, has fiourisliing stations in all the Prosi 
 dencies of India, Dissenters, also, of almost every denomina- 
 tion, are actively engaged in spreading over the world the 
 knowledge of salvation tlirf)ugli a crucified Ucdcemcr. A 
 great impression has been made: the liereditary faith of nnil- 
 titudcs has been shaken, and all can boast of converts, wIkj 
 prove their sincerity by their j)iety ;iiid works of Christian 
 love. The wandering savage of the lied Rivci-, the Negro, 
 the haughty Brahmin, and the despised Soodra, followers of 
 Puddh.i, and atheistic Chinese, have all submitted to take 
 upon them the easy yoke of our I-onl. i'.ut there is still 
 throughoiit Asia, and even in the interior of Africa, a religion 
 which condemns polytheism and idolatry as strongly as our 
 own, which in its numbers rivals the true faith, and, assuming to 
 
 n
 
 2 
 
 bo the final revelation of God, subdues the reason, and 
 attracts the affections of its membei's, who realize in their 
 conduct its maxims of resignation to the divine will, in a de- 
 gree wliich is rarely equalled by Christians. Satisfied with 
 his Koran, the professor of Islam condescends not to read tlie 
 Scriptures of the old or the new dispensation, which his book 
 tells him again and again have been corrupted ; and while he 
 iionours Christ as superior to man, he chooses Mohammed for 
 his lawgiver. Abdul ]\Iesseeh, the faithful convert of Corrie, 
 Avho died a presbyter of our Church, ordained by Ileber, 
 stands out as almost a solitary instance. We can boast of 
 hundreds, nay, thousands of converted idolaters, but where are 
 the Moslems ? To satisfy the gainsaying is no doubt far harder 
 than to persuade the ignorant; and while improvement in 
 secular knowledge will cause the Hindu to be ashamed of 
 idolatry, and to renounce it for Atheism, or to discover Uni- 
 tarianism as enveloped in his hereditary belief, it will be hard 
 to convince the Mohammedan, who boasts that he believes only 
 in one God, and thinks that his religion is that of Abraham 
 and of all the Prophets, and even of Jesus himself; accusing 
 us, like our own Unitarians, of exalting Him to a dignity which 
 does not belong to Him, by associating Plim as an equal with 
 the only God. The difficulty, no doubt, is great, for Islam is, 
 in truth, a religion congenial to the unrenewed heart : it has 
 no mysteries to baffle and mortify the intellect ; and in a great 
 degree it gratifies pride, by making man his own saviour, in 
 ascribing merit to good works and to religious ordinances, as 
 fastings and prayers and pilgrimage. Every mission, however, 
 has its peculiar difficulties, and he who has to dispute Avith the 
 Moslem, who A\;ill tuni against him his weajions, pervert- 
 ing passages of the Bible into predictions of his own Prophet, 
 or maintaining that it has been corrupted, may derive comfort 
 from the remarks of one who was placed under trials of an 
 opposite character, and complains of the apathy of those who 
 had no idea even of the existence of God. "No frainnents 
 remain to the Bechuana," writes Moffat, a distinguished Mis- 
 sionary in South Africa of the London Society, " as mementos
 
 to the present generation that their ancestors reverenced any 
 beino- m-eater than man. It lias often occurred to me, while 
 perusing the joiunials of Missionaries in India, how very diffe- 
 rent our mode of husbandry is from theirs, though having the 
 same object in view, the gathering of spiritual food into the 
 gamer of our God. Some have thought our difficulties in 
 Africa small compared with theirs. This may be so, but, 
 among years of apparently fruitless laboui', I have often wished 
 to find something by which I could lay hold on the minds of 
 the natives. We have no inquiries after God, no objections 
 raised to exercise our powers in defence ; but every Mohamme- 
 dan reveres Abraham, Moses, and our Lord, and there are false 
 notions of them to remove, and right ideas to introduce." Be 
 the difficulties, however, what they may, and some Missiona- 
 ries, by the constitution of their minds, are more able to 
 grapple with them than others, the attempt has been rarely 
 made. Yet, surely, it is an undertaking most honourable, 
 and, if successful, like the conversion of the Jew, more cfHca- 
 cious in its influence on the heathen. I greatly regret, there- 
 fore, that the Mohammedans have been overlooked. Hitherto, 
 indeed, in the Turkish dominions, where the confession of 
 Christ would have led to martyrdom, the attempt could not 
 have been recommended. But happily the providence of God 
 has now opened the way, since the Sultan has proclaimed liberty 
 of conscience to liis subjects ; and I rejoice to learn that the 
 conclusion of this war will be commemorated in a manner 
 worthy of Christians, by the erection of a IVotestant Jviiglish 
 Church in the cajtital of our ally, and that the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society has already seized the opportunity of forming a 
 Mission to Turkey. Among the Persians, too, though dissent- 
 in" from what is considi-red iIk; (jrth<jdox faith, the attempt 
 mi<'ht be hazardous. But <»ui- own India alloi'ds an ample 
 field, in which, certainly, Missionaries would Ite exposed to no 
 danger of their lives. Yet, even in India, they seem, ius a matter 
 of course, till of late, to have given their thoughts and endea- 
 vours exclusively to idolaters. This is a reproach which I am 
 anxicjus t<» remove ; and Twill hope, that if the < 'onnnittees 
 
 M 2
 
 would give tho question fOTisidcration, they would agree with 
 nic that the attempt ought to be encouraged. Our Missionaries, 
 absorbed in these views, have, I apprehend, scarcely studied the 
 doctrines of Islam, and are at present incompetent to confute 
 them. I fully agree with those who think that the preaching 
 of truth is better than the refutation of error ; and one who is 
 only taught by the Spirit of God, and finds Jesus to be the 
 Saviour whom his soul requires, will need no elaborate argu- 
 ments to convince him, cither of the folly of Brahminism or 
 of the hollowness of Islam. But there are doubters to be 
 confirmed and established, and there are scoffers to be silenced; 
 and he who undertakes to convert a Mohammedan should be 
 able to point out the errors of the system from which he would 
 withdraw him. To assist him in the endeavour is the object 
 of the present publication, which consists of two parts : Fu'st, 
 a review of the Mohammedan religion; and. Secondly, a sug- 
 gestion of such arguments as appear to me best calculated to 
 answer that end. I begin, then, with tlie religion ; but, for the 
 better understanding of it, some notion of its author, and of its 
 rapid progress, seems to be desirable.
 
 INTKODUCTOKY ESSAY, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 RISE, PROGRESS, AND DECLINE OF ISLAM. 
 
 It was on Mount Sinai, out of a bush, burning yet not con- 
 sumed, that Jehovah called to IMoses, who had been, during 
 a long exile, a keeper of sheej) in Arabia, and appointed 
 him the leader of his people Israel. It was many centu- 
 ries later, that, in the fortieth ycaV of his age, the promul- 
 gater of Islam, Avho had been in the habit of retiring for 
 a season for prayer and fasting to a momitain in a distant 
 part of the same Arabia, announced that he had been com- 
 manded, not, indeed, by the divine voice, yet by the angel 
 Gabriel, to complete, as the seal of prophecy, the dispensations 
 of the Almiglity, by restoring the faith of his presumed pro- 
 genitor Abraham, which men had corrupted by associating 
 with the Creator his creatures, comprehending under the same 
 condemnation, the Polytheist, the Christian, who assigns to 
 him a Son, and, strange as it may seem, the Jew.* Of the 
 mission of Moses, wliicli he reluctantly accepted, though con- 
 firmed at the instant by two lUKjuestionable nu'racles, no rea- 
 sonable doubt can be entertained ; but fur that of Mohannned 
 we have no testimony but his own ; and without adojjting the 
 feelings of rancorous opponents, exaggerating his offences, or 
 rejecting whatever he taugiit that deserves the conmiendation 
 of the candifl, the result of an impartial investigation must be, 
 that his claim to inspiration cannot be substantiated. The com- 
 mand to Moses was specific. The revelation which M(;hanuned 
 
 * Tlifi Jews say Ezra is tlie Son of God (Kor. ix. 30.) Tlio Coniiixn- 
 tntor Unidliawi observes tliat this imputation niusf, liave liccii truf, be- 
 cause, when reail to the Jews, tbey diil not cimtradict it; but lor tlii.s 
 we liavc only bis authority. He adds, tlint K/.m was called tho Son of 
 God, because he restored, IVora his recollection, tlie L:iw, which liad lieen 
 lost, and thus explains nwsiy the eharfjc.
 
 6 
 
 announced, was that of an abstract truth, which the Arabian 
 Polytheists, if so disposed, might have learned from the Jews. 
 The first article of his brief creed — " There is no God but 
 God" — properly miderstood, is a vital truth, and, even as 
 announced by him, had a must beneficial infiuence on 
 the f>roat body of his countrymen; yet to the Christian he 
 came too late; for to them, not he, but Jesus, is the seal 
 of prophecy, the Speaker who had already explained the will, 
 and declared the nature of the Deity. To reject the Gospel 
 for the Koran is reversing the Apostle's* exhortation. "Leav- 
 ing the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to 
 perfection.''^ We know that Jesus promised that the Paraclete 
 whom lie would send, unlike him who usurped the name, was to 
 euide the Apostles into the lohole truth, and that he was not to 
 oritcinatc any new revelation, but to take of Bis, and shew it 
 unto them. The work of redemption was, as the Saviour with 
 his d^dng voice exclaimed, finished on the cross ; and since He 
 has risen from the grave, and ever liveth to make intercession, 
 no further communication of the divine will is to be expected, 
 or can be desired. Our Lord has left a solemn warning, that 
 before the great and terrible day of His second advent, false 
 Tiruphets should arise, so specious, that if it were possible they 
 would deceive even the elect ; and we may suppose that he 
 who divides with Ilim or another expected Messiah, the alle- 
 giance of all who acknowledge only one God, was in his mind 
 when He said, // another shall come in his own name, him ye 
 tvill receive.] It is as long since as the year 632 of our era that 
 Mohammed went to his account, but his religion remains. It 
 is shorn, indeed, of its triumphs, and instead of endanger- 
 inrr Christendom, is hemmed in by Christian powers on the 
 east and the west, and preserved Jiot so much by its own 
 vitality, as by their forbearance, the result of worldly policy. 
 Still it retains, thougli modified by time and circumstances, the 
 original type which he had impressed upon it. Throughout 
 some of the most interesting regions of the world the scenes of 
 great historic revolutions, including not only those which once 
 » Ileb. vi. 1. t John v. 43.
 
 boasted of Clnysostom and Athanasius, Cyprian and Augustine, 
 but tlie Holy Land itself, the crier summons those who have, 
 as they conceive, resigned themselves to God, to his simple 
 ritual, from Belgrade to the Indian Archipelago, from Morocco 
 to Delhi ; and thousands of devoted believers undergo the pri- 
 vation and dangers of voyages and difficult journeys, to per- 
 form at Mecca the pilgrimage Avliich he has enjoined. In 
 Jerusalem itself, while it is only by permission of the Turkit^h 
 authorities that Christians can visit the last short restmg-place 
 of their Lord's body, they and the Jew have been, till the pre- 
 sent year, forbidden to enter the enclosure of the Temple, 
 within which now rises a mosque, second only in sanctity to 
 the Caaba, and venerated as the spot from which the false 
 prophet is said to have begun his journey to heaven. 
 
 The merits of the conquerors and legislators who have 
 ceased to influence the world, may be discussed Avith philo- 
 sophical indiil'erence, but it is not easy to examine with due 
 impartiality the character of a man who announced himself 
 to be the prophet of God, and has left behind him a book 
 which has been accepted as the final revelation of the 
 divine will by about a third of the human race. Hjs early 
 Christian opponents, beginning with the Byzantine historians 
 load him with every o]iprol>rious epithet, and allow him jio 
 redeeming (|ualities, and bring against him false charges. Some 
 of <mr modern divines, as Bishop Sherlock and Dr. Whittc 
 contrast his mixed and, in some respects, grossly faulty cha- 
 racter with that only perfect one with which the best, though 
 formed on that model, can stand no comparison ; but none of 
 them sufHciently consider, tliat while he honoured him whom he 
 calls, though without understandingits full meaning, "The Word 
 ofGod," he appreciated neither his innneasurable superiority lo 
 himself and allothermoral teachers,nor thegeniusof his religion. 
 M(jre recent writers on Moluunmedanism, as the Count de Bou- 
 lainvilliers, go into the opposite extreme, it may be feared, 
 from a wish insidi(nisly to aim a blow through the false |)rophet 
 at the true one. Even Gibbon, though his sketch is upon the
 
 8 
 
 wliolo correct, niii;lit have introduced some darker shades if he 
 had been a Christian. But Dr. Sprenger, wlio is probably better 
 able than any other European to form an opinion, says, that 
 " his dark and bloody fanaticism fills us with horror, and that 
 his cunning weakens our faith in his honesty of purpose." " Of 
 his last years," according to the historian of the Roman Empire, 
 " ambition was the ruling passion ; and a politician will suspect 
 that he secretly smiled at the enthusiasm of his youth, and the 
 credulity of his proselytes." Yet I apprehend that persons who 
 claim to have revelations from heaven, though they may have 
 occasional misgivings, ai-e more often enthusiasts than hypo- 
 crites ; and Mohammed's early reception was so discouraging, 
 that it required a conviction of the reality of his mission to bear 
 up, so long as he did, against the ridicule of his fellow-citizens. 
 The result of my own meditation on his character is, that he 
 Ijelieved himself commissioned from above to deliver his 
 countrymen from the bondage of idolatry, from which he had 
 contrived, we know not how, to free himself, and had no 
 selfish personal consideration in his attempt to recall them 
 to the ]nire faith of their presumed progenitor ; but that he felt 
 the difficulties that impeded his progress, and satisfied himself 
 that the end justified the means. Probably he, to the end, 
 regai'ded himself as a chosen instrument for declaring the unity 
 of God, in opposition to all who associated with him any other 
 object of worship ; and such is the power of self-deception, that 
 he might fancy himself exempt from the precepts which bound 
 others. He might also be inconsistent ; and, above all, we should 
 recollect that the correct standard of morals recognised in all 
 Christian states was unknown to him, and that he was not in- 
 llucnced l)y the restraining grace of the Holy Spirit. Upon the 
 whole, I regard him as an enthusiast, with an intellect partially 
 disordered ; and yet I find it difficult to acquit him of deception, 
 on consulting the Traditions, for they abound in answers to 
 questions on almost every topic of faith or practice: he is 
 never at a loss, replies Avithout hesitation, and refers to 
 Gabriel as his informer ; and certainly this readiness, the result
 
 of imceasing self-possession, is very suspicious. Mr. Kennedy * 
 considers that his ahiHty, as well as his wickedness, has been 
 exaggerated in men's estimation, in consequence of his unparal- 
 leled success, and that, except in the decisive step of declaring 
 himself a prophet, which might liav^e proceeded from an heated 
 imaa-mation, without the slightest foresioht of the future, he 
 never commanded circumstances, but was commanded by them. 
 Gibbon informs us that his general vouchers are Gao-nier's 
 
 O CD 
 
 translations of Abulfeda and Aljannabi; the first, an en- 
 lightened prince, who reigned at Hamah, 1310 — 1333; the 
 second, a credulous doctor, who visited Mecca, 1556. He ob- 
 serves that both are modern historians, and cannot appeal to 
 any writers of the first century after the flight, but in this remark 
 has not shewn his usual accuracy, for the title of Gagnier's French 
 life, which he transcribes, shews that it has been compiled from 
 the traditions which profess to have been handed down from 
 contemporaries ; and, I may add, that Abiilfeda's narrative is 
 confirmed by the earlier authorities that have been since [)ub- 
 lished. It is indeed, like other Arabian annals, a dry chronicle ; 
 but though he does not enliven it by sitting in judgment on those 
 whose history he records, he is, on that very account, the more 
 trustworthy. The materials, indeed, for the life of Mohammed 
 are most abundant, for their numerous chroniclers generally be- 
 gin the series of their annals with his mission ; and these may be 
 traced up to the large and minute work of Tabari, who prefaces 
 actions and speeches with the names of those on whose rejxjrt 
 they rest. A jxjrtion of this, Ijcginning with the death of Moham- 
 med, has appeared since Gibbon's time, with a Latin translation; 
 and the more minute information he desired has been lately 
 sup|)lied by Weil,f who, with German laboriousness, has nearly 
 exiiausted the subject. His narrative is chiefly loniuil on two 
 MSS. in the Gotha Library; the .^J\ \^\ (Insan Alayun) 
 of Ali Ilalebi, in four folio volumes; and the iyx^\^ (Khamis; 
 
 * Kciiiarki <iii his diiiractcr, in tli<! third volume! of tbo Traiisuctioiis 
 of till! Uoiiihiiy t^ociety. 
 
 t MohamiJicd dor Prophet.— Stuttgiiit, )b4:5.
 
 10 
 
 of Ebn Mohammed, of Diarbekir, in two. These authors, it is 
 true, are as late as the sixteenth century, but they copy earlier 
 writers in their own words, and the latter enumerates a hun- 
 dred who have contributed to his compilation. The former, 
 more than a mere transcriber, endeavours to reconcile them 
 when contradictory. New light is thrown upon the subject, 
 by Dr. Sprenger,* from the Traditions and early authors, but 
 unhappily his narrative proceeds no further than the flight. 
 A com})lete biography of Mohammed would far exceed the 
 limits I have assigned to this work. It is my intention only 
 to dwell at some length on the commencement of his career, 
 till the adoption of his cause by the inhabitants of Yatreb 
 raised him to be an independent chief, and made him by 
 degrees the master of their rival city, Mecca, and the greater 
 part of Arabia. He may be called his own biographer, for 
 his Koran was delivered piecemeal, as occasion required ; and 
 in the Traditions we have a still more copious source of in- 
 formation of his sayings and doings, which were soon collected, 
 and the collectors are careful to record on the authority 
 of Avhat companions, though their authenticity must of course 
 ever remain doubtful. These Traditioiis, and his biographers 
 who chiefly compile from them their narrative, have dis- 
 figured it with many absurd legends, but it is not difficult 
 to separate it from these miraculous additions, and to ascribe, 
 for example, his victories to the enthusiasm of his earthly 
 followers, instead of to the heavenly allies, visible only to his 
 own eyes. 
 
 The Arabian peninsula is represented by Gibbon as a con- 
 tinuous triangle of spacious but irregular dimensions, washed 
 by the Red Sea on the west, the Persian Gulf on the east, 
 and presenting to the Indian Ocean a front of a thousand miles. 
 Its entire surface exceeds four times that of Germany, but its 
 population is much outnumbered by one of its circles, for the 
 ancients justly divided it into three portions, the stony, the 
 
 * Life of Moljummad from original sources. Allahabad, 185i.
 
 11 
 
 sandy, and the happy, which was the smallest. Deserts in 
 wliich the scanty roving tribes, called Bedouin, that is, inha- 
 bitants of the country, pitched their tents, occupy the interior; 
 and also part it from the rest of Asia, and have thus secured 
 it from invaders. A considerable exception, however, must 
 be made from its boasted independence ; for on the north 
 a Roman province, of which Bozra was capital, had been 
 formed by Trajan, and the coasts of the Persian Gulf acknow- 
 ledged the supremacy of Chosroes. The princes, too, of the 
 tribes of Gassan and Hira were the tributaries of these great 
 empires, and are often mentioned in their annals. The former 
 were allowed by the Romans to encamp in Syria ; the latter, 
 by the Persians, to build a city only forty miles from the ruins 
 of Babylon. The higher region facing the ocean was dis- 
 tinguished by a more temperate climate, and its vales were 
 fertilized by rivers and clothed with trees, and attracted mer- 
 chants by its frankincense. The Ilamyarites, who peopled it, 
 were advanced in civilization beyond the other tribes, which is 
 jjroved by the great reservoir of IMcrab and other ancient monu- 
 ments, and especially the inscriptions on them in an luiknown 
 character, different from the Cufic, which was only intro- 
 duced into Mecca a little before the time of Mohammed. A 
 ion" list of their sovereigns is preserved, one of whom had 
 embraced the Jewish faith, and was so zealous a ])roselyte that 
 he cast his Christian subjects who refused to follow his ex- 
 ani])lc, into a burning fiery furnace. This cruel zeal brought 
 on himself ruin, and to them deliverance, from the Emperor 
 oi Abyssinia. Four of his viceroys reigned at Saana, the 
 ca|)ital, till sulidncd by the Persians. The first of these, Abra- 
 liain, the Abrahah of the Koran, had erected a ( liiircli, 
 which he was desirous of substituting for Mecca as the place 
 of jiilgriniage. An Aral) (•ontemj)tu(iusly defiled it, and to 
 avenge the insult he undertook an exjiedition fur the purpose 
 of destroying the tem[)le tiiere, which had been, time out of 
 mind, revered by the whole nation. The year of Mohammed's 
 birth is rendered memorable by this failure of the lord of the
 
 12 
 
 elcpliunt, as lie is called, recorded in that brief chapter of the 
 Koran, CV., which ascribes it to a miracle ; for though polluted 
 by idols, the Caaba was still holy in their prophet's estimation, 
 for the sake of its founder, the friend of God. Both Nestorians 
 and Eutychians, who had been driven beyond the pale of the 
 empire, found a hospitable reception in Arabia: and this 
 countiy, which hag incurred the reproach of being fertile in 
 heresies, had also sheltered Gnostics, wlio denied the humanity 
 of the Son of God, maintaining that his enemies satiated their 
 vengeance on an airy phantom, which only seemed to be nailed 
 to the cross, and the CoUyridians, the first who worshipped 
 the Virgin as the queen of heaven, and from whom Moham- 
 mad had learnt the doctrine of her immaculate conception, long 
 before its introduction into the Roman Church. The Jews 
 had been settled in the Peninsula before the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, which had greatly increased their number. They 
 here enjoyed, not only liberty of conscience, but power, which 
 they had long lost in their own land, and had converted 
 several tribes from idolatry to the worship of one God, the 
 Creator of heaven and earth. They gave Mohammed much 
 trouble, and provoked his enmity, and brought down ruin on 
 themselves, because, while they professed like him that there is 
 no God but God, they could neither be terrified nor persuaded 
 to acknowledge, what he made its inseparable appendage, his 
 being His messenger. They were formidable neighbours, for 
 their chief city, Khaiber, which was strongly fortified, was 
 within six days of Medina, within which they had a party. 
 They and Christians are both honourably distinguished in the 
 Koran as people of the book, but they are at the same time ac- 
 cused of suppressing and corrupting important passages in the 
 revelations with which they liad been favoured. There were also 
 in Arabia, especially in Bahrein, fire-worshippers, from whom 
 Mohammed derived the most attractive portion of his book, 
 a description of Paradise, and the circumstances which ac- 
 company the resurrection ; for he seems to have been sin- 
 gularly deficient in imagination ; and this deficiency supplies
 
 13 
 
 one of the strongest arguments against his being an enthu- 
 siast The worship of the sun and other heavenly bodies 
 had also been mtroduced by the Sabians ; and the original in- 
 habitants, according to their fancy, worshipped, some one, some 
 another of the stars or planets, and had images of other gods, 
 of whom we know little more than the names and descriptions. 
 Some of the Arabs acknowledged a Creator; others, as we 
 learn from the Koran, rejected the doctrines, both of creation 
 and restoration to life after death. Those who believed in 
 them had the same gross notions as have ever prevailed among 
 barbarians, and, like those of every age, thought it necessary to 
 supply the dead with the property which they had used on earth. 
 Thus the Arabs left a camel to perish with hunger by his 
 master's grave, that he might not at the resurrection have to 
 walk. They buried their infant daughters alive, to save the 
 trouble of maintaining and educating them ; and, from a vague 
 notion of the necessity of appeasing angry gods, sacrificed 
 human victims, at least on important occasions, a custom 
 which, repugnant as it is to our feelings, has ever characterized 
 Polytheism, till, as in Greece and Rome, it has been superseded 
 by increasing civilization. Thus, Procopius, tells us of 
 a royal captive sacrificed by one of their petty kings, an ally 
 of the ICmperor Justinian; and we learn from Porphyry 
 that a boy was yearly (offered by a tribe in the Pahnyra 
 desert; and their rcpwrt is confirmed by national authorities, for 
 Moliainmcd's own father had been devoted by a rash vow, and 
 was ransomed with a hundred camels. It is extraordinary that 
 the doctrine of expiation by the shedding of blood, familiar as it 
 must have been to him from the custom of liis countrymen, and 
 justifiwl and explained l)y the Scriptures, was rejected,and that be 
 should have in his system (the only one so framed) neitlier tiio 
 reality nor the commemoration of a sacrifice, especially since he 
 adopted the kindred one of mediation, and made hiuiself the chan- 
 nel of divine lilessings to mankind, jind of necessity, therefore, 
 without any other cause than the arbitrary decree of God. lie 
 yielded, however, to prejudice, or could not, perhaps, alto- 
 
 • I.' Jk'llo Porsicn, i. 28.
 
 14 
 
 gcthcr free himself from it, by retaining all the ceremonies of 
 the pilgrimage, which include the sacrifice of sheep and camels, 
 which is so little in accordance with the pure Deism of his 
 creed. Abstinence from swine's flesh, and circumcision, he also 
 retained, but the latter silently, for it is not named as a rite in 
 his book, nor, I believe, in the Traditions. The unwatered 
 barren province of Hejaz, along the Red Sea, including, at an 
 interval of near three hundred miles, Mecca and Yatreb, the 
 first the birthplace, the second the hospitable retreat of Moham- 
 med, which, in consequence, lost its name, in that of Medinat 
 alnabi, the City of the Prophet, has, notwithstanding its natural 
 inferiority to Yemen, been the most celebrated division of 
 Arabia, as containing what had been from time immemorial 
 the religious metropolis. Some superstitious fancy or tradition 
 must have directed the choice of so unpromising a locality. 
 Mecca stands in a plain, about two miles long and one broad, 
 at the foot of three barren mountains : the soil is a rock, the 
 water, even of the holy well Zemzem, within the precincts of 
 the temple, is brackish, the pastures are remote, and grapes 
 are brought above seventy miles, from the gardens of Tayef. 
 The Caaba, or cube, L^H, a building twenty-four cubits long, 
 twenty- three broad, and twenty-seven high, has a door and 
 window, but is never reputed to have been the shrine of 
 any idol. The Moslems ascribe its foundation to Adam, and 
 its restoration to Abraham and his son Ishmacl. Gibbon 
 suggests that it was the temple, mentioned by Diodorus Sicu- 
 lus,* the superior sanctity of which was revered by all the 
 Arabians; and, as early as seven centuries before Mohammed, 
 it had been covered with a veil by a king of the Hamyarites. 
 A person standing there, with his face to the East, would have 
 Arabia Felix on his right hand and Syria on his left, and 
 these words Yemen and Sham, are the names which Arabs give 
 respectively to those countries. The Caaba stands within a 
 spacious quadrangle, then containing 360 idols of men, eagles, 
 lions, and antelopes, but the most cons})icuous was the god 
 Hebal, of red agate, holding in his hand seven arrows, without 
 
 * Bibliotheca iii. p. 221.
 
 15 
 
 lieads or feathers, the instruments of divination; and it is a 
 painful fact, that among these idols was an infant Saviour in 
 the arms of his mother, taken, we may suppose, from a church. 
 
 Circmnstances were favourable to the future pretensions of 
 Mohammed, and led him to indulge in lofty aspirations. lie had 
 not, like many who have attained to imperishable renown, to 
 emerge out of obscurity, for he was of the noblest descent, sprmig 
 from the tribe of Koreish, the acknowledged race of the friend of 
 God, and from the family of Hashem, who, five generations be- 
 fore, procured, some said by fraud, others by open force, the 
 guai'dlansliip of the national temple. The countiy they occu- 
 pied was so unfavourable to agriculture, that they were driven 
 to commerce. By the port of Jeddah they kept up an easy 
 intercourse with Abyssinia, and the produce of Africa was 
 conveyed by caravans to Katif, m the province of Bahrein, and 
 thence was floated, with the pearls of the Persian Gulf on rafts 
 to the mouth of the united streams of the Euphrates and Tigris. 
 Yemen was their winter, and Sham their summer resting- 
 place, and so they saved the merchants of India the tedious 
 navigation of the Red Sea; and in the ports of Yemen their 
 camels were laden with its aromatics, while Bosra and Damas- 
 cus su|)j)lled them with corn and manufactures. Thus wealth 
 was diilused in Mecca, and its leading inhal)itants combined 
 the exercise of ai'ms with the profession of merchants. They 
 not only had fairs of business, but during the months in whii-li 
 their wars were by mutnal consent suspended, an annual 
 meeting, in which they contended in poetry; and the poems 
 wiiich obtained the prize were called C^liU/c (Moullakat), 
 " the Susiiended," because they were attached to the wall of 
 the templi". 
 
 The spirit of the Arab is too independent to brook a despotic 
 yoke, and Mecca, acknowledging as its chiefs the progenitors 
 of Mohannned, was nil her an aristocracy than ;i monarchy. 
 Ilia L^randfather, Abilalmothaleb, was of a generous spirit, 
 which his commercial ]irofits enabled him to ]»rove. He had 
 had the ^food Ibrtune to discover, five centuries after it had been
 
 filled up, the spring Zcnizem, erroneously supposed to have 
 been the one shewn to the mother of Ishmacl, their progenitor ; 
 and, only two months before his grandson's birth, he had pre- 
 served the city from capture by the Abyssinian Viceroy. His 
 life was prolonged to 110 years, and he was the father of 
 six daughters, and of no less than thirteen sons. I transcribe 
 the pedigi-ee, since tlie first four Khalifs spring from the same 
 stock, and all Mohammed's uncles, with one exception, sided 
 w^ith him ; and this family support was his chief protection 
 at the commencement of his career. 
 
 Kaab 
 Murra 
 
 Teim 
 
 I 
 Saad 
 
 I 
 Kaab 
 
 r' 
 I 
 
 Zuhra 
 I 
 
 Kilab 
 
 I 
 Kussey 
 
 Adi.i 
 
 Abfl Mcnaf 
 
 Amru Abd Menap Abdaluzza Hashem 
 I I Asab I 
 
 Amir Walieb | Ab.l Almotaleb 
 
 I I Khuwilad 
 
 Abu Amina, the | 
 
 Kuhaf'a mother of Kadijali, 
 I Mohammed. wife of 
 
 AbuBekr, Mohammed 
 
 1st Khalif. 
 
 Abd Shems 
 Ommijah 
 
 Abul Aas Harb Khatab 
 
 Assan Ahu Sofian Omar, 
 
 ^1 I 2nd 
 
 Othman, Moawiyah, Khalif 
 
 3rd Khalif. Gth KhahT, 
 
 Abu Taleb 
 
 I 
 I 
 Ali, 4tli Khalif 
 
 Abu J>ahab 
 
 Abd Allah 
 
 I 
 
 Haraza 
 
 Abbas 
 
 I 
 Abd Allah 
 
 Ali 
 
 Mohammed 
 
 Abu Alabbas 
 MoliaTiimed Al.saffah, 
 
 First Abbaside Khalif.
 
 17 
 
 Abdalniotlialeb's yoiuiger son but one, Abdallah, celebrated 
 for worth and beauty, married Amina, his equal in person 
 and family. The grandfather called their son Mohammed, that 
 is, the Praised ; so unusual an appellation, that his guests, like 
 the kindred of the father of the Baptist, said, " There is none 
 of thy family called by this name." He was an only child : 
 his father died prematurely, on his return from a commercial 
 journey, and his widow felt his loss so acutely that her health 
 gave way. She often fancied herself visited by spirits, and 
 the nervous temperament and unequal development of her 
 son's faculties were apparently an inheritance from her. He 
 was suckled by a Bedouin woman, as was the custom of the 
 richer mhabitants of ^lecca, that their children might be bred 
 in a healthier climate, and imbibe the genuine Arab pronun- 
 ciation. . When four years old he had a fit, and his nurse 
 refused to keep him, tliinking him possessed by an evil spirit. 
 His mother did not lonn; survive. He then lived under the 
 roof of his m*andfatlier, who on his death consigned him to 
 the care of his eldest son, Abu Thaleb, who succeeded him in 
 the guardianship of the Caaba. He had the same patrimony 
 as his father, five camels, a flock of sheep, and a female slave, 
 but being asked why he did not many, he pleaded his poverty ; 
 and it is said that it was from his unfitness for the concerns of 
 life that he was obliged to kee[) sheep. This was regarded as n 
 dcradinir occui)ation'; but lie afterwards turned it to account, 
 as a sign of his future prophetic office. He accompanied his 
 uncle, in his youth, on a mercantile jounioy to Bosra, where 
 they were entertained by Boheira, a monk, called by the 
 Greeks Sergius, i. e. George, who charged him to take great care 
 of him, for he would grow u[) to be a remarkable person. He 
 is supposed to have been afterwards his assistant in composing 
 the KorJiM ; but this seems to iiic most improbable, for lie lu-ed 
 not go from Mecca, or from his fauiiIy,to procure wiiat know- 
 ledge he had gathered together concerning Judaism and 
 Christianity, since he could associate without suspicion witli 
 many professors of each, and had at home a trustworthy ad- 
 viser, in Waraka, his wife's cousin, who had passed through 
 both, and ^eenH, at least, to have reatl ]»arts of the Scriptiires. 
 
 (
 
 18 
 
 It was uiulor the same kind luicle that he made liis first cam- 
 paign against a Bedonin tribe. He liad af'terwai'ds, with a 
 partner, dealings in the linen trade, at the fair of Hajasha, in 
 Yemen, and here he formed an acquaintance with the nephew 
 of Khadijah, the rich Avidow of two husbands, who was, like 
 himself, descended from the house of Hasham. His honesty 
 was already so conspicuous, that he had acquired, before his 
 twenty-fifth year, the title of Amin, (the faithful,) and was 
 recommended to her as qualified to carry on her commercial 
 speculations. At the suggestion of the relation who had intro- 
 duced him, she made him presents and doubled his salary. 
 Her regard warmed into love, and notwithstanding their dis- 
 parity of years, twenty-five and forty, and the remonstrances 
 of her father, she oflFered him her hand. It was accepted, and 
 diis gratitude, if not his affection, never allowed her to repent 
 of this seemingly imprudent choice. The nuptials were ac- 
 companied by a splendid feast. Abuthaleb supplied the dowry, 
 and his father-in-law was reconciled to the match. This 
 wealthy and honourable alliance restored him to his original 
 station, and gave to one with his views and feelings the in- 
 estimable benefit of ample leisure. He had been a successful 
 trader, and had become by his marriage a wealthy citizen. 
 This wealth, we may presume,was expended in advancing his 
 design, for at his death he was owner of no more than a hundred 
 sheep, twenty camels, and six goats, which supplied his family 
 with milk. For months he never lighted a fire, and his food 
 was of the coarsest bread ; and though he was abstemious, this 
 mode of life is mentioned by Ayesha as the result of necessity. 
 The intermediate period between his marriage and his de- 
 claring himself tlic messenger of God, which, if fully known, 
 might have determined how far he was an impostor or a self- 
 deceiver, is passed over by all his biographers in silence. We 
 only know that he shewed a decided love of retirement, and 
 that he, like his grandfather, devoted the whole month of 
 Ramadhan to acts of charity and piety, and withdrew, sometimes 
 with his family and sometimes alone^ to Mount Hara, in the 
 vicinity. He had manifested his contemplative turn of mind 
 in early life; and it is said, that when pressed by his young
 
 19 
 
 companions to join in their sports, he used to reply, that man 
 was not born for such vain pursuits. Khndijah brought him 
 no less than four sons and fom* daughters. The former all 
 died in infancy ; and, notwithstanding the many wives and con- 
 cubines he had in after life, he had only another child, by Mary, 
 his Egyptian slave, Il)raliani, who did not complete his third 
 year. 
 
 lie had become dejected and fond of solitude ; he spent his 
 time chiefly in Hara, fasting and praying, and returned only to 
 Mecca for fresh provisions, and to take the sevenfold mysterious 
 circuit of the Caaba. The ' period was favourable to the 
 introduction of a purer and more rational belief. There were 
 Jewish colonies in and near Medina, and individual professors 
 of Judaism and Christianity in Mecca; so that, even if Moham- 
 med had never assumed the Prophet's office. Paganism, in 
 Sjirenger's opinion, could not have much longer continued the 
 religion of Ilcjaz. He quotes, from the earliest biography of 
 tiie false prophet, an account of four men, who, at one of their 
 idol feasts, expressed to one another their dissatisfaction with 
 the national religion. "Our tribe," said one, "is corrupting 
 the religion of Abraham, and are worshipping and walking 
 round a stone, though it can do them neither harm nor good." 
 They separated, and went in search of the true faith. Waraka, 
 the cousin of Khadijali, wIk; had gi*eat influence over Moham- 
 med, became a Christian. Obaidallah, the second, a Moslem, and 
 emigi-atcd to Al)yssinia, where he, too, embraced Christianity. 
 After his conversion he used to say, */ We see, and you attempt 
 to see." His widow, a daugliti'r of Abu Sofian, was aftewards 
 married to Mohammed. Othnian j-ctircd t(j Constantinople, and 
 liecame also a Ciiristian. Zaid, the (bnrth, renounceil idoiati-y, 
 but remained a sceptic. It was reported of him, that wiien 
 very old he would lean iigainst the Caaba, and say, " By him, 
 in whose hand is the soul of Z.iid, ikhh' of you, except myself, 
 follows the religion of Abraham. O Lord, if I knew wlia(. 
 form <if worsliijiping thee is most acceptable to tliei', I woidd 
 ad(»])t it. iShall I believe, that there is one Lf»rd, or a thousand ? 
 Is the govorninent of the world divided? I iicitiicr believe in
 
 20 
 
 Aluzza, nor her two daughters, nor in Ghanani. He was my 
 Lord when my intellect was yet weak." Zaid also frequented 
 this mountain, and it is not unlikely that they met, and that 
 his conversation strengthened Mohammad's douhts concerning 
 the gods of his fathers. Satisfied, by whatever means it might 
 be, of that sublime truth, the unity of God, and viewing Judaism 
 and Christianity only in their corrupt practice, and taking 
 for a true exposition the distortion of doctrines by heretics, 
 Mohammed longed to comnumicate to others this grand 
 and influential article of faith ; and, in the enthusiasm 
 of an ardent temper, before failure had soured it, or success 
 deteriorated his moral character, he might convince himself of 
 the second article of his short creed, that he was the messenger 
 of God, sent to revive what he called the religion of Abraham, 
 of Moses, and of Jesus. Both Jews and Christians, he main- 
 tained, had tampered with the Scriptures, omitting passages, in 
 which he was plainly foretold. " Abraham," says the Koran ii., 
 " was neither Jew nor Christian, but orthodox i— fi*iW- and J>— /« 
 (Moslem), resigned to God, Resignation. *>**>> (Islam), there- 
 fore, Avhich is derived from the root which signifies mH^ peace, 
 is the distinctive appellation of his creed. It is also called ^J^^ 
 (Aman), the Faith, a word familiar to ourselves, from our adop- 
 tion of Amen into our Liturgy, and the participle i^y^y (Mu- 
 menun), is rendered faithful, or believers. His own claim to 
 belief is l^uilt upon the appearance to him of the angel Gabriel, 
 whom he confounds, like some of tlie Jews, with the Holy 
 Spirit, who brought to him, he said, not at once, but in portions 
 as He needed, written passages of God's word, which, as he 
 was an ignorant prophet, he read to him ; and hence these reve- 
 lations, when collected into a volume, have obtained the name 
 of Koran — reading, that is, what pre-eminently deserves to be 
 read. If, he said, he used to beg Gabriel to read slower, we 
 might suppose that the enthusiast had sunk into the hypocrite. 
 Many verses speak for themselves; but the long chapters 
 which dilate upon Jewish history might have been composed 
 at any time, and he had noAv, certainly, most leisure for the
 
 21 
 
 purpose, and, if he had assistants, could employ them with 
 less danger of detection. At length, in the month of abstinence, 
 the night of power jti'iiJ^ '^^ arrived, in which the book, which 
 had been Avritten as a whole in heaven fi'om the creation, begun 
 to be revealed, it is said, to this chosen messenger of God. 
 Undisturbed meditation increased his excitement, and his over- 
 strained brain was occupied with visions. In one of these 
 the angel called on him to read three times, and he refused. 
 
 At length he continued, in the words of the Koran, xcvi 
 
 " Read, in the name of thy Lord, the Creator who has 
 created man of congealed blood — read, for thy Lord is most 
 beneficent. It is He who has taught by the pen : it is He who 
 has taught man what he did not know." Sprenger takes this 
 for a command to read the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, 
 whicli were acknowledged by him as revelations ; and certainly 
 it seems strange, if he was unable, how he could imagine that 
 Gabriel used these words. Still it is the general opinion that 
 it means the ])ortion of the Koran then shewn to him, and the 
 great majority hoth of Mohanuncdan writers and of Europeans 
 affirm that he c(juld not read ; relying on his own declaration 
 that he was the prophet of the Ummias, and was himself an 
 Ummi (^J2\), VII. 156. This is commonly translated "illi- 
 txrate;" but others, from the etymology, maintain that it means 
 an Arab, in ojtposition to a Jew or Christian, and some say, 
 called illiterate because tin y had hitherfd no i)rophet. After 
 this aj)pcarance, there is said to have been :in intermission of 
 two years, during which he suHrrcd linllticination of his senses, 
 and several times contemj)lated seif-di-struction. His friends 
 were alaniu-d, jukI cnllcd in (^\orcists, and he himself doubted 
 the soundness of his mind. (Jnce he said to his wife, " I hear 
 a sound and soc a light: I am afraid there are (t.>- gins (spirits) 
 in me:" and again, " I am afraid I am a (^^ ( Krdiin) ;" that 
 is, a soothsayer possessed by Satan, "God," replied Kliadija, 
 " will never permit this, f(^r thou keei)est thy engagements, and 
 assistest thy relatives;" and, according to some, she added, 
 "Thou wilt be the prophet of thy nation." These sounds, as
 
 22 
 
 from a clock or u bell, arc cuuineratcd as syiuptunisof epilepsy. 
 In this morbid state of feeling lie is said to have heard a 
 voice, and, on raising his head, beheld Gabriel, who assured 
 him he was the prophet of God. Frightened, he returned home, 
 and called for covering. lie had a fit, and they poured cold 
 water on him ; and when he came to himself he heard those 
 words (lxxiv.), " Oh, thou covered one, arise, and preach, and 
 magnify thy Lord ;" and henceforth, we are told, he received 
 revelations without intermission. Before this supposed reve- 
 lation he had been medically treated on account of the evil eye ; 
 and when the Korjin first descended to him he fell into faint- 
 ing fits, when, after violent shudderings, his e^yes closed, 
 and his mouth foamed. Khadijah offered to bring him to 
 one who would dispossess him of the evil spirit, but he for- 
 bade her. All his visions, however, were not of this painful 
 nature. To Harith ebn Hisham's inquiry, he said the angel 
 often appeared to him in a human form (commonly as his 
 friend Dibla), and sometimes he had a revelation without 
 any appearance. " Many," says an author much used by 
 Weil, "he had innnediately from God, as in his journey 
 to his throne ; many in dreams ; and it was one of his 
 common sayings, that a prophet's dream is a revelation." 
 According to Ayesha, whenever the angel appeared to him^ 
 though extremely cold, perspiration burst forth on his forehead, 
 liis eyes became red, and he would bellow like a young camel. 
 On one of these occasions," says a traditionist, " his shoulder 
 fell upon mine, and I never felt one so heavy." Once the 
 coumiunicator came to him riding on a camel, and he trembled 
 violently, and knelt down. He was angry when gazed upon 
 during these fits. He looked like a drunken man, and they 
 thought he would have died. It is difficult to form a positive 
 judgment on such a person; yet enthusiasm, if at any time it 
 deserted Iiira, seems to have revived, for his conduct, during 
 his last ilhiess, is not that of an hypocrite. To enable the 
 reader to judge for himself, I have endeavoured to exhibit 
 Mohammed as he appears to have been, only adding, that his 
 chai'acter is merely a subject of historical curiosity, for it is
 
 23 
 
 the nature of the religion that lie established that is the question 
 of real importance, and that remains the same whether he was 
 an imposter or a dupe. 
 
 Waraka, who is said to have made translations both of the 
 Pentateuch and the Gospel, assured Khadijah that he must 
 be the prophet predicted ui the former, and she was easily per- 
 suaded to accept as true an interpretation so gratifying to her 
 vajiity and her affection. The boy Ali was the second con- 
 vert ; and Zaid, his slave, who was still young, the third, whom 
 he immediately emancipated, but who was too much attached 
 to him to leave him. The first convert out of his own family 
 was Abubekr, a person of wealth and influence, of his own age, 
 a most important convert, and the one who was to give stability 
 to the system after his death as liis Khalif or successor. 
 Gibbon estimated his most arduous conquests to be those of 
 his wife, his servant, his pupil, and his friend, since he pre- 
 sented himself as a pi'ophet to those who were most conversant 
 with his infirmities as a man. Yet, he continues, Khadijah 
 believed the words and cherished the glory of her husband ; the 
 oljsec[uious and affectionate Zaid was tempted by the prospect 
 of freedom, and the son of Abuthaleb embraced the sentiments 
 of his cousin with the spirit of a youthful hero. Their con- 
 version, however, will not appear, on further consideration, so 
 marvellous, for Mohanuned does not apjieai' in this early stage 
 »»f his course to have shewn any of those infirmities incompatible 
 with his appointment as a ])rophet to his countrymen, and he 
 brouirht them no doctrine which would not bear the scrutinv 
 of their reason, or was offensive to their pride or passions; and, 
 accordino- to the historian's own sketch of the reli<iion of the 
 Arabs, the most rational oC thmii iilready acknowledged the 
 j)ower of one supreme God, though they neglected liis worship; 
 so that ha])it, rather than conviction, still attached them to their 
 imperfect idolatry. This acknowledgment will go some way 
 towards explaining the acquiescence of tlu^ first converts, and 
 their profession would encourage others. Ten of the most 
 respectable citizens of Mecca, whose names arc recorded, — 
 among them Othman, afterwards Khalif, and Abu Obeida,
 
 24 
 
 the future i'on({ueror of Syria, were privately instructed in 
 his doctrine, and three years were silently employed in the 
 conversion of the first-fruits of his mission, no more than four- 
 teen proselytes. So sIoav a progress was little better than a 
 failure, and therefore he summoned resolution to make a 
 public declaration of his religion. He began by inviting to a 
 humble repast the heads of his powerful family. Abu Lahab, 
 one of his many uncles, but, while he lived, his chief opponent, 
 and accordingly stigmatized in the Koran, CXI., contrived that 
 the party should break up without his having an opportunity 
 to address them. He repeated the invitation, and determined 
 not to be again foiled. Still he waited a month before he took 
 courage to speak. " I know no man in Arabia who can propose 
 to his relations any thing more excellent than what I now offer 
 you, the happiness both of this world and of that which is to 
 come. God Almighty hath commanded me to call you to his 
 service : who among you will become my brother, and my^Jj 
 ( vizir), porter, to bear my burden ? " No answer being 
 returned, Ali's impatience broke the silence. " O prophet of 
 God, I will be thy vizir : I will beat out the teeth, pull out 
 the eyes, rip open the bellies, and cut off the legs, of all who 
 shall dare to oppose thee." Mohammed embraced him, and 
 desired all the company to obey him. " This is my brother, 
 my deputy, my Khalif, (that is, my successor,) therefore shew 
 yourselves obedient to him." They burst into laughter, and 
 ironically exhorted Abuthaleb to respect the superior dignity 
 of his son. The title of Khalif, as here given Ali, is 
 remembered by his followers, who condemn and curse 
 his three predecessors in that office as interlopers. The chiefs 
 of the Koreish wished Abuthaleb to abandon his nephew, 
 but, though not converted, he retained his partiality for him, 
 and remonstrated with him on the unreasonableness of his 
 attempt. He, however, was not to be terrified by his enemies, 
 or moved by the entreaties of a friend ; positively telling him 
 that if they could set against him the sun on his right hand and 
 the moon on his left, they should not divert him from his course. 
 His failure with his own familv determined him to trv the
 
 25 
 
 people. Tie was continually in the temple addressing all comers, 
 and enlaraing on the folly of idolatry. He asserted the liberty 
 of conscience, disclaimino- force, and even endeavourinfr to win 
 over Jews and Christians, by requii'ing the reception of their 
 books as well as of his own. (Ivor. xi. 4.) He called the Gospel 
 the illuminating book, (v. 161.), the light and guide of life, and 
 asserts that, as it confirms the Old Testament, so it is itself 
 established by the Koran, (ii, 44, 91, 97, v. 54-56.) He even 
 declared that the assertion that there is onlv one true religion 
 rests upon insupportable pride, as it assumes that all nations are 
 not equal objects of divine goodness; that the cause of diversity 
 of religions must be looked for in the divine decrees, and 
 that it will only in the next world be discovered who has pro- 
 fessed the truth ; and that it is sufficient for Jews, Christians, 
 and Moslems to live in accordance Avith the divine word known 
 to them, and to give their account on the day of impartial 
 judgment (v. 21): and, still plainer, that God had impressed a 
 particular religious and moral character on each nation ; and 
 since it had not pleased Ilim to unite them all into one religion, 
 each would be judged by its own. The Arabs, who had no 
 book he called to repentance, and conjured them to remember 
 the idolaters of old, and the tribe of Thamud, which divine 
 justice had swept away from the face of the earth. (Korstn vii.) 
 He had little success, yet his cause was strengthened by the 
 conversion of llamza, the youngest of his uncles, and his 
 foster-brother, pre-eiiiincnt for bravery, and of Omar, a violent 
 oj»ponent, who had meditated his murder, but was instanta- 
 neously converted I>y overhearing a passage of thi' Koran. 
 Still, so discouraging was his condition that ho was ex])oscd 
 to contimial insults and violence, to whidi lie patiently sub- 
 mitted, while he permitted his few InlliiWciS, wlinlil lie couId 
 not i>rotect, to seek a refuge. This they foun<l in Aiiyssinia, 
 t<j the number of about eighty, including Othman and two 
 of his own daughters, from the Christian sovereign, who 
 refused to give them up to the Korcish. He now ventured, 
 notwithstanding, to announce himself, not merely as the 
 reformer f»f Arabia, but as a messenger to the red men and to
 
 26 
 
 the black, that is, to all ; and lie required his few proselytes 
 to believe in one God, and in himself, his apostle, and to 
 purify themselves by ablutions. As his doctrine began to 
 spread, the Koreish made a solemn league against the whole 
 fiimily of Ilasliem, who protected him, though he could not 
 convince them, and all repaired to Abuthalcb as their head, 
 excepting his uncle Abu Lahab, surnamed Abduluzza, who 
 went over to the opposite party, the chief of which was Abu 
 Sofian, of the fomily of Ommiyah, also sprung from a common 
 ancestor. 
 
