THE True Nature of Imposture Fully Displayed in the Life of MAHOMET.   

THE TRUE Nature of Imposture Fully DISPLAYED IN THE LIFE OF MAHOMET.  
WITH A Discourse annexed, for the Vindicating of Christianity from this Charge; Offered to the Consideration of the Deists of the present Age.  
By HUMPHREY PRIDEAUX, D. D.  
LONDON: Printed for William Rogers, at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleetstreet. MDCXCVII.   

TO THE READER.  
THE great prevailing of Infidelity in the present Age, making it the duty of every one of us, that have undertaken the Ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to endeavour to put a stop thereto; that I may in some measure do my part herein, is a sufficient reason to justify the present publication. But besides, the Poison having, I fear, reached some places, where it is my particular duty to prevent its Mischiefs; and infected some Persons, for whose eternal welfare, as well as temporal, I have reason to be nearly concerned; I have hereby been more especially engaged to set forth the ensuing History, with the Tract subjoined thereto, for an Antidote against it. And if I can hereby avail any thing with those who have cast off Christianity as an Imposture, to make them see the error of their Apostasy, I shall then obtain the full end I propose; If not, at least I shall discharge my Conscience, and my Duty, in doing the best I can in order thereto.  
That which at present seems mostly to carry men away into this Infidelity, is the giddy humour, which too many among us, especially of the younger fort, areliable unto, in following whatsoever hath gotten into fashion and vogue. For these, looking no further than what prevails most among such they converse with, of course fall 〈◊〉 with it, whatsoever it be, without any other consideration, but that they think it the Dress which is most fashionable and genteel for them to appear in, and the Mode wherein they may make the most acceptable figure among the Company they keep. And therefore that kind of Infidelity, which is called Deism, being of late impiously patronised by too many of those who govern the Humours of the Times, abundance of this sort of unthinking People have merely, out of compliance with them, run in thereto, and confidently take upon them to call Christianity a Cheat, and an Imposture, without ever having considered what an Imposture is, or whether any of the Marks and Properties thereof can possibly agree with this Holy Religion, or no.  
That therefore these may see what it is they charge Christianity with, and how far all the Marks and Properties thereof are from having any agreement with it; I have in the ensuing History, which contains the Life of that famous Impostor, who is on both sides equally acknowledged to be such, fully laid open what an Imposture is, and in the Discourse subjoined thereto, shown, That none of those Marks and Properties, which are so visible in the Imposture of Mahomet, and must be also in all other Impostures in Religion, can possibly be charged upon that holy Religion which we profess. And an History being that which gives the most lively and sensible representations of a Matter; and Books of this nature being such as most obtain the favour of being read, I hope I have taken the properest method of coming home to the Consciences of those to whom I write.  
And that I may not be thought to draw this Life of Mahomet with design to set forth his Imposture in the foulest Colours I am able, the better to make it serve my present purpose; I have been careful to set down all my Authorities in the Margin, and at the end of the Book have given an Account of all the Authors from whom I collected them.  
And that I may the more remove all suspicion of this matter, I think it requisite to acquaint you, That although at present I have adapted the Life of Mahomet to this purpose; yet it was not originally designed for it, it being when I first wrote it, only the interspersed Parts of one Chapter of a much larger Work, which I intended for the Public, viz. The History of the Ruin of the Eastern Church; which beginning from the Death of the Emperor Mauricius, Anno Dom. 602. was designed to have been brought down to the fall of the Saracen Empire, which happened Anno Dom. 936. when the Governors of Provinces under the Caliph, usurping the Sovereign Authority, each in their several Districts, did put an end to that large and formidable Empire, by dividing it among them.  
An Instance fit for our Considerations▪ For notwithstanding those earnest Expectations and strong Hopes, which we entertained in the beginning of This Government, of having our Divisions healed, and all those Breaches which they have caused in the Church, again made up; finding those of the Separation still to retain the same Spirit on the one side, and some others to be so violently bend on the other, against every thing that might tend to mollify and allay it, as to frustrate all those excellent Designs, which have been laid in order thereto; I thought I could not better let those Men see; what mischief they Both do hereby to the Common Interest of Christianity; than by laying before them the grievous Ruin and Desolation, which from the like Cause happened to the Churches of the East, once the most flourishing of the whole Earth. For they having drawn the abstrusest. Niceties into Controversy, which were of little or no moment to that which is the chief end of our Holy Christian Religion, and divided and subdivided about them into endless Schisms and Contentions; did thereby so destroy that Peace, Love, and Charity from among them, which the Gospel was given to promote, and instead thereof continually provoked each other to that Malice, Rancour, and every evil Work, that they lost the whole Substance of their Religion, while they thus eagerly contended for their own Imaginations concerning it, and in a manner drove Christianity quite out of the World by those very Controversies in which they disputed with each other about it. So that at length having wearied the patience and long-suffering of God, in thus turning this Holy Religion into a Firebrand of Hell for Contention, Strife, and Violence among them, which was given them out of his infinite Mercy to the quite contrary end for the Salvation of their Souls, by living Holily, Righteously, and Justly in this present World, he raised up the Saracens to be the Instruments of his Wrath to punish them for it; who taking advantage of the Weakness of Power, and the Distractions of Councils, which these Divisions had caused among them, soon overrun with a terrible Devastation all the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. And having fixed that Tyranny over them, which hath ever since afflicted those Parts of the World, turned every where their Churches into Mosques, and their Worship into an horrid Superstition; and instead of that Holy Religion which they had thus abused, forced on them that abominable Imposture of Mahometism, which dictating War, Bloodshed and Violence in matters of Religion, as one of its chiefest Virtues, was in truth the most proper for those, who had afore by their Schisms and Contentions resolved all the Religion they had thereinto. And when the matter came to this trial, some of those who were the hottest Contenders about Christianity, became the first Apostates from it; and they, who would not afore part with a Nicety, an abstruse Notion, or an unreasonable Scruple, for the Peace of the Church, were soon brought by the Sword at their throats to give up the whole in compliance to the pleasure of a Barbarous and Savage Conqueror. And no wonder that such, who had afore wrangled away the substance of their Religion in contention and strife against each other, and eat out the very heart of it by that malice and rancour which they showed in their Controversy about it, became easily content, when under this force, to part with the Name also. Thus those once glorious and most flourishing Churches, for a punishment of their wickedness, being given up to the insult, ravage and scorn of the worst of Enemies, were on a sudden overwhelmed by them with so terrible a destruction, as brought them to that low and miserable state, under the pressures of which they have ever since groaned; wherein they, retaining no more than some few and lamentable ruins of what they once were, seem thus to be continued even unto this day by the Alwise Providence of God in the same miserable Condition under the Pride and Persecution of Mahometan Tyranny, for no other end, but to be an Example and Warning unto others against that wickedness of Separation and Division, by which they were brought thereto. A sad Memento to us; for of all Christian Churches now remaining in the World, Which is there that hath more reason than we at this present, to learn instruction from this Example, and take warning therefrom? For are not our Divisions now brought to much the same height with theirs, which drew down from the just hand of God this terrible destruction upon them; when men making no conscience of breaking the public peace of the Church, divide and subdivide from it into endless Factions, Schisms, and Contentions, about their own Imaginations? When they durst reject the Ancient and Primitive Government of the Church, which was by the direction of God's holy Spirit established in it from the beginning, to make way for new Schemes of their own invention; and are content to ruin all, rather than not obtain their humour herein? When they will have the Decency and Order of our outward Worship condemned as Crimes, and for the privilege of praying in public, according to their own unpremeditated Conceptions, without Method or Sense, advance such Arguments against our Liturgies and Forms of Prayer, as have in a manner totally destroyed the Devotion of the Nation? When they scruple more at the kneeling to God in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, while they are receiving from Him one of His greatest Mercies, and aught to be rendering to him their highest Thanksgiving in return thereto, than in breaking the chiefest of his Commandments; and thus in a manner resolve all Religion into contending against our Just and Legal Establishments about it? And when others on the other hand, whose duty it is to labour for our Peace, would rather have this devouring flame of Strife and Division still continued among us, than throw in one Bucket of Water to cool and allay it? I say, when matters are brought to this pass, Do we not equal, or rather excel that Wickedness for Contentjoin, Strife and Division, for which God poured out his fierce wrath upon those once most flourishing Churches of the East, and in so fearful a manner brought them to destruction thereby? And have we not reason then to be warned by The Example? Have we not reason to fear, that God may in the same manner raise up some Mahomet against us for our utter confusion; and when we cannot be contented with that blessed Establishment of Divine Worship and Truth, which he hath in so great purity given unto us, permit the Wicked One by some other such Instrument to overwhelm us instead thereof with his foulest Delusions? And by what the Socinian, the Quaker, and the Deist begin to advance in this Land, we may have reason to fear, that Wrath hath some time since gone forth from the Lord for the punishment of these our Iniquities and Gainsaying, and that the Plague is already begun among us.  
That therefore we may fully see to what these Mischiefs among us lead, and be influenced thereby to such an amendment, as might divert the Judgement from us, was the reason that made me design the publication of the History I have mentioned; wherein my purpose was to give an account, first of the Controversies which miserably divided those Eastern Churches, and then of that grievous Calamity and Ruin which happened to them thereupon through that deluge of Mahometan Tyranny and Delusion which overwhelmed all those Provinces in which they were planted, and hath continued there to the afflicting of the poor remainders of them with misery and persecution ever since. For men's minds being usually more influenced by Example, than by Precept or Exhortation; and easier convinced of the mischief which any evil leads to, by seeing the Sufferings of others herein, than by the greatest strength of Reason and Argument that can be pressed upon them in order hereto; I hoped that perchance by laying open before the Contending Parties here among us what mischief those Eastern Churches suffered in the like case through that dismal Ruin which was by their Divisions brought upon them, I might awaken them with this affrighting Example to think of those things which might tend to their Peace, and hereby prevail with them to set some steps towards the happy re-establishing of it among us, which as yet no Reason or Argument hath been able to induce them to.  
But when I had made my Collections, and gone a great way in putting my last hand to the Composure, those Disturbances that happened about the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity among us, gave me a reflection which put a stop to my Pen, and made me resolve to surcease the whole Work. For perceiving what advantage the unwary stirring of this Controversy did give the Atheist, the Deist, and the Socinian, for the advancing of their Impieties, by confounding and distracting the minds of men with their Cavils and Objections against what we hold in this Mystery to be above our Understandings fully to comprehend, and how several of them did in a manner so licentious, as was scarce ever before allowed in a Christian State, exercise their Wits in this matter, I durst not, considering the Subject of this Book, venture it abroad in so wanton and lewd an Age. For the two great Mysteries of Christianity (and which will be always such unto us while in this state of Ignorance and Infirmity) being the Doctrine of the Trinity, and that of the Hypostatical Union; and this latter being the Subject about which all those Divisions were, which occasioned that ruin of those Churches, of which in this History an Account was purposed to be given; and this necessarily leading me therein, not only to unravel all those Controversies which they made about it, but also to unfold all the Niceties and subtle Notions which each Sect did hold concerning it; I had reason to fear, that those who made such work with one of the Mysteries of our Holy Religion, would not be lesle bold with the other, which is altogether as great, were it in that manner laid open unto them, as it is in this History contained; and therefore I rather chose totally to suppress my Labours, than run the hazard in their publication of doing more hurt than good thereby. Only that part which relates to the Life of Mahomet, after having gathered it together out of that Chapter of this History, where it lay interspersed with other matters, I have here published to answer that Design which I have already given an account of.  
As to the Discourse annexed, I have directed it only to those Deists, who according to Mr. Blunt's Description of them, hold a Providence, and future Rewards and Punishments. For such seeming to retain the Common Principles of Natural Religion and Reason, allow a sufficient foundation whereon to be discoursed with. But as to the Atheist, who denies the being of a God, which all things else prove; and the Epicurean Deist, who allowing his Being, denies his Providence, and his Government over us, which all the Occurrences of our Life become constant arguments for, they being such as must necessarily reject first Principles, and bid defiance to all manner of Reason, before they can so far blind themselves as to arrive hereto, do leave no room for any Argument, but that of the Whip and Lash to convince them of those impious Absurdities, and therefore deserve not by any other method to be dealt with. Besides, if you will know the true Reason which induceth the Atheist to deny the Being of God, and the Epicurean Deist his Government over us; it is that they may give themselves up, without fear of future Judgement, to all those Bestial Enjoyments of Lust and Sensuality which their corrupt Hearts carry them after; and therefore it not being the Reason of the Man, but the Brutal Appetite of the Beast that makes them such, they deserve no otherwise than as Beasts to be treated by us; and for this Reason, as I write not to them, so I desire to be understood to have nothing to do with them.  
For the clearer understanding of the History, I desire you to take notice, That in the proper Names, All is a Particle which signifieth in Arabic the same with the English The, or the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as in All Abbess; Ebn, or with the Particle Al after it Ebno'l is the Son, and Abu, or with the Particle Al after it Abu'l is the Father, and thus Mahomet is called Ebn Abdollah Abu Casem, that is, the Son of Abdollah, the Father of Casem. For it was usual with the Arabs to take their Names of distinction from their Sons as well as from their Fathers; and thus Ebno'l Athir is the Son of Al Athir, and Abu'l Abbess is the Father of All Abbess; Abdella, or with the Particle Al after it, Abdo ' l, signifieth Servant; and thus Abdo 'llah signifieth the Servant of God, and Abdo ' l Shems, the Servant of the Sun. In these and all other Arabic Names I exactly follow the Arabic Pronunciation, without regarding how they have been written or spelt by any other Western Author that hath treated of them; and that the rather, because of the great agreement which the Arabic hath with the English both in the power of its Letters, and the pronunciation of its Words; there being no Language in the World more akin to ours, than the Arabic is in these particulars; Only as to the Name of the Impostor himself, I rather choose to make use of the vulgar manner of writing it, because of the notoriety of it, than make any change, although to the truth, from that which hath been generally received, and therefore I call him everywhere Mahomet, although Mohammed be the alone true and proper pronunciation of the Name.  
As to the Errata which have escaped the Press at my great distance from it when these Papers were printed, I desire thou wouldst correct them from the Table, in which they are marked, before thou readest the Book; and then on thy perusal of it, as far as thou hast need of what is designed thereby, either for the restoration of thy Faith, or the confirmation of it; so far I pray God it may be useful to thee, and I am  
Norwich, March 15. 1696-97. The hearty wisher of thy Peace and Everlasting Salvation, Humphrey Prideaux.   

N. B. The Catalogue of Authors contain such as are quoted in the Letter to the Deists, as well as in the Life of Mahomet, and was intended to have been set at the end of the whole Book; but the Mistake of the Printer did put it out of its due place.   

Errata in the Life of Mahomet, and in the Catalogue of Authors.  
PAg. 2. lin. 2. read Chalid Ebn Walid without the Commas, p. 37. l. 2. r. from them, p. 49. l. 23. r. Abu Taleb, and l. 26. r. Abu Sophian, p. 1 r. l. 14. r. Tayif, and l. 15. r. Hagiaz, p. 52. l. 4. r. Abu Beker, p. 71. l. 14. r. were forced. p. 72. l. 5. r. Hagiaz, p. 74 l. 2. r. Rabia, and l. 26. r. Religious, p. 84. l. 1. r. Abu Taleb, p. 88 l. 21. r. head them, p. 90. l. 23. r. Yamama. p. 102. l. 23. r. Telha, p. 105. l. 6. r. Nadirites, and l. 10. r. Chaibar, p. 112. l. 26. r demand, p. 120. l. ult. r. Hareth, p. 121. l 7. r. discovered. p. 122. l. 14. r. Omar, p. 124. l. 8. r. Taal. and l. ult. r. Melec Ebn Auf, p. 127. l. 11. r. Dauma, p. 129. l. 27. r. Taliha, p 139. l. 1. r. Zama, and l. 2. after Hasheth add Juweira, the Daughter of Hareth, and l. 4. r. Maimuna, p. 160. l. 24. blot out of before God, and l. 29. r. Eclilan, p 172. l. 23. r. Hosain, p. 174. l. ult. r. Zamachshari. p. 178. l. 32. r. Ketab Roger, p. 179. l. 8. r. Amiro'l Muminin, and l 31. r. All Osynti. p. 180. l. 6. r. Zamachshari, p. 183. l. 3. r. Edesseni. p. 186. r. Bocharti Hierozoicon, and l. 29. the Eminentest.   

Errata in the Margin of the Life of Mahomet.  
Page 10. lit. (ᵗ) r. Radericus. Toletanus, p. 36. lit. (ᵉ) r. Ebnol Athir, p. 37. lit. ᵏ) r. Edessenus. p. 70. lit. (ᵍ) r. Ebnol Kassai. p. 82. lit. (ᵉ) r. Zamachshari, and r. Jelalani, p. 102. lit. (ᵍ) r. Telha, p. 106. lit. (ᵐ) r. Zamachshari, p. 125. lit. (ᵖ) r. Zamachshari, p 141. lit. (ʸ) r. Bochartus in Hirozoico, part. 1. lib. 2. c. 1.   

Errata in the Letter to the Deists.  
Pag. 16. lin 16. r. with him, p. 53. l. 16. r. admired, p. 54. l. 11. r. as ready, p. 126. l. 3. r. the things; p. 118. l. 29. r. in transient. p. 129. l. 4. r. can we, p. 132. l. 9 r. this inquiry, p. 144. l. 23. r. as we had fallen, p. 152. l. 9 r. of us.   


The General CONTENTS of the BOOK.  
I. THE Preface to the Reader, showing the Design and Reason of its Publication.  
II. The True Nature of Imposture fully displayed in the Life of Mahomet, from his Birth, An. Dom. 571. to his Death, An. Dom. 632.  
III. A Letter to the Deists, showing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no Imposture, but the Sacred Truth of God.   

The Contents of the Life of Mahomet.  
OF the Family of Mahomet, and his Marriage with Cadigha. Page 1  
Of his first pretending to be a Prophet. 14  
Of the Koran. 17  
The Proofs of his pretended Mission. 31  
The Framers of the Koran. 40  
Mahomet's Marriage with three Wives. 52  
His Night-Journey to Heaven. 53  
His Oral Law. 68  
The beginning of the Hegira, and the Computation of their Year. 76  
His Robberies. 90  
Of Mecca, and the Temple there. 94  
The Month of Ramadam their yearly Fast. 97  
Mahomet' s Intimacy with the Jew Caab. 99  
The Occasion of his forbidding Wines and Games of Chance. 106  
Of Pilgrimages to Mecca. 113  
Mahomet' s Poisoning at Chaibar. 121  
His Death and Burial at Medina. 130  
General Reflections on the Life of Mahomet. 135  
Of the Contradictions in the Koran. 155  
The Texts of Holy Scripture Mahomet urges for his Religion. 159  
An Account of the Authors quoted in this Work. 165   

The Contents of the Letter to the Deists.  
INtroduction, 1. What an Imposture is, 2. What are the Marks and Properties of an Imposture, 3. That all those Marks must belong to every Imposture, and all particularly did so to Mahometism; and that none of them can be charged upon Christianity; is proposed to be the Design of the Ensuing Discourse.  
