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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14064-0.txt b/14064-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06376ba --- /dev/null +++ b/14064-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1214 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14064 *** + +MOHAMMED + +A Popular Essay on the Life of the Prophet of Islam + +by + +H. E. E. HAYES + + + + + + + + There is no God but God, + and Mohammed is the Apostle of God. + + (_Moslem Creed._) + + + + + + +Price 3d. post free, +From "Hythe House" +Greenhithe, Kent. + + ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| If you are interested in Missionary work in Moslem lands, | +| read the | +| | +| "MOSLEM WORLD," | +| | +| A quarterly review of current events, literature, and | +| thought among Mohammedans; and the progress of Christian | +| Missions in Moslem lands. | +| | +| Edited by | +| | +| SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D. | +| | +| Published by the Christian Literature Society for India | +| 35 John Street, Bedford Row, London, W.C. | +| | +| Sent post free 1s. per copy or 4s. per annum. | +| | +| SEND YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW. | +| | ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| READ ALSO THE | +| | +| Egypt General Mission News | +| | +| Published bi-monthly by the EGYPT GENERAL MISSION, | +| 10 Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N. | +| 1s. per annum post free. | +| | +| This Magazine gives a current account of Mission work | +| amongst the Moslems of Egyptian villages. | +| | +| PRAY FOR ALL CHRISTIAN WORK AMONGST MOSLEMS | +| | +| | ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +So-called Moslem missionaries are spreading through the Press such +idealistic and false views of the religion and character of Mohammed, +that we need to be on our guard against them. + +Unbiased historians have stated that there is much that is deplorable +in the life of the prophet of Islam. And it is certain that his +teaching has increased the degradation of the nations that have come +under its influence. + +Much of the literature that is being circulated in England by the +"Moslem missionaries," claims that Moslem women are better off, so far +as property rights go, than their Christian sisters. However true this +may be, it does not lift them out of the degradation of polygamy and +concubinage, with a capricious system of divorce, which makes them the +victims of the selfish baseness of their husbands and masters, which +Mohammed himself sanctioned. + +The following essay, it is hoped, will help to counteract the false +ideas that are being scattered abroad, and lead those who read to +study more deeply the problems and sorrows of millions of the Moslem +subjects of our Gracious King. + +The prayers of all Christians are asked on behalf of these millions, +and for those who labour to preach the "unsearchable riches of Christ" +amongst them. + +H.E.E. HAYES. + +GREENHITHE: + +July, 1914. + + + + +MOHAMMED + +The Prophet of Islam. + +By H.E.E. HAYES. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Just as the character of Jesus is stamped upon the religion which +originated in His Person, so is the character of Mohammed impressed +upon the system which he, with marvellous ingenuity, founded. The +practical influence of Islam upon individual lives produces results +that reflect unmistakably the character of its founder, and a careful +study of the tenets of the system in relation to its history enable +the student to estimate the real worth of the man. + +As the Apostle of God, Mohammed is the ideal of every true Moslem. His +life is the standard by which the lives of his followers are tested, +although he himself confesses that his life was not holy. In the +Koran, and the earlier traditions, he is pictured as being in no way +better than his fellows, and as weak and liable to error as the +poorest of his contemporaries. Yet later tradition minimises his +faults and weakness, and surrounds his person with a halo of glory +that makes him appear sinless and almost divine. All the doubtful +incidents of his life are either eliminated and ignored, or +assiduously supported and defended by his pious, misguided followers. + +It is a point in his favour that he never claimed infallibility for +his actions or opinions; and his habit of attempting to cover or +justify his glaring faults by suitable revelations, although +indefensibly immoral, reveals the fact that he was conscious of his +own shortcomings. When he was at the zenith of his power, "revelation" +became merely an instrument of self glorification, licensing him in +every whim and fancy, because it gave him, as the prophet of God, +exemption from all law and order. His scheme was characteristically +ingenious and immoral. Had he known of the divine effulgence with +which he was afterwards encircled by his fanatical followers, he +would, in all probability, have strongly discountenanced it. The +incongruous sanctity with which his commonplace utterances and petty +actions were invested would have caused fear lest it became derogatory +to his creed of divine unity. + + + +TRADITION. + + +As a source of information, the traditions are obviously unreliable, +for they are coloured by the excessive zeal and irrational bias of +men whose judgment was warped by irrepressible fanaticism. They +attributed to their hero elements that are grotesquely impossible. His +advent was in their estimation, so portentous that it was celebrated +by events which, for the time, upset all natural law. And his whole +life has been linked with miraculous happenings of a most ludicrous +type. More reasonable men have exalted the prophet because they have +convinced themselves that he was what he ought to have been. This may +account for the pious confidence of some of the more intelligent, who, +accepting tradition as historical, have exalted their hero to the +ideal, and have received the imagined glory as real. This tendency to +exalt their master is well illustrated by the maxim of Shafy--"In the +exaltation of Mohammed it is lawful to exaggerate"--a maxim invaluable +to men who were seeking to glorify the prophet, and the usefulness of +which was fully appreciated by the legislators and doctors when they +were called upon to cope with the new relations and exigencies that +came into being after his death. The conquests and progress of Islam +necessitated almost daily the framing of new rules, while in the +application of the old, constant modification and adaptation were +required. To meet these needs, actual or supposed sayings and actions +of the prophet were eagerly sought after, and, in time, with the +growth of a professional body of traditionalists, all legitimate +sources being exhausted, that which was doubtful, and even disputed, +was accepted as authentic and reliable. Imagination augmented the +legitimate springs of information, and the result was an exhaustive +accumulation of precedents for every possible circumstance. + +Sprenger, in his essay on "Tradition," regarding the value and nature +of the material needed for compiling a life of Mohammed, says: + + "During the stir and activity of the first sixty years, thousands + and thousands occupied themselves with handing down traditions. In + every mosque they committed them to memory, and rehearsed them in + every social gathering. All such knowledge was the common property + of the nation; it was learned by heart and transmitted orally. It + possessed, therefore, in the highest possible degree, the elements + of life and plasticity. Bunson has discovered the divinity of the + Bible in its always having been the people's book. If this + criterion be decisive, then no religion has better claim to be + called the 'vox Dei,' because none is in so full a sense the 'vox + populi.' The creations of the period we have been considering + possess this character for hundreds of millions of our fellow men; + for modern Islamism is as far removed from the spirit in which the + Coran was composed, as Catholicism is from the spirit of the + Gospel; and modern Islamism is grounded upon tradition. But in + tradition we find nothing but the Ideal, Invention, Fancy, + Historical facts, however they may have been floating among the + people in the days if Ibn 'Abbas, and the other founders of + genealogy, were trodden under feet, because men wished to remove + every barrier which stood in the way of self-glorification. And of + the thousand inventions which every day gave birth to, only those + were recognised as true which most flattered the religious and + national pride ..." + +He also goes on to say: + + "The time of creative activity, the gestation era of Moslem + knowledge, passed away. Hajjaj choked the young life in its own + blood, and the Abbaside dynasty, with kingly patriotism, sold the + dearly-bought conquests of the nation, first to the Persians, and + then to Turkish slaves, with the view of procuring an imaginary + security for their throne. And thus there arose for the spiritual + life also a new period. Already Wackidi had begun to work up into + shape the mass of his traditionary stores, and busy himself in the + department of scholastic industry. In the schools one could as + little affect now the material tradition, or alter its nature, as + attempt to change the organism of the new-born child. However + arbitrary might be the invention of the 'Miraj' (Mahomed's heavenly + journey), and other fabrications of the first century, they still + formed in this way the positive element and soul of religious, + political and social life. The schools, as always, confined their + exertions to collecting, comparing, abbreviating, systematising, + and commenting. The material was altogether divine; and any + unprejudiced historical inquiry, any simple and natural + interpretation of the Coran, any free judgment on tradition or its + origin, was condemned as apostasy. The only task that remained was + to work up, in scholastic form, the existing material; and in this + way was developed a literature of boundless dimensions, which yet + at bottom possessed nothing real. The whole spiritual activity of + the Mohamedans, from the time of the prophet to the present day, is + a dream; but it is a dream in which a large portion of the human + race have lived; and it has all the interest which things relating + to mankind always possess for man." + +Sir William Muir agrees with these views, subject to two +considerations. He says:-- + + "The tendency to glorify Mohammed and the reciters of the + traditions was considerably modified by the mortal strife which + characterised the factions that opposed one another at the period, + where, in attempting to depreciate one another, they would not be + averse to perpetuating traditions in support of their contentions; + such partisanship secured no insignificant body of historical fact, + which otherwise would have been lost." + +He also points out that in a state of society circumscribed and +dwarfed by the powerful Islamic system, which proscribed the free +exercise of thought and discussion, tradition can scarcely be said to +be the "vox populi." The growth and development of tradition, the +flagrant distortion of historical fact, the ethical code of Islam, may +well give rise to a questioning of the validity of the prophet's +arrogant claims, and by their very methods of defence the apologists +of Islam exhibit its weakness and inadequacy to meet the religious +needs of man. The natural bias of Mohammed is evident throughout the +Coran. His conceptions of God, of the future life, and of the duty of +man, are all influenced by his consuming master passion. In all his +writings there are lacking those characteristics which distinguish the +true prophet--the messenger of God--from those to whom he is sent. +This will be apparent by contrasting his views with those of any of +the Old Testament prophets. They were eminently men prepared for their +high calling by lofty yet practical communion with God--men whose +message was inspired by a vision of Divine Majesty, and an impressive +conception of the justice and awful purity of Jehovah. Men who called +the nation to righteousness of life by a stirring appeal to +conscience, and an unfaltering denunciation of the evils of the time. +Their spiritual aspirations, therefore, by far surpass the loftiest +ideals of the prophet of Islam, while their ethical conceptions +infinitely transcend all that Mohammed dreamed of. The voice of the +Eternal is clearly heard in the earnest utterances that fell from +their lips, and through all their prophecies the willingness of Divine +Mercy to reason with men in spite of their erring ways, is apparent. + +Three characteristic elements are perceived in their preaching--a very +keen and practical conscience of sin; an overpowering vision of God; +and a very sharp perception of the politics of their day. Of these +elements, Mohammed's teaching possesses only the last. + + + +MOHAMMED'S CONCEPTION OF GOD + + +His conception of God is essentially deistical. The intimate personal +communion, so characteristic of the Old Testament, is unknown and +unrealised: hence there is little, if anything, in his system that +tends to draw men nigh to God. Attempts to remedy this characteristic +defect have been vainly made by the dervish orders, which, while +acknowledging the claims of Mohammed and his book, have introduced +methods not sanctioned by the system, by which they attempt to find +the communion with the Unseen, for which their souls crave. These +methods are very much akin to the efforts of the devotees of Hinduism. +There is, therefore, lacking amongst Moslems that need which grows out +of personal relationship with the Divine--that need which leads to +moral transformation and spiritual intensity on the part of those who +enjoy such fellowship. The Creator exists apart from His handiwork. He +has predetermined the actions of men. They are destined to eternal +bliss or destruction by an Inflexible Will, so that there is no need +for Divine Interference in their affairs. "God is in His heaven, and +the world is working out its end according to His unalterable decree." + +Because of this gross conception, Palgrave has designated the system +"The Pantheism of Force," and says: + + "Immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from all + creatures, which he levelled before Him on one common plane of + instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of + omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, + standard or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He + communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and + act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from + them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and + from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no + pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature ever its + fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude + and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which + employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to + honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of + their individual fitness, deserts, or advantages, and simply + because 'He wills it,' and 'as He wills it ...' + + "One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this + uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything + like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, + for He has, with respect to His creatures, one main feeling and + source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should + perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, + and thus encroach on His all engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever + more prone to punish than to reward; to inflict pain than to bestow + pleasure; to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to + let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than + His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also; that thus they + may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to + be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will + above their will, His pride above their pride--or, rather, that + there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own. + + "But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving + nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without + son, companion, or counsellor, is no less barren of Himself than + for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in + Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding + despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and + the primal idea of God runs through and modifies the whole system + and creed that centres in Him." + +Contrast this summary with the teaching of the Old Testament prophets, +the following quotations of which are but a small sample:-- + + "Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your + sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be + red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + + "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye + comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is + accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned." + + "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord has + anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me + to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, + and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, etc." + + "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, saith + the Lord." + + "Who is a god like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth + by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth + not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will + turn again; He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our + iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the + sea." + + "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord + require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk + humbly with thy God." + + "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He + knoweth them that trust in Him." + +In the light of such lofty teaching, the conceptions of Mohammed +appear gross and degraded. His asceticism and contemplation never +brought him a vision of God that overwhelmed him and purified as by +fire. He knew the Creator only from what he heard from the lips of +sinful, ignorant men, whose ideas of Deity were base and ignoble. +These ideas, and the passions that made up such a large portion of his +life, obscured his vision, warped his judgment, and led him to +postulate a God that inhabited not a Holy Spiritual Realm, but a +grossly carnal and sensuous paradise. + +Millions have been brought beneath his sway because his system panders +to the natural inclinations of man. Spiritual insight is blinded by +carnal desire; conduct is influenced by unbridled license; bigotry and +hatred are fostered by his policy of intoleration; and his followers +are enslaved by a tyranny that blights the reason, because it +discountenances inquiry, and places an insurmountable barrier in the +way of all human progress. + +In studying the life of Mohammed, the cause of his failure to uplift +humanity will be clearly seen. His early sincerity, if sincerity it +can be named, was absorbed by his consuming ambition. Had it been +otherwise he might have had his name inscribed with the honourable +ones of the earth--those men whose claims are ratified by their happy +effects. As it is, his name is linked with those whose deeds cause a +shudder of horror and repulsion to all who love honesty, purity, and +truth. + + + + +I.--EARLY LIFE. + + +Mohammed was born in Mecca, a town in Arabia, about seventy miles +inland from the Red Sea. His father, who died 570 A.D., a few months +before the child was born, was a member of the Banu Hashim clan. His +family, although well connected, was a humble one, possessing but +little wealth. On the death of his mother some six years later, the +child was taken by his grandfather, 'ABD-EL-MUTTALIB, who took care of +him for two years. Then he was adopted by his uncle, ABU TALIB, who +employed him to look after his flocks and herds. + +From his earliest years, Mohammed must have been brought into contact +with the religious life of Mecca, for his grandfather was custodian of +the Kaaba, or temple, and would frequently take the boy with him on +his official visits to the place. The numerous images of the gods set +up in the temple would be familiar objects to the future prophet, +whose iconoclastic zeal was eventually to bring about their +destruction. His lonely shepherd life favoured the cultivation of the +contemplative habits of his manhood, and played no unimportant part in +the development of those characteristics which eminently fitted him +for the life he was to lead. Nature had endowed him with the essential +abilities of a commander of men, and his early environment provided a +training that enabled him to exercise those gifts most advantageously. + +The population of Arabia at this time consisted of numerous +independent nomadic tribes, who were often at enmity one with another. +Political unity there was none, while each tribe had its own patron, +or god, which was considered to be responsible for everything +concerning the tribe's welfare. Where tribes were united, or at peace, +there the individual gods were supposed to be friendly. Even in Mecca, +which for many years had been occupied by a settled community, there +was no political or judicial organisation. The existing order was +maintained by a form of patriarchal government, under which system it +was possible for the head of a tribe or clan, to protect the life of +any individual he chose to befriend. + +The religious beliefs and customs were evidently gross materialistic +corruptions of what had once been a purely spiritual worship. Mohammed +had been preceded by men who had from time to time, in spite of the +moral and intellectual darkness, been so endowed with spiritual +perception as to recognise and bewail the hollowness and degradation +of the Pagan system. Some, indeed, had been conscientious enough to +utter words of condemnation; others had gone so far as to despise and +ridicule its claims. So that when Mohammed was born the people were in +a condition of religious uncertainty. Many elements contributed to +this unrest. Travellers learned that the more prosperous nations had +rejected the age long sanctions of Paganism; earnest, thoughtful men +could not but recognise its inadequacy to satisfy the religious +aspirations of their fellows; Jews and Christians, who had settled in +the country, had introduced views that appealed to those who were +dissatisfied with the old methods of thought; while the need for +social and political unity called for a force that would unite the +scattered tribes in the pursuit of common ideals. Thus was the land +prepared for the mighty revolution that was to come--a revolution that +made one great nation of the various tribes, and turned their warlike +instincts and characteristic fanaticism, which before had been +dissipated by wasteful internecine strife, into one definite channel, +until it became a menace to the whole world. A change so potent, that, +in the lifetime of one man, it was able to obliterate partly by +absorption, and chiefly by annihilation, the sanctions and beliefs of +centuries, and which fostered a hatred so bitter, and a brotherhood so +strong, between man and man, that by its sanction the dearest, +tenderest, and strongest ties of humanity have been broken, while +those who for years had lived in enmity were united in bonds stronger +than death. Under its malevolent influence, children have ruthlessly +slain their parents, believing that thus would they merit heaven. And +men of different race have fought side by side under one banner, +hurling themselves with fanatical heroism upon their enemies, +believing that to die in such a way meant the winning of an immortal +crown. + +During his boyhood, Mohammed had plenty of opportunities for observing +the condition of affairs, and, thanks to his privilege of travelling +with the caravans, was even able to notice the contrast between the +conditions of his own people and those of the more peaceable, +prosperous nations. He frequently attended upon his uncle in the +fighting that often occurred between the tribes, and so gained the +knowledge of military strategy which proved to be so useful at a later +time. Margoliouth suggests that the two most important lessons the +"prophet" learned at this time were the necessity of settling affairs +of blood by some expedient less wasteful, and more satisfactory than +that which was illustrated by the war of Fizar, and that war should be +regarded not as a game, but as a mode of obtaining decisive results. + +The varied experiences he passed through on his caravan journeys did +much to influence his future policy; indeed, it appears that all +influences brought to bear upon his early life were forces that +moulded and equipped him for the office he was to fill. He was keenly +observant, and wonderfully accurate in his inferences, especially in +his estimate of the characters of men with whom he had to deal. He +seemed to lack initiative, for he was always reluctant to take action +in any important undertaking; but once the initial step was taken, he +pressed forward with indomitable courage. In his business transactions +he proved himself to be shrewd and tactful, and by his fidelity, +patience, and self-confidence, gained the respect and esteem of his +immediate fellows. + +Khadijah, a rich widow, having entrusted Mohammed with the control of +an important caravan, and finding how admirably he had performed his +part, wisely concluded that her interests would be furthered if he had +a share in them. Hence their marriage, which happy arrangement proved +to be mutually blessed and successful. It vastly improved Mohammed's +social standing, raising him to a position of equality with the +leading men of the city. For many years he was content to live quietly +as an ordinary citizen, engrossed in the accumulation of wealth by +legitimate trading. + + + + +II.--THE "CALL" TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE. + + +It has not been recorded how first he began to yield to the impulses +that eventually led him to assume the role of reformer, but it is +certain that at the age of forty he was the leader of a secret +society, which had for its object the political and religious unity of +the Arab people. He knew that far-reaching changes were necessary in +every department of national policy before his ideal could be +realised. Unity was the secret of power and prosperity. This he had +learned through contact with other nations. His dealing with Jews and +Christians had given rise to a deep appreciation of the value of a +monotheistic faith in the consolidation of a people, and he was +convinced that political unity would be achieved only where there was +religious unity. With masterly insight he laid his plans accordingly, +and because of the extreme conservatism was obliged to formulate them +in strict secrecy. Unfortunately, owing to his untrustworthy sources +of information, his policy was founded upon false bases. His distorted +conception of truth led him to establish a system of false philosophy +and theology so framed as to allow of no alteration or adaptation. In +his elaboration of the system, he depended much upon his own +meditative habits, and no doubt thought it all out in the loneliness +of the mountains, to which he frequently retired for the observance of +certain ascetic customs of the Pagans. Thus his scheme of reform +crystallised into definite shape, and his call to the prophetic office +became a fixed idea. + +He felt certain that success lay in the determined proclamation of one +god as opposed to the many of the Arab pantheon, and the more he +pondered over this Being, of whom he had heard from the Jews and +Christians, the greater became his certainty. God was supreme and +omnipotent; of that there could be no doubt. But how to convince the +people was a difficulty that needed much careful thought and cautious +propagation. Jews and Christians could boast of prophets--of men +inspired to speak with the voice of God--but the Arabs had had no one +who had spoken with such authority. Why had they been so neglected? +Surely they needed to hear the Divine voice, and that need was never +greater than now, when all was unrest and dissention. Where was the +man who would fill the office? Who would be willing to face the odds, +and declare against evil by proclaiming the good and the true? Such +must have been the questions that exercised Mohammed's mind. Then came +the thought--"Why should not I be the messenger?" And this so grew +upon him that he was convinced of his "call." The possession of this +idea made him sincere in his purpose at first, but after the tide had +turned in his favour, that sincerity was marred--nay, eclipsed--by an +inflated notion of self-importance, and a consuming ambition to which +every virtue and good feeling was subordinated, until at last he was +able, with superb arrogance, to bracket his name with Deity, making +the confession of his claim as important as the confession of the +Unity of God. Wherein his inconsistency and falsity is chiefly +apparent, for confession of Unity is insufficient without recognition +of Mohammed's apostleship! + +Ascetic practices tend to lead to physical disorders, which generally +upset the mind and lead to mental and moral distemper. Judgment is +warped because the functions of the mind are thrown out of gear. The +varied departments of consciousness act with ungoverned caprice, with +the result that fantastical fancies and visions are interpreted to be +realties, which become misleading and deceptive. Thus may be explained +the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to Mohammed, but it can hardly be +conceived that it will account for the ingenious method of revelation +which he received. Some people believe it to have been inspired by +Satan; it must ever remain a matter of speculation. + +The necessity of a _piecemeal_ revelation could not at this time have +been apparent to the prophet. But we may give him the credit of the +policy of abrogation which he afterwards adopted, for such a policy +was necessary to enable him to cover or justify his actions which, +like those of even the best of men, were marked by inconsistency. + + + + +III.