 The third year after is called the year of mourning, 
 because IMohammed lost in it his faithful wife and his kind 
 uncle. The death of his powerful protector, Abuthaleb, who 
 loved him, though he never acknowledged him as his guide, and 
 seems to the last to have been faithful to his idols, brought on 
 the crisis of his fate. He found it prudent to retire from 
 Mecca, and he selected Tayef, as under the influence of an- 
 other friendly, though unconverted uncle. Abbas, who had 
 property in it. He found, however, no better reception there 
 than at Mecca, and, after no longer stay than a month, he was 
 obliged to return. The pilgrimage saved him the labour of 
 itinerating, by bringing worshippers from other tribes; and 
 worship, the object for which they chiefly came, would solem- 
 nize their minds, and might render them accessible to his 
 attempts. He used to take pilgrims aside, and, reciting to 
 them passages from the Koran, say, " These are proofs of my 
 mission : God commands you to reject what is unworthy of 
 Him, and to worship Him alone. His will is that you should 
 believe and obey me." But his efforts failed, and they 
 naturally taunted him with the vmbelief of his fellow-citizens, 
 who must be the best qualified to judge of his pretensions. 
 In this extremity it pleased God, in his wise yet mysterious 
 providence, to raise up assistance and deliverance, in the most 
 gradual manner, from the rival city, Yatreb, the inhabitants of 
 which, from their intercourse with the Jews, who were looking 
 for the consolation of Israel, might be better prepared to hear 
 of a prophet arising out of their own Ijranch of the family of
 
 27 
 
 Abraham. These Jews had been oppressed by the idolaters, and 
 sometimes they were heard to say in their misery, " Oh, if the 
 time of tlie Messiah were come, we would go to Him." " But," 
 saysTabari, "when our prophet was born among the Arabs, and 
 not as they expected, they rejected him." The feeling of the 
 Jews seems to have encouraged him to assume the office of a 
 prophet ; and if they had acknowledged him he might have 
 contented himself with endeavourino- to restore to its former 
 glory the religion of Moses. As long as he had any hope of 
 them, he instructed his followers to turn in prayer to the site 
 of their Temple ; and it was not till he had finally broken 
 with them that he substituted for it the Caaba. When they 
 rejected him he declai*ed they had corrupted their religion 
 and that he was sent to restore the only pure faith, that 
 of Abraham, the father at once of their nation and of his own. 
 liut as the God of Abraham was avowedly the God both 
 of Jews and Christians, the Koran has an extraordinary 
 number of tales from the traditions of the former and the 
 spurious scriptures of the latter. From them he learnt to 
 ajjpoint fasts, and to set apart one day in the week for public 
 worship ; but as they had only the synagogue service, and 
 sacrifices could no longer be offered, his system has no propitia- 
 tion, and wiien he dilfcrs he retains the customs of the Aral)s. 
 Among the visitors to the Caaba were six respectable men of 
 Yatreb, between which city and Mecca theie had long been an 
 iinj)lacal)l(' hatred growing out of commercial jealousy. They 
 saicl, " Who knows if this be not the prophet whose coming the 
 Jews so anxiously expect? wShould they receive him we shall 
 be reduced to the greatest diHiculties. It is therefore cxi)edient 
 that we should anticipate them, and receive him before they can." 
 He preached to them the divine unity, temperance, and absti- 
 nence from their cruel custom ol' destroying their new-born 
 daughters. On their return they propagated their new faith 
 with far greater success than flic founder, for there was soon 
 scarcely a house in which there were not some Moslems. 'I'he 
 report of their success gave him confidence. Hitherto he 
 had acknr»wledged that he had not the gift <»f miracles. " You
 
 28 
 
 continually cite the examples of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus," 
 say his adversaries : " work miracles like them, and we will 
 believe you." They shew him a hill of red earth. " Change 
 it into gold, and we will acknowledge our defeat." (K. vi.) He 
 replied, that though these prophets had worked miracles the 
 people were no better ; that when God set aside the laws by 
 which He governed tlie world. He would not fail to punish 
 severely those who had refused to believe in the signs of his 
 power ; and that he himself would not bring down this judg- 
 ment upon his unhappy country. He now changed his tone, 
 and appealed to his journey one night, first to Jerusalem, and 
 thence through all the heavens to within a bow-shot of the 
 throne of God. It is minutely narrated in the Traditions (xvii.) ; 
 but it is remai'kable, thatin the Koran (xviii.) there is only one 
 brief reference to it. The story was too marvellous to be credited ; 
 but Abubekr came to his help, declaring that he would vouch 
 for the truth of whatever Mohammed had said, which obtained 
 from him the surname, with which he is still honoured, of the 
 faithful witness. "As often as he is pressed," says Gibbon, " by 
 the demands of the Korcish, he involves himself in the obscure 
 boast of vision and prophesy, appeals to the internal proofs 
 of his docti'ine, and shields himself behind the providence of 
 God, who refuses those signs and wonders which would depre- 
 ciate the merit of faith, and aggravate the guilt of infidelity." 
 The Koran itself he declares a standing miracle ; nor would he 
 have so frequently brought forward a challenge to his contem- 
 poraries which might be dangerous, if he could have appealed 
 to other credentials less dis{)utable and more impressive. His 
 followers, however, are determined to give him the power he dis- 
 claims, building up a few ambiguous passages of the Koran, and 
 appealing to the Traditions. The chroniclers, such as Abulfeda, 
 disfigure their naiTatives with absurd legends of angels waiting 
 u[)on him, even before his mission, such as Gabriel carrying 
 a cloud over his head to screen him from the heat of the sun's 
 rays ; which, repeated by her servants to Khadijah, induced her 
 to propose marriage to liim. They are mostly of the childish 
 character which distinguish the wonders of the spurious gospels
 
 29 
 
 t'rom tlie miraculous acts of mercy recorded in the authentic 
 ones ; for they atfirm that trees went forth to meet him ; that he 
 was saluted by stones ; that water gushed from his fingers ; that 
 he split the moon in two ; that a beam groaned to him ; that 
 a camel complained to him ; and that a shoulder of mutton 
 off which he dined informed him, though too late, of its 
 being poisoned. De Sacy thinks that these acts were assigned 
 to him by his enthusiastic followers ; and that, though he did not 
 claim the power of working miracles, he willingly encouraged 
 the delusion. We know, from the Koran, that he ascribed his 
 first victory to the assistance of thousands of angels who fouglit 
 for him, though seen only by himself. So forlorn was his state, 
 that he even proposed to liis few Yatreb converts to secure 
 him an asylum. This they truly stated was beyond their power, 
 for their city was inhabited by two hostile tribes ; but at the 
 next pilgrimage they would be able to give him an answer, 
 since, in the interval, God might restore them to peace. They 
 returned and offered him protection. Their zeal overlooked 
 obstacles, for they were no more than twelve. Mohammed 
 met them on mount Akaba, a short distance from the town, 
 and there tliey may be said to have laid the foundation of his 
 sovereignty ; for they took an oath to renounce idolatry, not to 
 steal, not to commit fornication, not to put their female infants 
 to death, not to calunmiate, and to obey all his reasonable com- 
 mands, lie then sent Masab back with them, who was well 
 qualified f(jr tlie office, for there was soon not a house in which 
 some had not embraced Islam; and this was also the connnence- 
 ment of the practice of religion, for he began to assemble the 
 converts to hear him discourse, and tt) unite in social worship 
 on the Friday, which thus became, in contradistinction to 
 the Jewish sabbath, and the C'hristian Lord's-day, the ]\I..h;mi- 
 medan day of meeting. The next year they agahi visited 
 Mecca, Mild their imiiilicr li;i<l increased to seventy-lhrcc. lie 
 met them again, by night, and was now acconijianied by 
 his uncle Abbas, like Abuthalcb, his protector, though not his 
 convert, who was one of the ten chiefs who had the guardian- 
 ship of the sacred well, lie cautioned them against be-
 
 30 
 
 tniying tlic confidence liis nephew was disposed to place in 
 them, since his family connection could s^till protect him at 
 home. They renewed their protestations of fidelity, and Abhas 
 recommended him to accept their offer. This second secret 
 nocturnal meeting Gibbon calls a political association, the 
 first vital spark of the empire of the Saracens. " But if you 
 are recalled to your country," they asked, " will you not 
 abandon your new allies ?" " All things," he replied with a 
 smile, " are now common between us : your blood is as my 
 blood, your ruin as my ruin : we are bound to each other by 
 the ties of honour and interest. I am your friend, and the foe 
 of your foes." " But if we are killed in your cause, what will 
 be our reward ? " " Paradise," replied the acknowledged pro- 
 phet. " Stretch forth your hands." They stretched them forth, 
 and reiterated the oath of fidelity. Their treaty was ratified 
 by their fellow-citizens, who rejoiced in his promised residence 
 among them, but. trembled for his safety, and impatiently ex- 
 pected his arrival. He then, in imitation of the Son of God, 
 selected out of them twelve as his apostles. This promise of 
 Paradise to those who fell in his caiise is confirmed by the 
 Koran, and is the earliest justification of promoting the faith by 
 the sword ; and he endeavours to strengthen this encourage- 
 ment by the authority of the law and the gospel. Abu Sofian, 
 the chief of the branch of Ommivah, had now succeeded to the 
 presidentship of the Republic. A zealous votary of the idols, 
 and a mortal foe of the line of Hasliam, he convened an assembly 
 of the Koreish and their partisans to decide on his fate. His 
 imprisonment might drive enthusiasts into desperate mea- 
 sures, and the exile of an eloquent preacher of a new faith 
 would diffuse this mischief throughout Arabia. His death was 
 voted, and they determined that a person of each tribe • should 
 be employed, that, by extending to all the guilt, they might 
 battle the blood avenger. Immediate flight was now his only 
 resource. His followers had been gradually dismissed to the 
 friendly city, himself, with Abubekr and Ali, alone remained, 
 and two camels were kept saddled in readiness. Their flight 
 was abruj)t. At the dead of night he silently escaped with the
 
 31 
 
 father of his affianced bride. The assassins watched at the door, 
 but they were deceived by AH, who lay in the bed, covered 
 with IMohammed's green cloak. The Koreish respected the 
 devotion of their kinsman, some of whose verses, if we may 
 depend upon their authenticity, exhibit an interesting picture 
 of his state of anxiety and religious confidence. Three days 
 jMohammed and his companions were concealed in the cave of 
 Tha, at the distance of a league ; and each evenhig they received 
 a secret supply of provisions from a son and daughter of 
 Abubekr. The diligence of their enemies explored every haunt 
 in the neighbourhood. They arrived at the entrance of the 
 cavern, and a spider's web, and a pigeon's nest, which the 
 Moslem writers consider as a providential interference, are 
 supposed to have convinced them that the place was unoccupied. 
 " We are only two," said the trembling Abubekr. " There 
 is a third," replied his companion : " it is God himself." No 
 sooner was the pursuit abated than the fugitives issued from 
 the cave, and mounted their camels. On the road they were 
 ovei-taken by the assassins, but the leader, attempting to seize 
 him, the horse twice fell under him, and this hajipy accident, 
 and a prompt prediction from Mohammad of his future exploits 
 in his service, induced hun to retire. They proceeded to Keba, 
 two miles off, where they lodged four days, and, on the six- 
 teenth from their flight, made their public entry into Yatreb, 
 the name of which is, henceforward, ^\J\ jiJL^^ (Medinat 
 Aliialjbi) " the city of the prophet." His *^— Hegira, Flight, 
 was appointed by his successor Omar, eighteen years after, to 
 mark tlie bmar years of the Mohammadan nations, in imitation 
 probably of t!:e Christian era of the martyrs, and, being ante- 
 flated sixty years, coincides witli Friday, July 10, (522. Five 
 iiunflnd (.f the citizens advanced to meet the Iriuiiipliant 
 exiles. Mohannned was hailed with acclamations of loyalty and 
 devotion: he was mounted on a she camel, an umbrella, the 
 eastern emblem of dignity, shaded his head, and a turban was 
 unfoliU'il before him, to supply the want of a standard. His 
 most zealous adherents, who had been dispersed by the storm,
 
 32 
 
 rallied round hhu ; and the eciual, though different merits of 
 these two divisions of the faithful, the behevers of Mecca and 
 of ]\Iedina, — were henceforwax'd distinguislied by the epithets of 
 fugitives ^ ^js^XsX!*' (Mohajeruns)and \^\ {Ansars, assis/ants). 
 The names of the most important of these his companions 
 are preserved, and their respective claims on respect are nicely 
 calculated. The highest place is assigned to Khadijah, Ali, Zaid, 
 Abubekr, and those who immediately followed their example ; 
 the second includes Omar, and all the contemporary converts ; 
 the third, the first fugitives to Abyssinia ; the fourth, fifth, and 
 sixth, the three parties who successively met him at Akaba ; 
 the seventh, the Mohajeruns who joined him at Medina; 
 the eighth all who fought the first battle of Bedr; the ninth, 
 those who came over to him between the battle and his 
 inauguration at Hodcibeya; the tenth, those who took the 
 oath of fealty to him; the eleventh, those who embraced 
 Islam between that and the reduction of Mecca ; the twelfth, 
 those who were compelled to profess it on its surrender ; and the 
 thirteenth, all who had seen him, but were children at his death. 
 On his establishment at Medina, where he fixed his abode, 
 he assumed the exercise of the regal and sacerdotal ofiices, 
 and it became impious to appeal from the decision of an in- 
 spired sovereign. His first occupation was to purchase a small 
 portion of ground, on which he built a simple dwelling and 
 a place of worship.* He now consummated his marriage with 
 Ayesha, and thus bound himself closer A\ith the father of 
 the girl, X? Bekr, who is so constantly called by that title, that 
 his name has been forgotten ; and about the same time added 
 affinity to consanguinity, by uniting his faithful Ali to his' 
 favourite daughter Fatimah. Raised to sovereignty by the 
 choice of an independent j)eople, and invested with the prero- 
 gative of waging war, he now aj)pears in a new character, which 
 naturally excites the suspicion that his former forbearance 
 was only the effect of weakness, for he is now commanded to 
 propagate Islam by the sword, to destroy all monuments of 
 
 * In Arabic, (masjid), Ja-****, which has been corrupted into ''mosque."
 
 33 
 
 idolatry, and, without regarding tlie sanctity of days and months, 
 to carry on war against unbelievers. He also presumes to 
 ascribe the same bloody precepts to the Pentateuch and the 
 Gospel ; not comprehending the distinction between universal 
 war and the extermination of the devoted nations from the land 
 of Israel, and confounding the mild genius of Christianity with 
 its gi'oss abuses by those who injure it by professing it. The 
 option, however, of alliance, submission, or battle, was pro- 
 posed to unbelievers. On professing Islam, they were admitted 
 to all the privileges of primitive disciples, and marched 
 under the same banner to extend the faith which they had once 
 opposed, while those who remained ftiithful to their creed were 
 tolerated on the payment of tribute. In the first months of his 
 reign he practised the warfare he authorised, and afterwards 
 foutrht in person at nine battles or sieges, and in ten years 
 achieved fifty enterprises by himself, or his lieutenants. The 
 spoil was faithfully collected into one common mass : a fifth of 
 all was reserved for ynous and charitable uses ; the remainder 
 was shared in adequate portions by those who fought and those 
 who guarded the camp : the rewards of the slain devolved to 
 their widows and orphans, and the increase of cavalry was 
 encouraged by a share to the horse as well as to the man. 
 The roving Arabs were allured to his standard by the hope ol" 
 plunder. lie sanctified the licence of taking the female cap-, 
 tivcs for wives and concubines, and again and again he 
 represented the enjoyment of beauty as a feeble type <»f tiie 
 ]>ara<lise pre])ared for tin; mart} rs of the faith. 
 
 " The sword is," he says, " the key ut' heaven and of hell. A 
 dropof blood shed in the cause ofGod, or one night si.ciil in aims, 
 is of more avail lliaii two months in fasting or prayer. Wlio- 
 soever falls in l)attle, his sins are forgiven : at the day of judg- 
 ment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and 
 odoriferous as nnisk ; and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied 
 by the wings of angels and eliei-ul»ini." 'I'lie intre[)id souls of 
 the Arabs were fired with enthusiasm: llie picture ol' llie 
 invisible world was strongly painted on their imaginations, and 
 the death which they had always despised became an object of 
 
 I)
 
 34 
 
 hope and desire. The Koriin also inculcates throughout the 
 most unqualified predestination, and, Avith the exception of 
 a few obscure sectaries, it has ever influenced, and still influ- 
 ences, the practice of the Moslems, leading them to regard even 
 ordinary precautions against contagion as a sinful opposition 
 to the divine decrees. " Every bullet has its billet," was the 
 saying of an Em'opean predestinarian, and there can be no 
 sense of danger where chance is excluded. His companions 
 accordingly advanced to battle Avith fearless confidence, per- 
 suaded that those destined to die in their beds, must be invul- 
 nerable in the field. 
 
 It appears to me that long and earnest meditation led him to 
 believe that he was born to reform the religion of Arabia, and 
 that as soon as the enlightened but not sanctified mind of the 
 disappointed visionary found his countrymen unmoved by 
 his arguments and eloquence, and his life endangered, this 
 belief stimulated him to use the sword, which he might con- 
 sider given to him as a more effectual instrument; and he did 
 not start at the means, which he might believe that the wars 
 of the Israelites sanctioned, because he was satisfied of the 
 justice and importance of the end. The injustice of Mecca, 
 and the choice of i\Iedina, had transformed the citizen into a 
 prince, the preacher into a general, and the credulity of his 
 proselytes, and his success, would tend to fortify his assurance 
 of his divine mission. His interest and Islam were inseparably 
 connected ; and his conscience might be soothed by the per- 
 suasion that he alone was absolved from the obligations of his 
 own laws ; and the special revelation which relieved him, as a 
 prophet, from all restraint, instead of producing scandal or 
 envy, but increased the veneration of his followers. He had 
 now determined to refer his cause to arms ; but he first pru- 
 dently determined to eradicate the seeds of jealousy between his 
 new friends and his fellow-exiles, by foi'ming a fraternity, in which 
 one of each body was coupled with one of the other, with the 
 rights and obligations of brethren; and Ali, finding himself 
 without an associate, he feelingly declared that he would be 
 his companion and brother. The expedient answered com-
 
 35 
 
 l^letely : the fraternity was respected in war and in peace, and 
 the two parties vied with each other in a generous emuhition 
 of courage and fidelity. Once only the concord was slightly 
 ruffled by an accidental quaiTcl. One of the Medina assistants 
 arraigned the insolence of the fugitives, but the threat of their ex- 
 pulsion was heard with abhorrence, and even a son most eagerly 
 offered to lay at the apostle's feet the head of his own father, 
 who had given the offence. In his sovereignty he retained 
 the simplicity of his private life, having erected for himself an 
 humble dwelling, surrounded by the huts of his wi'ses, with 
 whom he equally shared his time; of which his favourite, 
 Ayesha, had more only because others made over to her their 
 portion ; and in his last illness, when she was his attendant, 
 he had previously obtained their consent. He was also Pon- 
 tiff, and tlie mosque may properly be regarded as his palace. 
 He constantly led their devotions, offered up the public prayer, 
 and })reached at the weekly festival. First he leant against the 
 trunk of a j)ahn tree ; and it was not till the eighth year of the 
 Hight that he indulged himself with the use of a pulpit of 
 I'ough timber, and sat on the third or upper step. The 
 modesty of Abubekr refused to go higher than the second ; 
 Omar was content with the lowest; Othman resumed the third-; 
 and Moawiyah added six steps, ascending to the highest. 
 
 On reaching Medina, he liad made Jerusalem the 'iXSi (Kebla), 
 that is, the object towards which to turn in })rayer; but find- 
 ing it more imj)ortant to conciliate the pagan Arabs, after a few 
 months he transferred it to the temple to which they had been, 
 time out of mind, attached (Koran ir.): endeavouring to 
 justify the change, and inconsistently decUiring in the same 
 chapter — "To God belong the east and the west; therefore, 
 whithersoever ye turn in ])rayer, there is the faci' of (iod.'" 
 About this time he instituted the fast of the whole iiiontli of 
 ,^La*j (Ramadlian), which may fairly be considered as a 
 set off an-ainst the sensual induljfencics with which he is con- 
 stantly reproached. I Ic intended to distinguish his jjcople from 
 the Jews and C!liristians, and instead of the trumpets of the 
 
 I) 2
 
 36 
 
 w 
 
 former and tlie bells ot* the latter, he appointed (jt>y> muezzins, 
 (criers) to call them at the hours of ])rayer. 
 
 From his new residence, Mohammed could retaliate upon 
 his enemies, by intercepting their Syrian trade, upon which 
 they were wholly dependent. An opportunity soon presented 
 itself, for Abu Sofian himself, the keeper of the sacred 
 standard, with no more than thirty or forty followers, was 
 conducting a caravan of a thousand camels. He had escaped 
 the vigilance of Mohammed, but he had learnt that he was 
 awaiting in ambush his return. He despatched therefore a 
 messenger to Mecca, and the citizens were roused by the fear 
 of losing their merchandize to hasten to his assistance. This 
 first army of Moslems ever brought into the field consisted of 
 313, of whom twenty were fugitives, and they mounted in turn 
 seven camels, but such was their poverty, that only two 
 could appear on horseback. In the vale of Bedr, between Me- 
 dina and Mecca, on the high road from Egypt, Mohammed was 
 informed of the caravan that approached on one sidcj and of the 
 hundred horse and 850 foot of the Koreish, which advanced 
 for its protection on the other. Power was dearer to him than 
 wealth ; a stream and an entrenchment hastily formed covered 
 his troops. " O God ! " he exclaimed, as the enemy de- 
 scended the hills, " if these be destroyed, by whom wilt thou 
 be worshipped : courage, my children : close your ranks, dis- 
 charge your arrows, and the day is your own*" So saying, 
 he withdrew with Abubekr, to a hut which he had formed, 
 and instantly demanded the succour of Gabriel and three thou- 
 sand angels. This retreat secured his personal safety. Gibbon 
 suggests a suspicion of his courage ; Sprenger represents him 
 as of a timorous disposition ; and, contrary to the popular notion 
 of hin), it may at least be said that he did not, except when 
 it was indispensable, take a prominent part in the battles in 
 which he was engaged. The Moslems were hard pressed, and 
 in that critical moment he started from his seat, mounted his 
 horse, and cast a handful of gravel into the air, saying, " Let 
 their faces be covered with confusion." Both armies heard the 
 thunder of his voice : his adherents imagined that they were
 
 37 
 
 assisted by angels ; the Koreisli fancied tlieni to be twice as 
 many as tliemselves: they trembled, and, in their panic, 
 fled : seventy of the bravest were slain, and the same number 
 of captives adorned this first victory. His loss was only foiu'- 
 teen. The Koran (viii.) expressly ascribes the victory to the 
 angels. " Ye slew them not, but God slew them ; neither didst 
 thou cast the gravel into their eyes when thou didst cast it, 
 but God cast it, that he might prove the true believers by a 
 gracious trial from himself." The dead bodies were despoiled 
 and insulted, two of the most obnoxious prisoners were put to 
 death, and 4000 drachms of silver, the ransom of the others, 
 compensated in some degree for the escape of the caravan. Abu 
 Sofian in vain explored a new road through the desert, and 
 along the Euphrates : he was overtaken by the diligence of the 
 Moslems, and so great was the prize, that the fifth, set apart 
 for the Prophet, amounted to 20,000 drachms. Resentment 
 stimulated Abu Sofian to collect 3000 men, and his wife, Henda, 
 with fifteen matrons, sounded their timbrels to encourage them 
 with the praises of Hebal, the most po})ular of their deities. 
 The standard of the only God was upheld by near a thousand 
 Moslems, and the disproportion of numbers was not greater 
 than in the victorious field of JJedr. This second battle \vas 
 fought on Mount Ohud, six miles to the north of Medina. 
 The idolaters advanced in a crescent, and the right wing of 
 the cavalry was led by Kli:ilc<l, the most celebrated of their 
 warriors. The Moslems were jii<liciously posted on the de- 
 clivity of the hill, and their rear was guarded by fifty archers. 
 The weight oftlicir charge broke the centre of the idolaters, 
 but in the pursuit the advantage of tiie ground was lost, and 
 the nrclicrs deserted their station, tempted by the s])oil, nnd 
 disordered their ranks. The intrepid Khaled, wheeling his 
 cavalry on their flank and rear, exclaimed, with :i loud voice, 
 that Moliannued was slain, lie had, indeed, been wounded in 
 the face with a javelin, and two of his teeth were shatteretl with 
 a stone; yet, in the midst of tunitdt and dismay, he re])roached 
 his enemies with the murder of a prophet, and blessed the friendly 
 hand that staunched his blood, and conveyed liini to a place
 
 38 
 
 of safety. Seventy who fell were regarded as martyrs wlio 
 died for the sins of the people : they fell in pairs, each brother 
 emhracino; his lifeless companion : their bodies Avere mangled 
 by the inhuman women, and the wife of Abu Sofian even 
 tasted the heart of his uncle Hamza. This defeat had nearly 
 proved fatal to Islam, as it tempted his men to question the 
 claims to a divine commission of a prophet who was no longer 
 supported by victory. To still their murmurs, he ascribed 
 their defeat to the sins of some of the combatants, and produced 
 a revelation declaring the unchangeable nature of God's abso- 
 lute decrees. They soon rallied, and their opponents did 
 not venture to undertake the siege of Medina. It was, however, 
 attacked the ensuing year by an army of 10,000, and this third 
 exjiedition is named indifferently from the nations who marched 
 under the loanner of Abu Sofian, or from the ditch which was 
 drawn before the city, Mohammed prudently declined a ge- 
 neral engagement, but the valour of Ali was signalized in a 
 single combat, and the war was protracted twenty days, till 
 the separation of the confederates. Their tents were over- 
 turned by a tempest, quarrels ensued, and the Koreish, 
 deserted by their allies, despaired of subverting his power. 
 This retreat enabled him to turn his arms against the Jews, 
 who had excited and joined in the war ; and on the very day on 
 which the nations had retired from the ditch he .marched 
 against the hostile tribe of Koraidha, who, after a short resist- 
 ance, surrendered at discretion to Saad, prince of the tribe of 
 Aus, their old friends and confederates, relying upon their 
 intercession : but their chief, incensed at their breach of faith, — 
 for they had broken their league with Mohammed, — prayed that 
 he might not die of the Avound he had received till he had seen 
 their just punishment. He therefore adjudged that all the 
 men should be put to the sword, and the women and children 
 made slaves. Mohanmied, on hearing his decision, cried 
 out that Saad had pronounced the sentence of God, and, in con- 
 sequence, ordered the immediate massacre of between six hundred 
 and seven hundred men. The horses he assigned to his fugitives, 
 saying that his helpers had enough already : and the moveable
 
 39 
 
 property he divided among his followers, remitting his oavu 
 fifth. The author of this cruel judgment died soon after of 
 his wound, and Mohammed spoke his funeral oration. The 
 women were sold or exchanged for horses or ai'ms ; and a young- 
 damsel of peculiar attraction he added to the number of his 
 wives. 
 
 Five times each day the eyes of the Moslems had been 
 ordered to tm-n towards Mecca, and Mohammed was urged by 
 the most powerful motives to revisit, as a conqueror, the city 
 from which he had been forced to fly. The Caaba was present 
 to his waking and sleeping fancy, and it is not surprising that 
 he should dream that he had its key in his hand, and that he 
 had performed the ceremonies of the pilgrimage. The next 
 morning he told his dream to his followers, and it was accepted 
 as a prediction and omen of the early possession of the object of 
 their desire. This march, however, though at the head of 
 14,000 men, only displayed the peaceful pomp of a pilgrimage. 
 Seventy camels, bedecked for sacrifice, preceded the van, and 
 the sacred territory was respected ; but the Korcish felt a rea- 
 sonable jealousy, and, when he ari'ived on the borders of their 
 territory, they forbade his entrance. The Bedouins, who had 
 foll(;wed him less from piety than ho])es of plunder, might be 
 tempted to desert ; the Koreish, as he said, had put on their leo- 
 pard-skins ; and on this occasion, at least, he " sunk into the cool 
 and cautious p(jlitician," concluding a ten years' truce, on the 
 condition that all within Mecca who [(leased might join him, and 
 all with him who chose to leave him might return, but that for 
 the future any who came to him should l)e sent back on demand. 
 It was also stipulated that he and his peo])le might come on ])il- 
 grimage unarmed, provided they only staid three days. This 
 zeal of his opponents was equal to that of his followers, for they 
 refused to acknowledge his title of Messenger <jf Gotl, mikI he 
 consented to waive it, ordering Ali to substitute the Sou of Abd- 
 ;dluh. " A cloud of sliame and sorrow," says Gibbon, " hung 
 on their retreat, and their disappointment might justly accuse the 
 failure of a prophet who had so often ajijiealed to the evidence of 
 success." The rem.'irk is natufiil, but the phlegmatic historijui
 
 40 
 
 was little capable of judging the feelings of enthusiasts. If any 
 misgiving did arise it was silenced by the 48th chapter of his 
 Koran ; and he was, by the chief men of his army, before he 
 left his encampment, spontaneously inaugurated. The truce 
 enabled him to complete the subjugation of the Jews by 
 the assault and capture of their chief residence, Kaibar. Their 
 king was tortured m his presence to discover his hidden 
 treasures, and Mohammed added the betrothed bride of his son 
 to the number of his many wives. Markhhab, a giant commander 
 of one of his forts, is said to have been hewn in two by Ali, with 
 a single stroke of the sabre. After the capture, Mohammed 
 went to lodge with his family, and his sister Zeinab provided 
 for him his favourite dish, a shoulder of mutton. The guest 
 who first tasted it fell down dead, and the prophet spat out the 
 morsel he had taken, saying it had told him it was poisoned, 
 a figure of speech out of which a miracle has been fabricated. 
 Interrogated as to her motive, she replied, " I wished to ascer- 
 tain if thou wert a prophet : if thou art, it will not hurt thee ; 
 if not, I should deliver my country from an impostor." The 
 shepherds and husbandmen were permitted, during pleasure, 
 to improve their patrimony ; but under the reign of Omar 
 they were removed into Syria, and the Khalif alleged the 
 injunction of his dying master, that the true religion sliould 
 alone be professed in his native land. 
 
 The next year Mohammed returned, according to agreement, 
 to complete his pilgrimage, for before he had been forbidden to 
 visit the temple, and had been obliged to shave himself and kill 
 his victims at his encampment. On learning his intention the 
 Koreish had retired to the hills, and the country was almost 
 deserted, but he faithfully adhered to the treaty, by withdraw- 
 ing on the fourth day. Those who remained were edified by his 
 behaviour, and he was acknowledged as prophet by three most 
 important converts, Othman eben Telha, the guardian of the 
 ( Jaaba, and Khaled and Anu'u, the future conq uerors of Syria and 
 Egypt. The same year is also memorable for the first engagement 
 of the Moslems with the troops of the Emperor, from whom they 
 were so soon to wrest so many of his provinces. On returning
 
 41 
 
 in triumph from the Persian war, Heraclius had entertained 
 at Hems one of the ambassadors of Mohammed, who had been 
 sent to invite to Islam, not only the petty Arab kings and 
 the friendly sovereign of Ethiopia, but also himself and his 
 rival, Khosru, the Persian monarch On this slight foundation 
 Moslem authors affirm the secret conversion of the emperor ; 
 and the vanity of the Greek historians feigns a personal visit 
 of Mohammed, who accepted from the royal bounty a rich 
 domain, and a secure retreat on the supposition of his failure. 
 But this friendship, such as it was, was not to be lasting; for 
 an ambassador whom he had sent to the governor of Bosra 
 had been assassinated by an Arab of the tribe of Gassan, 
 who commanded for the Emperor, at Muta, in the district 
 of Bclka, about three days' journey east of Jerusalem. He 
 resolved to be revenged, and assembled a force of 3000 
 chosen men. The sacred banner was entrusted to his devoted 
 Zaid ; and such was the enthusiasm of his followers, that the 
 noblest chiefs served, without reluctance, luidcr one who had 
 l)een his menial slave; but the distinctions of this world 
 were superseded by their religious equality. In the event 
 of his decease, Jaafar and Abdallah were successively sub- 
 stituted to the command; and, if the three should perish, 
 th(! troops were authorized to elect their own general. Zaid 
 fell like a soldier in the foremost ranks. Jaafer shifted the 
 standard from his right hand, which he lost, to his Ictt : that tott 
 was severed fnjm his body; and he then (unbraced the standard 
 with^iiis bleeding stumjts, and was transfixed to the ground 
 with fifty wounds. "Advance," cried Aljdallah, who step[)ed 
 into the vacant place, " advance w Itli confidence: either victory 
 i>v Paradise is our own." The lance of a Boni;m decidecl 
 his fate, but tin; falling standanl was ivscucd by Klialed, 
 the. recent proselyte. Nine swords were broken in his hand, 
 imd his valour repulsed the superior numbers of the Christians. 
 In the night council he was chosen commander. His evolutions 
 of the ensuing day secured their retreat, and he is renowned 
 among the Gre*'ks, as well as his countrymen, by tlie ajtpella- 
 tion iA'T/ifSicordofCiod. In the jxiipit Mohaunned described
 
 42 
 
 ■with prophstic raptures the crowns of the blessed martyrs ; but 
 in j)riyate he betrayed the feehngs of human nature: he was 
 surprised as he wept over his freed-man's daughter. " What 
 do I see ?" said the astonished believer. " You see," replied 
 the Apostle, " a friend who is deploring the loss of his most 
 faithful friend." The period since his repulse from Mecca had 
 been usefully emploj^ed in successful and profitable skirmishes, 
 Tlie attack of the Koreish upon a tribe with which he was 
 allied he considered justified the breach of the truce, which 
 had still two years to rmi, and he prepared a force sufficient to 
 accomplish his grand object. He collected ten thousand men from 
 various tribes buthad not announced his intention, and the secret 
 was kept, till the blaze of ten thousand fires proclaimed, to their 
 astonishment, their approach and irresistible force. Resistance 
 was out of the question. Abu Sofian, himself, presented the 
 keys of the city, admired tlie arms and ensigns that passed in 
 review before him, observed that the son of Abdallah had ac- 
 quired a mighty kingdom, and confessed, under the scimitar 
 of Omar, that he was the Apostle of the true God. Mohammed 
 had shewn, on several occasions, that he had the revengeful 
 feelings of the Arab, and had more than once encouraged, and 
 even commanded, the assassination of his personal enemies. 
 But now, instead of indulging his own passions, or those of his 
 followers, he spared the guilty city, and, by his clemency, 
 united all parties in his favour. As they entered Mecca, twenty- 
 eight of the inhabitants were slain by Khaled : and eleven men 
 and six women were proscribed by the Prophet himself, bjit he 
 blamed the cruelty of his lieutenant. The chiefs were pro- 
 strate at his feet. " What mercy can you expect from the 
 man whom you have wronged ?" " We confide in the genero- 
 sity of our kinsman." " And you shall not confide in vain. 
 Begone ! you are safe, you are free." The people earned 
 their pardon by the profession of Islam, and the fugitive 
 is now enthroned as the prophet and prince of his native 
 land. The idols of the Caaba were ignominiously broken, and 
 not even the statues of Abraham and Ishmael were spared. 
 The so-called Messenger of God, as an example to future
 
 43 
 
 times, again t'ulfilled the duties of a pilgrim, sacrificing, on liis 
 own account, sixty-three victims according to the number of 
 his years, and thirty-seven for All ; and he concluded with a 
 sermon to his immense congregation, in which he introduced 
 these verses — " Woe to them who reject your religion, and 
 my pleasure is that your religion be Islam." It was now 
 enacted that no unbeliever should dare to set his foot on the 
 territory of the holy city. 
 
 The conquest of Mecca determined, generally speaking, the 
 faith and obedience of the Arabian tribes, who, according to 
 the vicissitudes of his fortune, had obeyed or disregarded the 
 eloquence and arms of the Prophet. An obstinate remnant, 
 Iiowever, still remained; and the battle of Honain, only three 
 miles from jMccca, which, at its commencement, threatened his 
 destruction, ended in his final triumph. Four thousand ad- 
 vanced with speed to surprise the conqueror, in whose army 
 of 12,000 was now displayed the banner of Mecca, as well as 
 that of the city which had adopted him. The Koran (ix.) 
 reproaches them for their confidence in the vast superiority 
 of their numbers; for, relying on their strength, they de- 
 scended without precaution into the valley, the heights of 
 wjiich had been occupied by the archers and slingers of the 
 confederates. Their superior number was here unavailing, 
 their discipline was confounded, and their courage was ap- 
 palled by the unexpected attack. The soldiers dispersed, 
 and their prf)i)het, on his wliite mnle, encompassed by the 
 enemy, attcmptojl to rush against th(.'ir spears in search of an 
 honourable death. Ten of his faithful companions interposed 
 tlicir wcajtons and their breasts: three of them fell (l(>ad at his 
 feet. '* ( )h my brethren," he repeatcrlly cried, with sorrow and 
 indignation, " F am the son oC Abdallah : I am the Apostle of 
 God, who is no liar. Oh men, stand fast in the faith 1 ( )h God, 
 send down succour I"' Ills uncle, Abbas, made the valley rc- 
 souud with a loiid ic(it:il of the gifts and promises of (iod. 
 The flying Moslems retumed from all sides to the holy 
 staudaril. 'I'lie conduct and example of their leaders restored 
 the battle, and Mohammed aninuitrd his victorious troops to
 
 44 
 
 inflict a merciless revenG;o on the authors of their shame. From 
 the field of llonain he marched without delay to the siege of 
 Tayeff'; but it was in vain that he offered to the slaves 
 who formed part of the garrison freedom, violated his own 
 law by cutting down their fruit trees, and had even made a 
 breach in the walls ; for, after a siege of twenty days, he sounded 
 a retreat. The expedition was upon the whole fortunate, 
 for the spoil amounted to 6000 captives, 24,000 camels, 40,000 
 sheep, and 4000 ounces of silver. One tribe redeemed their 
 prisoners by the sacrifice of their idols ; and Mohammed com- 
 pensated the army for the loss by resigning his own share of 
 the spoils, and declared that he wished, for their sake, that he 
 possessed as many head of cattle as there were trees in the 
 province of Tehama. Instead of chastising the disaffection of 
 the Koreish, who had proved but cold allies, he endeavoured, 
 as he expressed it by a strong figure, to cut out their tongues, 
 and to secure their doubtful adherence by a superior measure 
 of liberality. Abu Sofian, his former opponent, was converted 
 to so profitable a religion by a present of three hundred camels 
 and twenty ounces of silver. The fugitives and the lielpers 
 alike complained that they who had risked the danger were 
 neglected in the season of victory ; but his answer was, " Suffer 
 me to conciliate these recent enemies, these doubtful proselytes, 
 by the gift of some perishable goods. To, your guard I entrust 
 my life and fortunes. You are the companions of my exile, 
 of my kingdom, of my Paradise." "Grant us," said envoys 
 from Tayeff, who were afraid of a repetition of the siege, 
 " Apostle of God, a truce of three years, with the tolera- 
 tion of our ancient worship." " Not a month, not an 
 hour." " Excuse us, at least, from the obligation of prayer." 
 " Without prayer religion is of no avail." They submitted: 
 their temples were demolished, and the same sentence of 
 flestruction was executed on all the idols of Arabia. With 
 the exception of the Christian tribe of Najrar, which accepted 
 the alternative of tribute, and Yemama, which at his death 
 acknowledged the rival prophet Moseilama, the whole of Arabia 
 now agreed in the confession of the one God, whom he had pro-
 
 45 
 
 claimed, and oi' liini as liis Apostle, and he was attended 
 on liis last pilgrimage by 114,000 persons. I will close this 
 brief narrative of events, apparently insignificant, but fraught 
 with the most important results, not only in this world but in 
 the next, with his only personal invasion of the empire, which 
 would not deserve to detain us, had it not been followed, so soon 
 iifter his death, by the conquest, both of Syria, and of Egypt. He 
 professed to anticipate the hostile preparations of the emperor, 
 and declared war, without attempting to disguise the hardships 
 and dangers of the expedition. The Moslems were discouraged: 
 they alleged the want of money, horses, and provisions, the 
 season of harvest, and the intolerable heat of sunnner. " Hell 
 is much hotter," said the indignant prophet. He disdained to 
 compel tlieir service, but on his return he punished the. most 
 guilty by an excommm i ication of fifty days. The desertion of many 
 enhanced the merits of Abubekr, Othman, and the other fiiithful 
 companions, who exhausted their property in ])rocuring the 
 necessary supijlies, and again he displayed his banner at the head 
 of 10,000 horse and 20,000 loot. Painful was the distress of the 
 march : lassitude and thirst Avere aggravated by the scorching 
 and ])estilential wind, and ten men were obliged to ride by 
 turns upon one camel. In tlu; mid-way, ten days' journey 
 from Medina and Damascus, they reposed neiu' the grove and 
 foinitain of Tubuc, antl Mohaiinned declined proceeding f iu"f lici-. 
 declaring himself satisfied with the emperor's pacific intentions. 
 Having laid the foundation of his empire, he was sood chIKhI 
 upon to leave tlie enjoyment and extension of it to others. His 
 hist act was the sending out an ex])editIon to avenge the death 
 of his fav(jurite Zaid, and he placed it under the command ol' 
 his son. Two days after he had an attack of fever, which 
 brought on delirium. During oin' ol' its fits in the night he 
 aw(jke a slave, saying, that lie had been roinmanded to pray 
 for those who were buried in the great cenielery. < )u the spot 
 he told the dead that their condition was better than that of tii<' 
 living, for storms were approaching ; and, turning to his atten- 
 dant, he added, " I have the o|)tion of remaining in this world, 
 with its treasures o])ened to me, as long as it lasts, or of going
 
 46 
 
 to iny Lord, and that I have chosen." His fever raged so fu- 
 riously, that he exchiimed, " None of the Proplicts have endured 
 such torments, but the greater my sufferings the more glorious 
 will be my reward." At his request his Avivcs poured buckets 
 of water on him, and he was so refreshed that he was able 
 tlie next morning to enter the mosque. He there said publicly 
 what he had privately told his slave : " God has permitted one 
 of liis servants to choose between the pleasures of this world and 
 of the next, and he has chosen the last." Abubekr, perceiving 
 that he referred to himself, exclaimed, weeping, " We will give 
 up for thee ourselves and our chilcken." " Moderate your 
 feelings," he replied ; and then, turning to the congregation, said, 
 " Shut up all the doors that open into the mosque, except that 
 of Abubekr, for I have no companion more excellent, and if I 
 required among men a friend and a brother I would select him." 
 He then said, " Whoever has any thing on his conscience let him 
 reveal it, that I may entreat God's favour for him." Upon 
 this, one, who had passed hitherto for a devout Moslem, came 
 forward and said, " I have been a hypocrite and a liar." 
 " Why," exclaimed Omar, " dost thou make known what God 
 has concealed ?" But Mohammed replied, " Son of Khatab, 
 it is better to blush in this world than in the next : grant him, 
 O God, sincerity and belief, and remove from him sluggishness 
 in fulfilling thy commands, if he longs after them in his heart." 
 Then, in imitation of Moses and Samuel, he addressed the people, 
 saying, " If I ever have beaten any one, let him in like manner 
 beat me ; if I have ever wounded any one's reputation, let him 
 retaliate on mine ; if I have defrauded any man of money, let 
 him take it back from mine, and let him fear no resentment 
 from me, for that is not in my disposition." A claim was made 
 of three dinars, and he paid it, saying, " It is better to suffer 
 disgrace in this world, than in the next." In conclusion, he 
 exhorted the exiles to honour the helpers ; saying, " The 
 number of believers will increase, but that of the helpers can- 
 not. They are my family, with whom I found a home. Do 
 good to those who do good to them, and separate yourselves 
 from those who treat them as enemies." He then left the
 
 47 
 
 mosque so exhaused that lie fainted on reaching Ayesha's house. 
 At the time of evening prayer, being unable to attend, he 
 desired that Abubekr should take his place. Findimg, how- 
 ever, that his absence had caused a great sensation, he con- 
 trived to come in, supported by Ali, Fadl, and Abbas ; and, 
 taking his place, said, " 1 have heard that the death of 
 your Prophet fills you with alarm ; but has ever a Prophet be- 
 fore me lived for ever, that you should believe that I should 
 not be taken from you? I now go to my Loi*d. My last 
 request is, that you love and honour the first exiles as well as 
 the helpers, and I admonish you to mutual concord." He 
 then read several passages from the Koran, (cm.). He visited 
 the mosque several times more, standing sometimes at the 
 door which led into his dwelling, and listening in silence 
 to the prayer, and often placing himself behind Abubekr, 
 who led, instead of him, the devotions. One day, in a 
 paroxysm, he called for writing materials, that he might 
 set down something that would, after his dc^ath, keep the 
 believers from error. " He is so ill," said Omar, " that we 
 must not allow this ; and, besides, have we not in the Koran 
 every thing that can guard us from error ?" As they disputed, 
 he desired them to leave him ; and when they returned he 
 expressed a wish not to be disturbed. It may be conjectui*al 
 that he wished to name his successor, and that Omar prevented 
 it, fearing that he might nominate, not his friend Abubekr, but 
 Ali. On the last day of his illness he came into the mosque, 
 and looked so well, that the congregation, in their joy, could 
 hardly attend to their j)raycr.s, and Al)ul)ekr and AH, and 
 some of his wives, went to look alter their ailairs. lie had, 
 soon after, a severe attack. Before he lost his consciousness he 
 emancipated his slaves, and ordered six or seven dinars, 
 which he had in the house, to be divided among the poor: 
 then he prayed, " (iod be w itli im in the agony of death.'" 
 Ayesha and llafsa sent to their i»ai-cnts, but Ix-fctre their 
 arrival he had exitired in the arms of the first. His last words 
 are said to have been, " To the highest conqtanicjns in Paradise," 
 and they are interpreted into a n.-ference to his choice between
 
 ():<-'. 
 
 48 
 
 eternal happiness and a longer life on earth. Thus, in his 
 A.t'- sixty-fourth year, expired Mohammed, a believer, as I conceive, 
 though he may have had occasional misgivings, in his own 
 mission. Certainly, in the short period of ten years, from his 
 flight to his death, he left that impression upon his followers, 
 which they have communicated to distant lands and to future 
 ages. How different might have been the result if he had 
 read the scriptures and understood their contents ; but he was 
 raised up to be a scourge of the corrupt churches of the East, 
 who have ever since borne the heavy yoke of these proud 
 Unitarians, who reproach them with idolatiy, and, notwith- 
 standing the affliction of centuries, they have never emanci- 
 pated themselves from the bondage of superstition to enjoy the 
 glorious liberty of the children of God. 
 
 This mortal disease, though violent enough to deprive him 
 at times of reason, still left him abundant opportunity for the 
 settling of his worldly concerns. He, however, studiously 
 abstained from even a hint respecting his successor, and he gave 
 no directions respecting the preservation or publication of the 
 revelation which he had professed to have received at sundry 
 times, and in distinct portions, from heaven. He died, I 
 apprehend, well satisfied with the part he had acted, having 
 established, to an extent far, I conceive, beyond his most san- 
 guine early hopes, his dogma of the divine unity, and he 
 might consider that the Koran had effected his object, and 
 might now be thrown away. He might purposely leave the 
 future to God's providence, and might find it hard to choose 
 between the husband of his daughter and the father of his 
 favourite wife. The birth, the alliance, and the character of 
 Ali would have fully justified his succession. He was the 
 hereditary chief of the family of Hasham, and, as such, the 
 authorised keeper of the city and the temple. The husband 
 of the Prophet's only surviving child might reasonably expect 
 the inheritance of her father, and their children had often been 
 fondled in his lap, and shewn in the pulpit, as the hope of his 
 age, and the chiefs of the youths of Paradise. As the first 
 believer in his mission, Ali might aspire to precedence in both
 
 49 
 
 worlds, and none of his followers united, as he did, the qualifi- 
 cations of saint, soldier, and poet, Mohammed had never for 
 a moment been forsaken by this affectionate companion, Avhom 
 he had accepted, when he first proclaimed his mission, as his 
 vizir. At the siege of Khaibar, when Omar and Abubekr 
 had twice planted his standard on the breach, and twice been 
 forced to retire, IMohammed said that on the morrow he 
 would place it in the hands of a friend of God and of the 
 people, who knew not how to turn his back, meaning Ali ; 
 and his son-in-law did not suffer this boast to be falsified. It 
 was to Ali that he entrusted his authority at home, on his first 
 invasion of the empire ; and on his repining at this involuntary 
 detention, he was checked by the flattering speech, " Will you 
 refuse to perform to me the part which Aaron did to Moses ?" 
 lie had brought over to the faith the flourishing province of 
 Yemen, and the hand of Fatima was his reward. Never- 
 theless, Ali's lofty spirit and hereditary claims were offen- 
 sive to an aristocracy of elders, desirous of maintaining an 
 elective monarchy ; and Ayesha, in whose house his father-in- 
 law passed his last illness, would not only naturally desire the 
 elevation of her own father, but wished also to revenge herself 
 upon Ali, who liad suggested the interrogation of licr female 
 attendant, wlicn, under suspicious appearances, she IkkI oii a 
 march Itccn absent for a whole niglit. The hatred, which she 
 ill consequence nourished against Ali would lead her to resist 
 his claims; yet she remonstrated against her father's being 
 sent to the mosrpie by Mohammed, to supply his j)lace: but 
 tliis was probably meant merely as a blind, since, on lii^^ return, 
 he reprf)ached her with hypocrisy. That ;i|i|iointni( iit seemed 
 equivalent to naming liim his successor, uml iMohannned's 
 afl'ection might well be divided between his nephiw :uiil his 
 early friend, wiio alone had shared his danger in ilic cnw, and 
 whose prudence and mature years he might judge fitter to 
 consolidate the empire, which Ali, by his boldness, was better 
 qualified to gain. Abubekr had acquired the tifli' of the 
 faithful witness, from vouching for the reality of his jo>n'- 
 ney to heaven, :uid he enjoyed also that of the I'reserved, 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 for the pro])liet once pointed him out ns a person who had 
 heen secured from hell. Mohanuned died at a critical period, 
 for his success had encouraged others to assume the prophetical 
 office, and he had two competitors, in different provinces, at 
 the head of considerable armies; while two of the Moslem 
 tribes opposed the levying tithes, and the helpers and the 
 fugitives were at variance, and talked of setting up inde- 
 pendent successors to their prophet. Omar would have been 
 a formidable rival to any candidate; and Abubekr availed 
 himself of Ali's absence, who was engaged in preparing his 
 father-in-law's funeral, to propose him and Abu Obeidah to 
 the choice of an influential meetino;. The disinterested Omar 
 put an end to the discussion, by declaring himself the subject 
 of Abubekr. The urgency of the case, and the acquiescence 
 of the people, might justify this precipitation; yet he after- 
 wards confessed, from the pulpit, that if the example should be 
 followed, both the elector and the elected ought to be put to 
 death. All kept aloof, notwithstanding Omar's threat to burn 
 his house over his head; but Abu Sofian, who at first 
 supported him, was drawn off by the nomination of his son, 
 Moawiyah, to the command of the army; and the death of 
 Fatima, who survived her father only a few months, lessened 
 his importance. He condescended, therefore, to acknowledge 
 his rival as Commander of the Faithful, accepted the excuse of 
 the necessity of an immediate election, and rejected his cour- 
 teous offer of resigning in his favour. The devoted followers 
 of IMohammed had been with difficulty persuaded that their 
 idolized chief could be no more. Omar insisted, that, as Moses 
 went up to the mount for forty days, their prophet had only 
 disappeared for a season ; but his uncle. Abbas, maintained 
 the reality of his death, and Abubekr went into his daughter's 
 apartment and saw the corpse. He attempted in vain to 
 silence Omar ; and, failing, turned to the peo])le, assured them 
 of the fact, and proved from the Koran that he had no promise 
 of exemption from the common lot of humanity. A discussion 
 arose respecting the disposal of his body. The Fugitives argued 
 for the place of his birth, the Helpers for that of his residence
 
 51 
 
 and death, and some even talked of conveying it to Jerusalem 
 for interment with the former prophets. Ayesha terminated 
 the dispute by a saying of her husband, " May God destroy 
 those who make his temple the grave of his prophets ! " and 
 Abubekr called to mind another, " That they should be buried 
 where they died." His grave was accordingly dug under his 
 bed, and Abubekr and Omar prayed over his remains. Both 
 were afterwards deposited near him, and the Khalif Walid so 
 enlarged the mosque as to include the three tombs within it. 
 
 The reign* of Abubekr lasted only two years; but it was 
 long enough, not only to establish Islam in its own land, on a 
 firm foundation, but to commence a war against the Romans, 
 which gave a promise of its triumphant close by the capture of 
 Damascus. He died at the same age as the prophet, and I 
 may call it premature, his death being the consequence of a 
 fever, occasioned by bathing on a cold day. During his illness 
 he made Omar officiate in the mosque, and, to avoid the 
 evils of an election, named him his successor in his will. 
 Omar entreated he might be excused, saying he had no 
 need of the jjlace. " ]>ut the place has need of you," replied 
 the dying Khalif," and on his leaving the room he lifted up 
 his hand, and said, " In this, O God, I have no other design 
 than the good of the people, and have set over them the best 
 man." This provision was effectual, for AH acquiesced in the 
 choice, and was afterwards conciliated by the most flattering 
 attentions. Omar was the first saluted as Ameer al moumenin, 
 (jy<y^^ Xt*^> the Chief of the Faitlifnl, the designation of all 
 subsequent Klialifs. He, too, died at the same age as the 
 projihct; Init his triumphant reign of more than ten years was a" 
 cut short by a Persian assassin, who was dissatisfied witli his 
 unfavourable decision of a |)rivat(! cause. 
 
 His mode of life, like liis j)re(lecessors, was that, not ol' a 
 prince, but of a hermit. His diet was barley bread, wliicli, 
 for mortification, he would sometimes cat without salt; and 
 he strictly adhered to the prohibition of his new religion, 
 drinking only water. He observed prayers, .iiid fastings, 
 
 * In this historical sketch I have followed (iilthon, niid often in his own 
 words, hut other anthorities have heen consulted. 
 
 !•: 2 
 
 r<34.
 
 52 
 
 and all religions duties, and performed the pilgrimage 
 nine times. His friend and predecessor had set him an example 
 of a self-denying life, in a station in which he might have 
 gratified all his passions. On his death-hed, he desired his 
 daughter, to whom he owes his surname, to take an inventory 
 of all he had acquired as Khalif, preparatory to its distribution, 
 and it amounted to no more than five gold pieces. " He has 
 left a liard pattern," said Omar. Yet he did not fall short of 
 his model ; for he, too, when dying, even acted upon a stricter 
 principle, for he apportioned the division of his treasure, not 
 according to the invidious scale of presumed merit, but that of 
 actual want, saying, " Worldly gifts are assigned us for the 
 relief of our necessities, and not for the reward of virtue, 
 which belongs to another life." Plis strict integrity, and the 
 simj)licity of his habits, gained him such respect, that it was 
 said his walkino;-stick struck more terror into men's hearts 
 than the sword of another. He survived his wound three 
 days, and was urged to imitate Abubekr in appointing his suc- 
 cessor. He had some fault, however, to find in all whose 
 names were suggested ; he said that Ali was not serious 
 enough for so mighty a charge, and that Othman, the prophet's 
 secretary and son-in-law, was too partial to his friends. It 
 was guessed that this fastidiousness was assumed, from a 
 secret preference of his own son ; but upon his being proposed, 
 he remarked that it was enough for one in a family to 
 have an account to give of such an administration. It was 
 finally settled to leave the election to six familiar companions 
 of the prophet, and he limited their deliberations to three 
 days. 
 Ci4. Their choice fell upon Othman, who reigned near twelve 
 years; and his conduct confirmed Omar's character of him, 
 and caused his premature death, for such it was, though in his 
 eighty-third year. He was actually besieged in his own 
 house for three weeks, and was slain by the insurgents, at the 
 head of whom was a son of Abuljeki'. He was weak and 
 injudicious ; yet, like the preceding Khalifs, devout and con- 
 scientious. His charity was extensive, his fasts were fre- 
 quent, and he was in the habit of continually reading the 
 
 A.IJ.
 
 53 
 
 Koran, which lay on his lap when he was attacked by his 
 murderers. 
 
 His murder made room for Ali, twenty-five years after the ^^V 
 death of his father-in-law, and he appears to have accepted 
 with reluctance an office which is regarded by a large minority 
 of the Mohammedan world as his undoubted right. The 
 town was full of strangers from the cities of Cufa and Bassora, 
 which owe their foundation to the Khalifs, as well as from 
 Egypt, and was agitated by their contests. Telha and Zubeir, 
 who, with Ayeslia, were his implacable enemies, found it ex- 
 pedient to conceal their feelings, and take an oath of allegiance 
 on the very day of Othman's assassination; and he only 
 yielded to the general voice by their adjuring him to consider 
 the distraction of the people and the state of Islam. Having 
 consented, he determined that it should appear that his acces- 
 sion was the act of the nation ; and his simple inauguration 
 strongly contrasts with the worldly magnificence of the future 
 court of Bagdad, though even Ali assumed the sovereignty of 
 a considerable empire. At an early hour he repaired to the 
 mosque, in a tliin cotton gown, with a coarse turban, in one 
 hand his sHppers, and in the other, instead of a stalf, a bow. 
 His reign, so long exjjected, and, according to his followers, so 
 unjustly deferred, was inglorious; i'or it brought on a civil 
 war, in wliich the Moslems, hitherto the concpierors ol' otlier 
 nations, turned their arms against each other. He disregarded 
 tlve counsel of a relation, who then loM liiui th;it he was a 
 man of courage, but not of conduct. Circumstances, however, 
 were unfavourable; and if a more vigor(;us system might 
 iiavc sup[)ressed discontent at home, it was iiopeless for 
 him to encoutiter at once, abroail, Moawiyah who had 
 become the sovc.-reign of Syria, and Amru, the conqueror of 
 Egypt. Though sixty years of age, he shewed his unfitness 
 by retaining tlie rashness of youth; set aside all the governors 
 of provinces ap])ointed by his predecessor; and while he 
 ott'endcfl Telha iiml Zolxii- by refusing to place them over 
 Cufa and liassora, he neglected to secure their persons. 
 They escaped to Bassora, avowing their intention of avenging
 
 54 
 
 the deatli of Othman, wliicli AH had dccHncd as impolitic, and 
 were accompanied and encoiu*agcd Ly his constant enemy 
 Ayeslia, whose influence appears from lier title of INIother of 
 the Faithful. At the head of 20,000 of his faithful iVrabs, and 
 9000 auxiliaries from Cufa, the Klialif defeated their superior 
 numbers under the walls of Bassora. In this first battle, 
 which stained the arms of the Moslem with their brothers' 
 blood, both leaders were slain, and the widow of the prophet 
 was honourably dismissed to his tomb ; but, she still nourished 
 her hatred of the family of Fatima, and, on the death of her 
 son Hassan, forbade his burial near his grandfather, as the 
 ground was her property. After this victory, called, from the 
 animal that carried Ayesha's litter, " The Day of the Camel," 
 Ali marched against Moawiyah, a more formidable enemy, 
 who had assumed the dignity of Khalif, and was supported 
 by the forces of Syria and the partisans of the house of 
 Ommiyah, of which he was the head. On the plain of 
 SifHn, extending along the western bank of the Euphrates, 
 these competitors waged for a season a desultory war, in which 
 the lawful sovereign exhibited his superiority in humanity, as 
 well as in valour. His troops were strictly enjoined to wait 
 the onset, to spare their flying brethren, and to respect the 
 bodies of the slain and the chastity of the female captives. 
 He generously, to spare bloodshed, proposed a single combat ; 
 but this being declined, the impetuosity of his charge broke 
 the ranks of the Syrians. Wielding his ponderous irresistible 
 two-edged sword, he shouted, whenever he smote a rebel, 
 " God is great ;" and Moawiyah was even meditating flight 
 when victory was snatched from Ali by the device of Amru. 
 On his suggestion, Moawiyah exposed copies of the Koran on 
 the foremost lances, calling out that the Book ought to decide 
 their differences. The stratagem Avas successful, for All's 
 soldiers laid down their arms, and were deaf to the remon- 
 strances of their commander, who, in consequence, returned in 
 grief and indignation to Cufa. A proposed arbitration failed ; 
 and Ali was about to transfer the war to Syria, when his 
 career was suddenly and disastrously closed. Three enthusi-
 
 55 
 
 asts, discussing in tlie temple of Mecca the disorders of 
 the state, soon came to the conclusion that peace and order 
 could only be restored by the death of the two rivals, and of 
 Amru ; and the measure they deemed expedient they Avere 
 prompt to execute. Each selected his victim, and, poisoning 
 his dagger, set out to execute his design. The first, not know- 
 ing the person of Amru, killed, by mistake, his secretary, who 
 that day sujjplicd his place. The sovereign of Damascus was 
 only dangerously wounded by the second ; but the lawful 
 Khalif died from the blow of the third. Meshed Ali, that is, the 
 place of All's martyrdom, is a town which has grown up round 
 his sepulchre, five miles from the deserted Cufa, and is about 
 the size and population of the modern Jerusalem. Many 
 thousands of his sectaries repose at his feet, and the town 
 is enriched by the annual visits of the Persians, who regard 
 a visit to his tomb as equal in merit to the pilgrimage, and 
 even caravans of corpses are brought to be interred in this holy 
 ground. 
 
 These admirers of Ali, who also reject the Traditions, take 
 the title of Adaliyah aJ^i^c- (Followers of .Justice); but are better 
 known by the name of Shiyah &*J^ (Separatists), as they are 
 called by the Turks, who arc Sonnites »juu*>. They curse the 
 three first Klialifs as intruders into the place of Ali ; but the 
 Sonnites, while they honour these four as guides, regard Ali as 
 subordinate to the others ; and even now, after so many ages, 
 treat with the highest respect his reputed descendants, who are 
 distinguished by green turbans, and enjoy certain j)rivilegescven 
 in the dominions of the Sultan. A dogma will splil other i-c- 
 ligions into hostile sects, which persecute when possessed of 
 power ; but it is cxtraf)rdinary that {\mf(icl should have dividivl, 
 and still divide, the Mohaniiiu'daiis into two ]iartics, which 
 hate each other more than they do .Jews or C'hrislians: 
 centuries have passed away since the extinction of the Khahfat, 
 and not even the Turkish Sultan can i)ut forward any reason- 
 able claim to be the successor of his prophet. 
 
 The death of Mohammed's son-in-law ettcctcd an extra- 
 ordinary revolution, for the natural course of events now
 
 56 
 
 *•"• made the son of Abu Sofian the ojiponciit of the prophet and 
 champion of idolatry, the licreditary licad of his sovereignty 
 and his roHgion. Omar liad phiced liiiu in the favourable 
 position of governor of Syria, in the administration of which 
 his humanity and kindness made him popular, and a grateful 
 people, over whom he reigned no less than forty years, either 
 in a subordinate rank or as prince, were attached to a bene- 
 factor who had enriched them out of the property of the 
 Roman province. The duty of avenging the murder of 0th- 
 man was the engine of his ambition ; and he exposed in the 
 mosque of Damascus the bloody shirt of his kinsman. Sixty 
 thousand Syrians bound themselves to him by a vow of fidelity 
 and revenge, and Amru saluted him as Khalif; and thus, by 
 making Damascus the Mohammedan metropolis, he reduced 
 the country of the prophet to its original insignificance. 
 
 Hassan, the eldest son of Ali, was of a mild and retiring 
 disposition, and his abdication was easily brought about by 
 the grant of a magnificent revenue. The aspiring ambition of 
 Moawiyah was crowned w^ith success, by the change of an 
 elective into an hereditary monarchy. Some murmurs of 
 freedom and fanaticism attested the reluctance of the Arabs, 
 but his design was skilfully conducted, and, on the melancholy 
 and still lamented fall of Hosein, the younger son of Ali, 
 Yezid, Moawiyah's feeble and dissolute son, was proclaimed 
 Commander of the Faithful, and successor of the Apostle of 
 God. 
 