Sect. 1. The first Mark of an Imposture, That it must always have for its End some Carnal Interest; not chargeable on Christianity. 8  
Sect. 2. The second Mark of an Imposture, That it can have none but Wicked men for the Authors of it; not chargeable on Christianity. 36  
Sect. 3. The third Mark of an Imposture, That both these two last Marks must appear in the very Contexture of the Imposture itself; not chargeable on Christianity. 45  
Sect. 4. The fourth Mark of an Imposture, That it can never be so framed, but that it must contain some palpable Falsities, which will discover the falsity of all the rest; not chargeable on Christianity. 81  
Sect. 5. The fifth Mark of an Imposture, That wherever it is first propagated, it must be done by Craft and Fraud; not chargeable on Christianity. 100  
Sect. 6. The sixth Mark of an Imposture,, That when entrusted with many Conspirators, it can never be long concealed; not chargeable on Christianity. 127  
Sect. 7. The seventh Mark of an Imposture, That it can never be established, unless backed with Force and Violence; not chargeable on Christianity. 130  
The Conclusion. 137    

THE LIFE OF MAHOMET.  
MAhomet (or according to the true pronunciation of the word Mohammed) was Born 
a Abul Faraghius. Abul Feda. Elmacin. Alkodai, etc.  at Mecca, a City of Arabia, of the Tribe of the Korashites, 
b Hottingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 1. c. 4.  which was reckoned the Noblest in all that Country, and was descended in a direct Line of Primogeniture from Pher-Koraish, the first Founder of it, from whom they derive his Pedigree in this manner; 
c Abul Feda. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 50, & 51. Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. Part 1. c. 3. Liber de Generatione & N●tritura Mahometis.  The Son of Pher Koraish was Galeb, the Son of Galeb, Lawa, the Son of Lawa, Caab, the Son of Caab, Morrah, whose younger Brother was Ada; from whom was descended Omar Ebno'l Chattab, that was Calif. The Sons of Morrah were Chelab, Tayem, and Tokdah: From Tayem, Abubeker and Telha; and from Yokdah, Chalid, Ebn, Walid, had their Descent. Chelab was he who first gave the Months of the Year those Names by which the Arabs ever since have called them, even to this day. They had formerly other Names, 
d Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 4.  but Chelab having given them these new ones, they first grew into use among the Korashites, and after, by the authority of Mahomet, when he had brought all the rest of the Tribes of the Arabs under his Power, obtained every where else, and the old ones became totally Abolished. The eldest Son of Chelab, was Cosa; and the younger, Zahrah, from whom was Amena, the Mother of Mahomet. 
e Abul Feda, Pocockii, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 42, 50. & 342. Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. p. 1. c. 3.  Cosa was very famous among the Korashites, for gaining to his Family the keeping of the Keys of the Caaba, and with them the Presidency of that Temple, which is the same to which the Mahometans now make their Pilgrimage at Mecca, and was then as much celebrated for the Heathen Worship among the Arabs, as it hath since been for the Mahometan; and therefore the Presidency of it was a matter of great moment, as being a Station which rendered him that was in it Honourable through all Arabia. It was before in the Possession of Abu Gabshan, of the Tribe of the Cozaites, who were of the ancient Race of the Arabs, descended from Joktan, and formerly had their dwelling in Yaman, or Arabia Felix, till being driven thence by an Inundation from the breaking down of the Banks of the Lake Aram, which destroyed their Country, they came and settled in the Valley of Marry, not far from Mecca, and from thence they were called Cozaites, which signifieth the cutting off, because by this remove, they were separated, and as it were cut off from the rest of their Kindred. They had not long lived at Marry, till they grew so Powerful, as to make themselves Masters of Mecca, and also of the Caaba, or Temple which stood there, and held both the Government of the one, and the Presidency of the other for many Ages after; till at length the latter falling into the Hands of Abu Gabshan, a weak and silly Man, Cosa circumvented him while in a drunken humour, and brought of him the Keys of the Temple, and with them the Presidency of it for a Bottle of Wine. But Abu Gabshan being gotten out of his drunken fit, sufficiently repent of his foolish Bargain; from whence grew these Proverbs among the Arabs, More vexed with late Repentance than Abu Gabshan; and more silly than Abu Gabshan; Which are usually said of those who part with a thing of great Moment for a small matter. However, he was not so silly, but when he came to himself, he understood the value of what he had parted with, and would fain have retrieved it again; to which purpose he gave Cosa some disturbance in the possession of his Purchase; and the rest of the Cozaites joined with him herein, as not liking that he should be thus deprived of his Right by a Trick, and thereby the Presidency of the Temple go out of their Tribe into that of the Korashites. But Cosa being aware hereof, sent privately to all the Korashites, who were dispersed abroad among the Neighbouring Tribes, to meet him at Mecca on a day appointed; with whose help, falling on the Cozaites, he expelled them all out of the City, and from that time the whole possession of Mecca remained to the Korashites; and Cosa and his Posterity in a right Line down to Mahomet, had the Presidency of the Temple, and the chief Government of the City ever after.  
The eldest Son of Cosa was Abdella Menaphon, and the younger Abdol Vzza, Names taken from the Idols of the Temple, of which Cosa had now got the Presidency. For Abdella Menaphon in the Arab Language signifieth the Servant or Worshipper of Menaphon; and Abdol Vzza, the Servant or Worshipper of Vzza, which were Heathen Deities then worshipped by the Arabians. Of the Posterity of Abdol Vzza, were Zobair, and Cadigha the Wife of Mahomet.  
The eldest Son of 
f Abul Feda. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 51. Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. Part 1. c. 3. Liber de Generatione & Nutritura Mahometis.  Abdella Menaphon was Hashem, and the younger Abdshems, whose Son was Ommia, from whom the Ommiadae, who for so many Descents governed the Saracen Empire. Hashem as well as his Father and Grandfather, was Prince of his Tribe, and Person of great Note in his time through all Arabia. From him the Kindred of Mahomet are called Hashemites; and he who governs at Mecca and Medina, (who must always be of the Race of Mahomet) is called in their Language, 
g Sionita in Append. ad Geographiam Nubiensem, c. 7.  All Emamo'l Hashem, that is, the Prince of the Hashemites, even unto this day.  
The Son of Hashem was 
h Abul Feda. Pocock. Ecchelensis, ib.  Abdol Motallab, who succeeded his Father in the Government of his Tribe at Mecca, and had to do with two very formidable Enemies in his time 
i Hottinger, Hist. Orient. lib. 1. c. 3. ; Chosroes, the first of that Name, King of Persia, and Abraham King of the Ethiopians. The first having extended his Empire a great way into Arabia on the North of Mecca; and the other possessed himself of the Kingdom of the Homerites on the South, became very dangerous Neighbours unto him; but he defended himself against both, and forced the latter to a very shameful Retreat, when he came with a numerous Army to Besiege the City, as shall be hereafter more fully related. He lived to a very great Age, being 
k Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1.  an Hundred and ten years old at his Death. He had thirteen Sons, their Names were as followeth; Abdollah, Hamzah, Al-Abbas, Abu Taleb, Abu Laheb, Al-Gidak, Al-Hareth, Jahel, Al-Mokawam, Dorar, Al-Zobair, Ketham, and Abdal Caaba. The eldest of them, Abdollah, having married Amena, the Daughter of Waheb, was by her the Father of Mahomet 
l Abul Feda. Alkodai. Abul Faraghius. pag. 101. Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 170. Hottinger, Hist. Orient. lib. 1. c. 6. , who was born at Mecca, in the Month of May, in the Year of our Lord, 571. Justin the Second being then Emperor of Constantinople, and Chosroes the first King of Persia.  
By this it appears, Mahomet was not of such mean and vile Parentage as some have asserted. For being a Korashite, he was of the noblest Tribe of all Arabia, and the Family he was born of was the most considerable of that Tribe, as being that which for several Descents together had born the chief Rule over it. However, in the beginning of his Life he was in 
m Abul Feda. Abunazar. Abul Faraghius, p. 101. Elmacin, l. 1. c. 1. Hottinger, Hist. Orient. l. 2. c. 1. Guadagnol. Tract. 2. c. 10.  a very poor and despicable Condition. For his Father dying before he was two years old, and while his Grandfather, Abdol Motallab, was still living, all the Power and Wealth of his Family became derived to his Uncles, especially to Abu Taleb, who after the Death of Abdol Motallab his Father, bore the chief sway in Mecca as long as he lived, which was to a very great Age; and under his Protection chiefly was it, that Mahomet, when he first broached his Imposture, was supported against all his Opposers, and grew up to that height thereby, as to be able after his Death to carry it on, and also establish it through all Arabia by his own Power.  
After his Father's Death, he continued under the Tuition of his Mother till the eighth year of his Age; when 
n Abul Feda Abul Faraghius, p. 101. Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1.  she also dying, he was taken home to his Grandfather, Abdol Motallab, who at his Death, which happened the next year after, committed him to the care of his Uncle, Abu Taleb, to be educated by him out of Charity, who carrying on a Trade of Merchandise, took him into this Employment, and bred him up in the business of it. For Mecca 
o Geographia Nubiensis. Sionita in Append. ad eandem, c. 7. Pocockii Spe. Hist. Arab. p. 127. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 98.  being situated in a very barren Soil, could not of itself subsist; and therefore the Inhabitants were forced to betake themselves to Merchandise for their Support; and the best Men among them had scarce any other Estate but in their Stock where with they did Traffic; and therefore they all betook themselves to this Course of Life, which they seem to have received down from the Ismaelites, from whom they were descended, and in the same manner as they carried on a Trade into Syria, Persia, and Egypt, on Camels backs, furnishing those Countries with such Commodities as came to them from India, Ethiopia, and other Southern parts, for which commerce they were very advantageously situated, as lying near the Red-Sea, where they had the Port 
p Geographia Nubiensis climb. 2. Part 5. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 100  Jodda, the most convenient for Shipping in all those straits.  
And in this Course of Life Mahomet was bred up under his Uncle; and as soon as he was of a fit Age, he was sent with his Camels into Syria. On his coming to Bostra, a City on the Confines of that Country, while he was attending his Uncle's Factors in the vending of his Wares in the Public Marketplace 
q Abul Feda-Alkodai. Al-Jannabi. Abul Faraghius, p. 101. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab p. 170. Gentii notae ad Musladinum Sadum, p. 536. , he was there seen (say the Mahometans) by Bahira, a Learned Monk of that place, who immediately knowing him to be the great Prophet that was to come, pressed with great earnestness through the Crowd unto him, and taking him by the Hand, there foretold of him all those great things which afterwards came to pass. The Mark whereby he knew him (say they) was the Prophetic Light which eat on his Face. This Prophetic 
r Sherestani. Liber de Generatione Mahometis. Pocockii Spec Hist. Arab. p. 53. & p. 168.  Light, they tell us, God first placed on Adam, to be a sign of the Prophets that were to be born of him; That this Light descending down to Abraham, was from him divided into two; one on the Face of Isaac, and the other on the Face of Ishmael; that Isaac's Light was soon after manifested in the many Prophets which appeared of his Posterity among the Children of Israel; but that which was placed on Ishmael, was suppressed, and lay hid till the coming of Mahomet, on whom it first appeared; and that Bahira seeing it on him, thereby knew him (say they) to be a great Prophet sent of God, who was ere long to manifest himself. But others 
s Gentii notae ad Musladinum. Sadum, p. 536. Vide etiam librum de Generatione & nutritura Mahometis.  say, the Mark by which he knew him, was the Seal of his Prophetic Mission stamped with a wonderful impress between his Shoulders. But the truth is, Mahomet did not become acquainted with this Bahira, till many Years after, when he traded for Cadigha into those Parts, as shall in its proper place be hereafter related.  
Till the Twenty fifth year of his Age he continued in this Employment under his Uncle; but 
t Abul. Feda. Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Rodericus Totetanus, c. 2. Johannes Andreas, c. 1. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 171.  then one of the Chief men of the City dying, and his Widow, whose name was Cadigha (to whom he left all his Stock, which was of considerable value) wanting a Factor to manage it for her, she invited Mahomet into her Service; and having offered him such advantageous Conditions as he thought fit to accept of, he undertook this Employment under her, and for three years traded for her at Damascus, and other places; and in the management of this Charge gave her that content, and so far insinuated himself into her Favour and good Opinion thereby, that about the 
u For she died in the 50th year of the Life of Mahomet. Elmacen. lib. 1. c. 1. when she had lived with him 22 years. Abul Faraghius, p. 102.  28th year of his Age she gave herself to him in marriage, being then forty years old; and from being her Servant, thus advanced him to be the Master both of her Person and Estate, which having rendered him equal in Wealth to the best men of the City, his ambitious Mind began to entertain thoughts of 
w Disputatio Christiani contra Saracenum, c. 3. Cusani Cribatio Alcorani, lib. 3. c. 8. Ricardi Confutatio Legis Saracenicae, cap. 13.  possessing himself of the Sovereignty over it. His Ancestors had for several Descents been Chiefs of the Tribe; and his Great Grandfather Hashem had made himself very considerable, not only at home, but also among his Neighbours abroad; and had his Father lived, the Power and Wealth of his Family, after the death of his Grandfather, would have descended to him, as being the eldest Son; and after his decease, to himself; and it was only his misfortune in being left an Orphan during the life of his Grandfather, that deprived him of all this. These Considerations meeting with an Ambitious, Aspiring Mind, soon put him upon Designs of raising himself to the Supreme Government of his Country; and being a very Subtle, Crafty man, after having maturely weighed all ways and means whereby to bring this to pass, concluded none so likely to effect it, as the framing of that Imposture, which he afterwards vented with so much mischief to the World. For the course of Trade which he drove into Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, having made him well acquainted both 
x Disputatio Christiani, c. 1.  with Christians and Jews, and observing with what eagerness, as well they, as the several Sects into which the Christians of the East were then miserably divided, did engage against each other; he from thence concluded, That nothing would be more likely to gain a Party firm to him for the compassing of his Ambitious Ends, than the making of a New Religion. And for such a Change he judged his Citizens might be well disposed, because their Traffic and frequent converse with Christians having much taken off their affection and zeal for that gross Idolatry which they had hitherto been addicted to, they were at that time from Heathenism generally fallen 
y Liber Almostatraf. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 136. And Mahomet upbraids them of it in the 6th Chapter of his Alcoran, and elsewhere in that Book.  into Zendicism, an Error among the Arabs near of kin to the Sadducism of the Jews, as denying Providence, the Resurrection, and a Future State; which being in reality to be without any Religion at all, they were the better fitted, while thus void of all other impressions of God, and his Worship, to receive any he should impose upon them; and therefore betaking himself to frame such a Religion as he thought might best go down with them, he drew up a Scheme of that Imposture he afterwards deluded them with, which being a medley made up of Judaisme, the sveral Heresies of the Christians then in the East, and the old Pagan Rites of the Arabs, with an Indulgence to all Sensual Delights, it did too well answer his Design in drawing men of all sorts to the embracing of it.  
But that he might not immediately from that Idolatry, which he had hitherto practised with the rest of his Citizens, commence a Preacher against it; and from his present course of life, which was very licentious and wicked, take upon him a Character so unsuteably to it, as that of a Prophet, without some previous Change; in the 38th year of his Age 
z Liber Agar. Joannes Andreas de Confusione sectae Mahometanae, c. 1. Bartholomaeus Edessenus. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 1. Guadagnol. Tract. 2. c. 10. sect. 1.  he withdrew himself from his former Conversation, and affecting an Eremetical life, used every morning to withdraw himself into a Solitary Cave near Mecca, called the Cave of Hira, and there continue all day, exercising himself, as he pretended, in Prayers, Fast, and holy Meditations; and there it is supposed he first had his Consults with those Accomplices by whose help he made his Alcoran. On his return home at night, he used to tell his Wife Cadigha of Visions which he had seen, and strange Voices which he had heard in his retirement. For he aimed first of all to draw her into the Imposture, knowing that thereby he should secure his own Family to his Design (without which it would be dangerous for him to venture on it) and also gain in her an able Partisan for him among the Women. But she rejecting these Stories as vain Fancies of his own disturbed Imagination, or else Delusions of the Devil; at length he opened himself further unto her, and feigned a Converse with the Angel Gabriel, which she was also as backward to believe, till after several repeated Stories to her of his Revelations from the said Angel, she 
a Theophanes. Cedrenus. Miscella Historia. Zonaras.  consulted with a fugitive Monk, then in their House, (of whom I shall hereafter speak) who being in the Plot, helped to confirm her in the belief of what Mahomet had communicated unto her, whereby being totally persuaded that Mahomet was really called to that Prophetic Office which he pretended to, from thenceforth gave up her Faith totally to him, and became his first Proselyte in this Imposture.  
After he had carried this Point, having now by two years constantly practising a retired and austere Life, gained, as he thought, a sufficient reputation of Sanctity for his Design; in the 40th year of his Age 
b Abul Feda. Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Elmacin, lib. 1. c▪ 1.  he began to take upon him the Style of the Apostle of God, and under that Character to propagate the Imposture which he had been so long a projecting. But for four years he did it only in private among such as he had most confidence in, clancularly insinuating his Delusions into them. His first Proselyte, as has been said, was Cadigha his Wife; his second was Zayd Ebn Hareth his Servant; and the third his Cousin Ali, the Son of Abu Taleb his Uncle, who from hence was 
c Sionita in Append. ad Geographiam Nubiensem, c. 8.  used to style himself the first of Believers, not making any reckonings of the other two. He tempted his Servant Zayd by promising him his Freedom; 
c Johannes Andreas, c. 1. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 10. Guadagnol. Tract. 2. cap. 10. sect. 1.  and accordingly, on his receiving his Religion, he manumised him. And from hence it hath become a Law among the Mahometans ever since, to make their Slaves free, whenever they turn to their Religion.  
It is to be observed, that Mahomet began this Imposture about the same time that 
d Phocas made this Grant A. D. 606. which was the very year that Mahomet retired to his Cave to forge that Imposture there, which two years after, A. D. 608. he began to propagate at Mecca.  the Bishop of Rome, by virtue of a Grant from the wicked Tyrant Phocas, first assumed the Title of Universal Pastor, and thereon claimed to himself that Supremacy, which he hath been ever since endeavouring to usurp over the Church of Christ. And from this time Both having conspired to found themselves an Empire in Imposture, their Followers have been ever since endeavouring by the same Methods, that is, those of Fire and Sword, to propagate it among Mankind; so that Antichrist seems at this time to have set both his Feet upon Christendom together, the one in the East, and the other in the West; and how much each hath trampled upon the Church of Christ, the Ages ever since succeeding have abundantly experienced.  
Mahomet's fourth Disciple was 
e Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Feda.  Abu Beker, who being one of the 
f Sionita in Append. ad Geographiam Nubiensem, c. 8.  Richest men of Mecca, and a person of great Wisdom and Experience, brought with him no small help and reputation to his Cause, and his Example was soon followed by five others, 
g Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1.  Othman Ebn Affan, Zobair Ebno'l Awam, Saad Ebu Abu Waccas, Abdorrahman Ebn Auf, and Abu Obeida Ebno'l Jerah, who were afterwards the principal Generals of his Armies, and the chief Instruments under him, by whose help he established both his Empire, and his Imposture together in those parts of the World.  
