doctrine was declared to be, that "There is no God but the true God, and Mahomet is his apostle;" but under this principle was comprehended belief in six points-(1) in God; (2) in his angels; (3) in his scriptures; (4) in his prophets; (5) in the resurrection and the day of judgment; (6) in God's absolute decree and predetermination both of good and evil. With these were combined four practical duties-(1) prayer, with its preliminary washings and lustrations; (2) alms; (3) fasting; (4) the pilgrimage to Mecca, which was held so essential that any one who died without performing it might as well die a Jew or a Christian. Judaism and Christianity were acknowledged as true, although imperfect, religions. Their holy books were acknowledged, and it would seem that Mahomet's original intention was rather to connect his religion with the elder systems than to represent it as superseding them. Jesus was regarded as the greatest of all former prophets, but although his birth was represented as miraculous, the belief in his Godhead was declared to be erroneous; He was said to be a mere man, and his death was explained away, either on the docetic principle, or by the supposition that another person suffered in his stead. Mahomet asserted that he himself had been foretold in Scripture, but that the prophecies had been falsified by those who had the custody of them;m yet he and his followers claimed some passages of the extant Scriptures in his favour, such as the promise of the Paraclete, and the parable in which the labourers were spoken of as called at various times of the day—the final call being to the religion of Islam." The conception of the Divine majesty in the Koran is sublime; the mercy of God is dwelt on in a very impressive manner. But the absence of anything like the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation places an impassable gulf between the Creator and his creatures; there is no idea of redemption, of mediation, of adoption to sonship with God, of restoration to his image. The Divine omnipotence is represented as arbitrary, and as requiring an abject submission to its will. The duty of loving their brethren in the g Sale, 71-114. Koran, c. v. p. 89; Muir, ii. 183, 291-4. Koran. c. iii. p. 40, c. 19; Muir, ii. 277-282. Koran, c. iii. pp. 42-3; c. iv. pp. 80-1; c. v. pp. 92, 98; c. ix. pp. 152-3; c. xix. p. 251; c. xliii.; Gibbon, v. 2930; Weil, 190-3. Some later Mahometan teachers come nearer than Mahomet himself to the truth on this subject. (Forster, i. 366-8, 396-7; ii. 104.) A Jew, on embracing Mahometanism, is required, before admission, to profess belief in Jesus as the Christ. Ib. i. 367. m Koran, c. ii. pp. 6, 14, 17; c. iii. p. 46, &c. Yet see Muir's Introd. 72. " Koran, c. 61; Muir, i. 16-7; Möhler, 353-5. • See Neand. v. 117-9; Giesel. I. ii. 468. faith is strongly inculcated on the disciples of Islam; but their love is not to extend beyond this brotherhood; and the broad declarations which had held forth the hope of salvation, not only to Jews and Christians, but to Sabians, and to "whoever believeth in God and in the last day, and doeth that which is right," P were abrogated by oracles which denounced perdition against all but the followers of Islam. In other respects the new religion was unquestionably a great improvement on that which Mahomet found established among his countrymen. It benefited society by substituting a measure of justice for rude violence, and by abolishing the custom of putting female infants to death. The general tone of its morality is rather austere than (as it has sometimes been styled) licentious; instead of being condemned for his sanction of polygamy, Mahomet rather deserves credit for having limited the license which had before prevailed in this respect, although he retained an extreme and practically very mischievous facility of divorce; but it is one of the most damning traits in his character, that he declared himself to be exempt from the restrictions which he imposed on his disciples, and claimed for his laxity the sanction of pretended revelations.t On the merits of that enigmatical character it would be bold to give any confident opinion. The religious enmity by which it was formerly misrepresented appears to have little effect in our own time; we need rather to be on our guard against too favourable judgments, the offspring of a reaction against former prejudices, or of an affectation of novelty and paradox which in some cases appears to be not only deliberate but almost avowed. The latest and most complete evidence seems to prove that Mahomet was at first an honest enthusiast; as to the more doubtful part of his u P Koran, c. ii. p. 8; c. v. p. 92. It is, however, with