 Hosein had more spirit than Hassan : he had even served at 
 the siege of Constantinople, and was encouraged to support his 
 claims by a list, sent him from Cufa, of 140,000 Moslems, 
 ready to fight in his cause, as soon as he shewed himself on 
 the banks of the Euphrates. Contrary to the advice of prudent 
 friends, he resolved to trust his person to these unknown ad- 
 herents, and was even attended, as in peace time, by a retinue 
 of women and children. As he advanced he was alarmed bv 
 the deserted appearance of the country, and his alarm was 
 just. Obeidallah, the governor of Cufa, had contrived to ex- 
 tinguish the first sparks of insurrection, and when he reached
 
 57 
 
 the plain of Kerbelu he was encompassed by 5000 horsemen, who 
 intercepted his connnunication Loth with the city and with the 
 river. He might have escaped to a fort in the desert, and 
 the faithful and dutiful tribe of Tai wonld have armed in his 
 defence. In a conference he offered in vain the option of 
 three honourable courses, and was sternly informed that there 
 was no choice but unconditional surrender, or abiding the con- 
 sequences of his rebellion. " Think you," he replied, " to terrify 
 me with death?" During the respite of the night he prepared 
 liimself with calm resignation to submit to the decree of God, 
 and endeavoured to check the lamentations of his sister 
 Fatima for the impending ruin of their house. " Our trust," 
 he told her, " is in God alone : all things in heaven and in 
 earth must fail, and return to their Creator. My father, and 
 mother, and brother, were better than I, and every Moslem 
 has an example of excellence in the prophet." lie pressed his 
 friends to secure their safety by a timely flight, but they 
 unanimously refused to desert their beloved master, and their 
 resolution was fortified by fervent prayer and the assurance of 
 Paradise. At day-break he mounted his horse, the sword in 
 one hand, in the other the Koran. His devoted band of 
 martyrs consisted of no more than thirty-two horse and fil'ty 
 foot, but their flanks and rear were secin-ed by the tent rojjcs 
 and a deep trench, wliich they filled with lighted faggots. The 
 enemy advanced with reluctance, and a chief, with ihirty fol- 
 lowers, even deserted to partake of martyrdom. The desjjair 
 of this little band was invincible in close fight, but their 
 ojtj)onents gallid tlicni I'rom a distance willi a <l(in(l oI'mitows, 
 and botli horses and men successively ])erishe(l. A truce was 
 granted lor the hour of ])rayer, and the 1)attle finally ceased 
 with the life of the last of the companions of llosein. Alone 
 and Wounded, he was seated at the ojn-ning of his tent, and was 
 pierced in the mouth with a dart as he was refreshing himself 
 with u cuj) of water, llis son and nephew, two beautiful 
 youths, were killed in his arms: he then raised towards 
 lieaven his bloody hands and uttered a funeral j)rayer. His 
 sister, in a trans[)ort of despair, issued fi-<tin the tent, and
 
 58 
 
 adjured the general not to suffer her brother to be murdered 
 before her eyes. A tear trickled down his beard, and the 
 boldest of the soldiers fell back as Ilosein threw himself into 
 *•"• the midst of them. The remorseless Shamer reproached them 
 with cowardice, and the grandson of the prophet was slain with 
 tliirty-three strokes of swords and lances : they trampled on 
 his body, and cut off his head and carried it to Cufa, where 
 the savaffe Obeidallah struck the mouth with a cane. " Alas," 
 exclaimed an aged Moslem, " I have seen upon these lips the 
 lips of the apostle of God." Meshed Hosein, his sepulchre, 
 not far from his father's, is another place of pilgrimage for the 
 Shiyahs ; and in Persia and India they still keep the comme- 
 moration of this affecting tragedy with tlie strongest demonstra- 
 tion of sorrow for the martyr-saint, and of indignation against 
 the memory of his murderers. His sister, and the other descen- 
 dants of Ali, were taken in chains to Damascus, and the Khalif 
 was advised to extirpate this popular and dangerous family, 
 injured beyond the hope of forgiveness. But Yezid was not 
 a tyrant : he therefore dismissed them honourably to their 
 kindred at Medina, with a competent provision. Abdallah, 
 the son of Zobeir, set up a Khalifat in Arabia, but it was an 
 unsuccessful attempt, for, after a nine years, reign, he was 
 besieged and killed, and the house of Ommiyah governed for 
 near a century, from Damascus, the Mohammedan world. 
 
 Whatever the prophet may have been, his early successors 
 appear in history disinterested, frugal, self-denying enthusiasts, 
 while they can-ied on, by their generals, a series of what 
 tliey considered holy wars against idolaters. They had shewn 
 themselves brave in their petty fights, but never sought the 
 crown of martjTdom at the head of their armies, for they 
 deemed the offices of religion and tlie administration of justice 
 to be their special duties. With the exception of Omar's almost 
 compulsory appearance at Jerusalem, when the Patriarch 
 would capitulate to none but him, their expeditions were only 
 short pilgrimages to Mecca ; and they calmly received tidings 
 of tlie conquests of cities, of few of which they could have 
 ever heard, as they prayed or preached near the sepulchre
 
 59 
 
 of their prophet. Their austere and frugal life was the resiilt 
 of early habit, and the influx of wealth never tempted them to 
 give up their simplicity of manners for the costly apparel and 
 magnificence of the sovereigns over whom they had triumphed. 
 Omar, we are told, preached in a torn and tattered gown ; and 
 he is described, when he journeyed to Jerusalem, as mounted 
 on a red camel, which carried a bag both of corn and of dates, 
 with a Avooden dish and a leather bottle of water, and where- 
 ever he halted ready to share with any his homely meal. 
 Rigid towards himself, he was indulgent to others ; for when 
 Abu Obeidah, after the refreshment of three days, withdrew 
 his troops from the contagious luxury of Antioch, he thus 
 mildly censured the general's severity — " God has not for- 
 bidden the good things of this world to faithful men, and to 
 such as have performed good works." But though he despised 
 luxury, and even reasonable comforts, his increasing revenues 
 enabled him to establish a permanent recompense for the ser- 
 vices of his officers. By a rare felicity, these Khalifs united 
 the despatch of despotism with the frugality and equality of a 
 republic. Their worldly successors in the palace of Damascus, 
 the descendants of Ommiyah, were destitute alike of the quali- 
 ties of saints and of statesmen, nor were they, like the dynasty 
 that stipj>lanted them, patrons of learning. Ye/.id drank wine 
 in ])ublic, and scandalized the strict jtrofessors of their faith 
 by keejjing dogs, which are unclean to them, as well as to the 
 •Tews. Except in Syria, their home, they were unpopular ; 
 while the fate of Hosein blackened the memory of Yezid, 
 and the idolatry and reluctant conversion of his grandfather, 
 Abu Sofian the founder of the family, were never forgotten. 
 Their elevation, the result of arms, had no reasonable grounds 
 of justification; nor was the conduct of their Khalifs su<h as to 
 reconcile the public to this departure from election to here- 
 ditary succession. The best of the race, the [)ious (^mar, was 
 dissatisfied with his own title, and the wishes of believers 
 turned towards the kindred of the Prophet. Ilosein, the 
 representative of Abu Thalel), his elder uncle, was no more, 
 and his family were dispirited and hopeless ; but the posterity
 
 60 
 
 of Abbas, a younger uncle and zealous partisan, cherished with 
 discretion their risino- fortune. From an obscure abode in 
 Syria they secretly despatched agents, Avho advocated, in the 
 distant provinces of Persia, their indefeasible right; and Mo- 
 hanmied, the great-grandson of Abbas, gave audiences to 
 deputies from Khorasan, and accepted their free gift of 400,000 
 pieces of gold. On his death the oath of allegiance was trans- 
 ferred to Ibrahim, his son, by a numerous band, who only 
 expected a signal and a leader ; and the faithful and energetic 
 governor of the province, aware of the conspiracy, in vain 
 endeavoured, in prose and verse, to awaken his master from 
 his slumbers, till he and all his adherents were driven 
 from Meru by the rebellious arms of the stern and bloody 
 Abu Moslem. In the quarrel of these factions, which con- 
 vulsed Asia, the latter were generally successful : but their 
 success was clouded by the personal misfortune of their chief.' 
 The court of Damascus was determined to prevent Ibrahim's 
 pilgrimage, undertaken to recommend his cause, and this 
 unhappy claimant of the sovei'eignty, which he was not destined 
 to enjoy, having been intercepted, soon expired in a dungeon, 
 Green, the favourite colour of the prophet, still continues to 
 distinguish the descendants of Ali ; the Ommiadcs appropriated 
 to themselves white; and the fate of Ibrahim induced the 
 house of Abbas to assume black as mourning. Meanwhile 
 Ibrahim's brothers lay concealed at Cufa, till the approach of 
 his eastern supporters enabled them to shew themselves to the 
 imj)atient public. On a Friday, in a Khalif's dress of this 
 adopted black, the eldest, Alsaffah, proceeded in procession to 
 the mosque, where he preached and prayed as sovereign, and 
 on his departure his kinsmen bound a willing people by an 
 oath of fidelity. On the banks of the Zab this contest for 
 empire was decided. Every advantage seemed to be on the 
 side of the Whites, the authority and influence of the govern- 
 ment, in possession of an army of 120,000 men against a fourth 
 of the number, and the presence and merit of Mervan, the 
 fourteenth, and, as it proved, the last of the Ommiades. Before 
 his accession he had distinguished himself as governor of
 
 61 
 
 Georgia ; and Al)ulfeda says, " He might have been ranked 
 amonir the greatest sovereigns, had not that moment been 
 decreed for the ruin of his house ; and no prudence or fortitude 
 could contend with destiny." His orders were mistaken or 
 disobeyed. Having dismounted for a moment, the retui'n of his 
 horse, which had escaped from him, without a rider, spread a 
 rumour of his death, and the enthusiasm of the black squadrons 
 was ably conducted by Abdullah, the uncle of his competitor. 
 After an irretrieveable defeat, the Khalif fled to Mosul ; but, 
 seeing the black flag on its ramparts, he re-crossed the Eu- 
 phrates as well as the Tigris. He abandoned D^iaseus, 
 and, without halting in Palestine, pitched his last camp on 
 the banks of the Nile. His speed was urged by the incessant 
 pursuit of Abdallah, and, in a final battle, a lance terminated 
 his life. A.n. 
 
 The merciless conqueror eradicated even the most distant 
 branches of his hated family, and the martyrdom of Hosein 
 was abundantly revenged on the posterity of his enemies. At 
 Damascus, fourteen who had submitted were invited to a 
 banquet, and massacred; and we are told that the cloth was 
 spread over their mangled bodies, and that the enjoyment of 
 the guests was heightened by the dying groans of their victims. 
 Such was the barbarizing influence of their combined political 
 and religious antijiathy. The cruel Abdallah, not satisfied with 
 this liorriblo feast, warred against the dead, and disinterred the 
 Ixulies of the deceased Khalifs, which were exposed to every 
 indignitv. The only exception was made in favour of tlio 
 second Omar, who had .sui)pressed tlie solemn execration of 
 Ali and his fiinily, which Moawiyah had introduced The 
 discontented said he ought to have transferred the curses to 
 his own house ; but he appealed to tlie example of the Almighty, 
 who had never commanded his i)rophets to curse any, not even 
 Pharaoh, though he required to be honoured as a god. In the 
 ])roscrij)tion of the Ommiades, Abdalnilmian alone escaju'd, 
 and he had been hunted as far as the valleys of Mount Atlas. 
 The approach of this fugitive to Sj)ain revived the hope of 
 the whole faction. The cause of the Abbasides had bcc-n taken
 
 62 
 
 up in Persia ; but the West had escaped civil war, and the ser- 
 vants of the deposed fiiniily still held by a precarious tenure 
 their lands and the offices of government. Prompted by grati- 
 tude, indignation, and fear, the Moslems of Spain offered their 
 throne to the grandson of the Khalif Ilashem, and, in his 
 desperate circumstances, what would otherwise have been 
 raslmess was wisdom. The acclamations of the people saluted 
 ^^' his landing in Andalusia, and, after a struggle, Abdalrahman 
 established the throne of Cordova, and was the father of a S})anish 
 line which reigned two centuries and a half from the Atlantic 
 to the Pyrennees. Thus family dissensions were overruled to 
 dissolve the unity, and consequently to weaken the power and 
 influence of Islam. 
 
 The claim of the Abbasides to the office of Imam as their in- 
 heritance was injudicious, since the house of Ali had unquestion- 
 ably a better title, and their partisans, particularly in Persia, 
 occasioned frequent commotion ; the more so, as some of the 
 Khalifs themselves were dissatisfied with their own position. 
 The glory of martyrdom has been allowed to supersede the right 
 of Hassan, Ali's eldest son; and the twelve Imams, whom the 
 Shiyahs acknowledge as their only legitimate governors, are the 
 lineal descendants of Hosein : the elder branch, however, even 
 now retains the subordinate sovereignty of Mecca, with the 
 custody of the temple. Without arms, revenues, or avowed 
 subjects, these Imams enjoj'ed the popular veneration, and the 
 tombs of most of them are places of pilgrimage. Instead of 
 asserting their rights, they devoted themselves to pious seclu- 
 sion, but their names, without any ambition of theirs, often 
 kindled civil wars. The fourth of them Ali, Hosein's son, 
 bears the title of Zin-alabadein j^^>a«3\ ^jij, the ornament of 
 mankind. His son Mohammed, surnamed ^b Bakr, the pure, 
 and his gi'andson Jaffa Jj'i^ (Sadak), the Sincere, lived and 
 died unmolested at Medina. Mousa, surnamed the Kind 
 ^.1^1^ (Alkhadim), and the Patient ^UaJ^ (Alsaber) the next 
 Imam (Harun Ab-ashid) removed to Bagdad, from appre- 
 hension, and, in the end, it is thought, poisoned. His son Ali 
 Riddha ,_5-^ ^^\ the Acceptable, obtained far gi'eater cele-
 
 63 
 
 brity, for he was not only patronized by Fadlallah, the vizir of 
 Ahnamon, the son of Harun, but the justice of his chiim was 
 conceded by the Khahf himself who even formally announced 
 him as his successor, and, upon the occasion, changed his 
 colours from black to green. But the design was most cala- 
 mitous to all concerned. It produced a revolt of the indignant 
 Abbasides, to the number, it is said, of 23,000 persons, the 
 assassination of the vizir, and probably the premature death 
 soon after of the proclaimed heir. Thus the place of his death 
 and interment has, in consequence^ obtained the title of Meshed, 
 and is regarded by the Shiyahs as so holy, that a single visit to 
 his tomb is said by one of them to be more meritorious than 
 eighty pilgrimages to Mecca. Abu Jaffer Mohammad Aljowad 
 li^^ the Beneficent, is the next Imam ; and the tenth is his son 
 ,_^\ Ali Alzaki the Pure, surnamed ^J^^-^\ Alaskeri, because 
 the jealousy of the Khalif Motaz removed him from Medina to 
 Samarah, also called Asker, the camp, to which he had liimself 
 withdrawn from the turljulence of Bagdad, This Imam closed 
 tliere a life of prayer and study in the forty-second year of his 
 age, and, like many of his predecessors, is supposed to liave been 
 poisoned. Hassan, his son, resided witli him, and was surnamed 
 by his followers \^'^^^ -Alkhalas the Saviour, in the hojic 
 tliat he would deliver the faithful from the Khalif. 'J'heir liopc 
 probably shortened his life, for he died in his twenty-ninth year, 
 leaving an only son, entjtled Mahadi, the Guide, who was born at 
 Samarah, and at nine years of age hid by his mother in a cave. 
 The time and ])laro and manner of his decease arc unknown, 
 and the Shiyali fondly look to his ajjj^earance at the end of tlii' 
 age, when be will unite; with Jesus in attacking Antichrist, and 
 they will amalgamate; Christianity and Islam into one religion. 
 The throne of the Abbasides was cemented with Mood, and 
 their first Khalif is branded in history with the odious litU- of 
 J^JuJ\ Alsatfah the Blood-shedder. The guilt, however, is said 
 to have been that of his uncle, who reigii'il in his name. lie is 
 described as anxious to fulfil liis imjtortant duties ; and it is 
 recorded of him, that, on contemplating his youthful beauty in a 
 mirror, he exclaimed, " I will not rei)eatthe well-known sj)eech
 
 04 
 
 of the young Klialif of Damascas, Soliman, ' I am the king, the 
 prince of youth,' but I will only pray, my God, for life, in order 
 to serve thee, and grant me no other favour than health." The 
 gift, however, was denied, for he soon died of the small-pox, 
 and made room for his brother, against whom their uncle 
 revolted. He was pardoned, and died from the falling in of the 
 floor of his room, caused, it was suspected, by his nephew, Abu 
 Jafter, who assumed the surname of Almanzor the Victorious, 
 and, in a reign of near twenty years, consolidated the empire. 
 Damascus, the capital of the Ommiades, was odious, and it was 
 neither politic nor agreeable to retire into the desert from which 
 the family had emerged. The central situation of Mesopo- 
 tamia seemed preferable ; and, after a trial of other places, he 
 selected Bagdad, the garden of a Christian hermit, for the seat 
 of sovereignity, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and denomi- 
 nated it the city of peace. 
 
 A.i>. These Khalifs, unlike the first four, who are called the 
 ■ Guides, aspired to emulate the magnificence of the Roman 
 emperors and the Persian kings. Mahadi, the son of Almanzor, 
 expended in one pilgrimage six millions of gold dinars. This 
 includes the reasonable foundation of cisterns and caravansaries 
 along, a distance of seven hundred miles ; but a large deduc- 
 tion must be made for the train of camels laden with snow to 
 cool the liquors used at his banquets, so inconsistent with 
 the design and spirit of a pilgrimage. At the nuptials of his 
 grandson, Almamun, the gorgeous East showered with richest 
 hand on the bride's head a thousand of the largest pearls ; and, 
 in the decline of the empire, the lustre of the court was rather 
 heightened than impaired, as is exemplified by Abulfeda's 
 descrij)tion of the palace in which the feeble Moctader received 
 a Greek ambassador. Their rivals, the Ommiades of Spain, 
 supported with equal pomp the title of Commander of the 
 
 A.D. Faithful ; and historians justify the remark, by a description 
 of the palace of Zelira, on which Al)dalrahman expended, 
 in twenty-five years, above three millions sterling. Such 
 luxury relaxed the nerves and arrested the progress of 
 
 A.D. Arabian supremacy. Temporal and spiritual conquest had
 
 65 
 
 been the exclusive occupation of the first Khalifs, who, after 
 supplying themselves with necessaries, scrupulouslv directed 
 to that object their overflowing revenue. The Abbassides were 
 impoverished by the multitude of their wants and their neglect 
 of economy. Their leisure and their desires were diverted 
 from ambition by pomp and pleasure ; the rewards of valour 
 were embezzled by women and servants; and the camp was 
 encumbered by the luxury of the palace. The same temper 
 diffused itself among their subjects. Their stern enthusiasm 
 was softened by time and prosperity. They sought riches in 
 the occupations of industry, fame in the pursuit of learning, 
 and enjoyment in the tranquillity of domestic life. War was no 
 longer their passion, and the increase of pay and the repetition 
 of donations were insufficient to allure the posterity of the 
 voluntary champions who had crowded to the standard of 
 Abubekr and Omar from the hope of spoil or the rewards of 
 paradise, until, like the early Roman emperors, they became 
 the slaves of their own guards. Till they fell under this do- 
 mestic tyranny they were the most absolute sovereigns that 
 had hitherto appeared, for their prerogative was uncircuin- 
 scribed by any hereditary nobility, the constitutional freedom 
 of the people, or the privileges of an hierarchy. The royal and 
 sacerdotal characters were united in their persons; and though 
 the Koran was the rule of their actions, they were its autho- 
 rized interpreters. They reigned, too, by the right of con- 
 quest, over many nations to whum liberty was unknown, even 
 by name, and who were accustomed to acts of severity, which, 
 when exercised as their governors, were even gratifying. In 
 the two years of Omar's reign the Arabs are said to Iiave sul)- 
 dued .3f) ,000 cities, and to have built 14,000 niostpies. One 
 century after the Prophet's flight from Mecca, the enqiire of 
 his successors comprehended I'ersia and provinces in 'J'artary 
 beyond the Oxus, Syria, Egypt, Africa, and even Spain. 
 Islann'yah (a term which may be contrasted with Chrisleinloin), 
 as comprehending all Moslems, under the last of the Ommiades^ 
 was two hundred days' journey in length. It has been com- 
 pared to a robe; and if we cut ott' the sleeve, that is the long 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 and narrow Africa ; the solid and compact dominion, from 
 Fargana to Aden, and from Tarsus to Surat, will spread on 
 every side to more than four months of a caravan's march, 
 over which ample space religion diffused a general uniformity. 
 Tlie Koran, in its two grand divisions as a direction for this 
 world and the next, that is, as jurisprudence and theology, 
 was alike studied at Samarcand and at Seville, and the Moor 
 and the Hindu met as brother pilgrims at the Caaba. 
 
 Within fifty years of the Flight the IMoslems who had pos- 
 sessed themselves of Egypt and Syria, appeared under the walls 
 of Constantinople ; for the ships, which they then for the first 
 time employed, enabled them to pass through the unguarded 
 strait of the Hellespont. The spirit of the Romans was re- 
 kindled by their danger ; and the invaders met with so firm a 
 resistance, that, after a siege almost as long as that of Troy, 
 they were obliged to relinquish their enterprise ; and two sub- 
 sequent sieges, a century, and a century and a-half later, had 
 no better success. But their arms endangered Europe from 
 the side of Spain. The weakness of France, the government 
 of which had fallen from the incompetent successors of Clovis, 
 and was shared by the Mayors of the palace in the north, and 
 by tributary vassals in the south, tempted the invaders. After 
 a defeat under the walls of Toulouse, the Moslems re-passed 
 ^3']' the Pyrenees in greater force, and occupied the south from the 
 mouth of the Garonne to that of the Rhone. Abdalrahman, a 
 victorious commander, who had been restored to the wishes of 
 the people and soldiers of Spain, adjudged to the obedience of 
 the prophet whatever yet remained of France or Europe, and 
 prepared to execute the sentence at the head of an overpower- 
 ing host. He passed, without opposition, the Garonne and the 
 Dordogne, but found beyond them the camp of the intrepid 
 Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, who here sustained a second defeat, 
 so fatal to the Christians, that, according to their own confession, 
 God alone could reckon the number of the slain. "A victorious 
 line of march," says Gibbon, " had been prolonged above a thou- 
 sand miles, from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks of the 
 Loire: the repetition of an equal space would have carried the 
 
 A.T)
 
 67 
 
 Saracens to the confines of Poland. The Rhine is not more im- 
 passable tlmn the Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have 
 sailed, without a naval combat, into tlie mouth of the Thames." 
 He speculates on the probable effect of such an expedition on 
 the theology of Oxford ; but from such contingent calamities 
 Cliristendom ^\'as delivered, humanly speaking, by the courage of •• 
 one man, Charles ]Martel, the illegitimate son of the elder 
 Pepin. No sooner had he collected his forces than he sought 
 and found the enemy in the centre of France, between Poi- ^^ „ 
 tiers and Tours. In six days of desultory combat the liorsemen 7^2- 
 and archers of the east maintained their advantage, but in the 
 closer onset of the seventh day they were crushed, as it were, 
 l)v the Christians under Charles, whose title of Hammer, at- 
 tached to his name, well expresses his weighty and irresistible 
 strokes. The victory was complete ; Aquitainc was recovered 
 by Eudes ; and the Arabs, who were soon driven beyond the 
 Pyrenees by Charles, never more attempted the conquest of 
 France. Within a quarter of a century Spain was severed 
 from the Khalifat, and the opposite coast of Barbary became 
 an independent sovereignty under Edrisi, a descendant of Ali. 
 "^I'lie submission of Egypt, as early as the reign of Omar, faciH- 
 tated the conquest of Africa, which, after some previous un- 
 successful attempts, had been accomph'shed by Akbah, the 
 ffeneral of Moawivah, who advanced as far as the vVthintic. 
 "If," exclaimed this enthusiast, "my career had not been 
 cliecked by the ocean, I would still go on prochtiniing, great 
 God, the unity of Thy holy ii.inic, :iiid jiuttiiig to the sword 
 the rebellious nations who worship any other gods. Within a 
 century from the Ilejirah, the traitor Count .luliim in\itcd 
 Mousa, the general of the Klialifs, to the inxasion ol Spain, 
 and the insulatcfl rock of Ciibraltar preserves, in its corrupted 
 form, tlie name of Tarik his lieutenant, who, in the battle of 
 Xercs, extinguished the (jotiiic monarchy. Mousa, jealous of 
 his deputy, afterwards appeared in person, and completetl the 
 conquest. The African Moslems were invited by a youth, 
 who had been severely sentenced for carrying off a min, to the 
 conquest of Sicily, wliich thus became a province of their 
 
 F 2
 
 68 
 
 empire, and so continued till wrested from them near two cen- 
 turies later by the Norman adventurer Roger. From Palermo, 
 which they made their capital, these invaders sent forth 
 sliips to ravnge the coast of Ital}^ and even sailed up the 
 Tiber, and stripped of their costl}' offerings the altars of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul, in the suburbs of the once imperial 
 Rome. A more formidable fleet, direct from Africa, cast 
 anchor, three years later, near the mouth of that river, and 
 appeared to threaten, not only pillage, but a permanent occu- 
 pation. A new pope, however, the energetic Leo IV., had not 
 only, in the interval, repaired the walls, but anticipated their 
 invasion by an alliance with the free states of Gaeta, Naples, 
 and Amalfi. A naval fight ensued, and was decided, by a 
 sudden tempest, in favor of the Christians, whose gallies were 
 sheltered in a friendly harbour, while those of the Moslem 
 were dashed in pieces on an hostile shore : and the ancient 
 capital has never since been exposed to the danger of becoming 
 like the noAv Rome of Constantino, a city of a Mohammedan 
 sovereign. 
 
 It is the observation of Gibbon, that when the Arabs first 
 issued from the desert they must have been surprised at 
 the ease and rapidity of their own success. But that 
 when they had advanced, in the career ' of victory, to the 
 Indus and the Pyrenees, and had repeatedly tried the 
 edge of their scymetars and the energy of their faith, they 
 might be equally astonished that any nation could resist 
 their invincible arms, or any boundary confine their domi- 
 nion. The historian endeavours to discover the cause, 
 which he finds in the nature of the despotic and unwieldly 
 empire of the Klialifs, which, unless sustained by a sove- 
 reign of warlike disposition and peculiar energy, degenerated 
 into a real anarchy, where, under the veil of magnificence, 
 the princes, in their own palace, became the slaves of their 
 own guards ; and the governors of the distant provinces, 
 with more or less respectful homage, acted as independ^at 
 sovereigns. When these Arabian conquerors had spread 
 themselves over the east, and were mixed with the servile
 
 69 
 
 crowds of Persia, Syria, and Egypt, tliey insensibly lost the 
 free-born and martial virtues of the desert ; the active power of 
 enterprise had decayed in the luxury and pliilosophy imported 
 from Greece into the court of Bagdad, and the mercenary 
 forces of the Khalifs were recruited from the hardy natives of 
 the north. 
 
 Tlie Turkish youth from Transoxiana, (in Arabian geo- 
 graphy Mawarulnaher, the country beyond the river,) either 
 taken in war or purchased, were educated in arms and in the 
 profession of the Mohammedan ftiith, and became the body- 
 guard of their benefactor, Motassem, the eighth of the Abbas- 
 sides, with whom the glory of the Khalifat expired. The 
 autlior of tliis dangerous example introduced into the capital 
 above 50,000 of them. Their licentious conduct provoked the 
 public indignation, and their quarrels with the people induced 
 the Khalif to retire from Bagdad, and to establish their camp 
 and his own residence twelve leao;ues above, on the Tiijris 
 at Samara, which he called Sermenra, as delighting the spec- 
 tator. His son, INIotawakel, a jealous and cruel tyrant: 
 odious to his subjects, cast himself on the fideHty of these 
 strangers; but they were tempted by the promises of his 
 sou, Montanser, whom they phiced u\um the tln'oiie, after they 
 had burst into his father's apartment, wiiere he was, like too 
 many Moslem princes, drinking to excess, in defiance of the 
 Koran, and cut his body into seven pieces. I specify the 
 numljer, l)ecause it is said that Ali re[)roache(l him in a 
 dream, and gave him so ni;inv blows with his swtird. lie 
 liad declared himself the enemy of his iiouse, and forbidden 
 iiiliXrimajie to his tomb. 'IMiat of his son llosein \\r .ifterwards 
 destroyed, and, not contented with i»loughing up the ground to 
 efface all traces of it, he attiMnjjted to form a cmuiiI on the spot; 
 but the tomb was restored by his successor. In a niun of six 
 months his son found only the pangs of a guilty conscience, 
 and exclaimed, in the bitterness of ileatli, that he had lost both 
 this world and the world to come. After this act of treason 
 the ensigns of sovereignty were given and taken away by the 
 foreign mercenaries, who, in four years, created, clepused, anil
 
 70 
 
 murdered three Coinniauders of the Faithful. As often as these 
 Turks were influenced by fear, rage, or avarice, their sove- 
 reigns were dragged by the feet, exposed naked to the scorch- 
 ing sun, beaten with iron clubs, and compelled to purchase, by 
 the abdication of their dignity, a short reprieve. At length, 
 however, the fury of the tempest was spent or diverted ; the 
 Abbassides returned to Bagdad ; the insolence of the Turks 
 was curbed with a firmer hand, and their mmibers were reduced 
 by foreign warfare. 
 
 Another fruitful and permanent cause of the decline of 
 the Khalifat was the discontent of the followers of Ali, who 
 had endangered the established authority of the house of 
 Abbas. Almanzur had, as I have observed, attempted to set up 
 Ali Riddha as his successor. Motawakil's hatred of Ali was 
 the cause of his fall, his son being disgusted at his suffering a 
 bufltbon, by an exaggerated representation of the corpulence and 
 baldness of that venerated Khalif, to make him ridiculous. The 
 various sects that grew up were more or less connected with this 
 faniily ; as, the Ismaelites, to a division of whom, the Assassius, 
 who settled in Syria, we owe the introduction into Europe of the 
 term " assassination," from their habit of secretly dispatching 
 those their chief, called by the Crusaders the Old Man of the 
 Mountain, chose to doom to destruction ; and the Druses, who 
 worship Ilakim, the mad Khalif of Egypt. The earliest 
 and most celebrated of these are the Karmathians, called 
 after an Arabian enthusiast, who professed to have been 
 favoured Avith a new revelation, and assumed, among many 
 extraordinary titles, both that of the Word and of the Para- 
 clete. He spiritualized the precepts of the Koran, allow- 
 ing the use of wine and forbidden food, and appointed twelve 
 apostles, in imitation of our Saviour, whose mission he acknow- 
 ledged. After his liberation from a prison by the sympathy 
 of his jailer's wife, he disappeared from history ; but his sect 
 continued to spread till it became alarming to the Khalifs. Far 
 and wide the tribes of the desert acknowledged the sceptre of 
 his successors, and he could muster in the field above 10,000 
 enthusiasts. The mercenaries of the Khalif were dismayed at
 
 71 
 
 the approach of an enemy Avho neither asked nor accepted quar- 
 ter, and defeated them in every action. Cufa and Bassora were 
 taken and pillaged, and the Khalif trembled in his palace. In 
 a daring inroad, Abu Taher, their chief, advanced to the 
 gates of the capital with no more than five hundred horse. 
 By order of Moctadher the bridges had been broken down, 
 and the head of the rebel was hourly expected by tlie 
 Commander of the Faithful. His lieutenant, from fear 
 or pity, apprised Abu Taher of his danger, and recom- 
 mended a retreat. " Your master," said the intrepid Karma- 
 thian to the messenger, " commands 30,000 soldiers : but three 
 such men as these ai'e wanting in his host." At the same 
 instant turning to his companions, he ordered the first to 
 plunge a dagger into his breast, the second to leap into the 
 Tigris, and the third to cast himself headlong down a precipice; 
 and they obeyed without a murmer. " Report," said the Imam, 
 " what you have seen. Before the evening your general shall 
 be chained among my dogs." And so, before the evening came, 
 the camp was surprised, and the menace was executed. Like the 
 Wahabis of our time they forbade the Avorship of Mecca. One 
 year they robbed a caravan of pilgrims, 20,000 of whom were 
 abandoned to a death of hunger and thirst. Anotlier they 
 sufiered the pilgrims to proceed ; but Abu Talier stormed the 
 holy city, and trampled (jn the most venerable relics of the 
 Mohammedan laitli : ;U),00() citizens and strangers were i)ut to 
 the sword; the sacred precincts were polhitcd by the burial of 
 3000 dead bodies; the well Zem/cni overllowed with blood; 
 the g(jlden spout was fin'ced from its i)lace; the veil of the 
 Caaba was diviiled among them, and the black stone was 
 borne away in triumph to their capital. After some years it 
 was restored ; and on the death of Abu Taher his sect gradually 
 died away. 
 
 (jHbl)on thus shews the tendency of so vast an empire 
 to its i:dl : " The viceroy of a remote kingdom as|)ire3 
 to secure the proi)erty and inheritance of his precarious 
 trust; nations nmst rejoice in the presence of their sove- 
 reign; and the connnand of armies and treasures aro
 
 72 
 
 at once the object and the instruments of his ambition. 
 A change was scarcely visible as long as the lieutenants of the 
 Khalif were content with their vicarious title ; while they 
 solicited for their sons or themselves a renewal of the imperial 
 grant, and still maintained on the coin, and in the public 
 prayer, the name and prerogative of the Commander of the 
 Faithful. But in the long and hereditary exercise of power 
 they assumed the attributes of royalty. Peace or war depended 
 solely on their will, and the revenues of their government were 
 reserved for local services or private magnificence ; and instead 
 of a regular supply of men and money, the successors of the 
 prophet were complimented with such ostentatious gifts as an 
 elephant or a cast of hawks." It is not to my purpose to enu- 
 merate the successive dynasties that superseded the authority 
 of the successors of Mohammed : I will merely observe, that 
 in Africa and in Persia many of them, from policy or from 
 conviction, favoured the claims of the posterity of Ali. Thus 
 
 A.D. Edrisi, who erected the kingdom of Fez, was, as I have 
 ■ observed, a reputed descendant of the family ; and Obeidallah, 
 who extinguished his dynasty, assumed the title of Fatimite, 
 as descending from Ali through the daughter of Mohammed, 
 and became the founder of a succession of Khalifs, rivals to 
 those of Bagdad. He established his government at Kairoan, 
 which had been founded by Akbah, the conqueror of Africa, to 
 secure tlio country ; and the general of his great-grandson 
 Alaaldin, who wrested Egypt from the Khalifat, established 
 a new capital, to which, because founded under the horo- 
 scope of the planet Mars, surnamed JJ^^ii3\ Victorious, he 
 gave the auspicious name of 's^.—fiiVaJ^ " victory," which 
 Europeans have corrupted into Cairo. His name was 
 substituted i'or that of the Abbasside sovereign in the 
 public prayer, and a phrase was added in honour of Ali. 
 These Khalifs, like those of Bagdad, became in time the slaves 
 of their vizirs or guards; and the last of the long line was 
 
 ■*2'* deposed by the Atabek sovereign of Syria, Nuraldin, who 
 restored to the prayer the names of the first three successors 
 of ^lohammed, and acknowledged Mosthader of Bagdad as the 
 true Commander of the Faitlifiil. During all subsefjiient
 
 73 
 
 revolutions Egypt has never departed from what is regarded 
 as the orthodox faith. 
 
 The d}Tiastj of the sons of Buyah, who emerged from the 
 shores of the Caspian, and kept the Khalifs of Bagdad in sub- 
 jection for more than a century, deserves a passing notice, since 
 they powerfully contributed to keep up the cause of Ali. These 
 three brothers became the sovereigns of Bagdad and Persia, and 
 received from the Khalifs the honourable titles, recently invented, 
 of 1. iiJ_)^^>^^ Amadaldulet, 2. 'i.]jd]\^'ij llocknaldulet, and 
 3. iiJj^JV^ Moazaldulet, " pillar, foundation, and support of 
 the state." The latter had possessed himself of Bagdad and 
 the person of the Klialif, who, while rejoicing at his deliverance 
 from his turbulent guards, was unexpectedly dragged from 
 his throne to a dungeon by his command, and was succeeded 
 in his high but nominal office by his brother. The Buyah 
 prince, who under the title of \j<>':^\ j^\ Emir al Omra, or 
 chief of the chiefs, really reigned, must have regarded the 
 Abbasside Khalifs as usurpers, for he meditated transfer- 
 rinf' their office to a descendant of Ali, and ordered the 
 execration of IMoawiyah, which was formally announced 
 every Friday in the jnosr[ues, to be engraved on their doors. 
 lie also erected over the s[)ot where Ilosein fell a tomb, 
 called " the magnificent dome," and established the com 
 menmioration of his martyrdom (ju the tenth of Moharram, 
 which is still kept with all the demonstrations ol" mourning, in 
 Persia and India. A Sonnite author* remarks upon this insti- 
 tution, that though Ilosein was devout, courageous, and mu- 
 nificent, and gi-andson of lln- ajKjstle of God, his father was 
 a better man ; yet the day of lii^ diMtli was not ke[)t, though 
 iiun'dered on his way to prayer; uur were tliosc of Otinnan, 
 Omar, or Abubekr, who were all su[)erior to him in excellence; 
 nor even that of the a}t(»stle of God, who is absolute lord of all 
 the sons of men. The birthday, however, of Moliannncil is now 
 a festival in the Turkish dominions. 
 
 While the Normans restored Sicily to Christendom, the 
 'J'lnks. tiie most formidable eneniies of the cross, were rising 
 
 « Ocklfv'.i History ol" tlie Saracens, vcl.ii. p. IW.
 
 74 
 
 into importance. Mahniud of Gasna, himself a Turk, had im- 
 prudently transplanted a colony of tlieiu into Khorasan, and 
 they defeated his son and successor, and took possession of his 
 Persian dominions. Tognd, their king, annihilated the dynasty 
 of the Buy ides, and rescued the Khalif Kaim from the tyranny 
 of his enemies. Attached to the Sonnite view of Islam, the 
 Turks repressed the followers of Ali, and ultimately established 
 what is considered the orthodox faith in the capital of the 
 Eastern empire. Since the decline of the Khalifat, the Roman 
 Emperors had recovered their territory as far as Antioch and 
 Armenia ; but Alp Arslan, the nephew and successor of To- 
 grul, conquered both that country and Georgia, and dictated, 
 as the terms of peace, to the Emperor Romanus Diogenes, who 
 had been taken prisoner, a ransom and an annual tribute. The 
 Khalif conferred upon his son and successor, Malek Shah, 
 his own peculiar title. Commander of the Faithful ; and his 
 sovereignty was more extensive than that of the most power- 
 ful of those lords paramount themselves, for his name was 
 inscribed on the coins and inserted in the prayer of the Tartar 
 kingdom of Kashgar, beyond their dominions. As supreme 
 head of his family and nation, he had placed his brethren 
 upon dependent thrones. The five sons of a prince of the 
 same house of Seljuk, who had fallen in a battle against Alp 
 Arslan, Avere eager to revenge his death upon his son; but 
 while the armies were expecting the signal to engage, the 
 Khalif condescended to interpose his mediation. " Instead of 
 shedding the blood of your brethren, both by birth and faith, 
 unite your forces in an holy war against the Greeks, the 
 enemies of God and his Apostle." The Sultan acquiescing, 
 embraced his rebellious kinsmen ; and the eldest, Soliman, 
 accepted the royal standard, which authorized his hereditary 
 government of whatever provinces he could sever from the 
 Roman empire. Accomjjanied by his four brothers, he crossed 
 the Euphrates, and settled in Asia Minor ; and this was the 
 heaviest blow sustained by Christianity since the conquests of 
 the early Khalifs. By the propagation of Islam, Soliman 
 earned the title of Gazi {i^j^}, Champion of the Faith ; and he 
 chose for the capital of his kingdom of Roum, Nice, the scat of
 
 /o 
 
 the first general Council, so that the unity of God and the 
 mission of ^Mohammed were continually proclaimed in the 
 city in which the Christian creed had been first authoritatively 
 defined, but where, now, the professors of that creed could 
 only on the payment of tribute enjoy the exercise of their 
 religion. Tlie holy land had passed, as well as Egypt, out of 
 the hands of the Abbasside into those of the Fatimite Khalifs ; 
 but they were nominally restored to' the former by the house 
 of Seljuk, which reigned about twenty years over Jerusalem, 
 but entrusted the hereditary government of it to the chief 
 of a Turkoman tribe. 
 
 This fact would not have been noticed in this rapid his- 
 torical sketch, had not these rough conquerors, by their 
 tyranny and exaction, oppressed the pilgrims who came in an 
 increasing number to visit the temporary sepulchre of our risen 
 Saviour. The tale which they brought back of insults and 
 sufi'erings was the proximate cause of the crusade proclaimed 
 by Pope Urban the Second, which was hailed by the shouts of a.p. 
 an immense audience as the will of God, and was enforced by 
 the promise of a plenary indulgence to all who would enlist 
 under the banner of the cross. So vast was the multitude 
 who undertook the engagement, that, in the energetic language 
 of Anna Comnena, the daughter and historian of the Emperor 
 Alexis, Europe was loosened from its foundations and hurled 
 against Asia.* Historians dispute whether the crusades pro- 
 moted or retarded Christian civilization; but there seems to be 
 no doubt that they rolled back the tide which would otherwise 
 have ovei*flowed Europe from the east. The first of these so- 
 c.iUed holy wars issued in the formation, under its leader, 
 Godfrey of Boulogne, of the feudal kiiigdou! of Jerusalem, 
 which was maintained with dillieulty fijr near a century. The 
 Christian is interested in reading that his brother and succes- ^^ 
 sor, Baldwin, planted his standard on the walls of Tarsus, and loOit 
 founded, beyond the Euphrates, the principality of Edessa. j,Uy 
 Saladin, become the conqueror of Egy})t and Syria, and [iro- 
 
 * Alexiad. \., ].. 283.
 
 76 
 
 A.n. tector of the lioly cities Mecca :nid Medina, recovered Jerusa- 
 ' ■ lem, and shines in l^^uropean annals as the worthy rival of the 
 lion-hearted Kit-hard. Oriental authors describe him as a 
 saint, who exhibited tiiroughout his bright career the spirit of 
 a genuine, self-denying, pious Moslem, a pattern both in faith 
 and practice. He abstained from wine and royal luxuries, and 
 lived a dervish on his throne and in liis camp. He lamented 
 that the necessary defence of religion did not allow his per- 
 forming the pilgrimage, but lie was regular in prayer and 
 fasting, and study of the Koran. He Avas a bigot, and con- 
 demned to death a theologian whose tenets he deemed hereti- 
 cal ; but he was a self-denying and just ruler, and his life, as 
 recorded by a friend,* favourably contrasts with that of his 
 rival, whose brutality had not been softened by the poetry 
 which he cultivated, nor by the purer faith which he professed 
 without understanding its spirit. 
 
 Within half a century of the death of this admired Moslem 
 prince, the civilization both of Islamiyah and of Christendom was 
 endangered by an invasion of the Moghuls, who far surpassed, 
 in the extent and the rapidity of their temporary conquests, 
 the triumph of the early Khalifs ; for not only the Roman 
 empire, but China, and, vdtimately, Hindostan, became the 
 prey of these shepherd soldiers, under their Khan, Zingis, and 
 his successors. Their immense hordes overran the kingdoms 
 of Astrakhan and Cazan, and reduced to ashes both Moskow 
 and Kiow. From the permanent conquest of Russia they 
 made an inroad into the heart of Poland, destroying Cracow ; 
 and at Leignitz they defeated the grand dukes of Silesia and 
 A.n. the master of the Teutonic knights, three only of the Ilunga- 
 ^-'^^ rian fortresses withstandin<); this Tartar invasion. The storm 
 
 to , ^ o . , ^ 
 
 1243. which threatened Europe broke upon Bagdad and extinguished, 
 the Khalifat, and with it the Mohammedan centre of unity, 
 and the pontifical character of its sovereign. This fatal blow 
 was reserved for Holagu, the grandson of Zingis, and the 
 brother and the lieutenant of the two succeeding emperors. 
 
 * Bohaldiii, whose work wao published with a Latin Tran.slation by 
 iSchultens. Ludg-. Bat. 1755.
 
 77 
 
 This irresistible adversary, advancing from Persia, which he 
 had subdued, was opposed only by arrogant and irritating 
 embassies from the hist Khalif, who was deceived by a trea- 
 cherous vizir, alienated from him by his persecution of the 
 adherents of Ali. " On the divine decree is founded the 
 throne of the sons of Abbas" — such was his proud language — 
 "and their foes shall surely be punished in this world and in the 
 next. Who is this Hulagu, who dares to rise up against them? 
 If he desire peace, let him instantly depart from the sacred 
 territory, and he may perhaps obtain from our clemency the 
 pardon of his offence." But Ilolagu was not awed by these 
 menaces : he advanced, and the phantom which had been so 
 long held forth to overawe mankind vanished on his approach. 
 After a two months' siege, Bagdad was stormed and sacked, ^^ p 
 and the savage conqueror put the Khalif to death. The stream, 1258. 
 driven back from Egypt by the Mamluks (djU*), (originally, 
 as their name indicates, the slaves, and then the masters of the 
 Fatimite Khalifs), overflowed Armenia and Anatolia, the 
 former governed by the Christians, the latter by the Turks. 
 The Sultan of Iconium sought refuge among the Greeks of 
 Constantinople ; and his feeble successors, the last of the Seljuk 
 dynasty, were extirpated by the Klians of Persia. 
 
 The decline of the Moglnils gave free scope to the rise and 
 progress of the Ottoman empire, which, under a succession of 
 able sovereigns, grew up to be as formidable to Christendom on 
 the east, as the Arabs of Spain had been formerly on the west. 
 The full, in battle, of Jelaleddin, sovereign of Persia, dissolved 
 his veteran army, whicli included witliin it nimiy Turkomans. 
 The bolder of their Emirs invaded Syria, and took possession 
 of the holy sepulchre: tlie less aspiring engagnl in lli<' service 
 of Alaaldin, Sultan of Iconium, and among them was the ob- 
 scure progenitor of the family of the sovereign known to us, 
 througli the Venetians, as the Grand Signor, or great Lord. 
 At Surgut, on the banks of the Sangar, a camp of four 
 
 lumdred tents was formed by Orthogul, which he ruled for a n. 
 
 I 1 • 1 I ''9'' 
 
 above half a century. Ciroimstances promoted the indepcn- \„' 
 
 dence ol' his son Otlnnan during a reign of more than twenty- '^2G.
 
 78 
 
 five years. The Seljuk dynasty had expired, and tlie dis- 
 tance of the INIoghul Khans freed him from the control of a 
 superior, while a political mistake of the Greek Emperors un- 
 locked to him the passes of JMount Olympus. Instead of re- 
 treating after an inroad, like former marauders, he maintained 
 the most defensible posts, and kept and fortified the towns he 
 had pillaged. We may date the Ottoman empire from the con- 
 quest of Brusa by his son Orchan, whose services to the Greek 
 Emperor were rewarded by the hand of his daughter. It was 
 
 ■*•"• reserved for his grandson Amurath to establish himself in Eu- 
 1360 
 to rope. He made Adrianople his capital, postponing the easy 
 
 1389. conquest of Constantine's new Rome. He marched against the 
 Slavonians, who had taken possession of Thrace, and greatly 
 advanced his power by the formation of a company of Yeno-i 
 Sheri (Janissaries), or the new soldiers, consisting of cap- 
 tive Christian youths, who, like the Prsetorian guards, and the 
 mercenary attendants of other absolute sovereigns, ended in 
 tyrannizing over their nominal masters, till they were butchered 
 in cold blood, in our own days, by the late reforming Sultan. 
 The humble title of Emir was no longer suitable to Ottoman 
 power, and his son Bajazet accepted the distinction of Sultan 
 from the Khalif of Egypt. He overran Hungary, and threat- 
 ened Constantinople ; but this last retreat of the Christian 
 Emperors was saved unexpectedly by a second invasion of 
 Moghuls, led by Tamerlane, whose ambition could not brook 
 an equal, and whose defeat and capture of Bajazet delayed, 
 for a short season, the fall of Constantinople. " 1 am not a 
 man of blood," said the invader, so mild in words, so savage in 
 deeds, to the Kadhi of Aleppo. Yet during this very conver- 
 sation there was a massacre in the streets; and it was his 
 custom, as at Bagdad, to mark the fall of a city by a pyramid 
 of human heads ! Unlike the Pagan Zingis, he professed the 
 Mohammedan creed. His letter to the Turkish Sultan was 
 overbearing. " Thou hast fought some battles in the woods of 
 Anatolia: contemptible trophies! Thou hast obtained some 
 victories over the Chi'istians of Europe. Thy sword was 
 blessed by the Apostle of God, and thy obedience to the
 
 79 
 
 Koran, in ^^arring on tlie unbelievers, alone prevents my 
 destroying thy country, the fVontier and bulwark of the 
 Moslems." He was a bigoted partisan of Ali, and his discus- 
 sion with this Kadhi of that Sovereign's rjght to the Khalifat 
 provoked the exclamation, " Ye are as false as the people of 
 Damascus. IMoawiyah was an usurper, Yezid a tyrant, and 
 Ali is the lawful successor of the Prophet." Damascus was 
 reduced to ashes, because his religious zeal moved him, after 
 the lapse of centui'ies, to avenge on it the death of Hoscin ; 
 and it assumed a more amiable direction by the pardon and 
 reward of some thousand Shiyahs, who were desirous of a.d. 
 visiting his tomb. Bajazet had two years in which he might '^^^" 
 have collected his forces. Tamerlane invested Angouria, and 
 it was close upon that city that he was completely defeated, and 
 was thus reproached by his conqueror. " The decree is now 
 accomplished by thine own fault. I wished to spare, and even 
 to assist, the champion of the Moslems. Thou bravedst us, 
 and forced us to enter thy kingdom Avith our invincible arms. 
 Behold the result." Bajazet soon sunk under liis mortification, 
 but his sou was permitted to reign in his ruined capital. The 
 second Ainurath, grandson of Bajazet, is a favourable specimen 
 of a Sultan. Canteniir, the Christian historian, describes him 
 as learned, merciful, religious, charitable, a good emperor, and 
 a great geu<'ral. Under his reign the soldiers were ahvavs 
 victorious, the citizens rich and secure. On subduing a country, 
 his first care was to l)uild mosques, caravanseries, hospitals, 
 and colleges. He paid nn annual pension to the descendants 
 of the Pi-ophet, and sent presents to m6n of sanctify in Meccn, 
 Medina, and Jerusalem. His justice and iiHHlcratidii :ii-c 
 attested iiy his conduct, and acknowledged by the Chiistl.'ins. 
 He seldom entered on a war witliouf nn ;idequ:ite cause: he 
 was easily npjtcased l)y submission, and in his respect to treaties ^-."^ 
 his word was inviolate. The Hungarians were commonly the 
 aggressors; and after his first siege ol' Consfantiuople ho was 
 never tempted to extinguish, as he might have easily done, the 
 expiring light of the Byzantine empire. The striking and 
 unique feature in his history is his double abdicatictii. At no
 
 80 
 
 more than forty years of age, he resigned his sceptre to liis son, 
 and retired to Magnesia to fast and pray, and wliirl round in 
 the mystic dances of the dervishes. The new crusade under 
 Ladishaus, the youthful sovereign of both Hungary and PoLand, 
 awakened him from his dream of entlmsiasm. Plis son was 
 foremost to urge his resuming his sovereignty, and, under the 
 banner of their former honoured leader, the Turks routed the 
 A.D. perjured Christians in the fatal field of Warna, in wdiich 
 ^"*^' perished Ladislaus and Cardinal Julian, who, in the Pope's 
 name as Vicar of Christ, had absolved this perjured prince. 
 Amurath returned to his dervishes, till his religious exercises 
 were once more interrupted by the intestine dangers of the 
 state, caused by the rebellion of the Janissaries. At his well- 
 known voice they trembled and obejed; but the reluctant 
 Sultan was constrained to reign till his death. Diocletian and 
 Charles Y. have of their own accord, in maturer years, 
 descended from the throne ; but Amurath, alone, after the trial 
 both of public and private life, has proved his preference of 
 /,"■ the latter. 
 
 The conquest of Constantinople, precisely five centuries 
 j^ f, since, was reserved for his son, the second Mohammed, a bigot 
 1455. Ji]^e himself, and so devout, that, after conversing with an 
 unbeliever, he was used to purify himself by the legal ablu- 
 tions. He reformed the pomp of his predecessors, but it was 
 only that he might transfer what he saved to ambition ; and his 
 sobriety is attested by the silence of the annals, which accuse 
 no more than three of the Ottoman line of drunkenness. 
 Still his nature was savage and licentious ; yet he had the 
 benefit of a careful education. He is said to have understood 
 five languages ; and in taking possession of the home of the 
 Caesars, he repeated the Persian distich of Sadi — 
 
 " The spider holds the veil in the castle of Caesar. 
 The owl stands sentinel on the watch-tower of Afrasiab. 
 
 During the siege several embassies had passed between the
 
 81 
 
 camp and the city; but, after some fruitless negociations, 
 Mohammed declared his resolution of finding under its walls a 
 throne or a grave. Paloeologus refused to yield from fear of 
 reproach, and he determined to resist to the last extremity. 
 In this holy warfare, as it was regarded by the Moslems, 
 the soldiers were exhorted to purify their bodies with seven 
 ablutions, and to abstain from food till the close of the next 
 day ; while a crowd of dervishes frequented the tents, to 
 instil into their minds the desire of martyrdom, with its 
 reward, the enjoyments of a perpetual youth in delightful 
 gardens. In the assault, the brave emperor was long seen 
 conspicuous in the defence, but finally disappeared, his body 
 being buried under the heap of slain. The conqueror 
 alighted from his horse at the great door of Santa Sophia : 
 the crosses were thrown down, and the paintings and mo- 
 saics, which embellished the walls of the Cathedral of the 
 Empire, were ordered to be hid under a coat of plaster. On 
 the following Friday the muezzin invited the Moslems to prayer 
 in the name of God and their Prophet ; and the imam preached, 
 and Mohannned prayed on the high altar, from which the 
 Eucharist had been so lately received by the last of the Cassars. 
 The loss of Constantino]jle was followed by that of the Moraca. 
 The sack of Otranto dilfused consternation over Euroj)e, and 
 Pope Sixtus the Fourth was ju'eparing for flight beyond tlio 
 Alps, when the storm was instantly dispersed by the death of 
 Mohanuiied. lie bad aspired to the concjuest of Italy; he 
 had taken possession of one of its strong cities, with a capacious 
 liar])<)ur; and had not death checked his career, his reign 
 niiglit have been distinguished by the surrender of the old as 
 well as of the new Rome. 
 
 The danger which had threateiicdClirisl(iid()iii,attlie jK-iiudof ^ „_ 
 its reviving civilization, from the Moslems of Spain, now alarmed '■*"'• 
 it from the opposite direction, notwithstanding its grow I h in po- 
 ])nlation and power, and called, but in vain, for a new and more 
 reasonable crusade. At that crisis, when the kings of Sj)ain 
 and France were comf)etitors for the imperial throne, Sclim 
 had added both Syria and Egypt to his dominions, and with 
 
 G
 
 82 
 
 tlie conquest of the latter received the Egyptian Khalif's abdi- 
 cation, in his favour, of his dignity, and the homage of the 
 Sherif of Mecca, who sent him the keys of the Caaba. The 
 most eftectual method of stopping his progress westward seemed 
 V"- to be the election of an emperor like Charles, possessed of 
 extensive territories in the country in which the impression 
 would be first felt, who had also at his command the army of 
 Spain, and the wealth furnished by the commerce of the Loav 
 Countries, and the mines of the new world. The danger had 
 not been overrated, for the Ottomans crossed the Danube, 
 abetted by the discontented Slavonian population, and alarmed 
 the inhabitants of Vienna. The panic suspended hostilities 
 between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants, and Luther 
 pressed upon both sides the defence of their common faith. 
 The alarm gradually subsided, but as time advanced the 
 danger became more imminent, for the seventeenth century 
 beheld the im})erial residence invaded by a Turkish army, 
 strengthened by Hungarian rebels. The emperor, with the 
 greater part of the ordinary population, had retired to a place 
 of safety, and Vienna, after the demolition of the suburbs, had a 
 breach made in its wall. It was delivered, as it were, by 
 miracle. Kara Mustapha, the grand vizir, despising his 
 enemy, and wasting time in luxurious indulgence, neglected, 
 some say treacherously, to urge the assault. At this crisis the 
 besieged were cheered by the signal, from a neighbouring 
 mountain, of unexpected deliverance. At the head of sixty 
 thousand soldiers, John Sobieski, the heroic king of Poland, 
 is welcomed as the preserver of Christendom. The vizir ad- 
 vanced to give him battle, while a detachment attempted to 
 force an entrance into Vienna. The assault was repelled ; the 
 A.D. Turkish army, seized with a panic, was routed, and abandoned, 
 1083. jjq|. only tents and baggage, but even the reputed standard of 
 their Prophet, which was presented as a trophy to the Pope. 
 The retreat was followed by tiie peace of Carlowitz ; and the 
 danger, averted, we trust, for ever, has been since impending 
 over the formerly invading power. 
 