After he had gotten these nine Disciples, some of which were the principal men of the City, he began 
h Abul Feda. Abul F●raghius, p. 102. Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1.  openly to publish his Imposture to the People of Mecca in the 44th year of his Age, and publicly to declare himself a Prophet sent by God to reduce them from the Error of Paganism, and to teach them the true Religion. The first Doctrine that he propagated among them was, 
i Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1. Alcoran, c. 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.  That there was but one God, and that he only is to be worshipped, and that 
k Elmacin, ib. & Alc. passim.  all Idols were to be taken away, and their Worship utterly abolished; and that those who say God hath 
l Alc. c. 4▪ etc.  Sons or Daughters, or that there are any other Gods 
m Alc. c 4, 5. etc.  associated with him, are impious, and aught to be abhorred. By denying him Sons and Associates, he reflected on the Christians for holding the Doctrine of the Trinity, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; the belief of both which he doth in many places in his Alcoran vehemently forbid. By denying him Daughters, he condemned the Idolatrous Practice of the Arabians, 
n Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 89, 90. Hottingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 1. c. 7.  who worshipped Allat, Menah, and All Uzza, Female Deities, which they held to be the Daughters of God, whose Idols and Temples he afterwards everywhere destroyed.  
He did not pretend to deliver to them any new Religion, but to revive the old one, which God first gave unto Adam; and when lost in the corruption of the Old World, restored it again by Revelation 
o Pocockii Spec. Arab. p. 53. Alc. c. 3, etc.  to Abraham, who taught it his Son Ishmael their Forefather; and that he, when he first planted himself in Arabia, instructed men in the same Religion which he had received from Abraham, but their Posterity afterwards corrupted it into Idolatry, and that God had now sent him to destroy this Idolatry, and again restore the Religion of Ishmael their Forefather. And therefore, according to his own Doctrine, it is not unfitly called Ismaelisme by the Jews, although they call it so only out of contempt by transposition of the Letters from Islamisme, the Name whereby the Mahometans themselves most love to call it, from the Arabic 
p Goliis Lex. in voce Salama, & Pocockius ubi supra.  word Salama, which in the Fourth Conjugation is Aslama, to enter into the state of Salvation; hence Eslam, the Saving Religion, and Muslimon, or as we call it, Musleman, he that believeth therein.  
He 
q Alc. c. 3, 4, 5, etc.  allowed both the Old and the New Testament, and that Moses and Jesus Christ were Prophets sent from God; but that the Jews and Christians had corrupted these holy Writings, and that he was sent to purge them from those Corruptions, and restore the Law of God to that purity in which it was first delivered; and therefore most of those Passages which he takes out of the Old and New Testament are related otherwise by him in his Alcoran, than we have them in those Sacred Books. And in this certainly he acted much wiser than our Socinians, who with him denying the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of our Saviour, yet still allow the holy Scriptures, as now in our hands, to be genuine and uncorrupted, with which their Doctrine is in the most manifest manner totally inconsistent. If they had with this their 
† The Socinians say just the same, and no more of Jesus Christ than Mahomet did before them, excepting only that he makes himself the greater of the two; and how many other things they agree in with him, and seem to have taken from him, may be seen in Hottinger's Historia Orientalis, lib. 2. c. 3. where he fully compares the Doctrines of both together.  Master denied the Scriptures which we now have, as well as the Trinity and the Divinity of our Saviour, which are so evidently proved by them, and forged others in their stead, they might have made their impious Hypothesis look much more plausible, than now it can possibly appear to be.  
He pretended to receive all his Revelations 
r Alc. c. 2. Johannes Andreas, c. 2. Guadagnol Tract. 2. c. 10. sect. 1. libr. Agar.  from the Angel Gabriel, and that he was sent from God of purpose to deliver them unto him. And whereas he was subject to the Falling-sickness, 
s Rodericus Toletanus, c. 6. Richardi confutatio. c. 13. Theophanes Zonoras'. Miscella Historia. Ho●tingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 1. c. 2.  whenever the Fit was upon him, he pretended it to be a Trance, and that then and Angel Gabriel was come from God with some new Revelations unto him, the splendour of whose appearance not being able to bear, this caused him to fall into those Trances, in which the Angel conversed with him, and delivered to him those Messages from God, which he was sent to reveal unto him.  
His pretended Revelations he put into several Chapters, the collection of which make up his Alcoran, which is the Bible of the Mahometans. The Original of this Book he taught them 
t Alc. c. 6. etc. 80.  was laid up in the Archives of Heaven, and that the Angel Gabriel brought him 
u Alc. c. 25.  the Copy of it Chapter by Chapter, according as occasion required they should be published to the People. Part of these he published at Mecca, before his flight from thence; and the other part at Medina, which he did after this manner. 
* Joannes Andreas, c. 2.  When he had forged a new Chapter, which he intended to publish he first dictated it to his Secretary, and then delivered the written Paper to be read to his Followers will they had learned it by heart; which being done, he had the Paper brought to him again, which he laid up in a Chest, which he called the Chest of his Apostleship. This he did, I suppose, in imitation of the Ark or holy Chest among the Jews, in which the Authentic Copy of their Law was reposited. This Chest he left in the keeping of one of his Wives, and out of it, after his death, was the Alcoran compiled in the same manner as Homer's Rhapsodies were out of the loose Poems of that Poet. 
x Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 2, etc. 4.  Abu Beker first made the Collection, but Othman afterwards revising and new modelling it, licked it into that shape in which we now have it.  
On his first appearing publicly as a Prophet 
y Johannes Andereas, c. 1.  the People laughed at him for the ridiculousness of his Pretence; some called him a 
z Alc. c. 15, 25, 37, 81, etc.  Sorcerer, and a Magician, others a Liar, an Impostor, and a teller of old Fables; of which he often complains in his Alcoran; so that for the first year he prevailed nothing among them, or got any thing else by his publishing those Chapters of his Alcoran which he had then composed, or his preaching to them the Doctrine of them, but Scorn and Contempt. But this did not discourage him from still proceeding in his Design, which he managed with great art. For he was a Man of a 
a Elmacin, ib. 1. c. 1. Abunazar. Hottinger. Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 4.  ready Wit, and a very acceptable Address; he bore all Affronts, without seeming to resent any; and applied himself to all sorts of people, without contemning the meanest; was very courteous both in giving and receiving Visits; the Great men he soothed with flattering Praises, and the Poor he relieved with Gifts and Alms; and towards all men managed himself with that art of insinuation (in which he exceeded all men living) that at length he surmounted all the Difficulties which so bold an Imposture in the first venting of it must necessarily be liable unto, and several other new Proselytes joined themselves unto him, among whom was 
b Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1. Johannes Andreas, c. 1.  Omar Ebno'l Chattab, who was one of his Successors, and then a considerable Man in the City. His Example was soon followed by several others, so that in the fifth year of his pretended Mission he had increased his Party to the number of Nine and thirty, and himself made the Fortieth.  
On his having made this progress, 
c Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1. Johannes Andreas, c. 1.  several began to be alarmed at it. Those that were addicted to the Idolatry of their Forefathers stood up to oppose him as an Enemy of their Gods, and a dangerous Innovator in their Religion. But others, who saw further into his Designs, thought it time to put a stop thereto for the sake of the public safety of the Government, which it manifestly tended to undermine for the establishing of Tyranny over them, and therefore they combining together against him, intended to have cut him off with the Sword. But 
d Elmacin. lib.  Abu Taleb his Uncle getting notice hereof defeated the Design, and by his Power, as being Chief of the Tribe, preserved him from all other like Attempts as were afterwards framed against him. For although he himself persisted in the Paganism of his Ancestors, yet he had that affection for the Impostor, as being his Kinsman, and one that was bred up in his House, that he firmly stood by him against all his Enemies, and would suffer no one to do him any hurt as long as he lived. And therefore being safe under so powerful a Protection, he boldly went on to preach to the People in all public places of the City where they used to assemble, and published unto them more Chapters of his Alcoran in the order, as he pretended, they were brought him by the Angel Gabriel. The chief Subject of which was to press upon them the observance of some moral Duties, the Belief of the Unity of God, and the Dignity of his own pretended Apostleship, in which indeed, besides some Heathen and Jewish Rites which he retained, consisted the whole of his new forged Religion.  
The main Arguments he made use of to delude men into this Imposture, were his Promises and his Threats, as being those which easiest work on the Affections of the Vulgar. His Promises were chiefly of Paradise, which he so cunningly framed to the gust of the Arabians, as to make it totally consist in those Pleasures which they were most delighted with. For they being within the Torrid Zone, were, through the nature of the Clime, as well as the excessive corruption of their Manners, 
e Ammianus Marcellinus de Saracenis, lib. 14. c. 4. Incredibile est quo ardore apud eos in venerem uterque dissolvitur sexus.  exceedingly given to the love of Women; and the scorching heat and dryness of the Country making Rivers of Water, cooling Drinks, shaded Gardens, and pleasant Fruits, most refreshing and delightful unto them, they were from hence apt to place their highest Enjoyment in things of this nature. And therefore to answer the height of their Carnal Desires he made the Joys of Heaven, which he proposed for a reward to all those that should believe in him, to consist totally in these particulars. For he tells them in many places in his Alcoran, That they shall enter into pleasant Gardens, 
f Alcoran, c. 3. c. 4. c. 36. c. 37. c. 43. c. 47. c. 78. c. 90. etc. Johannes Andreas, c. 9 Richardi Confutatio, c. 8. Conticuzenus Orat. 2. sect. 11. Hortingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 4. Pocockii Miscellanea, c. 7. Disputatio Christiani, c. 26. & 28. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 9  where many Rivers flow, and many curious Fountains continually send forth most pleasing Streams, nigh which they shall repose themselves on most delicate Beds adorned with Gold and precious Stones under the shadow of the Trees of Paradise, which shall continually yield them all manner of delicious Fruits, and that there they shall enjoy most beautiful Women pure and clean, having black Eyes and Countenances always fresh and white as polished Pearls, who shall not cast an Eye on any other but themselves, with whom they shall enjoy the continual pleasures of Love, and solace themselves in their company with amorous Delights to all Eternity, drinking with them most delicious Liquors, and most savoury and pleasant Wines, without being ever intoxicated or overcharged by them, which shall be administered to them by beautiful Boys, who shall be continually running round their Beds to serve them up unto them in Cups of Gold, and Glasses fixed on Diamonds. And as thus he framed his Promises of Reward in the Life hereafter as might best suit with the sensual Appetites and Desires of those to whom he proposed them; so on the contrary, he described the Punishment of Hell, which he threatened to all that would not believe in him, to consist of such Torments as would appear to them the most afflicting and grievous to be born. As 
g Alcoran, c. 7. c. 37. c. 43. c. 44. c. 47. c. 50. c. 74. c. 77. c. 78. c. 90, etc.  that they should drink nothing but boiling and stinking Water, or breathe any thing else but exceeding hot Winds, (things most terrible in Arabia;) that they should dwell for ever in continual Fire excessively burning, and be surrounded with a black hot and salt Smoak as with a Coverlid; that they should eat nothing but Briers, and Thorns, and the Fruit of the Tree Zacon, which should be in their Bellies like burning Pitch. In the proposing of these Promises and Threats to the People he was very frequent and sedulous, making them to ring in their Ears on all occasions, whereby he failed not of his end in alluring some, and affrighting others into the Snare he laid for them.  
And that he might omit nothing whereby to work on their Fear, which is usually the most prevalent Passion of the Ignorant, he terrified them with the Threats of grievous Punishments in this Life, as well as in that which is to come, if they would not harken unto him. And to this end 
h Alcoran. c. 6. c. 7. c. 11, etc. Johannes Andreas, c. 12.  he did set forth unto them on all occasion, what terrible Destructions had fallen upon the Heads of such as would not be instructed by the Prophets, that were sent before him. How the Old World was destroyed by Water, for not being reform at the preaching of Noah; and Sodom by Fire from Heaven, for not harkening to Lot when sent unto them. How the Egyptians were plagued for despising Moses; and how Admetus and Thamod two Ancient Tribes of the Arabs, were totally extirpated for the same reason. His Stories of the two last were Fables of his own Invention, which he related unto them after this manner. That 
i Alcoran, c. 7. c. 11, etc. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 37.  Add the Grandson of Aram, the Son of Sem, planted himself after the Confusion of Languages in the Southern Parts of Arabia, where his Posterity falling into Idolatry, the Prophet Hud (whom the Commentators on the Alcoran will have to be Heber) was sent unto them to reclaim them unto the true Worship, but they not harkening unto him, God sent a violent hot Wind, which in seven days time destroyed them all excepting only the Prophet, and some few who were reform by him. As to Thamod, his 
k Alcoran, c. 7. c. 11. c. 26. etc. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 37. Hit. Hist. Orient. lib. 1. c. 3.  Story was, that they were an Ancient Tribe of the Arabs dwelling on the Confines of Syria, and that on their Revolt to Idolatry, God sent to them the Prophet Saleh; that on their demand of a Miracle to testify his Mission, he caused a Rock to bring forth a Camel in the sight of them all; that they notwithstanding in contempt wounded the Camel, and that thereupon God sent terrible Thunders, which in three days time destroyed them all, excepting Saleh, and some few who believed on him. And the like Fable he also told them of 
l Alcoran, c. 7. c. 11. c. 26, etc.  Chaib, another Prophet of the ancient Arabs, sent to the Tribe of Madian, and how that Tribe was in like manner destroyed by Thunder for not harkening unto him. For the sake of these Stories, (which he was very frequent in inculcating into the People, and very often repeats in his Alcoran) those who believed not on him, called him 
m Alcoran, c. 25, etc.  a Teller of old Fables; but notwithstanding they wrought upon the Fears of others, and by this and other such Artifices, he still went on to increase his Party, to which two of his Uncles, 
n Johannes Andreas, c. 1.  Hamza and Al Abbas, at length joined themselves. But the rest of his Uncle's approved not of his designs, and although Abu Taleb still continued to befriend him, because of the affection which he bore him, the other nine had not this regard to him, but joined with his Enemies, and opposed him all they could, as a Man that under the false Mask, which he had put on, carried on dangerous Designs to the prejudice of his Country.  
But that which gravelled him most, was that his Opposers demanded to see a Miracle from him. For said they 
o Alcoran, c. 2. c. 6. etc. Bidawi ad Alcorani cap. 12. , Moses and Jesus, and the rest of the Prophets, according to thy own Doctrine, worked Miracles to prove their Mission from God; and therefore if thou be a Prophet, and greater than any that were sent before thee, as thou boastest thyself to be 
p Alcoran, c. 17, etc. , do thou work the like Miracles to manifest it unto us. Do thou make the Dead to rise, the Dumb to speak, and the Deaf to hear, or else do thou cause Fountains to spring out of the Earth, and make this place a Garden adorned with Vines and Palm-Trees, and watered with Rivers running through it in divers Channels, or else let us see come down from Heaven some of those Punishments which thou threatnest us with. Or do thou make thee an House of Gold, adorned with Jewels and costly Furniture; or let us see the Book thou wouldst have us believe to come from Heaven, descend down to us from thence legible in our Eyes, or the Angel which thou tellest us doth bring it unto thee, and then we will believe in thy Word. This Objection he endeavoured to evade by several answers. One 
q Alcoran, c. 17.  while he tells them, he is only a Man sent to Preach to them the rewards of Paradise, and the Punishments of Hell. At another time, 
r Alcoran, c. 17.  That their Predecessors contemned the Miracles of Saleh, and the other Prophets, and that for this reason God would work no more among them. And a while after, that those 
s Alcoran, c. 6.  whom God had ordained to believe, should believe without Miracles, and those whom he had not ordained to believe should not be convinced, though all those Miracles should be wrought in their sight, which they required; and that therefore they were totally needless. But this not satisfying, as being a plain Confession that he wanted that Power of Miracles, which all other Prophets had to prove their Mission, several of those that were his Followers departed from him, of which he much complains in his Alcoran. And therefore finding that this would not do on his coming to Medina, and having there taken the Sword in hand, and gotten an Army to back his Cause, he began to sing another Note. For his Doctrine then was 
t Richardi Confutatio, c. 7. Cantacuzeni Apologia 4. & Orat. 1. Sect. 11. Alcoran c. 2. c. 3. c. 4 etc.  that God had sent Moses and Jesus with Miracles, and yet Men would not be obedient to their Word, and therefore he had now sent him in the last place without Miracles to force them by the Power of the Sword to do his William. And persuant hereto 
u Alcoran c. 4. Cantacuzeni Orat. 1a. Sect. 12.  he forbade his Disciples to enter into any further Disputes about his Religion, but instead thereof he commanded them to fight for it, and destroy all those who should contradict his Law, promising great Rewards in the Life to come, to such as should take up the Sword in this Cause, and the Crown of Martyrdom to all those who should dye fight for it. And upon this Head, some of the Mahometan Doctors argue very subtly. For 
* Ahmed Ebn Zin. Guadagnal, Tract. 2. c. 10. Sect. 11.  say they, The Prophets of God are of divers sorts according to the divers Attributes of his Divine Nature, which they are sent to show forth. That Jesus Christ was sent to manifest the Righteousness, the Power, and Knowledge of God; That he showed forth the Righteousness of God in being impeccable, his Knowledge in that he knew the Secrets of men's hearts, and foretold things to come; and his Power in doing those miraculous Works, which none else but God could. That Solomon was sent to manifest the Wisdom, the Glory, and the Majesty of God; and Moses his Providence, and his Clemency; none of which carrying with them a Power to force Men to believe, Miracles were necessary in their Missions to induce them thereunto. But Mahomet was a Prophet, sent principally to show forth the Fortitude of God by the Power of the Sword, which being of itself alone sufficient to compel all Men into the Faith without any other Power accompanying it, for this reason (say they) Mahomet wrought no Miracles, because he had no need of them, the Power of the Sword, with which he was sent, of itself alone sufficiently enabling him to accomplish his Mission by forcing Men to believe therein. And from hence it hath become the Universal Doctrine of the Mahometans, that their Religion is to be propagated by the Sword, and that all of them are bound to fight for it. And for this reason 
x Cantacuzen. Orat. Sect. 11. Guadagnol Tract. 2. c. 5. Sect. 3.  it hath been a Custom among them for their Preachers, while they deliver their Sermons, to have a Drawn Sword placed by them to denote thereby, that the Doctrine which they teach them, was with the Sword to be defended and propagated by them.  
However it is not to be denied, but that there are several Miracles reckoned up, which Mahomet 
y Abul Faraghius, p. 104. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 187 & 188. Hottinger. Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 6. Guadagnol Tract. 2. c. 2. Sect. 2.  is said to have wrought; as that he did cleave the Moon in two; that Trees went forth to meet him; that Water flowed from between his Fingers; that the Stones saluted him; that he fed a great Company with a little Food; that a Beam groaned at him; that a Camel complained to him; that a Shoulder of Mutton told him of its being poisoned; and several others. But those who relate them, are only such who are reckoned among them their Fabulous and Legendary Writers. Their Learned 
z Abul Faraghius, p. 104. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 191, 192, etc. Hottinger. Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 6.  Doctors renounce them all, as doth Mahomet himself, who in several places in his 
a Alcoran, c. 6, etc.  Alcoran owns that he wrought no Miracles. But when they are pressed how without Miracles they can prove his Mission; their common answer is, that instead of all Miracles is the Alcoran. For 
b Al Gezali Sepher Cozri. Bidawi Ahmed Ebn Edris. Hottinger. Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 6. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 191, 192, etc.  that Mahomet, who was an Illiterate Person, that could neither write nor read, or that any Man else by human Wisdom alone should be able to compose a Book so excellent in Eloquence, and so excellent in Doctrine, as they will have that to be, is what they will not admit to be possible, and therefore they allege the excellency of the Book for the truth of all contained therein, and will have that to be a proof equivalent to the Miracles of all the Prophets that went before him, to manifest that it came from God. And on this 
c Alcoran, c. 2. c. 10. c. 17. etc.  the Impostor himself often insists in his Alcoran, challenging in several places of it all Men and Devils by their united Skill to compose another Book like that in Eloquence and Instruction, or else any one Chapter that can be compared in Excellency with the meanest Chapter therein: Which they taking for granted, that both together cannot do, will have this to be a most clear manifestation beyond all contradiction, that this Book could come from none other but God himself, and that Mahomet from whom they received it, was his Messenger to bring it unto them.  