--BIRTH OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY. + + +Being firmly convinced of his call, Mohammed, with characteristic +caution, began to propagate his principles, for years being content to +deal secretly with individuals, beginning with those of his own +household. His wife acknowledged and encouraged his claim, and +gradually he gathered around him an increasing circle of devoted +followers, some of whom had more confidence in him and his pretensions +than he had himself. This was particularly true of ABU BAKR, a rich +and popular merchant of Mecca, who, having acknowledged the claims of +the prophet, followed him with implicit obedience and unwavering +devotion. He threw himself whole-heartedly into the work of +proselytising, and the progress of early days, although slow, was +largely due to his indefatigable energy. + +As the membership of the new society increased, rules were framed, +based upon the "revelations" which Mohammed now periodically received, +and each member was compelled to subscribe to the most stringent +regulations. Idolatry was strongly condemned and the unity of God +emphatically asserted. Certain Jewish and Christian religious +ordinances were imposed as a condition of membership, while unswerving +loyalty to the prophet was demanded. License was given to the members +to practice outwardly the old rites and ceremonies of Paganism, in +order to arouse no suspicion, but the existence of such a society, in +spite of all precautions, could not long remain unnoticed, and the +time came when the prophet and his followers were compelled to make +public confession of their faith. Persecution followed, in which the +poorer members suffered more than their richer brethren. Mohammed +himself received the protection of the head of his clan, and for eight +or ten years carried on a campaign of words. Margoliouth, in his life +of Mohammed, likens the prophet to a player in a game of cards, who, +having received a good hand, plays his cards with consummate skill. He +took advantage of every opportunity in strengthening his position, and +having a clear-cut policy before him, subordinated everything to its +furtherance. He was a powerful preacher, but owing to his ungovernable +temper, was not so successful in debate; hence he produced a +"revelation" forbidding him to engage in public controversy! He showed +great diligence in seeking information that enabled him to produce his +revelations in a style consistent with his claims. Being entirely +dependent on hearsay, he obtained but a sadly distorted account of +truth. The Koran is full of glaring errors, which, for centuries, have +baffled the ingenuity of the Moslem doctors. Yet the prophet +presumptuously claimed that his, being the last "revelation," was the +most important, and more reliable, and the differences that were +apparent were due to the corruption in time of the text of the former +"revelations"--_i.e._, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures! + +He was evidently much perplexed by the divisions and controversies +that existed within the Christian Church, and considered that the +images and pictures then in use were little better than the idols of +his own people. With no means of testing and verifying his knowledge, +he accepted all that tended to enhance his own position, and his chief +regret seems to have been his inability, in reply to the taunts of his +enemies, to point to any element of the miraculous in his career. In +the revelations, he frequently expressed views and opinions which +flatly contradicted what he had formerly stated, and when challenged +as to his inconsistency, defended it by claiming that it was not he +who had changed his mind, but God, whose ways no man could question or +understand! + +In time, the position of the new sect became so intolerable that many +were compelled to flee, and numbers went into Abyssinia, where they +were well received. Mohammed himself, thanks to his relatives' +protection, could still afford to remain in Mecca. In spite of the +opposition, his influence gradually increased, and was considerably +strengthened by the conversion of Omar, a citizen famed for his skill +in military strategy and courage. Not long afterwards, Khadijah, the +prophet's wife died. She had wielded a strong, healthy influence over +her husband, and had cheered him on in times of discouragement and +failure. Islam owes not a little to her life and influence, and were +it more widely recognised, might possibly lead to an improvement of +the position of the poor unfortunate daughters of the system, who are +enslaved and degraded to a saddening degree. After Khadijah's death, +Mohammed took full advantage of the polygamous sanctions of Paganism, +and even abused the privilege when it conflicted with his own +inclinations. Margoliouth attempts to defend the many marriages on the +ground of political expediency, which may be conceded in only a few +cases. In most instances they were due to selfish desire and +inordinate affection. Particularly is this true in the case of the +prophet's marriage with his adopted son's wife, which was a gross +violation of Arab law. + +On the death of his protector, Mohammed was compelled to seek refuge +elsewhere, but not before he had made inconsistent concessions to the +pagan leaders. In these concessions he retreated entirely from the +strong iconoclastic attitude he had hitherto adopted, going so far as +to produce a revelation that claimed to reconcile the One True God to +the gods of the Pagan pantheon. This compromise, no matter how wise +and statesmanlike it may appear to be, clearly indicates the falsity +of Mohammed's claim, and enables us to estimate the value of his +pretensions. His action was strongly condemned by many of his +followers, and probably under the influence of their opinion, he +produced an apologetic revelation abrogating the concession, and +admitting it to have been a mistake! + +He endeavoured to escape the persecution in Mecca by taking refuge in +Taif, but was so badly treated there when his views became known, that +he was glad to return, and upon promising to confine his proselytising +efforts to strangers, was allowed to stay under the protection of one +of the leading citizens. He carried on his work among strangers with +such success, that before long a strong community had grown up in the +town of Medinah. The rapid increase of this section of his disciples +may be accounted for by the very unsettled condition of the place. +Civil and religious strife had been for a long time aggravated by the +aggressive attitude of a large section of Jews, so that circumstances +were more favourable to the reception and growth of Islam than in +Mecca, where there was more peaceful organisation, and where the +existence of the ancient Kaaba, or dwelling place of the gods, made +men more jealous of their old religion. + +In the appointment of a man to lead the new community, Mohammed +exhibited his characteristic insight into the abilities of men. He +selected a follower thoroughly convinced of his master's claims, whose +zeal in the earlier days had led him to forsake friends and family by +flight into Abyssinia--a man full of enthusiasm and energy. In a +comparatively short time the new religion became quite popular, and +idolatry was despised. An incident indicative of the progress is seen +in the visit of seventy of the Medinah disciples to Mohammed in Mecca. +They met him secretly in the mountains, by night, and made solemn, +binding vows of allegiance, in which they promised "to fight men of +all colour in order to defend the faith." It is highly probable that +at this meeting the prophet was invited to join them in Medinah, but +for the present he preferred his native town. + +Somehow the story of the night meeting leaked out, with the result +that persecution was redoubled, and many of the less wealthy followers +were forced to flee to Medinah. They were there well received and +cared for, and were afterwards honoured by being designated the +"refugees," while those who received them were similarly honoured in +being named the "helpers." Thus the brotherhood of believers insisted +on by Mohammed began to assume practical form, and men of different +tribes were united in one common bond--a brotherhood so powerful that +its enemies in Mecca were filled with alarm. They had no longer to +deal with a man whose views could be despised. They were menaced by a +growing force that threatened to overwhelm them. Steps were taken to +overthrow the danger, and elaborate arrangements were made for the +assassination of the prophet. He somehow obtained news of the plot, +and escaped the would-be murderers, who came while he was supposed to +be in bed, by climbing through a window. Accompanied by the faithful +Abu Bakr and a few of his more intimate followers, he made his way to +one of the mountain caves, where he stayed until the immediate danger +had passed. Then the little company commenced the journey to Medinah, +a task so fraught with danger and hardship that Mohammed shrank from +it, in spite of the Meccan evil, and was compelled to attempt it only +by the pressure of his friends. + +The facts concerning his entry into Medinah are obscure and uncertain, +but there is no doubt that his advent was hailed with delight by the +"helpers" and "refugees." Hospitality was freely offered, and, owing +to the prophet's independent spirit, reluctantly accepted. One of his +earliest actions after arrival was to consolidate his forces by +strengthening the brotherhood, making the obligations of his followers +to one another, and himself, more binding than the ties of blood. + + + + +IV.--GROWTH AND PROGRESS. + + +He now found himself the acknowledged head of a large growing community, +which looked to him for guidance in all its affairs--religious, social, +and political. Proudly, and with true Eastern despotism, he took upon +himself the dignities of prophet, priest, and king. He needed no one with +whom to share these functions. His was the sole right--his alone. His +ambitions were being realised. The striving of years, the disappointment, +doubts, and fears that had so tormented him were well repaid, and could be +forgotten in the glamour that now surrounded him. Enthusiastic and +fanatical votaries crowded around him with loyal acclamation. Pampered and +petted with excessive adulation, can it be wondered that he had visions of +power hitherto undreamed of? His scheme of national reform paled into +insignificance in the light of possibility. He saw himself the leader of a +world-wide conquest--the promoter of a prodigious scheme of universal +reform. He was not merely the messenger of the Arab people, but the +mouthpiece of God to the whole wide world. And by the Divine Power that +possessed him would receive the humble homage of proud and mighty nations, +whose haughty monarchs would bow in lowly submission to his imperious +will! Prophetic insight, regal authority, judicial administration were his +by divine right, to be enforced, if needs be, at the point of the Islamic +sword. + +As his position improved, so his ideals deteriorated. His early piety +was modified by the lust of worldly power. In place of patient pacific +methods of propagation, he adopted a cruel, ruthless, warlike policy, +and it was not long--perhaps owing to the extreme poverty which +afflicted the new community--before the would-be prophet became the +leader of a robber host. Yet even in spite of the glamour that +surrounded him, and the questionable behaviour that characterised this +period of his life, we catch occasional glimpses of that which reveals +the working of nobler instincts in his mind. Had his environment been +other than it was, Mohammed had been indeed a hero in the world's +history. Ignorance of truth led him to place himself under the +mysterious power of hallucination. The lonely brooding of the cave had +produced that which had urged him into a position of bondage. He was +the slave of a false idea, which so possessed him that he pressed +onward, in spite of all that stood in his way, whether it was good or +bad. It exerted an irresistible influence over all his impulses, +leading him into actions in every way indefensible. When fair means +failed, he adopted foul, and so succeeded beyond his highest dreams. + +The first Mosque, or meeting place, was built very soon after his +arrival in Medinah, and he entered upon his priestly functions. As a +matter of policy, he adopted many of the Jewish rites. These, however, +he soon changed, for as the number of his followers increased, and he +grew more and more independent of Jewish aid, he made every effort to +show his natural aversion to the ancient people, who scorned his +prophetic pretensions. In place of praying towards Jerusalem, his +followers were commanded to turn their faces towards Mecca. The Fast +of Atonement was abolished in favour of the month of Ramadan, while in +substitution for the Jewish rite of sacrifice, the pagan slaying of +victims was observed. + +A considerable difference is to be noticed between the "revelations" +of this period and those of Mecca. The latter were concerned with +denunciations of idolatry; proofs of the Divine unity and attributes; +legendary stories, and occasional lurid pictures of heaven and hell. +The former are generally of a legislative character, mingled with the +domestic affairs of the prophet, and guidance as to his military +policy. The method of recording them, too, seems to have been +systematised, for it is certain that a body of professional scribes +were engaged in this work, and evidence is not wanting to show that +these scribes were allowed to express the revelations in their own +particular style. Discrepancies and inconsistencies abounded, but +Mohammed seems to have allowed that he was not responsible, and to +have stated that God had a perfect right to alter as He pleased, and +even to apologise for errors! The policy of abrogation has its +sanction in the text, "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we give thee better in their stead, or the like thereof." + +In his warlike policy, the prophet's strategy reflects most +discreditably upon his character, everything that was honourable and +virtuous being sacrificed to the passion for conquest. When he needed +help, he pretended friendship to those he hated; and then, becoming +strong enough to be independent, did not hesitate, upon the slightest +provocation or pretext, to turn his sword against them. This is +particularly true of his treatment of the Jews, whom he at first +befriended, but afterwards treated with barbarous injustice. + +Within a very few months of their arrival in Medinah, the need of some +method of support, other than the charity of the helpers, presented +itself. The number of refugees was still increasing, and the demand +for the ordinary necessities of life exceeded the supply. Mohammed, to +his credit, shared the misery of his followers, and proved himself to +be generous even when in want. In order to meet the need, the policy +of despoiling the wealthy Meccan caravans was conceived, and carried +out with some degree of success. The prophet at first exhibited a +feeling of repugnance against such warfare, especially when the +ancient pacific regulations of certain sacred months were violated. +But the benefits of the revenue accruing led him, some time +afterwards, to produce revelations sanctioning hostilities even in the +sacred months. The early successes provided the community with more +wealth than was needed, and, arousing the avarice of many of those who +were opposed to the prophet, led them to throw in their lot with him. +Having seared his conscience by acknowledging the righteousness of the +robber policy, it was easy for him to persuade himself that it was all +part of the purpose of God to prosper his claims. All who would not +acknowledge him were the enemies of God, and had no rights to property +or to life. He began to preach the holiness of war against all +unbelievers. He fanned the avaricious fanaticism of his followers into +a flame of religious enthusiasm, and they became soldier priests, +whose deaths on the battlefield were glorious martyrdoms, which gave +them immediate entrance into a paradise where all their inclinations +could be indulged to an unlimited degree. It is not to be wondered +that an army of such men could put three times their number of Meccans +not so inspired to flight. This is what actually happened in the +battle of Badr. Mohammed had received news of the possibility of +capturing a particularly rich Meccan caravan, and decided to make the +attempt. News of his plans reached the Meccans, who determined to +frustrate, if possible, the designs of their enemy. A thousand men +were rapidly organised into a defensive and punitive force, and sent +out to overwhelm the three hundred Moslems. They were by no means +skilled in military strategy, little better than a disorderly horde; +whereas the Moslems, under the masterly guidance of Mohammed, seem to +have exhibited clever organisation. It has been said that the rigid +prayer ritual enforced by Mohammed, at the risk of Divine punishment, +had a disciplinary effect, and produced results very similar to those +obtained by military drill. The Meccan host was put to flight, +discipline, and steadfastness of purpose determined the victory. The +Moslems returned to Medinah, carrying in triumph many prisoners, and +considerable booty. The revelation produced after this, speaks of it +as the "Day of deliverance," and Mohammed rejoices because the stigma +of powerlessness to show evidence of miracle in his life, is removed, +for he accounts for the victory by direct intervention of God in his +favour. The effect of the victory on the surrounding tribes was highly +favourable to the prophet. Many of the chiefs sought to ally +themselves to him, but he received their offers solely on condition +that they would embrace Islam. Few accepted, and those who did not +before long regretted it. + +For about a year after his success, his power and influence increased, +until the whole of the tribes between Mecca and Medinah had been won +over. Then came a defeat. The Meccans had been nursing their +bitterness, and at last, just over two years after the victory of +Badr, it found its outlet in an expedition again Mohammed. The Moslem +forces were rallied, and under the prophet's leadership sallied forth +to meet the Meccans. A fierce battle ensued, in which at first the +Moslems had the advantage, and the Meccans were forced to fly. But +they had learned many lessons in the fight at Badr, and had posted +some of their cavalry in such a position that, when the Moslem order +was disturbed in their pursuit of the enemy, they made a charge upon +their rear. The fleeing Meccans turned, and the Moslems found +themselves between two attacks. Then came the cry that Mohammed was +killed! Instead of increasing the Moslem disorder by discouragement, +it made them fight more doggedly, for the majority were so committed +to Islam that they cared not for life if their prophet was dead. This +prevented what must otherwise have meant absolute victory on the part +of the Meccans, and a number of them, with Mohammed, who was only +wounded, were able to retire to Medinah. The Meccans were quite +satisfied with the result, considering that the stigma of their defeat +at Badr had been wiped out. Later on, when Mohammed had sufficiently +recovered of his wounds, he made a public appearance in the Mosque, +where he was able to persuade his followers that their apparent defeat +was really a victory! The general who is able to persuade his forces +that there is victory, even where there seems to be defeat, is one who +will inspire them to fight against apparently impossible odds. They +will, indeed, never suffer defeat, but will fight on until annihilated +by capture or death. The secret of success even in the more pacific +engagements of life lies in this principle--to be undaunted in +ardour, in spite of failure; to recognise in failure a step towards +ultimate success. Let a man be possessed with these, and victory is +within his grasp, whether he recognises it or not. + +After this, Mohammed did not scruple to employ the system of warfare +by assassination, if warfare it can be called. Some tribes, emboldened +by the report of the Meccan success, began to treat Moslem emissaries +with scant courtesy, and went so far as to murder some. Mohammed +retaliated by sending men to balance the scales in the same criminal +way, particularly in treating with the Jews. An idea had grown up in +his mind that these people had determined to murder him. This, with +matters of minor importance, already referred to, at last led to an +organised attempt to subjugate them. A large, influential tribe was +besieged; their date trees, lands, and property wantonly destroyed. +Eventually the whole tribe surrendered, and were glad to march away +with what possessions their camels could carry. This led to a +combination of other Jewish tribes, which laid siege to Medinah. The +siege was not successful, and barbarous treatment was meted out to the +besiegers. After much skirmishing and general fighting, a number of +the Jews who had been captured were decapitated, while their women and +children were enslaved. Those who were unwilling to embrace Islam, +were compelled to pay tribute. So the prosperity and success of Islam +was assured. The Jews were no longer bold enough to cause the prophet +any anxiety as to the validity of his prophetic claims, nor were they +of a mind that would arouse fear as to their fighting abilities. They +were true descendants of Isaac and Jacob, who were both men of peace, +and were not qualified for success in war against the posterity of the +active warlike Ishmael and Esau. + +Freed from all anxiety in this direction, the prophet, realising that +the security of Medinah could never be assured while the Meccans were +opposed to him, began to formulate plans for the conquest of their +city. His first step was to try and conciliate them, with a view to +sending a pilgrim band into the city, but the citizens were far too +cautious and suspicious to allow that. At last, however, they were +prevailed upon to receive his son-in-law, Omar, who succeeded in +persuading a section of the Meccans of the injustice of barring the +Holy Temple to those who, although their enemies, were, after all, +their kinsmen. This led to a treaty, in which Mohammed brought shame +upon his followers because of his concessions. The arrangements were +that for ten years, peace between the prophet and the Meccans should +be maintained, and that within a year a party of the Moslems were to +be allowed to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba. + +The humiliation to which the prophet compelled his followers to submit +gave rise to considerable indignation, which was allayed only when he +himself submitted to the shaving of his head and the offering of +sacrifice. He knew that the humiliation was worthy of the advantage +gained--indeed, it was but the furtherance of his policy, in which no +action that was expedient could possibly be disgraceful. To him such +a treaty involved no sacred obligation to his enemies. He was God's +prophet, and as such was free of all obligation to those who did not +follow him, a principle deeply rooted in Islam, which makes the +violation of all virtuous relations with unbelievers highly +meritorious. + + + + +V.--WORLD CONQUEST. + + +Not long after the treaty with the Meccans, Mohammed revealed the fact +that he had elaborated a scheme of world conquest, by sending +representatives to earthly monarchs of whom he had heard. His +messengers carried letters bearing the seal, "Mohammed, Prophet of +God," and urging the addressees to acknowledge his claims by embracing +Islam. These overtures were in some cases favourably received; in +others with contempt; but, of course, did not lead to compliance with +the demands, except, perhaps, on the part of a few of the rulers of +some Arabic tribes. + +The eighth year of the flight is famous in the history of the +prophet's life, because his followers, for the first time, came into +conflict with the forces of the Christian empire. The battle of Mutah +resulted in defeat of the Moslems, and, consequently, details have +been suppressed. It was part of Mohammed's policy to counteract the +demoralising influence of defeat by immediately attempting a fight in +which victory was assured. This, to my mind, justified war on any +pretext or grievance. In this case he conceived the idea of invading +Mecca, and, although minor incidents justify his decision to a slight +degree, his breach of the treaty adds to the evidence that is +derogatory to his character. + +The pilgrimage of the year before had been organised by him with the +view of impressing the Meccans of his power, and was decidedly +successful. When he with his ten thousand troops approached the city, +fear caused submission on the part of the leader of the city forces, +and after some slight skirmishing with a section of the community, +which preferred to show active disapproval of the ignominious +surrender, the city was won. Every idolatrous element of the Kaaba +worship was swept away, and, although its pagan associations were +negatived, it was sanctified to the service of Islam, and is still its +only altar. The city was invested with a more sacred significance than +it had ever occupied under the pagan system. It was never again to be +defiled by the spilling of human blood, the prophet insisting upon +this with admirable inconsistency! He showed his gratification in many +acts of statesmanlike condescension, and seems at this time to have +considered himself to be the ruler of all Arabs. Although it is +improbable that Mohammed was aware of it, the significance he attached +to the Holy City, by teaching that the Caaba was a heavenly built +edifice, was to become the means of consolidating his system, in spite +of national and racial distinctions. In its precincts, pilgrims from +India, Persia, China, Russia, Turkey, and other lands where Islam has +its devotees, mingle with the wild Bedouin of the desert in one common +brotherhood, and worship, in unity of faith and form, Allah, the great +and merciful. + +After its capture, the fierce warlike Bedouin nomadic tribes made +strenuous and courageous attempts to win back the city, but the Moslem +forces were invariably successful, and, in time, Mohammed returned to +Medinah more triumphant than ever. Eventually Taif, which had +successfully resisted a siege, submitted peacefully to the prophet's +claims, and the subjugation of the whole of Arabia followed. + +An ingenious system of taxation was imposed upon all tribes submitting +to Mohammed. The natural prejudice that universally exists against +taxation (!) was overcome, because it was instituted as a religious +rather than a statutory obligation. Thus the regular payments of alms +became one of the five acts of faith imposed upon all believers. The +other acts are: confession of creed, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage. + + + + +VI.--MOHAMMED AND WOMEN. + + +The prophet's domestic life exerted considerable influence upon his +religion; effects of which are to be seen in the Mohammedan home of +to-day. His numerous marriages afforded experience which led to the +framing of many "divine" laws referring to women. As has already been +hinted, Kadijah, his first wife, exercised considerable influence over +his prophetic career. She evidently had a strong affection for him, +which feeling was heartily reciprocated. She had a personality strong +enough to curb his natural passion, and to preserve her place in spite +of it in his regard. Her encouragement and support when success and +failure were trembling in the balance, urged him to persist in the +development of his ideas. He was faithful to her during their married +life, and to her memory afterwards, and promised her, upon her +deathbed, that she should share his heavenly chamber after his death, +with the Mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses. Within a month of +her death he was betrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven. He did not +actually marry her until she was nine years of age, and during the +interval consoled himself by wedding a widow who had acted as nurse to +one of his daughters. This marriage seems to have been more a matter +of convenience than of affection on his part, and in later days she +was able to keep her position as his wife only by the yielding of +certain of her privileges to other members of the harem. + +Seven months after his arrival in Medinah, during the time of poverty, +the marriage with Ayesha was celebrated, the child of nine being +united to the man of fifty-three! a marriage defended on the ground of +political expediency, whereby the devotion of Abu Bakr, the child's +father was strengthened. She seems to have been second only to +Khadijah in the prophet's affections, and exercised a petty tyranny +over him, which was submitted to even when it affected his +revelations. She excited the envy of the other wives because of her +privileges, and in spite of intrigue, was able to hold her own. She +was extremely sarcastic in regard to some of the revelations, and even +went so far on one occasion as to jeer the prophet on his faithfulness +in recording them. This sarcasm was prompted by jealousy, because of +Mohammed's marriage with Zainab, which was so illegal as to cause him +to throw the responsibility on God. Zainab was the wife of the +prophet's adopted son Zaid, who, having discovered his foster-father's +love, thought it wise to divorce her in his favour. The revelation +Mohammed produced seems to have been held over until his critics had +been mollified by some victory--hence the sarcasm! + +During the raiding of the Jews, Mohammed was considerably disturbed by +the desire of the wives to accompany him on the expeditions. He eased +the difficulty by arranging that one only should go with him on each +expedition, and should obtain the favour by lot. Ayesha got into +difficulty on one of these expeditions. She dropped a necklace and +remained behind the returning party in order to seek for it. A youth +who, too, had loitered behind, found it, and accompanied her back to +the camp. Her enemies were not slow to take advantage of this incident +to prejudice her before the prophet. He was deeply hurt, and in face +of the surge of public opinion, sent her back to her parents. The +complications arising out of the divorce would probably have alienated +the sympathies of Abu Bakr, her father, so with his usual diplomacy, +Mohammed produced a revelation, in which God declared Ayesha innocent +of any cause for divorce! It was through Ayesha, too, that the prophet +conceived the idea of praying for deliverance from the torment of the +grave, for she casually remarked one day that she had heard a Jewish +woman speaking about torment after death. Through all her life with +the prophet she proved herself to be strong in character, and a +fitting mate for a man of Mohammed's type. + +Other wives did not play such an important part in the prophet's life +work. He seems to have exhibited his taste for beauty in all his +selections. Keud was the daughter of a man of considerable wealth and +influence, and, like Zainab, was one of the Abyssinian refugees. In +the expedition against Khaibah, Mohammed's greed was excited by the +sight of some valuable ornaments belonging to one of his vanquished +enemies. He sought to gain possession of them by marrying the daughter +of the owner, Safiyyah, whose husband and brother had both been killed +in the battle that had been fought. She accepted the prophet's offer, +and contented herself for her losses in the squabbles of his harem. +His other wives were Juwairijah, Hafsah, Um Salmah, Um Kabibah, +another of the Abyssinian refugees, and Zainab, widow of his cousin. +The last wife was Maimunah, who is said to have offered herself to him +when he was considering the invasion of Mecca. A Coptic (Christian) +slave girl, Mary, and Rihanah, a Jewess, were added to the harem, but +went through no form of marriage with him. Mary was sent as a present +from one of the Coptic rulers in answer to the prophet's letter, +urging the claims of Islam; while Rihanah, whose husband was one of +the many who were cruelly slaughtered by decapitation after a victory +over the Jews, was at nightfall, almost immediately after the +massacre, taken to the prophet's tent. It is evident that the prophet +had many opportunities of still further increasing his harem, for many +women offered themselves; while the relatives of handsome widows would +make no arrangements for the re-marriage of the bereaved ones until +they had been offered to the prophet and refused. + +It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so +many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much +evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty +of pleasing all. His relations to the feminine sex, as may be +expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women. Hence +the utter degradation to which they are subjected in Islam. Although +he did not practice it, he sanctioned wife beating. Divorce was made +easy for the men, who could cast off their wives any time they so +desired. Thus it is quite common to-day for women to steal from their +husbands in order to provide for themselves in case of divorce. The +evil of such a system is apparent. It makes the women mere slaves at +the mercy of the caprice of their husbands. The polygamy and +concubinage which is sanctioned in the Koran, has degraded the women +to a degree that may be imagined, and certainly has not, as some +authorities contend, abolished other evils. It is true that he +improved slightly the condition of women in his day, giving them +privileges they had not up to that time enjoyed, and by those who +endeavour to picture him as a hero, his failure to arrive at a true +estimate of the position of women is covered by the statement that it +was impossible for him to grapple with a hopeless problem. It is +encouraging to know that, with the growing influence of Western +Christian civilisation, the condition of women in Moslem lands is +gradually improving, although the village folk still consider us to be +weak in character because we are courteous in our behaviour to them. +In Egypt, Government schools for girls are being organised, and +throughout the whole Moslem world education is spreading. The religion +of Mohammed is so clearly defined that it can never be reformed. The +only hope for the nations that are under its sway is that with the +advance of western civilisation there may be a yielding to the +influence of Christianity. It cannot be possible to enjoy the +blessings of the West while men are tyrannised by a non-progressive +religion of the East. + +Just before he died Mohammed organised an expedition against the +Romans, and this in spite of sickness unto death. He had made his last +pilgrimage to Mecca, and had delivered what may be termed his final +charge to his followers. The whole tone of his address seems to have +been influenced by the thought of the proximity of death. He +emphasised the doctrines he had inculcated, showing that the Islamic +brotherhood removed all that tended to social inequality. The rich man +was no better than the poor; the aristocrat who boasted of his +ancestry, no more important in the sight of God than the lowliest +beggar. The only difference that could exist between man and man was a +difference in degree of piety. Property rights he recognised as +regarding believers, and evidently implied that unbelievers possessed +no such rights. He asked respect and humane treatment for women, and +undoubtedly manifested a desire for a better condition of affairs than +he in his lifetime had been able to establish. The subsequent illness +was probably due to the strain and anxiety of this pilgrimage. Ayesha, +the girl wife, tended him. The many stories that have been told of +these last days are not at all reliable, but it is certain that for +five days he was quite helpless and delirious. On the 7th of June, 632 +A.D., ten years after the flight from Mecca, he died in the arms of +Ayesha, leaving a work that wrought havoc in the Christian Church for +centuries, and which, inspired by his immortal spirit, still exists in +unyielding enmity against the faith of the meek and lowly Nazarene, +whose native soil, in the providence of God, is owned by Islam's son. +Never again will be heard the clash of steel on steel as Christian +tries to vanquish Moslem. Those days are happily past and gone. Carnal +weapons cannot avail against spiritual forces. The eternal, peaceable +Spirit of Jesus is slowly but surely permeating the gloom of Islam. We +see the resultant disintegration, and hope for that great day when, +led by the broken and contrite spirit of their leader, the hosts of +Islam shall bow before the King of Kings, recognising what, in time, +they were impelled to deny--Unity in Trinity, the at present +unrevealed mystery of Deity. + +Britain, the greatest Moslem power of the world, needs to change her +policy in regard to Christian missionary work amongst Moslems, if she +is desirous of promoting the welfare of those benighted people. She +must give freedom to the heralds of the Cross who labour in the lands +of the Crescent. And the prayers of her people must ascend on behalf +of the sons and daughters of Islam who sit in darkness and the shadow +of death. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14064 *** diff --git a/14064-h/14064-h.htm b/14064-h/14064-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19449de --- /dev/null +++ b/14064-h/14064-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1289 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mohammed, The Prophet of Islam, by H. E. E. Hayes</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + + + body > p,blockquote > p { + margin-top: 1em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + margin-top: 2em; + } + + h1+p, h2+p, h3+p { + text-indent: 0; + } + + blockquote > p:first-child { text-indent: 0 } + + blockquote { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + text-align: justify; + } + + hr { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + ol.roman { + list-style-type: upper-roman + } + + .ctr {text-align: center;} + p.rt {text-align: right; margin-top: 0.2em;} + div.ctrdiv {text-align: center;} + div.ads {border:1px solid black; width: 30em; padding: 1em; + margin: 0 auto; text-align: justify;} + .squish {margin-top: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 0em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14064 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mohammed, The Prophet of Islam, by H. E. E. +Hayes</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class='ctrdiv'> +<div style=' width: 18em; margin: 4em auto;'> +<p style='margin-bottom: 0'>There is no God but God,<br /> and Mohammed is the Apostle of God.</p> +<p class='rt'><i>(Moslem Creed.)</i></p> +</div> +</div> + +<h1>MOHAMMED</h1> + +<h3>A popular essay on the life +of the prophet of Islam.</h3> + +<h2>H.E.E. HAYES</h2> + +<p>Price 3d. post free,<br /> +From "Hythe House"<br /> +Greenhithe, Kent.<br /> +</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class='ctrdiv'> +<div class='ads'> +<p>If you are interested in Missionary work in Moslem lands, read the</p> + +<h3 style='margin-top: 1em;'>"MOSLEM WORLD,"</h3> + +<p>A quarterly review of current events, literature, and thought among +Mohammedans; and the progress of Christian Missions in Moslem lands.</p> + +<p class='squish'>Edited by</p> + +<p class='squish'>SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D.