 The Ottoman empire has been rapidly declining ; Greece
 
 83 
 
 has become an independent kingdom; little support can be 
 looked for from Egypt ; and province after province, both in 
 Enrope and Asia, have been surrendered to the arms or subtle 
 diplomacy of Russia. The Czar, regarding the Turk as in the 
 agony of political death, hastened to accomplish the long- 
 cherished project of his family, and it seemed as if, at last, he 
 might drive the mibelievers out of Europe. But the hour for 
 the restoration to Christendom of the capital of the Greek 
 empire had not, as he fondly imagined, arrived. The autocrat 
 head of the Greek church, and the self-appointed protector of 
 his co-religionists in the Ottoman dominions, came forward 
 like a crusader. The Sultan, instead of yielding, as expected, 
 advanced to the conflict, with troops trained according to 
 European tactics; and France and England, the representa- 
 tives of Papal and Protestant states, alarmed at the prospect of 
 Russian aggrandizement, sent forth their armies for his pro- 
 tection. Politicians were looking forward to a protracted and 
 doubtful contest ; but the Russian emperor who had provoked 
 the war is removed by death ; and, while England was about 
 to act with redoubled energy, hostilities have, contrary to our 
 expectations, ceased. Russian statesmen must surely have 
 been convinced by this determined exertions of the Allies 
 that the surrender of Constjuitinople is indefinitely postponed; 
 and the terms of tlie peace are so moderate, that we may 
 reasonably calculate on its continuance. Short as the war has 
 proved, it has been long enough to shew the Turks that 
 there are Christians who abhor the worship of images, and 
 scarcely yield to themselves in the simplicity of their ritual: 
 and if they had any intercourse with our soKliers, they must 
 have seen tliut many, both ofHcers and ]»rivates, adoi'ned 
 and recommended their religion by their conduct. While ihe 
 jKjlitieian is satisfied with the result, the Christian ])liilan- 
 thropist rejoices in the imperial decree, which i)lace3 all the 
 subjects of the Sultan <jn an ((juality, .ind tolerates the conver- 
 sion of his Mohammedan subjects ; a decree which, probably, 
 never would have been issued, had he not felt the depth of his 
 obligations to his Christian alli«'s. The observer of the signs 
 
 a 2
 
 84 
 
 of the times knows that the seed that has long been abundantly 
 scattered over Turkey by the zealous agents of the Bible Society, 
 has not all fallen by the wayside; but, owing mainly to American 
 Missionaries, has in many places sprung up; and that Protestant 
 congregations have even been formed in Brusa, the original 
 Ottoman capital, and in other places in Asia Minor, the re- 
 puted last home of Islam. The Mohammedan system is a palace 
 of antiquated architecture, not in keeping with the neighbouring 
 buildings, undermined and nodding to its fall. It has from 
 the first appealed to the sword, but the sword to which it owed 
 its rapid progress is no longer in the hands of its supporters ; 
 and while the zeal of its real adherents has cooled, a mystical 
 pantheistic philosophy, fostered by their most admired poets, 
 has long superseded, among the men of letters, the simple 
 unitarianism of the Koran, while European knowledge is 
 gradually spreading in the masses of the Moslem population 
 which are under the authority or within reach of the influence 
 of France and England. The Sultan may be said only to 
 exist by their sufferance. Algeria has been for more than a 
 quarter of a century a province of France. ; and we trust that 
 from Sierra Leone a better civilization, founded not upon the 
 Koran but the Bible, will penetrate the interior of Africa ; and 
 England is pressing more and more upon Islam in the east. 
 
 India was one of the latest acquisitions of Mohammed ; for 
 idolati-y reigned there without control, and was first disturbed in 
 the eleventh century by Mahmud, the far-famed Sultan ofGazna. 
 -*•"• This prince, of Turkish extraction, having formed between 
 to Persia and India a kingdom, which has, under different dynasties 
 ' ■ and names, continued to subsist, was impelled by religion and by 
 covetousness to enter tlie Punjab, which had been molested by 
 no invader since Alexander. His title was invented for him 
 by the Khalif ; and as it was his reward as champion and ex- 
 tender of the faith, it has, in the estimation of pious Moslems, 
 a sacred dignity, which deems it profaned when transferred to 
 a Christian monarch. Yet though he added Lahore to his 
 dominions, he was rather the plunderer than the conqueror of 
 India, and his fame rests,on the treasures in gold and precious
 
 85 
 
 stones which he accumulated during his twelve holy expedi- 
 tions. The last and most memorable was distinguished by the 
 acquisition of the temple of Sommanat, which was gained after 
 a severe contest with an immense army, which came for the 
 rescue of the revered shrine. His piety overruled his covet- 
 ousness, and he ordered the gigantic statue to be broken into 
 pieces. The Brahmins offered so great a ransom, that Mahmud's 
 officers pressed him to accept it; but he indignantly rejected 
 the proposal of becoming a seller of idols, and his forbearance 
 was amply rewarded, for the blows of his soldiers revealed a 
 treasure within the body far surpassing in value the proffered 
 bribe. The sandal-wood doors of the temple were carried oft' 
 as a trophy, and continued till our own time to dignify the 
 entrance of his mausoleum at Gazna. They had not escaped 
 the knowledge of the British Governor-General ; and when it 
 was judged expedient to avenge upon the Afghans the murder 
 of our officials, and the annihilation of our invading army, these 
 doors were brought back to India as the evidence of victory 
 and recovered honour. It was not, however, easy to assign to 
 them an appro[)riate destination, for, during tlie lapse of ages, 
 the temple of Sonnnunat had become a solitary dcserte'd ruin. 
 Had it contiimed an object of Hindu veneration, the Brahmins 
 would probably have deprecated the restoration of doors which 
 had long closed a mosque: and the gift would have been sacrilege 
 in a Christian government, which is happily breaking through 
 its too long cherished connection with idolatry. It was not till 
 two centuries after Malmuid that the founder of the succeedinjx 
 house, Mohammed Gouri, established himself at Delhi, which 
 has ever since continued the caj)ital of a Moslem power; but 
 owes its fame to the line of princes, which cf)mmencc(l with 
 Baber, the great-great-grandson of the universal concpK idr 
 Tamerlane, who has better })retensions than any other person 
 to the title of sovereign of the world. The reader of history 
 is familiar with the names at least of those sovereigns, called, 
 from their extraction, the Great Moghuls, whose magnificence 
 has been described by French and English travellers, and 
 especially with that of Akl)ar, who assembled at his court the
 
 HO 
 
 professors of all creeds, and attempted to introduce a new 
 religion, the symbol of which was, " There is no God but God, 
 and Akbar is his Khalif. The thousandth year since the flight 
 of Mohammed was at hand, and there was a current saying 
 that such was the destined duration of his creed. His object 
 seems to have been to amalgamate, if possible, into one faith, 
 the polytheism of the Hindus and the unitarianism of their 
 conquerors. Akbar was timid, and talked instead of 
 acting ; and the attempt might have been followed out by his 
 great-grandson, Dara, a competitor for the empire, and the 
 author of a work upon the subject, if he had not been put 
 to death by his brother Aunmgzeb, whose long reign was 
 protracted into his ninety-fourth year. His character was 
 a complete contrast to that of his predecessors, for he lived 
 an austere self-denying life, like a fakir, and was so bigoted, 
 that he desecrated a pagoda by killing within its enclosure a 
 cow, destroyed that of Krishna in Mattara, his reputed 
 home, and ei'ected at Benares a magnificent mosque on a 
 conspicuous eminence, to domineer over the idols of that 
 metropolis of Brahminism. For him was reserved the conquest 
 of the peninsula ; but the gloiy of the house of Tamerlane was 
 short-lived, for it expired with him ; and the empire, which he 
 had completed, fell to pieces under a rapid succession of in- 
 capable and unfortunate princes. The first blow came from 
 without, from the temporary occupation of Delhi, first, by 
 the pillaging Nadir Shar, and, after his death, by the Afghans. 
 Then the Mahrattas, Rohillas, and other subject tribes, re- 
 belled, and at length the Great Moghul became a prisoner in 
 his palace, while the governing chief derived authority from 
 liis name. The battle of Assaye, which first made known to 
 fame the great Captain of our age, really transferred the 
 sceptre to the British merchants, who, till the time of Olive, 
 had no other territorial possession than their three factories, and 
 procured for the representative of Akbar Jehangir and Shah 
 .Tehan a kind and honourable treatment : but even his nominal 
 reign soon ceased, and the East-India Company now govern, 
 not in his name, but in their own as independent sovereigns.
 
 87 
 
 the gi'eater part of this vast and populous country. On the 
 central ])lain, the heart of the Moghul sovereignty, there is a 
 large INIoslem population, comprising the descendants of three 
 centuries, and there are many engaged in commerce and trade 
 in the chief towns throughout India, but they bear a small pro- 
 portion to the native race of idolaters, Avhich it has been the policy 
 of the English to favour, as was shewn by placing on the throne 
 of Mysore, when wrested from Tippoo, a descendant of the ancient 
 rajahs. Colleges have been instituted for the instruction of the 
 Hindus in European literature, and in the language of their 
 governors; but such is the fear of hurting their religious 
 feelings, that even a theoretical statement of Christian doc- 
 trine is rigidly excluded, though a better example was set by 
 the Mohammedan rulers. These have now almost disap- 
 peared, for the nominal nabobs within our dominions have 
 only the rank (which their title means) of deputies of the 
 Great Moghul. Two of his feudatories, with the titles of 
 Vizir and Nizam al molk, or Administrator of the Empire, 
 have had, till now, the government of a few millions of souls ; 
 but, enclosed within British territory, they maintain, at 
 their own expense, a British army, and, while at their respec- 
 tive capitals of Lucknow and Ilydrabad they have the jH)mp 
 of kings, the real power is in our Residents. I have said till 
 now, for the last act of the retiring Governor-General has 
 been to depose the incapal)le king of Oude, whose subjects 
 will rejoice to be delivered from his exactions, and to be trans- 
 ferred to the sovereignty of the Company. The Mohannne- 
 dans of India have been always within the reach of the 
 preaching of the gospel ; but the aimexation of the Punjab 
 seems the commencement of a new ;era in the history of Mis- 
 sions, l)y bringing us to the frontier of Afghanistan and Persia. 
 The Shiyalis of that kingdom have the reputation of being 
 more liberal and less attached to their creed than their Turkish 
 neighbours; and certainly, in Siiiraz Henry Martyn Avas 
 courteously received, though not only a preacher of Chris- 
 tianity, but also an opponent of Islam. The time seems now 
 arrived for following up prudently the way that God's provi-
 
 88 
 
 dencc is opening to us in Turkey; and the fury excited 
 among the Moslems at Agra by the conversion of a very few 
 of tlieir members, and their endeavour, by the minutiae of criti- 
 cism, to sustain their founder's chai'ge of the corruption of 
 the Scriptures, shews their alarm, and ought to be our 
 encouragement to proclaim the Gospel in India as being, 
 alike to idolater and to monotheist, the power of God and 
 the wisdom of God unto salvation. 
 
 The Mohammedan world has now no more than two poten- 
 tates worthy consideration — the Sultan of Turkey and. the 
 Shah of Persia. The former is regarded by the most im- 
 portant division, the Traditionists, as a Pope as well as 
 Emperor. The Bagdad Khali fs, in imitation of their prede- 
 cessors, were accustomed to lead the devotion and to preach in 
 the mosques; but the Turkish Sultans have never assumed 
 the title, and consequently the Moslem Avorld has long been a 
 body without a head, like the German Roman empire since 
 deprived by the Emperor Napoleon of its lord paramount. 
 These Sultans have devolved upon the mufti the office of 
 deciding cases of conscience. Being, however, considered the 
 fountain of ecclesiastical authority, a sanctity invests their per- 
 sons; and, owing to this prejudice, Sultan Mahmud may be said, 
 when he began his innovations, to have borne a charmed life, 
 for he was childless and without relations, and if he had been 
 cut off, there would have been a difficulty in providing a suc- 
 cessor. There is a tradition, that Mohammed said the Khali- 
 fat would last thirty years, and be succeeded by governments 
 established by usurpation. The first four Khalifs are regarded 
 by the Traditionists as succeeding in order of merit: they 
 were all Arabs, and elected. The Khalifat has been long vir-. 
 tually extinct : their empire having been broken up, there is 
 now no temporal emperor of the Moslems, and there appears 
 to be no need of a spiritual head of a religion, the creed of 
 which is too simple to admit of important variation and to re- 
 quire a living interpreter. 
 
 The accession to the throne of Persia of the house of Sefi, a 
 pious Sheikh, who traced his descent from Ali, established the
 
 89 
 
 Shiyah system in that country, its original home. As their last 
 imam is supposed to be still living, he has a representative called 
 the Sheikh of Islam ; and we may judge of the bitterness of 
 theological hatred between these two divisions, from the letter 
 addressed to the person then holding that supreme office by the 
 victorious Selim, at the head of his army. He tells him, that the 
 Oulema '-V^ (a body, which may be considered as the learned, 
 holding in commission the Khalifat,) have unanimously con- 
 demned him to death, in order to exterminate, in his person, 
 heresy and impiety. Animated by the spirit of their decree, 
 which is in conformity with the divine law, and inflamed with 
 the holy desire of strengthening Ishmi, and dohvering those 
 who are groaning under his tyranny, Selim announces his ad- 
 vance at the head of an army. Still, in obedience to the 
 Prophet, he first offers the Koran instead of the sabre, and 
 exhorts him to embrace the orthodox faith. In these wars 
 with the Persians, the bigotry of the Turks was always sharp- 
 ened by the decrees of the mufti, affirming it to be more meri- 
 torious to put to death one Shiyah, than seventy Christitms or 
 other unbelievers. Such bigotry led to retaliation, and Shah 
 Abbas, the most eminent of these sovereigns, tortured and 
 executed with ignominy the Turkisli lawyers wlio were taken 
 by his soldiei-s. Tlie usurper, Nadir Sliali, estabHshed the rival 
 system, and forbade both tlic cursing of tlie first three Klialifs 
 and the prockamation of the excellence of AH. On his assassi- 
 nation, the Shiyah system was restored. This enmity remains : 
 and instead of uniting their forces against the i)rinces avIio 
 regard their prophet as a crafty impostoi*, or an half-crazed 
 enthusiast, tliey are more disposed to turn their arms against 
 each otiior, being more angry witli tliose who differ from fliciu 
 on subordinate [tf)iiits, tlian with decided opponents, 
 
 Tlie resuh of our survey is, that there is scai-c«'ly a Moham- 
 medan state wliieh is not overawed by some Christian Power. 
 Even into the Indian Archipelago, wlu-rc Islam has partially 
 converted and civilized the rude aborigines, the Dutch have 
 intrcjduced Christianity ; anrl wo may hope that the natives 
 of the large and populous island of Borneo will, under the
 
 90 
 
 auspices of the enlightened Englisli llajah of Sarawak, Sir 
 James Brooke, through the Bishop of Labuan and his 
 clergy, be brought into the communion of our own church. 
 The disorganized kingdom of Persia is weakened by its wars 
 with its co-religionists of Afghanistan and the alarming neigh- 
 bourhood of Russia, which has wrested from it several of its 
 northern provinces. The insulated bigoted king of Bokhara 
 may be able to maintain his position, but cannot contend with 
 Russia ; nor has he any sympathy with the Persians, whom he 
 hates as heretics. Schamil, in Circassia, can do no more than 
 beat back the Russians from his mountain fortresses ; and 
 Abd al Kader, after a vain attempt to uphold the Koran, is an 
 exile. Algeria has been lost to Islam, Tunis is endangered, and 
 Morocco may be said to be retained by a precarious tenui'c. 
 It is in Africa that the faith of ISIohammed appears to the most 
 advantage ; for there it is found, wherever our travellers and 
 Missionaries have penetrated, not enforced by the sword, but by 
 its superiority winning its way, even down to our Cape colony, 
 and peacefully superseding a degrading idolatry, which is too 
 often appeased by human victims. What a powerful stimulus 
 ouglit this fact to be to our Missionary Societies to introduce 
 into that benighted continent that real revelation, which has the 
 promise both of this world and of that which is to come !
 
 AN ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 
 
 Islam is said to rest upon four foundations — 1. the Book of God; 
 
 2. the Sonnah, &j-*., that is. Tradition ; 3. Ijniaa, ^-^\, the 
 accordance in opinion of tlie ortliodox theologians; and 
 when tliese sources fail recourse is had to, 4. (.j*^' Jp- Kias, 
 reasoning. 
 
 ON THE KORAN. 
 
 Mohammed called his pretended revelation ^J[^\ " Alkoran," 
 the Reading, that is, what i)re-eminently deserves to he read, and 
 the name is prohahly derived from the passage which the 
 angel Gabriel is said to have first revealed to hIm(Cha]), xcvi.), 
 " Read ! in the name of thy Lord who liatli created I /ice, who 
 hath created man of congealed blood — read! for thy Lord 
 is most bounteous. He it is who has tauglit by the pen, who 
 has taught man what he did not know." It is often called the 
 I>o()k of (lod, and simjtiy the Book, and declares its own suf- 
 ficiency as an admonisher, an exphmation of every thing ; i. c. 
 of faith and practice, and a director of good news and of mercy 
 to the (mosk'm) resigiuid, flie book in which there is no donbt, 
 ^jUyiJ\ the distinguislier (between truth antl error), conliriniMg 
 what was revealed before it, that is, the law and thegospeh* It 
 claims to be, in a higher sense than the Old and New Testament, 
 
 ^ ', *..J» y'.^^ 
 
 ebjj \^j r jlc ^^ ijLjVI jli. r jli. ^'SS\ t*L)^ ^b 1^1 i *
 
 92 
 
 the Word of God; for, with the exception of tlie messages of 
 Jehovah throngli the prophets, they profess to ))e only tlie 
 works of men wlio spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost, still retaining their own peculiarities of style; whereas, 
 throughout the Koran the Deity is himself the only speaker. 
 Incapable of exhibiting the credentials of his mission, required 
 both by the Jews and the idolaters of Mecca, Mohammed boldly 
 appeals to the inimitable perfection of the Koran, making God 
 reply, "Is it not enough that I have sent down the book to be read 
 to them?" (xxix. 50); upon which the commentator Jelaleddin 
 enlarges as a permanent miracle which is superior to others, 
 which cease on their performance, and can be witnessed by 
 comparatively few. He is, says Algazali, the only prophet 
 who exhibited a miracle of this description: — challenging 
 the most eloquent of the Arabs, when eloquence was a pro- 
 fession, to produce ten, or even a single chapter, which could 
 be compared with one of the Koran. Hence the verses are 
 called miracles or signs *-^^.^, and he magnifies the argument 
 by observing that he was ^\ an illiterate, uneducated man, 
 who had never studied booksj nor travelled to attain knowledge. 
 And it may be added, that it is not only a standing, but also a 
 growing miracle, since the language has, since his time, been 
 cultivated by a long series of admired authors in verse and 
 prose. Mohammed hesitates not to say the Koran could have 
 been composed by none but the Deity (x. 38); and that verily, 
 if men and genii were purposely assembled in order to 
 produce such a book, they could not, although the one 
 assisted the other (xvii. 90): and of the latter the Koran says, 
 in the chapter (lxxii. 1) that bears their name, that some of 
 them, on hearing Mohammed read it, said, " Verily we have 
 heard an admirable discourse, which directeth unto the right 
 institution ; wherefore we believe therein, and we will by no 
 means associate any other with our Lord." 
 
 This Book, we are told, was not delivered at once, but 
 in portions, smaller or greater as the case required, during a 
 pcj-iod of no less than twenty-three years, the remainder of the 
 prophet's life ; yet there are many passages — as, for instance,
 
 93 
 
 the opening of the second chapter, " This is a book in which 
 there is no doubt" — tliat describe it as already a whole; and this 
 is certainly in conformity with Mohammed's own notion of a 
 revelation, for the Koran speaks continually of the books of 
 the ancient prophets, and represents both the Law and the 
 Gospel as sent down complete to Moses and Jesus. It grew, 
 of course, gradually into a volume, committed to memory by 
 many, and carefidly preserved, but seemingly not arranged in 
 any order. Still the history shews that many verses were 
 made known on particular occasions; and the two opinions 
 were reconciled by the strange hypothesis, that the Koran, 
 which had existed from eternity with God, had in time been 
 conveyed from the preserved table, in the divine presence, to 
 the lowest heaven, from which it was communicated, as needed, 
 by Gabriel to the prophet. This is expressly declared in the 
 opening of the forty-fourth chapter. " By the perspicuous book 
 of the Koran: verily we have sent down the same in a blessed 
 night, wherein is distinctly sent down the decree of every deter- 
 mined thing, as our command, the night of Alkader, the night 
 which is bettor than a thousand months : it is peace until the 
 rising of the morning" (xcvii.). It is well known that there are 
 contradictory conunands in the Koran, and some of the first im- 
 portance, as the turning in prayer, first to Jerusalem, aiul 
 then to Mecca, and the toleration first, and then the extermi- 
 nation, of idolaters. The interpreters cut, instead of untying, 
 the knot, for they have invented the doctrine of abrogation : 
 and the Koran has been so edited, that the abro<ratinn; 
 verse sometimes precedes the abrogated. Such a change 
 of purpose is hard to reconcile with the wisdom of a Being of 
 perfect intelligence, who sees ettccts in their causes, and to 
 whose mind all things have been present from the beginning; 
 but the difficulty is enhanced if we believe that all those 
 passages were at once extant in the archetype, on the jjreserved 
 table. This has been always received as the orthodox doctrine, 
 yet it has encountered a formidable opposition ; for Almosdar 
 the Motazclite, that is. Separatist, accused the other party of 
 infidelity in thus asserting the existence of two eternal beings.
 
 94 
 
 the Deity and the Kortin. And his view was maintained, not 
 only by heretics, but even by Ahnaniun, wlio, thoiigli regarded 
 with suspicion as the introducer of Greek science into his court, 
 through transhxtions, and a decided favourer of the cause of AH, 
 was still, as Klialif, the authorized Commander of the faithful. 
 Determined to enforce the doctrine he had adopted, he ordered 
 his governor of Bagdad to convene the most distinguished tlieo- 
 logians. They were strictly questioned, but remained firm in 
 the received opinion, and one of them was no less a person 
 than Ebn Hanbal, the author of the fourth orthodox sect. lie 
 was sent in chains with another leading character to Tarsus, 
 and only escaped capital punishment by the unexpected de- 
 cease of their persecutor. He afterwards died in consequence of 
 a severe scourging for his perseverance in this opinion, for the 
 brother and successor of Almamun, the Khalif Mestanser, and 
 his son Vathek, continued to persecute all wlio asserted the 
 eternity of the Koran. At leiigth his son Motawakell, who 
 was as hostile as his immediate predecessors had been devoted 
 to the memory of Ali, suffered the dispute to die away ; 
 and both parties ultimately acquiesced in the decision thus ex- 
 pressed by Algazali. The Koran is pronounced with the 
 tongue, written in books, and kept in the memory, and yet is 
 eternal, subsisting in the Divine essence, and not separate from 
 it. This court of inquiry is said to have been abolished, and 
 the discussion pi'ohibited, in consequence of the happy reply to 
 the question by a venerable Sheikh, who, on being interrogated, 
 appealed to the silence of the prophet. " Was that silence," he 
 asked, " the result of ignorance, or was it from the wish of 
 concealing a mystery?" The judge's answer was, that the 
 ])rophet could not be supposed to be ignorant of the nature of 
 the holy book, but he did not think proper to reveal it. " What 
 right have you, then," returned the prisoner, " to make yourself 
 a judge of the question, by maintaining with fire and sword 
 a dogma on which he kept a respectful silence?" 
 
 As Islam prevailed, and was established by the sword, none 
 ventured to question that, whether created or not, it was a 
 divine revelation. But at the opening of the prophet's career
 
 95 
 
 those who demanded such a decisive sign, as those that 
 inaugui'ated the Law and tlie Gospel, were not to he si- 
 lenced by the appeal to the inherent miracle of the book. 
 They spoke of it as a fabrication, and a collection of fables : 
 still they seem to have admitted its literary superiority ; for 
 the unbelievers say (x.) this is manifest sorcery, and a subse- 
 quent oriental definition of poetry is lawful magic ; and " We 
 have not taught Mohammed the art of poetry, nor is it ex- 
 pedient for him, for this book is no other than an admonition, 
 and a perspicuous Koran " (xxxvi.). They accused him of a 
 fraud and of having confederates. " This Koran is no other 
 than a forgery, which he has contrived, and others have as- 
 sisted him " (xx v.). " Verily a certain man teacheth him (xviii. ), 
 and thus he meets the objection." The tongue of the person to 
 whom they incline is a foreign one, but this is perspicuous 
 Arabic. But the argument affects only the diction : and from 
 the uniformity of style, and from the frequent repetition of the 
 same identical phrases, even, I may say, to an annoying excess, 
 we may fairly assume, that, from whatever source he procured 
 his facts and his ideas, he clothed them with his own words. 
 The Mohammedan authors mention several presumed as- 
 sistants, but no particular chapters are assigned to any; and il 
 is only worth while to specify one of them, Salman, a Persian, 
 who conununicated to him, from the Zend Avesta, the descrip- 
 tions of heaven and hell, especially of the narrow bridge cross- 
 in*' the abyss, over wliicli the righteous alone pass, while the 
 condenuu'd droj) in, and of the houris, or black-eyed damsels, 
 which heighten the enjoyments of the blessed in the gardens and 
 palaces of heaven. The early Christian writers give him as 
 his chief assistant a Nestorian, monk, Sergius, wlioni the 
 Mohammedans call Boheira, and say that he foretold iiis future 
 mission when, as a youth, he accompanied his uncle Abu Thaleb 
 to liostra. On these two joui'ueys, however, his oi»i)ortunities 
 of conversin<f and scheming with him must have l)eenfew,and 
 he could hanlly have aspired so young to be the prophet of 
 his country. The gnostic errors, too, which he adopts, not 
 from till- r.monical, but the apocryphal (lospels. couUl not be
 
 96 
 
 derived from this source; and in his communication with Jews, 
 too, he was unfortunate, for he has spoilt the narratives of the 
 Hebrew writers, by taking the fables of the Talmud instead of 
 the Old-Testament facts, and makes unaccountably gross 
 mistakes, which could answer no purpose and are fatal to his 
 credit, since they contradict the books to the autlionticity of 
 which he bears repeated testimony. In fact, we know nothing 
 of Ills previous life except his marriage; and before he announced 
 himself as the messeniier of God he had abundant leisure to 
 think over his schemes, and to collect materials at home or on 
 his commercial journeys. Still there was no need to go abroad 
 for information, for he had a confidential friend at home, 
 Wareka, an aged cousin of Kadljah, who is said to have pro- 
 fessed first Christianity and then Judaism, and even to have 
 translated the Scriptures. This report, however, is disproved 
 by Mohammed's ignorance of them : still he may have com- 
 municated to him his own imperfect knowledge, and he is said 
 to have encouraged him, and to have convinced his wife of his 
 mission. I assume that Mohammed gained his knowledge, 
 such as it was, where he could, but was the sole author of the 
 Koran ; for if he had had partners in the work they must have 
 been discovered, and after his success they would willingly 
 have expected to share his fame and authority. Surrounded, 
 as he always was at Medina, with company, and liable to con- 
 stant interruption, we can hardly conceive how he could find 
 time to compose it. My opinion is, that he was ready enough 
 to bring out verses on an emergency, but that the long nar- 
 ratives, which were as suitable to his object at one time as at 
 another, were premeditated, and substantially committed to 
 memory when he had more leisure. 
 
 Mohammed, unable, it is generally believed, to write him- 
 self, had, in the course of his life, no less than fifteen secre- 
 taries, the two most eminent of whom, and the most confidential, 
 were Abubekr and 0th man, both sons-in-law, and both suc- 
 cessively Khalifs. They must have furnished copies to those who 
 wished for them, for we hear continually of chapters being read 
 and recited ; but it was left for Abubekr to form them into a
 
 97 
 
 volume, not only from the palm leaves and skins on wliich 
 they were written, but some from the recollection of believers. 
 The idea occurred to him, from the fall of so many of them in the 
 battle against ISIoselima, the rival pro])liet, and in other wars ; 
 and the transcript was entrusted to the custody of one of his 
 widows, not Ayesha, which might have excited suspicion of its 
 authenticity, but Hafsa, a daughter of Omar. As, however, 
 other copies (at least of portions) were in circulation, differ- 
 ing from each other, the khalif Otlnnan, desirous of securing a 
 perfect text, published this as authentic, and ordered all others 
 to be destroyed. There are consequently no various readings 
 of importance : I say of importance, because the text is anterior 
 to the use of vowels and signs, the introudction of which has 
 caused some minor discrepancies. 
 
 The order of chapters is the most artless imaginable. Ex- 
 cluding the short introductory one called the Opening, they 
 are arranged according to their length, the earlier containing two 
 hundi'ed or even three hundred verses, the latter only five or six. 
 They are calledj^^***^ "Aswar," that is, the plural of ijy^ " Surali," 
 a word meaning a scries, as of bricks, but not applied to the 
 chapters of profane works. Each chapter is designated by a 
 name, as, the Cow, the Family of hnraui, Joseph, according to the 
 subject, and soiuetimes from a prominent word, as, the Pen, the 
 Daybreak, the EartlKjuake. The title of each tells us whether 
 it was revealed at Mecca or Medina: the former ;iiiioimt to 
 eighty-three, the latter to twenty-eight, and three are uncertahi. 
 This supplies the only key to the genius of the Koran, and 
 consequently to the character of its author; and whoever 
 wishes \() form a connect judgment of them will study the 
 volume in chrcmological carder. At Mecca he ajijx'ars to have 
 been more the poet, at Medina the orator ; but tlio change of cir- 
 cumstances all'ected not only his literary, but also liis religious 
 character; for at Mecca he is the admonisher, who argues to 
 j)ersuadc ; at Medina the sovereign, who conunands obedience, 
 and employs the sword as well as the pen. 
 
 The claim of the Koran to insj)iratioii, not so nuidi froni tlir 
 matter as from the style, naturally provokes criticism; but still, 
 especially when wc consider it as the first work of the kind 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 in poetic prose, and of considerable length, it is an astonishing 
 })roduction, and no doubt its excellence went far to establish 
 tiic faith in Mohammed's mission. Its literary merit is of 
 course magnified by the extraordinary disadvantages of every 
 kind under which it was composed. It owed much of its fasci- 
 nation to its matter, new to those who first heard it ; and yet 
 I think the author was remarkably deficient in imagination, for 
 almost all the contents are borrowed and reproduced from 
 Jewish, Christian, or Magian sources. Its chief charm must 
 have been its measured cadence ; for it is not, like Ossian, and 
 Telemaque, and the Martyrs, a poem in prose, as they have 
 been called, but there is a continual though irregular recurrence 
 of rhymes. Sale and others have given us correct versions, but 
 they have altogether neglected to represent this essential fea- 
 ture, even by occasional blank verse, or the choice of poetical 
 words. In our own, or the French language, we could hardly 
 give a tolerable' likeness of the original, but German is more ma- 
 nageable, and those who understand it will find many passages 
 happily translated by that eminent orientalist of our time, the 
 late Baron von Hammer Purgstall. To me, the chief fault is the 
 obscurity occasioned by its very elliptical style. This objection 
 applies to the narratives as well as phrases, for they could 
 scarcely be understood by persons who never before heard of 
 them, though to the Jews they would suggest their own wilful 
 ])erversion of the Pentateuch. Take, for example, the tempta- 
 tion of Joseph. "She (the wife ofPotiphar) resolved within 
 herself, and he would have resolved, had he not seen the evident 
 demonstration of his lord." What that demonstration was we 
 are left to learn from the commentaries. Some say, the voice 
 of Gabriel, others, the apparition of his father. To the unbe- 
 lieving critic the perusal of the Koran will be disappointing and 
 wearisome from its fi'cquent repetitions; and except with some 
 special object, few I apprehend, have read through any transla- 
 tion, although stimulated by curiosity to peruse what has been 
 for af^es regarded, even by learned and intelligent men, as 
 inspired. We may perhaps adopt as a fair criticism the 
 estimate of Gibbon,* who is by no means disposed to 
 
 * Decline nd Fall, ch. l.
 
 99 
 
 undervalue either Mohammed or his book: "The Euro- 
 pean infidel will peruse with impatience the endless 
 incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, 
 which seldom excites a sentiment or an idea, which sometimes 
 crawls in the dust, and is sometimes lost in the clouds. The 
 Divine attributes exalt the fancy of the Arabian Missionary, 
 but his loftiest strains must yield to the sublime simplicity of 
 the book of Job." Certainly, even in style, and merely as a com- 
 position, it would stand no comparison with the Hebrew 
 Scriptures ; but we should recollect that their magnificent 
 imagery of the prophets, and their inspired conceptions of the 
 Deity, were alike unknown to Mohammed and his hearers, 
 whose " ignorance," to use the words of Gibbon, was "incapable 
 of comparing the productions of human genius." The highest 
 and most disinterested testimony to its literary superiority is 
 that of Lebid, one of the seven celebrated poets, whose poems 
 were called C->liijw> " Suspended," because hung on the Caaba ; 
 and he is said, on hearing one of the most poetical surahs, the 55th 
 (the Merciful), to have declared that such a composition must 
 have been inspired. Long after, being called upon by the Khalif 
 Omar to repeat one of his poems, he recited the commencement 
 of the second : " This is the book in which there is no doubt a 
 guide to those who fear, to those who believe in what is secret, 
 and who keep up prayer, and who, out of what we have provided 
 them with, sj)end [in alms], and they who believe in what has 
 been sent down to thee ; and in what has been sent down to 
 them before thee, and, with regard to the next world, feel sure ? 
 These are und(;r the guidance of their Lord, and these shall 
 prosjK'r."* And he added, that Jiftcr he li:id read this he 
 
 ^ ^ " ^ ^ ^' ^ ' ^ ' ^ ^ 
 
 W {jy*^y>.. liT?.'^!? oi^- r*^>) ^3 ^^^^ u.?^J '--•r^^V 
 
 
 U '2.
 
 100 
 
 composed no more poetry. It may be presumed, therefore, 
 from liis piety, and from the substance of the passage, that he 
 admired more the sentiments than the diction. And this is 
 confirmed by his distich which Mohammed was in the habit of 
 repeating : 
 
 Praise which is not ascribed to God is vain : 
 The good another gives is but a shadow. 
 
 According to one tradition, though he lived to an extreme old age, 
 he uttered no more than this couplet after his conversion : 
 
 j_»\ jj;li ^ oi dil s^^ 
 
 Praise be to God that death did not arrive 
 Till in the vest of Islam I was clothed. 
 
 There is, however, another tradition, that he rendered himself 
 useful to Mohammed by writing against Amrulkais, the finest 
 of the seven poets, who continued a heathen. 
 
 Maracci and others give, as a favourable specimen, the 
 chapter called after the Sun : — 
 
 c^ y y<-'y^ yy f? yy yjyy y ^y yy <^yy y y\y 
 
 9 9y c^jj^ -'C'' c,^ y ^ '-yy ^ -^ ■^ ^-' ^-''--^ 
 
 &ii\ 
 
 ! fy (^>y y yy y y^- 
 
 tiSi edJ^ ^y**j f^ J^^"-* "~ l^'-a^l u1*xj3^ '^\ ir W^i^ 
 
 y -^yy <^ '^ y C fZy o l^yy yy ^ y y y 9 y ,' y 9 9'C y\ y ^ yi, 9 y 
 
 y y'^ 9 J 
 
 " By the sun and her brightness ; 
 " By the moon when he follows her ; 
 " By the day when it enlightens her ;
 
 101 
 
 " By tlie night when it covers her ; 
 
 " By the heaven, and he who built it ; 
 
 " By the earth, and him who spread it out ; 
 
 " By the soul, and him who formed it, 
 
 " And breathed into it botli wickedness and piety. 
 
 " Certainly he is happy who has purified it ; 
 
 " And certainly he is miserable who has corrupted it. 
 
 " Tliamud, through wickedness, treated {their prophet 
 
 Saleh) as an impostor, 
 " When the wretch among them was sent {to slay' the 
 
 camel), 
 " And the messenger of God said to them, The camel of 
 
 God, let her drink, 
 " And they treated him as an imposter, and slew her. 
 " And their Lord destroyed them for their crime, 
 " And he punished all alike, and he feared not the issue 
 
 of it."* 
 
 Whatever rythmical attraction the passage may possess, we 
 cannot fail to be struck with the absurdity which is continually 
 occurring in the Koran of causing the Creator to swear l)y his 
 creatures, even by insects and plants. This is condemned in 
 
 * I transcribe, as a specimen, Baron von Hammer's translation in the Minos 
 de rOricnte : 
 
 Bey (ler Sonne, und ihrcm schimmcr ; 
 
 Boy dem Mond der ilir fulgf t immer ; 
 
 l)py doni Tag der sic zipgt in vollcra glanz; 
 
 Bey der Nacht, die sic verfinstcrt ganz ; 
 
 Bey dor Ilirniiicin und dem der sic gemaclit ; 
 
 Bey der Erdc und dem der sic schuft ehen ; 
 
 Bey der rccIo und dom der sie ins gleichgewiclit gebraclit, 
 
 Bey dem der ihr das bcwusstsoyn des guten und bosen gegcben, 
 
 Selig wcr seine seelo reinigt. 
 
 Wcr dicselbe vcrdunklet wird auf ewig gepeinigt, 
 
 Das volk Themiid emporte sicli wieder don Gotgesandten. 
 
 AIs die elcndstcn dcrselbcn licrzu rannten, 
 
 Sprach zu ihnen der Propliet, Scht Gottes kamel, gebt ihm zu trinken, 
 
 Sie zielicn ilm Iiigen schlacteten das kamel da liess der Herr auf sie 
 
 seinen grimm sinken. 
 F,r fiirchtet von ilmon nirlit dcsgicichen.
 
 102 
 
 in the gonuino scri|)tures by anticipation ; for it is said in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 13 — 16, that "when God made 
 a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no 
 greater, he swaro by himself; for men verily swear by the 
 greater." 
 
 According to D'Herbelot the most admired passage is the 
 recital of the drowning of one of Noah's sons, which is praised 
 by Sir William Jones* as truly magnificent, and inferior in sub- 
 limity only to the simple declaration of the creation of light 
 in Genesis. 
 
 ^l\ aJJ^ ^1 ^< j*jjJ\ ^li^ ^ JUi iU-J^ (^ J^-^. Jj^ J^^ 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ o ^o— ' ^ ^ ^^ 9 (~t ^ C— -^j» ^ ij ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 V?. J:t^j (J:i3~*"*^^ ^^ W^ ^^^ ^*<^ ^ .'. } J^J (^J U* 
 j^^^Ua!^ ^»fi)J \s>0 J-Wj (^ii^^\ ti*" 1— '*i^^ 
 
 " And it passed Avith them through the waves as mountains. 
 And Noah called out to his son, and he was apart, O, my son, 
 embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers. He said, I 
 will ascend a mountain, which will protect me from the water. 
 He said. There is no protection this day from the decree of 
 God, except from mercy. And the wave passed between them, 
 and h<i was among the drowned. And it was said, O earth, 
 swallow thy water ! and, O heaven, withhold (thy rain) ! 
 And the water abated, and the decree was fulfilled, and the 
 ark rested on Aljudi. And it was said, Avaunt, ye tribe of 
 the wicked !" 
 
 It is not my object to depreciate whatever literary excel- 
 lence the Koran may possess, on which, since, as it seems to be 
 
 * In his Latin 'oinmcntary on Asiatic Poetry.
 
 103 
 
 specially claimed for its language, I do not feel competent to 
 sit in judgment. I will only observe, that in every language 
 there are favourite authors, whose fame, once established, no 
 subsequent writer is allowed to equal them and their very 
 faults are praised by fond and uncritical admirers; and that when 
 the matchless beauty of the Koran was received as an article 
 of faith, it became dangerous to call it in question, though 
 persons are recorded, of course branded as heretics, who have 
 ventTired to deny its preemmence. The number of competent 
 judges of such a question is very lunited ; and its literary 
 superiority must be taken upon trust by an immense majority 
 of believers. The remark applies even to the greater part of 
 those whose native tongue is Arabic, and the judgment of the 
 Moslems of foreign birth can have little more weight than that 
 of European orientalists. A serious objection may be ui'ged 
 even against the nature of such a miracle; for in every 
 country, and especially in ages of early and imperfect 
 civilization, the power of poetry to fascinate the imagi- 
 nation, and to give the feelings the mastery over the judgment, 
 is confessed : and it is a trite remark, that the orator can, with 
 persuasive accents, make the worse appear the better reason. 
 I tlms dismiss the consideration of the diction of the Koran ; 
 but of the ideas which it embodies, literary persons of other 
 creeds are as competent to fonn an estimate as the best modern 
 Arabic sclinhirs. We may grant that its descrij)tion of the 
 Supreme Being, creator, preserver, and governor of the uni- 
 verse, and of his attributes, excel as nmcli in thought as in 
 reality tlu^se in the noblest productions of heathen genius ; 
 but candid infidels will concede to us that they fall at least 
 crpially short of that contained in the Scriptures. It is well 
 known that the New-Testament Greek would have been 
 despised as ii barbarous dialect by an Attic, or even an Alex- 
 andrian critic; and St. Paul expressly tells the Ct)rintliians 
 (1. ii. 4) that his speech " was not with enticing words of 
 man's wisdom," in order that their faith should not stand in the 
 wisdom of men ; and (2. iv. 7) that " we have tliis treasure" 
 (the glorious revelation of the Christian scheme of salvation) 
 " in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
 
 104 
 
 of God, antl not of us." And surely as the sun still shines, 
 though partially shorn of his rays through a hazy medium, so 
 this power will manifest itself through the imperfections and 
 weakness of language ; and its discoveries, which, if they had 
 not been revealed, Ave could never have conceived, most satisfy 
 the judgment and fix the aflPections. The Christian critic may 
 fairly condemn tlie various repetitions of the Koran, and main- 
 *tain the literary as well as the essential superiority of the 
 Psalms and the Prophets. Occasional grandeur, and, it may 
 be, sublimity, will be granted ; but the pathetic is scarcely 
 attempted. Mohammed does not excel in narrative : the Koran 
 has nothing that resembles the moral teaching of the Prophets 
 and the Apostles ; and the tenderness that pervades our Lord's 
 discourses, and is characteristic of Christian instruction, is alto- 
 gether absent. The Deity of the Koran is indeed an almighty, 
 just, and munificent sovereign, who will pardon the penitent 
 sinner ; but he is not the God of consolation, the Father of 
 mercies, " our Father which is in heaven," who not only loves 
 us as his creatures, but has adopted us as sons. The crescent,* 
 which everywhere caught his eyes, was adopted by the con- 
 queror of Constantinople as the symbol of his rising empire, 
 and the Christian will not regi'et his choice, since it brings 
 Islam into so just a comparison Avith the bright warm- 
 ing sun of Christianity. The comparison may fairly be 
 transferred to the depositories of the two religions ; for what- 
 ever excellence the Koran possesses is borrowed from the 
 liible. But reflected light does not carry with it the rays 
 
 of heat. 
 
 And the Moon 
 
 Owes all her beauty to the night, 
 And hides herself by day. 
 We might upon her brightness gaze 
 Till we were starved with cold. 
 
 * The Byzantines had impressed upon their coin the new moon, with the 
 legend 2QT. "Saviour," bccau.se, unexpectedly shining out on a cloudy night, it 
 saved their city from capture by Philip of Macedon. When Constantino included 
 it within his capital he retained this symbol of the ancient inhabitants ; and no 
 doubt it recommended itself to Mohammed from its presumed magical power. 
 — Pinkerton's Essay on Medals, vol. i. p. 2 11.
 
 105 
 
 The Gospel, like the Sun at noon, 
 Aflfords a glorious light ; 
 Then (Islam's cheerless) boasted Moon 
 Appears no longer bright. 
 
 And Grace, not light alone bestows, 
 But adds a quickening power ; 
 The desert blossoms like the rose. 
 And sin prevails no more. 
 
 The Mohammedan, more consistent than too many Chris- 
 tians, is famihar with what lie takes to be the word of God, 
 and treats it witli a reverence wliich degenerates into super- 
 stition ; for he will not read it in a state of pollution, and writes 
 upon its cover, " Let none touch it but those who arc purified." 
 The bigoted do not willingly see it in the hands of unbe- 
 lievers, and think it dishonoured by being printed ; but the 
 Empress Catherine published several successive editions at 
 Casan, for the use of her Tartar subjects. Moslems 
 bestow upon it every possible ornament compatible with theii* 
 rigid notions of propriety, not only employing writers eminent 
 for caligraphy, Ijut adorning the introductory pages and the 
 headings of chapters with the brightest colours and with gold.* 
 As a masteq)iccc of eloquence, they arc not favourable to its 
 translation, since it must in consequence lose so much of its 
 attraction : still there are versions of it in Persian and Hindu- 
 stani which are generally interlineary. And they do not, like 
 Roman Catholics, object to its indiscriminate perusal. AH 
 who have any knowledge of the language read it ; ])assages 
 from it arc introduced into their prayers, and add a dignity 
 to ordinary conversation ; and the title of laiW " Rcnieni- 
 bcrcr," is given as one of honour In lliose who know it 
 by lieart. Sovereigns, as an act of devotion, have often tran- 
 scribed the whole volume. Tlu; copies made by the Ottoman 
 Sultans are kc])t in their sepulchral chapels, and that of the 
 conqueror of Constantinople is still extant. Being excluded, 
 
 * There is a copy written in 967 H. (1.550 A.I).) in the Bodleian Library, 
 probably surpassed by none, presentcil to the Univcrnity by the East-India Com- 
 pany, out of the library of Tippn .Sultan.
 
 106 
 
 from the representation of living beings, they impress verses 
 from it on their coins, and, like the Jews, write them upon 
 their doors ; and the Arabic character becomes a beau- 
 tiful substitution for paintings on the walls, as may be seen in 
 the brilliant gilded apartments in the Alhambra palace of the 
 sovereigns of Granada. Its recital on festivals and other 
 occasions in public, by hired readers, is esteemed an act of 
 piety, and this reverence exceeds all reasonable bounds, for it 
 is used for the benefit of the dead as well as of the living, and 
 it is, chiefly for the guidance of public reciters, divided into 
 
 sixty portions, i-->^l, from *-r^, or into thirty sections ]}?-^ 
 
 from J?-, each of which is subdivided into four. 
 
 The opening chapter, iw^U3^, consists of seven verses, and is 
 used as often as the Lord's Prayer is by Christians. The latter, 
 as we well know, commences with petitions for the worship of 
 God, the extension of his reign, and as perfect an accomplish- 
 ment of his will by man on earth as by the angels in heaven. 
 Then comes the petition for sufficient food, followed by suppli- 
 cation for pardon, and for deliverance from temptation and 
 from the evil spirit. The Mohammedan prayer is good as far 
 as it goes ; but the only petition is for direction in the right 
 way — the way of those to whom God is gracious, of those with 
 whom He is not angry, and of those who do not err ; that is, 
 according to the commentators, not the path of idolaters, or of 
 Jews, or Christians. 
 
 The Koran is too often abused as a talisman, which 
 equally benefits the possessor, whatever may be his moral 
 or reliirious character. The whole is often written in a 
 minute character, and, being put in a case, is himg round 
 the neck ; and certain passages are selected which are worn 
 on the person, such as the 109th, 110th, and 112th chap- 
 ters, the latter being an enlargement of the Creed, in oppo- 
 sition to Christianity. " Say God is one God ; He is eternal ; He 
 does not beget, and He is not begotten, and like Him there is 
 none." One is the verse called that of victory ; another that 
 of the throne, because it is said, that on its revelation the 
 heavens were opened, and the throne of God was visible
 
 107 
 
 to the Prophet, aucl I must not overlook the concluding chap- 
 ter. Fourteen— the 7th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 22d, 26th, 
 27th, 32d, 38th, 41st, 53d, 84th, and 86th— reqmre prostra- 
 tion when recited. We have it on the authority of Mohammed 
 himself, in the Traditions, that the best for repeating in prayer 
 are the 113th* and the 114tht. And to the sick, who were too 
 weak to repeat even such short portions, he recommended the 
 use of pious ejaculations ; as, " God is most great !" and " There 
 is no power or strength except from God !" " These words,'' 
 replied a sufferer to whom they were addressed, " are for God's 
 praise and glory, but do not suit me," on which the Prophet 
 answered. " Say, ' O Lord, have mei'cy upon me, and give me 
 daily bread.' " 
 
 The verse of the throne is regarded as the grandest 
 
 * 113. 
 
 ^ XX X Xfc^x qXxxx y -^ ^ o ^'^o-i> • ^ *• 91 o 9 
 
 XXX X Xn,x O"^ ^ y Of^ ^ iu M -^ m ^ O X 
 
 . ix^X -'X -Vx XX 
 
 Say, I Uy for refuge to the Lord of the day-break : from the evil which 
 lie hath created : and from the evil of the night when it cometh on : and 
 from women who blow upon knots' : and from the envicr when lie envieth. 
 
 [" An allusion to the custom of witches, known also in Europe, of tying knots 
 in a cord and blowing on them, to weaken the person whom they chose to enchant. 
 The commentators say that this and the following chapter were revealed to free 
 Mohammed from tin; incantations of a Jew and his daughters. It is one of many 
 instances that might be given of his superstition] 
 
 ■)- III. 
 
 X X X XX Xix XX^ XX 
 
 a ^ 9 
 
 
 .S;iy, Illy for refuge tu lliu Lonl of nun, tin- King of men, iIm,' (iod of men, 
 from the evil of the suggesting {dcrd) win-'^peur, who whi.sfers in tlie breasts of 
 men, from the genii, and from men.
 
 108 
 
 revelation; and of tlie chapters, the 1st is called tlic noblest, 
 the 56th the most beautiful, and tlie Cow and the Family of 
 Tmram the bright ones. It is said that the 112th, on the 
 unity of God, is worth a third of the Koran, and that its 
 essence is the portion from the 49th to the last. 
 
 The following chronological arrangement is given by Weil, 
 in his life of Mohammed from an ancient tradition : 
 
 REVEALED AT MECCA. 
 
 
 1. The congealed blood, 
 
 J.W 96. 
 
 2, The covered, 
 
 JsJ\ 74. 
 
 3. Abu Lah<'b, 
 
 e^y 111. 
 
 4. The rending asunder, 
 
 ^liiiVl 84. 
 
 5. The most High, 
 
 Jcljl 87. 
 
 6. The night, 
 
 JJJl 92. 
 
 7. The daybreak, 
 
 j^^ 89. 
 
 8. The brightness, 
 
 ^^ 93. 
 
 9. The opening, 
 
 ^^Lll .94. 
 
 10. The afternoon. 
 
 j^\ 103. 
 
 11. The courser, 
 
 ob^un 100. 
 
 12. Alkauther, 
 
 Jj^^W 108. 
 
 13. The desire of midtijdying, 
 
 ^uGjI 102. 
 
 14. Necessaries, 
 
 ^jjc\[\ 107. 
 
 15. The unbelievers, 
 
 ^^.^1^=01 109. 
 
 16. The elephant. 
 
 J-iJl 105. 
 
 17. The daybreak. 
 
 jliJl 113. 
 
 18. Men, 
 
 ^Ul 114. 
 
 19. The declaration of the Unity, 
 
 s^.-l^\ 112. 
 
 -• 
 
 20. The star. 
 
 ^^ 53. 
 
 21. He frowned, 
 
 ■„ e 80. 
 
 22. Alkader, 
 
 .^yi 97.
 
 109 
 
 23. The sun, 
 
 ,j.^\ 
 
 91. 
 
 24. Light, 
 
 ,^\ 
 
 85. 
 
 25. The letter Caf, 
 
 (J 
 
 50. 
 
 26. The territory, 
 
 jUI 
 
 90. 
 
 27. The fig, 
 
 c^J^ 
 
 95. 
 
 28. The Corlsh, 
 
 Ji/ 
 
 106. 
 
 29. The striking, 
 
 ■^J^\ 
 
 101. 
 
 30. The resurrection, 
 
 i^UIl 
 
 75. 
 
 31. The slanderers, 
 
 i}^\ 
 
 104. 
 
 32. The seat. 
 
 o^)Lj,<^1 
 
 77. 
 
 33. The night-star, 
 
 oj^^ 
 
 80. 
 
 34. Tlie moon. 
 
 J^\ 
 
 54. 
 
 35. The letter Sad, 
 
 Lf 
 
 38. 
 
 36. The partition. 
 
 ^1^ rVl 
 
 7. 
 
 37. The genii. 
 
 J' 
 
 72. 
 
 38. The letters Ya and Sin, 
 
 U^- 
 
 36. 
 
 39. The divider, 
 
 u^>ll 
 
 25. 
 
 40. The angels, 
 
 A^OMl 
 
 35. 
 
 41. The inner apartments, 
 
 oi>^ 
 
 49. 
 
 42. Taiid 11, 
 
 iL 
 
 20. 
 
 43. The incvi table. 
 
 A n iipi 
 
 5(). 
 
 44. The poets, 
 
 .T,„:,ii 
 
 2(5. 
 
 45. The ant. 
 
 ^\ 
 
 27. 
 
 46. The tale. 
 
 f^ja^\ 
 
 28. 
 
 47. The night journev, 
 
 ^JJ^'^\ 
 
 17. 
 
 48. Jonas, 
 
 U-'y- 
 
 10. 
 
 49. JJud, 
 
 'y-^ 
 
 11. 
 
 50. .losepli, 
 
 51. Allicjfr, 
 
 
 12. 
 15.
 
 no 
 
 52. 
 
 m. 
 
 55. 
 
 56. 
 
 57. 
 
 58. 
 
 59. 
 
 00. 
 
 61. 
 
 62. 
 
 63. 
 
 64. 
 
 65. 
 
 66. 
 
 67. 
 
 68. 
 
 09. 
 
 70. 
 
 71. 
 
 72, 
 
 73. 
 
 74 
 
 75 
 
 70. 
 77. 
 
 78. 
 79. 
 80. 
 
 Cattle, 
 
 The rank?, 
 
 Lokman, 
 
 Sabah, 
 
 The troops, 
 
 The believer, 
 
 Adoration, 
 
 The letters, or consultation. 
 
 Ornaments, 
 
 Smoke, 
 
 The kneeling, 
 
 Alakhaf, 
 
 The dispersing, 
 
 The overwhelming. 
 
 The cave, 
 
 Noah, 
 
 The bee, 
 
 Abraham, 
 
 The Prophets, 
 
 The believers. 
 
 Adoration, 
 
 Mount Tur, 
 
 The kmgdom. 
 
 The confirmer, 
 , The steps, 
 
 The sent. 
 
 The messenger, 
 
 The cleaving asunder, 
 
 The rending, 
 
 ^Vl 6. 
 
 .U_^l 37. 
 
 ^^Ul 31. 
 
 34. 
 
 ^;J1 39. 
 
 ^j\\ 40. 
 
 ij^l 41. 
 
 ijj^\ 42 
 
 ^^jJ\ 43. 
 
 ^JU.s^\ 44. 
 
 i_;lJ^ 45. 
 
 v_iW^\ 46. 
 
 ^\->JJ\ 51. 
 
 iLiuJi o8. 
 
 U>^^=^\ 18. 
 
 ^j-Jl 71. 
 
 J^l 16. 
 
 ^_ft^-^l 14. 
 
 *L_ilJl 21. 
 
 ojli-iil 23. 
 
 iyr^ 32. 
 
 ,JJ1 52. 
 
 liillil 67. 
 
 iilJ^ 09. 
 
 C-^ 
 
 ,LU1 70. 
 .IcjUl 78. 
 
 .Ull 79. 
 
 »Lk^Vl 82. 
 
 ^liiiVl 84.
 
 Ill 
 
 81. 
 
 The Greeks, 
 
 .J^' 
 
 30. 
 
 82. 
 
 The spider, 
 
 U. n -. Jl 
 
 29. 
 
 83. 
 
 Those who give short measure, 
 
 REVEALED AT MEDINA. 
 
 t:;Ji.i-UH 
 
 83. 
 
 84. 
 
 The cow, 
 
 Ij I w 
 
 2. 
 
 85. 
 
 The spoils, 
 
 >V1 
 
 8. 
 
 86. 
 
 The family of Imrnm, 
 
 ^U-jT 
 
 3. 
 
 87. 
 
 The confederates, 
 
 i_.l>VI 
 
 33. 
 
 88. 
 
 She wlio is tried. 
 
 y.<^\ 
 
 00. 
 
 89. 
 
 Women, 
 
 *LJ1 
 
 4. 
 
 90. 
 
 The earthquake, 
 
 J^>1 
 
 99. 
 
 91. 
 
 Iron, 
 
 s^^\ 
 
 57. 
 
 92. 
 93. 
 
 Victory, 
 Thunder, 
 
 V rjl 
 
 47. 
 13. 
 
 94. 
 
 The merciful, 
 
 c^Jl 
 
 55. 
 
 9.5. 
 