As to the particulars in this Argument alleged, it must be allowed that the Alcoran, bating the Folly, the Confusedness and Incoherency of the Matter contained therein, is as to the Style and Language the Standard of Elegancy in the Arab Tongue; and as to Mahomet, that he was in truth, what they say, an Illiterate Barbarian 
d Alcoran, c. 7. Johannes Andreas, c. 2. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. 156. Disputatio Christiani, c. 12 Richardi Confutatio, c. 3.  that could neither write nor read. But this was not so much a defect in him, as in the Tribe of which he was, with whom it was the Custom as to all manner of literature to continue 
e Ebnal Athi●. Sharestani. Al Motairezi in libro Mogreb. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p 157.  in the same Ignorance with which they came out of their Mother's Bellies unto their Lives end. And therefore at the time when Mohomet first set up for a Prophet, there was not any one Man of Mecca that could either write or read, excepting only 
f Al Bochari Pocock. ib.  Warakah, a Kinsman of Cadigha's, who having first turned Jew, and afterwards Christian, had learned to write Arabic in Hebrew Letters. And for this reason, The Men of Mecca were called 
g Sharestani. Pocock. Spec. Arab. Hist. p. 156.  the Illiterate, in opposition to the People of Medina, who being the one half Christians, and the other half Jews, were able both to write and read; and therefore were 
h Sharestani & Pocock ib Hotting. Hist Orient. lib. 1. c. 1.  called the People of the Book. And from thence, several of Mahomet's Followers, after he came to Medina, learned to read and write also, which some of them had begun to learn before of Bashar the Cendian 
i Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 157. , who having sojourned at Anbar, a City of Erac, near Euphrates, there learned the Art, from whence coming to Mecca, and marrying the Sister of Abusophian, he settled there, and from him the Men of Mecca are first said to have received the Art of Letters. Among the Followers of Mahomet, Othman was the greatest Proficient herein, which advanced him afterwards to 
k Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1. Bartholomaeus Edislenus.  be Secretary to the Impostor. But for want of Paper at first, as in a place where there was never before any occasion for it, they were forced to make use 
l Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 157.  of the Spade-bones of Shoulders of Mutton to write on, which was a device anciently made use of by other Tribes of the Arabs, who had Letters, but wanted Traffic to accommodate them with more convenient Materials for this purpose, and therefore their Books, in which their Poems, and other Matters they delighted in were written, 
m Ebnol Athir. Pocock. ib.  were only so many of those Spade-bones tied together upon a String. This Bashar afterwards became one of Mahomet's Disciples, and followed him in his Wars, till poisoned at Chaibar, as shall be hereafter related.  
But these Particulars being thus allowed, That the Alcoran of the Mahometans is of so elegant a Style, and the supposed Author thereof such a Rude and Illiterate Barbarian; it will be here asked, who were the Assistants by whose help this Book was compiled, and the Imposture framed? And there will be the more reason to ask this, because the Book itself contains so many particulars of the Jewish and Christian Religion, as necessarily imply the Authors of it to be well-skilled in both, which Mahomet, who was bred an Idolater, and lived so for the first forty Years of his Life among a People totally Illiterate, cannot be supposed to be. But this is a Question not so easily to be answered, because the nature of the thing required it should be concealed. The Mahometan Writers, who believe in the Imposture, as they will allow nothing of this, so to be sure will say little of it; and the Christians, who abhorred his Wickedness, are apt to say too much. For it was usual with them, as it is with all other contending Parties, to snatch at every Story which would disparage the Religion they were against, and believe it right or wrong, if it would serve their purpose this way. And from hence it hath proceeded, that we have so many fabulous and ridiculous Accounts both of Mahomet and his Imposture, go current among us, which serve only to the exposing of us to the laughter of the Mahometans, when related among them. And besides the Scene of this Imposture, being at least six hundred Miles within the Country of Arabia, amidst those Barbarous Nations, who all immediately embraced it, and would not afterwards permit any of another Religion, as much as to live among them; it could not at that distance be so well searched into by those, who were most concerned to discover the Frauds of it, and therefore an exact account cannot be expected in this particular. However, that I may give all the satisfaction herein, that I am able, I shall here lay together whatsoever I can find in any credible Author concerning it, and give the best Judgement hereof, that the matter will admit.  
That Mahomet composed his Alcoran by the help of others, was a thing well known at Mecca, when he first broached his Imposture there, and it was often flung in his Teeth by his Opposers, as he himself more than once complaineth In the 25th Chapter of the Alcoran, his words are, They say, That the Alcorn is nothing but a Lie of thy own Invention, and others have been assisting to thee herein. Where the Commentators say the Persons here meant 
n Liber Agar Guadagnol, Tract. c. 10. Sect. 1. Johannes Andreas de Confusione Sectae Mahometanae, cap. 1. , were the Servants of a certain Sword-Smith at Mecca, who were Christians, with whom Mahomet was used often to converse for the better informing of himself from them in the Old and New Testament. And from hence it is, That 
o Lib. 3. c. 2.  Bellonius tells us, that Mahomet found at Mecca two Christians, who had with them Copies of the Old and New Testament, and that he was much helped by them in the Composing of his Alcoran. But this is too open work for so secret a Design. They that upbraided him with his being assisted by others, meant not those whom he publicly coversed with, but the private Confederates, whom he secretly made use of at home in the framing of the whole Imposture, and the writing for him that Book, which he pretended was brought to him from Heaven by the Angel Gabriel. And what he hath in another place of his Alcoran, doth particularly point at one of those, who was then looked upon to have had a principal hand in this matter. For in the Sixteenth Chapter his words are, I know they will say, That a Man hath taught him the Alcoran; but whom they presume to have taught him is a Persian by Nation, and speaketh the Persian Language. But the Alcoran is in the Arabic Tongue full of Instruction and Eloquence. Now, who this Persian was, Friar Richard in his Confutation of the Mahometan Law, helps us to understand. For in his Thirteenth Chapter of that Tract he tells us, That Mahomet being an Illiterate Person, he had for his helper in the forging of his Imposture among others, one Abdia Ben Salon, a Persian Jew, whose Name he afterwards changed to make it correspond with the Arabic Dialect into 
p Abdiah is the same in Hebrew that Abdollah is in Arabic, i e. the Servant of God, and Ben the same with Ebn, i e. the Son.  Abdollah Ebn Salem; and Cantacuzenus, and Cardinal Cusa say the same thing. And 
q Schikardi Tarry in Procemio. p. 54. Forbesius Instruct. Hist. Theolog. lib. 4. c. 3. Spanhemius in Introductione and Hist. Ecclesiast. ad Sec. 7. c. 6.  most others that write of this Imposture make mention of him, as the chief Architect made use of by Mahomet in the framing of it. And that he was the Persian pointed at in this Passage of the Alcoran, I have last mentioned, the same Friar Richard in the Sixth Chapter of the same Tract, expressly telleth us. And he is the same Person whom Elmacinus calleth 
r Bidawi, an Eminent Commentator on the Alcoran, says, The Persian meant in the place abovementioned to have helped Mahomet, was Salman.  Salman the Persian, who by his skill in drawing an Entrenchment at the Battle of the Ditch, saved Mahomet and all his Army, where otherwise he must necessarily have been overpowered by the number of his Enemies, and totally ruined. For he was a very cunning crafty Fellow, and so thoroughly skilled in all the Learning of the Jews, that he had commenced 
s Dialogus inter Mahometem & Abdollam.  Rabbi among them. And therefore, from him Mahomet seems to have received, whatsoever of the Rites and Customs of the Jews, he hath engrafted into his Religion. For this making a very considerable part of it, and many of the particulars being drawn from the abstruser parts of the Talmudic Learning, this necessarily shows so able an helper to have been in the whole contrivance. And what Johannes Andreas, an Alfacki, or a Doctor of the Mahometan Law, turned Christian, writes of him, further clears this matter. 
t De Confusione Sects Mahometanae, c. 2.  For he tells us from Authentic Testimonies of the Arab Writers, in which he was thoroughly versed, that this Abdollah Ebn Salem, (whom he, or rather his Interpreter corruptly calls Abdala Celen) was for ten Years together the Person, by whose Hand all the pretended Revelations of the Impostor were first written, and therefore no doubt he was also a principal contriver in the forging of them. There is extant in the end of the Latin Alcoran, published by Bibliander, a Tract translated out of Arabic into Latin by Hermannus Dalmata, which by way of Dialogue between Mahomet and his Abdollah, lays before us a great many of the Fooleries of the Mahometan Religion, which Tract helps us to correct the Name, which is in Friar Richard's Tract very corruptly written, as being only a Translation at the third Hand. For that Tract of Friar Richard's, which we now have, is no other than a Translation from the Greek Copy of Demetrius Cydonius, who translated it into that Language for the use of the Emperor Cantacuzenus, from the Original Latin which is now lost.  
Besides this Jew, the Impostor had also a Christian Monk for his Assistant: And the many particulars in his Alcoran relating to the Christian Religion, plainly prove him to have had such an helper. Theophanes, Zonaras, Cedrenus, Anastasius, and the Author of the Historia Miscella, tell us of him, without giving him any other Name than that of a Nestorian Monk. But the Author of the Disputation against a Mahometan, which is epitomised in Vincentius Bellovacensis' Speculum Historicum, and from thence printed at the end of Bibliander's Latin Alcoran, 
u C. 13.  calls him Sergius; and from thence is it, that he hath been ever since so often spoken of by that Name among the Western Writers. But in the East he is totally unknown by it, he being never, as much as I can find, made mention of by that Name by any of their Writers. For all there that speak of his Monk, call him Bahira; and Friar Richard 
w Cantacuzeni Orat. 1 ma contra Mahometem. , who in the Year of our Lord 1210. went to Bagdad of purpose to search into the Mystery of Mahometism by reading their Books, and on his return wrote that judicious Confutation of it, which I have aforementioned, 
x Cap. 6. & Cap. 13.  tells us of this Bahira, as an Assistant to Mahomet in the forging of his Imposture, and so doth also 
y Orat. 1 ma contra Mahometem.  Cantacuzenus, Bartholomaeus Edessenus, and the other Greek Author of the Confutation of Mahomet, published by Le Moyne: But not one of them says any thing of Sergius; so that it is plain 
z Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. Part. 1. c. 6.  that Sergius and Bahira are only two different names of the same person. He was a Monk of Syria, of the Sect of the Nestorians. The Mahometans will have it, that he first took notice of Mahomet, while a Boy, after that Prophetic manner as is before related; but according to that Account he would have been too old to act his part in this Imposture so many years after. The truth of the matter is, Mahomet did not fall acquainted with him till a long while after, when he was projecting his wicked Design in his head; in order to the better forming of which, being very desirous to acquaint himself with the Jewish and Christian Religions, he was very inquisitive in examining into them, as he met with those that could inform him. And in one of his Journeys into Syria, either at Bostra 
a Abul Faraghius Abul Feda All Kodai All Jannabi.  as some say, or 
b Georgius Monachus in Disputatione cum Abusalama.  at Jerusalem as others, lighting on this Bahira, and receiving great satisfaction from him in many of those Points, which he desired to be informed in, did thereon contract a particular friendship with him. And therefore not long after 
c Theophanes, Zonaras, Richardi confutatio c. 13.  this Monk for some great Crime being excommunicated and expelled his Monastery, fled to Mecca to him; and being there entertained in his House, became his Assistant in the framing of that Imposture, which he afterwards vented, and continued with him ever after; till at length the Impostor having no farther occasion of him, to secure the Secret, 
d Richardi Confutatio. c. 13. Confutatio Mahometis Gr. Edita per Le Moyne.  put him to death. If Sergius were the name which he had in his Monastery, Bahira was that which he afterwards assumed in Arabia, and by which he hath ever since been mentioned in those Eastern-parts by all that there write or speak of him. The 
e Goliis Lexicon Arab. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 330. Hottingeri Historia Oriental. lib. 1. c. 7.  word in the Arabic Language signifieth a Camel, which after some extraordinary merit, according to the usage of the ancient Arabs, had his Ears slit, and was turned forth from the rest of the Herd at free pasture to work no more. And no doubt this Monk having told the Tale of his Expulsion from his Monastery so much to his advantage, as to make it believed at Mecca to be drawn upon him by that, which was reckoned there as meritorious, had from thence this Name given him, as suiting that Notion which they had of his Condition among them.  
As to his other Helpers, if he had any such, what is said of them is so uncertain, and that so little, as is not material here to relate. We may suppose from the very nature of the design (it being to impose a Cheat upon Mankind) that he made as few as possible conscious to it; and the two abovementioned being sufficient for his purpose, it doth not appear likely that he admitted any more into the Secret of it. Neither indeed is there any more room in it for another to act. For his Religion being made up of three parts, whereof one was borrowed from the Jews, another from the Christians, and the third from the Heathen Arabs, Abdollah furnished the first of them, Bahira the second, and Mahomet himself the last; so that there was no need of any other help to complete the Imposture.  
I know there are many other particulars go current of this matter, both as to the coining of the Forgery, and also the manner of the first propagating of it; as that the Impostor 
f In praefatione ad Disputationem Christiani. Purchas Pilgrimage Book 3. chap. 3.  taught a Bull to bring him the Alcoran on his Horns in a public Assembly, as if it had this way been sent to him from God; that he bred up Pigeons to come to his Ears to make show thereby, as if the Holy Ghost conversed with him, and many other such Stories, which being without any foundation or likelihood of truth, I pass them over as idle Fables not to be credited, although I find some very great Men have been too easy to swallow them, as particularly 
g In notis ad Sphaeram Manilii.  Scaliger, 
h De veritate Christianae Religionis lib. 6. c. 5.  Grotius, and 
i In Appendice ad Geographiam Nubiensem c. 7.  Sionita, have that of the Pigeons. Such tricks as these would have been easily seen thorough by the Arabians, they being Men naturally of as subtle and acute Parts as any in the World. And therefore Mahomet never as much as offered at any thing of this nature among them; but disclaiming all Miracles, thereby avoided the necessity of hazarding his design upon any such open Cheats, where it would be so liable to be totally blasted by a discovery. The whole of this Imposture was a thing of extraordinary Craft, carried on with all the Cunning and Caution imaginable. The framing of the Alcoran (wherein lay the main of the Cheat) was all contrived at home in as secret manner as possible, and nothing hazarded abroad, but the success of preaching it to the People. And in doing of this, no art or cunning was wanting to make it as effectual to the end designed as possible: And therefore whatever Stories are told of this matter that are inconsistent with such a management, we may assure ourselves are nothing else but Fables foolishly invented by some zealous Christians to blast the Imposture, which needed no such means for its Confutation.  
But to go on with the Series of our History, in the eighth Year of his pretended Mission, his Party growing formidable at Mecca, the 
k Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1.  City passed a Decree, whereby they forbade any more to join themselves unto him. But this availed nothing to his hurt as long as his Uncle Abn Taleb lived. But 
l Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1.  he dying within two Years after, and the chief Government of the City, on his Death, falling into the Hands of Abn Sophian, of the House of Ommia, than one of his most violent Opposers, his Enemies laid hold of this advantage to renew their Opposition against him, and prosecuted it with that success that they soon put a stop to the further progress of his Imposture at Mecca. For their Party, after he had now lost his Protector, and they became thus headed against him, soon grew to that strength, and appeared with that violence on all occasions to oppose his designs, that for fear of them no more new Proselytes durst join themselves unto him; and many of those who had afore declared for him, having done it for no other end, but to join with a Party where they thought they might best make their Interest, as soon as they saw the hopes which they had of his prevailing to be again blasted by this Opposition, which they judged too strong for him to weather, again drew back and appeared no more with him. And therefore Mahomet seeing his hopes of carrying his Design at Mecca, thus in a manner totally crushed, began to look abroad where else he might fix. That which he drove at was to have gained such a Party there, as might be strong enough to overpower the rest, and subject the whole City to him; and then, after having possessed himself of such a Post, from thence to have armed his Disciples for the gaining him that Empire over the rest of the Arabs, which he projected. And to this purpose was it, that he so often inculcated it into them, that his Doctrine was to be propagated by the Sword, and that all that would receive the Faith which he preached, must fight for it. But now seeing no likelihood of accomplishing this at Mecca, he set his Thoughts on work how to gain some other Town, where to arm his Party for this Design. And therefore his Uncle Abbas living most an end at 
m For which reason it hath been ever since even to this day called Abbas Beladi, i e. the Town of Abbas, Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 100  Tagif, (another Town of Haegiaz, at sixty Miles distance from Mecca towards the East) and having a great Interest there 
n Elmacin▪ lib. 1. c. 1. , he took a Journey thither under his Wing to propagate his Imposture in that place, in order to the making of himself Master of it. But after a Months stay, having not been able with all his endeavour to gain as much as one Proselyte among them, he again returned to Mecca to make the best of his Party there, and wait such further advantages as Time and Opportunity might offer him for the accomplishing of what he designed. And now Cadigha, his Wife, being 
o Elmacin Abul Faraghius Abul Feda, &c.  dead after she had lived Two and twenty Years with him; to strengthen himself the more, he took two other Wives in her stead, 
p Elmacin, ib.  Ayesha, the Daughter of Abn Beker; and Sewda, the Daughter of Zama; and a while after he added to them 
q Gentii notae ad Musladinum Sadium, p. 568.  Haphsa, the Daughter of Omar; whereby making himself Son-in-law to three of the Principal Men of his Party, he did by that Alliance the more firmly tie them to his Interest. Ayesha was then 
r Johannes Andreas, c. 12. Sionia in Appendice ad Geographiam Nubiensem, c. 8. Guadagnol, Tract. 2. Cap. 10. Sect. 12.  but six Years old, and therefore he did not Bed her till two Years after, when she was full eight Years old. For it is usual in those hot Countries 
s Thevenot's Travels, Part 3. lib. 1. c. 49. , as it is in all India over, which is in the same Clime with Arabia, for Women to be ripe for Marriage at that Age, and also bear Children the year following.  