</p> + +<p class='squish'><br />Published by the</p> + +<p class='squish'>Christian Literature Society for India</p> + +<p class='squish'>35 John Street, Bedford Row, London, W.C.</p> + +<p>Sent post free 1s. per copy or 4s. per annum.</p> + +<p>SEND YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW.</p> +</div> + +<div style='height: 2pc;'><br /></div> + + +<div class='ads'> +<p>READ ALSO THE</p> + +<h3 style='margin-top: 1em;'>Egypt General Mission News</h3> + +<p class='squish'>Published bi-monthly by the EGYPT GENERAL MISSION,</p> + +<p class='squish'>10 Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N.</p> + +<p class='squish'>1s. per annum post free.</p> + +<p>This Magazine gives a current account of Mission work amongst the +Moslems of Egyptian villages.</p> + +<p>PRAY FOR ALL CHRISTIAN WORK AMONGST MOSLEMS</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div style='height: 4pc;'><br /></div> + +<ol class='roman'> + <li><a href="#I_EARLY_LIFE">EARLY LIFE.</a></li> + <li><a href="#II_THE_CALLquot_TO_THE_PROPHETIC_OFFICE">THE "CALL" TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE.</a></li> + <li><a href="#III_BIRTH_OF_THE_ISLAMIC_SOCIETY">BIRTH OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY.</a></li> + <li><a href="#IV_GROWTH_AND_PROGRESS">GROWTH AND PROGRESS.</a></li> + <li><a href="#V_WORLD_CONQUEST">WORLD CONQUEST.</a></li> + <li><a href="#VI_MOHAMMED_AND_WOMEN">MOHAMMED AND WOMEN.</a></li> +</ol> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE" />PREFACE.<a name="Page_2" id="Page_2" /></h2> + + +<p>So-called Moslem missionaries are spreading through the Press such +idealistic and false views of the religion and character of Mohammed, +that we need to be on our guard against them.</p> + +<p>Unbiased historians have stated that there is much that is deplorable +in the life of the prophet of Islam. And it is certain that his +teaching has increased the degradation of the nations that have come +under its influence.</p> + +<p>Much of the literature that is being circulated in England by the +"Moslem missionaries," claims that Moslem women are better off, so far +as property rights go, than their Christian sisters. However true this +may be, it does not lift them out of the degradation of polygamy and +concubinage, with a capricious system of divorce, which makes them the +victims of the selfish baseness of their husbands and masters, which +Mohammed himself sanctioned.</p> + +<p>The following essay, it is hoped, will help to counteract the false +ideas that are being scattered abroad, and lead those who read to +study more deeply the problems and sorrows of millions of the Moslem +subjects of our Gracious King.</p> + +<p>The prayers of all Christians are asked on behalf of these millions, +and for those who labour to preach the "unsearchable riches of Christ" +amongst them.</p> + +<p>H.E.E. HAYES.</p> + +<p class='squish'>GREENHITHE:</p> + +<p class='squish'><i>July</i>, 1914.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" />INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p>Just as the character of Jesus is stamped upon the religion which +originated in His Person, so is the character of Mohammed impressed +upon the system which he, with marvellous ingenuity, founded. The +practical influence of Islam upon individual lives produces results +that reflect unmistakably the character of its founder, and a careful +study of the tenets of the system in relation to its history enable +the student to estimate the real worth of the man.</p> + +<p>As the Apostle of God, Mohammed is the ideal of every true Moslem. His +life is the standard by which the lives of his followers are tested, +although he himself confesses that his life was not holy. In the +Koran, and the earlier traditions, he is pictured as being in no way +better than his fellows, and as weak and liable to error as the +poorest of his contemporaries. Yet later tradition minimises his +faults and weakness, and surrounds his person with a halo of glory +that makes him appear sinless and almost divine. All the doubtful +incidents of his life are either eliminated and ignored, or +assiduously supported and defended by his pious, misguided followers.</p> + +<p>It is a point in his favour that he never claimed infallibility for +his actions or opinions; and his habit of attempting to cover or +justify his glaring faults by suitable revelations, although +indefensibly immoral, reveals the fact that he was conscious of his +own shortcomings. When he was at the zenith of his power, "revelation" +became merely an instrument of self glorification, licensing him in +every whim and fancy, because it gave him, as the prophet of God, +exemption from all law and order. His scheme was characteristically +ingenious and immoral. Had he known of the divine effulgence with +which he was afterwards encircled by his fanatical followers, he +would, in all probability, have strongly discountenanced it. The +incongruous sanctity with which his commonplace utterances and petty +actions were invested would have caused fear lest it became derogatory +to his creed of divine unity.</p> + + + +<h3>TRADITION.</h3> + + +<p>As a source of information, the traditions are obviously unreliable, +for they are coloured by the excessive zeal and <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" />irrational bias of +men whose judgment was warped by irrepressible fanaticism. They +attributed to their hero elements that are grotesquely impossible. His +advent was in their estimation, so portentous that it was celebrated +by events which, for the time, upset all natural law. And his whole +life has been linked with miraculous happenings of a most ludicrous +type. More reasonable men have exalted the prophet because they have +convinced themselves that he was what he ought to have been. This may +account for the pious confidence of some of the more intelligent, who, +accepting tradition as historical, have exalted their hero to the +ideal, and have received the imagined glory as real. This tendency to +exalt their master is well illustrated by the maxim of Shafy—"In the +exaltation of Mohammed it is lawful to exaggerate"—a maxim invaluable +to men who were seeking to glorify the prophet, and the usefulness of +which was fully appreciated by the legislators and doctors when they +were called upon to cope with the new relations and exigencies that +came into being after his death. The conquests and progress of Islam +necessitated almost daily the framing of new rules, while in the +application of the old, constant modification and adaptation were +required. To meet these needs, actual or supposed sayings and actions +of the prophet were eagerly sought after, and, in time, with the +growth of a professional body of traditionalists, all legitimate +sources being exhausted, that which was doubtful, and even disputed, +was accepted as authentic and reliable. Imagination augmented the +legitimate springs of information, and the result was an exhaustive +accumulation of precedents for every possible circumstance.</p> + +<p>Sprenger, in his essay on "Tradition," regarding the value and nature +of the material needed for compiling a life of Mohammed, says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"During the stir and activity of the first sixty years, thousands + and thousands occupied themselves with handing down traditions. In + every mosque they committed them to memory, and rehearsed them in + every social gathering. All such knowledge was the common property + of the nation; it was learned by heart and transmitted orally. It + possessed, therefore, in the highest possible degree, the elements + of life and plasticity. Bunson has discovered the divinity of the + Bible in its always having been the people's book. If this + criterion be decisive, then no religion has better claim to be + called the 'vox Dei,' because none is in so full a sense the 'vox + populi.' The creations of the period we have been considering + possess this character for hundreds of millions of our fellow men; + for modern Islamism is as far removed from the spirit in which the + Coran was composed, as Catholicism is from the spirit of the + Gospel; and modern Islamism is grounded upon tradition. But in + tradition we find nothing but the Ideal, Invention, Fancy, + Historical facts, however they may have been floating among the + people in the days if Ibn 'Abbas, and the other founders of + genealogy, were trodden under feet, because men wished to remove + every barrier which stood in the way of <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5" />self-glorification. And of + the thousand inventions which every day gave birth to, only those + were recognised as true which most flattered the religious and + national pride . . . ."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He also goes on to say:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The time of creative activity, the gestation era of Moslem + knowledge, passed away. Hajjaj choked the young life in its own + blood, and the Abbaside dynasty, with kingly patriotism, sold the + dearly-bought conquests of the nation, first to the Persians, and + then to Turkish slaves, with the view of procuring an imaginary + security for their throne. And thus there arose for the spiritual + life also a new period. Already Wackidi had begun to work up into + shape the mass of his traditionary stores, and busy himself in the + department of scholastic industry. In the schools one could as + little affect now the material tradition, or alter its nature, as + attempt to change the organism of the new-born child. However + arbitrary might be the invention of the 'Miraj' (Mahomed's heavenly + journey), and other fabrications of the first century, they still + formed in this way the positive element and soul of religious, + political and social life. The schools, as always, confined their + exertions to collecting, comparing, abbreviating, systematising, + and commenting. The material was altogether divine; and any + unprejudiced historical inquiry, any simple and natural + interpretation of the Coran, any free judgment on tradition or its + origin, was condemned as apostasy. The only task that remained was + to work up, in scholastic form, the existing material; and in this + way was developed a literature of boundless dimensions, which yet + at bottom possessed nothing real. The whole spiritual activity of + the Mohamedans, from the time of the prophet to the present day, is + a dream; but it is a dream in which a large portion of the human + race have lived; and it has all the interest which things relating + to mankind always possess for man."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Sir William Muir agrees with these views, subject to two +considerations. He says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The tendency to glorify Mohammed and the reciters of the + traditions was considerably modified by the mortal strife which + characterised the factions that opposed one another at the period, + where, in attempting to depreciate one another, they would not be + averse to perpetuating traditions in support of their contentions; + such partisanship secured no insignificant body of historical fact, + which otherwise would have been lost."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He also points out that in a state of society circumscribed and +dwarfed by the powerful Islamic system, which proscribed the free +exercise of thought and discussion, tradition can scarcely be said to +be the "vox populi." The growth and development of tradition, the +flagrant distortion of historical fact, the ethical code of Islam, may +well give rise to a questioning of the validity of the prophet's +arrogant claims, and by their very methods of defence the apologists +of Islam exhibit its weakness and inadequacy to meet the religious +needs of man. The natural bias <a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" />of Mohammed is evident throughout the +Coran. His conceptions of God, of the future life, and of the duty of +man, are all influenced by his consuming master passion. In all his +writings there are lacking those characteristics which distinguish the +true prophet—the messenger of God—from those to whom he is sent. +This will be apparent by contrasting his views with those of any of +the Old Testament prophets. They were eminently men prepared for their +high calling by lofty yet practical communion with God—men whose +message was inspired by a vision of Divine Majesty, and an impressive +conception of the justice and awful purity of Jehovah. Men who called +the nation to righteousness of life by a stirring appeal to +conscience, and an unfaltering denunciation of the evils of the time. +Their spiritual aspirations, therefore, by far surpass the loftiest +ideals of the prophet of Islam, while their ethical conceptions +infinitely transcend all that Mohammed dreamed of. The voice of the +Eternal is clearly heard in the earnest utterances that fell from +their lips, and through all their prophecies the willingness of Divine +Mercy to reason with men in spite of their erring ways, is apparent.</p> + +<p>Three characteristic elements are perceived in their preaching—a very +keen and practical conscience of sin; an overpowering vision of God; +and a very sharp perception of the politics of their day. Of these +elements, Mohammed's teaching possesses only the last.</p> + + + +<h3>MOHAMMED'S CONCEPTION OF GOD</h3> + + +<p>His conception of God is essentially deistical. The intimate personal +communion, so characteristic of the Old Testament, is unknown and +unrealised: hence there is little, if anything, in his system that +tends to draw men nigh to God. Attempts to remedy this characteristic +defect have been vainly made by the dervish orders, which, while +acknowledging the claims of Mohammed and his book, have introduced +methods not sanctioned by the system, by which they attempt to find +the communion with the Unseen, for which their souls crave. These +methods are very much akin to the efforts of the devotees of Hinduism. +There is, therefore, lacking amongst Moslems that need which grows out +of personal relationship with the Divine—that need which leads to +moral transformation and spiritual intensity on the part of those who +enjoy such fellowship. The Creator exists apart from His handiwork. He +has predetermined the actions of men. They are destined to eternal +bliss or destruction by an Inflexible Will, so that there is no need +for Divine Interference in their affairs. "God is in His heaven, and +the world is working out its end according to His unalterable decree."</p> + +<p>Because of this gross conception, Palgrave has designated the system +"The Pantheism of Force," and says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from all + creatures, which he levelled before Him on one common plane<a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" /> of + instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of + omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, + standard or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He + communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and + act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from + them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and + from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no + pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature ever its + fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude + and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which + employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to + honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of + their individual fitness, deserts, or advantages, and simply + because 'He wills it,' and 'as He wills it . . . .'</p> + +<p> "One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this + uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything + like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, + for He has, with respect to His creatures, one main feeling and + source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should + perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, + and thus encroach on His all engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever + more prone to punish than to reward; to inflict pain than to bestow + pleasure; to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to + let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than + His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also; that thus they + may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to + be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will + above their will, His pride above their pride—or, rather, that + there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own.</p> + +<p> "But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving + nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without + son, companion, or counsellor, is no less barren of Himself than + for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in + Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding + despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and + the primal idea of God runs through and modifies the whole system + and creed that centres in Him."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Contrast this summary with the teaching of the Old Testament prophets, +the following quotations of which are but a small sample:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your + sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be + red like crimson, they shall be as wool."</p> + +<p> "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye + comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is + accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned."</p> + +<p> "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord has + anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" />hath sent me + to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, + and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, etc."</p> + +<p> "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, saith + the Lord."</p> + +<p> "Who is a god like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth + by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth + not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will + turn again; He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our + iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the + sea."</p> + +<p> "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord + require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk + humbly with thy God."</p> + +<p> "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He + knoweth them that trust in Him."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the light of such lofty teaching, the conceptions of Mohammed +appear gross and degraded. His asceticism and contemplation never +brought him a vision of God that overwhelmed him and purified as by +fire. He knew the Creator only from what he heard from the lips of +sinful, ignorant men, whose ideas of Deity were base and ignoble. +These ideas, and the passions that made up such a large portion of his +life, obscured his vision, warped his judgment, and led him to +postulate a God that inhabited not a Holy Spiritual Realm, but a +grossly carnal and sensuous paradise.</p> + +<p>Millions have been brought beneath his sway because his system panders +to the natural inclinations of man. Spiritual insight is blinded by +carnal desire; conduct is influenced by unbridled license; bigotry and +hatred are fostered by his policy of intoleration; and his followers +are enslaved by a tyranny that blights the reason, because it +discountenances inquiry, and places an insurmountable barrier in the +way of all human progress.</p> + +<p>In studying the life of Mohammed, the cause of his failure to uplift +humanity will be clearly seen. His early sincerity, if sincerity it +can be named, was absorbed by his consuming ambition. Had it been +otherwise he might have had his name inscribed with the honourable +ones of the earth—those men whose claims are ratified by their happy +effects. As it is, his name is linked with those whose deeds cause a +shudder of horror and repulsion to all who love honesty, purity, and +truth.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="I_EARLY_LIFE" id="I_EARLY_LIFE" />I.—EARLY LIFE.</h2> + + +<p>Mohammed was born in Mecca, a town in Arabia, about seventy miles +inland from the Red Sea. His father, who died 570 A.D., a few months +before the child was born, was a member of the Banu Hashim clan. His +family, although well connected, was a humble one, possessing but +little wealth. On the death <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" />of his mother some six years later, the +child was taken by his grandfather, 'ABD-EL-MUTTALIB, who took care of +him for two years. Then he was adopted by his uncle, ABU TALIB, who +employed him to look after his flocks and herds.</p> + +<p>From his earliest years, Mohammed must have been brought into contact +with the religious life of Mecca, for his grandfather was custodian of +the Kaaba, or temple, and would frequently take the boy with him on +his official visits to the place. The numerous images of the gods set +up in the temple would be familiar objects to the future prophet, +whose iconoclastic zeal was eventually to bring about their +destruction. His lonely shepherd life favoured the cultivation of the +contemplative habits of his manhood, and played no unimportant part in +the development of those characteristics which eminently fitted him +for the life he was to lead. Nature had endowed him with the essential +abilities of a commander of men, and his early environment provided a +training that enabled him to exercise those gifts most advantageously.</p> + +<p>The population of Arabia at this time consisted of numerous +independent nomadic tribes, who were often at enmity one with another. +Political unity there was none, while each tribe had its own patron, +or god, which was considered to be responsible for everything +concerning the tribe's welfare. Where tribes were united, or at peace, +there the individual gods were supposed to be friendly. Even in Mecca, +which for many years had been occupied by a settled community, there +was no political or judicial organisation. The existing order was +maintained by a form of patriarchal government, under which system it +was possible for the head of a tribe or clan, to protect the life of +any individual he chose to befriend.</p> + +<p>The religious beliefs and customs were evidently gross materialistic +corruptions of what had once been a purely spiritual worship. Mohammed +had been preceded by men who had from time to time, in spite of the +moral and intellectual darkness, been so endowed with spiritual +perception as to recognise and bewail the hollowness and degradation +of the Pagan system. Some, indeed, had been conscientious enough to +utter words of condemnation; others had gone so far as to despise and +ridicule its claims. So that when Mohammed was born the people were in +a condition of religious uncertainty. Many elements contributed to +this unrest. Travellers learned that the more prosperous nations had +rejected the age long sanctions of Paganism; earnest, thoughtful men +could not but recognise its inadequacy to satisfy the religious +aspirations of their fellows; Jews and Christians, who had settled in +the country, had introduced views that appealed to those who were +dissatisfied with the old methods of thought; while the need for +social and political unity called for a force that would unite the +scattered tribes in the pursuit of common ideals. Thus was the land +prepared for the mighty revolution that was to come—a revolution that +made one great nation of the various tribes, and turned their warlike +<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" />instincts and characteristic fanaticism, which before had been +dissipated by wasteful internecine strife, into one definite channel, +until it became a menace to the whole world. A change so potent, that, +in the lifetime of one man, it was able to obliterate partly by +absorption, and chiefly by annihilation, the sanctions and beliefs of +centuries, and which fostered a hatred so bitter, and a brotherhood so +strong, between man and man, that by its sanction the dearest, +tenderest, and strongest ties of humanity have been broken, while +those who for years had lived in enmity were united in bonds stronger +than death. Under its malevolent influence, children have ruthlessly +slain their parents, believing that thus would they merit heaven. And +men of different race have fought side by side under one banner, +hurling themselves with fanatical heroism upon their enemies, +believing that to die in such a way meant the winning of an immortal +crown.</p> + +<p>During his boyhood, Mohammed had plenty of opportunities for observing +the condition of affairs, and, thanks to his privilege of travelling +with the caravans, was even able to notice the contrast between the +conditions of his own people and those of the more peaceable, +prosperous nations. He frequently attended upon his uncle in the +fighting that often occurred between the tribes, and so gained the +knowledge of military strategy which proved to be so useful at a later +time. Margoliouth suggests that the two most important lessons the +"prophet" learned at this time were the necessity of settling affairs +of blood by some expedient less wasteful, and more satisfactory than +that which was illustrated by the war of Fizar, and that war should be +regarded not as a game, but as a mode of obtaining decisive results.</p> + +<p>The varied experiences he passed through on his caravan journeys did +much to influence his future policy; indeed, it appears that all +influences brought to bear upon his early life were forces that +moulded and equipped him for the office he was to fill. He was keenly +observant, and wonderfully accurate in his inferences, especially in +his estimate of the characters of men with whom he had to deal. He +seemed to lack initiative, for he was always reluctant to take action +in any important undertaking; but once the initial step was taken, he +pressed forward with indomitable courage. In his business transactions +he proved himself to be shrewd and tactful, and by his fidelity, +patience, and self-confidence, gained the respect and esteem of his +immediate fellows.</p> + +<p>Khadijah, a rich widow, having entrusted Mohammed with the control of +an important caravan, and finding how admirably he had performed his +part, wisely concluded that her interests would be furthered if he had +a share in them. Hence their marriage, which happy arrangement proved +to be mutually blessed and successful. It vastly improved Mohammed's +social standing, raising him to a position of equality with the +leading men of the city. For many years he was content to live quietly +<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" />as an ordinary citizen, engrossed in the accumulation of wealth by +legitimate trading.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="II_THE_CALLquot_TO_THE_PROPHETIC_OFFICE" id="II_THE_CALLquot_TO_THE_PROPHETIC_OFFICE" />II.—THE "CALL" TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE.</h2> + + +<p>It has not been recorded how first he began to yield to the impulses +that eventually led him to assume the role of reformer, but it is +certain that at the age of forty he was the leader of a secret +society, which had for its object the political and religious unity of +the Arab people. He knew that far-reaching changes were necessary in +every department of national policy before his ideal could be +realised. Unity was the secret of power and prosperity. This he had +learned through contact with other nations. His dealing with Jews and +Christians had given rise to a deep appreciation of the value of a +monotheistic faith in the consolidation of a people, and he was +convinced that political unity would be achieved only where there was +religious unity. With masterly insight he laid his plans accordingly, +and because of the extreme conservatism was obliged to formulate them +in strict secrecy. Unfortunately, owing to his untrustworthy sources +of information, his policy was founded upon false bases. His distorted +conception of truth led him to establish a system of false philosophy +and theology so framed as to allow of no alteration or adaptation. In +his elaboration of the system, he depended much upon his own +meditative habits, and no doubt thought it all out in the loneliness +of the mountains, to which he frequently retired for the observance of +certain ascetic customs of the Pagans. Thus his scheme of reform +crystallised into definite shape, and his call to the prophetic office +became a fixed idea.</p> + +<p>He felt certain that success lay in the determined proclamation of one +god as opposed to the many of the Arab pantheon, and the more he +pondered over this Being, of whom he had heard from the Jews and +Christians, the greater became his certainty. God was supreme and +omnipotent; of that there could be no doubt. But how to convince the +people was a difficulty that needed much careful thought and cautious +propagation. Jews and Christians could boast of prophets—of men +inspired to speak with the voice of God—but the Arabs had had no one +who had spoken with such authority. Why had they been so neglected? +Surely they needed to hear the Divine voice, and that need was never +greater than now, when all was unrest and dissention. Where was the +man who would fill the office? Who would be willing to face the odds, +and declare against evil by proclaiming the good and the true? Such +must have been the questions that exercised Mohammed's mind. Then came +the thought—"Why should not I be the messenger?" And this so grew +upon him that he was convinced of his "call." The possession of this +idea made him sincere in his purpose at first, but after the tide had +turned in his favour, that sincerity was marred—nay, eclipsed—by an +inflated notion of self-importance, and a consuming ambi<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" />tion to which +every virtue and good feeling was subordinated, until at last he was +able, with superb arrogance, to bracket his name with Deity, making +the confession of his claim as important as the confession of the +Unity of God. Wherein his inconsistency and falsity is chiefly +apparent, for confession of Unity is insufficient without recognition +of Mohammed's apostleship!</p> + +<p>Ascetic practices tend to lead to physical disorders, which generally +upset the mind and lead to mental and moral distemper. Judgment is +warped because the functions of the mind are thrown out of gear. The +varied departments of consciousness act with ungoverned caprice, with +the result that fantastical fancies and visions are interpreted to be +realties, which become misleading and deceptive. Thus may be explained +the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to Mohammed, but it can hardly be +conceived that it will account for the ingenious method of revelation +which he received. Some people believe it to have been inspired by +Satan; it must ever remain a matter of speculation.</p> + +<p>The necessity of a <i>piecemeal</i> revelation could not at this time have +been apparent to the prophet. But we may give him the credit of the +policy of abrogation which he afterwards adopted, for such a policy +was necessary to enable him to cover or justify his actions which, +like those of even the best of men, were marked by inconsistency.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="III_BIRTH_OF_THE_ISLAMIC_SOCIETY" id="III_BIRTH_OF_THE_ISLAMIC_SOCIETY" />III.—BIRTH OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY.</h2> + + +<p>Being firmly convinced of his call, Mohammed, with characteristic +caution, began to propagate his principles, for years being content to +deal secretly with individuals, beginning with those of his own +household. His wife acknowledged and encouraged his claim, and +gradually he gathered around him an increasing circle of devoted +followers, some of whom had more confidence in him and his pretensions +than he had himself. This was particularly true of ABU BAKR, a rich +and popular merchant of Mecca, who, having acknowledged the claims of +the prophet, followed him with implicit obedience and unwavering +devotion. He threw himself whole-heartedly into the work of +proselytising, and the progress of early days, although slow, was +largely due to his indefatigable energy.</p> + +<p>As the membership of the new society increased, rules were framed, +based upon the "revelations" which Mohammed now periodically received, +and each member was compelled to subscribe to the most stringent +regulations. Idolatry was strongly condemned and the unity of God +emphatically asserted. Certain Jewish and Christian religious +ordinances were imposed as a condition of membership, while unswerving +loyalty to the prophet was demanded. License was given to the members +to practice outwardly the old rites and ceremonies of Paganism, in +order to arouse no suspicion, but the existence of such a society, in +spite of all precautions, could not long remain unnoticed, and the +time came when the prophet and his followers were <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" />compelled to make +public confession of their faith. Persecution followed, in which the +poorer members suffered more than their richer brethren. Mohammed +himself received the protection of the head of his clan, and for eight +or ten years carried on a campaign of words. Margoliouth, in his life +of Mohammed, likens the prophet to a player in a game of cards, who, +having received a good hand, plays his cards with consummate skill. He +took advantage of every opportunity in strengthening his position, and +having a clear-cut policy before him, subordinated everything to its +furtherance. He was a powerful preacher, but owing to his ungovernable +temper, was not so successful in debate; hence he produced a +"revelation" forbidding him to engage in public controversy! He showed +great diligence in seeking information that enabled him to produce his +revelations in a style consistent with his claims. Being entirely +dependent on hearsay, he obtained but a sadly distorted account of +truth. The Koran is full of glaring errors, which, for centuries, have +baffled the ingenuity of the Moslem doctors. Yet the prophet +presumptuously claimed that his, being the last "revelation," was the +most important, and more reliable, and the differences that were +apparent were due to the corruption in time of the text of the former +"revelations"—<i>i.e.</i>, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures!</p> + +<p>He was evidently much perplexed by the divisions and controversies +that existed within the Christian Church, and considered that the +images and pictures then in use were little better than the idols of +his own people. With no means of testing and verifying his knowledge, +he accepted all that tended to enhance his own position, and his chief +regret seems to have been his inability, in reply to the taunts of his +enemies, to point to any element of the miraculous in his career. In +the revelations, he frequently expressed views and opinions which +flatly contradicted what he had formerly stated, and when challenged +as to his inconsistency, defended it by claiming that it was not he +who had changed his mind, but God, whose ways no man could question or +understand!</p> + +<p>In time, the position of the new sect became so intolerable that many +were compelled to flee, and numbers went into Abyssinia, where they +were well received. Mohammed himself, thanks to his relatives' +protection, could still afford to remain in Mecca. In spite of the +opposition, his influence gradually increased, and was considerably +strengthened by the conversion of Omar, a citizen famed for his skill +in military strategy and courage. Not long afterwards, Khadijah, the +prophet's wife died. She had wielded a strong, healthy influence over +her husband, and had cheered him on in times of discouragement and +failure. Islam owes not a little to her life and influence, and were +it more widely recognised, might possibly lead to an improvement of +the position of the poor unfortunate daughters of the system, who are +enslaved and degraded to a saddening degree. After Khadijah's death, +Mohammed took full advantage <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" />of the polygamous sanctions of Paganism, +and even abused the privilege when it conflicted with his own +inclinations. Margoliouth attempts to defend the many marriages on the +ground of political expediency, which may be conceded in only a few +cases. In most instances they were due to selfish desire and +inordinate affection. Particularly is this true in the case of the +prophet's marriage with his adopted son's wife, which was a gross +violation of Arab law.</p> + +<p>On the death of his protector, Mohammed was compelled to seek refuge +elsewhere, but not before he had made inconsistent concessions to the +pagan leaders. In these concessions he retreated entirely from the +strong iconoclastic attitude he had hitherto adopted, going so far as +to produce a revelation that claimed to reconcile the One True God to +the gods of the Pagan pantheon. This compromise, no matter how wise +and statesmanlike it may appear to be, clearly indicates the falsity +of Mohammed's claim, and enables us to estimate the value of his +pretensions. His action was strongly condemned by many of his +followers, and probably under the influence of their opinion, he +produced an apologetic revelation abrogating the concession, and +admitting it to have been a mistake!</p> + +<p>He endeavoured to escape the persecution in Mecca by taking refuge in +Taif, but was so badly treated there when his views became known, that +he was glad to return, and upon promising to confine his proselytising +efforts to strangers, was allowed to stay under the protection of one +of the leading citizens. He carried on his work among strangers with +such success, that before long a strong community had grown up in the +town of Medinah. The rapid increase of this section of his disciples +may be accounted for by the very unsettled condition of the place. +Civil and religious strife had been for a long time aggravated by the +aggressive attitude of a large section of Jews, so that circumstances +were more favourable to the reception and growth of Islam than in +Mecca, where there was more peaceful organisation, and where the +existence of the ancient Kaaba, or dwelling place of the gods, made +men more jealous of their old religion.</p> + +<p>In the appointment of a man to lead the new community, Mohammed +exhibited his characteristic insight into the abilities of men. He +selected a follower thoroughly convinced of his master's claims, whose +zeal in the earlier days had led him to forsake friends and family by +flight into Abyssinia—a man full of enthusiasm and energy. In a +comparatively short time the new religion became quite popular, and +idolatry was despised. An incident indicative of the progress is seen +in the visit of seventy of the Medinah disciples to Mohammed in Mecca. +They met him secretly in the mountains, by night, and made solemn, +binding vows of allegiance, in which they promised "to fight men of +all colour in order to defend the faith." It is highly probable that +at this meeting the prophet was invited to join them in Medinah, but +for the present he preferred his native town.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" />Somehow the story of the night meeting leaked out, with the result +that persecution was redoubled, and many of the less wealthy followers +were forced to flee to Medinah. They were there well received and +cared for, and were afterwards honoured by being designated the +"refugees," while those who received them were similarly honoured in +being named the "helpers." Thus the brotherhood of believers insisted +on by Mohammed began to assume practical form, and men of different +tribes were united in one common bond—a brotherhood so powerful that +its enemies in Mecca were filled with alarm. They had no longer to +deal with a man whose views could be despised. They were menaced by a +growing force that threatened to overwhelm them. Steps were taken to +overthrow the danger, and elaborate arrangements were made for the +assassination of the prophet. He somehow obtained news of the plot, +and escaped the would-be murderers, who came while he was supposed to +be in bed, by climbing through a window. Accompanied by the faithful +Abu Bakr and a few of his more intimate followers, he made his way to +one of the mountain caves, where he stayed until the immediate danger +had passed. Then the little company commenced the journey to Medinah, +a task so fraught with danger and hardship that Mohammed shrank from +it, in spite of the Meccan evil, and was compelled to attempt it only +by the pressure of his friends.</p> + +<p>The facts concerning his entry into Medinah are obscure and uncertain, +but there is no doubt that his advent was hailed with delight by the +"helpers" and "refugees." Hospitality was freely offered, and, owing +to the prophet's independent spirit, reluctantly accepted. One of his +earliest actions after arrival was to consolidate his forces by +strengthening the brotherhood, making the obligations of his followers +to one another, and himself, more binding than the ties of blood.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="IV_GROWTH_AND_PROGRESS" id="IV_GROWTH_AND_PROGRESS" />IV.—GROWTH AND PROGRESS.</h2> + + +<p>He now found himself the acknowledged head of a large growing community, +which looked to him for guidance in all its affairs—religious, social, +and political. Proudly, and with true Eastern despotism, he took upon +himself the dignities of prophet, priest, and king. He needed no one with +whom to share these functions. His was the sole right—his alone. His +ambitions were being realised. The striving of years, the disappointment, +doubts, and fears that had so tormented him were well repaid, and could be +forgotten in the glamour that now surrounded him. Enthusiastic and +fanatical votaries crowded around him with loyal acclamation. Pampered and +petted with excessive adulation, can it be wondered that he had visions of +power hitherto undreamed of? His scheme of national reform paled into +insignificance in the light of possibility. He saw himself the leader of a +world-wide conquest—the promoter of a prodigious scheme of universal +reform. He was not merely <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" />the messenger of the Arab people, but the +mouthpiece of God to the whole wide world. And by the Divine Power that +possessed him would receive the humble homage of proud and mighty nations, +whose haughty monarchs would bow in lowly submission to his imperious +will! Prophetic insight, regal authority, judicial administration were his +by divine right, to be enforced, if needs be, at the point of the Islamic +sword.</p> + +<p>As his position improved, so his ideals deteriorated. His early piety +was modified by the lust of worldly power. In place of patient pacific +methods of propagation, he adopted a cruel, ruthless, warlike policy, +and it was not long—perhaps owing to the extreme poverty which +afflicted the new community—before the would-be prophet became the +leader of a robber host. Yet even in spite of the glamour that +surrounded him, and the questionable behaviour that characterised this +period of his life, we catch occasional glimpses of that which reveals +the working of nobler instincts in his mind. Had his environment been +other than it was, Mohammed had been indeed a hero in the world's +history. Ignorance of truth led him to place himself under the +mysterious power of hallucination. The lonely brooding of the cave had +produced that which had urged him into a position of bondage. He was +the slave of a false idea, which so possessed him that he pressed +onward, in spite of all that stood in his way, whether it was good or +bad. It exerted an irresistible influence over all his impulses, +leading him into actions in every way indefensible. When fair means +failed, he adopted foul, and so succeeded beyond his highest dreams.</p> + +<p>The first Mosque, or meeting place, was built very soon after his +arrival in Medinah, and he entered upon his priestly functions. As a +matter of policy, he adopted many of the Jewish rites. These, however, +he soon changed, for as the number of his followers increased, and he +grew more and more independent of Jewish aid, he made every effort to +show his natural aversion to the ancient people, who scorned his +prophetic pretensions. In place of praying towards Jerusalem, his +followers were commanded to turn their faces towards Mecca. The Fast +of Atonement was abolished in favour of the month of Ramadan, while in +substitution for the Jewish rite of sacrifice, the pagan slaying of +victims was observed.</p> + +<p>A considerable difference is to be noticed between the "revelations" +of this period and those of Mecca. The latter were concerned with +denunciations of idolatry; proofs of the Divine unity and attributes; +legendary stories, and occasional lurid pictures of heaven and hell. +The former are generally of a legislative character, mingled with the +domestic affairs of the prophet, and guidance as to his military +policy. The method of recording them, too, seems to have been +systematised, for it is certain that a body of professional scribes +were engaged in this work, and evidence is not wanting to show that +these scribes were allowed to express the revelations in their own +particular style. Discrepancies and inconsistencies abounded, but +Moham<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" />med seems to have allowed that he was not responsible, and to +have stated that God had a perfect right to alter as He pleased, and +even to apologise for errors! The policy of abrogation has its +sanction in the text, "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we give thee better in their stead, or the like thereof."</p> + +<p>In his warlike policy, the prophet's strategy reflects most +discreditably upon his character, everything that was honourable and +virtuous being sacrificed to the passion for conquest. When he needed +help, he pretended friendship to those he hated; and then, becoming +strong enough to be independent, did not hesitate, upon the slightest +provocation or pretext, to turn his sword against them. This is +particularly true of his treatment of the Jews, whom he at first +befriended, but afterwards treated with barbarous injustice.</p> + +<p>Within a very few months of their arrival in Medinah, the need of some +method of support, other than the charity of the helpers, presented +itself. The number of refugees was still increasing, and the demand +for the ordinary necessities of life exceeded the supply. Mohammed, to +his credit, shared the misery of his followers, and proved himself to +be generous even when in want. In order to meet the need, the policy +of despoiling the wealthy Meccan caravans was conceived, and carried +out with some degree of success. The prophet at first exhibited a +feeling of repugnance against such warfare, especially when the +ancient pacific regulations of certain sacred months were violated. +But the benefits of the revenue accruing led him, some time +afterwards, to produce revelations sanctioning hostilities even in the +sacred months. The early successes provided the community with more +wealth than was needed, and, arousing the avarice of many of those who +were opposed to the prophet, led them to throw in their lot with him. +Having seared his conscience by acknowledging the righteousness of the +robber policy, it was easy for him to persuade himself that it was all +part of the purpose of God to prosper his claims. All who would not +acknowledge him were the enemies of God, and had no rights to property +or to life. He began to preach the holiness of war against all +unbelievers. He fanned the avaricious fanaticism of his followers into +a flame of religious enthusiasm, and they became soldier priests, +whose deaths on the battlefield were glorious martyrdoms, which gave +them immediate entrance into a paradise where all their inclinations +could be indulged to an unlimited degree. It is not to be wondered +that an army of such men could put three times their number of Meccans +not so inspired to flight. This is what actually happened in the +battle of Badr. Mohammed had received news of the possibility of +capturing a particularly rich Meccan caravan, and decided to make the +attempt. News of his plans reached the Meccans, who determined to +frustrate, if possible, the designs of their enemy. A thousand men +were rapidly organised into a defensive and punitive force, and sent +out to overwhelm the <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" />three hundred Moslems. They were by no means +skilled in military strategy, little better than a disorderly horde; +whereas the Moslems, under the masterly guidance of Mohammed, seem to +have exhibited clever organisation. It has been said that the rigid +prayer ritual enforced by Mohammed, at the risk of Divine punishment, +had a disciplinary effect, and produced results very similar to those +obtained by military drill. The Meccan host was put to flight, +discipline, and steadfastness of purpose determined the victory. The +Moslems returned to Medinah, carrying in triumph many prisoners, and +considerable booty. The revelation produced after this, speaks of it +as the "Day of deliverance," and Mohammed rejoices because the stigma +of powerlessness to show evidence of miracle in his life, is removed, +for he accounts for the victory by direct intervention of God in his +favour. The effect of the victory on the surrounding tribes was highly +favourable to the prophet. Many of the chiefs sought to ally +themselves to him, but he received their offers solely on condition +that they would embrace Islam. Few accepted, and those who did not +before long regretted it.</p> + +<p>For about a year after his success, his power and influence increased, +until the whole of the tribes between Mecca and Medinah had been won +over. Then came a defeat. The Meccans had been nursing their +bitterness, and at last, just over two years after the victory of +Badr, it found its outlet in an expedition again Mohammed. The Moslem +forces were rallied, and under the prophet's leadership sallied forth +to meet the Meccans. A fierce battle ensued, in which at first the +Moslems had the advantage, and the Meccans were forced to fly. But +they had learned many lessons in the fight at Badr, and had posted +some of their cavalry in such a position that, when the Moslem order +was disturbed in their pursuit of the enemy, they made a charge upon +their rear. The fleeing Meccans turned, and the Moslems found +themselves between two attacks. Then came the cry that Mohammed was +killed! Instead of increasing the Moslem disorder by discouragement, +it made them fight more doggedly, for the majority were so committed +to Islam that they cared not for life if their prophet was dead. This +prevented what must otherwise have meant absolute victory on the part +of the Meccans, and a number of them, with Mohammed, who was only +wounded, were able to retire to Medinah. The Meccans were quite +satisfied with the result, considering that the stigma of their defeat +at Badr had been wiped out. Later on, when Mohammed had sufficiently +recovered of his wounds, he made a public appearance in the Mosque, +where he was able to persuade his followers that their apparent defeat +was really a victory! The general who is able to persuade his forces +that there is victory, even where there seems to be defeat, is one who +will inspire them to fight against apparently impossible odds. They +will, indeed, never suffer defeat, but will fight on until annihilated +by capture or death. The secret of success even in the more pacific +engagements of life lies in this principle—to be undaunted <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" />in +ardour, in spite of failure; to recognise in failure a step towards +ultimate success. Let a man be possessed with these, and victory is +within his grasp, whether he recognises it or not.</p> + +<p>After this, Mohammed did not scruple to employ the system of warfare +by assassination, if warfare it can be called. Some tribes, emboldened +by the report of the Meccan success, began to treat Moslem emissaries +with scant courtesy, and went so far as to murder some. Mohammed +retaliated by sending men to balance the scales in the same criminal +way, particularly in treating with the Jews. An idea had grown up in +his mind that these people had determined to murder him. This, with +matters of minor importance, already referred to, at last led to an +organised attempt to subjugate them. A large, influential tribe was +besieged; their date trees, lands, and property wantonly destroyed. +Eventually the whole tribe surrendered, and were glad to march away +with what possessions their camels could carry. This led to a +combination of other Jewish tribes, which laid siege to Medinah. The +siege was not successful, and barbarous treatment was meted out to the +besiegers. After much skirmishing and general fighting, a number of +the Jews who had been captured were decapitated, while their women and +children were enslaved. Those who were unwilling to embrace Islam, +were compelled to pay tribute. So the prosperity and success of Islam +was assured. The Jews were no longer bold enough to cause the prophet +any anxiety as to the validity of his prophetic claims, nor were they +of a mind that would arouse fear as to their fighting abilities. They +were true descendants of Isaac and Jacob, who were both men of peace, +and were not qualified for success in war against the posterity of the +active warlike Ishmael and Esau.</p> + +<p>Freed from all anxiety in this direction, the prophet, realising that +the security of Medinah could never be assured while the Meccans were +opposed to him, began to formulate plans for the conquest of their +city. His first step was to try and conciliate them, with a view to +sending a pilgrim band into the city, but the citizens were far too +cautious and suspicious to allow that. At last, however, they were +prevailed upon to receive his son-in-law, Omar, who succeeded in +persuading a section of the Meccans of the injustice of barring the +Holy Temple to those who, although their enemies, were, after all, +their kinsmen. This led to a treaty, in which Mohammed brought shame +upon his followers because of his concessions. The arrangements were +that for ten years, peace between the prophet and the Meccans should +be maintained, and that within a year a party of the Moslems were to +be allowed to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba.</p> + +<p>The humiliation to which the prophet compelled his followers to submit +gave rise to considerable indignation, which was allayed only when he +himself submitted to the shaving of his head and the offering of +sacrifice. He knew that the humiliation was worthy of the advantage +gained—indeed, it was but the furtherance of his policy, in which no +action that was expedient <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" />could possibly be disgraceful. To him such +a treaty involved no sacred obligation to his enemies. He was God's +prophet, and as such was free of all obligation to those who did not +follow him, a principle deeply rooted in Islam, which makes the +violation of all virtuous relations with unbelievers highly +meritorious.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="V_WORLD_CONQUEST" id="V_WORLD_CONQUEST" />V.—WORLD CONQUEST.</h2> + + +<p>Not long after the treaty with the Meccans, Mohammed revealed the fact +that he had elaborated a scheme of world conquest, by sending +representatives to earthly monarchs of whom he had heard. His +messengers carried letters bearing the seal, "Mohammed, Prophet of +God," and urging the addressees to acknowledge his claims by embracing +Islam. These overtures were in some cases favourably received; in +others with contempt; but, of course, did not lead to compliance with +the demands, except, perhaps, on the part of a few of the rulers of +some Arabic tribes.</p> + +<p>The eighth year of the flight is famous in the history of the +prophet's life, because his followers, for the first time, came into +conflict with the forces of the Christian empire. The battle of Mutah +resulted in defeat of the Moslems, and, consequently, details have +been suppressed. It was part of Mohammed's policy to counteract the +demoralising influence of defeat by immediately attempting a fight in +which victory was assured. This, to my mind, justified war on any +pretext or grievance. In this case he conceived the idea of invading +Mecca, and, although minor incidents justify his decision to a slight +degree, his breach of the treaty adds to the evidence that is +derogatory to his character.</p> + +<p>The pilgrimage of the year before had been organised by him with the +view of impressing the Meccans of his power, and was decidedly +successful. When he with his ten thousand troops approached the city, +fear caused submission on the part of the leader of the city forces, +and after some slight skirmishing with a section of the community, +which preferred to show active disapproval of the ignominious +surrender, the city was won. Every idolatrous element of the Kaaba +worship was swept away, and, although its pagan associations were +negatived, it was sanctified to the service of Islam, and is still its +only altar. The city was invested with a more sacred significance than +it had ever occupied under the pagan system. It was never again to be +defiled by the spilling of human blood, the prophet insisting upon +this with admirable inconsistency! He showed his gratification in many +acts of statesmanlike condescension, and seems at this time to have +considered himself to be the ruler of all Arabs. Although it is +improbable that Mohammed was aware of it, the significance he attached +to the Holy City, by teaching that the Caaba was a heavenly built +edifice, was to become the means of consolidating his system, in spite +of national and racial distinctions. In its precincts, pilgrims from +India, <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" />Persia, China, Russia, Turkey, and other lands where Islam has +its devotees, mingle with the wild Bedouin of the desert in one common +brotherhood, and worship, in unity of faith and form, Allah, the great +and merciful.</p> + +<p>After its capture, the fierce warlike Bedouin nomadic tribes made +strenuous and courageous attempts to win back the city, but the Moslem +forces were invariably successful, and, in time, Mohammed returned to +Medinah more triumphant than ever. Eventually Taif, which had +successfully resisted a siege, submitted peacefully to the prophet's +claims, and the subjugation of the whole of Arabia followed.</p> + +<p>An ingenious system of taxation was imposed upon all tribes submitting +to Mohammed. The natural prejudice that universally exists against +taxation (!) was overcome, because it was instituted as a religious +rather than a statutory obligation. Thus the regular payments of alms +became one of the five acts of faith imposed upon all believers. The +other acts are: confession of creed, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="VI_MOHAMMED_AND_WOMEN" id="VI_MOHAMMED_AND_WOMEN" />VI.—MOHAMMED AND WOMEN.</h2> + + +<p>The prophet's domestic life exerted considerable influence upon his +religion; effects of which are to be seen in the Mohammedan home of +to-day. His numerous marriages afforded experience which led to the +framing of many "divine" laws referring to women. As has already been +hinted, Kadijah, his first wife, exercised considerable influence over +his prophetic career. She evidently had a strong affection for him, +which feeling was heartily reciprocated. She had a personality strong +enough to curb his natural passion, and to preserve her place in spite +of it in his regard. Her encouragement and support when success and +failure were trembling in the balance, urged him to persist in the +development of his ideas. He was faithful to her during their married +life, and to her memory afterwards, and promised her, upon her +deathbed, that she should share his heavenly chamber after his death, +with the Mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses. Within a month of +her death he was betrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven. He did not +actually marry her until she was nine years of age, and during the +interval consoled himself by wedding a widow who had acted as nurse to +one of his daughters. This marriage seems to have been more a matter +of convenience than of affection on his part, and in later days she +was able to keep her position as his wife only by the yielding of +certain of her privileges to other members of the harem.</p> + +<p>Seven months after his arrival in Medinah, during the time of poverty, +the marriage with Ayesha was celebrated, the child of nine being +united to the man of fifty-three! a marriage defended on the ground of +political expediency, whereby the devotion of Abu Bakr, the child's +father was strengthened. She seems to have been second only to +Khadijah in the prophet's <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" />affections, and exercised a petty tyranny +over him, which was submitted to even when it affected his +revelations. She excited the envy of the other wives because of her +privileges, and in spite of intrigue, was able to hold her own. She +was extremely sarcastic in regard to some of the revelations, and even +went so far on one occasion as to jeer the prophet on his faithfulness +in recording them. This sarcasm was prompted by jealousy, because of +Mohammed's marriage with Zainab, which was so illegal as to cause him +to throw the responsibility on God. Zainab was the wife of the +prophet's adopted son Zaid, who, having discovered his foster-father's +love, thought it wise to divorce her in his favour. The revelation +Mohammed produced seems to have been held over until his critics had +been mollified by some victory—hence the sarcasm!</p> + +<p>During the raiding of the Jews, Mohammed was considerably disturbed by +the desire of the wives to accompany him on the expeditions. He eased +the difficulty by arranging that one only should go with him on each +expedition, and should obtain the favour by lot. Ayesha got into +difficulty on one of these expeditions. She dropped a necklace and +remained behind the returning party in order to seek for it. A youth +who, too, had loitered behind, found it, and accompanied her back to +the camp. Her enemies were not slow to take advantage of this incident +to prejudice her before the prophet. He was deeply hurt, and in face +of the surge of public opinion, sent her back to her parents. The +complications arising out of the divorce would probably have alienated +the sympathies of Abu Bakr, her father, so with his usual diplomacy, +Mohammed produced a revelation, in which God declared Ayesha innocent +of any cause for divorce! It was through Ayesha, too, that the prophet +conceived the idea of praying for deliverance from the torment of the +grave, for she casually remarked one day that she had heard a Jewish +woman speaking about torment after death. Through all her life with +the prophet she proved herself to be strong in character, and a +fitting mate for a man of Mohammed's type.</p> + +<p>Other wives did not play such an important part in the prophet's life +work. He seems to have exhibited his taste for beauty in all his +selections. Keud was the daughter of a man of considerable wealth and +influence, and, like Zainab, was one of the Abyssinian refugees. In +the expedition against Khaibah, Mohammed's greed was excited by the +sight of some valuable ornaments belonging to one of his vanquished +enemies. He sought to gain possession of them by marrying the daughter +of the owner, Safiyyah, whose husband and brother had both been killed +in the battle that had been fought. She accepted the prophet's offer, +and contented herself for her losses in the squabbles of his harem. +His other wives were Juwairijah, Hafsah, Um Salmah, Um Kabibah, +another of the Abyssinian refugees, and Zainab, widow of his cousin. +The last wife was Maimunah, who is said to have offered herself to him +when he was considering the invasion of Mecca. A Coptic (Christian) +slave girl, Mary, and <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" />Rihanah, a Jewess, were added to the harem, but +went through no form of marriage with him. Mary was sent as a present +from one of the Coptic rulers in answer to the prophet's letter, +urging the claims of Islam; while Rihanah, whose husband was one of +the many who were cruelly slaughtered by decapitation after a victory +over the Jews, was at nightfall, almost immediately after the +massacre, taken to the prophet's tent. It is evident that the prophet +had many opportunities of still further increasing his harem, for many +women offered themselves; while the relatives of handsome widows would +make no arrangements for the re-marriage of the bereaved ones until +they had been offered to the prophet and refused.</p> + +<p>It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so +many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much +evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty +of pleasing all. His relations to the feminine sex, as may be +expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women. Hence +the utter degradation to which they are subjected in Islam. Although +he did not practice it, he sanctioned wife beating. Divorce was made +easy for the men, who could cast off their wives any time they so +desired. Thus it is quite common to-day for women to steal from their +husbands in order to provide for themselves in case of divorce. The +evil of such a system is apparent. It makes the women mere slaves at +the mercy of the caprice of their husbands. The polygamy and +concubinage which is sanctioned in the Koran, has degraded the women +to a degree that may be imagined, and certainly has not, as some +authorities contend, abolished other evils. It is true that he +improved slightly the condition of women in his day, giving them +privileges they had not up to that time enjoyed, and by those who +endeavour to picture him as a hero, his failure to arrive at a true +estimate of the position of women is covered by the statement that it +was impossible for him to grapple with a hopeless problem. It is +encouraging to know that, with the growing influence of Western +Christian civilisation, the condition of women in Moslem lands is +gradually improving, although the village folk still consider us to be +weak in character because we are courteous in our behaviour to them. +In Egypt, Government schools for girls are being organised, and +throughout the whole Moslem world education is spreading. The religion +of Mohammed is so clearly defined that it can never be reformed. The +only hope for the nations that are under its sway is that with the +advance of western civilisation there may be a yielding to the +influence of Christianity. It cannot be possible to enjoy the +blessings of the West while men are tyrannised by a non-progressive +religion of the East.</p> + +<p>Just before he died Mohammed organised an expedition against the +Romans, and this in spite of sickness unto death. He had made his last +pilgrimage to Mecca, and had delivered what may be termed his final +charge to his followers. The whole tone of his address seems to have +been influenced by the <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" />thought of the proximity of death. He +emphasised the doctrines he had inculcated, showing that the Islamic +brotherhood removed all that tended to social inequality. The rich man +was no better than the poor; the aristocrat who boasted of his +ancestry, no more important in the sight of God than the lowliest +beggar. The only difference that could exist between man and man was a +difference in degree of piety. Property rights he recognised as +regarding believers, and evidently implied that unbelievers possessed +no such rights. He asked respect and humane treatment for women, and +undoubtedly manifested a desire for a better condition of affairs than +he in his lifetime had been able to establish. The subsequent illness +was probably due to the strain and anxiety of this pilgrimage. Ayesha, +the girl wife, tended him. The many stories that have been told of +these last days are not at all reliable, but it is certain that for +five days he was quite helpless and delirious. On the 7th of June, 632 +A.D., ten years after the flight from Mecca, he died in the arms of +Ayesha, leaving a work that wrought havoc in the Christian Church for +centuries, and which, inspired by his immortal spirit, still exists in +unyielding enmity against the faith of the meek and lowly Nazarene, +whose native soil, in the providence of God, is owned by Islam's son. +Never again will be heard the clash of steel on steel as Christian +tries to vanquish Moslem. Those days are happily past and gone. Carnal +weapons cannot avail against spiritual forces. The eternal, peaceable +Spirit of Jesus is slowly but surely permeating the gloom of Islam. We +see the resultant disintegration, and hope for that great day when, +led by the broken and contrite spirit of their leader, the hosts of +Islam shall bow before the King of Kings, recognising what, in time, +they were impelled to deny—Unity in Trinity, the at present +unrevealed mystery of Deity.</p> + +<p>Britain, the greatest Moslem power of the world, needs to change her +policy in regard to Christian missionary work amongst Moslems, if she +is desirous of promoting the welfare of those benighted people. She +must give freedom to the heralds of the Cross who labour in the lands +of the Crescent. And the prayers of her people must ascend on behalf +of the sons and daughters of Islam who sit in darkness and the shadow +of death.