 Man, 
 
 ^LjVI 
 
 70. 
 
 9(). 
 
 Divorce, 
 
 S^\ 
 
 05. 
 
 97. 
 
 The evidence, 
 
 a;.. 11 
 
 98. 
 
 9H. 
 
 The emigration, 
 
 ? 
 
 59. 
 
 99. 
 
 Assistance, 
 
 j^\ 
 
 110. 
 
 K)(). 
 
 i.ight, 
 
 J^^ 
 
 24. 
 
 101. 
 
 'l"hc pilgrimage. 
 
 f^' 
 
 22. 
 
 102. 
 
 Tlio hyj)ocrifep, 
 
 ujiiUI 
 
 03. 
 
 103. 
 
 She who disputed, 
 
 ibuil 
 
 58. 
 
 104. 
 
 The inner apartments, 
 
 ^1^' 
 
 49. 
 
 10.3. 
 
 Prohihilion, 
 
 r-^' 
 
 00. 
 
 100. 
 
 . Battle array. 
 
 uJJl 
 
 01. 
 
 107 
 
 . Tlie a.''semhly. 
 
 ...^' 
 
 02.
 
 112 
 
 108. Mutual deceit, ^^UJ1 04. 
 
 109. Victory, ^1 '1^^. 
 
 110. Repentance, '^>y Jl 9- 
 
 111. The table, ijJUl 5. 
 
 THE SONNAII Q^\), OR, TRADITION. 
 
 This authentic record, as it is affirmed, of the sayings and 
 doings of the Prophet is the second basis on which Islam rests. 
 The Koran is regarded as the actual word of God : the Sonnah 
 as that of liis inspired prophet. The first, consequently, is wholly- 
 divine; the second not in language, but in meaning. It is 
 avowedly of equal, and practically of greater value, since example 
 is more specific than precept and the believer, instead of de- 
 ducing conclusions, has only to copy Avhat he reads. " What an 
 excellent aid to belief is the Sonnah !" says the Sonnah itself. 
 It also gives us this tradition — " I have left you," says Moham- 
 med, " two things in which it is impossible for you to err — the 
 word of God and my Sonnah." He, however, occasionally con- 
 tradicts himself, for he also said, " Do not write any thing from 
 me except the Koran;" and when Omar asked if they should not, 
 like the Jews, record traditions, he answered in anger, " Will 
 you become confused like the Jews and Christians?" The 
 authenticity of Traditions must always be open to suspicion, 
 but competent judges determine that, speaking generally, we 
 may depend upon them. During the lifetime of Mohammed 
 his sayings were the ordinary subject of conversation : and after 
 his death, many who had listened to him were settled in mili- 
 tary cantonments, and, when peace allowed them leisure, amused 
 themselves with the ancient poetry, and with reciting anecdotes 
 of their idolized prophet. As his l-^'^^ {companions) died 
 away, their <5J^ {followers) liad circles who gathered 
 round them of persons whose employment it was to collect 
 and compare these sayings : Aim Amr is reputed to have 
 been in the habit of writing down whatever he heard from 
 the Prophet, and was encouraged to persevere by his say-
 
 113 
 
 ing, " Write, for, by God, nothing but truth comes from 
 my mouth." On the accession of Omar tlie Second, at 
 the end of the first century from the flight, there is said to 
 have been living only one person who had heard Moham- 
 med, and many also of the folloioers were no more. The 
 Khalif therefore issued an order for collecting traditions, and 
 it appears that most of the vast number had received, as it 
 were, a stereotyped form previous to the beginning of the 
 second century. 
 
 There are six collections of the Sonnite Traditions, and four of 
 those of the Shiyahs. According to Dr. Sprenger, to whom I owe 
 the substance of these remai'ks, there is in India a revival of the 
 study of ]\Iohammedan theology, and several of these collec- 
 tions have been lithographed at Dehli and Lucknow. These 
 six are deemed canonical, and differ only in minute particulars. 
 The earliest and most approved is that of Abu Abdallah,who passed 
 sixteen years on his work at Mecca, and derived the epithet by 
 which he is known from his birth in the distant city of Bokhara, 
 in the neighbourhood of which he died in 256 II. His com- 
 pilation is entitled >^^ ^''?- (Jamail Alsahih), "the faithful 
 collection ;" and he was so scrupulous, and regarded his occu- 
 paticjn so entirely as a religious act, that he never wrote down 
 a tradition without an ablution and a prayer which required 
 bowings of worship. His collection consists of 7275 traditions, 
 selected, during sixteen years examination, out of ()0(),()U0. 
 This large number, according to Haji Khalfa, he reduced to 
 2000, by deducting rej)etitions ; and scarcely half of those are 
 doctrinal, the rest being instructions as to the concerns of life. 
 Formerly they were only known by name; but Von Ilannner 
 has enabled us to form some judgment of them by a small, 
 but no doubt judicious selection.* I'heir value of course depends 
 upon their authenticity, and the collectors carefully record the 
 names of all the })ersons who have transmitted them. Hottingcr, 
 in his Smegma Oricntalis, gives tin; titles of. ill flic sections of 
 liokhari's Sahih. The selection of Von Ibinnnir is chiefly doe- 
 trinal, but we have an entire volume which is practical, giving 
 
 * Mines de I'Driont, torn. 1. 
 I
 
 114 
 
 minute directions for all the jiarticulars of the Mohammedan 
 ritual, translated from Arabic into Persian, in the reigji of 
 Acbar. It was collected, A.D. 1239, by Iladi aldin Mahmud, 
 and is entitled Mishkat almasabi ^\*a\\ JoJl^ (the niche for 
 the lamps), and is a commentary on the Masabih alsonnah, 
 " the Lamps of the Sonnali," compiled by Hosain ibn Mosvid 
 Ferah of Bagdad, who died in 1^22 ; and was translated into 
 English by Captain Matthews, and published in 1 809. Of 
 the 4484 traditions which it preserves, 2434 are authentic, that 
 is, taken from the collections of the two Sheiks, Bokhari and 
 jNIoslim, who died in 261. H., and is only second in authority to 
 him. Each chapter is divided into three parts. The first gives 
 the Traditions from these two primary collections : then follows 
 those that are ^J^■*^ Hosen, that is, generally approved ; and 
 the third contains an explanation. 
 
 As Christians are divided into Roman Catholics and Pro- 
 testants, so are Mohammedans into Sonnites (Traditionists) and 
 the followers of Ali, called by their opponents Shiyahs (Separa- 
 tists). The Sonnites, however, form a vast majority, the latter 
 being confined to Persia and India. They too, as we see, 
 have also Traditions ; but they do not seem to regard them as 
 of equal authority with the Koran. It is remarkable that their 
 attachment to the Traditions has not led the Sonnites to under- 
 value or neglect what they deem the word of God, and they 
 seem to be better Moslems than their o})ponents, and not to 
 have substituted, like so many of them, for its simple creed the 
 mysticism of the Sufis. 
 
 The Koran ought to be compared, not with tlie New Testa- 
 ment, but with the Pentateuch, for the former is a law of 
 liberty, supplying principles from which we deduce rules of 
 ethics ; while the latter is a code of polity as well as of religion, 
 la\ang down wdiat is to be done, as well as what is to be be- 
 lieved, requiring strict literal obedience, and never accommoda- 
 ting itself to circumstances. The Koran, accordingly, like the 
 Pentateuch, is a guide for this life as well as for the next, the 
 source of law as well as of divinity. This greatly enhances 
 the diffifulties of the Missionary; for in Mohammedan countries
 
 115 
 
 there is not, as in Christendom, an union between Chui'ch and 
 State, but the two are inse])arably one, and must stand or fall 
 together. He has, therefore, to contend with the prejudices 
 and interests of both lawyers and divines, and the convert has 
 not only to renounce his belief, but to change his whole coiu'se 
 of life. To the candid inquirer, however, this amalgamation 
 forms a strong suspicion of its human origin, and renders it 
 unfit for an universal religion, which ought to be adapted alike 
 to all climates and all modifications of society. The objection 
 does not ap})ly to the similar IMosaic system, because that was 
 only a preparatory institution, designed to keep the Israelites, 
 for a season, a distinct people, and ultimately to be superseded 
 by Christianity. The marvellous spread of Islam could never 
 have been contemplated by its author, and it shews the force 
 and attraction of superstition that the ceremonies of the 
 })ilgrimage, inherited from the Pagan Arabs, should for cen- 
 turies liave brought believers from places so remote from 
 his native city as Morocco and Dchli. Mohammedans 
 reproach Christians with their divisions, but their prophet 
 seems to have considered them creditaljle ; for he is reported 
 to iiave said, "The Magi are .suljdivided into seventy sects, the 
 Jews into seventy-one, the Christians into seventy-two, and 
 in my religion there will be seventy-three sects ; but he added, 
 that the members of all but one would be cast into lull, it 
 seems incrediijle that so simple a creed, consisting of only two 
 propositions- the unity of tiie Deity and the mission of Mo- 
 liannned should .idinit of any variety of opinions ; but we shall 
 find, on infjuiry, that the disputes respecting the first are meta- 
 plivsical, and Ix'long to natural nligioii, and need not lead to 
 divisions. These differences are divided into those that con- 
 cern the root and those that concern the brancln's : the former are 
 in the province of scholastic theology (*^J^^), the latter in 
 tliat of jurisprudence (AaiJ^). The o])|ionents, in the former, 
 treat eaeii other as heretics; in the hitter they agree to differ, 
 and are arranged under four leaders; but they cannot be called 
 sects, for they differ only in minute points of ritual observances, 
 
 I 2
 
 116 
 
 are all considered orthodox, and have stations within the en- 
 closnre of the Caaba. 
 
 The autlior of the first was Abu Ilanifah, who was 
 born at Cufa in the eiglitieth year of the Hejra, and 
 died in prison in Bagdad, because, from excessive modesty, 
 he refused the office of judge, choosing rather to be punished 
 by men than by God. His sect, called the followers of 
 reason, in opposition to the others as followers of tradition, 
 prevails chiefly in the Ottoman empire. 
 
 The second sect is that of Malek, who was born at Medina 
 in A. H. 90, and died there in advanced age, and his decisions 
 are accepted chiefly in Barbary. 
 
 The third is that of Alshafai, born in Palestine, but edu- 
 cated at Mecca, who died in Egypt in 204 H. He was much 
 esteemed bv Ebn Hanbal, author of the fourth sect, who was 
 used to say he was as the sun to the world, and as health to the 
 body. He was so hostile to scholastic divinity, that he de- 
 clared that whoever employed himself in that pursuit deserved 
 to be affixed to a stake, and to be carried through Arabia, while 
 a crier proclaimed " This is the reward of him who has left for 
 this study that of the Koran and the Sonnah." He was a man 
 of eminent piety, devoting a third of each night to prayer ; and 
 it was one of his sayings, that " whoever pretends to love both 
 the world and his Creator is a liar." 
 
 The last sect is that of Ebn Hanbal, which prevails, like 
 that of Alshafai, chiefly in Arabia, but is not numerous. For- 
 merly they were so powerful, that in 325 H., in the Khalifat 
 of Itadlii, they were severely punished for their zeal in en- 
 deavouring to restore the austerity of primitive times by beating 
 singing women and breaking their instruments, and by entering 
 houses to spill wine. He had been imprisoned, as I have said, 
 for refusing to acknowledge that the Koran had been created ; 
 and was so popular, that he is reported to have been followed 
 to the grave by 800,000 men, which, though an exaggeration, 
 may be taken as an evidence of his celebrity.
 
 117 
 
 THE moham:\iedan confession of faith. 
 
 THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD. 
 
 The existence and the Unity of God the Creator, Preserver, 
 and Governor of all things is the one grand dogma of Moham- 
 med ; and the Moslem confessions of faith enlarge upon the 
 divine attributes in a manner which would be edifying, if they 
 did not, in asserting the Unity, deny the Trinity. IMohammed, 
 before he came forward as a prophet, had been deeply impressed 
 with the absurdity and sin of idolatry, but the Koran shews 
 that he had had some intercourse with Christians. Still he 
 had never learnt to discriminate between three persons and three 
 Gods, and the Trinity which he denounced was Tritheism, the 
 worship of a Father, a Mother, and a Son, a doctrine never 
 entertained by any considerable body, yet asserted, we are 
 informed, by Eutychius and Almakin, by some at the Council 
 of Nice. " Say not there are three Gods ; abstain from this : it 
 will be better for you ; because God is but one God : far be it 
 he should have a Son. To Him belong-s what is in the heavens 
 and what is in the earth. God is a sufficient protector. Christ 
 does not proudly disdain to be a servant of God."* Such is 
 the language of the Koran (iv. 169). And again, in another 
 chapter (v. 125), *' When God shall say, ' O Jesus, son of 
 Mary, hast thou said to man. Take me and my mo- 
 ther for two Gods beside God, he shall answer, l*raise be 
 unto thee I It is not for me to sav that which I oufjht not. 
 if I had so said, surely thou wouldst have known it. Thou 
 knowest what is in me, but I know not what is in thee, for 
 tliou art the knower of secrets. I have only spoken to them 
 that which tliou didst connnand, Worship God, my Lord and 
 your Lord.' And (v. 82), " They surely are unbelieving who 
 
 J ^':^ ^\^ ^\ &u\ \^\ Jj \j^ \^\ ioLiJ Vy^ ^j *
 
 118 
 
 say God is tlie third of three, for there is no God beside one 
 God."* 
 
 Mohammed's crude notions of Christianity must liave been de- 
 rived from the apocryphal gospels, or conversations with ignorant 
 believers, for the frequent contradiction to the Scriptures in the 
 Koran shew that he could not have read them ; and if he had — 
 though he might reasonably say to the polytheists of Mecca, 
 " He is Lord of all creatures, he has no companion," , , 
 
 • -J 
 ^ --^ X" -^ >^ ^ -^-^ 
 
 a3 ^..y^ ^ e;^^^ (xxxi. 13), and, as Lockman, admonishing 
 his son, said, " Associate none with God, for associating is a great 
 
 impiety," jJt^ ^^ »_L5b ^j-^ ^ — he could not have 
 
 comprehended Jews and Christianas in the same condemnation, 
 nor urge against them the arguments, that, upon this sup- 
 position, it would be impossible to account for the order of the 
 universe, (xxi. 22.) " God has not begotten issue, nor is there 
 any god with Him : otherwise, surely every other god had 
 taken away that which He had created, and some of them would 
 have exalted themselves above the others" (xKiii. 93). " He has 
 taken no wife, neither hath He children " (lxxii. 2). And he 
 assio-ns as a reason ao;ainst this doctrine that He is self-sufficient. 
 The Commentators understood Chistianity better, for Al- 
 beidhawi allows this statement to be erroneous, and says, that 
 though such was the view of an obscure sect, the real Christian 
 
 i,^\ t^'S:>s cJi C^W ^j* ^^\ ^^ l_). aJJ^ J15 <i^j * 
 
 C9^ 9 9 ^ 9).^ 9 -3^ ^ ''"f ^fi --' o^ ^ ^^^^ ^^ 
 
 ^ CJj U L-^v^^ ^^ C^\ Ldli\ ulJl-jb ^j, U Jpl "ilj
 
 119 
 
 doctrine is three persons in one God, and he explains the first 
 as the Essence of the Deity ; the second as Wisdom ; and the 
 third as Life. We must do the Koran the justice to observe, 
 that this unity, on which it continually expatiates, is not a cold 
 philosophical abstraction,but a living principle which pervades the 
 volume; and it would be well if Christians imbibed as generally 
 and as fully the spirit of their purer system, and were as well 
 acquainted with their own Sci'iptiu'es, as those who believe in the 
 Koran as a divine revelation, and have shewn themselves so well 
 entitled to their distinctive appellation of " the resigned." Resig- 
 nation, indeed, to the past, or present, or future determination of 
 the Governor of his creatures is the characteristic of Islam. Four 
 phrases are continually in their mouths ; and though they may 
 sometimes be mere conventional phrases, history and the report 
 of travellers prove that they are often the genuine language of 
 the heart. 43i\ -^U* U " It is what God has pleased," is the 
 Moslem's exclamation on hearing distressmg intelligence ; 
 ^\ ^^Jm fj\ " If God please," is his aspiration when he refers 
 t(j the future. He undertakes every thing in the name of 
 
 God the merciful, the compassionate, /•i*^'^ W^^J^ ^^ (•***V> 
 and on its successful completion he returns thanks, ^ li-^ 
 "Praise be to God!" 
 
 For a full statement of this article of the Moslem creed I refer 
 the reader to the exposition of the creed by Algazali, a celebrated 
 sctliolastic divine, wliicii may l.'e found in Pococke's Specimen, 
 with a Latin version, and has been translated into English by 
 Okley ; but most will be satisfied with the following sunmiary 
 
 abridged from the Turkisii tract *^^**>j , of ijyj^ Berkevi, 
 which has been frecjuently published at the iSultan's press at 
 Scutari, and has been translated intoFreiu-h by (jarcin doTassy. 
 " It must be confessed that the most lii<di God, who ou'dit 
 alone to be worsliipped, has neitlu-r associate nor equal ; and 
 is subject to none of the wants and imperfections of human 
 nature. He has not been born, and docs not beget. I \r lias no 
 wife, son, or daughter. He is neither in heaven nm- mi earth, 
 and has no home. 1 le is invisible, without form, figure, or parts,
 
 120 
 
 and is not subject to illness, grief, fear, or alteration.* His 
 existence is from himself alone, and he is without beginning 
 as without end, existing before the world, which he brought out 
 of nothing. He has need of no one, and can do all things ; 
 If he pleased, he could in an instant annihilate the world, and 
 aaain in an instant create it. He finds nothing; difficult, and it is 
 the same to him whether he form the smallest insect, or seven 
 lions or seven earths. No one has authority over him, Avhile he 
 connnands all beings ; neither injured nor benefited by any. 
 He knows whatever is in heaven or earth, whether published or 
 secret, and at once, in general and in the minutest details ; the 
 past and the future, what is in the heart of man, and what he 
 declares by his speech. His knowledge is from everlasting, and 
 he is exempt from forgetfulness, negligence, and error. He 
 hears alike the loudest and the most gentle sounds, and sees all 
 things, even the walking in a dark night of a black ant on a 
 black stone, and hears the treading of its feet, and this without 
 eyes and ears. He does whatever he pleases, and whatever 
 good or evil happens is by his permission. A little fly cannot 
 move its winss without his leave : and if we did what he did not 
 choose, it would prove his want of power ; and if he willed he 
 could make all men believers or unbelievers. It is necessary 
 to believe that his power is eternal, and that he is able to do 
 whatever can be imagined; to raise the dead, make a tree 
 walk, and a stone speak ; to annihilate and restore the heavens 
 and the earth, and create thousands of new ones, even of gold 
 and silver. He has the power of speech, but does not, as we do, 
 use language, and he has spoken, without an intermediate 
 agent, occasionally to his servants, as he spake to Moses, and 
 to our prophet IMohammed the night of his ascension, and other 
 nifhts: and to other men he speaks through Gabriel. The 
 Koran is his eternal and uncreated word. He is the Mover as 
 well as the Creator, causing the movements of animals and the 
 actions of men ; and is the author of good and of evil, of faith 
 and of unbelief. It is he who sends illness and gives health, who 
 
 * This reminds the Latin scholar of the line of Boethius, of which Berkewi 
 could never have heard : 
 
 " Stabilisque manens dat caneta movero."
 
 121 
 
 sustains life and causes death. God ordinarily causes us to 
 burn on touching the fire, or feel cold on touching snow, but 
 the fire does not burn of itself, or the snow chill ; the Almighty 
 alone produces these effects. In a word, all is effected by God*" 
 The Deity is said to have a hundred names, but, properly 
 speaking, they are ninety -nine epithets which the devout repeat, 
 and close with his peculiar designation, Allah. To facilitate 
 this repetition, they, like the Roman Catholics, use a I'osary. 
 The latter ascribe the invention to Dominic, the founder of the 
 Black Friars, and the originator of the Inquisition, but the 
 Crusaders probably borrowed it from their opponents, who, it 
 is thought, received it from the Buddhists. We have three 
 lists of them, one in the Miskkat, a second published by Het- 
 tinger, in his Historia Oricntalis (ii. 3), and a third by Von 
 Hammer, from a talisman, which I transcribe. 
 
 THE NAMES OF THE DEITY. 
 
 The Merciful, 
 
 CHVJ^ 
 
 1 
 
 The Bestower, 
 
 o:^J\ 
 
 17 
 
 Tho Compassionate, 
 
 ^J\ 
 
 2 
 
 The Opener, 
 
 d ■"' " " 
 
 18 
 
 The King, 
 
 i-\ \ 11 
 
 3 
 
 The Wise, 
 
 ^\ 
 
 19 
 
 The Most Holy, 
 
 (j-j-^* 
 
 4 
 
 Tlie Comprehender, 
 
 j^hUJI 
 
 20 
 
 Peace, 
 
 ^VJl 
 
 5 
 
 The Expander, 
 
 W...U1 
 
 21 
 
 The Faithful, 
 
 o-A^ 
 
 (J 
 
 The Dopresser, 
 
 ^iJi 
 
 22 
 
 The Protector, 
 
 o^\ 
 
 7 
 
 The Exalter, 
 
 ^\j\ 
 
 2:j 
 
 The Excellent, 
 
 J^'y^^ 
 
 H 
 
 The Strongthencr, 
 
 >-Ul 
 
 24 
 
 'I'hn Powerful, 
 
 .w^ 
 
 1) 
 
 The Lowerer, 
 
 Jill 
 
 25 
 
 He who exalts himself, jS^\ 
 
 10 
 
 The Hearer, 
 
 ^^1 
 
 20 
 
 TIk; Creator, 
 
 J^^ 
 
 11 
 
 The Seer, 
 
 j..n.]\ 
 
 27 
 
 Tiie Creator, 
 
 t^^Ul 
 
 12 
 
 Tho Judffc, 
 
 ^g- 
 
 28 
 
 The I'ornicr, 
 
 ,^\ 
 
 i:j 
 
 The Just, 
 
 JaJI 
 
 29 
 
 The Pardoner, 
 
 ^u ; n 
 
 14 
 
 The Benif^nant, 
 
 » flVilll 
 
 :w 
 
 The INjwcrliil, 
 
 ^1^1 
 
 ]', 
 
 The Informer, 
 
 ^' 
 
 ;ji 
 
 TIh; Giver, 
 
 L_>i»Jl 
 
 10 
 
 Tlie Great, 
 
 l..w.ll 
 
 32
 
 122 
 
 The Pardoner, 
 
 ,y^\ 
 
 33 
 
 The Self-subsisting, 
 
 r^^ 
 
 62 
 
 The Rowarder, 
 
 ,,^=^1 
 
 34 
 
 The Finder, 
 
 s^\J\ 
 
 63 
 
 The High, 
 
 ^' 
 
 35 
 
 The Glorious, 
 
 J*ll\ 
 
 64 
 
 The Great, 
 
 r:^\ 
 
 3G 
 
 The Unique, 
 
 v^jU 
 
 65 
 
 The Rememberer, 
 
 \^\A\ 
 
 37 
 
 The Eternal, 
 
 jMi-aJl 
 
 66 
 
 The Powerful, 
 
 W .iU 
 
 38 
 
 The Powerful, 
 
 ^^yi 
 
 67 
 
 The Satisfier, 
 
 Jl 
 
 39 
 
 The Prevailing, 
 
 j\ -.s W 
 
 Q>% 
 
 The Glorious, 
 
 ^' 
 
 40 
 
 The Leader, 
 
 pjjai 
 
 69 
 
 The Liberal, 
 
 ^..J^\ 
 
 41 
 
 The Finisher, 
 
 ^^\ 
 
 70 
 
 The Guardian, 
 
 \^^J\ 
 
 42 
 
 The Beginner, 
 
 J^vi 
 
 71 
 
 The Answerer, 
 
 . . ', ^' 
 
 43 
 
 The Eternal, 
 
 ^S^^ 
 
 72 
 
 The All-embracing, 
 
 ^}\ 
 
 44 
 
 The Everlasting, 
 
 ^Sii\ 
 
 73 
 
 The Wise, 
 
 r^' 
 
 45 
 
 The Innermost, 
 
 ^U\ 
 
 74 
 
 The All-loving, 
 
 .j.j\ 
 
 4G 
 
 The Revealer, 
 
 jtM 
 
 75 
 
 The Glorious, 
 
 v^^ 
 
 47 
 
 The Governor, 
 
 ^^J^\ 
 
 76 
 
 The Provider, 
 
 e^Ul 
 
 48 
 
 The Pure, 
 
 y^^ 
 
 77 
 
 The Witness, 
 
 x^\ 
 
 49 
 
 Tiie Propitious, 
 
 ^1^.7J1 
 
 78 
 
 The True, 
 
 ^ 
 
 50 
 
 The Pardoner, 
 
 j"n,ll 
 
 79 
 
 The Provider, 
 
 ^^J^ 
 
 51 
 
 The Avenger, 
 
 j.^-:^! 
 
 80 
 
 The Strong, 
 
 ^Jy\\ 
 
 52 
 
 The Merciful, 
 
 ^;j\ 
 
 81 
 
 The Firm, 
 The Friend, 
 
 
 53 
 
 54 
 
 The King of the ^ 
 kingdom, S 
 
 dlil dJU 
 
 82 
 
 The Praiseworthy, 
 
 ^..J> 
 
 55 
 
 The Lord of n 
 
 
 
 The Begiimer, 
 
 tiJ-il 
 
 56 
 
 GloryandLl/Vlj J^'^ji 
 
 83 
 
 The Reckoner, 
 
 ^^' 
 
 57 
 
 Honour, ) 
 
 
 
 The Restorer, 
 
 ,v-,U 
 
 58 
 
 The Equitable, 
 
 U,..iill 
 
 84 
 
 The Life-giver, 
 
 > 
 
 59 
 
 The Assembler, 
 
 ^gi 
 
 85 
 
 The Destroyer, 
 
 eUl 
 
 60 
 
 The Rich, 
 
 c^' 
 
 86 
 
 The Living, 
 
 ^' 
 
 61 
 
 The Enricher, 
 
 d^^ 
 
 87
 
 123 
 
 'he Possessor, 
 The Prohibitor, 
 The Afflictor, 
 The Benefactor, 
 The Light, 
 The Guide, 
 
 ^^' 
 
 88 
 
 ^Ul 
 
 89 
 
 ytU\ 
 
 90 
 
 ^Ul 
 
 91 
 
 ,^\ 
 
 92 
 
 ^^\^\ 
 
 93 
 
 The Creator, 
 The Observer, 
 The Inheritor, 
 The Director, 
 The Patient, 
 The Mild, 
 
 5U.JJ) 94 
 
 ^g\ 95 
 
 ^JjJ\ 96 
 
 j-ijl 97 
 
 ^^1 98 
 
 M^ 99 
 
 On comparison these lists will be found to differ, the epithets 
 in one being sometimes changed in the others for equivalent 
 words. Many appear to us synonymous, but the Moham- 
 medan theologians discover in them shades of difference : 
 thus, Beidawi makes ^J^J'^ " Alrahman," more compre- 
 hensive than Ari^J^ " Alrahim," the first expressing God's 
 compassion to all men, the latter his mercy to believers. 
 The first, therefore, refers to the present life, the second to 
 the future. In the same manner a distinction is made between 
 Jsis- andj^, (pardoning,) and -.^.^ and ^^, (subsisting). 
 In none are these titles arranged in a philosophical order. 
 
 The Koran never loses sight of the doctrine of Predestination ; 
 and Mohanunedan authors, both in prose and verse, may be said 
 to vie with eacli other in exalting the sovereignty of God. In 
 the language of Algazali, "He wills whatever exists, and de- 
 termines whatever happens, and there is nothing that occurs, 
 great or small, good or evil, faith or unbelief, knowledge or 
 ignorance, success or failure, increase or decrease, obedience or 
 rebellion, luiless by his decree, power, knowledge, or will. lie 
 lias also willed that whatever he willed should li;ip])cn in its 
 own projier season, neither before nor after." It is diliicuh oven 
 for tho most cautious jjcrson to express the sovereignty of the 
 Supreme JJeing, without incurring the charge of making him 
 the author of sin; and the jiredestination of the Koran and 
 the personal election of the Biljle have been rejected by many 
 as incompatible with the divine perfection. The advocates of 
 both, however, disclaim the odious and revolting consequences 
 drawn from them by their opponents; and it is only justice in
 
 124 
 
 those to accept their conclusions who cannot acquiesce in their rea- 
 soning. The Turkish Confession of Faith thus endeavours to 
 guard the doctrine from abuse — " Unbelief and wicked acts 
 happen with the foreknowledge and will of God, by the effect 
 of his predestination, written from eternity on the preserved 
 table, by his operation, but not with his satisfaction. God fore- 
 sees, wills, produces, loves, all that is good, and does not love 
 unbelief and sin, though he wills and effects it. If it be asked 
 why God Avills and effects what is evil, and gives the devil 
 power to tempt man, the answer is. He has his views of wisdom, 
 which it is not granted to us to know. No one ought to in- 
 quire, for He alone has the right to put such questions : we must 
 believe that both good and evil happen by God's predestination, 
 will, and operation." Such questions arise out of natural theo- 
 logy, and equally perplex the Christian and the Moslem. The 
 subject was even discussed among the followers of Mohammed, 
 but he did not profess to settle it, and discouraged the inquiry. 
 Thus, Ayesha tells us, in the Traditions, that she heard the 
 Prophet of God say, " Whoever shall speak about predestina- 
 tion will be interrogated on the day of the resurrection," and 
 he who does not talk about it, will not." Another tradition is, that 
 finding some of his followers engaged in such a discussion, he 
 was so angry that he grew red in the face, and said, " Has God 
 ordered you to debate on predestination, or was I sent to you 
 for this ? Your ancestors were destroyed for such debates. I 
 adjure you not to argue on these points." 
 
 The simplicity of the Moslem creed might seem to secure it 
 from corruption, and it appears to have remained accepted, and 
 rot investigated till after the decease of all the companions of 
 the Prophet, They had been engaged in propagating their 
 faith, not by argument, but with the sword, and their only 
 discussion had been concerning the practical question who was 
 their prophet's legitimate successor. In process of time, how- 
 ever, subtle questions were started respecting the divine 
 attributes and decrees, and the study of these abstruse subjects 
 was much Y)romoted by the translations of the works of the 
 Greek philosophers, encouraged by the Khalif Almamun.
 
 125 
 
 These high metaphysical speculations were, as I have remarked, 
 
 condemned hy Alshafai in the strongest terms, and Gazali only 
 
 acquiesces in the pursuit as an evil rendered necessary by the 
 
 prevalence of heresy. 
 
 The Physician and Jacobite Primate, Abulfiiraj, and the 
 
 Mohammedan historian of sects, Al Sharastani, agree in re- 
 ducing these metaphysical speculations to four leading divisions, 
 which I shall merely enumerate. 
 
 The first concerns the attributes C-'la-aJ^ and the unity Sis>'^'i^\ 
 of the Deity ; the second, predestination -*=Uai3^, andjiila5\ the 
 divine decree ; the third, God's promises ^S'^)\ , and threats 
 i^^y^ ; and the fourth, 'i^\ prophecy, and iUU^\ the office 
 of Imam, or successor of their prophet. 
 
 1. 'iiycX^ the Motazalists, or Separatists, so called because 
 they separated from the orthodox, are said to have as many as 
 twenty subdivisions ; but all agree in excluding eternal attri- 
 butes from the divine essence, &.^. i^^ C-'Vi^a51, saying that 
 the most high God knows not by knowledge, but by his 
 essence ; and they were led to this subtle distinction by the 
 belief that their opponents, the Attributists, &JJlio3\,gave these 
 attributes an actual existence; thus nuiking them so many 
 gods. Their object was to avoid the Christian doctrine ol" 
 Persons (^^^) in the divine Essence: and it is remarkable 
 that one of their number, Ahmed ben Ilayct, asserted that 
 the Messiah had a real body, and was, as the Christians 
 affn-med, »^.iMi3\ iJv_Ol the eternal word. He maintained 
 that thei'e were t\V(; Gods, the Supreiiic Eternal Being, 
 and the second ^^SS' the new, that is, the created one, 
 tile Messiah. I'hcy also maintaiiuxl tlio creation of the 
 Koran ; and some of them declared that its composition was 
 no miracle, since it might be surpassed in eloquence. Some of 
 the Attributists went so far in describing God's hearing and 
 speaking a.sto assert his corporeality, and to take literally such 
 personal acts as sitting on his throne. 
 
 The opponents of the divine decrees arc called Kadcrites, 
 because they maintain that man has power (j>i'ii3\) to do good
 
 12() 
 
 or evil, and consequently to merit reward or punishment. 
 Their opponents have the name of Jaberites, from jXs-- Jaber, 
 " compulsion," their doctrine being that man is constrained by 
 the divine decree, which is inmuitablo. Some, however, of 
 these take a middle course, attributing to man a concurrence 
 in producing actions. This is technical!}' called Acquisition, 
 (v_.*-«a51), that is, an action directed to the obtaining of profit, or 
 
 the removing of injury ; and therefore a term inapplicable to 
 the Deity. 
 
 W-j^^, from which *-?^^ Almorjeyites is derived, is equi- 
 valent to jf-^^, that is, postponement, and they may be so 
 called because they postpone works to designs, J^^, that is, 
 consider them less meritorious, or because transgressions will 
 not injure a believer, nor obedience profit an unbeliever, or 
 from their postponing the sentence of sinners till the last day. 
 Their opponents, i^^c-^^ the Waaidites, the maintainers of the 
 divine threatenings, treat all grievous sinners as deserters of 
 the faith, who, notwithstanding their orthodoxy, will remain 
 for ever in hell, though they will suffer less than unbelievers. 
 Some of these, however, believe, that after sufficient punish- 
 ment they will be admitted into Paradise. 
 
 The fourth division is a practical one, concerning the office 
 of Imam, or head of religion. The Kharejites, or revolters, 
 were originally those who withdrew from Ali, and maintain 
 that the Imam need not be of the tribe of Koreish, nor even 
 a freeman, provided he be just, and qualified. They main- 
 tain, too, that, if unfit, he may be deposed, and that the office 
 itself is not indispensable. The followers of Ali, of course, 
 regard all the preceding Imams as intruders ; and some of 
 them carried their veneration to a blasphemous excess, ac- 
 knowledging him as an incarnation of the Deity. 
 
 The Konui says, (iv. 1.3.5) that " Whosoever believeth not 
 in God and his angels, and his scriptures, and his messengers, 
 errs in an extreme error ; " and, in consequence, the Moslem 
 Doctors include under the Unity of the Deity all these as 
 articles of faith.
 
 127 
 
 CONCERNING ANGELS. 
 
 A Moslem is required to believe, in opposition to the Pagan 
 Arabs, who called the Angels the daughters of God, that 
 they have no sexual distinction, and that their subtle bodies, 
 made of fire, are not sustained by food. They are described 
 as his servants, and are engaged either in worship or the per- 
 formance of his high behests. They carry his throne, they 
 preside over hell, or are employed in the providential govern- 
 ment of the world. Thus it is declared, that thousands of 
 them that really gained for the Prophet the victory of Bedr 
 (viii.), though his little army fought valiantly against a su- 
 perior force, " And ye slew not these, but God slew tlieni ; 
 neither didst thou cast (the gravel into their eyes) when thou 
 didst cast it, for God cast it, that he might try the true 
 believers by a gracious triumph from himself." Two of them, 
 who arc changed daily, arc assigned to every man, to record his 
 good and bad actions. Men are required to love them, though 
 they have no personal knowledge of them. The most eminent 
 arc, Gabriel, whom, like many of the Jews, they confound with 
 the Holy Ghost, and call the Angel of Revelation, his special 
 mission being to bring down the Koran, and he is said to be 
 so awful in his colossal size, that he generally appeared 
 under a human form; Michael, the patron of the Jews, who 
 fights against God's enemies; Azracl the Angel of Death: iind 
 Israfil, who, on the resurrection-day, will l)low the trumiiet 
 which will awaken thr dcul. These four (III the same olHces 
 in the ajiocrvphal gos|icl oC liarnabas ; and the two not 
 named in the Scriptures Mohaunued boirowcd fioni flic 
 Jews, who had learned them from the i\la";i. MoJianiiiic- 
 dans have been taught the history of the fallen angels; and 
 the Koriin, wise beyond what is written, ascribes it to the 
 envy of Satan, wIkj was cast down from heaven for refusing 
 to wor.-'liii) (that is, proliably, to do homage fo) Adam, 
 and obtained in consequence the name of Iblis i^J^*^^), which
 
 128 
 
 may either be a corruption of Diabolos, or derived from^j-b 
 a root signifying one who despairs. The history is repeated 
 in the Koran, and I give it from the second chapter (v. 30), 
 whicli shews how little Mohammed could, if he knew it, enter 
 into the spirit and the genius of the true narrative. 
 
 " When the Lord said unto the angels, ' I am going to place 
 a Khalif, that is a substitute, upon earth,' they said, ' Wilt 
 thou place there one who will do evil and shed blood ? but we 
 celebrate thy praise, and sanctify thee.' God answered, ' Verily 
 I know that which you do not know,' aud he taught Adam 
 the names of all things, and then proposed them to the angels, 
 and said, ' Declare unto me the names of these things if ye say 
 truth.' They answered, ' Praise be unto thee, we have no 
 knowledge but what thou teachest us, for thou art knowing 
 and wise.' God said, ' O, Adam, tell them their names ;' and 
 when he had told them their names, God said, ' Did I not tell 
 you that I knew the secrets of heaven and earth, and know 
 
 y O^ 9m^ 9 ^ Gx-^ ^ y^ ^ 9 <^yy y f cf <J y y *-'o^'^ 
 
 y-i,K I-X-' c$c-» ^y^ ^■C''' ^ ^^c^ y y Sy^^ w '' ^ *" ^ '^' m^9^ 
 
 ''9<J9. o ^^-f -' -^^G^ 9 <^^ y yy ^yf^yy^.^ yy 9 y^ ^ ^9 
 
 y(^^ y^< -' e ^^Gg^ y -c y^ ■^'^ ^ yy yj f fy y y 
 
 i 9 y y''. yyiy 9 9 '^ "f ^ r^yyt^ y'^9 c^ y 99 (^ y 09:, 9 yy 
 
 y y , y yyy yy 'y,£y ^•^ y O:
 
 129 
 
 that which ye discover and that which ye conceal?' And 
 when we said unto the angels ' Worship Adam,' they Avor- 
 shipped, except Eblis, who refused, and was puffed up with 
 pride, and became of the number of unbelievers." 
 And again, in the seventh chapter, 
 
 God said, " What hindered thee from worshipping Adam, 
 since I had commanded thee ?" He answered, " I am more 
 excellent than he : thou hast created me of fire, and him thou 
 hast created of clay." 
 
 The Moslems are also expected to believe in an intermediate 
 race, the Jins, also created of fire, but with grosser bodies, 
 who propagate their kind, and, though long lived, arc not 
 immortal. They are said to have inhabited the earth previous 
 to the creation of Adam, under a succession of sovereigns. 
 Mohannned declared himself sent as a preacher to them as 
 well as to men ; and in the chapter named after them he 
 introduces them, saying, " There are some among us who 
 are upright, and there are among us who are otherwise: we 
 are of different ways, and we verily thought th:it we could by 
 no means frustrate God in the earth, neither could we escape 
 him by flight: therefore, when we hi-ard the Direction we 
 believed therein. There are Moslems among us, and others 
 who swerve from righteousness." 
 
 TIM': iMtoriiiyi's 
 
 must be honoured and loved, tlioiigh their number, 
 exceeding a hundrerl thousand, is knf)wn only to God. 
 They begin with Aflani and end with Moliammod, the 
 most eminent and superior in cxrollcnce to all. They are con- 
 sidered as free from mortal sin, and professors of Islam. 
 They differ in dignity, and the first i-ank belongs to those who 
 have been entrusted with special commissions. They are 
 
 K
 
 130 
 
 313, of whom six have been the promulgators of dispen- 
 sations : Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Mohammed, 
 who abrogated the |)roceding ones, as far as they were not in 
 harmony with his. In the long list occur, as we might expect, 
 most of the eminent characters of the Old Testament, though 
 not regarded by us as prophets, as Seth, Lot, and Joshua. Some, 
 familiar to us, are disguised under Arabian appellations, as Enoch 
 under Edris, Heber under Hud. The mission of the latter to the 
 tribe of Add, and of Salah to that of Thamud, and their re- 
 jection by those idolaters, who perished in consequence, are 
 recorded in the Koran, (vii. xxv. lxxxix.) 
 
 THE BOOKS, 
 
 also, containing the commands and prohibitions, promises and 
 threats, which God has sent down from time to time, must be 
 acknowledged by the believer. They amount to 104, of which 
 ten were sent down to Adam ; fifty to Seth ; thirty to Idris 
 (Enoch); ten to Abraham; one, the Law, to Moses; one, the 
 Psalter, to David ; one to Jesus, the Gospel ; and the Koran to 
 Mohammed, which has abrogated all the rest that are extant. 
 The absurdity of the supposition is obvious, and shews at once 
 so complete an ignorance of the Scriptures as to prove that 
 Mohammed never read any part of them, and must have 
 been perfectly incompetent to form an opinion respecting the 
 integrity of the text. The ignorance is great indeed that did 
 not know that there were four Gospels ; and that the Gospel 
 was not a code of laws which could be sent down, but an 
 account of the life and death of the grand subject of it, which 
 could not have been written before that life was finished. 
 The last Article of faith is 
 
 THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, 
 
 which comprehends the intermediate state. It has pleased 
 God, that whatever the Prophet has revealed in respect 
 to this life and the next should be believed, and there- 
 fore the Moslem is called upon to profess his belief that 
 j^-e (Monker), and j_^Li (Nakir), two tremendous
 
 131 
 
 beings of fearful aspect shall set every man upright in his 
 grave, and shall interrogate him concerning the Unity and 
 the ]\Iission, asking, Who is thy Lord, and who is thy Prophet, 
 and what is thy religion ? This interrogation is the first trial 
 after death, and the torture of the grave must be accounted 
 just to both body and soul, being according to God's will. 
 Unbelievers will be beaten with iron maces, which will make 
 them roar and and their bodies will be pressed down to be 
 gnawed by dragons till the resurrection, while those of the per- 
 sons who answer satisfactorily will be refreshed with gales from 
 paradise. Into that future abode of the blessed it is under- 
 stood that the souls of the Prophets will have immediate 
 admission, while a Tradition assigns those of martyrs to the 
 crops of green birds who feed on paradise fruits ; and it is a 
 popular notion that those of ordinary believers hover near 
 their graves. The l^rophet, on passing a cemetery, was in 
 the habit of saluting the deceased ; and hence originated the 
 custom of his followers visiting the resting-places of friends. 
 
 The resurrection-day is known to God alone, but He has 
 been pleased to reveal signs of its approach, as, the sun rising in 
 the west, and the a})pcarance of an extraordinary wild beast, 
 who will bring the rod of Moses and the seal of Solomon, and 
 mark the faces of believers mid unbelievers so that their 
 
 characters will be known. Then JV'^^ ^r^^ Ahnasih 
 Aldajal, that is, the false Messiah, will be manifestcsd, who, after 
 short and almost imiversal sovereignity, will be slain by 
 Jesus, who will descend on tlic niosquc of Damascus, 
 and reign in prosperity and peace till his death, nnd the last 
 imam, the Mahadi, that is the Guide, (who is now, according 
 to the Alites, living hid in a cave), will aj)i»ear and act 
 as his deputy. Isratil will uslujr in the last day by the 
 sound of his trumjiet. The first blast will not only ov(M'throw 
 cities, but level nnmntains. The second, that uf exter- 
 mination, will annihilate all the inliaititants of earth, and, 
 lastly, the angel of death; and at the third, or blast of resur- 
 rection, they will be restored t/) life, and rise to the final jrulg- 
 ment. All will appear naked; but those who are designed for 
 
 K 2
 
 132 
 
 paradise will receive clothes, and, dnrino; the trial of the wicked, 
 will surround the throne of God. The scene is thus descrihed 
 in Alijazali's creed: — "He shall also believe in the balance 
 wherein, with the weights of atoms and mustard seeds, works 
 will be weighed with the utmost exactness. Then the books 
 of the good works, beautiful to behold, will be cast into the 
 scale of light, by which the balance shall be depressed accord- 
 ing to their degrees with God, out of the favour of God and 
 the books of evil deeds into the scale of darkness, by which 
 the balance shall lightly ascend, by the justice of the most 
 High. It must also be believed that there is a real way 
 extended over the middle of hell, sharper than a sword, 
 and finer than a hair, on which, by the divine decree, the 
 feet of unbelievers shall slip, so that they shall fall into the 
 fire, while the feet of believers will remain firm on it, and 
 they will be led into an habitation that will last. It must 
 also be believed that the faithful will then drink out of 
 Mohammed's lake, which will prevent their thirsting any 
 more. Its breadth is a month's journey, and the water is 
 whiter than milk and sweeter than honey: the cups placed 
 round are as numerous as the stars, and it is supplied by two 
 pipes from the river Cauther, y^^- Men must also believe 
 in the final reckoning which will be strict with some, with 
 others more indulgent, while they who are near to God will 
 enter the garden without any. Then God will question 
 any of his prophets whom he pleases concerning his 
 mission, and whom he pleases of the unbelievers the 
 reason of their accusing as liars those who were sent to 
 them. He will also interrogate heretics concerning the Son- 
 nah, and tlie Moslems concerning their works. It must also be 
 believed that all professors of the divine Unity, after adequate 
 punishment, shall be released from the fire for ever. Another 
 article of faith is the intercession, first of the prophets, then of the 
 oulema (the learned), then of the martyrs, then of the rest 
 of the believers, every one in proportion to his excellence 
 and rank ; and if any should remain without an inter- 
 cessor, he shall be saved through the excellence of God ; for
 
 133 
 
 no one shall remain for ever in hell who has but as much 
 faith in his heart as the weight of an atom." 
 
 Hell is divided into seven compartments. The first is ap- 
 propriated to unworthy Moslems, but since to the worst it is 
 only a temporary abode, it ought to have been called purgatory ; 
 the second is for Jews ; the third for Christians ; the fourth for 
 the Sabians; the fifth for the Magians; the sixth for the idolaters; 
 and the last and lowest for the hypocrites who professed, 
 without behevino- it, some religion. If Dante could have read 
 the Koran and the Traditions, he would have found many of 
 his inventions anticipated, and might have discovered tortures not 
 imagined by him. He would have read of the vicissitudes of 
 intense heat and extreme cold ; of unbelievers having garments 
 of fire fitted to them ; of boiling water poured over their heads ; 
 and of their being beaten with iron maces, and being dragged 
 back and mocked by their tormentors saying to them, 
 "Taste ye the pain of burning" (xxii). Their food will be 
 of a tree which is called a^ (Zacum), after a thorny Arabian 
 tree of tiiat name with bitter fruit, but this is also hideous to 
 behold as the heads of devils (xxxvii), and its fruit shall 
 mock them. They will be shod with /icry shoes, and will in 
 vain entreat the blessed to refresh them by pouring water on 
 their burning heads. The sensual paradise with which Mo- 
 hammed attracts his iollowers is proverbial. He evidently 
 delights in expatiating upon its niiinite particulars and contrasts 
 with his own dry, sandy, native land, the gardens through wiiich 
 rivers flow abounding with palm-trees and pomegranates, where 
 the believers u ill taste of whatever Irull ihey desire, which 
 they may gather i'rom the branches which will IkikI towMids 
 them while reclining imt (nily under the shade, luil (Ui silk 
 couches, themselves clothed in green silk and lnoeades, and 
 adorned with bracelets of gold and jiearl. I li»'y are to drink 
 of the lifpior I'orbiddeii in this life, but this wine will 
 never intoxicate or make the head ache ; it will l»c sealed, 
 not with clay, but with nuisk, and diluted with water from 
 the spring Tasnim, and this shall be served to them in cups 
 of silver by beautiful youths. But their highest enjoyment
 
 134 
 
 will be deiiveil from the company of damsels created for 
 the purpose out of pure musk, called L^y»- (Houris), from 
 the brightness of their eyes (K. XLVii. LV.). Such will be the 
 perpetual sensual enjoyments of all who are admitted into 
 paradise ; but for those who have attained the highest degree of 
 excellence it is said, in language borrowed from the genuine 
 Scriptures, that for them are prepared, in addition, such joys as 
 eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of 
 man to conceive. This addition is said to be the beatific vision, 
 and many of the more respectable Moslems endeavour to explain 
 away and spiritualize the sensual delights, of their prophet's 
 paradise ; Algazali considers the attempt heretical, and Moham- 
 med himself seems to have intended his words to have been 
 taken literally. It is still the common faith of his people ; and 
 we read, in an early native historj'* of the conquest of Syria, 
 of a voluntary martyr, who, longing after these joys, charged 
 the Christian troops, and make havock till struck through 
 with a javelin, he exclaimed, " Methinks, I see looking upon me 
 the houris, the sight of one of whom, would cause all men to 
 die of love ; and one with an handkerchief of green silk and 
 a cup made of precious stones, beckons me, and calls me, 
 * Come hither quickly, for I love thee.' " Such was the spirit 
 that led the first Moslems to victory, and it is stdl the popular 
 belief. 
 
 ^^,>^\ PRACTICAL RELIGION 
 
 resolves itself into four duties: 1. Prayer; 2. Alms; .3. 
 Fasting ; and 4. Pilgrimage. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Bodily cleanliness, both for its own sake, and as symbolical 
 of inward purity, is strongly inculcated in all oriental reli- 
 gions ; and the Moslem Traditions specify the several causes of 
 ceremonial pollution, and contain minute directions respecting 
 
 * Ockley's " History of the Saracens," Vol. I. p. 170.
 
 135 
 
 (3— *5\ bathing, and partial ablution, j-oj The prophet is 
 recorcled to have said, " Ablution is tlic half of prayer," and as 
 its indispensible preparation, it naturally falls under that 
 head. It would be tedious and unprofitable, in a treatise like 
 the present, to consider the subject at length : I will only, as 
 a sample, copy the most approved mode of performing the 
 morning ablutions from the graphic and interesting picture of 
 Moslem life exhibited in Lane's " Modern Egyptians." 
 
 " Prayer is the key of Paradise, but it will only be accepted 
 from persons bodily clean. The believer first washes his 
 hands three times, saying, " In the name of God the mer- 
 ciful, the compassionate : Praise be to God, who hath sent 
 down water for purification, and hath made Islam a light, and 
 a conductor, and a guide to thy gardens — the gardens of de- 
 light, and to thy mansion, the mansion of peace." Then, 
 rinsing his mouth thrice, he says, " O God, assist me in reading 
 the Book, and in commemorating thee, and in thanking thee, 
 and in worshipping thee well." Then thrice he throws water 
 up his nostrils, saying, " O God, make me to smell the odours 
 of Paradise, and bless me with its delights, and make me not 
 to smell the smell of the fires [of hell]." Then he proceeds to 
 wash his face three times, saying, " O God, whiten my face 
 with thy light on the day when thou shalt whiten the face of 
 thy favourites, and do not blacken my face on the day when 
 thou shalt blacken the faces of thine enemies." His right 
 hand and arm, u\) to the elbow, are washed next thrice, witli 
 the ])rayer, " O God, give me my liook in my right hand, and 
 reckon with me with an easy reckoning." 
 
 'Vhf allusion is to a book in which all liis actions an- I'c- 
 corded : that of the just is to be ])lac('(l in liis i-Ight hand, that 
 ofth(» wicked in his left, which will be tied behind his back; 
 and wIkmi he j)roceeds to his left hand he says, " () (iod, give 
 mo not my book in my left hand, nor behind my back, and do 
 not reckon with me with a dillicult reckoning, n(»r make nic 
 to be one of the people of fire." His head he washes Imt 
 once, accompanying the action with this ju'tition, *' O God, 
 cover mc with thy mercy, and pour down thy blessing uj)on
 
 136 
 
 me, and shade me under the shadow of thy company on the 
 day when there sliall be no other shade." Putting into 
 his ears the tips of his forefingers, he is to say, " O God, 
 make me to be one of those who hear what is said, and obev 
 what is best," or, " O God, make me to hear good." Wiping his 
 neck with his fingers, he says, " O God, free my neck from the 
 fire, and keep me from chains, collars, and fetters." Lastly, 
 he washes his feet, saying, first, " O God, make firm my feet 
 upon Sirat on the day when my feet shall slip on it ;" and, 
 secondly, " Make my labour to be a])proved, and my sin for- 
 given, and my works accepted, merchandize that shall not 
 perish, through thy pardon, O Mighty One, O most forgiving- 
 through thy mercy, O Thou most merciful of those who shew 
 mercy." Having completed the ablution, he continues, looking 
 up to heaven, " Thy perfection, O God, I extol with thy praise ; 
 I testify there is no God but thee alone. Tliou hast no com- 
 panion. I implore thy forgiveness, and turn to thee with repent- 
 ance." Then, looking down to the earth, he adds the Creed, 
 and should recite, once at least, the chapter on Power (xcvii). 
 These instructions remind one of the acts of devotion of Roman 
 Catholics, and of some of the more formal of oui* early divines, 
 and would seem to require some time; but he who furnished 
 them, and has had frequent opportunities of seeing them per- 
 formed, assures us that they are almost all omitted by the 
 generality of worshippers, and that with such the whole cere- 
 mony is accomplished within two minutes. 
 
 When water cannot be procured, or its use is injurious to 
 the health, sand may be substituted. Their theologians infurm 
 us that Gabriel, on his first appearance to the prophet in the 
 cave, taught liim the prayers and the ablutions, for which 
 purpose he caused a spring to gush forth. These partial or total 
 washings, for the removal of legal impurity, being a requisite 
 preliminary, the courts of the mosques are supplied with 
 water. Purity of the dress, as well as of the person, is required, 
 and the worshipper must also lay aside any magnificent robe or 
 ornaments, and appear before God as becomes the humility of 
 a creature and of a sinner. The carpet, also, which a service
 
 137 
 
 comprehending hotli sitting and prostration requires, must also be 
 clean, but place is indifferent, so that Moslems consider prayer as 
 acceptable at home as in the mosque ; and, indeed, its frequent 
 recurrence would render the necessity of oftering it up in any 
 specified locality an intolerable burden. The mosques, there- 
 fore, on week-days, are chiefly frequented by the poor, for the 
 sake of using the mats ; but congregational worship was pro- 
 nounced by the prophet to be preferable to solitary, and he 
 set apart Friday as the day of assembling tl^ Jamaa, in dis- 
 tinction from Jews and Christians ; and the reasons he assigned 
 were, that it is the day on which Adam was created, and on 
 which men shall be judged. The service is the same as on other 
 days, with the addition of the <ulas>- Khotbeh, a prayer which 
 Mohammed himself Avas accustomed to recite, and in which 
 example he was followed by his successors. It consists of two 
 parts. The first is approjjriated to the Deity, the prophets, 
 the first four Khalifs, and their contemporaries. The second 
 includes the prayer for the reigning sovereign, and I tran- 
 scribe from D'Ohson,* the form in use in Turkey. 
 
 " Thanks be to the Most High, that supreme and immortal 
 Being who has neither wife nor children, nor equal on earth, 
 or in the heavens ; who favours acts of compunction in his 
 servants, and pardons their ini(|uitics. Wc believe, we con- 
 fess, we bear witness, that there is no God but God alone, 
 the sole God, who admits no association. naj)py belief, to 
 wliich is attached heavenly blessedness. We also believe in 
 our Lord, our suppcn't, our master, Mohammed, his servant, 
 his friend, his jirophet, who has been directed in the true way, 
 favoured by divine oracles, and distinguished by marvellous 
 works. May the divine blessing be on him, on his pusterity, 
 on his wives, on his disciples, on the orthodox Khalifs endowed 
 with doctrine, virtue, and sanctity, and on the viziers of his 
 age, particularly on lln' liii.iiii, tlu; true Kli.ilifof fiod's pro- 
 phet, the j)rince of believers, Abubekr, the jiious certifier, 
 pleasing to the Eternal ; on the Imam, the true Fvludif of God's 
 prophet, the ])rin<'(' of believers, Omar, the ])ure discriminator, 
 pleasing to God ; on the Imam, &c., Othman, the possessor of 
 * Tableau dc I'Einpirc Otiicman.
 
 138 
 
 tlie two lights, &c. ; on, &c., Ali, the generous, the upright, 
 pleasing to God ; on the two great Imams, perfect in virtue and 
 doctrine, distinguished in knowledge and in works, illustrious 
 in race and in nobility, resigned to the will of God, and the 
 decrees of destiny, patient in reverses and misfortunes ; the 
 prmces of the heavenly youth, the pupils of the eyes of the 
 faithful, the lords of true believers, Hassan and Ilosein, pleasing 
 to God, to whom may all be equally pleasing. O ye Assistants, 
 O ye faithful, fear God, and submit to Him. Omar, pleasing 
 to God, has said, ' The prophet of God pronounced these 
 words. Let there be no actions but those founded on good 
 intentions. The prophet of God is truthful in what he said. 
 He is truthful in what he said. Ali, the friend of God, and 
 the minister of the heavenly oracles, said, ' Know that the 
 best word is the Word of God, most powerful, most merciful, 
 most compassionate. Hear his holy commandment. When 
 you hear the Koran, listen to it with respect and in silence, for 
 it will be made to you piety. I take refuge with God from 
 the stoned devil. In the name of God the merciful, the com- 
 passionate, in truth good deeds efface bad ones.' " 
 
 Here the preacher repeats several verses of the Koran, to 
 which the muezzins chaunt, Amen. He then commences the 
 second Khotbeh. 
 