In the twelfth Year of his pretended Mission, is placed the Mesra, that is, his famous▪ Night-journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence to Heaven, of which he tells us in the 17th Chapter of his Alcoran. For the People calling on him for Miracles to prove his Mission, and he being able to work none, to salve the matter, he invents this Story of his Journey to Heaven, which must be acknowledged to have Miracle enough in it by all those who have Faith to believe it. And yet it being believed by all that profess the Mahometan Religion, as a main Article of their Faith, and as such set down in all the Books of their Authentic Traditions, how absurd soever it be, since my design is to give as full an account as I can of this Man's Imposture, it obligeth me to relate it. His Relation of it is as followeth,  

t Rodoricus Toletanus, c. 5. Johannes Andreas, c. 8. Richardi Confutatio Legis Saracenicae, c. 1. etc. 7. Cantacuzen. Orat. 4. Guadagnol, Tract. 2. c. 2. Sect. 2. Bellonius, lib 3. c. 7. Bocharti Hierozoic, Part 2. Lib. 6. c. 13. Liber Agar Zamachshari & Bidawi in Commentariis, ad cap. 17. & cap. 53. Alcorani.  At Night, as he lay in his Bed with his best beloved Wife, Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his Door, whereon arising he found there the Angel Gabriel, with Seventy pair of Wings expanded from his Sides, whiter than Snow, and clearer than Crystal, and the Beast Alborak standing by him, which they say is the Beast on which the Prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another upon the Execution of any Divine Command. Mahomet describes it to be a Beast as white as Milk, and of a mixed Nature between an Ass and a Mule, and also of a Size between both, and of that extraordinary swiftness, that his passing from one place to another, was as quick as that of Lightning; and from hence it is that he hath the name of Alborak, that word signifying Lightning in the Arabic Tongue. As soon as Mahomet appeared at the Door, the Angel Gabriel most kindly embracing him, did with a very sweet and pleasing Countenance salute him in the Name of God, and told him that he was sent to bring him unto God into Heaven, where he should see strange Mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other Man, and then bid him get upon the Alborak. But the Beast, it seems having long lain idle from the time of Christ till Mahomet (there having been no Prophet in all that Interval to employ him) was grown so resty and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet to get up upon him, till at length he was forced to bribe him to it by promising him a place in Paradise; whereon having quietly taken him on his back, the Angel Gabriel leading the way with the Bridle of the Beast in his Hand, he carried him from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an Eye. On his coming thither all the Prophets and Saints departed appeared at the Gate of the Temple to salute him, and from thence attending him into the Chief Oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then departed. Whereon Mahomet with the Angel Gabriel going out of the Temple, found there a Ladder of Light ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended leaving the Alborak there tied at a Rock till their return.  
On their arrival at the First Heaven the Angel Gabriel knocked at the Gate, and having informed the Porter who he was, and that he brought Mahomet the Friend of God with him by the Divine Command, the Gates were immediately opened, which he describes to be of a prodigious largeness. This first Heaven he tells us, was all of pure Silver, and that he there saw the Stars hanging from it by Chains of Gold, each being of the bigness of Mount Noho, near Mecca in Arabia; and that in these Stars Angels kept watch and ward for the Guard of Heaven, to keep off the Devils from approaching near it, lest they should overhear and know what was there done. On his first entering into this Heaven, he saith, he met an old decrepit Man, and this was our first Father Adam, who immediately embraced him giving God thanks for so great a Son, and the recommended himself to his Prayers. As he entered further, he saw a multitude of Angels of all manner of Shapes; some in that of Men, others in that of Birds, and others in that of Beasts of all manner of sorts. And among those who appeared in the several Shapes of Birds, he there saw a Cock of Colour as white as Snow, and of so prodigious a bigness, that his Feet standing upon the first Heaven, his Head reached up to the second, which was at the distance of five hundred Years journey from it, according to the rate as we usually Travel here on Earth. But others among them, as they relate this matter from their Prophet, Hyperbolise much higher concerning it, telling us that the Head of this Cock reacheth up through all the Seven Heavens as far as the Throne of God, which is above seven times higher; and in the Description of him, say, that his Wings are all over decked with Carbuncles and Pearls, and that he extends the one of them to the East, and the other to the West, at a distance proportionable to his height. Concerning all these, the Impostor tells us, the Angel Gabriel informed him, that they were Angels which did from thence intercede with God for all Living Creatures on the Earth. That those who interceded for Men, had there the shape of Men; that those who interceded for Beasts, the shape of Beasts; and those who interceded for Birds, the shape of Birds, according to their several kinds. And that as to the great Cock, that he was the chief Angel of the Cocks; that every morning God singing an holy Hymn, this Cock constantly joineth with him in it by his crowing, which is so loud, that all hear it that are in Heaven and Earth, except Men and Fairies, and then all the other Cocks that are in Heaven and Earth crow also. But when the Day of Judgement draws near, than God shall command him to draw in his Wings, and crow no more, which shall be a sign, that that Day is at hand to all that are in Heaven and Earth, excepting still Men and Fairies, who being afore deaf to his crowing, shall not then be sensible of his silence from it. And this Cock the Mahometans look on to be in that great favour with God, that whereas it is a common Saying among them, that there are three Voices which God always hears, they reckon the first the Voice of him that is constant in reading the Alcoran; the second, the Voice of him that early every morning prayeth for the pardon of his Sins; and the third, the Voice of this Cock when he croweth, which they say is ever most acceptable unto him.  
All this stuff of the Cock Abdollah helped Mahomet to out of the Talmudists. For it is all borrowed from them, with some little variation only to make it look not totally the same. For in the Tract Bava Bathra of the Babylonish Talmud, we have a Story of such a prodigious Bird, called 
u Buxtorfii Lexicon Rabbinicum in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Ziz, which standing with his Feet upon the Earth, reacheth up unto the Heavens with his Head, and with the spreading of his Wings darkneth the whole Orb of the Sun, and causeth a total Eclipse thereof. This Bird the Chaldee Paraphrast on 
w Psalm 50. v. 11. & Psalm 80. v. 14.  the Psalms says, is a Cock, which he describes of the same bigness, and tells us that he crows before the Lord. And the Chaldee Paraphrast on 
x Ad cap. 3. v. 7. & add cap. 38. v. 36. & add cap. 39 v. 16.  Job also tells us of him, and of his crowing every morning before the Lord, and that God giveth him Wisdom for this purpose. What is farther said of this Bird of the Talmudists, may be seen in Buxtof's Synagoga Judaica cap. 50. and in Purchas' Pilgrimage lib. 2. c. 20.  
From this First Heaven, the Impostor tells us, he ascended up into the Second, which was at the distance of five hundred years' journey above it, and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the Seven Heavens each above the other. Here the Gates being opened unto him, as in the First Heaven, at his entrance he met Noah, who rejoicing much at the sight of him, recommended himself to his Prayers. In this Heaven, which was all made of pure Gold, the Impostor tells us, he saw twice as many Angels as in the former, and among them one of a prodigious greatness. For his Feet being placed on this Second Heaven, his Head reached to the Third.  
From this Second Heaven he ascended up into the Third, which was made of Precious Stones; where at the entrance he met Abraham, who also recommended himself to his Prayers. And there he saw a vast many more Angels than in the former Heaven, and among them another great one of so prodigious a size, that the distance between his two Eyes were as much as Seventy thousand days journey, according to our rate of travelling here on Earth. But here Mahomet was out in his Mathematics, for the distance between a man's Eyes being in proportion to his height but as one to seventy two, according to this rate the height of this Angel must have been near fourteen thousand years' journey, which is four times as much as the height of all his Seven Heavens together, and therefore it is impossible such an Angel could ever stand within any one of them. But notwithstanding this, here he placeth him, and in his description of him tells us, that he had before him a large Table, in which he was continually writing in, and blotting out; and that having asked the Angel Gabriel of him, he was informed by him that this was the Angel of death, who continually writes into the Table, which he had before him, the Names of all that are to be born, and there computes the days of their life; and as he finds they have completed the number assigned them, again blots them out, and that whoever hath his Name thus blotted out by him, immediately dies.  
From hence he ascended up into the Fourth Heaven, which was all of Emerald; where at the Entrance he met Joseph the Son of Jacob, who recommended himself to his Prayers. And in this Heaven he after saw a vastly larger number of Angels than in the former, and among them another great Angel, as high as from this Fourth Heaven to the Fifth, who was continually weeping, and making great lamentation, and mourning, and this, the Angel Gabriel told him, was for the Sins of men, and the destruction which they did thereby bring upon themselves.  
From hence he ascended up into the Fifth Heaven, which was made of Adamant, where he found Moses, who recommended himself to his Prayers, and there also he saw a much greater number of Angels than in the former Heaven.  
From hence he ascended up into the Sixth Heaven, which was all of Carbuncle, where he found John the Baptist, who recommended himself to his Prayers. And here he also saw the number of Angels much increased beyond what he had seen in any of the former Heavens.  
From hence he ascended up into the Seventh Heaven, which was all made of Divine Light, and here he found Jesus Christ, where it is to be observed he altars his Style. For he saith not, that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his Prayers, but that he recommended himself to Jesus Christ, desiring him to pray for him; whereby he acknowledgeth him certainly to be the greater. But it was his usage through the whole scene of his Imposture thus to flatter the Christians on all occasions. Here he saith he found a much greater number of Angels than in all the other Heavens besides, and among them one Extraordinary Angel having seventy thousand Heads, and in every Head seventy thousand Tongues, and every Tongue uttering seventy thousand distinct Voices at the same time, with which he continued Day and Night incessantly praising God.  
The Angel Gabriel having brought him thus far, told him, that it was not permitted to him to go any further, and therefore directed him to ascend up the rest of the way to the Throne of God by himself, which he saith he performed with great difficulty, passing through Waters and Snow, and many other such difficult Passages, till he came where he heard a Voice saying unto him, O Mahomet, salute thy Creator; from whence ascending higher, he came into a place, where he saw a vast extension of Light of that exceeding brightness, that his Eyes could not bear it, and this was the Habitation of the Almighty, where his Throne was placed; on the right side of which, he says, God's Name and his own were written in these Arabic words, La ellah ellallah Mohammed resul ollah, i e there is no God but God, and Mahomet is his Prophet. Which is the Creed of the Mahometans, which words also he says, he found written upon all the Gates of the Seven Heavens, which he passed thorough. Being approached to the presence of God, as 
y Alcoran c. 53.  near as within two Bow-shots; he tells us he saw him sitting on his Throne with a covering of seventy thousand Vails before his Face; that on his drawing thus near, in sign of his favour, he put forth his Hand, and laid it upon him, which was of that exceeding coldness, that it pierced to the very Marrow of his Back, and he could not bear it. That after this God entering into a very familiar Converse with him, revealed unto him a great many hidden Mysteries, made him understand the whole of his Law, and gave him many things in charge concerning his instructing Men in the knowledge of it; and in conclusion, bestowed on him several Privileges above the rest of Mankind. As that he should be the perfectest of all Creatures; that at the Day of Judgement he should be honoured and advanced above all the rest of Mankind; that he should be the Redeemer of all that believe in him; that he should have the knowledge of all Languages; and lastly, that the Spoils of all, whom he should conquer in War, should belong to him alone. And then returning, he sound the Angel Gabriel arrying for him in the place where he left him, who conducting him back again through all the Seven Heavens the same way that he brought him, did set him again upon the Alborak, which he left tied at Jerusalem; and then taking the Bridle in his Hand, conducted him back to Mecca in the same manner as he brought him thence, and all this within the space of the tenth part of one Night.  
On his relating this Extravagant Fiction to the People, the next Morning after he pretended the thing happened, it was received by them as it deserved, with a general hoot; 
a Cantacuzen Orat. 4a. Richardi confutatio legis Saracenicae c. 14. Hottingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 6.  some laughed at the ridiculousness of the Story, and others taking indignation at it, cried out shame upon him for telling them such an abominable lie, and by way of reproach, bid him ascend up to Heaven by daylight there immediately before them all, that they might see it with their Eyes, and then they would believe him. And even of his Disciples a great many were so ashamed of him for this Story, that 
b Johannes Andreas c. 8. Hottinger ib. Friar Richard and Cantacuzenus say, they were a thousand that left him on this occasion.  they left him thereon; and more would have followed their Example, but that 
c Hottingeri Hist. Orient. jib. 2. c. 6.  Abu Beker came in to put a stop to the defection, by vouching the truth of all that Mahomet had related, and professed his firm belief to the whole of it, for which reason he had ever after the Title 
d Elmacinus lib. 1. c. 2. dicit eum sic vocatum esse propter verificationem Mesrae.  of Assadik, that is, the Just, because of the extraordinary merit of his Faith in this particular. And whoever becomes a Mahometan, must have the same Faith also; this Story being as firmly believed by all of that Religion, as any thing in the Gospel is by us Christians. Only there has been this Question moved among them, whether it 
* Hottingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 6.  were only a Vision of the Night, or a real Journey. Those that would salve the Absurdity of it, would have it only be a Vision, and that most of the particulars of it are to be resolved into Figure and Allegory, but the mayor Vote hath carried it for a real Journey; and to this sense it being now pinned down, there is no one among them that dares in the least to doubt thereof.  
The Imposture was never in greater danger of being totally blasted, than by this ridiculous Fable, such a stumbling-block did it lay even before those of his own Party, and therefore he needed to interpose the utmost of his Art to support the Credit of it; for which purpose he not only got his Friend Abu Beker to be a Voucher to it, but also brings in God himself in two places of his Alcoran bearing witness thereto, that is, in the Chapter of the Children of Israel, and in the Chapter of the Star; in the last of which he makes God to swear by the Star to the truth of it, that Mahomet related nothing in this Story but what he had seen; that he was admitted to approach him in the Highest Heavens within the length of two Bow-shoots; and had seen the great Wonders of the Lord, and had many hidden Mysteries there revealed unto him, and that therefore Men ought not to dispute any more against him concerning it.  
But how ridiculous sooner the Story may appear, Mahomet had his Design therein beyond barely telling such a miraculous Adventure of himself to the People. Hitherto he had only given them the Alcoran, which was his written Law, and had owned himself no farther than barely the Messenger of God to deliver it unto them, telling them that it was brought to him by the Angel Gabriel; and that as he received it, so he published it unto them, without offering at any Comment, Explication, or additional Interpretation of his own concerning it; and therefore when graveled with any Objection from his Adversaries against it (as he often was while at Mecca, where he was continually teased and perplexed with some or other of them) his usual refuge was in this saying; That the Alcoran was 
e Alcoran c. 3. etc. Richardi confutatio, c. 17. Cantacuzeni Oratio 1a. sect. 3. & 5. Ecchelensis Eutych vindicat. p. 383.  God's Book, and that he only could explain the meaning of it: And it was Wisdom in him at first not to assume any farther. But now learning from his Friend Abdollah that the Jews, besides the written Law dictated by God himself, had also another Law called the Oral Law, and given with it (as they pretend) to Moses himself while in the Mount, and from him delivered to the Elders of the People, and from them down to after Ages by Oral Tradition; and understanding also that this Law was in as great Authority with them as the other, and that it had its whole foundation in the Sayings and Dictates, which were pretended to be from Moses, and preserved by the Memories of those who conversed with him; He had a desire for the future to advance his Authority to the same pitch, and make all his Sayings and Dictates go for Oracles among his Musslemen, as well as those, which were pretended to be from Moses, did among the Jews. And for this end chiefly was it that he intended this Story of his Journey to Heaven. For could he once make it believed among his Followers, that he had there such a Converse with God, as Moses had with him in the Mount, and was there fully instructed by him in the knowledge of all Divine Truths, as this Story pretends he was, he thought he should therein have a sufficient foundation to build this Pretence upon, and might by a just consequence from it, claim the whole which he aimed at; and he was not mistaken herein. For how ridiculous soever the thing at first appeared, yet in the result he carried his Point, and obtained all that by the Project which he proposed to himself from it. For the whole of it at length going down with those who had swallowed the rest of his Imposture, from that time all his Sayings became looked on as Sacred Truths brought down from Heaven, and every word which at any time dropped from so enlightened a Person (as this Story supposeth him to be) as well as every Action which he did any way relating to his Religion, were all carefully observed by them, which being after his death all 
f Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab p. 298, & 299. Johannes Andreas c. 3. Bellonius lib. 3. c. 4. Hottingeri Bibliotheca Orientalis c. 2. Ecchelensis Eutych. vindicat. c. 27. Gentii Notae ad Musladinum Sadum P. 578.  collected together from the Memories of those who conversed with him, make up those Volumes of Traditions from him, which they call the Sonnah, which are with the Mahometans the same in respect of the Alcoran, that the Oral Law among the Jews is in respect of the Written. And as among the Jews there are many Books, in which this Oral Law is recited, explained, and digested under several Heads and Chapters by many different Authors among their Rabbis, who have employed their Pains and Studies in this matter; so also are there the like number of Books among the Mahometans concerning their Sonnah 
g Ebnol Athir Ebol Kahai Pocock. ib.  in which all the Sayings and Doings of Mahomet, relating to his Religion, as also the Constitutions of the Seniors (that is, of the first Califs that succeeded him, especially the four first) concerning the same, are collected, explained, and digested under several Heads, or Common Places by the Compilers of them, which Books make up the Sum of their Theology, as well Speculative as Practical; and in them indeed is contained the whole of their Religion as now practised among them. And therefore so much of the Imposture, which I now undertake to give an account of, being in these Traditions, and they all founded upon this Journey of Mahomet to Heaven, where he pretended to have been instructed in them by God himself; this sufficiently justifieth my being thus long in relating his fabulous Story of it.  
After his publishing this Fiction, and the revolt of so many of his Disciples, as happened thereon, his Adversaries grew in strength so fast upon him, that he could no longer protect those who adhered to him, as he had hitherto done; but some of them, to the number of about an hundred persons, having made themselves more than ordinary obnoxious to the Government by some practices against it 
h Abul. Feda Ebnol Athir Kamus. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 172. Ecchelensis Eutych. Vindicat. c. 27. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 53.  here, forced to fly from Mecca to Nagash, King of Aethiopia, where Mahomet's Letters, which they carried with them, obtained their protection, though the Men of Mecca sent two of their principal Citizens after them in an Embassy to that King, to demand them to be delivered unto them. And Mahomet, with the rest that tarried behind, found it very difficult for them to subsist any longer there. For after the departure of so many of his faithfullest Adherents into this Exile, this farther diminution of his number made him still lesle able to withstand those Insults, which his Adversaries were continually on all occasions making upon him. But what he lost at Mecca he got at Medina, then called Yathreb, 
i Geographia Nubiensis Clim. 2. Part. 5. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 98.  a City lying at the Northern end of Hagiuz, two hundred and seventy miles distant from Mecca, which being inhabited, 
k Sharestani Disputatio Christiani c. 4. Johannes Andreas c. 1. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 137.  the one part by Jews, and the other part by Heretical Christians, it seems, these two different Parties not well agreeing in the same City, the Factions and Feuds that arose between them, drove one of the Parties to Mahomet; and on the Thirteenth Year 
l Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1.  of his pretended Mission there came to him from thence Seventy three Men, and two Women, who embraced his Imposture, and swore Fealty unto him, whereon he chose twelve out of them, whom he retained awhile with him at Mecca to instruct them in his New Religion, and then sent them back again to Yathreb to be as his Twelve Apostles, there to propagate it in that Town, in which they laboured with that success, that in a short time they drew over a great Party of the Inhabitants to embrace the Imposture, of which Mahomet receiving an account, resolved to retire thither, as finding Mecca now grown too hot for him. For the chief Men of the City finding that Mahomet's indefatigable industry and cunning still kept up his Party, do what they could to suppress it, resolved without further delay to strike at the Root, and prevent the further spreading of the mischief 
m Alcoran c. 8. Johannes Andreas c. 1. Bidawi Comment. ad Alcorani c. 8. Abunazar Hottingeri Historia Orientalis lib. 2. c. 5.  by cutting off him that was the chief Author of it. Of which he having received full and early Intelligence, and finding no other way to avoid the Blow but to fly from it; ordered all his Party, whom he could prevail with to accompany him in his Banishment 
n Elmacin ib. Abul Faraghius Abul Feda, etc. , secretly in the Evening to withdraw out of the City, and retire to Yathreb. And when he had seen them all gone, he and 
o Elmacin ib. Clenardi Epist. lib. 1. p. 52.  Abu Beker followed after, leaving only Ali behind, who having set in order some Affairs that detained him, came to them on the third day after. As soon as his Flight was publicly known, Parties were sent out to pursue after him, and he difficultly escaped them 
p Alcoran, c. 9 Bidawi in Comment. ad illud Caput. & add cap. 16. Hottingeri Hist. Orient. lib. 2. c. 5.  by hiding himself for some time in a Cave, till the heat of the pursuit was over.  