<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" /></p> + +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14064 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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E. E. +Hayes</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Mohammed, The Prophet of Islam</p> +<p>Author: H. E. E. Hayes</p> +<p>Release Date: November 16, 2004 [eBook #14064]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOHAMMED, THE PROPHET OF ISLAM***</p> +<h4><br /><br /><br />E-text prepared by Michael Ciesielski<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /><br /><br /></h4> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class='ctrdiv'> +<div style=' width: 18em; margin: 4em auto;'> +<p style='margin-bottom: 0'>There is no God but God,<br /> and Mohammed is the Apostle of God.</p> +<p class='rt'><i>(Moslem Creed.)</i></p> +</div> +</div> + +<h1>MOHAMMED</h1> + +<h3>A popular essay on the life +of the prophet of Islam.</h3> + +<h2>H.E.E. HAYES</h2> + +<p>Price 3d. post free,<br /> +From "Hythe House"<br /> +Greenhithe, Kent.<br /> +</p> + +<p> </p> +<div class='ctrdiv'> +<div class='ads'> +<p>If you are interested in Missionary work in Moslem lands, read the</p> + +<h3 style='margin-top: 1em;'>"MOSLEM WORLD,"</h3> + +<p>A quarterly review of current events, literature, and thought among +Mohammedans; and the progress of Christian Missions in Moslem lands.</p> + +<p class='squish'>Edited by</p> + +<p class='squish'>SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D.</p> + +<p class='squish'><br />Published by the</p> + +<p class='squish'>Christian Literature Society for India</p> + +<p class='squish'>35 John Street, Bedford Row, London, W.C.</p> + +<p>Sent post free 1s. per copy or 4s. per annum.</p> + +<p>SEND YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW.</p> +</div> + +<div style='height: 2pc;'><br /></div> + + +<div class='ads'> +<p>READ ALSO THE</p> + +<h3 style='margin-top: 1em;'>Egypt General Mission News</h3> + +<p class='squish'>Published bi-monthly by the EGYPT GENERAL MISSION,</p> + +<p class='squish'>10 Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N.</p> + +<p class='squish'>1s. per annum post free.</p> + +<p>This Magazine gives a current account of Mission work amongst the +Moslems of Egyptian villages.</p> + +<p>PRAY FOR ALL CHRISTIAN WORK AMONGST MOSLEMS</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> </p> +<div style='height: 4pc;'><br /></div> + +<ol class='roman'> + <li><a href="#I_EARLY_LIFE">EARLY LIFE.</a></li> + <li><a href="#II_THE_CALLquot_TO_THE_PROPHETIC_OFFICE">THE "CALL" TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE.</a></li> + <li><a href="#III_BIRTH_OF_THE_ISLAMIC_SOCIETY">BIRTH OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY.</a></li> + <li><a href="#IV_GROWTH_AND_PROGRESS">GROWTH AND PROGRESS.</a></li> + <li><a href="#V_WORLD_CONQUEST">WORLD CONQUEST.</a></li> + <li><a href="#VI_MOHAMMED_AND_WOMEN">MOHAMMED AND WOMEN.</a></li> +</ol> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE" />PREFACE.<a name="Page_2" id="Page_2" /></h2> + + +<p>So-called Moslem missionaries are spreading through the Press such +idealistic and false views of the religion and character of Mohammed, +that we need to be on our guard against them.</p> + +<p>Unbiased historians have stated that there is much that is deplorable +in the life of the prophet of Islam. And it is certain that his +teaching has increased the degradation of the nations that have come +under its influence.</p> + +<p>Much of the literature that is being circulated in England by the +"Moslem missionaries," claims that Moslem women are better off, so far +as property rights go, than their Christian sisters. However true this +may be, it does not lift them out of the degradation of polygamy and +concubinage, with a capricious system of divorce, which makes them the +victims of the selfish baseness of their husbands and masters, which +Mohammed himself sanctioned.</p> + +<p>The following essay, it is hoped, will help to counteract the false +ideas that are being scattered abroad, and lead those who read to +study more deeply the problems and sorrows of millions of the Moslem +subjects of our Gracious King.</p> + +<p>The prayers of all Christians are asked on behalf of these millions, +and for those who labour to preach the "unsearchable riches of Christ" +amongst them.</p> + +<p>H.E.E. HAYES.</p> + +<p class='squish'>GREENHITHE:</p> + +<p class='squish'><i>July</i>, 1914.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" />INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p>Just as the character of Jesus is stamped upon the religion which +originated in His Person, so is the character of Mohammed impressed +upon the system which he, with marvellous ingenuity, founded. The +practical influence of Islam upon individual lives produces results +that reflect unmistakably the character of its founder, and a careful +study of the tenets of the system in relation to its history enable +the student to estimate the real worth of the man.</p> + +<p>As the Apostle of God, Mohammed is the ideal of every true Moslem. His +life is the standard by which the lives of his followers are tested, +although he himself confesses that his life was not holy. In the +Koran, and the earlier traditions, he is pictured as being in no way +better than his fellows, and as weak and liable to error as the +poorest of his contemporaries. Yet later tradition minimises his +faults and weakness, and surrounds his person with a halo of glory +that makes him appear sinless and almost divine. All the doubtful +incidents of his life are either eliminated and ignored, or +assiduously supported and defended by his pious, misguided followers.</p> + +<p>It is a point in his favour that he never claimed infallibility for +his actions or opinions; and his habit of attempting to cover or +justify his glaring faults by suitable revelations, although +indefensibly immoral, reveals the fact that he was conscious of his +own shortcomings. When he was at the zenith of his power, "revelation" +became merely an instrument of self glorification, licensing him in +every whim and fancy, because it gave him, as the prophet of God, +exemption from all law and order. His scheme was characteristically +ingenious and immoral. Had he known of the divine effulgence with +which he was afterwards encircled by his fanatical followers, he +would, in all probability, have strongly discountenanced it. The +incongruous sanctity with which his commonplace utterances and petty +actions were invested would have caused fear lest it became derogatory +to his creed of divine unity.</p> + + + +<h3>TRADITION.</h3> + + +<p>As a source of information, the traditions are obviously unreliable, +for they are coloured by the excessive zeal and <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" />irrational bias of +men whose judgment was warped by irrepressible fanaticism. They +attributed to their hero elements that are grotesquely impossible. His +advent was in their estimation, so portentous that it was celebrated +by events which, for the time, upset all natural law. And his whole +life has been linked with miraculous happenings of a most ludicrous +type. More reasonable men have exalted the prophet because they have +convinced themselves that he was what he ought to have been. This may +account for the pious confidence of some of the more intelligent, who, +accepting tradition as historical, have exalted their hero to the +ideal, and have received the imagined glory as real. This tendency to +exalt their master is well illustrated by the maxim of Shafy—"In the +exaltation of Mohammed it is lawful to exaggerate"—a maxim invaluable +to men who were seeking to glorify the prophet, and the usefulness of +which was fully appreciated by the legislators and doctors when they +were called upon to cope with the new relations and exigencies that +came into being after his death. The conquests and progress of Islam +necessitated almost daily the framing of new rules, while in the +application of the old, constant modification and adaptation were +required. To meet these needs, actual or supposed sayings and actions +of the prophet were eagerly sought after, and, in time, with the +growth of a professional body of traditionalists, all legitimate +sources being exhausted, that which was doubtful, and even disputed, +was accepted as authentic and reliable. Imagination augmented the +legitimate springs of information, and the result was an exhaustive +accumulation of precedents for every possible circumstance.</p> + +<p>Sprenger, in his essay on "Tradition," regarding the value and nature +of the material needed for compiling a life of Mohammed, says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"During the stir and activity of the first sixty years, thousands + and thousands occupied themselves with handing down traditions. In + every mosque they committed them to memory, and rehearsed them in + every social gathering. All such knowledge was the common property + of the nation; it was learned by heart and transmitted orally. It + possessed, therefore, in the highest possible degree, the elements + of life and plasticity. Bunson has discovered the divinity of the + Bible in its always having been the people's book. If this + criterion be decisive, then no religion has better claim to be + called the 'vox Dei,' because none is in so full a sense the 'vox + populi.' The creations of the period we have been considering + possess this character for hundreds of millions of our fellow men; + for modern Islamism is as far removed from the spirit in which the + Coran was composed, as Catholicism is from the spirit of the + Gospel; and modern Islamism is grounded upon tradition. But in + tradition we find nothing but the Ideal, Invention, Fancy, + Historical facts, however they may have been floating among the + people in the days if Ibn 'Abbas, and the other founders of + genealogy, were trodden under feet, because men wished to remove + every barrier which stood in the way of <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5" />self-glorification. And of + the thousand inventions which every day gave birth to, only those + were recognised as true which most flattered the religious and + national pride . . . ."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He also goes on to say:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The time of creative activity, the gestation era of Moslem + knowledge, passed away. Hajjaj choked the young life in its own + blood, and the Abbaside dynasty, with kingly patriotism, sold the + dearly-bought conquests of the nation, first to the Persians, and + then to Turkish slaves, with the view of procuring an imaginary + security for their throne. And thus there arose for the spiritual + life also a new period. Already Wackidi had begun to work up into + shape the mass of his traditionary stores, and busy himself in the + department of scholastic industry. In the schools one could as + little affect now the material tradition, or alter its nature, as + attempt to change the organism of the new-born child. However + arbitrary might be the invention of the 'Miraj' (Mahomed's heavenly + journey), and other fabrications of the first century, they still + formed in this way the positive element and soul of religious, + political and social life. The schools, as always, confined their + exertions to collecting, comparing, abbreviating, systematising, + and commenting. The material was altogether divine; and any + unprejudiced historical inquiry, any simple and natural + interpretation of the Coran, any free judgment on tradition or its + origin, was condemned as apostasy. The only task that remained was + to work up, in scholastic form, the existing material; and in this + way was developed a literature of boundless dimensions, which yet + at bottom possessed nothing real. The whole spiritual activity of + the Mohamedans, from the time of the prophet to the present day, is + a dream; but it is a dream in which a large portion of the human + race have lived; and it has all the interest which things relating + to mankind always possess for man."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Sir William Muir agrees with these views, subject to two +considerations. He says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The tendency to glorify Mohammed and the reciters of the + traditions was considerably modified by the mortal strife which + characterised the factions that opposed one another at the period, + where, in attempting to depreciate one another, they would not be + averse to perpetuating traditions in support of their contentions; + such partisanship secured no insignificant body of historical fact, + which otherwise would have been lost."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He also points out that in a state of society circumscribed and +dwarfed by the powerful Islamic system, which proscribed the free +exercise of thought and discussion, tradition can scarcely be said to +be the "vox populi." The growth and development of tradition, the +flagrant distortion of historical fact, the ethical code of Islam, may +well give rise to a questioning of the validity of the prophet's +arrogant claims, and by their very methods of defence the apologists +of Islam exhibit its weakness and inadequacy to meet the religious +needs of man. The natural bias <a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" />of Mohammed is evident throughout the +Coran. His conceptions of God, of the future life, and of the duty of +man, are all influenced by his consuming master passion. In all his +writings there are lacking those characteristics which distinguish the +true prophet—the messenger of God—from those to whom he is sent. +This will be apparent by contrasting his views with those of any of +the Old Testament prophets. They were eminently men prepared for their +high calling by lofty yet practical communion with God—men whose +message was inspired by a vision of Divine Majesty, and an impressive +conception of the justice and awful purity of Jehovah. Men who called +the nation to righteousness of life by a stirring appeal to +conscience, and an unfaltering denunciation of the evils of the time. +Their spiritual aspirations, therefore, by far surpass the loftiest +ideals of the prophet of Islam, while their ethical conceptions +infinitely transcend all that Mohammed dreamed of. The voice of the +Eternal is clearly heard in the earnest utterances that fell from +their lips, and through all their prophecies the willingness of Divine +Mercy to reason with men in spite of their erring ways, is apparent.</p> + +<p>Three characteristic elements are perceived in their preaching—a very +keen and practical conscience of sin; an overpowering vision of God; +and a very sharp perception of the politics of their day. Of these +elements, Mohammed's teaching possesses only the last.</p> + + + +<h3>MOHAMMED'S CONCEPTION OF GOD</h3> + + +<p>His conception of God is essentially deistical. The intimate personal +communion, so characteristic of the Old Testament, is unknown and +unrealised: hence there is little, if anything, in his system that +tends to draw men nigh to God. Attempts to remedy this characteristic +defect have been vainly made by the dervish orders, which, while +acknowledging the claims of Mohammed and his book, have introduced +methods not sanctioned by the system, by which they attempt to find +the communion with the Unseen, for which their souls crave. These +methods are very much akin to the efforts of the devotees of Hinduism. +There is, therefore, lacking amongst Moslems that need which grows out +of personal relationship with the Divine—that need which leads to +moral transformation and spiritual intensity on the part of those who +enjoy such fellowship. The Creator exists apart from His handiwork. He +has predetermined the actions of men. They are destined to eternal +bliss or destruction by an Inflexible Will, so that there is no need +for Divine Interference in their affairs. "God is in His heaven, and +the world is working out its end according to His unalterable decree."</p> + +<p>Because of this gross conception, Palgrave has designated the system +"The Pantheism of Force," and says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from all + creatures, which he levelled before Him on one common plane<a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" /> of + instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of + omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, + standard or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He + communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and + act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from + them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and + from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no + pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature ever its + fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude + and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which + employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to + honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of + their individual fitness, deserts, or advantages, and simply + because 'He wills it,' and 'as He wills it . . . .'</p> + +<p> "One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this + uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything + like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, + for He has, with respect to His creatures, one main feeling and + source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should + perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, + and thus encroach on His all engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever + more prone to punish than to reward; to inflict pain than to bestow + pleasure; to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to + let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than + His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also; that thus they + may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to + be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will + above their will, His pride above their pride—or, rather, that + there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own.</p> + +<p> "But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving + nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without + son, companion, or counsellor, is no less barren of Himself than + for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in + Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding + despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and + the primal idea of God runs through and modifies the whole system + and creed that centres in Him."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Contrast this summary with the teaching of the Old Testament prophets, +the following quotations of which are but a small sample:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your + sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be + red like crimson, they shall be as wool."</p> + +<p> "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye + comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is + accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned."</p> + +<p> "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord has + anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" />hath sent me + to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, + and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, etc."</p> + +<p> "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, saith + the Lord."</p> + +<p> "Who is a god like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth + by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth + not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will + turn again; He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our + iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the + sea."</p> + +<p> "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord + require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk + humbly with thy God."</p> + +<p> "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He + knoweth them that trust in Him."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the light of such lofty teaching, the conceptions of Mohammed +appear gross and degraded. His asceticism and contemplation never +brought him a vision of God that overwhelmed him and purified as by +fire. He knew the Creator only from what he heard from the lips of +sinful, ignorant men, whose ideas of Deity were base and ignoble. +These ideas, and the passions that made up such a large portion of his +life, obscured his vision, warped his judgment, and led him to +postulate a God that inhabited not a Holy Spiritual Realm, but a +grossly carnal and sensuous paradise.</p> + +<p>Millions have been brought beneath his sway because his system panders +to the natural inclinations of man. Spiritual insight is blinded by +carnal desire; conduct is influenced by unbridled license; bigotry and +hatred are fostered by his policy of intoleration; and his followers +are enslaved by a tyranny that blights the reason, because it +discountenances inquiry, and places an insurmountable barrier in the +way of all human progress.</p> + +<p>In studying the life of Mohammed, the cause of his failure to uplift +humanity will be clearly seen. His early sincerity, if sincerity it +can be named, was absorbed by his consuming ambition. Had it been +otherwise he might have had his name inscribed with the honourable +ones of the earth—those men whose claims are ratified by their happy +effects. As it is, his name is linked with those whose deeds cause a +shudder of horror and repulsion to all who love honesty, purity, and +truth.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="I_EARLY_LIFE" id="I_EARLY_LIFE" />I.—EARLY LIFE.</h2> + + +<p>Mohammed was born in Mecca, a town in Arabia, about seventy miles +inland from the Red Sea. His father, who died 570 A.D., a few months +before the child was born, was a member of the Banu Hashim clan. His +family, although well connected, was a humble one, possessing but +little wealth. On the death <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" />of his mother some six years later, the +child was taken by his grandfather, 'ABD-EL-MUTTALIB, who took care of +him for two years. Then he was adopted by his uncle, ABU TALIB, who +employed him to look after his flocks and herds.</p> + +<p>From his earliest years, Mohammed must have been brought into contact +with the religious life of Mecca, for his grandfather was custodian of +the Kaaba, or temple, and would frequently take the boy with him on +his official visits to the place. The numerous images of the gods set +up in the temple would be familiar objects to the future prophet, +whose iconoclastic zeal was eventually to bring about their +destruction. His lonely shepherd life favoured the cultivation of the +contemplative habits of his manhood, and played no unimportant part in +the development of those characteristics which eminently fitted him +for the life he was to lead. Nature had endowed him with the essential +abilities of a commander of men, and his early environment provided a +training that enabled him to exercise those gifts most advantageously.</p> + +<p>The population of Arabia at this time consisted of numerous +independent nomadic tribes, who were often at enmity one with another. +Political unity there was none, while each tribe had its own patron, +or god, which was considered to be responsible for everything +concerning the tribe's welfare. Where tribes were united, or at peace, +there the individual gods were supposed to be friendly. Even in Mecca, +which for many years had been occupied by a settled community, there +was no political or judicial organisation. The existing order was +maintained by a form of patriarchal government, under which system it +was possible for the head of a tribe or clan, to protect the life of +any individual he chose to befriend.</p> + +<p>The religious beliefs and customs were evidently gross materialistic +corruptions of what had once been a purely spiritual worship. Mohammed +had been preceded by men who had from time to time, in spite of the +moral and intellectual darkness, been so endowed with spiritual +perception as to recognise and bewail the hollowness and degradation +of the Pagan system. Some, indeed, had been conscientious enough to +utter words of condemnation; others had gone so far as to despise and +ridicule its claims. So that when Mohammed was born the people were in +a condition of religious uncertainty. Many elements contributed to +this unrest. Travellers learned that the more prosperous nations had +rejected the age long sanctions of Paganism; earnest, thoughtful men +could not but recognise its inadequacy to satisfy the religious +aspirations of their fellows; Jews and Christians, who had settled in +the country, had introduced views that appealed to those who were +dissatisfied with the old methods of thought; while the need for +social and political unity called for a force that would unite the +scattered tribes in the pursuit of common ideals. Thus was the land +prepared for the mighty revolution that was to come—a revolution that +made one great nation of the various tribes, and turned their warlike +<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" />instincts and characteristic fanaticism, which before had been +dissipated by wasteful internecine strife, into one definite channel, +until it became a menace to the whole world. A change so potent, that, +in the lifetime of one man, it was able to obliterate partly by +absorption, and chiefly by annihilation, the sanctions and beliefs of +centuries, and which fostered a hatred so bitter, and a brotherhood so +strong, between man and man, that by its sanction the dearest, +tenderest, and strongest ties of humanity have been broken, while +those who for years had lived in enmity were united in bonds stronger +than death. Under its malevolent influence, children have ruthlessly +slain their parents, believing that thus would they merit heaven. And +men of different race have fought side by side under one banner, +hurling themselves with fanatical heroism upon their enemies, +believing that to die in such a way meant the winning of an immortal +crown.</p> + +<p>During his boyhood, Mohammed had plenty of opportunities for observing +the condition of affairs, and, thanks to his privilege of travelling +with the caravans, was even able to notice the contrast between the +conditions of his own people and those of the more peaceable, +prosperous nations. He frequently attended upon his uncle in the +fighting that often occurred between the tribes, and so gained the +knowledge of military strategy which proved to be so useful at a later +time. Margoliouth suggests that the two most important lessons the +"prophet" learned at this time were the necessity of settling affairs +of blood by some expedient less wasteful, and more satisfactory than +that which was illustrated by the war of Fizar, and that war should be +regarded not as a game, but as a mode of obtaining decisive results.</p> + +<p>The varied experiences he passed through on his caravan journeys did +much to influence his future policy; indeed, it appears that all +influences brought to bear upon his early life were forces that +moulded and equipped him for the office he was to fill. He was keenly +observant, and wonderfully accurate in his inferences, especially in +his estimate of the characters of men with whom he had to deal. He +seemed to lack initiative, for he was always reluctant to take action +in any important undertaking; but once the initial step was taken, he +pressed forward with indomitable courage. In his business transactions +he proved himself to be shrewd and tactful, and by his fidelity, +patience, and self-confidence, gained the respect and esteem of his +immediate fellows.</p> + +<p>Khadijah, a rich widow, having entrusted Mohammed with the control of +an important caravan, and finding how admirably he had performed his +part, wisely concluded that her interests would be furthered if he had +a share in them. Hence their marriage, which happy arrangement proved +to be mutually blessed and successful. It vastly improved Mohammed's +social standing, raising him to a position of equality with the +leading men of the city. For many years he was content to live quietly +<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" />as an ordinary citizen, engrossed in the accumulation of wealth by +legitimate trading.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="II_THE_CALLquot_TO_THE_PROPHETIC_OFFICE" id="II_THE_CALLquot_TO_THE_PROPHETIC_OFFICE" />II.—THE "CALL" TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE.</h2> + + +<p>It has not been recorded how first he began to yield to the impulses +that eventually led him to assume the role of reformer, but it is +certain that at the age of forty he was the leader of a secret +society, which had for its object the political and religious unity of +the Arab people. He knew that far-reaching changes were necessary in +every department of national policy before his ideal could be +realised. Unity was the secret of power and prosperity. This he had +learned through contact with other nations. His dealing with Jews and +Christians had given rise to a deep appreciation of the value of a +monotheistic faith in the consolidation of a people, and he was +convinced that political unity would be achieved only where there was +religious unity. With masterly insight he laid his plans accordingly, +and because of the extreme conservatism was obliged to formulate them +in strict secrecy. Unfortunately, owing to his untrustworthy sources +of information, his policy was founded upon false bases. His distorted +conception of truth led him to establish a system of false philosophy +and theology so framed as to allow of no alteration or adaptation. In +his elaboration of the system, he depended much upon his own +meditative habits, and no doubt thought it all out in the loneliness +of the mountains, to which he frequently retired for the observance of +certain ascetic customs of the Pagans. Thus his scheme of reform +crystallised into definite shape, and his call to the prophetic office +became a fixed idea.</p> + +<p>He felt certain that success lay in the determined proclamation of one +god as opposed to the many of the Arab pantheon, and the more he +pondered over this Being, of whom he had heard from the Jews and +Christians, the greater became his certainty. God was supreme and +omnipotent; of that there could be no doubt. But how to convince the +people was a difficulty that needed much careful thought and cautious +propagation. Jews and Christians could boast of prophets—of men +inspired to speak with the voice of God—but the Arabs had had no one +who had spoken with such authority. Why had they been so neglected? +Surely they needed to hear the Divine voice, and that need was never +greater than now, when all was unrest and dissention. Where was the +man who would fill the office? Who would be willing to face the odds, +and declare against evil by proclaiming the good and the true? Such +must have been the questions that exercised Mohammed's mind. Then came +the thought—"Why should not I be the messenger?" And this so grew +upon him that he was convinced of his "call." The possession of this +idea made him sincere in his purpose at first, but after the tide had +turned in his favour, that sincerity was marred—nay, eclipsed—by an +inflated notion of self-importance, and a consuming ambi<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" />tion to which +every virtue and good feeling was subordinated, until at last he was +able, with superb arrogance, to bracket his name with Deity, making +the confession of his claim as important as the confession of the +Unity of God. Wherein his inconsistency and falsity is chiefly +apparent, for confession of Unity is insufficient without recognition +of Mohammed's apostleship!</p> + +<p>Ascetic practices tend to lead to physical disorders, which generally +upset the mind and lead to mental and moral distemper. Judgment is +warped because the functions of the mind are thrown out of gear. The +varied departments of consciousness act with ungoverned caprice, with +the result that fantastical fancies and visions are interpreted to be +realties, which become misleading and deceptive. Thus may be explained +the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to Mohammed, but it can hardly be +conceived that it will account for the ingenious method of revelation +which he received. Some people believe it to have been inspired by +Satan; it must ever remain a matter of speculation.</p> + +<p>The necessity of a <i>piecemeal</i> revelation could not at this time have +been apparent to the prophet. But we may give him the credit of the +policy of abrogation which he afterwards adopted, for such a policy +was necessary to enable him to cover or justify his actions which, +like those of even the best of men, were marked by inconsistency.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="III_BIRTH_OF_THE_ISLAMIC_SOCIETY" id="III_BIRTH_OF_THE_ISLAMIC_SOCIETY" />III.—BIRTH OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY.</h2> + + +<p>Being firmly convinced of his call, Mohammed, with characteristic +caution, began to propagate his principles, for years being content to +deal secretly with individuals, beginning with those of his own +household. His wife acknowledged and encouraged his claim, and +gradually he gathered around him an increasing circle of devoted +followers, some of whom had more confidence in him and his pretensions +than he had himself. This was particularly true of ABU BAKR, a rich +and popular merchant of Mecca, who, having acknowledged the claims of +the prophet, followed him with implicit obedience and unwavering +devotion. He threw himself whole-heartedly into the work of +proselytising, and the progress of early days, although slow, was +largely due to his indefatigable energy.