 " In honour to His prophet, and for distinction to his pure 
 soul, this high and great God, whose word is an order and a 
 command, has said, ' Certainly God and His angels bless the 
 prophet.' Bless him, ye believers, address to him pure and 
 sincere salutations. O God, bless IMohammed, the Emir of 
 Emirs, the chief of the prophets, who is perfect, accomplished, 
 endowed with eminent qualities, the glory of the human race, 
 our lord, and the lord of both worlds, of temporal and of 
 eternal life. O ye who are enamoured of liis beauty, and of 
 his fame, address to him pure and sincere salutations. Bless, 
 O God, Mohammed, and the posterity of Mohammed, as thou 
 hast blessed Abraham, and the posterity of Abraham. Cer- 
 tainly thou art adorable, thou ai't great : sanctify Mohammed, 
 and the posterity of Mohammed, as thou hast sanctified Abra- 
 ham, and the posterity of Abraham. Certauily thou art adora-
 
 139 
 
 ble, thou ai't great, O God, have pity on the orthodox Khalifs, 
 distinguished by doctrine, virtue_, and heavenly gifts, witli wliich 
 thou hast hiden those who have acted with truth and justice. O 
 God, assist, sustain, and defend thy servant, the greatest of Sul- 
 tans, the most eminent of Khalifs, the king of Arabs, and Ajene,* 
 the servant of the two holy cities, Sultan, son of a Sultan, Sultan 
 
 , whose khalifat may the Supreme Being make eternal, and 
 
 perpetual his empire and power. Amen. O God, exalt those who 
 exalt religion, and lower those who lower religion. Protect 
 the Moslem soldiers, the orthodox armies, and grant us health, 
 tranquillity, prosperity ; to us, to pilgrims, to the military, 
 to citizens, as well to those at home as to those who travel 
 by land and sea : finally, to the whole Moslem people. Health 
 to all the prophets, and all the heavenly messengers. Eternal 
 praises to God, the Creator and Governor of the universe. 
 Certainly God commands equity and benevolence; he com- 
 mands and recommends the care of our relations ; he prohibits, 
 unlawful things, sins, prevarications. He counsels you to obey 
 his precepts, and to keep them carefully in your memory," 
 
 A Khotbeh, substantially the same used on the first Fri- 
 day after the new year, may be found in Lane's work. 
 Besides the benediction on the pro[)het, his four successors, 
 and the two sons of Ali, a blessing is invoked on their mother, 
 Fatiniah, and grandmother, Khadijah ; Ayesha, the mother 
 of the faithful, and tlie rest of the prophet's ])urc wives ; on 
 the six who remained of the ten noble and just persons who 
 swore allegiance under the tree, Talha, Alzobier, Saad, Said, 
 Abdulrahman, Ibn Aiif, and all tliu Comjianions, and the 
 two succeeding generations. This prayer, and frequently a 
 moral discourse, is delivered from the pulpit by the khatib, 
 who liolds ;i wooden sword reversed, a custom said to be 
 pecuhar to the cities taken IVoni the unbelievers; yet, if so, it Is 
 unsuitable to Cairo, Bagdad, and other cities of Mohannnedan 
 foundation. There is a niche hi the wall (l^^j^) which marks 
 the position of Mecca, but of course there is no altar,and there are 
 no other decoration than lamps and ostrich eggs suspended, and 
 
 • A term ppculinrly appropriated to the I'ertfians^ but here to be taken 
 for ;ill other nations.
 
 140 
 
 appropriate verses from the Kon'm written on the walls. The 
 congregation, without any distinction of rank, arrange them- 
 selves round the Imam, who is a guide to them in the per- 
 formance of the nine attitudes of prayer, which ai'e no less 
 requisite tlian the recitations. These postures resolve into 
 four: 1, standing, J^, kayam ; 2. bowing, &«j, racaat; 
 
 3. prostration or adoration, i^^^, sajud ; and 4. sitting, i^y^, 
 kaaud ; which were not introduced by Mohammed, but had long 
 prevailed, and been used in the presence of earthly sovereigns, 
 as appears from the Bible, and other ancient works, and from 
 the Egyptian hieroglyphics. These attitudes commence with 
 1, reverential standing, the worshipper then bows; 2, then 
 stands again ; 3, then prostrates himself; 4, next sits ; 5, pro- 
 strates himself again ; 6, stands ; and 7, closes with sitting. 
 
 Accordmg to a tradition, Mohammed, in his nightly con- 
 ference with the Deity, was commanded to impose upon his 
 disciples the daily obligation of fifty prayers. By the advice 
 of Moses he solicited an alleviation of this duty, and obtained 
 a gradual reduction to five, which are indispensable. The 
 hours are, 1, day-break; 2, noon; 3, afternoon ; 4, evening ; 
 and 5, the first watch of the night. 
 
 The Moslem casuists distinguish between (^ji>jS^\ Alfardh, 
 what is of divine authority, being commanded in the book, and 
 iJuJl, Alsonnat, what is of canonical obligation. The perform- 
 ance of the first is meritorious, and its neglect sinful. The pei'- 
 formance of the second is also meritorious, but may be omitted 
 with impunity. These prayers are of divine obligation. Adam 
 is said to have introduced the first prayer, Abraham the second, 
 Jonah the third, Jesus the fourth, and Moses the fifth. The 
 worshipper, raising his open hands, and touching with the 
 
 ends of his thumbs the lobes of his ears, repeats the j^, 
 
 Tacbir, thatis,jjii ^\ Allah Akbar, " God is most great." Still 
 standing, and placing his hands before him, a little below the 
 girdle, the left within the right, he recites the opening chaptei- 
 of the Koran, and a few verses from any other which he pleases : 
 he often chooses the 112th. He then, after having said, "God
 
 141 
 
 is most great," seats himself on his carpet, on his knees, and 
 recites thrice (I extol) the perfections of my Lord the great ; 
 adding, " May God hear him who praiseth him. Our Lord, 
 praise be unto thee." Then, raising his head and body, " God is 
 most great." He next drops gently upon his knees, repeating, 
 " God is most great," puts his nose and forehead to the ground 
 between his hands, during which prostration he exclaims 
 thrice, " The perfections of my Lord the most high." Then, 
 raising his head and body, sinking backwards on his heels, 
 and placing his hands on his thighs, he says again, " God is most 
 high," which he repeats on a second prostration ; and, again 
 rising, utters the Tacbir. This ceremony is called one racaat 
 i^&Mj). He rises on his feet, and goes through it a second time, 
 only varying the portion of the Koran after the opening chapter. 
 After the last racaat of all the prayers, he says, " Praises belong 
 to God, and prayer, and good works. Peace be on thee, 
 O prophet, and the mercy of God, and his blessing ! Peace 
 be on us and on the righteous worshippers of God." He then 
 recites the Creed. Before the salutations in the final prayer, 
 the worshipper may offer up any short petition for himself 
 or friends, and it is considered better to word it in Koranic 
 language than in his own. If devoutly disposed, he may add 
 this supererogatory service, the recitation of the Throne verse 
 (^Koran xi. 256). He may then repeat the perfections of God 
 thirty-three times, and "Praise to Him forever" once, with 
 "Praise be to (iod, extolled be his dignity for ever !" thirty- 
 three times ; then the same number of times, " There is no 
 God but He; (iod is most great;" then, "God is most great 
 in greatness, and praise abundant be to God!" In those rej)e- 
 titions he finds his rosary, which has a mark after the tiiirty- 
 third bead, very convenient to |)revent his praying too httle 
 or too much. Any wandering of the eye, or inattention, must 
 be strictly avoided ; ami if interrupted, excejjt unavoidably, 
 the worshipper must begin again. As thus described, the 
 service seems long; but Lane, who nnist have often witnessed 
 it, savs that the time it occupies is under five minutes, if 
 restricted to what is indispensable, and that the 8nj)ererogatorv
 
 142 
 
 addition will take up about as much more. Should a season of 
 prayer surprise them at a meal, they may postpone it till they 
 have finished. The muezzins renn'nd them of this duty in a loud 
 voice from a tower of the mosques, which has obtained the 
 name of J^U* minaret, a light bearer, from its similarity in its 
 proportions to a candlestick. They intermix several times the 
 Creed and the praises of God; admonishing Moslems in the morn- 
 ing that prayer is better than sleep, and making a longer address 
 twice in the night, when he calls the few who are so disposed to 
 an act of voluntary devotion. At the last he enlarges in com- 
 mendation of the prophet, the seal of God's apostles, and 
 invoking a blessing upon his family, specifying by name his 
 grandson. In Egypt this call ends with a blessing on Abu 
 Faraj Sheikh of the Arabs, and are all the favourites of God, 
 This local saint, who is buried in the Delta, has the reputa- 
 tion of obtaining the divine favoiu' for those who visit his tomb, 
 and seek his intercession. A nazir, or warden, presides over 
 each mosque, and is trustee of the property, and pays the 
 Imams, for no money is collected for the purpose from the 
 worshippers. They are no more than hired servants, who 
 may be dismissed by the warden, when, with their salary, 
 they lose their name. Their payment being scarcely sixpence 
 a-day, they engage in trade, or as schoolmasters, and many of 
 them recite the Kordn for hire in private houses. They are 
 generally chosen out of the poor students. The service of each 
 house of prayer is the same, only the choice of the additional 
 chapter is free, and each ends with a salutation, on the right 
 hand and on the left, to the guardian angels. 
 
 The five prayers must be repeated afterwards, if the believer 
 is unavoidably prevented at the pro[)er hours. Travellers and 
 the sick are allowed, when it is requisite, to shorten them. 
 
 We learn, from the Traditions, that a religious tone pervaded 
 the whole life of Mohammed. He was, in his conversation, 
 continually referring to the ancient prophets, and speaking of 
 the revelations made to himself. Much of his time was en- 
 grossed by acts of devotion ; and it was one of his frequent 
 sayings, that the worst of thieves is he who steals from his
 
 143 
 
 own prayers ; and one of liis slaves, having asked him to teach 
 him an act by which he should gain admittance into Paradise, 
 he answered, " Prostrate thyself frequently, and say many 
 prayers, for thou dost not prostrate thyself once for God's 
 sake without his exalting thy dignity and diminishing thy sins." 
 He not only prayed in the day, but often arose in the night 
 for that purpose. His method of prayer has been recorded. 
 He used to intermix with the prescribed forms extemporary 
 additions, as, " O Lord, pardon my ofPences, and have mercy 
 on me ; shew me the straight path, and give me daily bread." 
 He often prayed against being involved in debt, and used to 
 say that debt would deprive even those who died fighting for 
 religion of the rewards of martyrdom. One of his prayers Avas 
 for preservation from cowardice, avarice, decrepitude, the 
 strife of the world, the punishment of the grave, against hypo- 
 crisy, and for a true tongue. He prayed, also, for his friends, 
 but, unlike a Christian, not for, but against, his enemies. He 
 recommended short ejaculations to be uttered, like an Amen at 
 the end of impressive passages of the Koran. One of his 
 companions said that there was not a chapter, long or short, 
 that he had not heard him recite at the hours of prayer. He 
 generally waited for a congregation, considering social prayer 
 more efficacious than private. He often stood up so long 
 that he was supposed to be lost in meditation, and he some- 
 times sat between the prostrations. His habits of religion, 
 and, I may afld, of superstition, he impressed upon his com- 
 panions, and they have transmitted them to those who still 
 take him for their guide, in adversity or prosperity, whe- 
 ther their lot be cast in Kgypt, or Turkey, or Tndia. Such 
 pious aspirations as these are coiitimiMlly in tlnir nioiitlis, and 
 engraved on their seals, and, in many instances, they sccni to 
 influence their conduct. 
 
 ^\ ^y 
 
 " My trust "is in God." 
 
 Mi '^\ Jii^^ I* 
 
 " My guidance is only from God."
 
 144 
 
 " I make over my business to God." 
 
 " There is no power, no strength, but in the high, the great 
 
 God." 
 
 " He wlio trusts in God finds Him sufficient till his end." 
 
 " I fly for refuge from the stoned Satan." 
 
 They are constantly, in their conversation, praising God ; 
 yet we all know how such repetition has a tendency to defeat 
 its object ; and prayer recurring five times every day, in the 
 same words, must, in most instances, degenerate into a form 
 especially to Hindus and Turks, many of whom are imper- 
 fectly acquainted with Arabic. The repetition so often of the 
 very same ejaculation renders almost unavoidable their falling 
 under our Saviour's condemnation of thinking they shall be 
 heard for their much speaking: and after all, though their 
 acts of devotion are called prayer, they consist almost ex- 
 clusively of ascriptions of praise, for scarcely any part comes 
 under the former head, except the opening chapter of the 
 Koran, which is only a petition to be directed in the right 
 way, and is more suitable for congregational worship. 
 
 The life of the Moslem ought to be a life of prayer ; and 
 when taken ill, and about to die, his family, and the hired 
 wailing women, make lamentations, uttering piercing cries, and 
 fakirs are called in to chant the Koran, and the body is washed 
 while they recite some chapters, or the poem in praise of the 
 prophet called the Bordah. When the corpse is carried into 
 the mosque, the funeral service is performed, consisting of four 
 Tachirs. After the first, which is repeated by the whole 
 congregation, the Fathah and the second Tacbir are recited, 
 with the addition, " O God, favour Mohammed, the illiterate 
 prophet, and his family and companions, and preserve them." 
 After the third 'Tacbir, follows, " Verily this is thy servant, 
 and son of thy servant : he hath departed from the repose oi'
 
 145 
 
 the workl and from its business, and from whatever he loved, 
 and from these by whom he was loved to the darkness of the 
 grave, and to what he experiencetli. He did testify that there 
 is no Deity but thou alone, and that thou hast no companion ; 
 that Mohammed is thy servant and thy apostle, and that thou 
 art all knowing respecting him. O God, he is gone to abide 
 with thee, and thou art the best with whom to abide. He 
 hath become m need of thy mercy, and thou hast no need of 
 his punishment. We have come to thee supplicating that we 
 may intercede for him. O God, if he were a doer of good, 
 over-reckon his good deeds, if an evil doer, pass over his evil 
 doings, and of thy mercy grant that he may experience thy 
 acceptance, and spare him the trial of the grave and its torment, 
 and make his grave wide to him, and keep back the earth from 
 his sides, and of thy mercy grant that he may experience security 
 from thy torment, until thou send him safely to thy Paradise, oh 
 thou most merciful of those who shew mercy." The last tachir 
 follows with this prayer, " O God, deny us not our reward for 
 him, (that is, for this service), and lead us not to trial after him : 
 ])ardon us, and him, and all Moslems, O Lord of all creatures!" 
 The imam next greets the angels on his right and left with," Peace 
 be on you, and the mercy of God," as at the close of ordinary 
 ])rayer. Then, addressing the persons present, " Give your testi- 
 mony respecting hiui ;" the answer to which is, " He was of the 
 virtuous." Here i\\(.'filcccs and others recite the Fathd, and the 
 three last verses of the second chapter. The tomb which is arched, 
 generally of Ijrick, and plastered, is made hollow, that the tenant 
 of it may easily sit up when visited by the two angels. Tiu; 
 stone at the liead, in addition to tlie date and name of tlie 
 person buried, has generally a text, though, like the use of 
 burnt bricks, this was forbidden by Mohammed. The body 
 having been deposited, wfikee performs the ofHce of instructor 
 of the dead. Sitting before the tomb, he says," O servant of God, 
 son of a handmaid of (iod, know that at this time two angels 
 will come down to thee, and on their asking, ' Who is thy 
 Lord,' answer, * God is my Lord in truth.* They will next 
 inciuirc concerning thy Projihft, :nid thou must say, ' Moliani-
 
 146 
 
 mod is the Apostle of God in truth.' They will then interrogate 
 thee concerning thy religion and the book of direction ; and 
 thy answer must be, ' Islam is my religion, the Koran is my 
 book, and the Moslems are my brothers.' Their last question 
 will be concerning thy Keblah, the answer to which is the 
 Kaabeh, and ' I have lived and died in the assertion that 
 there is no God but God.' Then they will say, * Sleep, 
 oh servant of God, under the protection of God.'" These 
 persons are usually paid or feasted. Sometimes a buffalo 
 is slaughtered, and its flesh distributed, which, like the 
 gift of the bread, is an expiation for small sins. The 
 funeral ended, each relative is greeted with a prayer that 
 he may be compensated for his loss, or is congratulated that 
 his life is prolonged. The night svicceeding the burial is called 
 that of desolation, in which the soul is believed to remain in 
 the body, after which it departs to Hades, to await its final 
 doom. The fikees then, after a repast of bread and milk at 
 the house of the deceased, recite the 67th chapter of the Koran. 
 The ceremony of the Rosary, *^*** Sohhat, is also performed on 
 this occasion, and occupies three or four hours. At night, fikees, 
 sometimes as many as fifty, assemble, and one brings a rosary of 
 1000 beads, each as large as a pigeon's egg. They begin with 
 the sixty-seventh chapter, then say three times, " God is one ;" 
 then recite the last chapter but one and the first ; and then say 
 three times, " O God, favo\ir the most excellent, the most happy 
 of thy creatures, our lord Mohammed, and his family and com- 
 panions, and preserve them." To which they add, "All who 
 commemorate thee are the mindful, and those who omit com- 
 memorating thee are the negligent." They next repeat 3000 
 times, " There is no God but God," one holding the rosary, 
 and counting each repetition. After each thousand they some- 
 times rest and take coffee ; then 100 times (I extol) " the perfec- 
 tion of God, with his praise ;" then the same number of times, " I 
 Leg forgiveness of God the great;" after which, 50 times, "The 
 perfection of the Lord, the Eternal;" then, "The perfection of 
 thy Lord, the Lord of might, exempting him from that which 
 they ascribe to him, and })eace be on the apostles, and praise
 
 147 
 
 be to God, the Lord of all creatures." — Koran, xxxvii. last 
 three verses. Two or three then recite three or four more. 
 This done, one asks his companions, " Have ye transferred 
 (the merit of) what ye have recited to the soul of the de- 
 ceased?" They reply, " We have;" and add, "Peace be 
 on the apostles." This concludes the ceremony, which, in the 
 houses of the rich, is repeated the second and third nights. 
 The first Thursday after the funeral the women renew their 
 wailings, and thc^kees recite a khatmeh. This is a recitation 
 of the whole Koran, which occupies about nine hours ; and is 
 customary also at weddings and at public festivals, and is 
 regarded as meritorious in those who bear the expense. A si- 
 milar recitation, called the J^j Zi/cr, in commemoration of the 
 names and unity of God, is also recited generally by dervishes. 
 Lane gives this description of one on the night when the pro- 
 phet's birth-day is kept. It lasted about two hours. The per- 
 formers, who were about thirty, began, after the Fatho, with 
 chanting, " O God, favour our lord Mohammed among the 
 former generations, and favour our lord Mohammed among 
 the later generations, and favour our lord Mohammed in every 
 time and period, and favour our lord Mohammed among the 
 most exalted i)rinccs, (angels), unto the day of judgment, and 
 favour all the prophets and apostles among the inhal)itants of 
 heaven and earth; and may God, (whose name be blessed and ex- 
 alted), be well pleased with our lords and masters, those persons 
 of illustrious estimation, Abu Bekr, Omar,Othman, and AH,and 
 with all the other favourites of God. God is our sufiiciciicy, and 
 excellent is his grandeur ; and there is no strength and power 
 but in God, the high, tlip gi-eat. O God, our Tiord, O thou 
 liberal of pardon, C) thou most bountiful of the l)ountiful, () 
 God. Amen." They were then silent, repeating the Fatluv to 
 themselves. They then chanted, for half an hour, " There is no 
 God but God;" and a i)oem of spiritual love was recited by 
 regular singers. They then again repeated " There is no 
 God but God," so loud, with vehement gesticulations, each 
 tuming his head alternately to the right and to the left, that at 
 length a visitor, who had re[)eated with them this profession of 
 
 T. 2
 
 148 
 
 fjiilh, became what is called * possessed.' His voice grew gra- 
 dually faint, and lie fell to the ground in an epileptic fit, the 
 result of a liic;li state of religious excitement. No one seemed 
 surprised, for such occurrences are not imcommon at Zikrs. 
 All the performers now appeared much excited, repeating their 
 ejaculations with greater rapidity, violently turning their heads, 
 and sinking at the same time the whole body : some jumped. 
 Towards the close, a private soldier, who had joined them 
 throughout the performance, seemed also several times pos- 
 sessed. The contrast presented by the vehement and dis- 
 tressing exertio)is of the performers at the close, and the calm 
 gravity and solemnity of manner at the commencement was 
 particularly striking.* 
 
 ALMS, 
 
 the second fundamental duty, is called 'i^J>\ ZaJcat, from a verb 
 which has the double meaning of increasing a man's property by 
 bringing down on it a blessing, and of purifying the remainder, 
 or the soul of the possessor. They are payable, 1. on cattle, that 
 is, on camels, kine, and sheep, but not on animals used in till- 
 age ; 2. on money ; 3. on corn ; 4. on fruits, that is, dates and 
 raisins ; and, 5. on whatever is sold ; but the amount is not 
 above two and a half per cent, and the property must have 
 been in possession almost a year. They were paid originally 
 into the public treasury ; but in process of time, when a more 
 convenient mode was introduced (jf collecting a regular revenue 
 from taxation, the performance of the duty was left to the con- 
 science of the owner. Islam also requires voluntary alms, 
 which bear, as among the Jews, the name of righteousness, 
 C^^Sjo '^sadekat" an use of the word which occurs in the Bible. 
 Charity is frequently recommended in the Koran, and is there 
 said to give efficacy to prayer, and this agreeable duty is 
 one that the Moslems are faithful In fulfilling. 
 
 * r.rinn, vol. II. cliap. xi. xx.
 
 149 
 
 FASTING 
 
 is tlie third duty imposed upon Moslems, and its comparative 
 value is marked by this saying of the second Omar, " Prayer 
 Avill bring a man half-way to God, and fasting to the door 
 of his palace, but it is to alms that he ^Yill owe his admission." 
 The Mosaic law commanded a single day of fasting, but 
 Mohammed sanctioned tlie appropriation to it of a whole 
 month, in imitation of the ])agan Arabs, only he transfeiTed 
 it from Rajab to Ramadhan. It is expressly commanded in 
 the Koran (chap, ii.), and the reason assigned is, that on one 
 of its later nights, called the night o( j^^\ Alkadr, that is, of 
 Power, " the Koran was sent down, a direction unto men, and 
 a distinction between good and evil.'' The short chapter xcvii., 
 to which it gives name, tells us that it is better than a thousand 
 months, for therein the angels descend, and Gabriel also, with 
 the decrees (to be executed during the year). There is 
 no duty which is so strictly performed by the Moslems, at 
 h ast in appearance, for the rich men are said to break it in 
 private ; but it is a severe imposition on persons in lower life, 
 who cannot easily evade it. It is not, like Christian fasts, the 
 substituting fish or bread for meat, but, from sunrise to sunset, 
 total abstinence is enjoined from all licjuids, as well as from solids. 
 'J'he Mohannncdan year being lunar, the fast coincides succes- 
 sively with the winter and the summer, and calls for all the 
 resignation of the Moslem, who, at tlie close of a long sultry day, 
 docs not presume to moisten his parched throat with a drop of 
 water, and must even altogether abstain from his pijte. Instances 
 indeed are not wanting in which the conscientious have actually 
 carried this abstinence to such an excess as to hnvi' died. 
 Children are alone exempt ; and those who are prevented by 
 necessity must fast afterwards for as long a period. As the 
 fast ends with sunset, night is turned into day, and the strictest 
 observers of the fast do not scruple then to have entertainments, 
 to wliich they invite their friends. The shops are now opened,
 
 150 
 
 but the tradesmen will be often found praying or reciting pas- 
 sages from the Koran, or distributing bread to the poor. There 
 are additional prayers of as many as twenty racaats at 
 sunset, which are often offered up in the mosques, which are 
 illuminated, and in which the most serious spend tlie five last 
 nights, including, of course, that of Power. 
 
 The Moslems have also voluntary fasts, the principal of which 
 is that of ]j^^-) " Aashura,''' that is, the tenth of Moharrem. 
 It is said to have been observed by the pagan Arabs, but 
 was probably adopted by Mohammed from the Jews, to whom 
 it was commanded by Moses, Lev. xvi. 29, being the day of 
 atonement, in which the Israelites were to afflict their souls, and 
 the High Priest was to enter the sanctuary to expiate the guilt 
 of the nation. It is now kept in commemoration of the martyrdom 
 of Hosein ; and as it is observed even in Egypt, it is of course,where 
 tlie Shiyahs prevail,preeminently a day of mourning, n^.j^ ^Haazi- 
 yehr In India it is extended to ten days, in imitation of the festival 
 of Doorga, the wife of Seeva, on the last day of which her statue 
 is cast into the river, and the Mohammedan ceremonies ter- 
 minate with disposing in the same manner, or of burying, of the 
 representation of the sepulchral chapel of Hosein, which the rich 
 adorn at a great expense with flowers, brocades, and mirrors, 
 and which is surrounded with lights in gold candlesticks, and 
 censers burning incense, and embroidered banners. During 
 these ten days there are recitations of the history of Hosein, 
 and also of his elder brother Hassan, with all the demonstrations 
 of grief that might be shown on the death of the dearest friends, 
 and becoming the commemoration of an event which, according 
 to an Hindu author, will impress every Moslem with the deepest 
 sorrow till the day of the resurrection. 
 
 The Mohammedan year consists of twelve months, the first 
 of which contains thirty days, and the second twenty-nine, and 
 so in rotation till the completion of the 354 days. It is anterior 
 to the Prophet, and the kalendar must have been formed at a 
 period when the months which derive their names from the 
 seasons corresponded with them.
 
 151 
 
 MohaiTcm, ^j^, tlie sacred month, 
 
 Safar, ^'^o^ the travelling month. 
 
 The first RaLiyaa, spnng, Jj^^ ^j^ 
 
 The second Rabiyaa, 
 
 The first frost, Jomad, JU^\ ^^^^ , 
 
 The second Jomad, js-'^\ (_?tiU^, 
 
 Rajib, ^-r^j) the sacred month, 
 
 Shaaban, (jV*^' 
 
 Ramadhan, {J^^^, the month of extreme heat. 
 
 Shawal, (J^^, 
 
 Dhulkaada, 8.^*HJ^jii, month of residence, 
 
 Dhul Hajah, ^ j'^' month of pilgrimage. 
 
 Dhul Hajali was, among the pagan Arabs, as now, the 
 month of pilgrimage, and to secure its performance war was 
 prohibited in the month before and after. Rajib was, in 
 those " days of ignorance," as it is the custom to call them, 
 devoted to fasting, which ISIohammed transferred to Ra- 
 madhan, which had been given up to excess in drinking, 
 as being the period of the return of the caravans. The 
 Mohammedans have only two festivals: i\-^^\, called by 
 the Turks Beiram, the first, jiaa5\ iX»P, the festival of break- 
 ing the long fast, is their principal season of rejoicing; the 
 second is ^^j^'^ '^^, the feast of sacrifice, which is an important 
 part of the i)ilgrimagc, as a commemoration of Abraliam's 
 intended offering of his son, which is also kept by those who 
 do not visit Mecca. 
 
 In all Mohammedan countries, however, they keep the 
 feasts of their many saints, and often ])erforni pilgrimages to 
 their tombs; and the mode of kee])ing them is, the recitation, 
 by hired readers, of the Koran, and the dances of their der- 
 vishes ; but of these I will only mention the Prophet's reputed 
 birth-day on the 12th of the third month, which is celebrated 
 at Cairo for nine days, when the town is illuminated, and the 
 shops are open all night, and. licsides the more serious grati-
 
 152 
 
 fication of Zikrs for the devout, there are amusements of story- 
 telHng, conjurinp;, and rope-dancing. 
 
 I complete this enumeration of the positive duties of Islam with 
 
 THE PILGRIMAGE, 
 
 which is so far from carrying, like the rest, it own recommen- 
 dation with it, that it is open, not only to grave objections, but 
 even to ridicule. Mohammed sanctified to the honour of the 
 one true God the ceremonies of the ignorant heathen : and 
 ceremonies so unbecoming a man of sense, and so alien from 
 the grave manners of the East, as circuiting the temple, 
 sometimes running, and sometimes walking in slow procession, 
 the running seven times up and down an adjacent street, and 
 going into the environs to pelt the devil with stones, must pro- 
 duce in all who have not been tausht from childhood to 
 respect them as meritorious in the sight of God, according to 
 their disposition, pity or contempt for so irrational and absurd 
 a scene, which has cost every worshipper so much toil, and in- 
 convenience, and expense. And such is their superstition, 
 that even the dead are sometimes made to perform these 
 rounds. Were we suddenly transported into the crowded 
 area, we should be amazed at the seeming insanity of thou- 
 sands, including the aged, and the learned, men of official rank, 
 and even of reputed wisdom, absorbed in the performance of 
 rites discreditable to rational beings, yet all more or less in 
 earnest, intent upon the fulfilment of what they believe to 
 be a duty. As far as I know, they have only been gazed 
 upon three times, by those who felt no higher interest in 
 the scene than the gratification of curiosity.* The visit of 
 Pitt, the first spectator, was compulsoiy, for he attended as 
 the slave of a Mahommedan master ; the second was the cele- 
 brated German traveller, Burckhardt ; and the third. Lieu- 
 tenant Burton, who has supplied us with additional infor- 
 mation, but found the pilgrimage itself, as described by his pre- 
 decessor, so accurate, that he has only reprinted it, with notes. 
 Burkhardt had long passed for a Mohammedan, and was fami- 
 liar with the language, and I avail myself of his information, 
 
 * An account of the religion and maiuiern of the Mohammedans. Exeter, 
 1704.
 
 153 
 
 though, as a Cliristian, I must lament that he purchased it 
 at so high a price, and in the most solemn and conspicuous 
 manner declared himself, by his pilgrimage, the follower of the 
 false prophet. 
 
 To us, whose religion shews itself in a calmer and colder, 
 and yet, it may be, a deeper feeling, those circuitings, even by 
 the aged, and persons who think themselves philosophers, are 
 preposterous ; yet in all ages and countries dances and pro- 
 cessions have been introduced into the rites of religion. Even 
 under those systems of Christianity whicli appeal more to 
 the imagination than to the reason, processions are of fre- 
 quent occurrence ; while tiiere are, even among Protestants, 
 sects, liapijily few in number, who, from their extravagant 
 motions, derive the name of Shakers and Jumpers. When 
 Cook and other navigators revealed to us the coral reefs 
 and volcanic isles, which, like gems, bedeck the Pacific Ocean, 
 tiiey described the religious dances of Tahiti, which happily 
 no longer desecrate that now Christian island. And the classical 
 student knows how largely such performances entered into the 
 Greek and Roman worsliip, and that the chorus at the feasts of 
 IJacchus, witli its various attitudes before his altar, originated 
 the drama. On occasions of especial joy, tliankfulness slicwed 
 itself in this way, even under the Jewish dispensation, as wlicn 
 Miriam, leading on tlie women with timbrels, repeated the song 
 of triumph to Jehovah for delivering his people from the 
 Egyj)tians; and when David, on bringing into Jerusalem the 
 ark of the Lord, danced with all his might. The concluding 
 psalm is an invitation to every thing that has breath to praise 
 the Lord, not only with wind and stringed instruments, but 
 also in the dance. The practice is familiar to the ditl'erent 
 orders of Dervishes, who whirl round with a rapidity which 
 almost mnkcs the spectator giddy, and often end in I'alling on 
 the ground in a swo<m. These mystics arc more attached to 
 pantheism and their own presumed aljsorption into the Deity, 
 than to the simple creed of Mohanuned; yet their dances pro- 
 bably arc imitations of the circuitings of the Caaba, which 
 might be meant to repeat the revolutions of the planets.
 
 154 
 
 The Pilgrimage is expressly commanded in the TCoran, ii. 
 III. XXII. ; and so prejudiced was Mohammed in favour of cere- 
 monies which he had always been in the habit of performing, 
 that he said a believer neglecting pilgrimage, if it were in 
 his power to attend it, might as well die a Christian or 
 a Jew. Ebn Tofail,* an Arabian metaphysician, who endea- 
 vours to deduce all knowledge from innate ideas, places for this 
 purpose a man on a desert island, and, while he is from his 
 meditations discovering the arts of life, and a belief in a Crea- 
 tor, he is led by his observations on the heavenly bodies to 
 perceive the wisdom and duty of imitating their motions, and 
 is, by the light of nature, brought to this mode of worshipping 
 God as rational. Gazali more wisely maintains that the cere- 
 monies are unmeaning, and, being such, their performance as a 
 positive duty is the more meritorious. The tradition that connects 
 them with the history of Abraham recommended them from 
 an early age to his reputed descendants ; and custom had no 
 doubt endeared them to Mohammed, who, except in his strong 
 belief in the unity and providence of God, did not rise superior 
 to the prejudices of his countrymen, and probably, like them, 
 was persuaded of the truth of these popular tales. Little 
 could he imagine, that what, in theory, may be regarded as the 
 weak point of his religion, would prove its main support ; since, 
 however liis followers may differ in other particulars, and 
 however far apart from one they may dwell, they are all bound, 
 five times every day, in repeating the same prayers in the 
 same attitudes, to direct their eyes to the holy Caaba of Abra- 
 ham ; and the thousands who have had the privilege of visiting 
 it, and associating in pilgrimage with their brethren, will re- 
 turn with faith strengthened by the honour of the achievement, 
 the privations they have endured, and their intercourse with 
 devotees with feelings like their own. Pilgrimage to a sacred 
 spot, wliich has even fascinated, in every age, the professors of so 
 spiritual a religion as Christianity, has been always a popular 
 
 * The original, with a Latin version, was published at Oxford, by the 
 eon of the celebrated Pococke, and afterwards in Ene;li3h, by Ockley. 
 London, 1708.
 
 155 
 
 notion in the East ; and it pleased God, in the ancient legal and 
 shadowy dispensation to sanction it, by requiring the presence 
 of the men of Israel, even three times in tlie year, at the place 
 where he was pleased to set his name, and where alone it was 
 allowed to perform the principal act of religion. Even now Jeru- 
 salem is frequented by Christian pilgrmis, who substitute, for 
 the profaned site of the ruined temple, the church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre ; and their example tends to keep up the same custom 
 amono; the Moslems. 
 
 The Koran authorizes the combination of mercantile specu- 
 lation with devotion ; and where thousands meet, and from the 
 most various climates, as from Bokhara and from Morocco, 
 much business will be transacted. So it Avas in the great fairs 
 of the middle ages, which were always connected with the 
 anniversary of some favourite saint, and the East has not yet ad- 
 vanced beyond that primitive arrangement of commerce. Still 
 it is but a limited number of wealthy individuals who can find 
 in such journeys an adequate indemnification and profit ; and 
 it can only be the satisfaction derived from the performance of 
 an act of extraordinary merit that could constrain the majority 
 of pilgrims to encounter hardships which, to tlie poor and to 
 the infirm, are dangerous, and sometimes fatal. TJie Khalif 
 Omar seems to have been ashamed of the ceremonies, for he is 
 reported to have addressed the famous black stone in terms not 
 unlike those of the sceptic Zaid, " I know thou canst neither 
 help nor hurt me, and unless I had seen the Prophet do it, I 
 should never liavc kissed thee." In a much later age 
 such absurd respect roused the fury of Hakim, the mad Klia- 
 lif of Egypt, who, jealous of any object of worship but himself, 
 commissioned a j)artisan to demolish it. " How long shall 
 this stone be adored?" he exclaimed, and drew out from luuler 
 his cloak a clul); but he could only shiver from it a few fragments, 
 for an indignant j)ilgrim dis|)atclied him with a dagger. In 
 the eyes of all — for few can be supposed to undertake such a 
 journey from a vain and idle curiosity — Mecca is holy ground, 
 and a journey, by few repeated, to the centre of their faifli, 
 with all its hallowed associations, which connect their Prophet
 
 156 
 
 with the friend of God, who is chiimed, too, by Jew and Christian 
 as the Father of the Faithful, and the very garb which they have 
 assumed, solemnize the mind, and prepare it for acts, the reason 
 and fitness of which they do not presume to scan. 
 
 At a considerable distance the pilgrim must assume the 
 J[f^, Ihram, or sacred garb, which is unquestionably ancient, 
 and is still the common dress of the tribes on the Red Sea. 
 In " the days of ignorance " the Arabs threw off their clothes, 
 and pilgrims now are thinly clad, for they wrap only one piece 
 of cloth round the loins, and throw another over the shoulders. 
 Such a suit is unfavourable to health, and yet many continue 
 to wear it by day and by night after they have completed the 
 ceremonies. Rijjid devotees assume it at the commencement 
 of their pilgrimage, but it need not be put on till Avithin a few 
 stages. The ceremony begins with bathing, and shaving the 
 head. The pilgrims then, after a prayer of two inclinations, 
 and entreating a blessing on their undertaking, end with the 
 ciljuJ Lehik, a declaration of their readiness to obey, which 
 ought to be during its performance continually in their mouths. 
 The words are, " Here I am, O God, here am 1 ! No partner 
 hast Thou! Here am T! Truly, praise, beneficence, and 
 sovereignty are thine ! No partner hast Thou ! Here am I ! " 
 The Sheikh, who acted as Burton's director, bade them be good 
 pilgrims, avoiding quarrels, immorality, and even light conver- 
 sation. They must now so reverence life as to kill no animals, 
 not even the fleas that annoy their persons ; and they must 
 shew their respect for the sanctuary, by not plucking so much 
 as a blade of grass. Any violation of these rules requires the 
 sacrifice of a sheep, of which the transgressor is not allowed to 
 partake. Such a life of prayer and forbearance ought to 
 produce a reverential state of mind, but it seems to have pro- 
 duced no such beneficial effect on any of Lieutenant Burton's 
 party. Age or disease is the only justification of a covering 
 for the head, and the indulgence must be purchased by alms. 
 Umbrellas, however, have not been prohibited, and are used 
 by northern hajis. The excitement of the pilgrimage on very 
 susceptible minds is overpowering ; and Burckhardt witnessed
 
 157 
 
 the enthusiasm of an African, who burst into a flood of tears, 
 and, in the depth of his emotion, exclaimed, " O God, now 
 take my soul, for this is Paradise !" Pilgrimage is a duty 
 binding upon all, women no less than men. Inability is the 
 only exemption, and Moslem casuists have determined that 
 those who are incapable must perform it by a deputy, and 
 bear his charges. The Khalifs continued to set an example 
 to believers, even after their settlement at Bagdad ; and the 
 celebrated Harun perforined as many as eight pilgi'images. 
 His grandson, Almamun, turned his into a journey of pleasure, 
 bringing with him the means of supplying in the desert lux- 
 urious l)anquets, with the choicest fruits and iced water. Ilarun 
 went on foot, and was attended, not by his harem and his 
 courtiers, but by doctors of the law. Saladm, the model of 
 saints as well as of sultans, regretted that he could not fulfil 
 the duty, and hoped, since his religious wars with the Franks 
 prevented him, that the will would be accepted for the deed. 
 Believers of eminence of every kind, men of piety, of learning, 
 and of station, have courted and earned this distinction, but 
 few reigning princes have obtained the honoured name of 
 Haji. Bajazet perf<n'med the pilgrimage before his accession, 
 but Mecca has never been visited by an Osmanli Sultan. The 
 pilgrimage was suspended for nearly a (quarter of a century 
 by the Karniatliians, who attacked the caravans, plundered 
 Mec(;a, and carried o(f the black stone, in the hope that it 
 would attract tlie pilgrims to their own ca])ital, to which they 
 had removed it. it was again interrupted in our own day by 
 the Wahubis, who united several of the Arab tribes under their 
 sovereignty in the interior, destroyed the tomb of the pro- 
 mulirator of Islam, and believed themselves commissioned to 
 check the excessive honours lavished on the Prophet and other 
 saints, and to luring back the faith to its original simplicity. 
 They were entirely defeated by the famous Pacha ol" i'^gypt, 
 Moliannned Ali, who revived the pilgrimage, and attended it 
 with his court, and it was under his protection that it was per- 
 formed by BurckhanU. No doubt it was a much freciuented one. 
 He estimated the pilgrims at 70,000; but D'Ohson, who wrote
 
 158 
 
 before the Frcncli Revolution, raises them to 100,000. When 
 lighted up at night, this square, occupied by thousands en- 
 gaged at once in prayer, agreeing in doctrine, and one in 
 spirit, must be indeed an imposing spectacle. Burckhardt, 
 a solitary exception, calmly regarded what he saw, and I 
 present an abridgment of his description: — 
 
 " The locality is no oasis, to refresh with shade and gushing 
 streams the weary, way-worn pilgrim, who, in whatever direc- 
 tion he comes, must approach the sanctuary through a desert. 
 Mecca is in a narrow, sandy valley, within hills of moderate 
 elevation, barren, and wholly destitute of trees. Still it is 
 more cheerful than most eastern cities, because the streets have 
 purposely been made wide for the passage of the pilgrims, but 
 the only open space is the sacred enclosure. It is strange that 
 a city that exists only for pilgrims has no caravanserais to accom- 
 modate them. The far-famed Caaba, so called as being nearly 
 a cube, towers above all the low, flat-roofed dwellings, though 
 no more than forty feet high. From time immemorial a place 
 of pilgrimage, its erection is traced up to Adam. The Deluge 
 of course washed it away, and it is said to have been rebuilt 
 by Abraham. Still the actual edifice has not the prestige of 
 antiquity, for it has been renewed eight times, and as far as 
 could be with the old materials, a reddish sandstone. Its 
 unique appearance bears out the tradition that it has been 
 scrupulously restored after the original design. The last was 
 nearly washed away by a torrent which inundated the town, 
 and the present was erected as late as 1624, by Amurath IV. ; 
 and indeed whatever dignity it derives from the enclosing 
 arcade it owes to the piety of the Turkish Sultans. It was re- 
 built while Mohammed was a private individual, and it is 
 curious that he should have been the person chosen to lift the 
 black stone into its place. It contains but one small apartment, 
 then level with the ground, but now raised so much above 
 it that it can only be entered by a moveable ladder. The 
 walls are hung with a rich red silk, interwoven with flowers 
 and silver inscriptions, which was replaced by the Pasha, and 
 the old hangings were cut up and sold to devotees at enormous
 
 159 
 
 prices. The room is opened only three days in the year, and 
 many pilgrims never enter it, for it is not obhgatory : it can 
 receive ver}^ few at a time, and a fee is exacted, to the indig- 
 nation of the devout, who regard it as desecrating the holiest 
 spot upon earth. It is customary to pray on entering, and 
 Burckhardt overheard ejaculations which seemed to come from 
 the heart. — * O God of the Koran, forgive me, my parents, and 
 my children, and deliver our necks from hell fire." The Caaba 
 must have a singular appearance, for it is visible for no more 
 than a fortnight, being constantly clothed with a black damask 
 veil, in which prayers are embroidered, and as this material, an 
 animal product, is unclean, it is lined with cotton. Openings 
 are left for the sight of the black and white stones. Both are 
 said to have been once of the same colour, which the first 
 is reported to have lost in consequence of sin ; but the surface 
 has probably been blackened by time, aided by the kisses and 
 touches of a long succession of pilgrims. It is an irregular 
 oval, seven inches in diameter, apparently a mass of smaller 
 stones conglomerated in a cement, and encircled by a silver 
 band. It is probably an aerolite, and owes its reputation, like 
 many others, to its fall from the sky. This house of God, as 
 it is called, is said to have been first clothed by the Ilamyarite 
 kings of Yemen, seven centuries before the birth of the Proijhet; 
 and these covers used to be put on one over another, till the end 
 of the first century of Islam. It has since been yearly renewed, 
 and the old cover cut up. The privilege of clothing it, which 
 was assumed by Kelan, Sultan of Egypt, on the con([uest of that 
 country by Selim, passed over to him and his successors. An 
 adequate idea of the building may be formed from ihe views in 
 Reland and Sale, and especially that in D'Ohson's work. It 
 stands in an oblong square 250 paces by 200, but as it has 
 been enlarged it no longer occupies the centre. It is nearly 
 enclosed by a circle of slight ])illars at a little distance, around 
 which are the four stations for the orthodox sects. TIk; one 
 used by the adherents of Shafai is called that of Abraham, 
 because lie is supposed to have stationed himself there while 
 building the House. Persons are always standing about it, to
 
 160 
 
 invoke the patriarch's blessing, and a short prayer is to be said 
 here on tlie termination of the rounds. Near this station 
 is the well Zemzcm, which the Moslems believe gushed out 
 for the rejief of Ishmael, for they ignorantly transfer to their 
 own home the distant desert of Beersheba. It is a copious 
 stream, which apparently never diminishes, but is too sacred 
 to be used, except for drink and ablution. Most pilgrims 
 provide themselves with enough for the washing of their bodies 
 after death. While on the spot they drink largely, and are allowed 
 to draw it for themselves, which many work hard at, hoping 
 thereby to expiate their sins. 
 
 The pilgrim is expected on his arrival, before he engages 
 a lodging, or attends to any secular concern, to visit the 
 mosque. He will find guides to help him in saying the 
 proper prayers. On entering, he prays with four rakaats to 
 salute the mosque, and in gratitude for having been allowed to 
 reach it. He then advances and touches, and, if the crowd do 
 uot prevent him, kisses the black stone. He then begins the 
 t_jjl3, tawuf, circuit, which is repeated seven times, the first 
 tlu-ee rounds at a quick pace, in imitation of the Prophet, who 
 once accomplished them at full speed, to confute the rumour of his 
 being alarmingly ill. Every circuit is accompanied with stated 
 prayers and the kissing of both stones. The pilgrim next, 
 with outstretched arms, prays for the pardon of his sins ; he 
 then performs two rakaats at Abraham's station, and drinks of 
 zcmzem. He is now conducted to a small ascent, called the 
 liill of Safa, to take the j_^ sai, that is, a walk along a level 
 street, six hundred paces long, to Merona, a stone platform. 
 He has to walk quick, and for a short space to rmi, and 
 durinrf the course, which is also repeated seven times, he must 
 pray aloud. He may now shave his head ; but as the course 
 is fatiguing, that ceremony is generally postponed. The course 
 is in imitation of Hagar's running backward and forward. It 
 is indispensable to visit, on the ninth day. Mount Arafat, «i;^, 
 or knowledge, so called because Adam and Eve are said to have 
 met here, after their long separation, on their expulsion from 
 Paradise. It is meritorious to perform this expedition of six
 
 161 
 
 hours on foot ; some were engaged in reciting the Koran or 
 prayers, while the worldly and impenitent quarrelled with their 
 camel drivers. The hill was entirely covered, for in addition to 
 the pilgrims, the inhabitants of Mecca and of Jidda consider 
 it their duty to attend. At three in the afternoon the Kadhi 
 took his stand, and read a sermon till sunset, at intervals 
 stretching forth his hands to invoke the divine blessing on the 
 immense multitude, who rent the air with shouting in return 
 the Lehik, " Here we are at thy disposal, O God ! " Some were 
 crying and beating their breasts, and confessing themselves 
 to bo grievous sinners, in the style of an American camp- 
 meeting, while others mocked them, or smoked with oriental 
 gravity, and some to intoxication with forbidden hemp. The 
 Kadhi's shuttins his book was the sio;nal for a general rush down 
 the hill, as it is thought meritorious in pilgrims to quicken their 
 pace. The tents had been previously packed up, and the caravan 
 was ready to return. According to a tradition, there are 600,000 
 beings present, angels making up the deficiency of human at- 
 tendants. The latter were estimated by Ali Bey at 83,000, by 
 Burckhardt at 70,000, and by Burton at 50,000, who adds, that 
 in the succeeding year the number was reduced one-half 
 The night was passed at an intermediate station, Mazdalifa, 
 in prayer and reciting the Konin, and here a shorter sermon 
 was read, between the dawn and sunrise. The multitude 
 then returned to the valley of Mina, where each pilgrim 
 throws, in three places, seven small pebbles, in imitation of 
 Abraham, whom God is said to have instructed thus to 
 drive away the devil, who endeavoured to interrupt his 
 pr.ayer, and to tempt him lo disobey the command to sacrifice 
 his son. This ceremony over, they slay their victims, and feast 
 on them with their friends, giving what remains to the poor, 
 but using no s;ic-rificial rites, only saying, " fn the name of 
 the merciful Clod I" and "God is great!" Burckhardt guessed 
 that they must have sacrificed eight thousand sheep and goats. 
 The pilgrims remain on the spot two days more, and on each 
 they repeat the tlu'owing the pebbles. They now shave their 
 heads and cut their nails, and bury the hair and parings, and 
 
 M
 
 162 
 
 close their pilgrimage with a valedictory circuiting of the 
 Caaba, and the walk between Saffa and Mervaa. Pitt, 
 who unwillingly accompanied his Moslem master, and, after 
 his escape to Clu'istendom, described the pilgrimage, was 
 deeply impressed with the appearance of devotion. " It was," 
 he says, " a sight to behold at Arafat so many thousands in 
 their garment of humility and mortification, with naked heads, 
 and cheeks watered with tears, and to hear their grievous 
 sighs and sobs, begging earnestly for the remission of their 
 sins, promising newness of life, and using a form of penitential 
 expressions for four or five hours." 
 
 It is the popular notion that, if all the pilgrims were at the 
 same moment to visit the Caaba, the enclosure would contain 
 them all. Burckhardt calculates that 35,000 might attend, 
 but he never could count above 10,000. By day it is the 
 ])lacc of traffic as well as of devotion, and schools are taught 
 and lectures are given under the arcades. By night a pious 
 few remain to pray and meditate without interruption. The 
 simultaneous prostration of this prodigious multitude, height- 
 ened by the reflection that they come from the extremities of 
 the east and the west, to unite in prayer, in obedience to the 
 command of their prophet, was felt to be impressive, even by 
 Burckhardt, who viewed the scene as a philosopher. Plow 
 overpowering, then, it must be to an enthusiastic Moslem ! 
 but to the Christian, who, happily, has learnt to worship the 
 one God, in his personal distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit, and comes boldly, with filial confidence, to his throne, 
 through a sufficient, because a divine as well as human Me- 
 diator, it would be a melancholy spectacle. He cannot but 
 grieve at the misdirected piety, which, for so many centuries, 
 lias yearly brought thousands, in the hope of pleasing God by 
 such absurd and inefficacious ceremonies, to commence a pil- 
 grimage which is laborious and painful, and not seldom termi- 
 nates in an untimely death; for many perish from disease, 
 brought on by fatigue, their scanty covering, inihealthy 
 lodgings, and, in some cases, by absolute starvation. For a 
 month after, Bur(^khardt saw, daily, corpses bi'ought into the
 
 163 
 
 enclosure. Tlie dying are taken there to be cured, by a sight 
 of the house of God, or, at least, to have the satisfaction of 
 expiring on holy ground. Once he had to close the eyes of 
 a pilgrim who had crawled there to breathe his last, in Moslem 
 language, in the arms of the prophet and the guardian angels. 
 He intimated, by signs, his desire to be sprinkled with Zemzem 
 water, and while he was sprinkling him, he expired. 
 
 Medma is 250 miles distant, yet few pilgrims return without 
 visiting a city endeared to them as the asylum of their prophet 
 when forced to fly from his home. Yet his city, as well as 
 Mecca, and in a greater degree, has lost the charm of antiquity. 
 The unlearned pilgi'im may be deceived by the modern Caaba, 
 since it substantially represents the edifice, which has been 
 encircled, we know not for how many centuries, by successive 
 generations of pilgrims ; and it might also be mistaken by their 
 prophet himself, if allowed to visit the spot, for the house he 
 had assisted in Iniilding, though he would be astonished at the 
 stations and the arcades that enclose the area. His own little 
 mosque at Medina, contiguous to his humble dwelling, and shut 
 in on three sides by houses, he could not recognise, for it lasted 
 only till the reign of his son-hi-law, Othman, his third successor, 
 and was rebuilt on a grander scale by the Khalif, \V;ilid, wlio 
 adorned it with minarets. Th(^ edifice, which underwent subse- 
 quent alterations, was so damaged by lightning, that it was su- 
 perseded by a new one, as late as the 888t]i year oftiie fiiglit, by 
 Kaim Bey, the Circassian Mainhik sovereign of li^gypt. Here 
 Moslems have the satisfaction of praying on the site of tlie 
 intennent of their Projiliet, and of his two friends and successors, 
 and in the cemetery on that of his beloved daughter Fatiniah,and 
 of many of his companions, whom the}' revere as saints. Asso- 
 ciations may render the visit at the tomb more gratifying than 
 that to Mecca; l"if the latter is a duty of tlieir n^ligion, the 
 former is altogether optional ; vet, no (joiilit, as volinitnrv, 
 this visit heightens the reputation u{' ;\ pilgrim. 
 
 We have seen, in the historienl sketch, that the adherents of 
 Ali had, as soon as circumstances permitted, marked thcii" 
 devotion to his ciuse by mos(iues raised over his grave, and 
 
 AT 2
 
 164 
 
 that of his son, whose inartyrdom is still so deeply lamented 
 yearly in Persia and India. The murdered Klialif was interred 
 a few miles from the ruined Cufa at Nejef, on the site of 
 Ilirah, in the days of ignorance the court of Emirs, who often 
 acted as the viceroys of the kings of Persia. Hosein lies at 
 Kerbela, forty-five miles distant ; and both shrines have been 
 visited by Mr. Loftus, who, in imitation of Mr. La3'ard, has 
 explored the remains of cities in Susiana and Assyria, mider 
 the protection of the troops of the Pasha of Bagdad. Meshed 
 Ali, that is, his place of martyrdom, occupies the centre of 
 a large square, and a town has grown up around it. The 
 mosque this traveller did not enter, because the bigotted crowd 
 was much excited by the appearance of Europeans, whom they 
 regard as infidels, escorted by Turks, wdiom they abhor as 
 heretics. Approaching it through the desert, the gilt dome 
 and minarets, when struck by the sun's rays, give it an 
 imposing effect. Kerbela is a contrast, for the intermediate 
 district is a succession of date forests ; but the mosque is 
 inferior in its decorations, and is in a dilapidated state, and 
 one of the minarets is seemingly ready to fall. The Pasha had 
 not long before beseiged the two towns. Meshed yielded when 
 summoned, but Kerbela made a long, though ineffectual, resist- 
 ance. As places of pilgrimage, they at least rival the Caaba ; 
 for though the visit is not recognised by Islam, these sacred 
 spots are endeai'ed by associations to the Sheyahs. They are 
 more accessible, and here they are welcome, and among fel- 
 low-worshippers ; whereas the stations at IMecca arc only for 
 the four sects of the Sonnites, while they must conceal 
 their heresy, or expose themselves to insult, it may be to 
 personal injury from their opponents, excited by fanaticism, 
 and indignant at their profaning by their presence the House of 
 God. Lady Sheale considers that Bagdad chiefly exists by this 
 stream of pilgrims, estimated by Loftus at no less than 80,000 ; 
 and it is incessant, for it has not, like the Mecca pilgrimage, a 
 fixed season. Another extraordinary difference is, the succession 
 of caravans of the dead, carried in coffins, to be interred in 
 these holy cemeteries, especially in that of Ilosein ; and this
 
 165 
 
 revolting custom is promoted by the idea that they shall, by 
 this act of posthumous merit, atone for the greatest crimes. 
 Eight thousand corpses are said to be brought amiually from 
 Persia. The gifts and legacies to the shrines are a drain on the 
 resources of that kingdom, and the government has endea- 
 voured to turn this stream, into a diffei-ent direction, to Me- 
 shed, within its own dominions in Khorasan, the tomb of Ali 
 Reddha, the most celebrated of the Imams, who was pro- 
 claimed by the Khalif Alanmn as his heir. 
 
 CONCERNING MOHAMMED. 
 
 This second article of the Moslem creed is thus expressed 
 by Gazah — 
 
 " The most liigh God has sent an illiterate Prophet of the 
 family of Kurish with a mission to all (rational beings) Arabs 
 and barbarians, genii and men, and, by his law, has abrogated 
 all laws except what he has confirmed. lie has distinguished 
 him above the rest of the prophets, and appointed him Prince 
 of Mankind, and has prevented the completion of the con- 
 fession of faith in the Unity, without adding the testimony of 
 the Messenger. And he has made it necessary for men to 
 give credit to him in what he has related concei'nlng the pre- 
 sent and the future life." 
 
 His lollowers assign to him as many names, cjr rutlier epi- 
 thets, as to God. He is known upon earth as INIohauuned, in 
 hell as Mahinud, and in heaven as Ahmed; the first two mean- 
 ing him who is praised, the lasl liiin who is praiseworthy. He is 
 also called ^la-<a^ Mustapha, the Chosen. Mohannned lins 
 since become a conmion name, and is regarded as iort niniti' ; ;uid 
 those wlio are so haj»py as to bear it will mark their estimate 
 of it on their seals, as, " Praise be to God I I bear the name of 
 Mohammed." Kelan, Sidtan of Egypt, at the close of the 
 thirteenth century, gave a son the name, that he might enjoy 
 the benefit of the proi)het'3 special intercession. It is the 
 popular belief that none who bear it will be condenmed to 
 hell ; and at Cunstantinople, when the stiitc is thought to be in
 
 166 
 
 danger, the sovereign chooses ninety-two persons who are so 
 distinguished to recite certain chapters of the Koran, in order 
 to propitiate the Deity. 
 