On the 
q Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 55. Ahmed Ebn Yuseph. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 174.  12th day of the Month, which the Arabs call the former Relia, that is, on the 24th of our September, he came to Yathreb, and was there received with great Acclamation by the Party which called him thither. But whether this Party were of the Jews, or the Christians, I find not said in any Author, only if we may conjecture from the great kindness, which at this time he expressed towards the Christians, and the implacable hatred which he ever after bore the Jews, it will from hence appear, that the former were the Friends that invited him thither, and the later the opposite Party that were Enemies unto him. And what he saith of each of them in the fifth Chapter of his Alcoran, which was one of the first which he published after his coming to Yathreb, may seem fully to clear the matter. For his words there are, Thou shalt find the Jews to be very great Enemies to the true Believers; and the Christians to have great Inclination and Amity towards them. For they have Priests and Religions, that are humble, who have Eyes full of Tears when they hear mention of the Doctrine which God hath inspired into thee, because of their knowledge of the Truth, and say, Lord, we believe in thy Law, write us in the number of them who profess thy Unity. Who shall hinder us from believing in God, and the Truth wherein we have been instructed? We desire with Passion, O Lord, to be in the number of the Just. by this we may see what a deplorable decay the many Divisions and Distractions, which then reigned in the Eastern Church, had there brought the Christian Religion into, when its Professors could so easily desert it for that gross Imposture, which an Illiterate Barbarian proposed unto them. And indeed it is no strange thing for Men, when once they have deserted the Orthodox Profession of the Christian Faith, to fleet from one Error to another, till at length by several Changes in Religion, they change the whole of it away, and give themselves up to total Impiety. For we see it daily practised among us.  
On Mahomet's first coming to 
r Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Feda, etc.  Yathreb, he lodged in the House of Chalid Abu Job, one of the chief Men of the Party that called him thither, till he had built himself an House of his own, which he immediately set about, and adjoining thereto also erected a Mosque at the same time for the exercise of his new invented Religion; and it is recorded as an instance of his Injustice, that he 
s Disputatio Christiani c. 4.  violently dispossessed certain poor Orphans, the Children of an Inferior Artificer a little before deceased, of the Ground on which it stood, and so founded this first Fabric for his Worship with the like wickedness as he did his Religion. And having thus settled himself in this Town, he continued there ever after to the time of his Death. For which reason it thenceforth losing the Name of Yathreb, became called 
t Geographia Nubiensis Clim. 2. part. 5. Append. ad eandem cap. 8. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 98. Abul Feda Alkamus, etc.  Medinato ' l nabi, i e. The City of the Prophet, and simply Medina, by which Name it hath been ever since called even unto this day.  
From this flight of Mahomet, the 
u Alfraganus cap. 1. Goliis notae ad eundem p. 53. Elmacin. lib. c. 1. etc. 3. Eutychius. Abul Faraghius Abul Feda, etc. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 172, 173.  Hegira, which is the Aera of the Mahometans, begins its Computation. It was first appointed by Omar the Third Emperor of the Saracens on this 
w Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. Part. 1. c. 10.  occasion. There happened a contest before him about a Debt of Money. The Creditor had from his Debtor a Bill, wherein he acknowledged the Debt, and obliged himself to pay it on such a day of such a Month. The Day and the Month being passed, the Creditor sues his Debtor before Omar for the Money. The Debtor acknowledged the Debt, but denied the day of Payment to be yet come, alleging the Month in the Bill mentioned to be that Month next ensuing; but the Creditor contended that it was that Month last passed, and for want of a Date to the Bill, it being impossible to decide this Controversy, Omar called his Council together, to consider of a method how to prevent this difficulty for the future; where it was decreed, That all Bills and other Instruments should ever after have inserted into them the date both of the day of the Month, and also of the Year, in which they were signed. And as to the Year, he having consulted with Harmuzan, a Learned Persian then with him, by his advice ordained all Computations to be made for the future from the Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina. And for this reason, this Aera was called the Hegira, which in the Arabic Language, signifieth a Flight. It takes its beginning from the sixteenth day of July, in the Year of our Lord, Six hundred twenty and two. And ever since this Decree of Omar (which happened in the eighteenth Year of it) it hath constantly been used among the Mahometans in the same manner, as the Computation from the Incarnation of our Lord Christ is with us Christians. The day that Mahomet left Mecca, was on 
x Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 52, & 55.  the first of the Former Rebia, and he came to Medina on the 
y E●macin lib. 1. c. 1.  twelfth of the same Month. But the Hegira begins two Months before, from the first of Moharram. For that being the first Month of the Arabian Year, Omar would make no alteration as to that, but anticipated the Computation fifty nine days, that he might begin his Aera from the beginning of that Year in which this Flight of the Impostor happened, which gave Name thereto. Till the appointing of this Aera, it was usual with the Arabians to compute from the last great War they were engaged in. And at Mecca and Aera of the Elephant, and the Aera of the Impious War, being those which they computed by all the time of Mahomet, I shall give an account of them.  
The Aera of the Elephant had its beginning from 
z Al Kodai Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 54. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 173, & 174.  a War which the Inhabitants of Mecca had with the Ethiopians. It happened on that very year in which Mahomet was born, on this occasion. About Seventy years before the time of Mahomet, there reigned over the Homerites an ancient Nation of the Arabs, lying to the South of Mecca, a certain King called 
a Abul. Feda All Masudi. Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. part. 1. c. 10. Pocockii Spec Hist. Arab. p. 62.  Duke Nawas, who having embraced the Jewish Religion, persecuted the Christian, which had been planted there for at least Three hundred years before, and did the utmost he was able to extirpate it out of his Dominions. For which purpose he made him a deep Ditch or Furnace in the Earth, and after having heated it with Fire, caused all those of the Christian Religion to be thrown thereinto, who would not renounce their Faith, and turn to Judaisme. During which Persecution the 
b Al Masudi Ecchelensis ib.  Arabian Writers tell a very memorable Story of a Christian Woman, who being brought to the Furnace with a Son of hers very young, whom she carried in her Arms, was at the sight of the Fire so affrighted, that she drew back as if she would rather choose to comply with the Persecutors, and renounce her Faith, than thus perish for it; at which the Child cried out, Fear not Mother to dye for your Religion, for then after this Fire you shall never feel any other. Whereon the Mother being again encouraged, went on and completed her Martyrdom. This Persecution drove several of the Homerite Christians to fly into Ethiopia for safety, where making their Complaints to the King, who was a Christian, of the cruel Persecution of Du Nawas against them, prevailed with him to send Aryat his Uncle, with an Army of Seventy thousand Men for their Relief; 
c Al Jannabi Ahmed Ebn Yusef Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. part. 2. c. 1. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 63.  who having overthrown Du Nawas in Battle, pursued him so hard, that he forced him into the Sea, where he perished. Whereon the Kingdom of the Homerites fell into the Hands of the Ethiopians, and Aryat governed it twenty years. After him succeeded Abraham All Ashram, who having built a famous 
d Abul Feda All Jannabi Ahmed Ebn Yusef Zemachshati Bidawi & Jallalani in Commentariis ad cap. 105. Alcorani. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 64. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 54.  Church at Sanaa, the chief City of the Homerites, abundance of Arabians resorted thither to the Christian Worship, so that the Temple of Mecca began to be neglected, and the Heathen Worship there hitherto performed with so great Concourse from all Parts of Arabia to grow into decay: At which the Men of Mecca were exceedingly disturbed. For they had the chief of their support from the great resort of Pilgrims, who came thither every year from all Parts of Arabia to Worship their Heathen Deities, and perform their annual solemn Ceremonies unto them. And therefore to express their Indignation against this Church, which so much threatened their main Interest with total ruin, some of them went to Sanaa, and getting privately into the Church, did in a most contumelious manner defile it all over with their Excrements. At which Abraham was so incensed, that to revenge the Affront, he swore the Destruction of the Temple of Mecca: And accordingly to effect it marched thither with a great Army, and besieged the City. But not being able to compass his end, (I suppose for want of Provisions for his numerous Forces in so desert and barren a Country) he was forced to march back again with Loss and Disgrace; and because he had several Elephants in his Army, for that reason this was called, The War of the Elephant; and the Aera by which they reckoned from it, The Aera of the Elephant. And to this War is it, that the 105th Chapter of the Alcoran, called the Chapter of the Elephant, doth relate, where Mahomet tells us, How the Lord treated them that came mounted upon Elephants to ruin the Temple of Mecca, and that he defeated their treacherous Design, and sent against them great Armies of Birds, which threw down Stones upon their Heads, and made them like Corn in the Field, which is destroyed and trodden down by the Beasts. Where 
e Zamach Shari Bidawi Jallulani, etc.  the Commentators of the Alcoran tell us, That to preserve the Temple of Mecca from the intended Destruction, God sent against the Ethiopians great Armies of Birds, each of which carried three Stones, the one in the Mouth, and the other two in the two Feet, which they threw down upon their Heads, and that those Stones, although not much bigger than Pease, were yet of that weight, that falling upon the Helmet, they pierced that and the Man through, and that on each of them was written the Name of him that was to be slain by it; and that the Army of the Ethiopians being thus destroyed, the Temple of Mecca was saved. For Mahomet having resolved to continue that Temple in its former Reputation, and make it the chief place of his new invented Worship, as it had been before of the Heathen; coined this Miracle among many others of purpose to gain it the greater Veneration in the minds of his deluded Followers, although there might be several then alive, who were able to give him the lie thereto, it being but fifty four Years before the beginning of the Hegira that this War happened. For it was the very Year 
f Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 54. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 64.  in which Mahomet was born. But perchance this Chapter came not forth in public, till Othman's Edition of the Alcoran, which was many years after, when all might be dead that could remember any thing of this War, and the Fable thereby out of danger of being contradicted by any of those who knew the contrary.  
The Aera of the Impious War began from the twentieth Year of the Aera of the Elephant, and had its Name from a terrible War, which was then waged between 
g Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 174. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum▪ p. 54.  the Korashites and Kaisailanites, in which Mahomet first 
h Al Kodai All Kamus, etc. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 174. in Magine.  entered the School of War under his Uncle Abn Taleb, being then twenty Years old. It was called the Impious War, because it proceeded to that heat and fury, that they carried it on even in those Months, when it was reckoned impious among them to wage War. For it was 
i Al Jauhari All Sharestani All Kamus Cazwini. Golius in notis ad Alfraganum, p. 4, 5, & 9 Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 174, & 176.  an Ancient Constitution through all Arabia to hold four Months of the Year sacred, in which all War was to cease. And these were the Months of Moharram, Rajeb, Dulkaada, and Dulhagha; the First, the Seventh, the Eleventh, and the Twelfth of the Year, in which it was observed with the greatest Religion among all their Tribes to use no Act of Hostility against each other, but with how great Fury soever one Tribe might be engaged against another (as was usual among them), as soon as any of those Sacred Months began, they all immediately desisted, and taking off the heads from their Spears, and laying aside all other Weapons of War, had intercourse, and intermingled together, as if there had been perfect Peace and Friendship between them, without any fear of each other; so that if a Man should meet on those Months him that had slain his Father, or his Brother, he durst not meddle with him, how violently soever his Hatred or Revenge might prompt him to it. And this was constantly observed among all the Ancient Arabs, till broken in this War, which from hence was called the Impious War. And in this Impious War, 
k Al Kodai All Kamus. Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 174.  Mahomet having first taken Arms, gave a presage thereby, to what impious purpose he would use them all his Life after.  
But the Hegira being that, which all of the Mahometan Religion have ever since the Constitution of Omar computed by; the subject Matter of the History which I now write, obligeth me henceforth to make use of this Aera through the remaining part of it. But because it computeth by Lunary Years only, and not by Solary; its requisite that I here inform the Reader of the Nature of those Years, and the manner how the Hegira computeth by them. Anciently the Arabs, although 
l Al Jauhari Ebnol Athir. Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 177.  they always used Lunary Years, yet by intercalating Seven Months in Nineteen Years, in the manner as do the Jews, reduced them to Solary Years; and consequently had their Months always fixed to the same Season of the year. But this growing out of use about the time of Mahomet, their year hath ever since been strictly Lunary, consisting only of Three hundred fifty four Days, eight Hours, and forty eight Minutes, 
m Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 11. Scaliger de Emendatione temporum, lib. 2. Cap de Anno Hegerae.  which odd Hours and Minutes in thirty Years, making eleven Days exactly, they do intercalate a Day on the 2 d, 5 th', 7 th', 10 th', 13 th', 15 th', 18 th', 21st, 24 th', 26 th', and 29th, years of this Period. So that their year in those years of this Period, consists of three hundred fifty five Days, by reason of the intercalated Day, which they then add to the last Month of the Year. And this Year, all that profess the Mahometan Religion have ever made use of, and there is a Passage in the Alcoran 
n Alcoran. c. 9 , whereby they are confined to it. For the Impostor there calls it an Impiety to prolong the Year, that is, by adding an Intercalary Month thereto. So that according to this Account, the Mahometan Year falling eleven Days short of the Solary; it hence comes to pass, that the beginning of the Year of the Hegera is unfixed and ambulatory; (the next year always beginning eleven days sooner than the former) and therefore sometimes it happens in Summer, sometimes in Spring, sometimes in Winter, and sometimes in Autumn; and in thirty three Years compass goes through all the different Seasons of the Year, and comes about again to the same time of the Solary Year, although not exactly to the same Day. Which being like to create some Confusion to us who are used to the Solary Year; to prevent this, after the Year of the Hegera, in the Margin I add the day of the Month in the Year of our Lord in which it begins. The Months of the Arab Year are as followeth: 1. Moharram, 2. Saphar, 3. The former Rabia, 4. The later Rabia, 5. The former Jomada, 6. The later Jomada, 7. Rajeb, 8. Shaban, 9 Ramadan, 10. Shawall, 11. Dulkaada, 12. Dulhagha. The first hath thirty Days, and the second twenty nine, and so alternatively to the end of the Year, only on the Intercalary Years, Dulhagha hath thirty Days, because of the Day added; but on all other Years only twenty nine.  
The first thing that Mahomet did after his having settled himself at Medina, 
Heg. 1. July 16. A. D. 622.  was to Mary his Daughter Fatima to his Cousin Ali. 
o Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Feda, etc.  She was the only Child then living of six, which were Born to him to Cadigha, his first Wife; and indeed the only one which he had notwithstanding the multitude of his Wives 
p Abul Faraghius, p. 103.  that survived him, whom he exceedingly loved, and was used to give great Commendations of her, reckoning her among the perfectest of Women. For he was 
q Abul Feda. Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 183.  used to say, that among Men there were many perfect, but of Women he would allow only four to be such, and these were Asiah, the Wife of Pharaoh; Marry, the Mother of Christ; Chadigha his Wife; and Fatima his Daughter. From her all that pretend to be of the Race of Mahomet derive their descent.  
And now the Impostor having obtained the end he had been long driving at, that is, a Town at his command, where to arm his Party, and lead them with security for the further prosecution of his Design, he here enters on a new Scene. Hitherto he had been preaching up his Imposture for thirteen years together; for the remaining ten years of his Life he takes the Sword and fights for it. He had long been teased and perplexed at Mecca with Questions and Objections, and Disputes about what he preached, whereby being often gravelled and nonplused, to the laughter of his Auditors, and his own Shame and Confusion, out of hatred to this way 
r Alcoran, c. 4. Cantacuzen. Orat, 1a. Sect. 12. Johannes Andreas, c. 12.  he hanceforth forbids all manner of disputing about his Religion; and that he might be sure to have no more of it, makes it for the future to be no lesle than death for any one in the least to contradict or oppose any of the Doctrines which he had taught. The way that his Religion was to be propagated, he now tells his Disciples was not by Disputing, but 
s Alcoran, c. 2, 3, 4, 9, etc. Johannes Andreas, c. 12. Disputatio Christiani, c. 8. Cantacuzeni Orat. 1a. Apolog. 4. Richardi Confutatio, c. 10.  by Fight, and therefore commands them all to arm themselves, and slay with the Sword all those that would not embrace it, unless they submitted to pay an Annual Tribute for the redemption of their Lives. And according to this his Injunction, even unto this day, all who live under any Mahometan Government, and are not of their Religion, 
t Thevenot, Part. 1. lib. 1. c. 55.  pay an Annual Tax for a constant Mulct of their Infidelity (which in Turkey 
u Thevenot, Part 1. Book 1. c. 28.  is called the Carradge) and are sure to be punished with 
w Cantacuzen. Orat. 2. Sect. 5. Thevenot, Part. 1. lib. 1. c. 28.  death, if in the least they contradict, or oppose any Doctrine that is received among them to have been taught by Mahomet. And certainly there could not be a wiser way devised for the upholding of so absurd an Imposture, than by thus silencing under so severe a penalty all manner of Opposition and Disputes against it.  
After the Impostor had sufficiently infused this Doctrine into his Disciples, he next proceeds to put it in practice; and having erected his Standard, calls them all to come armed thereto, where having enroled them all for the War, 
x Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1.  he gave his Standard to his Uncle Hamza, consitituting him thereby his Standard-bearer; and out of the special confidence he had in him, sent him out on the first Expedition which was undertaken in his Cause. For understanding that 
y Elmacin ib. Disputat. Christiani, c. 4.  the Caravan of Mecca was not on the Road in their return from Syria, he ordered out Hamza with a Party of Thirty Horse to waylay and plunder them, and he having accordingly posted himself in a Wood in the Country of Yamara, by which they were to pass there, tarried their coming; but on their approach, finding them guarded with Three hundred men, sent from Mecca to convoy them safe home, he durst not set upon them, but fled, and returned to Medina, without effecting any thing. And several other Expeditions which were this Year undertaken of the same nature, had no better success.  