</p> + +<p>As the membership of the new society increased, rules were framed, +based upon the "revelations" which Mohammed now periodically received, +and each member was compelled to subscribe to the most stringent +regulations. Idolatry was strongly condemned and the unity of God +emphatically asserted. Certain Jewish and Christian religious +ordinances were imposed as a condition of membership, while unswerving +loyalty to the prophet was demanded. License was given to the members +to practice outwardly the old rites and ceremonies of Paganism, in +order to arouse no suspicion, but the existence of such a society, in +spite of all precautions, could not long remain unnoticed, and the +time came when the prophet and his followers were <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" />compelled to make +public confession of their faith. Persecution followed, in which the +poorer members suffered more than their richer brethren. Mohammed +himself received the protection of the head of his clan, and for eight +or ten years carried on a campaign of words. Margoliouth, in his life +of Mohammed, likens the prophet to a player in a game of cards, who, +having received a good hand, plays his cards with consummate skill. He +took advantage of every opportunity in strengthening his position, and +having a clear-cut policy before him, subordinated everything to its +furtherance. He was a powerful preacher, but owing to his ungovernable +temper, was not so successful in debate; hence he produced a +"revelation" forbidding him to engage in public controversy! He showed +great diligence in seeking information that enabled him to produce his +revelations in a style consistent with his claims. Being entirely +dependent on hearsay, he obtained but a sadly distorted account of +truth. The Koran is full of glaring errors, which, for centuries, have +baffled the ingenuity of the Moslem doctors. Yet the prophet +presumptuously claimed that his, being the last "revelation," was the +most important, and more reliable, and the differences that were +apparent were due to the corruption in time of the text of the former +"revelations"—<i>i.e.</i>, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures!</p> + +<p>He was evidently much perplexed by the divisions and controversies +that existed within the Christian Church, and considered that the +images and pictures then in use were little better than the idols of +his own people. With no means of testing and verifying his knowledge, +he accepted all that tended to enhance his own position, and his chief +regret seems to have been his inability, in reply to the taunts of his +enemies, to point to any element of the miraculous in his career. In +the revelations, he frequently expressed views and opinions which +flatly contradicted what he had formerly stated, and when challenged +as to his inconsistency, defended it by claiming that it was not he +who had changed his mind, but God, whose ways no man could question or +understand!</p> + +<p>In time, the position of the new sect became so intolerable that many +were compelled to flee, and numbers went into Abyssinia, where they +were well received. Mohammed himself, thanks to his relatives' +protection, could still afford to remain in Mecca. In spite of the +opposition, his influence gradually increased, and was considerably +strengthened by the conversion of Omar, a citizen famed for his skill +in military strategy and courage. Not long afterwards, Khadijah, the +prophet's wife died. She had wielded a strong, healthy influence over +her husband, and had cheered him on in times of discouragement and +failure. Islam owes not a little to her life and influence, and were +it more widely recognised, might possibly lead to an improvement of +the position of the poor unfortunate daughters of the system, who are +enslaved and degraded to a saddening degree. After Khadijah's death, +Mohammed took full advantage <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" />of the polygamous sanctions of Paganism, +and even abused the privilege when it conflicted with his own +inclinations. Margoliouth attempts to defend the many marriages on the +ground of political expediency, which may be conceded in only a few +cases. In most instances they were due to selfish desire and +inordinate affection. Particularly is this true in the case of the +prophet's marriage with his adopted son's wife, which was a gross +violation of Arab law.</p> + +<p>On the death of his protector, Mohammed was compelled to seek refuge +elsewhere, but not before he had made inconsistent concessions to the +pagan leaders. In these concessions he retreated entirely from the +strong iconoclastic attitude he had hitherto adopted, going so far as +to produce a revelation that claimed to reconcile the One True God to +the gods of the Pagan pantheon. This compromise, no matter how wise +and statesmanlike it may appear to be, clearly indicates the falsity +of Mohammed's claim, and enables us to estimate the value of his +pretensions. His action was strongly condemned by many of his +followers, and probably under the influence of their opinion, he +produced an apologetic revelation abrogating the concession, and +admitting it to have been a mistake!</p> + +<p>He endeavoured to escape the persecution in Mecca by taking refuge in +Taif, but was so badly treated there when his views became known, that +he was glad to return, and upon promising to confine his proselytising +efforts to strangers, was allowed to stay under the protection of one +of the leading citizens. He carried on his work among strangers with +such success, that before long a strong community had grown up in the +town of Medinah. The rapid increase of this section of his disciples +may be accounted for by the very unsettled condition of the place. +Civil and religious strife had been for a long time aggravated by the +aggressive attitude of a large section of Jews, so that circumstances +were more favourable to the reception and growth of Islam than in +Mecca, where there was more peaceful organisation, and where the +existence of the ancient Kaaba, or dwelling place of the gods, made +men more jealous of their old religion.</p> + +<p>In the appointment of a man to lead the new community, Mohammed +exhibited his characteristic insight into the abilities of men. He +selected a follower thoroughly convinced of his master's claims, whose +zeal in the earlier days had led him to forsake friends and family by +flight into Abyssinia—a man full of enthusiasm and energy. In a +comparatively short time the new religion became quite popular, and +idolatry was despised. An incident indicative of the progress is seen +in the visit of seventy of the Medinah disciples to Mohammed in Mecca. +They met him secretly in the mountains, by night, and made solemn, +binding vows of allegiance, in which they promised "to fight men of +all colour in order to defend the faith." It is highly probable that +at this meeting the prophet was invited to join them in Medinah, but +for the present he preferred his native town.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" />Somehow the story of the night meeting leaked out, with the result +that persecution was redoubled, and many of the less wealthy followers +were forced to flee to Medinah. They were there well received and +cared for, and were afterwards honoured by being designated the +"refugees," while those who received them were similarly honoured in +being named the "helpers." Thus the brotherhood of believers insisted +on by Mohammed began to assume practical form, and men of different +tribes were united in one common bond—a brotherhood so powerful that +its enemies in Mecca were filled with alarm. They had no longer to +deal with a man whose views could be despised. They were menaced by a +growing force that threatened to overwhelm them. Steps were taken to +overthrow the danger, and elaborate arrangements were made for the +assassination of the prophet. He somehow obtained news of the plot, +and escaped the would-be murderers, who came while he was supposed to +be in bed, by climbing through a window. Accompanied by the faithful +Abu Bakr and a few of his more intimate followers, he made his way to +one of the mountain caves, where he stayed until the immediate danger +had passed. Then the little company commenced the journey to Medinah, +a task so fraught with danger and hardship that Mohammed shrank from +it, in spite of the Meccan evil, and was compelled to attempt it only +by the pressure of his friends.</p> + +<p>The facts concerning his entry into Medinah are obscure and uncertain, +but there is no doubt that his advent was hailed with delight by the +"helpers" and "refugees." Hospitality was freely offered, and, owing +to the prophet's independent spirit, reluctantly accepted. One of his +earliest actions after arrival was to consolidate his forces by +strengthening the brotherhood, making the obligations of his followers +to one another, and himself, more binding than the ties of blood.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="IV_GROWTH_AND_PROGRESS" id="IV_GROWTH_AND_PROGRESS" />IV.—GROWTH AND PROGRESS.</h2> + + +<p>He now found himself the acknowledged head of a large growing community, +which looked to him for guidance in all its affairs—religious, social, +and political. Proudly, and with true Eastern despotism, he took upon +himself the dignities of prophet, priest, and king. He needed no one with +whom to share these functions. His was the sole right—his alone. His +ambitions were being realised. The striving of years, the disappointment, +doubts, and fears that had so tormented him were well repaid, and could be +forgotten in the glamour that now surrounded him. Enthusiastic and +fanatical votaries crowded around him with loyal acclamation. Pampered and +petted with excessive adulation, can it be wondered that he had visions of +power hitherto undreamed of? His scheme of national reform paled into +insignificance in the light of possibility. He saw himself the leader of a +world-wide conquest—the promoter of a prodigious scheme of universal +reform. He was not merely <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" />the messenger of the Arab people, but the +mouthpiece of God to the whole wide world. And by the Divine Power that +possessed him would receive the humble homage of proud and mighty nations, +whose haughty monarchs would bow in lowly submission to his imperious +will! Prophetic insight, regal authority, judicial administration were his +by divine right, to be enforced, if needs be, at the point of the Islamic +sword.</p> + +<p>As his position improved, so his ideals deteriorated. His early piety +was modified by the lust of worldly power. In place of patient pacific +methods of propagation, he adopted a cruel, ruthless, warlike policy, +and it was not long—perhaps owing to the extreme poverty which +afflicted the new community—before the would-be prophet became the +leader of a robber host. Yet even in spite of the glamour that +surrounded him, and the questionable behaviour that characterised this +period of his life, we catch occasional glimpses of that which reveals +the working of nobler instincts in his mind. Had his environment been +other than it was, Mohammed had been indeed a hero in the world's +history. Ignorance of truth led him to place himself under the +mysterious power of hallucination. The lonely brooding of the cave had +produced that which had urged him into a position of bondage. He was +the slave of a false idea, which so possessed him that he pressed +onward, in spite of all that stood in his way, whether it was good or +bad. It exerted an irresistible influence over all his impulses, +leading him into actions in every way indefensible. When fair means +failed, he adopted foul, and so succeeded beyond his highest dreams.</p> + +<p>The first Mosque, or meeting place, was built very soon after his +arrival in Medinah, and he entered upon his priestly functions. As a +matter of policy, he adopted many of the Jewish rites. These, however, +he soon changed, for as the number of his followers increased, and he +grew more and more independent of Jewish aid, he made every effort to +show his natural aversion to the ancient people, who scorned his +prophetic pretensions. In place of praying towards Jerusalem, his +followers were commanded to turn their faces towards Mecca. The Fast +of Atonement was abolished in favour of the month of Ramadan, while in +substitution for the Jewish rite of sacrifice, the pagan slaying of +victims was observed.</p> + +<p>A considerable difference is to be noticed between the "revelations" +of this period and those of Mecca. The latter were concerned with +denunciations of idolatry; proofs of the Divine unity and attributes; +legendary stories, and occasional lurid pictures of heaven and hell. +The former are generally of a legislative character, mingled with the +domestic affairs of the prophet, and guidance as to his military +policy. The method of recording them, too, seems to have been +systematised, for it is certain that a body of professional scribes +were engaged in this work, and evidence is not wanting to show that +these scribes were allowed to express the revelations in their own +particular style. Discrepancies and inconsistencies abounded, but +Moham<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" />med seems to have allowed that he was not responsible, and to +have stated that God had a perfect right to alter as He pleased, and +even to apologise for errors! The policy of abrogation has its +sanction in the text, "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we give thee better in their stead, or the like thereof."</p> + +<p>In his warlike policy, the prophet's strategy reflects most +discreditably upon his character, everything that was honourable and +virtuous being sacrificed to the passion for conquest. When he needed +help, he pretended friendship to those he hated; and then, becoming +strong enough to be independent, did not hesitate, upon the slightest +provocation or pretext, to turn his sword against them. This is +particularly true of his treatment of the Jews, whom he at first +befriended, but afterwards treated with barbarous injustice.</p> + +<p>Within a very few months of their arrival in Medinah, the need of some +method of support, other than the charity of the helpers, presented +itself. The number of refugees was still increasing, and the demand +for the ordinary necessities of life exceeded the supply. Mohammed, to +his credit, shared the misery of his followers, and proved himself to +be generous even when in want. In order to meet the need, the policy +of despoiling the wealthy Meccan caravans was conceived, and carried +out with some degree of success. The prophet at first exhibited a +feeling of repugnance against such warfare, especially when the +ancient pacific regulations of certain sacred months were violated. +But the benefits of the revenue accruing led him, some time +afterwards, to produce revelations sanctioning hostilities even in the +sacred months. The early successes provided the community with more +wealth than was needed, and, arousing the avarice of many of those who +were opposed to the prophet, led them to throw in their lot with him. +Having seared his conscience by acknowledging the righteousness of the +robber policy, it was easy for him to persuade himself that it was all +part of the purpose of God to prosper his claims. All who would not +acknowledge him were the enemies of God, and had no rights to property +or to life. He began to preach the holiness of war against all +unbelievers. He fanned the avaricious fanaticism of his followers into +a flame of religious enthusiasm, and they became soldier priests, +whose deaths on the battlefield were glorious martyrdoms, which gave +them immediate entrance into a paradise where all their inclinations +could be indulged to an unlimited degree. It is not to be wondered +that an army of such men could put three times their number of Meccans +not so inspired to flight. This is what actually happened in the +battle of Badr. Mohammed had received news of the possibility of +capturing a particularly rich Meccan caravan, and decided to make the +attempt. News of his plans reached the Meccans, who determined to +frustrate, if possible, the designs of their enemy. A thousand men +were rapidly organised into a defensive and punitive force, and sent +out to overwhelm the <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" />three hundred Moslems. They were by no means +skilled in military strategy, little better than a disorderly horde; +whereas the Moslems, under the masterly guidance of Mohammed, seem to +have exhibited clever organisation. It has been said that the rigid +prayer ritual enforced by Mohammed, at the risk of Divine punishment, +had a disciplinary effect, and produced results very similar to those +obtained by military drill. The Meccan host was put to flight, +discipline, and steadfastness of purpose determined the victory. The +Moslems returned to Medinah, carrying in triumph many prisoners, and +considerable booty. The revelation produced after this, speaks of it +as the "Day of deliverance," and Mohammed rejoices because the stigma +of powerlessness to show evidence of miracle in his life, is removed, +for he accounts for the victory by direct intervention of God in his +favour. The effect of the victory on the surrounding tribes was highly +favourable to the prophet. Many of the chiefs sought to ally +themselves to him, but he received their offers solely on condition +that they would embrace Islam. Few accepted, and those who did not +before long regretted it.</p> + +<p>For about a year after his success, his power and influence increased, +until the whole of the tribes between Mecca and Medinah had been won +over. Then came a defeat. The Meccans had been nursing their +bitterness, and at last, just over two years after the victory of +Badr, it found its outlet in an expedition again Mohammed. The Moslem +forces were rallied, and under the prophet's leadership sallied forth +to meet the Meccans. A fierce battle ensued, in which at first the +Moslems had the advantage, and the Meccans were forced to fly. But +they had learned many lessons in the fight at Badr, and had posted +some of their cavalry in such a position that, when the Moslem order +was disturbed in their pursuit of the enemy, they made a charge upon +their rear. The fleeing Meccans turned, and the Moslems found +themselves between two attacks. Then came the cry that Mohammed was +killed! Instead of increasing the Moslem disorder by discouragement, +it made them fight more doggedly, for the majority were so committed +to Islam that they cared not for life if their prophet was dead. This +prevented what must otherwise have meant absolute victory on the part +of the Meccans, and a number of them, with Mohammed, who was only +wounded, were able to retire to Medinah. The Meccans were quite +satisfied with the result, considering that the stigma of their defeat +at Badr had been wiped out. Later on, when Mohammed had sufficiently +recovered of his wounds, he made a public appearance in the Mosque, +where he was able to persuade his followers that their apparent defeat +was really a victory! The general who is able to persuade his forces +that there is victory, even where there seems to be defeat, is one who +will inspire them to fight against apparently impossible odds. They +will, indeed, never suffer defeat, but will fight on until annihilated +by capture or death. The secret of success even in the more pacific +engagements of life lies in this principle—to be undaunted <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" />in +ardour, in spite of failure; to recognise in failure a step towards +ultimate success. Let a man be possessed with these, and victory is +within his grasp, whether he recognises it or not.</p> + +<p>After this, Mohammed did not scruple to employ the system of warfare +by assassination, if warfare it can be called. Some tribes, emboldened +by the report of the Meccan success, began to treat Moslem emissaries +with scant courtesy, and went so far as to murder some. Mohammed +retaliated by sending men to balance the scales in the same criminal +way, particularly in treating with the Jews. An idea had grown up in +his mind that these people had determined to murder him. This, with +matters of minor importance, already referred to, at last led to an +organised attempt to subjugate them. A large, influential tribe was +besieged; their date trees, lands, and property wantonly destroyed. +Eventually the whole tribe surrendered, and were glad to march away +with what possessions their camels could carry. This led to a +combination of other Jewish tribes, which laid siege to Medinah. The +siege was not successful, and barbarous treatment was meted out to the +besiegers. After much skirmishing and general fighting, a number of +the Jews who had been captured were decapitated, while their women and +children were enslaved. Those who were unwilling to embrace Islam, +were compelled to pay tribute. So the prosperity and success of Islam +was assured. The Jews were no longer bold enough to cause the prophet +any anxiety as to the validity of his prophetic claims, nor were they +of a mind that would arouse fear as to their fighting abilities. They +were true descendants of Isaac and Jacob, who were both men of peace, +and were not qualified for success in war against the posterity of the +active warlike Ishmael and Esau.</p> + +<p>Freed from all anxiety in this direction, the prophet, realising that +the security of Medinah could never be assured while the Meccans were +opposed to him, began to formulate plans for the conquest of their +city. His first step was to try and conciliate them, with a view to +sending a pilgrim band into the city, but the citizens were far too +cautious and suspicious to allow that. At last, however, they were +prevailed upon to receive his son-in-law, Omar, who succeeded in +persuading a section of the Meccans of the injustice of barring the +Holy Temple to those who, although their enemies, were, after all, +their kinsmen. This led to a treaty, in which Mohammed brought shame +upon his followers because of his concessions. The arrangements were +that for ten years, peace between the prophet and the Meccans should +be maintained, and that within a year a party of the Moslems were to +be allowed to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba.</p> + +<p>The humiliation to which the prophet compelled his followers to submit +gave rise to considerable indignation, which was allayed only when he +himself submitted to the shaving of his head and the offering of +sacrifice. He knew that the humiliation was worthy of the advantage +gained—indeed, it was but the furtherance of his policy, in which no +action that was expedient <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" />could possibly be disgraceful. To him such +a treaty involved no sacred obligation to his enemies. He was God's +prophet, and as such was free of all obligation to those who did not +follow him, a principle deeply rooted in Islam, which makes the +violation of all virtuous relations with unbelievers highly +meritorious.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="V_WORLD_CONQUEST" id="V_WORLD_CONQUEST" />V.—WORLD CONQUEST.</h2> + + +<p>Not long after the treaty with the Meccans, Mohammed revealed the fact +that he had elaborated a scheme of world conquest, by sending +representatives to earthly monarchs of whom he had heard. His +messengers carried letters bearing the seal, "Mohammed, Prophet of +God," and urging the addressees to acknowledge his claims by embracing +Islam. These overtures were in some cases favourably received; in +others with contempt; but, of course, did not lead to compliance with +the demands, except, perhaps, on the part of a few of the rulers of +some Arabic tribes.</p> + +<p>The eighth year of the flight is famous in the history of the +prophet's life, because his followers, for the first time, came into +conflict with the forces of the Christian empire. The battle of Mutah +resulted in defeat of the Moslems, and, consequently, details have +been suppressed. It was part of Mohammed's policy to counteract the +demoralising influence of defeat by immediately attempting a fight in +which victory was assured. This, to my mind, justified war on any +pretext or grievance. In this case he conceived the idea of invading +Mecca, and, although minor incidents justify his decision to a slight +degree, his breach of the treaty adds to the evidence that is +derogatory to his character.</p> + +<p>The pilgrimage of the year before had been organised by him with the +view of impressing the Meccans of his power, and was decidedly +successful. When he with his ten thousand troops approached the city, +fear caused submission on the part of the leader of the city forces, +and after some slight skirmishing with a section of the community, +which preferred to show active disapproval of the ignominious +surrender, the city was won. Every idolatrous element of the Kaaba +worship was swept away, and, although its pagan associations were +negatived, it was sanctified to the service of Islam, and is still its +only altar. The city was invested with a more sacred significance than +it had ever occupied under the pagan system. It was never again to be +defiled by the spilling of human blood, the prophet insisting upon +this with admirable inconsistency! He showed his gratification in many +acts of statesmanlike condescension, and seems at this time to have +considered himself to be the ruler of all Arabs. Although it is +improbable that Mohammed was aware of it, the significance he attached +to the Holy City, by teaching that the Caaba was a heavenly built +edifice, was to become the means of consolidating his system, in spite +of national and racial distinctions. In its precincts, pilgrims from +India, <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" />Persia, China, Russia, Turkey, and other lands where Islam has +its devotees, mingle with the wild Bedouin of the desert in one common +brotherhood, and worship, in unity of faith and form, Allah, the great +and merciful.</p> + +<p>After its capture, the fierce warlike Bedouin nomadic tribes made +strenuous and courageous attempts to win back the city, but the Moslem +forces were invariably successful, and, in time, Mohammed returned to +Medinah more triumphant than ever. Eventually Taif, which had +successfully resisted a siege, submitted peacefully to the prophet's +claims, and the subjugation of the whole of Arabia followed.</p> + +<p>An ingenious system of taxation was imposed upon all tribes submitting +to Mohammed. The natural prejudice that universally exists against +taxation (!) was overcome, because it was instituted as a religious +rather than a statutory obligation. Thus the regular payments of alms +became one of the five acts of faith imposed upon all believers. The +other acts are: confession of creed, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="VI_MOHAMMED_AND_WOMEN" id="VI_MOHAMMED_AND_WOMEN" />VI.—MOHAMMED AND WOMEN.</h2> + + +<p>The prophet's domestic life exerted considerable influence upon his +religion; effects of which are to be seen in the Mohammedan home of +to-day. His numerous marriages afforded experience which led to the +framing of many "divine" laws referring to women. As has already been +hinted, Kadijah, his first wife, exercised considerable influence over +his prophetic career. She evidently had a strong affection for him, +which feeling was heartily reciprocated. She had a personality strong +enough to curb his natural passion, and to preserve her place in spite +of it in his regard. Her encouragement and support when success and +failure were trembling in the balance, urged him to persist in the +development of his ideas. He was faithful to her during their married +life, and to her memory afterwards, and promised her, upon her +deathbed, that she should share his heavenly chamber after his death, +with the Mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses. Within a month of +her death he was betrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven. He did not +actually marry her until she was nine years of age, and during the +interval consoled himself by wedding a widow who had acted as nurse to +one of his daughters. This marriage seems to have been more a matter +of convenience than of affection on his part, and in later days she +was able to keep her position as his wife only by the yielding of +certain of her privileges to other members of the harem.</p> + +<p>Seven months after his arrival in Medinah, during the time of poverty, +the marriage with Ayesha was celebrated, the child of nine being +united to the man of fifty-three! a marriage defended on the ground of +political expediency, whereby the devotion of Abu Bakr, the child's +father was strengthened. She seems to have been second only to +Khadijah in the prophet's <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" />affections, and exercised a petty tyranny +over him, which was submitted to even when it affected his +revelations. She excited the envy of the other wives because of her +privileges, and in spite of intrigue, was able to hold her own. She +was extremely sarcastic in regard to some of the revelations, and even +went so far on one occasion as to jeer the prophet on his faithfulness +in recording them. This sarcasm was prompted by jealousy, because of +Mohammed's marriage with Zainab, which was so illegal as to cause him +to throw the responsibility on God. Zainab was the wife of the +prophet's adopted son Zaid, who, having discovered his foster-father's +love, thought it wise to divorce her in his favour. The revelation +Mohammed produced seems to have been held over until his critics had +been mollified by some victory—hence the sarcasm!</p> + +<p>During the raiding of the Jews, Mohammed was considerably disturbed by +the desire of the wives to accompany him on the expeditions. He eased +the difficulty by arranging that one only should go with him on each +expedition, and should obtain the favour by lot. Ayesha got into +difficulty on one of these expeditions. She dropped a necklace and +remained behind the returning party in order to seek for it. A youth +who, too, had loitered behind, found it, and accompanied her back to +the camp. Her enemies were not slow to take advantage of this incident +to prejudice her before the prophet. He was deeply hurt, and in face +of the surge of public opinion, sent her back to her parents. The +complications arising out of the divorce would probably have alienated +the sympathies of Abu Bakr, her father, so with his usual diplomacy, +Mohammed produced a revelation, in which God declared Ayesha innocent +of any cause for divorce! It was through Ayesha, too, that the prophet +conceived the idea of praying for deliverance from the torment of the +grave, for she casually remarked one day that she had heard a Jewish +woman speaking about torment after death. Through all her life with +the prophet she proved herself to be strong in character, and a +fitting mate for a man of Mohammed's type.</p> + +<p>Other wives did not play such an important part in the prophet's life +work. He seems to have exhibited his taste for beauty in all his +selections. Keud was the daughter of a man of considerable wealth and +influence, and, like Zainab, was one of the Abyssinian refugees. In +the expedition against Khaibah, Mohammed's greed was excited by the +sight of some valuable ornaments belonging to one of his vanquished +enemies. He sought to gain possession of them by marrying the daughter +of the owner, Safiyyah, whose husband and brother had both been killed +in the battle that had been fought. She accepted the prophet's offer, +and contented herself for her losses in the squabbles of his harem. +His other wives were Juwairijah, Hafsah, Um Salmah, Um Kabibah, +another of the Abyssinian refugees, and Zainab, widow of his cousin. +The last wife was Maimunah, who is said to have offered herself to him +when he was considering the invasion of Mecca. A Coptic (Christian) +slave girl, Mary, and <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" />Rihanah, a Jewess, were added to the harem, but +went through no form of marriage with him. Mary was sent as a present +from one of the Coptic rulers in answer to the prophet's letter, +urging the claims of Islam; while Rihanah, whose husband was one of +the many who were cruelly slaughtered by decapitation after a victory +over the Jews, was at nightfall, almost immediately after the +massacre, taken to the prophet's tent. It is evident that the prophet +had many opportunities of still further increasing his harem, for many +women offered themselves; while the relatives of handsome widows would +make no arrangements for the re-marriage of the bereaved ones until +they had been offered to the prophet and refused.</p> + +<p>It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so +many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much +evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty +of pleasing all. His relations to the feminine sex, as may be +expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women. Hence +the utter degradation to which they are subjected in Islam. Although +he did not practice it, he sanctioned wife beating. Divorce was made +easy for the men, who could cast off their wives any time they so +desired. Thus it is quite common to-day for women to steal from their +husbands in order to provide for themselves in case of divorce. The +evil of such a system is apparent. It makes the women mere slaves at +the mercy of the caprice of their husbands. The polygamy and +concubinage which is sanctioned in the Koran, has degraded the women +to a degree that may be imagined, and certainly has not, as some +authorities contend, abolished other evils. It is true that he +improved slightly the condition of women in his day, giving them +privileges they had not up to that time enjoyed, and by those who +endeavour to picture him as a hero, his failure to arrive at a true +estimate of the position of women is covered by the statement that it +was impossible for him to grapple with a hopeless problem. It is +encouraging to know that, with the growing influence of Western +Christian civilisation, the condition of women in Moslem lands is +gradually improving, although the village folk still consider us to be +weak in character because we are courteous in our behaviour to them. +In Egypt, Government schools for girls are being organised, and +throughout the whole Moslem world education is spreading. The religion +of Mohammed is so clearly defined that it can never be reformed. The +only hope for the nations that are under its sway is that with the +advance of western civilisation there may be a yielding to the +influence of Christianity. It cannot be possible to enjoy the +blessings of the West while men are tyrannised by a non-progressive +religion of the East.