 To those wlio demanded such a sign as was granted to the 
 ancient prophets, he was instructed to reply, " Praise be to 
 my Lord I I am only a man, a messenger." And in another 
 place God is introduced, telling him that he is but an admo- 
 nisher, and that every people has its guide ; that is, according 
 to Jelalaldin, "It is not your province to work miracles." 
 He professes, too, to have no new revelation, but to be inspired 
 only to revive a belief in the divine Unity, which was the 
 religion of Abraham. It is amazing, then, that Moslems are 
 required to believe, not only that he worked miracles, but was 
 also the most perfect of men for whom the world was created ; 
 and tliat he is described in the Traditions as superior to 
 angels, and to all the preceding prophets, who will assemble 
 round him at the resurrection, when he will rise first, and 
 appear as the standard-bearer ; and is declared now to perform 
 the office of Intercessor, which Adam, Noah, Abraham, and 
 even Jesus, confessed themselves unworthy to undertake. This 
 exaltation of him is not in harmony with his own statements 
 in the Koran, and casts a strong suspicion over the authenticity 
 of a collection of sayings, into wliich it was so easy to insert 
 them, and ascribe them to his companions. 
 
 It is customary to begin every Mohammedan work, in 
 prose or verse, with praise, first, of the Deity, and then of 
 tlic prophet; and poems have been composed exclusively 
 in his honour. The most famous of them is commonly 
 called »<^ Borda, or Cloak, from Mohammad's gift of the 
 coarse one he wore to Lebid, the author of one of the sus- 
 pended poems, who had satirized him, and been excommuni- 
 cated, but shewed his repentance by this composition in his 
 praise. This coarse cloak was purchased from his family by 
 Moawiyah, and descended as an heir-loom from khalif to 
 khalif. Lebid's poem, like most of those which precede Islam, 
 commences with a description of his mistress, followed by that 
 of the camel on whicli she was conveyed from her home. It is
 
 167 
 
 known by its opening words, ijU**> CL/^\i Bmiat Soad, that is, 
 Soad, (the object of his affection) has departed, and consists of 
 no more than fifty-eight distiches. He says much less than we 
 should expect of Mohammed. He tells us that he had been 
 threatened with death, but hopes for pardon, relying on Him 
 who gave the Koran, with its exhortations and teachings, 
 and on the Prophet, Avliom he declares that he fears more than 
 lions, and compares him to a dazzling sword drawn from the 
 scabbard. 
 
 There is another poem, longer, and much more recent, 
 which more commonly bears this name, but its proper title is, 
 
 Cawakab alderriet fi medah kheir alberriet, 
 ** Twinkling stars in the praise of the best of the creation." 
 
 Its reputation seems to have originated in the tale that it restored 
 si<dit to the Vizir Bohaaldin, on being laid on his eyes, and that 
 afterwards he never listened to it except standing with his head 
 bare. The author, Sherifaldin, who died in A. d. 924, at a very 
 advanced age, is surnamed Albusiri, from a town in Egypt, 
 where he was born. The proi)het is said to have appeared to 
 him in a dream, and rewarded him for his panegyric, by curing 
 liim of lameness, caused by palsy. It is revered as a sacred com- 
 position. Distiches from it, in letters of gold, adorn most of the 
 sepulchral chapels in Constantinople, and the whole of it is in- 
 scribed uj)on the walls of the Library of Uagliib Pasha. It has 
 had many commentators, and has been translated into Persian 
 and Turkish, and ])assagc3 from it arc often sung during tlieir 
 dances by the Uufai dervishes. Each distich ends in the first 
 letter of the name of the prophet. Tlie European may judge of 
 its merits, as it has been translated intu French by De Sacy, and 
 into German by Von Hanuner. 
 
 Having never had, as ho said, recourse to the prophet, 
 without finding bim a {j.-itroii wlmsc protection is ' invin- 
 cible, or desired from liim any good, temporal or spiritual, 
 without some grant from his liberality, the jjoet laujiches forth
 
 168 
 
 into an absurd and blasphemous panegyric. According to this 
 his worshipper, as he may be called, Mohammed is the prince 
 of both worlds, of genii as well as of men, and the sovereign of 
 two races, Arabs and barbarians. He resembles the sun, 
 which, at a distance, does not appear in its true greatness, but, 
 seen nearer, dazzles the sight. " He is the friend of God, 
 whose intercession is the sole foundation of men's hopes, and 
 their resource in the worst of dangers. Through him they have 
 been called to the knowledge of God ; and whoever attaches 
 liiraself to him, attaches himself to a cord which is not liable to 
 break. He has surpassed all other prophets by his external 
 and internal gifts, none of whom approach him in knowledge 
 or virtue ; and he shares with none these incomparable quali- 
 ties, as he possesses entire and incommunicable excellence. 
 " Assign to his person whatever you please of dignity. 
 Assign to his power what you please of greatness. 
 For certainly to the excellence of God's messenger there is no 
 
 limit : 
 The speaker cannot desci'ibe it with his mouth." 
 " The sum of our knowledge of him is that he is a man : 
 And the most excellent of all the creatures of God." 
 
 ^ ^Ji>\j ids- i^j^j»- 
 
 J 
 
 JL> io\ »jj JjJl 
 
 ji J^\ ^ 
 
 The poet inconsistently demolishes the foundation of his 
 j)anegyric, when he adds, 
 
 " Only omit what the Christians say of their prophet. 
 And praise him as much as you please."
 
 169 
 
 Common sense might have convinced him that the Christians 
 could only be justified in their exaltation of Jesus, because they 
 believed that his Father had given him that name which is 
 above every name; that he united with his manhood the divme 
 nature ; and that he had been from the begimiing " God over all, 
 blessed for evermore." Thus he is entitled and enabled to be 
 " the Mediator between God and man," and an efficacy is 
 given to his intercession which it is absurd to predicate of the 
 best of men, who, with the nature, must partake of the sinful- 
 ness of the race for which he would wish to intercede. 
 
 The utmost that can be claimed for Mohammed is, not that 
 he redeemed man and reconciled him to God, and " opened the 
 kingdom of heaven to all behevers," but simply, that he shewed 
 the way of acceptance, a way, according to his own confession, 
 which had been revealed to Abraham, and which he was com- 
 missioned again to open. There has been a growing tendency 
 among Moslems to magnify, not only their prophet, but their 
 sheiks and religious guides, which is incompatible with a pure 
 Deism, and shews that such a system will gradually degenerate 
 into a superstitious reverence for fellow-men assumed to be 
 superior in sanctity. Such exaggerated encomiums would 
 have been distasteful to one wlio said, " God has not com- 
 manded you to take the angels and the prophets for your 
 lords" (K. iii.), and who avows himself to be an ordinary man 
 (K. viii. 100), and a sinner (K.xlvii. and xlviLi.),and disclaims the 
 possession of tlie treasures of God and a knowledge uf his secrets. 
 On his own testimony he nmst be hiferior to Jesus, for he de- 
 clares him to be without sin ; and, as having no human father, 
 he intimates tliut he must be more than a man. There is a tra- 
 dition, that previ(jU3 to the pn>i)het's ascent into heaven, and, 
 according to some, in childhood, two angels cut o])en his body, 
 and Gabriel took out his heart, which, before replacing, he 
 washed, to cleanse it from natural conMiptif)n. This is a great 
 concession, since it concedes the doctrine of original sin, and 
 admits that none who has not been clcimsed from this taint can 
 be inspired by God as his prophet. The further consequence 
 ensues, that tiie ordinary believei*, witliout tiiis process, cannot
 
 170 
 
 accejitaWj serve his Maker; and thus the Moslem may be led 
 to see the hopelessness of those who trust to the performance 
 of a covenant of works, the inadequacy of which is to be made 
 up by the uncovenanted mercy of the Creator. It is the uni- 
 versal custom of ISlosIems to pray for God's blessing on their 
 j)rophet, which is a strange inconsistency in those who believe 
 him to enjoy already the highest state of exaltation and blessing. 
 
 The Sheyahs add to this short creed, " Ali is the wall of 
 God," a temi equivalent to khalif; and some of them even 
 regard him as an incarnation of the Deity. Considering him 
 as the legitimate successor of the prophet, his three pi'ede- 
 cessors they condemn, and even curse. The Turkish con- 
 fession of faith, with a reference to this schism, adds to the 
 acknowledgment of the prophet, that whoever does not honour 
 all his companions is a schismatic. The Sonnites have never 
 been provoked to speak disrespectfully of Ali, but honour him 
 in the fourth degree. I introduce a passage from the Dabistan, 
 a Persian survey of religious sects, as it conveys the impartial 
 judgment of one who was neither Sonnite nor Sheyah, but a 
 philosophical professor of the religion of Zoroaster — 
 
 " Two learned men having a dispute concerning the supe- 
 riority of Ali the Elect (whose face may God honour !) over 
 the two Sheiks, Abubekr and Omar, and Othman, the lord of 
 the two lights, that is, husband of two daughters, of the pro- 
 phet (upon all of whom be the mercy of the Almighty !), 
 referred the dispute to Kaivan, who observed, 
 
 "All four are the four perfections of the prophetic edifice, 
 All four are the four elements of the prophet's soul." 
 
 The distinction between the two exalted parties is difficult, as 
 two of them claim supremacy on the celebrity of being fathers- 
 in-law to the Arab founder of their religion, and the other two 
 are fitted for dignity by being his sons-in-law. "But the excel- 
 lent Ali, the Lion of God, was esteemed so pre-eminent an 
 object of divine favour among the Moslems, that want of faith, 
 and ignorance, induced many to worship him as the true God, 
 until this great person openly disclaimed such a pretension.
 
 171 
 
 Also during the Khalifate of Abubekr, the faithful witness, of 
 Omar, the Separator, and of Othman, the lord of the two lights, 
 error misled many to such a degree that they denied their 
 authority, until these legitimate directors asserted their claims 
 to that dignity."* 
 
 To an impartial observer, this canonization, as it may be 
 called, of Ali is peculiarly absurd. We may allow him to 
 have been like the preceding khalifs, a sincere believer in the 
 mission of his father-in-law, and an honest supporter of the divine 
 Unity. But he laid no claim, any more than them, to inspi- 
 ration ; nor have even the most enthusiastic of his supporters, 
 though they say that Gabriel, by mistake, communicated the 
 Koran to Mohammed instead of to him, assigned to him any 
 revelation. His partisans declare that he was formally inaugu- 
 rated khalif by the prophet, but this is contradicted by history ; 
 and even allowing his right to the khalifat, which is very ques- 
 tionable, they should remember that he actually enjoj'cd it, 
 and that, when sovereign, he shewed himself in no respect 
 superior to his predecessors. Ijidoed his services were infe- 
 rior ; for the first two vastly extended the empire of Islam, and 
 the third brought the pretended revelation into a permanent 
 and readable form. The contention as to All's right is the more 
 ridiculous, since the kiialifat has been for centuries extinct, and 
 wiiatever prerogative the Turkish Sultan may claim is derived 
 from the Fatimite khalif of Egy[)t, his reputed descendant. 
 His long-postp)ned reign was inglorious and unfortunate, illus- 
 trating Tacitus' proverbial censure of Galba, that he would have 
 been deemed an excellent emperor if he had never reigned. 
 The lingering death of his son Hosein, who suffered in the 
 spirit of a martyr, is a tale, the animal commemoration of 
 which, by the Sheyahs, keeps u[) an enthusiastic interest in the 
 family, and, however often repeated, excites tJie symi)atliy even 
 of the Christian reader. His pious resignation and charity 
 reflect a glory upon his father, and also shed one uj)()n iiis 
 heirs, who led lives of innocent and austere devoti(jJi, enibit- 
 
 * Vol. 1. \>, 97.
 
 172 
 
 tered, and sometimes shortened, by the jealousy of the rela- 
 tives who occupied the throne to \Yhich they had an hereditary 
 claim. The head of Hosein is interred in a mosque ii\ Cairo, 
 and even in that land of Sonnites the anniversary of his death 
 is kept with great solemnity ; and throughout the Turkish domi- 
 nions the reputed descendants of Ali, a large body, who are 
 distinguished by green turbans, enjoy certain privileges, and 
 are distinguished by the respect which in other countries is 
 paid to nobility. 
 
 But not only is this unreasonable respect shewn to the 
 memory of the prophet, and of his family and successors, but 
 the many countries professing Islam abound in holy sheiks 
 and dervishes, whose sepulchres are visited, and whose prayers 
 are solicited, like those of the inferior deities of the Pagan 
 world, and of Roman Catholic saints. This illustrates the 
 unwillingness of unrenewed man to presume to approach the 
 awful Governor of the Universe, whose justice he fears too 
 much to regard him with reverential love, and his tendency to 
 seek his forgiveness and his support through other men more 
 worthy to be heard, yet who can put forth no claim to entitle 
 them to act as intercessors. Yet reason and conscience bear 
 witness to this feeling; and the Missionary might take advantage 
 of it, to shew, that neither heathen nor Moslem can draw nigh to 
 his Maker direct, but that he will be accepted and heard for 
 the sake of Him, who, in order to be a Mediator, has united 
 the nature of the two parties who were at variance, and can 
 alone make them at one, the man Christ Jesus. 
 
 Such is, I believe, a correct exposition of the dogmas and 
 positive duties of Islam, the system of him who repre- 
 sented himself as the restorer of the religion of Abraham, but 
 is more truly designated by Schlegel,* as the false Paraclete 
 of misconceived promise and idle phantasy, who announced 
 a faith without mysteries, and a morality without love. Pascal f 
 asks " What mystery did he reveal? what miracles did he 
 work?" To these queries his followers can give no satis- 
 
 * riiilosophy of Hiotoiy, Lecture XII. t Pensees II. xii. 7.
 
 173 
 
 factory reply. His teaching nothing which had not been 
 known to the Patriarchs is surely fatal to his claim of being 
 the last and greatest of inspired guides, the seal of prophecy. 
 Without ]\Ioses, the prophets, and Christ, Mohammed is in- 
 conceiveable ; without the Old and New Testament, or rather 
 the Talmud and the apocryphal gospels, the Koran could not 
 have been imagmed. Mohammed is described by the modern 
 German historian of the church as actuated by a zeal for the 
 honour of the one only God, whom the primitive traditions 
 still extant among his countrymen, and conversations with 
 Jews and Christians (strengthened, I may add, by his 
 own meditations), had taught him to recognise and adore. 
 A feeling of the infinite distance between the Creator and his 
 creatures, and of complete dependence upon Him, was the pre- 
 dominant element in his religious character, while that 
 of relationship and communion with this almighty and incom- 
 prehensible Being was wholly wanting. Hence, his one- 
 sided mode of apprehending the divine attributes, excludes 
 parental love, which ennobles every other quality; and if com- 
 passion was assumed to temper justice, it was only that of a sove- 
 reign to a slave, and did not harmonize with the prevailing 
 tone of his religion. This explains the predominant fatalism 
 of Islam; and as it is the moral character of the Diety whicli 
 determines the spirit of a religion, the whole system of Moham- 
 med, notwithstanding some sublime maxims scattered over the 
 Koran, because wanting a right foundation, is radically defective. 
 The God who is worsliipi)ed as an almighty and arbitrary Will 
 could be honoured by the performance of insulated outward ser- 
 vices, as the re])etition of prayers, and ablution, and pilgrim- 
 age, which he has seen fit to prescribe as marks of reverence, 
 and, especially, by the extermination of his enemies, tin- idola- 
 ters. Redemption finds no place in this scheme. The fall of the 
 first man occurs indeed in the Koran, but it is as an insvdated 
 fact, and connects itself so little with Ishim, that its onn'ssi(m 
 would not affect its essence or genius, for man appears in the 
 Koran as a frail and feeble being, unable to render |)erfect (»bc- 
 dience, but not as a sinner, whose nature requires to be renewed.
 
 174 
 
 ^loliammcd declared himself a messen^'er sent from God for 
 the restoration of pure Theism, by whom it was to be freed 
 from the foreign elements which had ])Ccome incorporated with 
 it, even in Judaism and Christianity. Still, his hostility 
 against the latter did not so much arise from the corruptions 
 which had debased it, as from his own abstract Monotheism, 
 which placed a chasm, never to be filled up, between God and 
 his creatures. From this point of view any mediatorial action 
 of God, for the purpose of bringing human nature into fellow- 
 ship wnth himself, must appear as derogatory from His dignity 
 and an approximation to idolatry. It was not merely a certain 
 speculative mode of apprehending the Trinity which offended 
 Mohammed, as savouring of Tritheism ; but it was the essential 
 element of Christianity, the divinity of Christ and His sacri- 
 fice of himself, to reconcile God to man and man to God, which 
 he could not receive. Still, a natural feeling of man's inability 
 to fulfil the law of God, even in the lower view of outward 
 obedience, in which it principally appeared to him, led him to 
 adopt the notion of intercession, though in his scheme of 
 Deism it could rest on no reasonable foundation.* 
 
 Mohammed could not have comprehended the first principles 
 of Christianity, for, with the Gnostics, he did not believe in its 
 fundamental doctrine, the crucifixion. Judging him, however, 
 independently, as we should judge of Zaleucus or Lycurgus, 
 we must allow him to have been a practical reformer. He 
 found his countrymen so infatuated with the passion of gaming, 
 as not only to risk the loss of all their property, but even 
 liberty: they were also addicted to hard drinking. But both to- 
 gether, with divination, are forbidden in the Koran V. 92, 53: 
 "O, true believers, surely wine, and lots, and images (sup- 
 posed by commentators to be chessmen), and divining 
 arrows, are an abomination of the work of Satan : therefore 
 avoid them, tliat you may prosper. Satan seeketh to sow dis- 
 sension and hatred among you, by means of wine and lots, and 
 
 * Neander, vol. V., p. 117, &c.
 
 175 
 
 to divert you from remembering God, and from prayer. "Will ye 
 not, tlierefore, abstain ?" In an earlier command (Koran ii. 216.) 
 he had left it doubtful : " They will ask thee concerning wine 
 and lots. Answer, In both there is great sin, and things of use 
 to men, but their sinfulness is greater." The discretion which 
 seemed granted in this passage is abrogated in the former. Adul- 
 tery and all illicit intercourse are forbidden : the number of 
 wives he restricted to four, and rendered divorce less easy. He 
 prohibited the practice of burying alive female infants, and hosti- 
 lities between different tribes, whom he tauo;ht to regard one 
 another as brethren. But if we extend our view beyond this 
 limited horizon, and estimate him as the author of anew religion, 
 which has been accepted by so many nations, whatever moral 
 improvement he may have effected among the Arabs sinks into 
 insignificance with the evils inflicted on more populous coun- 
 tries ; and we may pronounce him the scourge of God, raised 
 up to punish his professing people, who had so adulterated the 
 true faith with human corruptions, as to have impaired, if 
 not destroyed, its efficacy. More fully does he deserve the 
 title than an Attila, or any other military conqueror, whose 
 devastations, however calamitous, are but temporary ; whereas 
 Islam, from the truth admixed with it, and its plausibility, lays 
 hold of the mind of the idolater, and instead of being, as some 
 have hoped, the pioneer of Christianity, is its most formidable 
 opponent, not only by satisfying tliose who had grown ashamed 
 of polytheism, but by rejjresenting it as a more relined idolatry, 
 which commands the worship of three gods. We should also 
 remember that it was long before it came into contact with the 
 heathen, and that its first trinnii)hs were over the Christians in 
 Syria and Hgypt, and the religicm of Zoroaster in Persia, which 
 also acknowledges but one Deity. «At the outset of his 
 career Mohammed only claimed the office of an AflmoTn'sher, 
 jilaeinLT Judai'^m and Christianity on the same level with the re- 
 velation made to himself, and denoimcing as an intolerable ])re- 
 siunittion the maintaining: thattherc! is onlv one faith in which a 
 man can be saved. But when settled at Medina he first ( Koran 
 xxii.) pernn'ts his followers to defend themselves, then (lxi.)
 
 176 
 
 he commands them to defend the truth with their substance and 
 their persons ; and, finally, he represents aggressive war, to 
 enforce religion, as meritorious, promising to those who 
 fell as the reward of martyrdom— an innnediate entrance into 
 paradise. The conquered were invited to adopt Islam, but 
 were allowed to retain their ancient faith on the payment 
 of tribute ; but they have always been exposed to mortifying 
 and humiliating degradation. And many Christians have, no 
 doubt from worldly motives, professed the religion of their 
 masters ; while some, unable to read the Word of God, and 
 knowing Christianity only in a corrupt form, have preferred a 
 system which prominently brings forward the Deity as the 
 only object of worship, and appears more rational and more 
 spiritual than the superstition in which they have been 
 educated. 
 
 As contrasted with idolatry, Islam must appear to advantage ; 
 but, upon close inspection, it is not the pure Deism which it boasts 
 to be, for it is degraded by the Pagan ceremonies of the pil- 
 grimage, and an irrational alloy of Judaism ; for its sacrifices, 
 not being typical, are absurd. Mohammed professed to be 
 sent with a revelation to all mankind ; while the revelation 
 from Sinai was designed to keep Israel distinct from all nations, 
 till, in the fulness of time, its meaning should be explained by 
 the propitiatory death of the only Being who could take away 
 the sins of the world. The Jewish element of Islam is without 
 an object, for Mohammed could not see how the law was no 
 more than a schoolmaster, to bring the believer, when come to 
 years of discretion, to Christ. His religion, having no sacri- 
 fice, properly so called (for every Moslem ofters his own 
 victim), has no priesthood ; and having no commemoration of 
 a sacrifice, like Christianity, it does not know the distinction 
 of clergy and laity. This recommends it, as exempted from 
 superstition, and to those who, though baptized into the 
 Christian faith, have renounced or doubt its essential and 
 characteristic doctrines. But sacrifice was instituted, I 
 firmly believe, by God himself, when the fall of man 
 caused him, in infinite mercy, to substitute a remedial system
 
 177 
 
 for the broken covenant of works. It has been grossly abused, 
 not only by the heathen, who, while they retained it, had lost 
 the key to its meaning, but, unhappily, also by Christians : still 
 its very abuses shew that the doctrine is congenial to the human 
 mind. It is wonderful that Mohammed did not discover its 
 importance from the sacrifice of Abraham, whose religion ho 
 professed to restore ; but, failing to perceive its efficacy as a 
 trial of the patriarch's faith, and indicating a nobler victim, he has 
 left an immeasurable distance between man and God, whom a 
 sinful being does not dare to approach, and whom, at the best, 
 he views, not as a father, but as a merciful sovereign. A 
 thoughtful believer in a Supreme Being, his Creator, whom ho 
 expects to be, after his resurrection, his Judge, must, unless 
 assured of his reconciliation, fx*om a consciousness of his own 
 shortcomings, and even transgressions, feel uneasy respecting 
 his future destination. For he knows that he cannot satisfy 
 the claims of justice, and he can have no peace and joy in be- 
 lieving a system which holds out no reasonable assurance of 
 forgiveness. The intelligent and well-disposed Moslem, there- 
 fore, will thankfully embrace the Gospel, which, if clearly ex- 
 plained to him, he will allow completely justifies its appella- 
 tion, and he will say, as the early seeker after truth said to 
 the first inquirers into Islam, " What you seek, I have found." 
 In morality, also, the Koran I'csembles not the gospel, but the 
 pentateuch. The former teaches the spirit of ethics, leaving 
 the believer to work it into his practice. The latter keeps the 
 mind in tutelage by commanding specific acts. Precepts of 
 ritual observance, as Ilallam * observes, being always definite 
 and unequivocal, are less liable to be neglected, after their 
 obligation has been acknowledged, than those of moral virtue. 
 'J'hus, the long and rigid fast, the pilgrimage, regular prayers 
 and ablutions, the constant almsgiving find abstinence from 
 stimulating liquors, created a visible standard of practice, 
 and preserved a continual recollection of the Law. 
 
 I will conclude with a few observations on the tendency of 
 this religion. It has been charged from the beginning with 
 encouraging sensuality; and its success has been all but uni- 
 
 * Middle k%f%, V? . |) 1 15. 
 N
 
 178 
 
 versally ascribed to its removing the restraints which morality 
 imposes on tlie passions. It cannot be denied, that, thoiioli 
 Mohammed reduced to four the legal number of wives, and, in 
 other respects, limited the indulgence which, in the East, 
 has always been granted to those whose circumstances allow 
 them to gratify their desires, his own increasing licentiousness, 
 for which he claimed a special dispensation, may, as example 
 has more weight than precepts, justify this charge. The 
 Koran, moreover, it has been truly said, turns paradise into 
 a boundless harem ; and the minute accounts of its enjoyments 
 continually recurring, if they do not disgust, must increase the 
 sensual propensities of the reader. The consequences, how- 
 ever, that may be logically deduced from premises do not 
 always practically follow, and I should say that tliese reasoners 
 overlook another element in Islam, of counteracting influence, 
 the uncontrolled sovereignty of an omnipresent, almighty God, 
 to whom his creatures must return, and who expects them to 
 obey Him, and to be resigned to his will. Judging, as far as I 
 am able, of the Mohammedan character, as exhibited in its most 
 favoured specimens the result of the creed appears to me to be a 
 philosophical austerity, which is at least in danger of degenera- 
 ting into a satisfied self-righteousness. Gibbon* observes that 
 the legislator who enacts these painful restraints (that is, the 
 riffid fasts and the interdiction of whie) cannot be accused of 
 alluring his proselytes by the indulgence of their sensual 
 appetites ; and I am boi*ne out by the more weighty authority 
 of Ilallam, who observes, that a devout Moslem exhibits much 
 more of the stoical than of the epicurean character ; a stoic, I 
 may add, of more humility than that of the school of Zeno, who 
 boasts of being superior to Jupiter, since his excellence is not 
 from necessity, but choice, because his system is humanized by 
 his acknowledged dependence upon his Maker, Teacher, and 
 ultimate Judce. It must be allowed, with him, that no one can 
 read the Koran w ithout being sensible that it breathes an austere 
 and scrupulous spirit; and, in conclusion, I observe, that 
 its spirit seems to have been generally imbibed l^y those who 
 
 * Decline and Fall, chap. i-.
 
 179 
 
 acknowledge its authority, and that the praises of the Deity, 
 and injunctions of resignation to his will, which pervade their 
 conversation, apparently influence their conduct. It is, how- 
 ever, no more than resignation : there appears to be no peace 
 and joy in believing, at best a dutiful submission to the sove- 
 reign Disposer of events, no sign of that spirit of adoption which 
 cries " Abba, Father."' An eastern city has no exhibitions of 
 pamtings, no concerts, no di'amatical representations ; only 
 recitations of tales in prose and verse, in coffee-houses ; and 
 the prohibition of games of chance excludes cards and dice. 
 Wine can only be drunk in private, and strict casuists bring 
 coffee and tobacco under the same condemnation. These luxu- 
 ries were discovered centuries after the era of the Prophet ; 
 but the houses which were opened for the purpose of indulging 
 in them, have been shut up, from time to time, by the sove- 
 reigns of Constantinople, and only finally tolerated. And it 
 would appear, from Lane's full and minute account of Life at 
 Cairo, and from other authentic sources of information from 
 eastern travellers, that gravity, not dissipation, is, at least in 
 public, the characteristic of a Mohammedan nation. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR PROMOTING 
 
 THE 
 
 CONVERSION OF MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 THOUGn the whole human family be descended from one 
 parent, nations are distinguished from one another by a diver- 
 sity of religions. All, however, fall under two grand divi- 
 sions — that of those who have been left to discover the truth 
 by what is called the light of nature, that is, their own reason- 
 ing aided by traditions ; and those justly called in the Koran 
 " the people of the Book," because they alone claim the benefit 
 of a divine revelation. The first may acknowledge one Su- 
 preme Being; while they are worshippers of many false deities, 
 of like passions with themselves : but the creed of the latter, 
 that is, of the Jews and Christians, and the Moslems, who 
 acknowledge, the one true God, creator, preserver, and gover- 
 nor of the world, who will recal men from the grave to life, 
 and judge them according to their works, alone deserves 
 examination. 
 
 The three profess to have a volume revealing the will of God 
 for their guidance in this life, with a promise to his faithful 
 people, who believe and obey him, of a happy eternity. The 
 earliest is that of Moses ; the second that of the Christians; and 
 the faith of both was followed by Arab tribes long before the 
 birth of Mohammed, of the noble race of Koreish, the here- 
 ditary guardians of the temple of Mecca, and reputed descen- 
 dants of Abraham, through his son Ishmael, who declared 
 himself to be the last of the prophets, and destined to supersede 
 all other teachers of religion. 
 
 The Jew receives only the law announced to Moses by the 
 voice of God himself from Mount Sinai, and the other Hebrew 
 scriptures, because, though he expects a Messiah, whom God
 
 181 
 
 has promised lie would raise up out of his brethren, like unto 
 Moses, as a legislator, he does not, like the Christian, discover 
 him in Jesus ; and he rejects the Koran, because he needs no 
 new prophet. The Christian acknowledges the Jewish dispen- 
 sation, but only as preparatory to his own ; and, feeling com- 
 plete in Christ, as the Son of God as well as the Son of man, 
 and the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, he 
 needs no other guide ; and finds that ISIohammed, even if the 
 Koran were a divine revelation, has nothing to offer him which 
 he does not already most abundantly possess. 
 
 The Moslem believes that all the prophets, including 
 Moses and Jesus, came from God, and to the latter he con- 
 cedes pre-eminence over those avIio came before him ; but he 
 maintains that jNlohammed is the seal of the prophets, the 
 greatest as well as the last, and that the Koran abrogates both 
 Law and Gospel. Mohammed announced himself as the ambas- 
 sador of God to the red man and to the black, that is, to the 
 whole hiunan race ; and he and Christ alone claim the allegi- 
 ance of all, coming with a universal religion, and that religion 
 committed to the clear and unvarying record of writing. The 
 inquiring unbeliever, then, who is, with reason, dissatisfied with 
 the contradictory speculations of those who, from the unas- 
 sisted resources of their own intellect, set up as the guides of 
 their brethren, has to choose between Mohanmied and Christ; 
 for the introductory revelation, to Moses is only addressed to 
 Israel, and is avowedly preparatory to the doctrine of a su])e- 
 rior prophet, whom God would raise up, a descendant of their 
 own race. The Moslem is continually [»raying to the merciful 
 and compassionate; God, whom he calls Lord of all worlds and 
 king of the judgment-day, to guide him into the right path.* 
 And let us invoke the aid of our heavenly Father, wlio is 
 the hearer of prayer, to enable us to exhibit the truth in love, 
 and to bring it home to the understanding and heart of the 
 reader, and to shew that Christianity, and not Islam, was the 

 
 182 
 
 real faith of Abraham, wliom Moslems call fc_Ax)ls«-, hanif, 
 that is the orthodox, ^wA the Friend of God. Mohammed was 
 in the habit of retiring for meditation and prayer, from time to 
 time, to mount Harah, near Mecca ; and hei'e, in his fortieth 
 year, we are told that the angel Gabriel came to him and re- 
 vealed, for the first time, some verses of the Koran, which con- 
 tinued afterwards to be communicated to him as required, in 
 portions, at Mecca or Medina, until his death. His first converts 
 were his wife Kadijah, his slave Zaid, his youthful nephew, Ali, 
 whom ho called his friend and vizier j^Jj , or hearer of his burdens, 
 andhis first successor Abubekr. Three years were silently 
 employed in the conversion of proselytes, and it was not 
 till the fourth that he announced himself as a prophet, at a 
 party of forty of his kinsmen, whom he had invited to an 
 entertainment. Ali alone believed. He afterwards, as oppor- 
 tunity offered, at the festivals at the Caaba, and in private, 
 conjured the Arabs to reject their idols, and resign themselves 
 to the service of the only God, who had no companions. But 
 how should the idolaters of Mecca know that Gabriel had 
 really spoken to him ? Some proof might reasonably be 
 required, and we know no more than two, predictions, and 
 miracles. Now both are possessed by Christianity in the most 
 copious abundance. These predictions begin with the first 
 book of the Bible, and end with the last. The intimation of 
 a deliverer, one of her own descendants, made to Eve on the 
 fall, is, from its generality, obscure. But age after age the 
 ])rophecy is renewed, and becomes more and more particular. 
 Thus this descendant of Eve is promised to Abraham as his 
 seed ; is announced by Balaam, as a star out of Jacob and 
 a sceptre out of Israel ; and to David the king, as of his family. 
 The period of liis coming, obscurely foretold by the dying 
 Patriarch, was long afterwards, fixed by Daniel ; and Micah 
 declares his birth-place. His character, his miracles of mercy, 
 liis humiliation unto a disgraceful death as a satisfaction to the 
 justly offended Creator, whereby God, being reconciled to man, 
 could continue just, in justifying the ungodly, his resur- 
 rection on the third day aftfer his death, by which he was
 
 183 
 
 proclaimed to be the Son of God with power; his sitting 
 now at his Father's right hand, as the sole Mediator between 
 God and Man, and his future coming to judge mankind, are 
 foretold in the Old Testament, and their accomplishment, as 
 far as they have been fulfilled, may be read in the New. But 
 where are the predictions of ISIohammed ? 
 
 When a person comes as a messenger of God, and requires 
 obedience to his message, it is natural to ask for his credentials; 
 and the demand is so reasonable, that God has been always 
 pleased to grant it, by enabling his true messenger to work 
 miracles, that is, such acts as exceed the power of man, which 
 are therefore properly called signs, J^**- Tlie eminent 
 Arabian philosopher, U^i** ^^j\ Ebn Sina, thus shews the rea- 
 sonableness of this : 
 
 (__y*ljj^ yuLL^_ ^ (^j^\ ^.^ l1*.^J^^ 'ixO <)*0J>- iJ (J^. {^ 
 
 »jJ^ (^^.iJL^^ _jj^ iJVp^J *^="JJ V^J iJ^ '*^^ (J*^^ ^"^*^ 
 
 " It is necessary that a prophet should be found, and that he 
 should be a man; he should have special peculiarities which other 
 men have not, so that they shall acknowledge that there is in liim 
 what is not found in tlicni, :nid t1i;it l)y tin's he sliould be distin- 
 guished from them. And it is lit that this 111:111, when rdimd 
 working miracles, should give men a law to guide them, liy the 
 ])erniissi()n, command, and revelation of God most high, and by 
 the descent of the Holy Spirit on liiiii." Thus, when Moses 
 announced to Pharaoh the divine command concerning the 
 children of Israel, and that tyrant replied, " Who i.s the Lord, 
 that I should obey his voice, and let Israel go?'" he was 
 
 ExoduH V. '2.
 
 184 
 
 made to know, by a succession of niiracleS, that He spoke by 
 a higliei' authority than that of man, and the declaration of 
 Jehovah was fulfilled, " / will stretch out my hand and smite 
 Egypt with all my wonders, ivhich I will do in the midst 
 thereof, and after that he will let you go. (Exodus iii. 20.) 
 ^nd then God said, I will multiply my signs and wonders in 
 the land of Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the 
 Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring 
 out the children of Israel from among them^ Our Saviour, 
 too, justified his claim to be Messiah by miracles, and He 
 worked not, like Moses, as the agent of God, but by his own 
 inherent capability, which he also gave in measure to his 
 apostles after his resurrection, when he had received from 
 his Father all power in heaven and in earth. Jesus ap- 
 peals to these signs, as rendering those who did not receive 
 him inexcusable. "7/ / do not the works of my Father, 
 be'ieoe me not; but if I do, if ye believe not me, believe the ivorks, 
 that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in 
 him." (John x. 37.) " The works that I do in my Father s 
 name, they bear zcitness of me." (John x. 25) " Jf I had not 
 done among them the works which none other man did, they 
 had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." (John 
 XV. 23.) Indeed, this reasoning is so just, that it occurs to all 
 men ; and we find that, in the Koran, the miracles both of 
 Moses and of Jesus are allowed to be true. Thus, for example, 
 of the first: 
 
 " And Moses said, O Pharaoh, certainly I am a messenger 
 from the Lord of the worlds. It is right for me not to speak 
 of God other than the truth. Certainly I am come to you with 
 evidence from your Lord. Connnand, therefore, to go with 
 me the children of Israel. He said. If you have come with a 
 sign, produce it, if you are one of those who are true. Then 
 he threw down his rod, and, lo, it was a manifest serpent ; and 
 he drew forth his hand, and, lo, it was white to the spec- 
 tators." (Chapter Cii. 102.) 
 
 ^ .^ Jf^ ^ •' i J- .»
 
 185 
 
 
 fy^ ^ 'i^ ''^^ ^ ( ^ O f 
 
 CJj^ ^J^ \^, 0\i Job C^ C^'^{ ^^ J\5 ^\j^\ ^ ^^ 
 
 Those of the second are also specified. Tlius, in tlie third 
 chapter, v. 14, " when the angels said, O Mary, God certainly 
 has sent thee good tidings of his word from Plim. His name is 
 the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, honoured in the present 
 and in the future world, and one of those who are near to God. 
 And he shall speak in the cradle, and in advanced life, and 
 shall be one of the riirhteous. 
 
 ^. ,1T(J(II1S 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ h- \ ^ -^ h 
 
 " And he sliall say to the children of Israel, Certainly I come 
 to you with miracles from your Lord. I will create unto you 
 of the clay as the figure of a bird, and I will breathe into it, 
 and it shall become a bird, by the permission of God. And I 
 will cure him that hath been born Ijliiul, and the leper, and I 
 will raise the dead, by the i)ermission of God. Verily, herein 
 will be a sign to you, if you believe." 
 
 'ilx^ ^j^\ ^ S-) J^\ j,\ Joj ^ iob ,Sil>- Si ^\ 
 
 ^_^ j*i)\j ■i^^=^^!^\ i^o\j jJ3\ ^Sj> \j^ ^/jJ wi JiAi jAaii\
 
 186 
 
 And in the chapter, called '»X^^\ The Table : " O Jesus, 
 Son of INIaiy, remember my favours, and when I defended 
 thee from the children of Israel, when thou camest to them 
 with evident miracles ; and those among them who were un- 
 believers said, ' This is nothing but evident magic' " 
 
 
 Thus we see that the miracles of Christ are allowed by the 
 Koran, yet in bearing testimony to them it betrays the igno- 
 rance of the author, and therefore its human origin ; for it 
 not only specifies his curing bodily defects, diseases, and re- 
 storing the dead to life, but the absurd wonders of speaking 
 in his infancy, and making a bird, childish displays of power 
 for its own sake, confounding the former, contained in the four 
 genuine Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with 
 those in the false ones, written long after, and never accepted 
 by any branch of the church, in the East or in the West, The 
 confirmation of the mission of Moses and Jesus by miracles 
 was a fact well known to the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina ; 
 for though they were pagans, many of the Arabs had been con- 
 verted both to Judaism and to Christianity ; and there were 
 tribes in Mohammed's time who acknowledged, some Jewisli, 
 and others Christian sovereigns. Tliey reasonably required 
 of him the same evidence, and this we learn from the Koran, 
 which introduces them continually speaking to this effect. 
 (V. Sur.) : " We will not believe until you bring us what has 
 been granted to the messengers of God." 
 
 $. ) ^ ^^^ S-9 -^ u, ^ ^9 O. 
 
 Thus, in chapter xvii.,^^ Night Journey : 
 
 " And they say, ' We will by no means believe in tliee until 
 thou cause a spring of water to gush forth for us out of the
 
 187 
 
 earth ; or thou hast a garden of palms and vines, and thou 
 causest rivers to spring fortli from its midst abundantly ; or 
 thou causest the heaven to fall down upon us in pieces, as thou 
 hast boasted ; or thou bring down God and the angels to vouch 
 for thee ; or thou have a house of gold ; or thou ascendest by 
 a ladder to heaven.' " 
 
 \j^ ^^y^ ;^^^ j^ ^-^^ ^ ^. -i^ i^ p 
 
 •> •• ^ y y 
 
 And again, in chapter xxi., ^^^ The Prophets : 
 " And they who act unjustly discourse privately together, 
 saying, ' Is this person any more than a man like yourselves ? 
 Will yc, therefore, come to hear a piece of forgery when you 
 plainly perceive it to be such? But they say the Koran is a 
 confused heap of dreams, nay, he has forged it, nay, he is a 
 poet. Let him come unto us, therefure,with some miracle, in 
 like manner as the former prophets were sent.' " 
 
 ^:;^-si\ ^^=^ jL:> ^^ "^'si. > \^^ ^.aJ\ ^^^ \^j^\^ 
 
 There are many Mohammedan theologians wJio will accept 
 the challenge of their ])rophets incredulous contemi^oraries, 
 both Jews and idolaters, and furnish an abundance of mar- 
 vellous stories concerning him ; some of them going so far as 
 to say that liis miracles exceed in luimbfr those of any pre-
 
 188 
 
 ceding prophet, and reckoning a thousand, and others even 
 three thousand. Among them are the cure of diseases, and 
 restoration to life ; but these, which, if true, and confirmed by 
 contemporary evidence, might be justly called signs, are few 
 indeed in comparison of those of a frivolous and legendary 
 character, such as shew the reporters to be credulous lovers of 
 the marvellous, and to have had no just conceptions of the nature 
 of this species of evidence. " They affirm that trees went forth 
 to meet him, that he was saluted by stones, that water gushed 
 from his fingers, that a beam groaned to him, that a camel 
 complained to him, and that a shoulder of mutton informed 
 him of its being poisoned."* 
 
 Two of these they endeavour to support from the Koran — 
 his night-journey to the throne of God, and his splitting of the 
 moon. They tell us that a mysterious animal called Borak, 
 yj\>> fi'om ^j> lightning, conveyed him one night from the 
 temple of Mecca to that of Jerusalem, which they forget had 
 been destroyed centuries before by the Romans. With 
 Gabriel he is said successively to have ascended the seven 
 heavens, and received the salutation of patriarchs, prophets, 
 and angels, in their respective mansions, and that he alone 
 was permitted to proceed beyond, within two bow-shots of the 
 throne, when he felt a cold pierce him to the heart on his 
 shoulder being touched by the hand of God. After an im- 
 portant conversation, it is related that he descended to Jeru- 
 salem, remounted Borak, and returned to Mecca, having 
 performed, in a tenth part of a night, this prodigious journey, 
 a real one in the opinion of most of the Moslems, but re- 
 garded by the more judicious as a vision. It is recorded, 
 with variations, and appears in the Sonnah, on the authority 
 of some of liis companions. But who can vouch for them who 
 could only derive their knowledge of it from the reputed 
 traveller? If we turn to the Korfui, xvii. 1, we shall be sur- 
 prised at the inventive power of traditionists, for the text upon 
 which such minute commentaries have been raised contains 
 only this sentence : 
 
 * Gibbon, ch. l.
 
 189 
 
 o^^'t ^ ^^ ^ ^^^rf ^ = c^ c^ --o $ g^ ^ ^i. s 
 ^^ J\ ^Ui-^ .^^^ ^ '^ iSi^ Lfj^\ ij^\ ^V^r 
 
 -'' ^--■' ^ ^ -^ ^ ^ " ^ .. 
 
 " Praise be to Him who transported liis servant by night 
 from the sacred mosque to the most distant mosque, the circuit 
 of which we have blessed, that we might shew him some of 
 our signs, for God is he who heareth and seeth." 
 
 The other legend, for which they endeavour to obtain the 
 authority of the Koran, is the mode in which their apostle 
 confounded, in a national assembly, the malicious challenge of 
 the Korosh. His resistless word, according to the tradition, 
 s[)lit asunder the orb of the moon, which, descending from her 
 station in the sky, accomplished the seven revolutions round 
 the Caaba, saluted Mohammed, and, suddenly contracting her 
 dimensions, entered at the collar of his shirt, and issued forth 
 through the sleeve. The whole is built upon this simple pas- 
 sage, the commencement of chapter Liv. 
 
 \»J yi)j Vo*^- ^-^ ^J^- (j!^ '' ^r^'^ ij""^S ii5-l-Jl CL^jin^ • 
 
 " The hour approacheth, and the moon hath been split 
 asunder; but if they sec a sign, they turn aside, saying, * This 
 is a powerful charm.' " 
 
 The past tense is here supposed by many to have a futuro 
 sense, and this sjjlitting is regarded as one of the promised 
 signs of the day of judgment. 
 
 We have ln-re specimens how the fertile iiiingination of 
 admiring Moslems complete the ])icture, of which, at the l)est, 
 the original gives but the sligiitest outline ; and if any one 
 would oidy cursorily examine the works on the Koran of 
 lieidhawi, and their other adnjired commentators, they will 
 find that they continually forget their proper province of 
 explaining, and introduce into narratives, which are rather 
 liinted than told, new circumstances, without stating any 
 authority for them. Every person, who has any notion of
 
 190 
 
 evidence, must perceive that such assertions are worth no- 
 tliiiig, and, indeed, most of the miracles ascribed to Mohammed 
 are only found in very late authors. And here it becomes im- 
 portant to state, that, in all the religions of the people of a Book, 
 as tlie Mohammedans call all who profess to have a divine reve- 
 lation, the Book should be considered as the sole authority. It 
 is, however, a melancholy fact, that, for want of attending to this 
 plain and simple rule, Jews, Christians, and Moslems have 
 worked out systems of religion, with a multitude of ceremonies 
 unknown to Moses, Christ, and, Mohammed, and in many in- 
 stances, contrary to the genius of their respective systems. To 
 begin with the Jews. Jesus told those of his generation, not 
 merely that they added human inventions to the divine oracles, 
 but even rendered the latter of none effect thi'ough their tradi- 
 tions; and He shews how their casuists ingeniously contrived to 
 evade the fifth commandment, which requires children to honour, 
 and, if necessary, maintain their parents, not even by giving to 
 God's service what ought to be expended in this obvious duty, 
 but by merely declaring such to be their intention. In his 
 age these traditions were only oral ; but after the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, for fear of their being lost, they were 
 committed to writing, and fill many volumes far larger 
 than the Law and the Prophets, to the study of which 
 their Rabbis devote their lives, to the comparative neglect of 
 the Scriptures, and shew their estimation of the two, by 
 likening the latter to water, the former to wine. Again, the 
 Christians, though they have no such written collections, but 
 must gather their traditions out of Councils and the writings 
 of the Fathers, as they call all early ecclesiastical writers, 
 have strangely corrupted the simplicity of Gospel faith. The 
 reader of ecclesiastical history knows that this corru])tion early 
 began, and, when tlie Roman emperors embraced the faith, grew 
 worse and worse ; so that Mohammed, who probably never 
 read tlie New Testament, and knew only Cin-istiaiiity as it 
 prevailed in Syria and his own Ambia, might well j'c^gard it as 
 little better than the idolatry of his countrymen. This the 
 Koran itself shews ; and we, to whom the Bible is open, and 
 wlio have rejected the hay and stubble which the Roman Ca-
 
 191 
 
 tholics and the Eastern Christians have built upon the true 
 foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ, believe that God raised him 
 up as a scourge to punish these corrupters of the faith, and to 
 deprive them, as a judgment, of the light, against which they 
 shut their eyes, preferring darkness. In a wonderfully short 
 period the armies of the first khalifs overrun and occupied 
 the eastern provinces of the Roman empire, and at length 
 Constantinople, the capital, became the seat of a Mohammedan 
 power. The people generally embraced the simple creed of 
 their conquerors, which their descendants continue to profess ; 
 while those who retain the relio;ion of their fathers use litur- 
 gies in their ancient languages, which few, even of their priests, 
 understand, and, not readhig their scriptures, know little of 
 real Christianity. 
 
 The ^loslems, too, have their traditions, which the majority 
 of them, like the Jews and Christians, value at least as much 
 as their Book. Their most approved doctors, as we have seen, 
 agree that the edifice of Islam rests upon the Koran, and upon 
 the Sonnah, or Tradition ; that is, as they maintain, the Word 
 of God, as communicated to the Prophet, and the report, on 
 credible witnesses, of his sayings and doings, which are pre- 
 sented to mankind as a model of conduct. 
 
 It is in these traditions that we read the minute particulars 
 of the Prophet's night journey to heaven, and of the miracles 
 a.scril)ed to him. liokhari is careful to notice the names of all 
 those through whom a tradition has been transmitted ; anil 
 most of these are ultimately traced up to Abu Ilorira, a frien.l 
 of Molianuned, or to his favourite wife, Ayeslia. IJut who can 
 prove this succession, and what reliance may be placed ui»()ii 
 any of them? Many may be true, l)ut they sometimes favour 
 doctrines contrary to the genius of the Koran, and positively 
 contradict it, when they ascribe miracles to the Proplu't. We 
 read in tiie Koran that both the Jews and the pagan Arabs 
 rcfpiired a sign from him as evidence of liis mission from (i(»d. 
 Tlie Jews said, " God has made a covenant with us that we 
 slioidd not believe any messenger till in- liring us a sacrifice 
 wliicli the fire shall constnne. Answer, " These messengers
 
 192 
 
 came to you before me, with demonstrations and with that 
 which ye require, (sacrifice), and why did ye kill them, if ye 
 be true ? " 
 
 (K. III. 18.) The Arabs making the same demand, he is 
 instructed to reply (xvii. 93) " Praise be to my Lord, I 
 am only a man, a messenger." 
 
 9 '' iS^^ C f '-^ >, 
 
 And in the Xiii. chapter 34 it is said, " This thing belongs 
 exclusively to God. Do not believers know, that if God were 
 willing He would guide all men?" 
 
 And he even declares that miracles were withheld from him 
 in mercy, lest the condemnation of those not convinced by 
 them should be greater. "Nothing prevented our sending 
 thee with the miracles which the people of Mecca desired, 
 except that the former, to whom we sent, treated them as false, 
 and we destroyed them." (xvii.) 
 
 One miracle, however, he has the confidence boldly to claim, 
 and one which the Moslem maintain to be superior in its evi- 
 dence to every other, namely, the very book itself, which he 
 appeals to as the credentials of his embassy. " This Koran 
 could not have been composed by any except God. Will they 
 say Moliammed has forged it ? Answer. Bring, therefore, a
 
 193 
 
 chapter like unto it, and call whom ye may to your assistance, 
 besides God." (38.) 
 
 And again (ii. xxi.), "And if ye are in doubt concerning 
 the revelation which we have sent down to our servant, pro- 
 duce a chapter like unto it, and call upon your witnesses, 
 besides God, if ye speak truth." 
 
 And not only does he so challenge them, but all intellectual 
 beings .(xvii. 90.) : " Say, verily, if men and genii were 
 purposely assembled that they might produce the like of 
 this Koran they could not, although they assisted one another." 
 
 1^^ L>aAA3 *4wajO (o^ 9^5 *^ lljyV. 
 
 The Moslems, in their discussions with Christians, con- 
 tinually endeavour to silence us with this miracle, which they 
 represent, from its permanence, as far surpassing all others, 
 which, from their nature, terminate in their performance, and 
 by a future age can only be received on testimony ; whereas 
 this 13 called a standing and never-ending miracle, by Jelalaldin 
 in his commentary : 
 
 and Algazali magnifies it by saying that such a miracle was 
 peculiar to Mohammed, and that " God granted it to an 
 uneducated man, who had never exercised himself in knowledge, 
 and never studied books or travelled in order to actjuire know- 
 ledge, but had always lived among the most ignorant of the 
 Arabs, an orphan, weak, and ncglorted." 
 
 o
 
 194 
 
 
 And we may add, that he had no access, except by conversation, 
 to the knowledge of others, for he could neither read nor write ; 
 but in those days of ignorance, as these are called, this Avas no 
 disgrace, since he shared it, generally speaking, with his fellow- 
 citizens at Mecca, who were called ignorant, [j^^'^\ in oppo- 
 sition to the Jews and Christians of Medina, who were termed 
 people of the book, l^\^\ (Jfci. This notion of the unrivalled 
 superiority of the Koran is, as a literary work, general among 
 IMoslems ; yet it has not been universal, for among the sect of 
 (JrU Motazeleitcs, j^ii^^ O*"^ ^^^^ Almerdar maintained the 
 possibility of writing a more eloquent Avork ; and Sharastani 
 tells us, in his account of religious and philosophical sects, 
 
 ,3^ J ij^ 5 which has been translated into German, that the 
 
 miracle, according to Alnadham (*lla-3^), consisted, not in the 
 style, but in the matter. It is not for me, an European, im- 
 perfectly acquainted with the language, to oppose the general 
 opinion, though I may think that the genius of Arabic, and 
 its copiousness, has been far more fully exhibited by Hariri 
 in his Discourses, C-Jl/c'iU Makamat, or in the works of Ebn 
 Arabshal ; and I believe that it was not the mere diction, but 
 the morality, superior to that then prevalent in Arabia— the 
 narratives of Abraham, and Jesus, and Moses, and others, 
 interesting, though inferior to tlie true history in the Bible — 
 and, above all, the sublime descriptions of the Deity inter- 
 spersed, that produced so gi-eat an impression. The wonder, 
 too, increased with each successive age while literature flou- 
 rished. But, on the other hand, the impartial will consider 
 that the Koran was from the first regarded as a model of 
 ornamental prose composition ; and this principle once esta- 
 blished, none would vcntiu'c to deviate from it, or, if they 
 did, would find few adnn'rers. The Arabs of those times.
 
 195 
 
 we know, had no other literatui'e than their heroic songs, 
 in the composition of which, no less than in feats of arms, 
 their tribes contended; and certainly the confession of Lebid, 
 one of the most eminent of these, who preferred a chapter 
 to his own poem, and became a zealous convert, goes far 
 to establisli the superiority of the Koran. It is only fair 
 to add, on the other side, that this is a miracle only to compe- 
 tent judges, and they are a very limited number; for we must 
 exclude not only the many foreign nations who have been con- 
 verted, as the Turks and Persians, but even those whose 
 native tongue is Arabic if uneducated. 
 
 Mohammed disclaiming, as we see, the gift of miracles, ap- 
 peals to prophecy, and takes to himself the office of the pro- 
 mised monitor and advocate, which, it is remarkable, had 
 been previously assigned first to Montanus, and afterwards 
 to Manes; but in both cases, even if interpreted only as 
 endowed with a fuller measure of the Holy Spirit, positively 
 contradicted by the context. According to the Koran (Ixi. 6.) 
 
 yjCiXi e/* c5^^- ^y**J'- Ir**"*!*-? '*1j^^^ <^ s?*^. (J*? ^••^ ViJ.x^/« 
 
 9^<^% ! 9 -" 
 
 Jesus, the Son of Mary, said. Verily, ye children of Israel, I 
 iiiii the apostle of God, confirming the law whicli was l)cfore 
 me, and bringing good tidings of an apostle who is to come 
 after me, wiiose name shall be Ahmed."* But our Lord's 
 words, as recorded by St. .John, shew that they caimot apply 
 to any subsequent ]iro])hct. "Nevertheless, I tell yon the 
 truth: it is expedient for you that I go away, for il' I 
 go not away the Comforter will not come unto you ; but 
 if I depart, 1 will send Ilim unto you," xvi. 7. This inter- 
 pretation can only be supported by reading 7rcpiK\vTo<; for 
 7rapaK\rjTo<;, a rhange which woidd seem inconsiderable to one 
 
 * This word is rlf-rivt-d from the name root m Mohnmnicd, and is nearly 
 cq»ivi)li'nl in nicinin.'. 
 
 o 2
 
 196 
 
 accustomed to a language in which vowels were not inserted. 
 The text is thus explained by a Mohammedan defender of Islam : 
 
 J^fc'vlb Ui^^\ \^^y\\ j^ sj^ j\ ^^j ^^ 3^ kjAijUJl j_^ 
 ^y^. The meaning of Paraclete is " praise or praiser," or 
 "praiser or glorifier," and these qualities were manifest in Mo- 
 hammed. Having made this mistake, he renders the word by 
 uj\ (glorifier), instead o^ ^•^\ (consoler). A person of any 
 candour, who reads the whole discourse, must perceive that 
 the context upsets the verbal criticism. This Comforter could 
 not be Mohammed, for how could a man, not born till six 
 centuries later, comfort these disciples, and bring things to 
 their remembrance. Certainly he coidd be no man, for Jesus 
 expressly said that the world cannot see Him, and that He 
 shall dwell in them : and we read, in the opening of the Book 
 of Acts, that our Lord having, after his resurrection, assembled 
 the eleven apostles, commanded them not to depart from Jeru- 
 salem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he 
 says, " ye have heard from me ; for John truly baptized with 
 water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many 
 days hence ;" and when the Jewish feast of Pentecost was come, 
 only ten days after, we read that they were all, with one ac- 
 cord, in one place, and were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 
 and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance. It was also the office of this Comforter and Advo- 
 cate, not to make any new revelation, but to glorify Jesus — to 
 take of his doctrines, and to shew and to explain them to his 
 apostles. It is manifest, then, that the prophecy was fulfilled 
 in that generation, and by the miraculous power the Holy 
 S]»irit conferred on the first teachers of Chi-istianity. 
 