The next Year a very rich Caravan going from Mecca towards Syria, 
Heg. 2. July 5. A. D. 623.  and carrying a great quantity both of Goods and Money which belonged to the Merchants of Mecca, that traded into that Country, he went out with Three hundred and nineteen men to intercept it. But 
a Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Alcoran, c. 3. & Commentatores in illud caput.  coming up with them at a place called Beder, he found them guarded by a Convoy of a Thousand men, under the Command of Abu Sophian, whereon a fierce Battle ensued between them; but Mahomet gaining the Victory, Abu Sophian made as good a Retreat as he could back again to Mecca, saving most of the Caravan with him, at which Mahomet's Men much 
b Alcoran, c. 3.  repined. However great Spoils were gained by them in this Battle, which had like to have made a Quarrel among them about the division. For the Army consisting of two Parties, the Men of Medina, who were called the Ansars, that is, Mahomet's Helpers; and the Men of Mecca, who were called the Mohagerins, that is, the Companions of his flight; the 
c Hottingeri Bibliotheca Orientalis, c. 2. ad Suratam Octavam Alcorani.  former would have had a larger share than the latter. To salve this Controversy, Mahomet composed the Eighth Chapter of his Alcoran, wherein he adjudgeth the fifth part to himself, and the rest to be equally divided between them.  
The Success of this Battle gave great encouragement to the Impostor, and his party. He frequently brags of it in his Alcoran, and would have it believed that 
d Alcoran, c. 3. Bidawi.  two Miracles were wrought for his obtaining of it; the first, That God made his Enemies see his Army as double to what it was, which helped to dismay them; and the second, That he sent Troops of Angels to his assistance, which helped to overcome them. They were to the number of Three thousand (as 
e Alcoran, c. 3.  he himself tells us); but being invisible to every one's Eyes but his alone, the credit of it stands upon no better foundation, than the rest of his Imposture, his own single Testimony only.  
This Year he altered the 
f Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Al Kodai. Abul Feda. Johannes Andreas, c. 6.  Kebla, that is the place towards which they directed their Prayers. For it was usual among the People of the East of all Religions, to observe one particular point of the Heavens, towards which they all turned their Faces when they prayed. The Jews, in what part of the World soever they were, prayed with their Faces 
g Daniel, c. 6. v. 10. Buxtorsii Synagoga Judaica, cap. 10. Maimonides in Halachoth Tephillah, c. 1. Sect. 3.  towards Jerusalem, because there was their Temple; the Arabians 
h Abul Faraghius, p. 102.  towards Mecca, because there was the Caaba, the chief place of their Heathen Worship; the Sabians 
i Abul Faraghius, p. 184.  towards the North Star; and the Persian Idolaters, who held Fire and Light to be their chief Gods, 
k Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 148.  towards the East, because from thence the Sun did arise, which they held to be the chief Fountain of both. Mahomet from the beginning of his Imposture had directed his Disciples to pray 
l Abul Feda. Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Johannes Andreas, c. 6. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 175.  with their Faces towards Jerusalem, which he was used to call the holy City, and the City of the Prophets, and intended to have ordered his Pilgrimages thither, and to have made it the chief place where all his Sect were to worship. But now finding that his Followers still bore a superstitious veneration to the Temple of Mecca, which had for many Ages before been the chief place of the Idolatrous Worship of the Arabians, and that it would be a very prevalent Argument to reconcile his Fellow Citizens to him, if he still preserved their Temple in its former honour, he changed his former Law to serve his present purpose, and henceforth directed his Disciples to pray with their Faces towards 
m Alcoran, c. 2. Johannes Andreas, c. 2. etc. 6.  Mecca, and ordained the Temple of that place, which from its square form was called the Caaba (that word signifying a square in the Arabic Tongue) to be the chief place of worship for all of his Religion, to which they were still to perform their Pilgrimages as in former times. And to this Change he was the more inclined out of his aversion to the Jews, against whom having about this time contracted an irreconcilable hatred, he liked not any longer to conform with them in this Rite. And that his Followers might be distinguished from them in this particular, is the reason 
n Alcoran, c. 2.  which he himself gives for this change. However, 
o Johannes Andreas, c. 6.  many of his Disciples were much scandalised hereat, judging no truth nor stability in that Religion, which was so often given to change, and several left him thereon.  
From this time, the more to magnify the Temple of Mecca, and to give the greater honour and reputation thereto, have we all those Fabulous Stories invented, which the Impostor tells us concerning it. As that it was 
p Sharestani Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 115. Sionitae Appendix ad Geographiam Nubiensem c. 7.  first built in Heaven to be the place where the Angels were to worship, and that Adam worshipped at it while in Paradise; but being cast down from thence (for they place Paradise in Heaven) he prayed God, that he might have such a Temple on Earth, towards which he might pray, and go round it in holy worship unto him in the same manner as the Angels went round that which he had seen in Heaven: That thereon God sent down the similitude of that Temple in Curtains of Light, and pitched it at Mecca in the place where the Caaba now stands, which is, say they exactly under the Original, which is in Heaven: That there, after the death of Adam, Seth built it with Stones and Day; and that all the People of God there worshipped till the Flood, by which it being overthrown, God commanded Abraham again to rebuild it, having shown him the form of the Fabric in a Vision, and directed him to the place by his visible Shecinah residing on it: That accordingly 
q Alcoran, c. 2, 3, & 22. Al Jannabi in vita Abrahami Sharestani Zamach Shari ad cap. 2 dum Alcorani Sharisol. Edrisi. Liber Agar. Johannes Andreas, c. 1.  Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt it in the place where it now stands: And that Ishmael ever after, living at Mecca, there worshipped God with the true Worship; but his Posterity afterwards corrupted it with Idolatry, and profaned this holy Temple with Idols, from which he was now to purge it, and consecreate it anew to the true Worship of God, to which it was primitively intended. And he did not only thus retain the Temple of Mecca, but also the Pilgrimages thither, and all the absurd Rites which were performed at them in the times of Idolatry. For these being the things which long use had created a great veneration for in the minds of the Arabians, by adopting them all into his new Religion he made it go down the easier with them. And indeed this was the principal piece of his Craft, so to frame his new Religion in every particular, as would best take with those, to whom he proposed it.  
As to this Temple of Mecca, and what it was before Mahomet, all that is true of it, is this. It was an Heathen Temple in the same veneration among the Arabs that the Temple of Delphos was among the Greeks, whither all their 
r Sharestani Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 8, & 9 Makrisi Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 177, & 311.  Tribes for many Ages came once a year to perform their Idolatrous Ceremonies to their Gods, till at length Mahomet having forced them to exchange their Idolatry for another Religion altogether as bad, made this Temple also undergo the same change, by appointing it thenceforth to be the chief place for the performing of that false Worship, which he imposed, in the same manner, as it was before of that which he abolished, and so it hath continued ever since.  
This same Year he also appointed the Month of 
s Abul Faraghius p. 102. Alkodai.  Ramadan to be a Month of Fast. At his first coming to Medina, 
t Al Kazwini Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 309.  finding the Jews observing the celebration of their great Fast of the Expiation on the Tenth of their First Month, which is Tisri, he asked what it meant? and being told it was a Fast appointed by Moses, he replied, that he had more to do with Moses than they, and therefore ordained the Tenth day of Moharram, the First Month of the Arab Year, to be a solemn Fast with his Musslemen in imitation hereof, which by a name also borrowed from the Jews, he called Ashura, which is the same with the Hebrew Ashor, that is, the Tenth, it being the 
u Leviticus c. 16. v. 29. Misna in Tract. Yoma & Maimonides in Tract Yom. Kippur.  Tenth day of the Month Tisri on which this Fast of the Expiation was kept among them. And he did also at first adopt other of their Fasts into his Religion, hoping by these means to win them over unto him. But finding them still to oppose him all they could, and on all occasions to perplex him and his Followers with Questions and Difficulties about his Religion, which he could not find Answers for, and on the account hereof to disparage and deride him and his Imposture, he contracted that aversion and hatred against them, that he resolved to differ from them 
w Ebnol Athir.  in this too, as well as in the particular last mentioned; and therefore abolishing the said Fasts, which he had taken from them, in imitation of the Christian way, with whom about this time (it seems) he was very desirous to ingratiate himself, he appointed the whole Month of Ramadan to be as it were his Lent, or a continued time of solemn fasting. And this Year the Month of Ramadan beginning in the Month of March, it did now exactly fall in with the time of the Christian Lent. But the reason which he himself gives for his appointing of it was, because 
x Alcoran c. 2.  on this Month, as he pretends, the Alcoran first came down from Heaven to him, that is, that Chapter of it which he first published. Before it was a Month usually 
y Ebn Ahmed All Makrizi Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 175.  dedicated to Jollity and good Cheer among the Arabs, and while they intercalated the Year, always fell in the heat of Summer; and therefore it was called Ramadan, 
z Al Jauhari Ebnol Athir. Goliis notae ad Alfraganum p. 7. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 176.  because of the Ramado'l Har, i e. the vehemency of the heat, which then happened.  
The rest of this Year 
a Elmacin. Abul Faragius.  he spent in Predatory Excursions upon his Neighbours, robbing, plundering, and destroying all those that lived near Medina, who would not come in and embrace his Religion.  
The next Year he made War 
b Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1.  upon those Tribes of the Arabs, 
Heg. 3. June 24. A. D. 624.  which were of the Jewish Religion near him; and having taken their Castles, and reduced them under his Power, sold them all for Slaves, and divided their Goods among his Followers. He being exceedingly exasperated against Caab, one of their Rabbis, this War was principally undertaken for his sake, that he might take him 
c Elmacin. ●●.  and put him to death; but not being able to light on him in any of those Places which he had taken, he sent out Parties to search after him, ordering them to kill him wherever they should find him. The reason 
d Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. part. 1. c. 1. & Eutych. Vindicat p. 303, & 304.  of his bitter hatred against him was this. Caab was a very eminent Poet among the Arabians, and having a Brother called Bejair, that had turned Mahometan, he made a very Satyrical Poem upon him for this Change, wherein he so terribly galled the Impostor, that he could not bear it, but resolved to revenge the Affront with his destruction, if ever he could get him into his hands. For some time Caab escaped all the Snares which he laid for him; but after his power had increased so far, that the greater part of Arabia had submitted to him, he found he could be no longer safe, but by making his peace with him, and therefore to purchase it, came in unto him, and professed himself a Mahometan also. Hereon Mahomet bade him repeat that Poem which had so much offended him, which had did, putting the name of Abu Beker in every Verse, where formerly was the name of Mahomet; but this not doing, Mahomet would not give him his pardon, although at that time he did not take any advantage of his voluntary coming in unto him. Whereon putting his Wits to work, he had recourse to this farther Device for the obtaining of his security from him. For being informed that Mahomet had lately gotten a new Mistress, whom he exceedingly doted upon, and much regretted her absence from him while then abroad upon the Wars; the crafty Jew struck in with this Passion for the mollifying of him, and composed an excellent Poem in her commendation, which having repeated before him, he so took the heart of the old Lecher thereby, that he not only pardoned him, but also received him into the number of his particular Favourites, and made him one of his chief Confidents ever after. And as a mark of his Favour then bestowed on him the Cloak which he wore, which being kept by him out of an affected veneration to the Impostor, as an holy Relict, was afterwards bought by Moawias, when he came to the Empire, for Thirty thousand pieces of Gold, and was made the Robe which he and all his Successors of the House of Ommia constantly wore on all Solemn Occasions. And it's said of this Caab, that he afterwards became so intimate with the Impostor, that he took him into his greatest Secrets, even to that of the Imposture itself, in composing the Alcoran, for which his great Skill in the Arabic Language, and all other Learning then in use among them, exceedingly qualified him.  
Towards the end of this year happened the Battle of Ohud, which had like to have proved fatal to the Impostor. For 
e Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Faraghius p. 102.  Abu Sophian, to revenge the last Year's Affront, marched against him with an Army of Three thousand Foot, and Two hundred Horse; and having seized the Mountain of Ohud, 
f Geographia Nubiensis Clim. 2. part. 5.  which was only four miles distant from Medina, he so distressed that place from thence, that Mahomet was forced to hazard Battle to dislodge him from that Post, although he could make no more than a Thousand men to lead out against him. However, in the first Conflict he had the better, but at last being overborne by the number of the Enemy, he lost many of his men, and among them Hamza his Uncle, who bore the Standard, and was himself grievously wounded in several places, and had been slain, but that Tilhah, one of his Companions, and Nephew to Abu Beker, came in to his rescue, in which Action 
g Disputatio Christiani c. 5. with which compare Abul Faraghius p. 117. For there it is said Tilha had a lame Hand.  he received a wound in his Hand, which deprived him of the use of some of his Fingers ever after.  
To salve the Objections which were raised against him on this Defeat, he was much put to it. Some 
h Alcoran c. 3.  argued against him, How he that was a Prophet of God, and so much in his favour, as he pretended, could be overthrown in Battle by the Infidels. And others murmured as much for the loss of their Friends and Relations, who were slain in the Battle. To satisfy the former, he laid the cause of the overthrow on the Sins of some that followed him; and said, that for this reason God suffered them to be overthrown, that so the Good might be distinguished from the Bad, and those who were true Believers might on this occasion be discerned from those who were not. And to still the Complaints and Clamours of the latter, he invented his Doctrine of Fate and Destiny, telling them, that those who were slain in the Battle, though they had tarried at home in their Houses, must have died notwithstanding when they did, the time of every man's Life being predestinated and determined by God, beyond which no caution is able in the least to prolong it; That the Destiny of all is stated to an hour, which cannot be altered; and therefore those who were slain in the Battle, died no sooner than they must otherwise have done; but in that they died fight for the Faith, they gained the advantage of the Crown of Martyrdom, and the Rewards which were due thereto in Paradise, where he told them they were alive with God in Everlasting Bliss, which was of greater advantage than all the Treasures in the world could in this Life have been unto them: That they were there rejoicing very much, that they had laid down their Life so happily, as by thus fight in the Cause of God, and his Law, and were expressing among themselves exceeding gladness, that those who ran to hinder them from going to the Battle, met them not. Both which Doctrines he found so well to serve his turn, that he propagated them on all occasions after. And they have been the darling 
i Ricaut's History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire Book 2. Chap. 8.  Notions of all this Sect ever since, especially in their Wars, where certainly nothing can be more conducive to make them fight valiantly, than a settled Opinion, That whatever Dangers they expose themselves to, they cannot die either sooner or later than is otherwise unalterably predetermined that they must; and that, in case this predetermined time be come, in dying fight for their Religion, they shall obtain that happiness, as to become Martyrs thereby, and immediately enter into Paradise for the reward hereof.  
In the fourth Year of the Hegira he waged War 
k Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Faraghius p. 102.  with the Nadorites, 
Heg. 4. June 13. A. D. 625.  a Tribe of the Jewish Arabs in his Neighbour hood, whom he pressed so hard, that he forced them to leave their Castles; part of them retiring to Chaibor, a City belonging to those of their Religion; and part flying into Syria. Those later that fled into Syria, Mundir Ebn Omar with a party of the Men of Medina pursued after, and having overtaken them near the Borders of that Country, put them all to the Sword, excepting only one Man that escaped. With such Cruelty did those Barbarians first set up to fight for that Imposture, they had been deluded into. This same Year he fought the second Battle of Beder, and had many other Skirmishes with those who refused to submit to him, in which he had sometimes prosperous, and sometimes dubious Success.  
But while his Army was abroad on these Expeditions, some of his Principal Men engaging at Play and Drink, in the heat of their Cups fell a quarrelling, which raised such a disturbance among the rest of his Men, that they had like to have fallen all together by the Ears, to the confounding of him and all his designs; and therefore for the preventing of the like mischief for the future 
l Al Kodai Pocockii Specim Hist. Arab. p. 175. Alcoran, cap. 5.  he forbade the use of Wine, and all Games of Chance ever after. And to make his Prohibition the more influential, he backs it with a 
m Alcoran, cap. 2. Zamach Shori & Bidawi alii Commentatores ad illud caput. Dialogus Mahometis cum Abdollah. Richardi Confutatio Legis Saracenicae, c. 4. Cantacuzen. Orat. 2. Sect. 15. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 6. Guadagnol. Tract 2. c. 4. E libro Agar.  Fable of two Angels, called Arut and Marut, who he tells us were in times past sent down from Heaven to administer Justice, and teach men Righteousness in the Province of Babylon; That while they were there, a certain Woman coming to them for Justice, invited them home to Dinner, and set Wine before them, which God had forbidden them to drink; but being tempted by the pleasantness of the Liquor to transgress the Divine Command, they became so Drunk, that they tempted the Woman to lewdness; who promised to consent on condition that the one of them should first carry her to Heaven, and the other bring her back again. But the Woman being got to Heaven would not come back again, but declared to God the whole matter. Whereon for reward of her Chastity, she was made the Morning Star. And the Angels having this Option given them, whether they would be punished for their wickedness either now or hereafter, chose the former; whereon they were hung up by the Feet by an Iron-chain in a certain ` Pit near Babylon, where they are to continue suffering the Punishment of their Transgression till the Day of Judgement. And that for this reason, God forbade the use of Wine to all his Servants ever after. But 
n Epist. 3.  Busbequius, and out of him 
o History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire, Book 2. Chap. 25.  Ricaut give the reason of his forbidding the use of Wine from another occasion, which they thus relate, Mahomet making a Journey to a Friend of his, at Noon entered into his House, where there was a Marriage Feast, and sitting down with the Guests, he observed them to be very merry and jovial, kissing and embracing one another, which was attributed to the cheerfulness of their Spirits raised by the Wine, so that he blessed it as a sacred thing in being thus an Instrument of much Love among Men. But returning to the same House the next day, he beheld another face of things, as Gore-blood blood on the Ground, an Hand cut off, an Arm, Foot, and other Limbs dismembered; which he was told was the effect of the Brawls and Fight, occasioned by the Wine, which made them Mad, and inflamed them into a Fury thus to destroy one another. Whereon he changed his mind, and turned his former Blessing into a Curse, and forbade it ever after to all his Disciples. But he himself seems totally to refer the reason of the Prohibition to the Quarrel, which Wine and play at Games of Chance had caused among them. For in the 5th Chapter of the Alcoran, where he gives his Law concerning this matter; his words are, The Devil desires to sow Dissension and Hatred among you through Wine, and Games of Chance, to divert you from remembering God, and praying unto him. Abandon Wine and Games of Chance. Be obedient to God, and the Prophet his Apostle, and take heed to yourselves. The truth of the matter is, the Arabians 
p Ecchelensis, Hist. Arab. Part. 1. c. 5. Richardi Confutatio, c. 8.  were given to drink Wine to great excess, when they could come by it, and being of an hot Temper, as living most of them within the Torrid Zone, were liable to be inflamed by it into the highest Disorders; and this Mahomet having had sufficient experience of, particularly in the dangerous Instance I have mentioned, did in respect of his Arabians, prudently enough provide against the like mischief for the future by thus taking away the Cause from whence it did flow.  