some astonishment that I have read Col. Kennedy's words "Never was a purer religion propagated than his," p. 429. Caussin, i. 351; Muir, ii. 272. On the degradation of woman under the Mahometan system, and its general effect on family relations, see Döllinger, 20 seqq. See the Koran, c. xxiii. pp. 348-9; Gibbon, v. 66; Hallam, M. A. i. 476-7; Forster, i. 322-9; Weil, 400. As to the effects of polygamy, see Muir, iii. 234-5. Dr. Weil gives a false colouring to Mahomet's own license by speaking of it as a confession of weakness. If Mahomet had so represented it, others would have claimed indulgence on the same plea; it was therefore necessarily founded on a pretence of superiority. The caliphs and the rich Mussulmans in general extended the prophet's privilege to themselves. See Milman, i. 487; Muir, iii. 230-7. "See Sprenger, 185, and elsewhere; Muir, ch. iii. and vol. iv. 312-7. Col. Kennedy strongly denies that the prophet. was "an enthusiast or fanatic" (pp. 429, 445); but this denial becomes a truism when, after some definition of the word, we are told that "Fanaticism is peculiar to the Christians," p. 446. career, I must confess myself unable to enter into the views of his admirers; but I will not venture to judge whether he was guilty of conscious imposture, or was blindly carried along by the intoxication of the power which he had acquired and by the lust of extending it.* A.D. 611. b Mahomet had reached the age of forty before (in obedience, as he professed, to a heavenly vision) he announced himself as a prophet. At first he made proselytes slowly among his friends and near relations; he then by degrees attempted to publish his opinions in a wider circle. But his pretensions were disbelieved; he and his followers were persecuted by the Koreish, the tribe which was dominant in Mecca, and had possession of the Caaba ; and in 622 (the year in which Heraclius made his first campaign against the Persians) he fled to Yatreb (Medina)," where he had already contrived to form a party, and was received as a prince and a prophet. This flight (Hegira) is regarded as the great era in the prophet's life, and as the foundation of the Mahometan chronology. Hitherto he had endeavoured to spread his doctrines by persuasion only; but now that he was possessed of force, he was charged by revelation to use it for the propagation of the faith. His oracles became fierce and sanguinary. From leading his little bands of followers to attack caravans of merchants, he went on, as his strength increased, to more considerable enterprises; and in 630 he gained possession of Mecca, cleansed the Caaba of its idols, erected it into the great sanctuary of Islam, and united all the tribes of Arabia under his own dominion and in the profession of his religion. When his power had become considerable, Mahomet sent envoys to the emperor, to the king of Persia, and to other neighbouring * See Gibbon, v. 63-5; Schröckh, xix. 381; Milman, i. 454; Muir, iv. 318320, 322. y Koran, c. x. p. 168, c. 96; Caussin, i. 354. Weil, 49. Dr. Sprenger thinks that his first adherents were not indebted to him for their religious ideas, but were already in possession of them; that "the Islam is the offspring of the spirit of the time;" that Mahomet did no more than combine "the floating elements which had been imported or originated by others," while he polluted the system with his own "immorality and perverseness of mind," pp. 44, 174-5; cf. Caussin, i. 321-6. Against this see Muir, Introd. 239. e d Sale, 48-9, 142; Koran, c. xxii. &c. Muir, iii. 307-8. "In the Koran, victories are announced, success promised, actions recounted; failure is explained, bravery applauded, cowardice or disobedience chided; military or political movements are directed; and all this as an immediate communication from the Deity." Ib. 224. f Sale. 114; Gibbon, v. 54-7; Weil, 218; Caussin, iii. 227-234; Muir, iv. ch. 24, 27. princes, declaring his mission as "the Apostle of God," and requiring them to submit to the faith of Islam. Heraclius is said to have received the communication with respect; the Persian king contemptuously tore the letter in pieces; and Mahomet, on hearing of the act, exclaimed, "It is thus that God will tear from him his kingdom, and reject his supplications." " A.D. 628. The duty of fighting for Islam (for arms, and not argument, were to be the means for the conversion of all who should refuse to believe on a simple announcement of the faith") was binding on all its professors, except the sick and the feeble, the lame, the blind, and the poor; and, lest the believers should at any time rest satisfied with their conquests, Mahomet is said to have declared that wars for the propagation