 Both Jews and Cliristians might reasonably reply that he had 
 altered the received text; tliat the Messiah had been from the 
 beginning, through a succession of ages, the grand object of 
 [)rophecy ; and that, if the Almighty had determined to reveal 
 his will throufj-h another messenger, he who assumed that cha- 
 rac-,ter should be able to bring forward from the ancient 
 Scriptures some clear and manifest prediction. He en-
 
 197 
 
 deavours to escape from this dilemma by boldly maintaining 
 that there had been this evidence, but that it had been sup- 
 pressed, and he charges the Jews of Mecca with this guilt. 
 But in meeting this popular objection he unconsciously 
 injures his own cause ; for if the Scriptures have been cor- 
 rupted, they cannot, as he affirms they do, confirm his own 
 revelation. "We believe," he says, (xxix. 51.) "in that 
 which has been sent down to us, and in that which has been 
 sent down to you, and our God and your God is one." 
 
 "1 * *| '>'^^ *' - ^ .>■ 
 He also maintains, that as the Gospel confirmed the previous 
 revelation to Moses, so it does the subsequent one made to 
 himself. It would seem, therefore, that he limited his charge 
 of corrupting the Scriptures to the suppression of predictions 
 of himself and his mission ; his followers, however, reject 
 the whole as spurious. Nevertheless, they are ready to 
 except from this condemnation any passages which they 
 think can be made to tell in their favour. The following 
 were cited by their early controversialists, and are con- 
 tinually repeated : they need only to be stated, to shew how 
 vain is the attempt. The first is the commencement of the 
 hymn in which Moses blesses the children of Israel (Dcut. 
 xxxiii.): " God came from Sinai, and rose %ip from Seer js\u» 
 unto Ihcni. lie sinned from Mount Faran, and lie came tvitk 
 ten thousand of liolij ones: from his rujht hand ivent forth for 
 them a fiery law.^ The context shews a reference to a single 
 event, namely, the promulgation of the law ; and these three 
 mountains must have been peaks of the same chain. Hut 
 Moslem divines, without any attempt at reasoning, assume that 
 the three disj)ensations are figuratively represented by these 
 mountains; the first, of ccmrse, the Jewish; the second the 
 Christian; and the third the Mohaimiiedan, because tlu're is 
 a mount I'aran near Mecca. Jiut to establish their inter- 
 pretation they are foi'ced to assume that Sair is a mountain in 
 Galilee, an assertion in which they derive no assistance from 
 geography. The second passage is from the fiftieth Pbalui,
 
 198 
 
 and, we may add, is still more forced, for it is absvird to sup- 
 pose, because the Prophet's name is the past participle of the 
 verb " to praise," therefore it, and like derivations from this 
 root, must, wherever they occur, refer to him. 
 
 ** God shewed from Sion a praised crown." 
 This is, indeed, the sense of the Syriac version, yet it is not 
 so rendered in the Arabic ; and the idea of praise is not found 
 in the original, which is rendered, " Out of Sion the per- 
 fection of beauty hath God appeared." 
 
 Of the two credentials which are justly required of a divine 
 mission, miracles and predictions, Mohammed, by his OAvn con- 
 fession, did not possess the first, and we have shewn that he 
 can establish no claim to the second ; and as he was not the 
 subject of prophecy, so he was not himself, like Jesus, or 
 even Moses, endowed with that gift. His assumed revela- 
 tion, made to a mere man, must rest on its intrinsic excellence. 
 Christ, on the contrary, has been, from the first to the last 
 book of the Hebrew Scriptures, the grand theme of prophecy, 
 and that with a such specification of his character, his work, 
 and the minute particulars of his death, as can apply to no 
 other person. The Koran allows that He came with manifest 
 signs, and enumerates among them the curing the sick and 
 raising the dead, while it declares Mohammed to be but a mere 
 man raised up to be an admonisher of his brethren. Jesus is 
 indeed represented as a creature who claims to be no more than 
 the servant of God, yet he is announced as not like other sons 
 of men, but (iv.) as the Word of God conveyed into Mary, 
 and a spirit proceeding from Him ; and his being always called 
 the Son of Mary, intimates that he had no father. Beidhan 
 says he is therefore the Word, because created by the word 
 spoken ; but Gazali, n his Confession, uses language not un- 
 like that of the Greek Fathers, speaking of it as eternal, sub- 
 sisting in God's essence, <o^ o^ ^_^|j\, and unlike the speech 
 of his creatures, which is spoken by the tongue and committed 
 to writing. Mohammed, the Traditions tell us, to qualify
 
 199 
 
 him for his office, liacl his body opened and his soul waslicd 
 from the stain of Adam's guilt. But Jesus is declared to have 
 been conceived and born without sin. His crucifixion is 
 denied, but his exaltation to heaven is affirmed ; but he is to come 
 again at the close of the dispensation, not, as we believe, in glorious 
 majesty to judge both quick and dead, but to destroy Antichrist, 
 and to prepare the way for the return of the Arabian Prophet. 
 The message, it is reasonable to suppose, is proportioned to the 
 dignity of the messenger, and so argues the author of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, who, beginning with declaring that God, 
 who spoke in times of old through the Prophets, has in these 
 last days spoken through his Son, goes on to say, ^^ Therefore 
 we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things ichich tve 
 have heard, lest at any time tve should let them slip, for how 
 shall tve escape if ive neglect so great salvation. The conclu- 
 sion is of course denied by Mohammed, for the admission of it 
 would be fatal to him, for he })rofesses to come with no 
 new revelation, only with a revival of the religion of Abra- 
 liam. Even this we deny ; for we maintain tliat the 
 religion of the Father of the faithful was not mere Deism, 
 but belief in the jiromise of salvation through the future sacri- 
 fice of the Son of God, and that he njolced when he saw it 
 typically exhibited to him in the substitution of the ram Ibr 
 Ills own son. The Koran demands obedience to the command- 
 ments of God as the condition of salvation, but these command- 
 ments are not represented, to use the Psalmist's language, as 
 exceeding broad : they have neither the strictness of the Mosaic 
 law, nor the perfection of Christian ethics; and the forgive- 
 ness of the shortcomings of the Moslems, by the mercy of God, 
 as no other grounds for forgiveness are assigned than his 
 goodwill, makes him (as all systems but the Christian nnist) 
 the minister of sin. Mohammed could never have read the 
 Scriptures, for he speaks of them as if they had been sent 
 down from heaven, as the Koriin [)rofesses to be; and lie even 
 speaks of books which have never existed, as in this passage — 
 " Say we believe in God, and in that which has been sent down to 
 us, and in that which came down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac,
 
 200 
 
 and Jacob, and the tribes of Israel, and that which came to 
 Moses, and Jesus, and the Prophets, from their Lord, and 
 make no difterence between them." His gross ignorance both 
 of the Law and of Christianity could not have been imagined 
 except on his own shewing, for he speaks of them as codes, 
 as if the former was not intermixed with the history of the 
 Israelites, and that there was not one, but four gospels ; none 
 of which could have been sent down to Jesus, since they are 
 narratives of his life and death, and resurrection and ascension, 
 and must have been written after those events. The Epistles 
 seem not to have been known to him, even by name, and he is 
 evidently ignorant of their contents, and of the very essence 
 of Christianity, for he adopts the absurd notion of the Gnostics, 
 that Jesus was taken up alive into heaven, while another was 
 crucified in his stead ; thus acknowledging that the doctrine 
 of the Cross was to him not the power or wisdom of God, but 
 foolishness, as it was to the Jew and the idolater. 
 
 Notwithstanding the guesses which have been repeated from 
 age to age of the assistance of Christians in the composition 
 of the Koran, the book itself seems to shew that all his know- 
 ledge of facts was derived from Jewish traditions and apocry- 
 phal gospels. Thus, by additions and alterations he has 
 deprived the interesting history of Joseph of the attraction 
 which it possesses in the Bible narrative, without in any degree 
 strengthening his own cause, and, instead of enlarging on the 
 genuine mii-acles of our Lord, he specifies his speaking in the 
 cradle, and his making sparrows out of clay, and giving them 
 life. Such miracles we may read in apocryphal gospels still 
 preserved, and many of his variations from the Old-Testament 
 history may be traced to Jewish authorities. The remainder, 
 we may therefore presume, were derived from the same source, 
 and believed by himself to be true. And now, if the Jewish 
 and Christian narratives in the Scripture be true, the contra- 
 dictory statements in the Koran must be false, and consequently 
 that book cannot have been a divine revelation. 
 
 Our Saviour condemned his own generation for misinter- 
 preting the Scriptures, but he never said that they had corrupted
 
 201 
 
 them. St. Paul observes that it was their glory that to them 
 were committed the oracles of God, and we have reason to believe 
 that they were faithful to their trust. Their reverence, indeed, 
 in every age, for the integrity of the text, has been unexampled, 
 and to it we owe the wonderful conformity to one another of the 
 Hebrew manuscripts that have been collated. There is no reason 
 to suppose that the Jews of Arabia were an exception; and, even 
 if disposed to alter their copies, their fraud would have been of 
 no avail without the co-operation of the Christians, who, by their 
 spiritual birth, had inherited their Scriptures, agreeing in the 
 text, while they differed in their interpretation of it. The limited 
 vision of the Arabian Prophet did not extend beyond the narrow 
 circle in which he moved, and it never occurred to him that the 
 Jews were found in all the principal cities of the Roman empire, 
 which, long before his time, had embraced the Christian faith ; 
 and that those two bodies, jealous of each other, offered the 
 best guarantee for the integrity of the ancient Scriptures. 
 The Jews still carefully preserve their prophecies of the Mes- 
 siah, thougli they caimot fail to be embarrassed by tlieir 
 apj)lication to Jesus, which in some instances they can only 
 evade by the fanciful invention of two Messiahs, one to suffer, 
 and the other to reign, and to be born in different tribes. 
 Surely if they have not yielded to the temi)tation of altering 
 some of these, it cainiot be su[)posed that they would blot out 
 the predictions of another Prophet. The modei'n Mohannne- 
 dans, who repeat this objection, ought to be able to shew us some 
 copies that bear out this assertion, and, if candid, they would 
 allow that the objection is untenable. It should be exphiiiied 
 to them that it is a fact, of which, as controversialists, they 
 ouglit not to be ignorant, that the Scriptures have from the 
 beginning been read out in considerable portions in the re- 
 spective religious assemblies of Jews and Christians ; that copies 
 must have been soon nuiltiidied ; that they have been quoted 
 as Scrijiture by a long series of authors, beginning with those 
 who had known the first successors of the apostles; that they 
 had been translated info the Latin and Syriac jirobably before 
 the end of the first century ; and that in no controversy did
 
 202 
 
 either party bring forth in its support a text which was not 
 allowed by the other. 
 
 Alterations, then, of any importance could not have escaped 
 detection, and we might without hesitation have accepted as 
 genuine the Scriptures which, as now printed, we hear or read. 
 Still it is a satisfaction to know that many manuscripts, both of the 
 Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, are extant, of great antiquit}'-, 
 and some of the latter are pronounced, by those who, from 
 study of the subject, are competent to form a judgment, anterior 
 to the time of Mohammed. The Old Testament was translated 
 into Greek long before the coming of Christ ; and the Samari- 
 tans, who have been the rivals of the Jews ever since their 
 return from Babylon, have also a Pentateuch, certainly not 
 altered after that era, and only in a few points, and those not 
 bearing upon doctrine, differing from the Jewish copy. 
 
 It would be easy to prove from these premises the substan- 
 tial integrity of the text of the Old and New Testaments, but 
 the Moslems have of late been told of various readings, and 
 their informers dishonestly, or from ignorance, magnify their 
 importance. It should be explained to them that there are 
 none in the Old Testament, and very few in the New, that 
 affect any doctrine. The collations that have been made 
 attest the diligence of Biblical critics ; and their general consent 
 to exclude from St. John's first Epistle, notwithstanding the 
 internal evidence in its favour, and the support of the Latin 
 version, the formal declaration of the Trinity, is an incon- 
 trovertible instance of their honesty. The only remaining doc- 
 trinal texts are positive declarations of the divinity of the 
 Saviour, but both doctrines may be proved from other pas- 
 sages: and, as it has been justly observed, the divinity of 
 Jesus is interwoven into the very frame and texture of the 
 Bible, and written in it as with a sunbeam. 
 
 The Moslems, however, do not deny that these doctrines 
 are contained in our present copies. The great point in argu- 
 ing with them is to shew the impossibility of any material 
 variation in a volume which has been preserved by all Chris- 
 tians, however they may differ in its interpretation, as their
 
 203 
 
 common property, which they would not suffer to be 
 altered. 
 
 We accept the Koran as it is presented to us ; but were we to 
 call in question its authenticity, how much less would its ad- 
 vocates have to say in its support. The Koran professes to be a 
 direct revelation from God to one man. Our books were written, 
 during a period of fifteen centuries, by several, moved by the 
 Holy Ghost ; and if the authenticity of any one were doubted, 
 and we consented to reject it, the same doctrines could be 
 proved from the rest. The facts in the gospels are the basis of 
 the reasonings and exhortations in the epistles ; and both, by 
 shewing the fulfilment of many prophecies, confirm the books 
 in which they occur. But it would not be easy to satisfy an 
 objector that the Koran, edited by the Khalif Othman from 
 the copy made by his predecessor, Abubekr, and committed to 
 the custody of Hafsa, one of the Prophet's widows, was sub- 
 stantially the same as that which he himself communicated in 
 his lifetime. We read of no careful collection of his numerous 
 revelations, though ho had so many secretaries ; and if wc ask 
 how it hai)[<eiis that there sliould be so few and such uiiim])ortant 
 various readings, the answer is, that Othman ordered all the 
 copies that dillered from the one in Ilafsa's keeping to be 
 destroyed. The chronological order would have best conveyed 
 the state of mind of the author, and this would seem to have 
 been the natural arrai^gemcnt, as we are told that some chaj)- 
 ters were revealed at Mecca, and (others at Medina. iUit 
 commentators inform us, I believe without stating their au- 
 thority, that thei'e are in Ijoth interpolations of verses revealed 
 at the other city. The transitions, also, to (iifrerent subjects are 
 frccjuent, and we may sus[»ect thatniany of these ciiapters have 
 been subsefjuently jmt together. 'J'he dilHculty, proljably, of 
 carrying out a better arrangement, led the compilers simply to 
 class them according to their length. The Konin, during Mu- 
 hanuned'rt lifetime, wjis read, and recited, and conuuitted to 
 memory, so that we may reasonably receive it as geiuiine, and 
 believe that none would presume to add to what they rcsj)ccted 
 as a divine revelation. Omissions are more easily conceived.
 
 204 
 
 unci we know of an important one, on no less an authority than 
 that of the Khahf Omar. The worst feature of the Koran, 
 and which, duly considered, is fatal to its claim of a revelation, 
 is its palpable contradictions, and an attempt is made to save 
 its credit by the doctrine of abrogation ; but this shews the 
 unsatisfactory arrangement of the book, for the abrogated 
 verses sometimes follow these that abrogate. Such a theory 
 is very convenient, but the unbeliever has clearly a right to 
 ask why God should make, and at such short intervals, con- 
 tradictory revelations, assigning, too, no reason for the change. 
 Haji Khalfa, in his encyclopaedia of oriental learning, has, 
 among his numerous branches of the interpretation of tlie 
 Koran, one on the knowledge of abrogating and abrogated 
 verses ; and Maracci, in his elaborate edition of the 
 Koran, cites an instructive passage from Abu Alkasim 
 Hebat Allah, from which we learn that there are no less 
 than 225 abrogated commands. This is no inf>;enious mo- 
 dem device to solve the difficulty and save the reputation 
 of the revelation, for the contradictions are so palpable, and so 
 important, that they must from the first have been brought 
 forward by Mohammed's opponents. And he himself thus en- 
 deavours to meet the objection : " When we substitute a verse 
 in the place of a verse, (and God knows best the fitness of that 
 which he sends down,) unbelievers say thou art only a forger." 
 
 j^ CJS\ \^\ \^\j Jji^. U^ J^^ J3\ _5 'i>\ ^^lx« 'kA UiV \'Ci\ J 
 
 This fact, which is undeniable, must convince any impartial 
 inquirer of the human origin of the Koran, and the absurdity 
 is heightened on the supposition of its being an eternal tran- 
 script of the divine will, especially when no cause is assigned 
 for the change. Thus the worshipper had been first com- 
 manded to turn in prayer to Jerusalem, and within a year the 
 Kiblah, or place to which he is to look, is changed to Mecca ; 
 from the temple of Solomon to that of Abraham. This arbi- 
 trary change ought to shake the faith of the Moslem. Those who 
 reject the authority of the Pro})het can easily explain it, on the 
 supposition that, after a short trial, he found he had more to hope
 
 205 
 
 from his pagan countrymen than from the Jews. He says, in 
 explanation, that eveiy sect has a tract in heaven towards 
 which its members turn ; bat inconsistently occurs, a little 
 earlier, this verse, which the context shews must be abroiratecl : 
 " To God belong the east and the west : therefore, wherever ye 
 turn yourselves to pray, there is the face of God, for God is 
 omnipresent and omniscient." 
 
 ^ ^\^ ^\ ^\^ M jo-j Ji yyi i^io.ii L-^ijij jyuJ^ eJ3_5 
 
 A still more important change appears in IMohammed himself. 
 As a preacher at Mecca, he claims no more than toleration 
 for his religion ; but at INIedina, as a prince, he declares Islam 
 to be the only true faith, and appeals no longer to argument, 
 but to the sword. 
 
 In the 21st verse of the 5tli Sura, Christians and Jews 
 are accused of considering themselves to be the chosen 
 people of God, while they might easily conclude from the 
 divine punishments witli which they were visited that they 
 stood in the same position with other men whose merits would 
 not be determined till the day of judgment. The remark 
 follows that God had impressed a particular mark upon each 
 nation, and as it had not pleased him to unite them all in one 
 religion, it followed that each nation would be judged by its 
 own law. The practical precept is deduced that they only 
 who have trans<fressed the law vouchsafed inito them shall 
 be considered guilty : and in flie same Sui'ah it is declared 
 that no fear shall come on any one among Moslems, Christians, 
 Jews, and even Sabians, who believes in God and the last day, 
 and has acted justly, and that he shall not be alUicted, At 
 Medina he entirely changed his tone: these liberal seiifimcnts 
 are abrogated and now — 
 
 "For those who do not believe inCiod nnd his ]>rophet, cer- 
 tainly for flic unbelievers wc have prepared hell." (xLvru. 
 
 i:j.)
 
 206 
 
 
 
 ^U*01 ^yj3.A5 ^J6/JiS^ ^'i^r ^fcUJjj 
 
 " Verily those who disbelieve our signs we will surely broil 
 in the fire : as often as their skins shall be burned we will 
 give them other skins, that they may taste the torment." (iv. 
 59.) 
 
 . J- ^ —0'" ^f ^ ' G ^^ C ■ C '"'" ^ ^ G G^ yG^ ^G^ O ^^ 
 
 " Whoever followcth any religion but Islam it shall not 
 be accepted, and in the next world he shall be of those who 
 perish. 
 
 With abrogation may be classed the Prophet's express ex- 
 emption from the law which he binds upon his followers, which 
 would be considered a large indulgence if we did not know that 
 the Arabs, before his time, were under no restrictions. Four 
 wives is understood to be the allowed number, but it is ex- 
 pressly said in the Koran that it "is his peculiar privilege 
 to many as many as he pleases, above the rest of the true 
 believers (xxxrii. 49); and he appears, from good authority, 
 to have had at least twenty- one. To us these facts speak for 
 themselves. We are only astonished that they did not break the 
 charm in his lifetime, and that even now they do not diminish 
 the reverence or shake the faith of his followers. 
 
 Mohammed, as the seal of the Prophets, claims, both for 
 himself and his message, a superiority which he is unable to 
 substantiate. An impartial observer, one who is neither 
 Christian nor Moslem, must allow his inferiority even to 
 Closes, a man like himself ; and though the Koran rejects the 
 divinity of Christ, yet it raises him above humanity, and thereby 
 renders his subordination absurd and untenable. If we ask 
 in what respects the Koran excels the Gospel we can get no 
 satisfactory reply. It is nothing but an authoritative republi- 
 cation of the religion of nature, the revelation of one God, the
 
 207 
 
 creator and governor of the world, who requires obedience to 
 his commands, which, in a future state, he will reward with 
 eternal happiness. Islam, thereforcj places man under the 
 covenant of works, which he is unable to keep, and holds out 
 neither the promise of spiritual aid, nor any reasonable ex- 
 pectation of the pardon of his transgressions, or of omissions of 
 duty. 
 
 The Mohammedan standard of morality is far higher than 
 that of the Hindoo or Chinese, or any other people who do not 
 walk in the light of revelation. It surpasses, too, that of the 
 heathen philosophers, even of Aristotle or of the Stoics, 
 because it derives obligation, not as they were forced to do, 
 from the fitness of things, its suitableness to a rational being, 
 or the inherent loveliness of virtue, but from the will of God, 
 creator and governor of mankind, of duty to whom, the most 
 important branch of morality, they were necessarily ignorant. 
 Still it will bear no comparison with that of the Law, and 
 yet less with that of the Gospel, which developed the true 
 ]irinciple of the former, and extends the prohibition from overt 
 acts to the desires from which they spring. We learn fi-oni 
 the highest authority that Moses allowed the Israelites, on 
 account of the hardness of their hearts, a facility of divorce, 
 contrary to the design of the Creator ; and we know that, from 
 the example of Abraham and Jacob, it silently tolerated poly- 
 gamy. The Koran expressly allows four wives, and sets no 
 limitation to the number of concubines; and, by a strange law, 
 requires that no husband can take back a repudiated wife 
 till she has married another and been divorced by him. 
 The object of the law we may presume to be to check the 
 practice of a hasty, inconsiderate dismissal of awilr. lictalia- 
 f ion, and the avenging of bjoodsiicil, which Moses found preva- 
 lent, he did not abolish, Imt modify, and these arc retained 
 by Mohammed; though ho forbade female infanticide iiiid 
 otlier barbarous and snperstitious customs of his idolatrous 
 countrymen. The special command to exterminate the Canaanitcs 
 he pleaded, to justify the use of the sword as an instrument of 
 conversion when arguujcnt had failed to produce its pro[)er
 
 208 
 
 ciVcct. In the earlier and better days of his adversity in 
 Mecca, he liad disclaimed any other method than persuasion, 
 and even declared that it was not necessary for salvation to 
 embrace the true religion, for God would accept all who, under 
 any system of foith, endeavoured to discover his will, and to 
 obey him. But the chapters which profess to have been revealed 
 to him at Medina, where he reigned without control, breathe a 
 less liberal spirit, requiring all to submit to Islam as the only 
 road to salvation. Such a fundamental change excites a strong 
 suspicion against the legislator, and an argument against the in- 
 spiration of the Koran ; for reason confirms Balaam's declara- 
 tion that God is not a son of man that he should repent : He 
 who knows and has arranged all things from the beginning 
 changeth not. And a method of conversion that was allowed after- 
 wards, could hardly have been objectionable before. The autho- 
 rized use of the sword invests with a peculiar glory the champion 
 of the faith, and if he falls in a religious war he is reckoned in the 
 army of martyrs, and admitted into innnediate bliss. It was the 
 conviction of this doctrine, strengthened by the assurance of a di- 
 vine predestination,which overruled the result of battles, that ren- 
 dered the Moslem soldiers invincible, and tended so powerfully, 
 when the faith was fresh and vigorous, to spread Islam rapidly 
 in every direction. With more mercy and prudence than con- 
 sistency, the alternative of a capitation tax was offered to the 
 conquered, and, in consequence, those denominations of Chris- 
 tians who were treated as heretics by the dominant party in 
 Syria and Egypt preferred the supremacy of a Moslem gover- 
 nor to the yoke of the Emperox\ In many respects the Koran 
 imitates the Pentateuch, but its spirit is comparatively from the 
 earth. With all its declarations of the unity of the Godhead, it 
 has no equivalent to the call to love Him with all the powers 
 both of the heart and of the understanding ; and though among 
 the epithets of the supreme Being, the merciful, the compas- 
 sionate, and the gracious, are intermixed with those that 
 announce his power, intelligence, and perfection, it is not as 
 an affectionate father, but as a just and merciful sovereign, that 
 God appears in the Koran; and the Moslems that deserve the
 
 209 
 
 name are his respectful and obedient servants, not his adopted 
 children, and the brethren of his Son. Intercession is acknow- 
 ledged in words, but can have no reality when undertaken by 
 a mere man, however excellent he may be ; and the Koran 
 rejects with horror the idea that God has begotten a Son, and 
 has no notion of the efficacy of sacrifice, which alone, in con- 
 junction with his divine nature, enables the Man Christ Jesus to 
 be the Mediator between God^ and man. The superiority of 
 Christian ethics to any other will be allowed at once by all 
 competent judges of such questions, and admits of no discussion; 
 but, independently of its intrinsic excellence, it has two special 
 recommendations which no other code can boast. The first is, 
 that its precepts are all embodied in a living and perfect ex- 
 ample of excellence, whereas the most enthusiastic admirers of 
 Mohammed must believe him to have been an imperfect and 
 inconsistent character. After making the most indulgent 
 allowance for his position, liis conduct respecting women con- 
 victs him of licentiousness and duplicity; and though he might 
 honestly proclaim the unity of the Deity, there was presump- 
 tion and selfishness in making his own apostlcship its insojja- 
 rable adjunct. The best system of ethics is in itself powerless : 
 the imagination may admire, and the judgment may approve, 
 but without an adequate inducement it must remain an inopera- 
 tive, a dead letter. For who will have resolution to deny 
 himself, in order to conform to laws which would restrain his 
 passions, and sometimes oppose his interests, and even Iiis 
 reputation? The virtues that promote the welfare of society, 
 as charity almost always, and sometimes justice, uro popular; 
 hut a stricter life than that of the generality, notwithstanding 
 prudence and forbearance, will provoke censure, since itconveys 
 a silent reproof which free livers cannot endure. Now Moham- 
 med had no higher motives to enforce obedience than tlioso 
 common to all religions- the joys of i)aradisc and heaven, and 
 the torments of hell, on which he is contiiuially expatiating, 
 and which he describes with the niiiuitc accuracy of an eye- 
 witness. For their reality we have only the testimony of a 
 man like ourselves, who, if his word be doubted, cannot ai)pcal 
 
 P
 
 210 
 
 to prophecy or miracle, or any attestation to his veracity. 
 Whereas the apostles persuade men knowing the terrors of the 
 Lord, and, by the promise of such happiness as eye has not 
 seen, nor car heard, nor human understanding has conceived, 
 yet is revealed to believers by the Spirit. Our Saviour, by 
 his resurrection, brought life and immortality to light, and this 
 provided a strong motive to obedience ; and by his ascension 
 he obtained the graces as well as the extraordinary gifts of the 
 Spirit. His Gospel also exhibits a constraining motive in his 
 disinterested philanthropy, surpassing knowledge, which led 
 him to die for mankind while yet, as sinners, his enemies ; and to 
 reconcile, by his painful and ignominious sacrifice of himself, 
 once for all, upon the altar of his cross, men to his Father, and 
 his Father to men. Love to him, their Redeemer and Intercessor, 
 their Victim and their Priest, their King and their future Judge, 
 is the governing principle that is to regulate their lives, and 
 produce a steady, consistent, and faithful obedience to all his 
 commandments. " The love of Chrisi" says one apostle, " con- 
 straincth tis ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
 were all dead: and that He died for all, that they ivho live 
 should not henceforth live unto themselves, hut unto Him who 
 died for them, and rose again.'''' 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. And ano- 
 ther apostle writes (1 John iv. 21), "And this command- 
 ment have we from Him, Let him who loveth God, love his 
 brother also.''^ And again, says St. Paul (Romans xiii. 10, 9), 
 " Love is the fuljillivg of the latu ; for this, thou shalt not 
 commit adultery, for this thou shalt not kill, for this thou 
 shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not 
 covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly 
 comprehended in this saying. Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
 as thyself'' 
 
 If a godly and righteous life is to entitle a man to eternal 
 happiness, the Christian has many advantages over the 
 Moslem, who cannot deny that his law is purer and more 
 comprehensive than his own ; that it also exhibits a more com- 
 plete pattern of obedience, and is enforced by better promises 
 of divine aid, and recommended by moi'e effectual motives.
 
 211 
 
 The Law, however, is perfect, and requu'es perfect obedience ; 
 and he who perfectly fulfils it in every particular may claim 
 eternal happiness of right, as the reward of his obedience, and 
 a just God will allow his claim. But where and when has 
 any individual lived who could put forward such pretensions ? 
 None will venture to deny, that in some respects they require 
 forgiveness ; but the uncompromising language of the Law is 
 " Do this and live," and St. Paul tells the Galations, iii. 1 0, 
 tliat it is written, " Cursed is every one that continueth 
 not in all things which are written in the Law, to do them." 
 A perfect law, clearly defining duty, but allowing no excuse 
 for the least failure, and holding out no assistance towards 
 keeping it, is calculated to drive an awakened sinner to despair ; 
 and those to whom the only way of salvation has not been 
 made known, take refuge either m self-imposed austerities, or 
 in self-denying works, or in any forms of will-worship by 
 which they liopc to appease the wrath of ajustl3'-ofiendcd God. 
 His holiness cannot pardon without an adequate compensation, 
 and to provide this, and to pacify, in consequence, a disturbed 
 conscience, has been the endeavour of every false system of 
 religion. The Gospel alone, in conformity with its meaning of 
 good news, shews, by the voluntary sacrifice of the Redeemer 
 upon the cross, that God can be just even in the act of jus- 
 tifying for his sake the ungodly ; but then it can only be those 
 who accept his finished salvation, because the Father has laid 
 upon his co-of|ual Son the ini(iuit3' of all believers, and it is by 
 His stripes that we arc healed (Isaiah liii. 5). By his own works 
 no man living can bo justified. Salvation, consocpiently, must be 
 entirely of grace (favour): and he who has discovered his own 
 sinfulness and the holiness of God, will renovnice nil pretensions 
 to merit, and, throwing himself unreservedly upon sovereign 
 mercy, will joyfully accept the prf)fl'ercd robe of the Re- 
 deemer's rigliteousness, in wliirli nlnnn be c'ln venture to 
 ajipear before God. 
 
 Mohammed disclaims the notion of having received a new re- 
 velation : for he again and again declares that he is sent only to 
 restore the religir)n of his progenitor, Abraham the orthodox. It 
 
 r 2
 
 212 
 
 is manifest, that though he had some notion of his history, 
 gathered, I conceive, not from the perusal of Genesis, hut 
 from conversation with Jews, and the traditions of his tribe, 
 lie perceived no pre-eminent act of faith in his intended 
 sacrifice of his son ; and though he appHes to him his scriptural 
 title, the Friend of God, he has no conception of the pro- 
 priety of its application. So eminent was the faith of Abra- 
 ham, that he is justly called the Father of the Faithful, 
 and this, his characterestic virtue, was exercised continually. 
 For though the offering of his only-begotten son, believing 
 God was able to raise him up again from the dead, may be 
 considered as the crowning act, his whole life was a life of 
 faith, from the time that the Lord said unto him, "Get thee out 
 of thy country, and from thy kindred, into a land which 1 will 
 shew unto thee " (Acts vii. 3.) When the birth of a son was 
 foretold to him in the extreme age both of his wife and himself, 
 the apostle Paul tells the Romans " that he staggered not at the 
 promise of God through unbelief, being strong in faith, giving 
 glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what He had pro- 
 mised He was able to perform," and therefore he adds, " it 
 was imputed to him for righteousness" (iv. 20 — 22). Paul 
 goes on to give the result of this faith : " Now it was not 
 tvritten for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us 
 also to whom it shall be imputed, ifive believe on Him tvho raised 
 up Jesus from the dead ; who was delivered up for our offences, 
 and was raised again for our justification.'''' "Kno^v ye, there- 
 fore,'' he tells the Galatians (iii. 7 — 9) that " they zohich are of 
 faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scrip- 
 ture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through 
 faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying. In 
 thee shall all nations be blessed; so then they ivhich are of faith 
 are blessed with faithful AbraJiam."" He proceeds to shew, 
 that if a man be justified it cannot be by the law, which re- 
 quires perfect obedience, which he finds it impossible to 
 render, but by faith; adding, that "Christ hath redeemed us 
 from the curse of law, being made a curse for us, that the 
 blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, through Jesus
 
 213 
 
 Christ, that ice might receive the promise of the Spirit throvgh 
 faith" It is desirable that Moslems should be prevailed upon 
 to read, in Genesis, the history of Abraham ; since they will 
 there find that it was not Ishmael, the child of Ilagar the con- 
 cubine, as their commentators maintain, who had been long 
 before sent away, but Isaac, the promised offspring, the son of 
 Sarah his wife, that he was called upon to sacrifice. This sub- 
 stitution of the elder son naturally recommends itself to the 
 Arabians, who claim Ishmael for their progenitor, but it is rather 
 suggested than affirmed by the Koran ; and certainly, in the 
 authentic history, it is Isaac whom he is caJled upon to sacrifice, 
 and it is in Christ, the descendant of that son, that, according 
 to the promise made to him, all the nations of the earth shall be 
 blessed. He is the subject of this and all the spiritual promises; 
 and there is none to Ishmael, any more than to Esau, like him, 
 the progenitor of a nation. Abraham had, indeed, prayed 
 that in Ishmael all nations might be blessed, but the spiritual 
 blessing was reserved for his legitimate son, {in Isaac shall thy 
 seed be called,^ while far greater temporal prosperity has 
 been assigned to the descendants of Ishmael. The Israelites 
 never, even in their highest estate, ])ossessed the whole of 
 their promised land : the Ishmaelites, under the successors of 
 Mohammed, soon coiupiered Persia, and wrested Syria and 
 Egyitt from the Roman empire. Abrah.am had grown attached 
 to Ishmael, and wjien promised a son by Sarah he exclaimed, 
 instead of cxpressifig his thanks to (lod, " O uught Ishmael live 
 before thee!" Gen. xvii.18. Uiit God had determined contrary to 
 his wish. " JVith Isaac" I le said, " / will establish my covenmit 
 for an everlasting eovenant, and with his seed after him,''* 
 Worldly j)rosperity was to be the blessing of Ishmael. '^Jnd 
 as for Ishmael, I hare heard thee. Behold, I hare blessed 
 him, and tvill make him fruitful, and icill multiply him exceed' 
 ingly : twelve iirinces sltall he beget, and I will make him a 
 great nation." (Gen. xvii. 18—20.) Abraham abounded in 
 good works, but it was not they, but liis faitli, that was im- 
 I)Uted to him for righteousness; and it is not the Moslem, who 
 endeavours to please God by his own righteousness, and must
 
 214 
 
 fail in tlie hopeless attempt, but the Christian, who by faith 
 lays hold of the Saviour's righteousness to clothe him, that is of 
 the religion of Abraham. 
 
 The morality of the Gospel, which extends to the thoughts 
 and desires, and, instead of being limited to overt acts, of 
 which alone human tribunals can take cognizance, seeks to 
 purify the heart out of which they proceed, and in which are 
 the issues of life, must be allowed by the unprejudiced to be 
 superior to that of the Koran ; and I believe the most bigoted 
 Moslems have never called in question its excellence, or denied 
 the prophetic character and superhuman nature of the Mes- 
 siah, though they inconsistently regard him as subordinate to the 
 promulgator of Islam. The higher the standard of course 
 the more difficult it is to attain to it, and man cannot reach even 
 that of the Koran in his own strength. The Moslems maintain 
 that their Prophet is the Messiah's promised substitute, but have 
 transformed the Comforter and Advocate, the Spirit of holiness, 
 into a human prmce, who goes forth conquering and to conquer 
 with carnal weapons. They hold forth no spiritual aid, but leave 
 man to the du-ection of the book, which, if it points out the road, 
 and is a lamp unto the feet, cannot warn him when he deviates 
 from the strait and narrow path, or give him consolation in 
 his trials, and strengthen him to endure the journey. To him 
 who has transsressed the commandments the Koran can offer 
 no more than any man's own unassisted understanding suggests, 
 that is, a reliance on the goodness of God, whose mercy is over 
 all his works, but who, even in his providential operations 
 in this world, must appear to the thoughtful transgressor at 
 the best, according to His own declaration to his servant 
 Moses, as one who, though he forgives iniquity and sin, will 
 by no means clear the (juHty (Ex. xxxiv. 7.) And what more 
 could any of the sons of men, even if commissioned by the 
 Almicrlity to reveal his will, communicate, than the answer 
 of Balaam to the king of Moab, recorded by Micali, vi. 8 — 
 "ife hath shewed thee, man, what is good; and what doth 
 the Lord require of thee, hut to do justly, and to love mercy, 
 and to walk humbly ivitk thy God?^^ To fulfil, as here
 
 215 
 
 expressed, the duty of justice and benevolence to men, 
 and to conduct ourselves as we ought towards oui' God, is a 
 summary of morals which the judgment approves, but, at the 
 same time, finds so exceeding broad as to render it in its full 
 extent impracticable ; and it makes no provision for those who 
 have neglected it, and are conscious of having too often, not 
 only omitted to do what is right, but even done what is wrong. 
 The sinner whose understanding is not obscured by a wicked 
 life, will acknowledge, while sensible that he has frequently 
 yielded to his passions, that the commandment is holy, just, and 
 good (Rom. vii. 12.) ; but he feels that such a law, from its very 
 perfection, may well be called by the apostle, who says that "/le 
 should not have knoicn lust if the law had not said 'Thou shall 
 not covet, the ministration of death and of condemnation (2 Cor. 
 iii. 7, 8). Happily he has taught us that there is no condemna- 
 tion to them that are in Christ Jesus, that is, to those who walk not 
 after the flesh, but after the Spirit ; for the law of the Spirit of 
 life in Christ Jesus hath made the genuine believer //-ee from 
 the law of sin and death. But others have still reason to say 
 with Balac, " Wherctvilh shall I come before the Lord, a7id 
 bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him 
 with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old ? Will the Lord 
 be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand of rivers 
 of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgressions, the 
 fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" Natural religion, as 
 it is called, that is, religion as it is delineated in the ancient 
 classics, or as exhibited in the reports of modern travellers 
 who have associated with the heathen of our day, is always of 
 a piacular character. The wrath of God against all ungod- 
 liness and uiu'ightcousncss to which the human heart responds, 
 appears to have been transmitted by tradition to all the de- 
 scendants of Noah, wherever dispersed, and in whatever stage 
 of civilization. An angry God, called by the father of histoi-y 
 (Herodotus, iii. 40.) an envious being, re(|uired, as they, 
 whether barbarous or civilized, alike believed, to be appeased 
 by costly sacrifices ; and in times of extrartrdiiiary calamity the 
 altar was, as it were, sanctified by human blood. Such sacri-
 
 216 
 
 fices we know were common among the Phoenicians, and their 
 colonists the Carthaginians; and probably the custom pre- 
 vailed in Caanan when Abraham's faith was tried by the com- 
 mand to offer up his son, through whom blessing was promised, 
 not only to his family, but to the whole race of mankind. 
 The Greek drama affords an affecting exhibition of the 
 practice in the immolation of the daughters of both Priam and 
 Agamemnon. It was endured by the Athenians, whom we 
 regard as so intellectual, during the Persian war ; it occurs, 
 also, in Roman History, and was only abolished in the empire, 
 as late as the second century of the Christian era, by Hadrian.* 
 Thus we see that the necessity of a propitiation was every- 
 where acknowledged ; yet, strange as it seems, the belief in 
 the promised atoning victim had died away, and was only dimly 
 visible in the Mosaic ritual. That law testified, that " without 
 shedding of blood there is no remission " (Heb. ix. 22) ; and before 
 its introduction, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in whatever part 
 of Canaan they pitched their tents, erected altars unto the Lord ; 
 and a sacrifice was the first act of Noah on quitting the ark 
 and taking possession of the renewed and desolate world, and 
 we know that it was accepted. Reason, unenlightened from 
 above, would surely never have inferred that the slaughter of 
 animals could be an act of worship which their Creator would ap- 
 prove, and might well adopt the Psalmist's language, " Thinkest 
 thou I will drink bulls' blood, or eat thejlesh of goats? If I feel 
 hungry I will not tell thee, for all the beasts of the forest are mi7ie, 
 and so are the cattle upon a thousand hills." It is a reasonable 
 presumption that the skins with which God clothed our first 
 parents were those of animals which He had instructed them to 
 sacrifice ; and we can hardly doubt that the cause why Abel's 
 animal sacrifice was accepted, while Cain's thanksgiving offer- 
 ing of the fruits of the earth was rejected, was, that he com- 
 
 • We learn from Plutarch, in his life of ThemistocleH, that the people 
 compelled him to Bacrifice three Persian captives to Bacchus Omestes (the 
 Devourer) ; and in the life of Marcellus, that in obedience to an oracle at 
 tli€ commencement of the war with the Gauls, a man and a woman of that 
 nation were buried alive. Even in the reign of Diocletian, a man was sacri- 
 ficed at Rome itself, on the feast of Jupiter I^atiaris.
 
 217 
 
 plied with a divine ordinance; for, unless commanded, I cannot 
 understand how, in the epistle to the Hebrews (xi. 4.), it can be 
 described to be an act of faith. Sacrifice is the foundation of true 
 religion, and requires a, priest. Christianity has neither, be- 
 cause the only real Priest (who was typified by Aaron) offered 
 up himself, once for all, upon the altar of the cross, and we 
 have only a thankful commemoration of it by the Christian 
 minister. The Koran, it is true, sanctions the practice both at 
 the pilgrimage and at the two feasts, but, like circumcision, 
 which it never mentions, it was retained by Mohammed simply 
 because he had been accustomed to it ; for he never alludes to 
 its efficacy, and therefore with the Moslems it is an unmean- 
 ino; imitation of Abraham and their Pagan ancestors. This 
 shews his utter ignorance of the spirit of the Jewish and 
 Christian systems, tliough partially, and only partially, ac- 
 quainted with the historical facts on which they rest. And 
 this is the more extraordinary as his own father had been 
 devoted to death, and was redeemed by a costly ransom. 
 
 The Divine Unity, as we have seen, is the grand dogma of 
 Islam, and this would recommend it to the philosophical pro- 
 fessor of polytheism ; yet it is degraded and weakened by its 
 connection with heathen practices, to which it is pledged both 
 by the Koriin and tlie Traditions. The pilgrimage must 
 appear to be an unreasonable burden to a thoughtful Moslem 
 in a distant land, who has been taught that prayer is as ac- 
 ceptable at his home as at Mecca ; and the only reason for the 
 merit of pilgrimage is the un[)roved assertion that the Caaba 
 was built by Abraham, whose residence in Canaan, instead of 
 Aral)ia, may be shewn from his detailed history in the Bible. To 
 this Deism is to be opposed the Scripture doctrine of the 
 Trinity, which the Koran so strangely misrepresents. Not that 
 I recommend it should be brought forward as a dogma apart 
 from the scheme of salvation, but to indicate tliat scheme, by 
 shewing that it was revealed to establish the foundation on 
 which it rests. Tiiis will prepare the way for the doctrine of 
 the twofold nature of the SavicMir ; and the reception of this 
 stumblingblock to reason and j»ridc the Koran itself facilitates, 
 by its exaltation of our Lord above humanity. In flie opinion
 
 218 
 
 of IMohler,* the Koran has ascribed such authority to the Gospel, 
 and has so failed in establishing its own superiority, that, through 
 thatallo\vedauthority,it will overthrow its own, and consequently 
 retains in itself the elements of its own destruction, as soon as 
 freedom of thought has been more widely circulated, and is 
 directed by enlightened and spiritually-minded Christian 
 missionaries. Then the Christianity partially admitted into 
 the Koran will work out its own completion, and it will be 
 manifest that Islam is a preparatory scheme, and that Moham- 
 med is really the servant of Christ. This assertion can be 
 sustained by facts, for instances are not wanting of thinking 
 Mohammedans who have discovered the various and essential 
 ditferences between the Koran and the Gospels, and have per- 
 ceived that Christianity alone restores the original relation 
 between God and man. What more easily forces itself upon the 
 mind than the persuasion, that, according to the Scriptures, 
 from the fall to the appearance of Christ all revelations, and 
 all historical events, point only to Him, and that therefore all 
 prophets before Him could only have been His servants, and all 
 after Him could only be His chosen friends and assistants ? It 
 is consequently evident that the manifold relation in which, 
 according to the Koran, Christ is placed to Mohammed, and the 
 Gospel to Islam, offers to missionaries the most desirable 
 points of connection from which they may at once advance 
 without any difficulty into the very centre of Christianity. 
 
 Christian morality, as we have observed, is perfect, and 
 this might be expected in a revelation from the Son of God, 
 whether teaching in person, or through his inspired disciples ; 
 yet his teaching was only an incidental blessing : it was not 
 the object of his mission. Nor did he become incarnate to 
 bring life and immortality to light by his own resurrection ; 
 and by shewing himself alive after his crucifixion by many 
 infallible proofs, though he thus proved what reason could 
 only conjecture, and strengthens the faith of his people. The 
 Gospel, the good news he brought, was the reconciliation through 
 his death (which his two-fold nature rendered efficacious) of 
 God to men, and of men to God. He was the Lamb of God slain, 
 
 * Relation of Islam to the Gospel, p. 39.
 
 219 
 
 in the divine decree, before the foundation of the loorld (Rev. 
 xiii. 8.), and manifested in due time to take away the sins of tlie 
 world. Thus alone can the Father shew mercy without any 
 impeachment of his justice, and his holiness shines the brighter, 
 because those whom he justifies he sanctifies. Thus, as pre- 
 dicted in the psalm, " mercy and truth are met together, righte- 
 ousness and peace have kissed each other.''^ It is perhaps one of 
 the strongest symptoms of the corruption of our nature that 
 genuine Christianity is so distasteful, that it is with the utmost 
 difficulty that sinners can be convinced of the sovereign efficacy 
 of this divine remedy, which so far exceeds their expectations, 
 and, I fear I may add, their desire. For man, proud and un- 
 grateful, is desirous of performing a part at least in his own 
 salvation. Not to speak of the gross errors of Romanists, who 
 trust, in some degree at least to their own mortifications of the 
 flesh in this life, and look forward to the completion of the 
 work fi'om their sufferings in purgatory, too many Protestants 
 plead their sincerity, and talk of a mitigated law, and express 
 a hope that their imperfect services will be accepted for the 
 sake of Christ, whose merit will make up for their deficiency. 
 But of these ingenious devices of theologians Scripture knows 
 nothing. Our own best works are imperfect, even if not 
 mixed with sin in themselves or in their motives, and can never 
 bear the scrutiny of the omniscient judge. Before His tribunal 
 perfect righteousness alone can appear, and, thanks be to God, 
 the redeemed will be presented faultless, because clothed in 
 the unspotted robe of the Redeemer. Tiie honour of the law 
 and of the lawgiver is thus secured ; and though, from St. 
 Paul's days to ours, the natural man has ever eharged the 
 doctrines of grace with Antinoniianisni, it will be found on 
 inquiry that they alone produce and ensure, as necessary con- 
 sequences, sanctiHcation. Tliesc doctrines, which iiad been 
 developed by Augustine, were never altogether lost in the west; 
 but in the eastern churches there had been no revival of 
 the truth, and Mohammed had no conception of it, for the 
 epistles were to him a scaled book, and he would never hear 
 it from Khndijah's aged cousin Wnrakii, or any nf the monks
 
 220 
 
 from whom he is supposed to have gleaned the httle he knew 
 of Christianity. Had his knowledge of it been more complete, 
 he might have proved an heresiarch, but he would hardly 
 have come forward witii a special revelation, which, in fact, 
 reveals no truth not already known to the believer, while it 
 ignores some that are essential to his salvation. The believer 
 is complete in Christ, and he, therefore, not Mohammed, is the 
 seal of prophecy. God, in earlier ages, announced his will from 
 tune to time through prophets ; but in the last day, as the Chris- 
 tian and final dispensation is called, he has spoken through his 
 Son, who is the express image of his person, and a ray from his 
 original light. He has revealed all that concerns us : what need, 
 then is thereof Mohammed or any other subsequent envoy ? Jesus 
 has not only atoned for our sins, but, through his exceeding 
 great and precious promises, and the help purchased by him of 
 the Holy Spirit, we are gradually restored to the divine image, 
 and are enabled to render cheerful, willing obedience to the law, 
 as a rule of life, though no longer a covenant, the breach of which 
 must condemn. He has accomplished more than we could have 
 imagined, and all that we could desire, through love, surpass- 
 ing our comprehension, which led him to die for us while yet 
 enemies to him, and to deliver us from a captivity from which, 
 till touched by his constraining grace, w^e had no wish to be 
 free. The faithful preaching of the law convicts of'sin, for it 
 detects its workings, and demonstrates our inability to keep it. 
 The contrite sinner perceives his sinfulness, and pleads for 
 mercy ; and the Holy Spirit teaches him to look out of him- 
 self for relief to the righteousness of God, witnessed both 
 by the law and by the prophets, even the righteousness which 
 is by faith in Christ Jesus, and which will be imputed to all, 
 as it was to Abraham. The apostle tells us that there is in this 
 respect no difference between Jew and Gentile, because both 
 have sinned and come short of the glory of God ; and there- 
 fore all who will be accepted at the judgment-day, must have 
 been, in this life, justified, that is, though guilty, treated as 
 innocent, because God has set forth Jesus Christ as a propitia- 
 tion through faith in his blood, that He might at the same time
 
 221 
 
 be just, and the jiistifier ofliim who beheveth in Jesus. At the 
 first promulgation of the Gospel it was rejected, except by those 
 who had been called to salvation, alike by the two great divisions 
 of mankind. To the Jew it was a stumblingblock, because it 
 contradicted the received interpretation of the prophets ; and 
 they whose carnal imagination was lifted up with the hope of 
 a triumphant, conquering Messiah, overlooked the predictions 
 of a contrary description, and could not perceive, like the 
 apostles, till their minds were opened to understand the Scrip- 
 tures, that He must suffer before He entered into glory ; that He 
 must endure the shameful death of the cross before He sat down 
 on the right hand of God, waiting till his enemies are made his 
 footstool. To the Greeks, who delighted in the speculations of 
 a vain philosophy, by which they had been, as it were, taken 
 prisoners, the (T()S])el appeared foolishness ; yet when patiently 
 and fairly examined, the former would find it, by happy experi- 
 ence, to be the power of God, and the latter the wisdom of God. 
 And so it has proved in every age, and will to the end of the 
 dispensation. Since the fall of Adam there has never been 
 but one way of salvation. Placed on his creation under the 
 covenant of works, and under circumstances more favourable 
 than any of bis descendants, he yielded to temptation, and 
 transrrressed the siniile command jrivcn him as a test of his 
 olx'dience. His son and all his descendai\ts being bom subsccjuent 
 to his fall, inherited a depraved nature, and had neither the 
 will nor the ability to keep the law. If saved, then, they 
 must be saved through the obedience of another, and lliat can 
 only be the promised seed of the woman, whom even the 
 Koran declares to be free from original sin, and intimates, by 
 tlie designation of the Son of Mary, to have had no human 
 father. Misird by Gnostic fancies, Mohammed maintains that 
 he wiis raised to licaven without having endured the cross. 
 His death on It, however, was indispenable to satisfy the justice 
 of his offended Father; and to this sacrifice, to whieh we look 
 back with adoring gratitude, the believers of i)reccding times 
 are alike indcl^ted for salvation, who received a good report 
 through faith, yet received not the promise, (iod having pro- 
 vided some better thing for us, that they without nsshoidd not
 
 222 
 
 be made perfect. The believer in one Supreme Being, who, 
 like the Moslem, is jealous of his honour, no less than the 
 ignorant idolater, as the Hindoo who worships gods many 
 and lords many, the work of his own hands, must alike sub- 
 mit to the wisdom of God, who has declared that he is to all, 
 except those who come unto liim through Jesus, the Mediator 
 of the new covenant, « consuming fire. The proud turn aside, 
 rejecting this w'ay of God's providing, with indignation, or so 
 explain it, that it becomes another Gospel : the humble enter 
 upon it with gratitude, and find peace and joy in believing. 
 To convert the Moslem we must faithfully lay before him 
 the unadulterated truth in all its simplicity, in full reliance on 
 the Holy Spirit, who can alone enlighten the understanding, 
 and bring it home to the heart. Humanly speaking, it is a far 
 more difficult undertaking than to bring to the acknowledg- 
 ment of the truth the heathen, who possess but a traditional 
 religion, and, as they advance in civilization, can only retain it 
 by allegorizing their absurd fables, and trying to discover, in 
 the adventures of their gods, the personification of the powers of 
 nature, or the attributes of one pervading spirit, the soul of the 
 Avorld. The Moslem has been instructed in the truth as far as his 
 prophet knew it, and, unlike the Greek or Plindoo philosopher, 
 he discriminates between the creation and the Creator. When 
 living, as in Hindustan and Tartary, he cannot but feel the 
 superiority both of his theology and his morality; and among the 
 degenerate Christians of Syria and Egypt, like the Jew, he is 
 too prejudiced to read the New Testament, and judges from 
 personal observation, confirmed by passages in the Koran, that 
 they worship three gods. He is proud of having a book to 
 guide him, which he believes came down from heaven ; and 
 knowing his prophet to be later than Moses or Jesus, he 
 believes, as that book informs him, that he enjoys a perfect 
 revelation, free from the errors with which preceding ones had 
 been intermixed and corrupted, and which was made known 
 that he might be brought into the right path. 
 
 The Missionary to the Moslems must make the Koran his 
 special study ; and he must acquaint himself with Islam as 
 reduced to practice, whether as modified by circumstances, as
 
 223 
 
 in Hindustan, which has been debased by the adoption of 
 heathen ceremonies, or in its purer form, in Turkey or 
 Northern Africa, where it is the dominant religion, and retains 
 more of its original proud, stern, and uncompromising character^ 
 This is requisite, in order to meet the cavils of those who object 
 to Christianity ; and at times it may be wise to expose the 
 sophistry of the arguments by which the Moslems maintain 
 their faith ; but controversy has a tendency to rouse a sturdy, and 
 sometimes a passionate opposition, and even when carried on 
 with ability and temper is more apt to silence than convince. The 
 prophets, indeed, expose and ridicule the folly of those who make 
 and worship images, and many of their strong, sarcastic 
 passages might be read with a beneficial effect to the heathen. 
 But the apostles, as a general rule, instead of combating error, 
 set forth and recommend the truth. That, received in the 
 love of it, will at once banish error of every description, 
 whereas we may confute errors one by one, till we have 
 satisfied the heathen that those are no gods that are made by 
 hands, and the Moslem that his prophet was an impostor, 
 without being able to fill up the blank that is left, without 
 Ijcing able to bring them to Jesus, that they may enjoy spiritual 
 life. Islam, as presented in the Koran, and freed from the 
 details of its jurisprudence and its ritual, is, in fact, nothing but 
 the republication of the covenant of works, on the unsupported 
 testimony of one who declares himself sent by (iod to reveal it 
 as the last of liis proj)hcts. To this the Christian opposes his 
 remedial scheme, which alone can bring ])ardon and peace to 
 an awakened conscience, by shewing that the author and 
 finisher of our faith is at once 
 
 "The sinner's friend, nnrl sin's efernRl foe." 
 Mohammed boasts of no new discoveries in religion: ho only pro- 
 fesses to revive the religion of Abraliam. Great use may be made 
 of this concession. 'I'hc Moslem should bo pressed to rend his 
 genuine histoi-y, witji the comments of St. Paul, and tluMi lie 
 will perceive that it is not himself, but the Christian, wlio 
 follows the religion of the patriarch. 
 
 The Missionary should endeavour to predispose his hearers 
 in favour of his message, by satisfying them, in his own
 
 224 
 
 behaviour, that it deserves the title of good news ; that he him- 
 self has found it an antidote of care, and righteousness, peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost ; confirming the apostle's assurance 
 that it has the promise of this life, as well as of that which is to 
 come. The foundation of his teaching must be laid deep in 
 the doctrine of human corruption; but the disease and its 
 remedy must be exhibited together. If we shew that in 
 Adam we lost our original righteousness, we should be no less 
 careful to shew, that " if hy one mans si7i judgment came upon 
 all to condemnation, even so, by the righteousness of one, the 
 free gift came upon all men unto justification of life ; for as 
 hy one mans disobedience many are made sinners, so by the 
 obedience of one shall many be made righteous^ (Rom. v.) "jTAe 
 first man was made a living soul, but the last Adam, the Lord 
 from heaven, a life-giving Spirit : for as we have home the 
 image of the earthly, so shall we hear the image of the heavenly. '''' 
 It must be explicitly stated that this original righteousness can 
 never be regained by any austerities or services, or even 
 by works positively good ; but that faith must lay hold on 
 the Redeemer's perfect righteousness, and put it on for 
 justification, which will admit him into privileges and enjoy- 
 ments superior to those which Adam lost. The self-righteous 
 Moslem, once convinced of sin, no longer seeking for objections, 
 will deserve his name, for he will resign himself, not with 
 humble submission, but with joyful gratitude to Ijod, as an 
 afiectionate Father, and will find the Son of Mary, the Word 
 of God, to be fairer than Mohammed or any of the children of 
 men, the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. 
 Then Islam, which, like the moon, shines only with a borrowed 
 light, will pale its ineffectual fires before the healing and warm- 
 ing, as well as enlightening beams of the rising Sun of Righte- 
 ousness ; and the converted disciple of Mohammed, who has 
 wearied himself with fasting, and prayer, and alms, and pilgrim- 
 ages, and meditation, to work out his own salvation, and has 
 made no progress, will thankfully accept eternal life as a 
 gift, and will recommend, as a guide to others, Jesus the 
 Son of God, whom he himself has found to be THE WA Y, 
 THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.
 
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