</p> + +<p>Just before he died Mohammed organised an expedition against the +Romans, and this in spite of sickness unto death. He had made his last +pilgrimage to Mecca, and had delivered what may be termed his final +charge to his followers. The whole tone of his address seems to have +been influenced by the <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" />thought of the proximity of death. He +emphasised the doctrines he had inculcated, showing that the Islamic +brotherhood removed all that tended to social inequality. The rich man +was no better than the poor; the aristocrat who boasted of his +ancestry, no more important in the sight of God than the lowliest +beggar. The only difference that could exist between man and man was a +difference in degree of piety. Property rights he recognised as +regarding believers, and evidently implied that unbelievers possessed +no such rights. He asked respect and humane treatment for women, and +undoubtedly manifested a desire for a better condition of affairs than +he in his lifetime had been able to establish. The subsequent illness +was probably due to the strain and anxiety of this pilgrimage. Ayesha, +the girl wife, tended him. The many stories that have been told of +these last days are not at all reliable, but it is certain that for +five days he was quite helpless and delirious. On the 7th of June, 632 +A.D., ten years after the flight from Mecca, he died in the arms of +Ayesha, leaving a work that wrought havoc in the Christian Church for +centuries, and which, inspired by his immortal spirit, still exists in +unyielding enmity against the faith of the meek and lowly Nazarene, +whose native soil, in the providence of God, is owned by Islam's son. +Never again will be heard the clash of steel on steel as Christian +tries to vanquish Moslem. Those days are happily past and gone. Carnal +weapons cannot avail against spiritual forces. The eternal, peaceable +Spirit of Jesus is slowly but surely permeating the gloom of Islam. We +see the resultant disintegration, and hope for that great day when, +led by the broken and contrite spirit of their leader, the hosts of +Islam shall bow before the King of Kings, recognising what, in time, +they were impelled to deny—Unity in Trinity, the at present +unrevealed mystery of Deity.</p> + +<p>Britain, the greatest Moslem power of the world, needs to change her +policy in regard to Christian missionary work amongst Moslems, if she +is desirous of promoting the welfare of those benighted people. She +must give freedom to the heralds of the Cross who labour in the lands +of the Crescent. And the prayers of her people must ascend on behalf +of the sons and daughters of Islam who sit in darkness and the shadow +of death.<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" /></p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOHAMMED, THE PROPHET OF ISLAM***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 14064-h.txt or 14064-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/6/14064">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/0/6/14064</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hayes + +Release Date: November 16, 2004 [eBook #14064] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOHAMMED, THE PROPHET OF ISLAM*** + + +E-text prepared by Michael Ciesielski and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +MOHAMMED + +A Popular Essay on the Life of the Prophet of Islam + +by + +H. E. E. HAYES + + + + + + + + There is no God but God, + and Mohammed is the Apostle of God. + + (_Moslem Creed._) + + + + + + +Price 3d. post free, +From "Hythe House" +Greenhithe, Kent. + + ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| If you are interested in Missionary work in Moslem lands, | +| read the | +| | +| "MOSLEM WORLD," | +| | +| A quarterly review of current events, literature, and | +| thought among Mohammedans; and the progress of Christian | +| Missions in Moslem lands. | +| | +| Edited by | +| | +| SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D. | +| | +| Published by the Christian Literature Society for India | +| 35 John Street, Bedford Row, London, W.C. | +| | +| Sent post free 1s. per copy or 4s. per annum. | +| | +| SEND YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW. | +| | ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | +| READ ALSO THE | +| | +| Egypt General Mission News | +| | +| Published bi-monthly by the EGYPT GENERAL MISSION, | +| 10 Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N. | +| 1s. per annum post free. | +| | +| This Magazine gives a current account of Mission work | +| amongst the Moslems of Egyptian villages. | +| | +| PRAY FOR ALL CHRISTIAN WORK AMONGST MOSLEMS | +| | +| | ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +So-called Moslem missionaries are spreading through the Press such +idealistic and false views of the religion and character of Mohammed, +that we need to be on our guard against them. + +Unbiased historians have stated that there is much that is deplorable +in the life of the prophet of Islam. And it is certain that his +teaching has increased the degradation of the nations that have come +under its influence. + +Much of the literature that is being circulated in England by the +"Moslem missionaries," claims that Moslem women are better off, so far +as property rights go, than their Christian sisters. However true this +may be, it does not lift them out of the degradation of polygamy and +concubinage, with a capricious system of divorce, which makes them the +victims of the selfish baseness of their husbands and masters, which +Mohammed himself sanctioned. + +The following essay, it is hoped, will help to counteract the false +ideas that are being scattered abroad, and lead those who read to +study more deeply the problems and sorrows of millions of the Moslem +subjects of our Gracious King. + +The prayers of all Christians are asked on behalf of these millions, +and for those who labour to preach the "unsearchable riches of Christ" +amongst them. + +H.E.E. HAYES. + +GREENHITHE: + +July, 1914. + + + + +MOHAMMED + +The Prophet of Islam. + +By H.E.E. HAYES. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Just as the character of Jesus is stamped upon the religion which +originated in His Person, so is the character of Mohammed impressed +upon the system which he, with marvellous ingenuity, founded. The +practical influence of Islam upon individual lives produces results +that reflect unmistakably the character of its founder, and a careful +study of the tenets of the system in relation to its history enable +the student to estimate the real worth of the man. + +As the Apostle of God, Mohammed is the ideal of every true Moslem. His +life is the standard by which the lives of his followers are tested, +although he himself confesses that his life was not holy. In the +Koran, and the earlier traditions, he is pictured as being in no way +better than his fellows, and as weak and liable to error as the +poorest of his contemporaries. Yet later tradition minimises his +faults and weakness, and surrounds his person with a halo of glory +that makes him appear sinless and almost divine. All the doubtful +incidents of his life are either eliminated and ignored, or +assiduously supported and defended by his pious, misguided followers. + +It is a point in his favour that he never claimed infallibility for +his actions or opinions; and his habit of attempting to cover or +justify his glaring faults by suitable revelations, although +indefensibly immoral, reveals the fact that he was conscious of his +own shortcomings. When he was at the zenith of his power, "revelation" +became merely an instrument of self glorification, licensing him in +every whim and fancy, because it gave him, as the prophet of God, +exemption from all law and order. His scheme was characteristically +ingenious and immoral. Had he known of the divine effulgence with +which he was afterwards encircled by his fanatical followers, he +would, in all probability, have strongly discountenanced it. The +incongruous sanctity with which his commonplace utterances and petty +actions were invested would have caused fear lest it became derogatory +to his creed of divine unity. + + + +TRADITION. + + +As a source of information, the traditions are obviously unreliable, +for they are coloured by the excessive zeal and irrational bias of +men whose judgment was warped by irrepressible fanaticism. They +attributed to their hero elements that are grotesquely impossible. His +advent was in their estimation, so portentous that it was celebrated +by events which, for the time, upset all natural law. And his whole +life has been linked with miraculous happenings of a most ludicrous +type. More reasonable men have exalted the prophet because they have +convinced themselves that he was what he ought to have been. This may +account for the pious confidence of some of the more intelligent, who, +accepting tradition as historical, have exalted their hero to the +ideal, and have received the imagined glory as real. This tendency to +exalt their master is well illustrated by the maxim of Shafy--"In the +exaltation of Mohammed it is lawful to exaggerate"--a maxim invaluable +to men who were seeking to glorify the prophet, and the usefulness of +which was fully appreciated by the legislators and doctors when they +were called upon to cope with the new relations and exigencies that +came into being after his death. The conquests and progress of Islam +necessitated almost daily the framing of new rules, while in the +application of the old, constant modification and adaptation were +required. To meet these needs, actual or supposed sayings and actions +of the prophet were eagerly sought after, and, in time, with the +growth of a professional body of traditionalists, all legitimate +sources being exhausted, that which was doubtful, and even disputed, +was accepted as authentic and reliable. Imagination augmented the +legitimate springs of information, and the result was an exhaustive +accumulation of precedents for every possible circumstance. + +Sprenger, in his essay on "Tradition," regarding the value and nature +of the material needed for compiling a life of Mohammed, says: + + "During the stir and activity of the first sixty years, thousands + and thousands occupied themselves with handing down traditions. In + every mosque they committed them to memory, and rehearsed them in + every social gathering. All such knowledge was the common property + of the nation; it was learned by heart and transmitted orally. It + possessed, therefore, in the highest possible degree, the elements + of life and plasticity. Bunson has discovered the divinity of the + Bible in its always having been the people's book. If this + criterion be decisive, then no religion has better claim to be + called the 'vox Dei,' because none is in so full a sense the 'vox + populi.' The creations of the period we have been considering + possess this character for hundreds of millions of our fellow men; + for modern Islamism is as far removed from the spirit in which the + Coran was composed, as Catholicism is from the spirit of the + Gospel; and modern Islamism is grounded upon tradition. But in + tradition we find nothing but the Ideal, Invention, Fancy, + Historical facts, however they may have been floating among the + people in the days if Ibn 'Abbas, and the other founders of + genealogy, were trodden under feet, because men wished to remove + every barrier which stood in the way of self-glorification. And of + the thousand inventions which every day gave birth to, only those + were recognised as true which most flattered the religious and + national pride ..." + +He also goes on to say: + + "The time of creative activity, the gestation era of Moslem + knowledge, passed away. Hajjaj choked the young life in its own + blood, and the Abbaside dynasty, with kingly patriotism, sold the + dearly-bought conquests of the nation, first to the Persians, and + then to Turkish slaves, with the view of procuring an imaginary + security for their throne. And thus there arose for the spiritual + life also a new period. Already Wackidi had begun to work up into + shape the mass of his traditionary stores, and busy himself in the + department of scholastic industry. In the schools one could as + little affect now the material tradition, or alter its nature, as + attempt to change the organism of the new-born child. However + arbitrary might be the invention of the 'Miraj' (Mahomed's heavenly + journey), and other fabrications of the first century, they still + formed in this way the positive element and soul of religious, + political and social life. The schools, as always, confined their + exertions to collecting, comparing, abbreviating, systematising, + and commenting. The material was altogether divine; and any + unprejudiced historical inquiry, any simple and natural + interpretation of the Coran, any free judgment on tradition or its + origin, was condemned as apostasy. The only task that remained was + to work up, in scholastic form, the existing material; and in this + way was developed a literature of boundless dimensions, which yet + at bottom possessed nothing real. The whole spiritual activity of + the Mohamedans, from the time of the prophet to the present day, is + a dream; but it is a dream in which a large portion of the human + race have lived; and it has all the interest which things relating + to mankind always possess for man." + +Sir William Muir agrees with these views, subject to two +considerations. He says:-- + + "The tendency to glorify Mohammed and the reciters of the + traditions was considerably modified by the mortal strife which + characterised the factions that opposed one another at the period, + where, in attempting to depreciate one another, they would not be + averse to perpetuating traditions in support of their contentions; + such partisanship secured no insignificant body of historical fact, + which otherwise would have been lost." + +He also points out that in a state of society circumscribed and +dwarfed by the powerful Islamic system, which proscribed the free +exercise of thought and discussion, tradition can scarcely be said to +be the "vox populi." The growth and development of tradition, the +flagrant distortion of historical fact, the ethical code of Islam, may +well give rise to a questioning of the validity of the prophet's +arrogant claims, and by their very methods of defence the apologists +of Islam exhibit its weakness and inadequacy to meet the religious +needs of man. The natural bias of Mohammed is evident throughout the +Coran. His conceptions of God, of the future life, and of the duty of +man, are all influenced by his consuming master passion. In all his +writings there are lacking those characteristics which distinguish the +true prophet--the messenger of God--from those to whom he is sent. +This will be apparent by contrasting his views with those of any of +the Old Testament prophets. They were eminently men prepared for their +high calling by lofty yet practical communion with God--men whose +message was inspired by a vision of Divine Majesty, and an impressive +conception of the justice and awful purity of Jehovah. Men who called +the nation to righteousness of life by a stirring appeal to +conscience, and an unfaltering denunciation of the evils of the time. +Their spiritual aspirations, therefore, by far surpass the loftiest +ideals of the prophet of Islam, while their ethical conceptions +infinitely transcend all that Mohammed dreamed of. The voice of the +Eternal is clearly heard in the earnest utterances that fell from +their lips, and through all their prophecies the willingness of Divine +Mercy to reason with men in spite of their erring ways, is apparent. + +Three characteristic elements are perceived in their preaching--a very +keen and practical conscience of sin; an overpowering vision of God; +and a very sharp perception of the politics of their day. Of these +elements, Mohammed's teaching possesses only the last. + + + +MOHAMMED'S CONCEPTION OF GOD + + +His conception of God is essentially deistical. The intimate personal +communion, so characteristic of the Old Testament, is unknown and +unrealised: hence there is little, if anything, in his system that +tends to draw men nigh to God. Attempts to remedy this characteristic +defect have been vainly made by the dervish orders, which, while +acknowledging the claims of Mohammed and his book, have introduced +methods not sanctioned by the system, by which they attempt to find +the communion with the Unseen, for which their souls crave. These +methods are very much akin to the efforts of the devotees of Hinduism. +There is, therefore, lacking amongst Moslems that need which grows out +of personal relationship with the Divine--that need which leads to +moral transformation and spiritual intensity on the part of those who +enjoy such fellowship. The Creator exists apart from His handiwork. He +has predetermined the actions of men. They are destined to eternal +bliss or destruction by an Inflexible Will, so that there is no need +for Divine Interference in their affairs. "God is in His heaven, and +the world is working out its end according to His unalterable decree." + +Because of this gross conception, Palgrave has designated the system +"The Pantheism of Force," and says: + + "Immeasurably and eternally exalted above, and dissimilar from all + creatures, which he levelled before Him on one common plane of + instrumentality and inertness, God is One in the totality of + omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, + standard or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He + communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and + act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from + them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and + from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no + pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature ever its + fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude + and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which + employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to + honour or shame, to happiness or misery, quite independently of + their individual fitness, deserts, or advantages, and simply + because 'He wills it,' and 'as He wills it ...' + + "One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this + uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything + like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, + for He has, with respect to His creatures, one main feeling and + source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should + perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, + and thus encroach on His all engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever + more prone to punish than to reward; to inflict pain than to bestow + pleasure; to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to + let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than + His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also; that thus they + may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to + be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will + above their will, His pride above their pride--or, rather, that + there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own. + + "But He Himself, sterile in His inaccessible height, neither loving + nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without + son, companion, or counsellor, is no less barren of Himself than + for His creatures, and His own barrenness and lone egoism in + Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding + despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and + the primal idea of God runs through and modifies the whole system + and creed that centres in Him." + +Contrast this summary with the teaching of the Old Testament prophets, +the following quotations of which are but a small sample:-- + + "Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your + sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be + red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + + "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye + comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is + accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned." + + "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord has + anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me + to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, + and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, etc." + + "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, saith + the Lord." + + "Who is a god like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth + by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth + not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will + turn again; He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our + iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the + sea." + + "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord + require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk + humbly with thy God." + + "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He + knoweth them that trust in Him." + +In the light of such lofty teaching, the conceptions of Mohammed +appear gross and degraded. His asceticism and contemplation never +brought him a vision of God that overwhelmed him and purified as by +fire. He knew the Creator only from what he heard from the lips of +sinful, ignorant men, whose ideas of Deity were base and ignoble. +These ideas, and the passions that made up such a large portion of his +life, obscured his vision, warped his judgment, and led him to +postulate a God that inhabited not a Holy Spiritual Realm, but a +grossly carnal and sensuous paradise. + +Millions have been brought beneath his sway because his system panders +to the natural inclinations of man. Spiritual insight is blinded by +carnal desire; conduct is influenced by unbridled license; bigotry and +hatred are fostered by his policy of intoleration; and his followers +are enslaved by a tyranny that blights the reason, because it +discountenances inquiry, and places an insurmountable barrier in the +way of all human progress. + +In studying the life of Mohammed, the cause of his failure to uplift +humanity will be clearly seen. His early sincerity, if sincerity it +can be named, was absorbed by his consuming ambition. Had it been +otherwise he might have had his name inscribed with the honourable +ones of the earth--those men whose claims are ratified by their happy +effects. As it is, his name is linked with those whose deeds cause a +shudder of horror and repulsion to all who love honesty, purity, and +truth. + + + + +I.--EARLY LIFE. + + +Mohammed was born in Mecca, a town in Arabia, about seventy miles +inland from the Red Sea. His father, who died 570 A.D., a few months +before the child was born, was a member of the Banu Hashim clan. His +family, although well connected, was a humble one, possessing but +little wealth. On the death of his mother some six years later, the +child was taken by his grandfather, 'ABD-EL-MUTTALIB, who took care of +him for two years. Then he was adopted by his uncle, ABU TALIB, who +employed him to look after his flocks and herds. + +From his earliest years, Mohammed must have been brought into contact +with the religious life of Mecca, for his grandfather was custodian of +the Kaaba, or temple, and would frequently take the boy with him on +his official visits to the place. The numerous images of the gods set +up in the temple would be familiar objects to the future prophet, +whose iconoclastic zeal was eventually to bring about their +destruction. His lonely shepherd life favoured the cultivation of the +contemplative habits of his manhood, and played no unimportant part in +the development of those characteristics which eminently fitted him +for the life he was to lead. Nature had endowed him with the essential +abilities of a commander of men, and his early environment provided a +training that enabled him to exercise those gifts most advantageously. + +The population of Arabia at this time consisted of numerous +independent nomadic tribes, who were often at enmity one with another. +Political unity there was none, while each tribe had its own patron, +or god, which was considered to be responsible for everything +concerning the tribe's welfare. Where tribes were united, or at peace, +there the individual gods were supposed to be friendly. Even in Mecca, +which for many years had been occupied by a settled community, there +was no political or judicial organisation. The existing order was +maintained by a form of patriarchal government, under which system it +was possible for the head of a tribe or clan, to protect the life of +any individual he chose to befriend. + +The religious beliefs and customs were evidently gross materialistic +corruptions of what had once been a purely spiritual worship. Mohammed +had been preceded by men who had from time to time, in spite of the +moral and intellectual darkness, been so endowed with spiritual +perception as to recognise and bewail the hollowness and degradation +of the Pagan system. Some, indeed, had been conscientious enough to +utter words of condemnation; others had gone so far as to despise and +ridicule its claims. So that when Mohammed was born the people were in +a condition of religious uncertainty. Many elements contributed to +this unrest. Travellers learned that the more prosperous nations had +rejected the age long sanctions of Paganism; earnest, thoughtful men +could not but recognise its inadequacy to satisfy the religious +aspirations of their fellows; Jews and Christians, who had settled in +the country, had introduced views that appealed to those who were +dissatisfied with the old methods of thought; while the need for +social and political unity called for a force that would unite the +scattered tribes in the pursuit of common ideals. Thus was the land +prepared for the mighty revolution that was to come--a revolution that +made one great nation of the various tribes, and turned their warlike +instincts and characteristic fanaticism, which before had been +dissipated by wasteful internecine strife, into one definite channel, +until it became a menace to the whole world. A change so potent, that, +in the lifetime of one man, it was able to obliterate partly by +absorption, and chiefly by annihilation, the sanctions and beliefs of +centuries, and which fostered a hatred so bitter, and a brotherhood so +strong, between man and man, that by its sanction the dearest, +tenderest, and strongest ties of humanity have been broken, while +those who for years had lived in enmity were united in bonds stronger +than death. Under its malevolent influence, children have ruthlessly +slain their parents, believing that thus would they merit heaven. And +men of different race have fought side by side under one banner, +hurling themselves with fanatical heroism upon their enemies, +believing that to die in such a way meant the winning of an immortal +crown. + +During his boyhood, Mohammed had plenty of opportunities for observing +the condition of affairs, and, thanks to his privilege of travelling +with the caravans, was even able to notice the contrast between the +conditions of his own people and those of the more peaceable, +prosperous nations. He frequently attended upon his uncle in the +fighting that often occurred between the tribes, and so gained the +knowledge of military strategy which proved to be so useful at a later +time. Margoliouth suggests that the two most important lessons the +"prophet" learned at this time were the necessity of settling affairs +of blood by some expedient less wasteful, and more satisfactory than +that which was illustrated by the war of Fizar, and that war should be +regarded not as a game, but as a mode of obtaining decisive results. + +The varied experiences he passed through on his caravan journeys did +much to influence his future policy; indeed, it appears that all +influences brought to bear upon his early life were forces that +moulded and equipped him for the office he was to fill. He was keenly +observant, and wonderfully accurate in his inferences, especially in +his estimate of the characters of men with whom he had to deal. He +seemed to lack initiative, for he was always reluctant to take action +in any important undertaking; but once the initial step was taken, he +pressed forward with indomitable courage. In his business transactions +he proved himself to be shrewd and tactful, and by his fidelity, +patience, and self-confidence, gained the respect and esteem of his +immediate fellows. + +Khadijah, a rich widow, having entrusted Mohammed with the control of +an important caravan, and finding how admirably he had performed his +part, wisely concluded that her interests would be furthered if he had +a share in them. Hence their marriage, which happy arrangement proved +to be mutually blessed and successful. It vastly improved Mohammed's +social standing, raising him to a position of equality with the +leading men of the city. For many years he was content to live quietly +as an ordinary citizen, engrossed in the accumulation of wealth by +legitimate trading. + + + + +II.--THE "CALL" TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE. + + +It has not been recorded how first he began to yield to the impulses +that eventually led him to assume the role of reformer, but it is +certain that at the age of forty he was the leader of a secret +society, which had for its object the political and religious unity of +the Arab people. He knew that far-reaching changes were necessary in +every department of national policy before his ideal could be +realised. Unity was the secret of power and prosperity. This he had +learned through contact with other nations. His dealing with Jews and +Christians had given rise to a deep appreciation of the value of a +monotheistic faith in the consolidation of a people, and he was +convinced that political unity would be achieved only where there was +religious unity. With masterly insight he laid his plans accordingly, +and because of the extreme conservatism was obliged to formulate them +in strict secrecy. Unfortunately, owing to his untrustworthy sources +of information, his policy was founded upon false bases. His distorted +conception of truth led him to establish a system of false philosophy +and theology so framed as to allow of no alteration or adaptation. In +his elaboration of the system, he depended much upon his own +meditative habits, and no doubt thought it all out in the loneliness +of the mountains, to which he frequently retired for the observance of +certain ascetic customs of the Pagans. Thus his scheme of reform +crystallised into definite shape, and his call to the prophetic office +became a fixed idea. + +He felt certain that success lay in the determined proclamation of one +god as opposed to the many of the Arab pantheon, and the more he +pondered over this Being, of whom he had heard from the Jews and +Christians, the greater became his certainty. God was supreme and +omnipotent; of that there could be no doubt. But how to convince the +people was a difficulty that needed much careful thought and cautious +propagation. Jews and Christians could boast of prophets--of men +inspired to speak with the voice of God--but the Arabs had had no one +who had spoken with such authority. Why had they been so neglected? +Surely they needed to hear the Divine voice, and that need was never +greater than now, when all was unrest and dissention. Where was the +man who would fill the office? Who would be willing to face the odds, +and declare against evil by proclaiming the good and the true? Such +must have been the questions that exercised Mohammed's mind. Then came +the thought--"Why should not I be the messenger?" And this so grew +upon him that he was convinced of his "call." The possession of this +idea made him sincere in his purpose at first, but after the tide had +turned in his favour, that sincerity was marred--nay, eclipsed--by an +inflated notion of self-importance, and a consuming ambition to which +every virtue and good feeling was subordinated, until at last he was +able, with superb arrogance, to bracket his name with Deity, making +the confession of his claim as important as the confession of the +Unity of God. Wherein his inconsistency and falsity is chiefly +apparent, for confession of Unity is insufficient without recognition +of Mohammed's apostleship! + +Ascetic practices tend to lead to physical disorders, which generally +upset the mind and lead to mental and moral distemper. Judgment is +warped because the functions of the mind are thrown out of gear. The +varied departments of consciousness act with ungoverned caprice, with +the result that fantastical fancies and visions are interpreted to be +realties, which become misleading and deceptive. Thus may be explained +the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to Mohammed, but it can hardly be +conceived that it will account for the ingenious method of revelation +which he received. Some people believe it to have been inspired by +Satan; it must ever remain a matter of speculation. + +The necessity of a _piecemeal_ revelation could not at this time have +been apparent to the prophet. But we may give him the credit of the +policy of abrogation which he afterwards adopted, for such a policy +was necessary to enable him to cover or justify his actions which, +like those of even the best of men, were marked by inconsistency. + + + + +III.