of the truth were not to cease until the coming of Antichrist. The fanaticism of the warriors was urged on by the inducements of rapine and of lust (for the limit which the Koran prescribed as to the number of concubines did not apply to captives or slaves). They were raised above regard for life by the conviction that they were doing God's will, by the belief of an absolute and irresistible predestination, and by the assurance of bliss in paradise "—a bliss which opened to the sensual unlimited gratifications with unlimited powers of enjoyment, while the martyrs and those who should die in the wars of the faith were moreover to be admitted to the transcendent and ineffable felicity of beholding the face of God at morning and at evening. Thus animated, the Moslem armies went forth with an enthusiasm which nothing could check. Their immense sacrifices of life in bloody battles and in long sieges were repaired by an unfailing succession of warriors. Before the death of Mahomet, which took place at Medina in 632,9 Kaled, "the Sword of God," had carried his arms into Syria. The energy of Heraclius was consumed by disease; Syria and Egypt, which he had reconquered from Chos n 8 Compare the Koran, c. xxx. p. 430; Sale, 53; Weil, 195, 198-9; Caussin, ii. 189; Muir, ii. 224. The interview with Heraclius was at Emesa, on his return from Persia, in 629 (Gibbon, v. 58). Chosroes II. is usually named as the king of Persia who received Mahomet's letter (ib. iv. 308); but Mr. Muir refers it to the reign of Siroes, who dethroned his father in 628, and died early in the following year. iv. 53-4. h Döllinger, 16. i Koran, c. xlvii.; c. xlviii. p. 414. * Muir, iv. 201. m Koran, c. xxiii. p. 281; Sale, 145-6; Muir, iii. 303. n Sale, 103, 133-7; Gibbon, v, 48-9; Wachsmuth, Allgem. Culturgeschichte, i. 517; Maurice on the Religions of the World, ed. 2, p. 23. • Koran, c. xxxvii. p. 367; c. xliv. 4 Gibbon, v. 61-3; Weil, 331. s Cedrenus, 430. Mr. Finlay (i. 431) shows that Gibbon is mistaken in supposing the emperor to have given himself up to indolence. X roes, were again wrested from the empire by the new enemy. In 637 Jerusalem fell into the hands of the caliph " Omar, who built a mosque on the site of the temple, and within a few years Persia, Khorasan, and part of Asia Minor were subdued. The internal quarrels of the prophet's followers suspended the progress of conquest only for a time. For years they threatened Constantinople itself, although their attempts were unsuccessful, and 668-677. ended in the caliph's submitting to tribute; and by the end of the century they took Carthage and became masters of the African provinces (A.D. 698).* A.D. a The progress of the Mahometan arms was favoured by the exhaustion of the empire and of Persia in the course of their recent wars. In Syria and Egypt the greater part of the inhabitants were Nestorians or Monophysites, depressed by the imperial laws, and ready to welcome the enemies of the Byzantine court as deliverers. And the conquerors, although indifferent to the distinctions of Christian parties for their own sake, were glad to encourage and to profit by this feeling. While they drove out the Greek orthodox from Egypt, and kept down the Melchites, they favoured the sects which were opposed to Rome and to Constantinople. While war was waged without mercy against idolaters, the "people of the book "--Jews and Christians—as professors of true, although defective, religions, were allowed to live as tributaries in the conquered lands. But the oppressions to which they were subjected, the advantages offered to converts, and perhaps C This word means successor (of the prophet). Ockley, i. 229; Gibbon, v. 123-4; Milman, ii. 41. I do not venture any opinion as to the truth of Mr. Fergusson's theory, which identifies what is popularly styled the Mosque of Omar with the church built by Constantine over the Holy Sepulchre (see vol. i. 188). This building is called by Mahometans "The Dome of the Rock," while they give the name of Omar to a small mosque at the south-east corner of the site of the Temple. Fergusson, in Smith's Bibl. Dictionary, art. "Jerusalem;" and Defence against the Edinburgh Review,' Lond. 1860. 66 See the Koran, c. ix.-the lastrevealed chapter. But Christians are in it charged with idolatry, inasmuch as 'they take their priests and monks [i.e. saints] for Gods, and Christ, the son of Mary, although they are commanded to worship one God." pp. 152-3; Muir, iv. 211-2. e Koran, c. ix. p. 152. The feeling towards Christians, however, afterwards became more bitter. (Döllinger, 14.) As to Mahomet's relations with the Jews, see Muir, iii. 32-8, 288-294. See the capitulation of Jerusalem, in Milman, i. 482-3. |