--BIRTH OF THE ISLAMIC SOCIETY. + + +Being firmly convinced of his call, Mohammed, with characteristic +caution, began to propagate his principles, for years being content to +deal secretly with individuals, beginning with those of his own +household. His wife acknowledged and encouraged his claim, and +gradually he gathered around him an increasing circle of devoted +followers, some of whom had more confidence in him and his pretensions +than he had himself. This was particularly true of ABU BAKR, a rich +and popular merchant of Mecca, who, having acknowledged the claims of +the prophet, followed him with implicit obedience and unwavering +devotion. He threw himself whole-heartedly into the work of +proselytising, and the progress of early days, although slow, was +largely due to his indefatigable energy. + +As the membership of the new society increased, rules were framed, +based upon the "revelations" which Mohammed now periodically received, +and each member was compelled to subscribe to the most stringent +regulations. Idolatry was strongly condemned and the unity of God +emphatically asserted. Certain Jewish and Christian religious +ordinances were imposed as a condition of membership, while unswerving +loyalty to the prophet was demanded. License was given to the members +to practice outwardly the old rites and ceremonies of Paganism, in +order to arouse no suspicion, but the existence of such a society, in +spite of all precautions, could not long remain unnoticed, and the +time came when the prophet and his followers were compelled to make +public confession of their faith. Persecution followed, in which the +poorer members suffered more than their richer brethren. Mohammed +himself received the protection of the head of his clan, and for eight +or ten years carried on a campaign of words. Margoliouth, in his life +of Mohammed, likens the prophet to a player in a game of cards, who, +having received a good hand, plays his cards with consummate skill. He +took advantage of every opportunity in strengthening his position, and +having a clear-cut policy before him, subordinated everything to its +furtherance. He was a powerful preacher, but owing to his ungovernable +temper, was not so successful in debate; hence he produced a +"revelation" forbidding him to engage in public controversy! He showed +great diligence in seeking information that enabled him to produce his +revelations in a style consistent with his claims. Being entirely +dependent on hearsay, he obtained but a sadly distorted account of +truth. The Koran is full of glaring errors, which, for centuries, have +baffled the ingenuity of the Moslem doctors. Yet the prophet +presumptuously claimed that his, being the last "revelation," was the +most important, and more reliable, and the differences that were +apparent were due to the corruption in time of the text of the former +"revelations"--_i.e._, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures! + +He was evidently much perplexed by the divisions and controversies +that existed within the Christian Church, and considered that the +images and pictures then in use were little better than the idols of +his own people. With no means of testing and verifying his knowledge, +he accepted all that tended to enhance his own position, and his chief +regret seems to have been his inability, in reply to the taunts of his +enemies, to point to any element of the miraculous in his career. In +the revelations, he frequently expressed views and opinions which +flatly contradicted what he had formerly stated, and when challenged +as to his inconsistency, defended it by claiming that it was not he +who had changed his mind, but God, whose ways no man could question or +understand! + +In time, the position of the new sect became so intolerable that many +were compelled to flee, and numbers went into Abyssinia, where they +were well received. Mohammed himself, thanks to his relatives' +protection, could still afford to remain in Mecca. In spite of the +opposition, his influence gradually increased, and was considerably +strengthened by the conversion of Omar, a citizen famed for his skill +in military strategy and courage. Not long afterwards, Khadijah, the +prophet's wife died. She had wielded a strong, healthy influence over +her husband, and had cheered him on in times of discouragement and +failure. Islam owes not a little to her life and influence, and were +it more widely recognised, might possibly lead to an improvement of +the position of the poor unfortunate daughters of the system, who are +enslaved and degraded to a saddening degree. After Khadijah's death, +Mohammed took full advantage of the polygamous sanctions of Paganism, +and even abused the privilege when it conflicted with his own +inclinations. Margoliouth attempts to defend the many marriages on the +ground of political expediency, which may be conceded in only a few +cases. In most instances they were due to selfish desire and +inordinate affection. Particularly is this true in the case of the +prophet's marriage with his adopted son's wife, which was a gross +violation of Arab law. + +On the death of his protector, Mohammed was compelled to seek refuge +elsewhere, but not before he had made inconsistent concessions to the +pagan leaders. In these concessions he retreated entirely from the +strong iconoclastic attitude he had hitherto adopted, going so far as +to produce a revelation that claimed to reconcile the One True God to +the gods of the Pagan pantheon. This compromise, no matter how wise +and statesmanlike it may appear to be, clearly indicates the falsity +of Mohammed's claim, and enables us to estimate the value of his +pretensions. His action was strongly condemned by many of his +followers, and probably under the influence of their opinion, he +produced an apologetic revelation abrogating the concession, and +admitting it to have been a mistake! + +He endeavoured to escape the persecution in Mecca by taking refuge in +Taif, but was so badly treated there when his views became known, that +he was glad to return, and upon promising to confine his proselytising +efforts to strangers, was allowed to stay under the protection of one +of the leading citizens. He carried on his work among strangers with +such success, that before long a strong community had grown up in the +town of Medinah. The rapid increase of this section of his disciples +may be accounted for by the very unsettled condition of the place. +Civil and religious strife had been for a long time aggravated by the +aggressive attitude of a large section of Jews, so that circumstances +were more favourable to the reception and growth of Islam than in +Mecca, where there was more peaceful organisation, and where the +existence of the ancient Kaaba, or dwelling place of the gods, made +men more jealous of their old religion. + +In the appointment of a man to lead the new community, Mohammed +exhibited his characteristic insight into the abilities of men. He +selected a follower thoroughly convinced of his master's claims, whose +zeal in the earlier days had led him to forsake friends and family by +flight into Abyssinia--a man full of enthusiasm and energy. In a +comparatively short time the new religion became quite popular, and +idolatry was despised. An incident indicative of the progress is seen +in the visit of seventy of the Medinah disciples to Mohammed in Mecca. +They met him secretly in the mountains, by night, and made solemn, +binding vows of allegiance, in which they promised "to fight men of +all colour in order to defend the faith." It is highly probable that +at this meeting the prophet was invited to join them in Medinah, but +for the present he preferred his native town. + +Somehow the story of the night meeting leaked out, with the result +that persecution was redoubled, and many of the less wealthy followers +were forced to flee to Medinah. They were there well received and +cared for, and were afterwards honoured by being designated the +"refugees," while those who received them were similarly honoured in +being named the "helpers." Thus the brotherhood of believers insisted +on by Mohammed began to assume practical form, and men of different +tribes were united in one common bond--a brotherhood so powerful that +its enemies in Mecca were filled with alarm. They had no longer to +deal with a man whose views could be despised. They were menaced by a +growing force that threatened to overwhelm them. Steps were taken to +overthrow the danger, and elaborate arrangements were made for the +assassination of the prophet. He somehow obtained news of the plot, +and escaped the would-be murderers, who came while he was supposed to +be in bed, by climbing through a window. Accompanied by the faithful +Abu Bakr and a few of his more intimate followers, he made his way to +one of the mountain caves, where he stayed until the immediate danger +had passed. Then the little company commenced the journey to Medinah, +a task so fraught with danger and hardship that Mohammed shrank from +it, in spite of the Meccan evil, and was compelled to attempt it only +by the pressure of his friends. + +The facts concerning his entry into Medinah are obscure and uncertain, +but there is no doubt that his advent was hailed with delight by the +"helpers" and "refugees." Hospitality was freely offered, and, owing +to the prophet's independent spirit, reluctantly accepted. One of his +earliest actions after arrival was to consolidate his forces by +strengthening the brotherhood, making the obligations of his followers +to one another, and himself, more binding than the ties of blood. + + + + +IV.--GROWTH AND PROGRESS. + + +He now found himself the acknowledged head of a large growing community, +which looked to him for guidance in all its affairs--religious, social, +and political. Proudly, and with true Eastern despotism, he took upon +himself the dignities of prophet, priest, and king. He needed no one with +whom to share these functions. His was the sole right--his alone. His +ambitions were being realised. The striving of years, the disappointment, +doubts, and fears that had so tormented him were well repaid, and could be +forgotten in the glamour that now surrounded him. Enthusiastic and +fanatical votaries crowded around him with loyal acclamation. Pampered and +petted with excessive adulation, can it be wondered that he had visions of +power hitherto undreamed of? His scheme of national reform paled into +insignificance in the light of possibility. He saw himself the leader of a +world-wide conquest--the promoter of a prodigious scheme of universal +reform. He was not merely the messenger of the Arab people, but the +mouthpiece of God to the whole wide world. And by the Divine Power that +possessed him would receive the humble homage of proud and mighty nations, +whose haughty monarchs would bow in lowly submission to his imperious +will! Prophetic insight, regal authority, judicial administration were his +by divine right, to be enforced, if needs be, at the point of the Islamic +sword. + +As his position improved, so his ideals deteriorated. His early piety +was modified by the lust of worldly power. In place of patient pacific +methods of propagation, he adopted a cruel, ruthless, warlike policy, +and it was not long--perhaps owing to the extreme poverty which +afflicted the new community--before the would-be prophet became the +leader of a robber host. Yet even in spite of the glamour that +surrounded him, and the questionable behaviour that characterised this +period of his life, we catch occasional glimpses of that which reveals +the working of nobler instincts in his mind. Had his environment been +other than it was, Mohammed had been indeed a hero in the world's +history. Ignorance of truth led him to place himself under the +mysterious power of hallucination. The lonely brooding of the cave had +produced that which had urged him into a position of bondage. He was +the slave of a false idea, which so possessed him that he pressed +onward, in spite of all that stood in his way, whether it was good or +bad. It exerted an irresistible influence over all his impulses, +leading him into actions in every way indefensible. When fair means +failed, he adopted foul, and so succeeded beyond his highest dreams. + +The first Mosque, or meeting place, was built very soon after his +arrival in Medinah, and he entered upon his priestly functions. As a +matter of policy, he adopted many of the Jewish rites. These, however, +he soon changed, for as the number of his followers increased, and he +grew more and more independent of Jewish aid, he made every effort to +show his natural aversion to the ancient people, who scorned his +prophetic pretensions. In place of praying towards Jerusalem, his +followers were commanded to turn their faces towards Mecca. The Fast +of Atonement was abolished in favour of the month of Ramadan, while in +substitution for the Jewish rite of sacrifice, the pagan slaying of +victims was observed. + +A considerable difference is to be noticed between the "revelations" +of this period and those of Mecca. The latter were concerned with +denunciations of idolatry; proofs of the Divine unity and attributes; +legendary stories, and occasional lurid pictures of heaven and hell. +The former are generally of a legislative character, mingled with the +domestic affairs of the prophet, and guidance as to his military +policy. The method of recording them, too, seems to have been +systematised, for it is certain that a body of professional scribes +were engaged in this work, and evidence is not wanting to show that +these scribes were allowed to express the revelations in their own +particular style. Discrepancies and inconsistencies abounded, but +Mohammed seems to have allowed that he was not responsible, and to +have stated that God had a perfect right to alter as He pleased, and +even to apologise for errors! The policy of abrogation has its +sanction in the text, "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we give thee better in their stead, or the like thereof." + +In his warlike policy, the prophet's strategy reflects most +discreditably upon his character, everything that was honourable and +virtuous being sacrificed to the passion for conquest. When he needed +help, he pretended friendship to those he hated; and then, becoming +strong enough to be independent, did not hesitate, upon the slightest +provocation or pretext, to turn his sword against them. This is +particularly true of his treatment of the Jews, whom he at first +befriended, but afterwards treated with barbarous injustice. + +Within a very few months of their arrival in Medinah, the need of some +method of support, other than the charity of the helpers, presented +itself. The number of refugees was still increasing, and the demand +for the ordinary necessities of life exceeded the supply. Mohammed, to +his credit, shared the misery of his followers, and proved himself to +be generous even when in want. In order to meet the need, the policy +of despoiling the wealthy Meccan caravans was conceived, and carried +out with some degree of success. The prophet at first exhibited a +feeling of repugnance against such warfare, especially when the +ancient pacific regulations of certain sacred months were violated. +But the benefits of the revenue accruing led him, some time +afterwards, to produce revelations sanctioning hostilities even in the +sacred months. The early successes provided the community with more +wealth than was needed, and, arousing the avarice of many of those who +were opposed to the prophet, led them to throw in their lot with him. +Having seared his conscience by acknowledging the righteousness of the +robber policy, it was easy for him to persuade himself that it was all +part of the purpose of God to prosper his claims. All who would not +acknowledge him were the enemies of God, and had no rights to property +or to life. He began to preach the holiness of war against all +unbelievers. He fanned the avaricious fanaticism of his followers into +a flame of religious enthusiasm, and they became soldier priests, +whose deaths on the battlefield were glorious martyrdoms, which gave +them immediate entrance into a paradise where all their inclinations +could be indulged to an unlimited degree. It is not to be wondered +that an army of such men could put three times their number of Meccans +not so inspired to flight. This is what actually happened in the +battle of Badr. Mohammed had received news of the possibility of +capturing a particularly rich Meccan caravan, and decided to make the +attempt. News of his plans reached the Meccans, who determined to +frustrate, if possible, the designs of their enemy. A thousand men +were rapidly organised into a defensive and punitive force, and sent +out to overwhelm the three hundred Moslems. They were by no means +skilled in military strategy, little better than a disorderly horde; +whereas the Moslems, under the masterly guidance of Mohammed, seem to +have exhibited clever organisation. It has been said that the rigid +prayer ritual enforced by Mohammed, at the risk of Divine punishment, +had a disciplinary effect, and produced results very similar to those +obtained by military drill. The Meccan host was put to flight, +discipline, and steadfastness of purpose determined the victory. The +Moslems returned to Medinah, carrying in triumph many prisoners, and +considerable booty. The revelation produced after this, speaks of it +as the "Day of deliverance," and Mohammed rejoices because the stigma +of powerlessness to show evidence of miracle in his life, is removed, +for he accounts for the victory by direct intervention of God in his +favour. The effect of the victory on the surrounding tribes was highly +favourable to the prophet. Many of the chiefs sought to ally +themselves to him, but he received their offers solely on condition +that they would embrace Islam. Few accepted, and those who did not +before long regretted it. + +For about a year after his success, his power and influence increased, +until the whole of the tribes between Mecca and Medinah had been won +over. Then came a defeat. The Meccans had been nursing their +bitterness, and at last, just over two years after the victory of +Badr, it found its outlet in an expedition again Mohammed. The Moslem +forces were rallied, and under the prophet's leadership sallied forth +to meet the Meccans. A fierce battle ensued, in which at first the +Moslems had the advantage, and the Meccans were forced to fly. But +they had learned many lessons in the fight at Badr, and had posted +some of their cavalry in such a position that, when the Moslem order +was disturbed in their pursuit of the enemy, they made a charge upon +their rear. The fleeing Meccans turned, and the Moslems found +themselves between two attacks. Then came the cry that Mohammed was +killed! Instead of increasing the Moslem disorder by discouragement, +it made them fight more doggedly, for the majority were so committed +to Islam that they cared not for life if their prophet was dead. This +prevented what must otherwise have meant absolute victory on the part +of the Meccans, and a number of them, with Mohammed, who was only +wounded, were able to retire to Medinah. The Meccans were quite +satisfied with the result, considering that the stigma of their defeat +at Badr had been wiped out. Later on, when Mohammed had sufficiently +recovered of his wounds, he made a public appearance in the Mosque, +where he was able to persuade his followers that their apparent defeat +was really a victory! The general who is able to persuade his forces +that there is victory, even where there seems to be defeat, is one who +will inspire them to fight against apparently impossible odds. They +will, indeed, never suffer defeat, but will fight on until annihilated +by capture or death. The secret of success even in the more pacific +engagements of life lies in this principle--to be undaunted in +ardour, in spite of failure; to recognise in failure a step towards +ultimate success. Let a man be possessed with these, and victory is +within his grasp, whether he recognises it or not. + +After this, Mohammed did not scruple to employ the system of warfare +by assassination, if warfare it can be called. Some tribes, emboldened +by the report of the Meccan success, began to treat Moslem emissaries +with scant courtesy, and went so far as to murder some. Mohammed +retaliated by sending men to balance the scales in the same criminal +way, particularly in treating with the Jews. An idea had grown up in +his mind that these people had determined to murder him. This, with +matters of minor importance, already referred to, at last led to an +organised attempt to subjugate them. A large, influential tribe was +besieged; their date trees, lands, and property wantonly destroyed. +Eventually the whole tribe surrendered, and were glad to march away +with what possessions their camels could carry. This led to a +combination of other Jewish tribes, which laid siege to Medinah. The +siege was not successful, and barbarous treatment was meted out to the +besiegers. After much skirmishing and general fighting, a number of +the Jews who had been captured were decapitated, while their women and +children were enslaved. Those who were unwilling to embrace Islam, +were compelled to pay tribute. So the prosperity and success of Islam +was assured. The Jews were no longer bold enough to cause the prophet +any anxiety as to the validity of his prophetic claims, nor were they +of a mind that would arouse fear as to their fighting abilities. They +were true descendants of Isaac and Jacob, who were both men of peace, +and were not qualified for success in war against the posterity of the +active warlike Ishmael and Esau. + +Freed from all anxiety in this direction, the prophet, realising that +the security of Medinah could never be assured while the Meccans were +opposed to him, began to formulate plans for the conquest of their +city. His first step was to try and conciliate them, with a view to +sending a pilgrim band into the city, but the citizens were far too +cautious and suspicious to allow that. At last, however, they were +prevailed upon to receive his son-in-law, Omar, who succeeded in +persuading a section of the Meccans of the injustice of barring the +Holy Temple to those who, although their enemies, were, after all, +their kinsmen. This led to a treaty, in which Mohammed brought shame +upon his followers because of his concessions. The arrangements were +that for ten years, peace between the prophet and the Meccans should +be maintained, and that within a year a party of the Moslems were to +be allowed to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba. + +The humiliation to which the prophet compelled his followers to submit +gave rise to considerable indignation, which was allayed only when he +himself submitted to the shaving of his head and the offering of +sacrifice. He knew that the humiliation was worthy of the advantage +gained--indeed, it was but the furtherance of his policy, in which no +action that was expedient could possibly be disgraceful. To him such +a treaty involved no sacred obligation to his enemies. He was God's +prophet, and as such was free of all obligation to those who did not +follow him, a principle deeply rooted in Islam, which makes the +violation of all virtuous relations with unbelievers highly +meritorious. + + + + +V.--WORLD CONQUEST. + + +Not long after the treaty with the Meccans, Mohammed revealed the fact +that he had elaborated a scheme of world conquest, by sending +representatives to earthly monarchs of whom he had heard. His +messengers carried letters bearing the seal, "Mohammed, Prophet of +God," and urging the addressees to acknowledge his claims by embracing +Islam. These overtures were in some cases favourably received; in +others with contempt; but, of course, did not lead to compliance with +the demands, except, perhaps, on the part of a few of the rulers of +some Arabic tribes. + +The eighth year of the flight is famous in the history of the +prophet's life, because his followers, for the first time, came into +conflict with the forces of the Christian empire. The battle of Mutah +resulted in defeat of the Moslems, and, consequently, details have +been suppressed. It was part of Mohammed's policy to counteract the +demoralising influence of defeat by immediately attempting a fight in +which victory was assured. This, to my mind, justified war on any +pretext or grievance. In this case he conceived the idea of invading +Mecca, and, although minor incidents justify his decision to a slight +degree, his breach of the treaty adds to the evidence that is +derogatory to his character. + +The pilgrimage of the year before had been organised by him with the +view of impressing the Meccans of his power, and was decidedly +successful. When he with his ten thousand troops approached the city, +fear caused submission on the part of the leader of the city forces, +and after some slight skirmishing with a section of the community, +which preferred to show active disapproval of the ignominious +surrender, the city was won. Every idolatrous element of the Kaaba +worship was swept away, and, although its pagan associations were +negatived, it was sanctified to the service of Islam, and is still its +only altar. The city was invested with a more sacred significance than +it had ever occupied under the pagan system. It was never again to be +defiled by the spilling of human blood, the prophet insisting upon +this with admirable inconsistency! He showed his gratification in many +acts of statesmanlike condescension, and seems at this time to have +considered himself to be the ruler of all Arabs. Although it is +improbable that Mohammed was aware of it, the significance he attached +to the Holy City, by teaching that the Caaba was a heavenly built +edifice, was to become the means of consolidating his system, in spite +of national and racial distinctions. In its precincts, pilgrims from +India, Persia, China, Russia, Turkey, and other lands where Islam has +its devotees, mingle with the wild Bedouin of the desert in one common +brotherhood, and worship, in unity of faith and form, Allah, the great +and merciful. + +After its capture, the fierce warlike Bedouin nomadic tribes made +strenuous and courageous attempts to win back the city, but the Moslem +forces were invariably successful, and, in time, Mohammed returned to +Medinah more triumphant than ever. Eventually Taif, which had +successfully resisted a siege, submitted peacefully to the prophet's +claims, and the subjugation of the whole of Arabia followed. + +An ingenious system of taxation was imposed upon all tribes submitting +to Mohammed. The natural prejudice that universally exists against +taxation (!) was overcome, because it was instituted as a religious +rather than a statutory obligation. Thus the regular payments of alms +became one of the five acts of faith imposed upon all believers. The +other acts are: confession of creed, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage. + + + + +VI.--MOHAMMED AND WOMEN. + + +The prophet's domestic life exerted considerable influence upon his +religion; effects of which are to be seen in the Mohammedan home of +to-day. His numerous marriages afforded experience which led to the +framing of many "divine" laws referring to women. As has already been +hinted, Kadijah, his first wife, exercised considerable influence over +his prophetic career. She evidently had a strong affection for him, +which feeling was heartily reciprocated. She had a personality strong +enough to curb his natural passion, and to preserve her place in spite +of it in his regard. Her encouragement and support when success and +failure were trembling in the balance, urged him to persist in the +development of his ideas. He was faithful to her during their married +life, and to her memory afterwards, and promised her, upon her +deathbed, that she should share his heavenly chamber after his death, +with the Mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses. Within a month of +her death he was betrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven. He did not +actually marry her until she was nine years of age, and during the +interval consoled himself by wedding a widow who had acted as nurse to +one of his daughters. This marriage seems to have been more a matter +of convenience than of affection on his part, and in later days she +was able to keep her position as his wife only by the yielding of +certain of her privileges to other members of the harem. + +Seven months after his arrival in Medinah, during the time of poverty, +the marriage with Ayesha was celebrated, the child of nine being +united to the man of fifty-three! a marriage defended on the ground of +political expediency, whereby the devotion of Abu Bakr, the child's +father was strengthened. She seems to have been second only to +Khadijah in the prophet's affections, and exercised a petty tyranny +over him, which was submitted to even when it affected his +revelations. She excited the envy of the other wives because of her +privileges, and in spite of intrigue, was able to hold her own. She +was extremely sarcastic in regard to some of the revelations, and even +went so far on one occasion as to jeer the prophet on his faithfulness +in recording them. This sarcasm was prompted by jealousy, because of +Mohammed's marriage with Zainab, which was so illegal as to cause him +to throw the responsibility on God. Zainab was the wife of the +prophet's adopted son Zaid, who, having discovered his foster-father's +love, thought it wise to divorce her in his favour. The revelation +Mohammed produced seems to have been held over until his critics had +been mollified by some victory--hence the sarcasm! + +During the raiding of the Jews, Mohammed was considerably disturbed by +the desire of the wives to accompany him on the expeditions. He eased +the difficulty by arranging that one only should go with him on each +expedition, and should obtain the favour by lot. Ayesha got into +difficulty on one of these expeditions. She dropped a necklace and +remained behind the returning party in order to seek for it. A youth +who, too, had loitered behind, found it, and accompanied her back to +the camp. Her enemies were not slow to take advantage of this incident +to prejudice her before the prophet. He was deeply hurt, and in face +of the surge of public opinion, sent her back to her parents. The +complications arising out of the divorce would probably have alienated +the sympathies of Abu Bakr, her father, so with his usual diplomacy, +Mohammed produced a revelation, in which God declared Ayesha innocent +of any cause for divorce! It was through Ayesha, too, that the prophet +conceived the idea of praying for deliverance from the torment of the +grave, for she casually remarked one day that she had heard a Jewish +woman speaking about torment after death. Through all her life with +the prophet she proved herself to be strong in character, and a +fitting mate for a man of Mohammed's type. + +Other wives did not play such an important part in the prophet's life +work. He seems to have exhibited his taste for beauty in all his +selections. Keud was the daughter of a man of considerable wealth and +influence, and, like Zainab, was one of the Abyssinian refugees. In +the expedition against Khaibah, Mohammed's greed was excited by the +sight of some valuable ornaments belonging to one of his vanquished +enemies. He sought to gain possession of them by marrying the daughter +of the owner, Safiyyah, whose husband and brother had both been killed +in the battle that had been fought. She accepted the prophet's offer, +and contented herself for her losses in the squabbles of his harem. +His other wives were Juwairijah, Hafsah, Um Salmah, Um Kabibah, +another of the Abyssinian refugees, and Zainab, widow of his cousin. +The last wife was Maimunah, who is said to have offered herself to him +when he was considering the invasion of Mecca. A Coptic (Christian) +slave girl, Mary, and Rihanah, a Jewess, were added to the harem, but +went through no form of marriage with him. Mary was sent as a present +from one of the Coptic rulers in answer to the prophet's letter, +urging the claims of Islam; while Rihanah, whose husband was one of +the many who were cruelly slaughtered by decapitation after a victory +over the Jews, was at nightfall, almost immediately after the +massacre, taken to the prophet's tent. It is evident that the prophet +had many opportunities of still further increasing his harem, for many +women offered themselves; while the relatives of handsome widows would +make no arrangements for the re-marriage of the bereaved ones until +they had been offered to the prophet and refused. + +It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so +many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much +evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty +of pleasing all. His relations to the feminine sex, as may be +expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women. Hence +the utter degradation to which they are subjected in Islam. Although +he did not practice it, he sanctioned wife beating. Divorce was made +easy for the men, who could cast off their wives any time they so +desired. Thus it is quite common to-day for women to steal from their +husbands in order to provide for themselves in case of divorce. The +evil of such a system is apparent. It makes the women mere slaves at +the mercy of the caprice of their husbands. The polygamy and +concubinage which is sanctioned in the Koran, has degraded the women +to a degree that may be imagined, and certainly has not, as some +authorities contend, abolished other evils. It is true that he +improved slightly the condition of women in his day, giving them +privileges they had not up to that time enjoyed, and by those who +endeavour to picture him as a hero, his failure to arrive at a true +estimate of the position of women is covered by the statement that it +was impossible for him to grapple with a hopeless problem. It is +encouraging to know that, with the growing influence of Western +Christian civilisation, the condition of women in Moslem lands is +gradually improving, although the village folk still consider us to be +weak in character because we are courteous in our behaviour to them. +In Egypt, Government schools for girls are being organised, and +throughout the whole Moslem world education is spreading. The religion +of Mohammed is so clearly defined that it can never be reformed. The +only hope for the nations that are under its sway is that with the +advance of western civilisation there may be a yielding to the +influence of Christianity. It cannot be possible to enjoy the +blessings of the West while men are tyrannised by a non-progressive +religion of the East. + +Just before he died Mohammed organised an expedition against the +Romans, and this in spite of sickness unto death. He had made his last +pilgrimage to Mecca, and had delivered what may be termed his final +charge to his followers. The whole tone of his address seems to have +been influenced by the thought of the proximity of death. He +emphasised the doctrines he had inculcated, showing that the Islamic +brotherhood removed all that tended to social inequality. The rich man +was no better than the poor; the aristocrat who boasted of his +ancestry, no more important in the sight of God than the lowliest +beggar. The only difference that could exist between man and man was a +difference in degree of piety. Property rights he recognised as +regarding believers, and evidently implied that unbelievers possessed +no such rights. He asked respect and humane treatment for women, and +undoubtedly manifested a desire for a better condition of affairs than +he in his lifetime had been able to establish. The subsequent illness +was probably due to the strain and anxiety of this pilgrimage. Ayesha, +the girl wife, tended him. The many stories that have been told of +these last days are not at all reliable, but it is certain that for +five days he was quite helpless and delirious. On the 7th of June, 632 +A.D., ten years after the flight from Mecca, he died in the arms of +Ayesha, leaving a work that wrought havoc in the Christian Church for +centuries, and which, inspired by his immortal spirit, still exists in +unyielding enmity against the faith of the meek and lowly Nazarene, +whose native soil, in the providence of God, is owned by Islam's son. +Never again will be heard the clash of steel on steel as Christian +tries to vanquish Moslem. Those days are happily past and gone. Carnal +weapons cannot avail against spiritual forces. The eternal, peaceable +Spirit of Jesus is slowly but surely permeating the gloom of Islam. We +see the resultant disintegration, and hope for that great day when, +led by the broken and contrite spirit of their leader, the hosts of +Islam shall bow before the King of Kings, recognising what, in time, +they were impelled to deny--Unity in Trinity, the at present +unrevealed mystery of Deity. + +Britain, the greatest Moslem power of the world, needs to change her +policy in regard to Christian missionary work amongst Moslems, if she +is desirous of promoting the welfare of those benighted people. She +must give freedom to the heralds of the Cross who labour in the lands +of the Crescent. And the prayers of her people must ascend on behalf +of the sons and daughters of Islam who sit in darkness and the shadow +of death. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOHAMMED, THE PROPHET OF ISLAM*** + + +******* This file should be named 14064.txt or 14064.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/6/14064 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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