The next Year was the War of the Ditch, 
Heg. 5. June 2. A. D. 627.  where Mahomet was in great danger of being totally ruined. For the Men of Mecca having entered into Confederacy with several of the Tribes of the Jewish Arabians, to whom he had declared himself a mortal Enemy 
q Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Faraghius, p. 102. , marched against him under the Command of Joseph, the Brother of Abu Sophian, with an Army of ten thousand Men. Mahomet marched forth to meet them, but being terrified with their number by the advice of Abdollah Ebn Salem, the Persian Jew abovementioned, (whom Elmacinus calls Salman) fortified himself with a Deep Ditch, within which Entrenchment the Enemy besieged him many days, which time the crafty Impostor employed to corrupt over to his Interest their Leading-men. In which attempt having succeeded with some of them, he did by their means sow such Dissensions among the rest, as soon extricated him from all this danger he was fallen into, which happened on this occasion. There was then in the Enemy's Camp, 
r Ecchelensis, Hist. Arab. Part 1. c. 3. Abul Faraghius, p. 102.  Amrus Ebn Abdud, an Eminent Korashite, and Uncle to Ali, who having the Reputation of being the best Horseman in Arabia, to show his Manhood while the two Armies lay thus idle against each other, road up to Mahomet's Trenches, and challenged any of his Army to fight with him in a single Combat. Ali, although his Nephew, accepts the Challenge, and having slain Amrus, and also another that came to his assistance, those whom Mahomet's Instruments had wrought into a Dissension from the rest took this opportunity 
s Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1.  to desert the Camp, and march home. Whose Example the rest in this Consternation following, the whole Army broke up and separated. And so this War, from which so much was expected, ended in nothing, but the loss of six Men on Mahomet's side, and three on the other.  
But though the Enemy could make no use of the advantage they had, yet 
t Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1.  Mahomet knew how to make the best of that which they gave him by this Retreat. And therefore immediately marching after the Cozaites, one of the Jewish Tribes confederated against him, besieged them in their Fortresses, and forced them to surrender at Mercy to Saad Ebn Maad, one of his chief Commanders. But he being sore of a Wound he had received at the War of the Ditch, in revenge thereof caused the Men, and among them Hahib Ebn Atab, their chief Commander, to be put to the Sword, and the Women and Children to be sold for Slaves, and all their Goods to be given for a Prey unto his Soldiers; and as soon as this was executed, died himself of the Wound, which he had thus cruelly revenged.  
In the sixth Year he subdued 
u Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 1.  the Lahianites, 
Heg. 6. May 23. A. D. 627.  the Mustalachites, and several other Tribes of the Arabs. The Mustalachites were of the Posterity of the Chozaites, whom Cosa expelled out of Mecca. 
w Abul Feda Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 42.  Mahomet having overthrown them in Battle, slew most of the Men according to his bloody manner, and took their Wives and Children Captives, among whom finding Juweira, the Daughter of Hareth, a Woman of excellent Beauty, 
x Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1.  he fell in Love with her, and took her to him to Wife, and for her sake released all of her Kindred that were found among the Captives.  
And now the Impostor after so many advantages obtained in his Wars, being much increased in strength 
y Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1. , marched his Army against Mecca, and at Hadibia, a place near that City, on the Road from thence to Jodda, a Battle was fought between them, the consequence of which was, that neither side gaining any advantage over the other, they there agreed on a Truce for ten Years. The Conditions of which were, That all within Mecca, who were for Mahomet might have liberty to join themselves to him; and on the other side, Those with Mahomet, who had a mind to leave him, and return to their Houses in Mecca, might also have the same liberty. But for the future, if any of the Citizens of Mecca should go over to Mahomet without the Consent of the Governor of the City, he should be bound on remand to render them unto him. And that if Mahomet, or any of his Party had a mind to come into the City, they might have liberty so to do at any time during the Truce, provided they came unarmed in a peaceable way, and tarried not above three days at a time.  
By this Truce, Mahomet being very much confirmed in his Power, took on him 
z Elmacin, ib.  thenceforth the Authority of a King, and was inaugurated by the Chief Men of his Army under a Tree near Medina, which immediately (it seems cursed by the Authority given so wicked an Impostor under it) withered away and perished, which the Mahometans themselves relate, but make another Interpretation of it.  
On Mahomet's having thus made Truce with the Men of Mecca, and thereby obtained free access for any of his Party to come into that City; he thenceforth ordained them to make their 
a Al Kodai. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 175.  Pilgrimages thither, which have ever since with so much Religion been observed by all of his Sect once every Year. This was an Ancient Rite of the Heathen Arabs, it having been a constant Usage 
b Vide supra ad Annum Hegerae secundum.  among them for many Ages foregoing to come once a Year to the Temple of Mecca, there to worship their Heathen Deities. The time of this their Pilgrimage 
c Sharestani Makrizi Goliis notae ad Alfraganum, p. 8 & 9 Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 177.  was in the Month of Dulhagha; and on the tenth Day of that Month was their great Festival, in which the chiefest Solemnities of their Pilgrimage were performed, and therefore it was called Aid all Cabir, i e. the great Feast; and also, because these Solemnities did chiefly consist in offering up Sacrifices and Oblations, Aid all Korban, that is, The Feast of Oblation; and the whole Solemnity, All Hagha, i e. The Solemn Festival, in the same Sense as the Hebrew word Chag, from which it is derived, signifieth any of the three Solemn Festivals, on which the Jews were thrice every Year to appear before the Lord at the Temple of Jerusalem. And from hence the Month in which this Festival falls, is called among them Dulhagha, which is as much as to say, The Month of the Solemn Festival. And that all might have free liberty safely to come to this Festival from all Parts of Arabia, and again safely return, was the reason that not only this Month, but also the preceding and following were held Sacred among them, in which it was not lawful to use any Act of Hostility against any Man, as I have afore shown. And therefore this Solemn Pilgrimage to Mecca having been a Religious Usage, which all the Tribes of the Arabs had long been devoted to, and was had in great Veneration among them, Mahomet thought not fit to ruffle them with any Innovation in this matter, but adopting it into his Religion, retained it just in the same manner as he found it practised among them with all the ridiculous Rites appendent thereto, and so it is observed even unto this day by all of that Religion, as one of the Fundamental Duties of it. For the Crafty Impostor taught them concerning it (as he did of all the other Heathen Rites of the Arabs, which he found necessary to retain) that it was a Command from God to Abraham and Ishmael, annually to observe this Pilgrimage to Mecca; and that it was given unto them on their rebuilding the Caaba; and that at first it was only used to the Honour of God, in the coming of all the Arabs thither once every Year, there to worship together before him in one Holy Assembly, in the same manner as the Jews were after commanded thrice every Year to worship before him in their three Solemn Festivals at Jerusalem: But that in process of time it became perverted to Idolatry, from which he was now commanded again to restore it to its primitive use. And in the making of this Establishment, he had no small respect to his Native City, that he might preserve to it the same benefit of this Pilgrimage, which it had before so long enjoyed. And in thus providing for the Interest of that People in the very Religion, which he was a framing, he thought he might the easier prevail to draw them over unto it. And in this he was not mistaken. For had he totally abolished this Pilgrimage, it being the greatest Honour and Benefit which that place enjoyed, and by which indeed it did mostly subsist; their Interest would have engaged them to that vigorous Opposition against him, that in all likelihood he would never have become Master of that City, and for want thereof have miscarried in the whole Design.  
And now being thus established in the Sovereignty, 
Heg. 7. May 11. A. D. 628.  which he had been so long driving at, he took to him all the Insignia belonging thereto; but so that still he retained the Sacred Character of Chief Pontiff of his Religion as well as the Royal, which he had now invested himself with, and transmitted them both together to all his Successors, who by the Title of Caliph's reigned after him; so that they were in the same manner as the Jewish Princes of the Race of the Maccabees, Kings and Chief Priests of their People at the same time. Their Pontifical Authority chiefly consisted in giving the Interpretation of the Mahometan Law, in ordering all Matters of Religion, and also in officiating in the Duties of it themselves, as well in Praying as Preaching in their Public Mosques, as on all more Solemn Occasions they were used to do. And at length this was all the Authority the Caliph's were left possessed of, they being totally stripped of all the rest, first by the Governors of the Provinces, 
d Elmacin, lib. 3. cap. 1. Abul Faraghius, etc. , (who about the Year of the Hegera, 325. assumed the Regal Authority to themselves, and made themselves Kings each in their particular Governments) and after by others, who rose up on this Distraction of the Empire to usurp upon them, till at last they left them nothing else but that Name and Shadow of what they had afore been. For although those Princes still paid some Deference to the Caliph, as to a Sacred Person, (in the same manner as is now paid to the Pope of Rome by the Princes of his Communion) and suffered him to be prayed for through all the Mosques of their Dominions, and his Name to be inserted in the Public Offices, even before their own, as if they had still been no more than his Lieutenants in the Government, as in former times; yet as to all things relating to the Government of their particular States they disowned all manner of Obedience unto him, and often deposed him, and put another in his stead, as they thought would best suit with their Interest, which was usually done according as this Prince or that Prince made themselves Masters of Bagdat, the City where the Caliph resided, till at length the Tartars came in, and in that Deluge of Destruction, with which they did overrun all the East, put a total end to their 
e Abul Faraghius, p▪ 339.  very Name and Being, as well as their Authority. Ever since that time, most Mahometan Princes have a particular Officer appointed in their Respective Dominions, who sustains this Sacred Authority formerly invested in the Caliph's, who in Turkey is called the Mufti, and in Persia the Sadre; but they being under the Power of the Princes that appoint them, are most an end made use of for no other purpose, but as Tools of State to serve their Interest, and make the Law speak what at any time they shall judge most agreeable to it, how wicked and unjust soever it be.  
As soon as Mahomet had finished his Mosque at Medina; he always, if on the place, officiated in it himself both in Praying, and also in Preaching to the People; for which he had no other convenience at first than a piece of a Beam, or the Stump of a Palmtree droven into the Ground, on the top of which he leaned when he did officiate. But being now invested with the Supreme Authority, he thought this too mean an accommodation for his Dignity; and therefore by the advice of one of his Wives caused a Pulpit to be built for him, which had two Steps up into it, and a Seat within to sit on; and this the Impostor ever after made use of, leaving his Beam. And those, who writing of Mahomet's Miracles, tell us among others, That a Beam groaned at him 
f Al Gazal●, Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 188. , mean this Beam which they say groaned at Mahomet's leaving of it, thereby expressing its grief for being thus deserted. Othman Ebn Affan, when he came to be Caliph, hung his Pulpit with Tapestry, and Moawias advanced it higher adding six Steps more to it. For being 
g Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 7. Eutychius, Tom. 2. p. 360. Abul Faraghius, p. 124.  so exceeding Fat that he could not stand while he officiated, as all his Predecessors had done, he was forced to sit when he preached to the People; and therefore that he might be the better heard, he raised the Pulpit to this height, and so it now remains in that Mosque at Medina even to this day.  
This Year he lead forth his Army 
h Abul Faraghius, p. 102. Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 1.  against Chaibar, a City inhabited by Arabs of the Jewish Religion, who being overthrown by him in Battle, he besieged their City and took it by Storm. And here those, who are the magnifiers of Ali, tell this Miracle of him, that in the Assault, Sampson-like, he plucked up one of the Gates of the City, (which was of that weight, saith Abul Feda, that eight other Men could not move it) and held it before him for a Shield to defend himself against the besieged, till the City was taken. On Mahomet's entering the Town, he took up his Quarters in the House of Horeth, one of the Principal Inhabitants of the Place, whose Daughter 
i Abul Feda. Al Kodai. Al Jannabi. Disputatio Christiani, c. 8. Richardi Confutatio, c. 13. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 189, 190.  Zainab making ready a Shoulder of Mutton for his Supper, poisoned it. And here those, who are for ascribing Miracles to Mahomet, tell us, That the Shoulder of Mutton spoke to him, and discoursed that it was poisoned; but it seems, if it did so, it was too late to do him any good. For Basher, one of his Companions falling on too greedily to eat of it, fell down dead on the place. And although Mahomet had not immediately the same fate; because not liking the taste, he spit out again what he had taken into his Mouth, yet he let down enough to do his business. For he was never well after this Supper, and at three Years end died of it. The Maid being asked, Why she did this; answered, That she had a mind to make trial, whether he were a Prophet or no. For were he a Prophet, said she, he would certainly know that the Meat was poisoned; and therefore would receive no harm from it; but if he were not a Prophet, she thought she should do the World good Service in ridding it of so wicked a Tyrant.  
After this 
k Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1.  he reduced under his subjection Beder, Watiha, and Selalima, which were also Towns belonging to the Jewish Arabs, who rendered to him on Articles; and these were that they should continue in their former Habitations, paying for Tribute one half of the income of their Date-trees every year; but to be at his discretion to expel them when he should think fit. Under the protection of which Agreement they still retained their former Possessions, and dwelled in them without any disturbance till the Reign of Omer, who pretending that Mahomet had given charge in his last Sickness not to permit two Religions in Arabia, drove them all out.  
The Impostor by those many Acquisitions having now increased his strength to an Army of Ten thousand men, 
Heg. 8. April 30. A. D. 629.  resolved to make himself Master of Mecca, and therefore pretending they had broken the Truce, 
l Abul Faraghius p. 103. Elmacinus lib. 1. c. 1.  marched suddenly upon them, before they were aware of his Design; and therefore being totally unprovided in that Surprise to put themselves into a posture of defence against him, they found themselves necessitated to yield unto him. Whereon Abu Sophian taking with him All Abbess, one of the Uncles of the Impostor (who although of his Religion, had it seems tarried still at Mecca) went out unto him, and by turning Mahometan, saved his life; and the City, without any opposition, was rendered to him at discretion. On his entry into it having put to death such as had been most violent against him, all the rest, without any further opposition, submitted unto him, and embraced his Religion. And therefore having thus made himself absolute Master of the place, he immediately set himself to purge the Caaba of its Idols, and consecrate that Temple anew to his Religion, as having resolved still to continue it in its pristine honour, by making it the chief place of Worship for all of his Sect. There 
m Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. pag. 95, 96, 97, 98.  were a multitude of Idols within the Temple, and as many without, standing round its Area, all which Mahomet caused to be pulled down and destroyed, and the place to be totally cleared of them. The chief among those Idols were those of Abraham and Ishmael within the Temple, and that of Hoball without. The rest were of Angels and Prophets, and others of their principal Saints departed, whom they worshipped only as Mediators, in the same manner as the Romanists now do their Saints, and the Images which they erect unto them. For the Arabians always held that there was 
n Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. pag. 107, & 108.  but one only God the Creator and Governor of all things, whom they called Allah Tuall, i e. the Supreme God, and God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, whom they durst never represent by any Image. But being (as they held) so great and high, as not to be approached to by men while here on Earth, but through the mediation of Advocates or Intercessors interposing for them unto him in Heaven; That Angels and Holy men beatified might perform this Office for them, was the reason that they set up their Images, and built them Temples, and directed their Worship and Devotions unto them. And in this did consist the whole of the Arabian Idolatry, which Mahomet now by destroying these Idols put a total end unto.  
As soon as it was heard among the Neighbouring Arabs, that Mahomet had made himself Master of Mecca, the 
o Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1.  Hawazins, the Thakifians, and several other Tribes, immediately gathered together under the Command of Mehi Ebn Auf, to fall upon him, before he should increase his Power any further. Hereon Mahomet appointing Gayat Ebn Asad to be Governor of Mecca, marched out against them with Twelve thousand men. In the Valley of Honaina, which lieth between Mecca and Tayif, both Armies met, and in the first Encounter Mahomet 
p Zamach Shari and Bidawi on the 9th Chapter of the Alcoran.  was beaten, though much superior to the Enemy in number, and driven back to the Walls of Mecca, 
q Alcoran chap. 9  which he ascribes to the overconfidence of his men in their numbers; which causing them to neglect their Enemy, did thereby give them this advantage over them. But the Impostor 
r Bidawi & Zamach Shari ib.  having gathered up his scattered Forces, and rallied them again into a Body, acted more cautiously in the second Conflict, and then, 
s Alcoran c. 9  as he saith, by the help of invisible Troops of Angels (which are reckoned by some Commentators on the Alcoran, to be Eight thousand), and by others to be Sixteen thousand) gave his Enemies such a total defeat, 
t Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1.  that he took from them their Baggage, with their Wives and Children, and all their Substance, which consisted mostly of great Flocks of Sheep, and Herds of dattle. For these being of the Nomad Arabs, it was their Custom to carry their Wives and Children, and all that they had with them, wherever they moved. After this Battle, these People sent Ambassadors unto him to pray the restoration of their Wives and Children, to whom Mahomet gave this Option, to choose which they would have again restored unto them, either their Wives and Children, or their Goods: Whereon they having chosen their Wives and Children, Mahomet divided all their Goods which he had taken from them among his Soldiers. Only Melic Ebn Auf, their General, now he saw his Power was such as no more to be resisted, came in and embraced his Religion, and thereon had all his Goods again restored unto him.  
The remaining part of the Year 
u Pocockii Hist. Arab. p. 91, & 92.  was spent in demolishing the Heathen Temples, and destroying their Idols in all places through Arabia, where his Power reached. To which purpose several of his Commanders being sent out with Parties, Saad destroyed the Idol of Menah, Chalid that of All Uzza, and the Temple of Bossa built thereto, and others the rest of them. So that this Year proved very fatal to the Idols of the Arabs, they being most of them now destroyed, and the former Worshippers of them forced to submit to Mahomet, and embrace his Imposture.  
And now having brought most parts of Arabia under his Power, 
Heg. 9 April 20. A. D. 630.  the ensuing Year 
w Abul Faraghius, p. 103. Elmacinus lib. 1. c. 1.  he turned his Arms towards Syria, and possessed himself of Tabuc, a Town belonging to the Greek Empire, and from thence falling on the Princes of Dauman and Eyla, forced them to become Tributaries unto him, and then returned to Medina in the Month Rajeb. While he was absent on this Expedition, the Tayifians, whom he had begun to besiege the former Year, being much pressed by some of his Lieutenants, whom he had committed the prosecution of that War unto, were forced to submit and embrace his Imposture, which they had afore been so averse unto; of which he having received an account on his return, he sent thither Abu Sophian to disarm them of all their Weapons and Instruments of War, and appointed Othman Ebn Abulas to be their Governor. And this was the last Year in which he went to the War.  
And now the Power of the Impostor being much increased, 
Heg. 10. April 9 A. D. 631.  the fame of it so terrified the rest of the Arabs, which had not yet felt his Arms, 
x Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Feda.  that they all came in and submitted to him, and embraced his Imposture. So that this Year his Empire and his Religion became established together through all Arabia, and he sent his Lieutenants into all parts of it to govern in his Name, who destroying the Idol Temples, and all other the remains of the Arabian Idolatry wherever they came, set up his new-invented Religion in its stead, and forced all men by the power of the Sword to conform thereto.  
The greatest part of this Year being spent in ordering and settling these Matters, 
y Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Feda Abul Faraghius p. 103.  towards the end of it Mahomet took a Journey in Pilgrimage to Mecca, and entered thither on the Tenth day of Dulhagha, which is the great day of that Solemnity, where a great concourse of people resorted to him from all parts of Arabia, whom he instructed in his Law, and then returned again to Medina. This Pilgrimage of his is by his Followers called the Pilgrimage of Valediction, because it was the last which he made.  
But although he was arrived to this height, yet he wanted not Opposers, who gave him great disturbance in this his new acquired Empire. For several others seeing how he had advanced himself to be a great King, by pretending to be a Prophet, thought to do so too. 
z Abul Faraghius p. 103. Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1, & 2. Disputatio Christiani cap. 17.  Among whom the Chief was Moseilema, who set himself up with this Pretence in the City of Tamama, and gathering a great Company after him, preached to them, That he was associated with Mahomet in the Prophetic Office, and sent with the same Commission to reduce them from Idolatry to the true Woship of God; and in order thereto he also published his Alcoran among them. For which reason the Mahometans call him the Lying Mosoilema, and speak of him always with detestation. However he increased to a very considerable Power, leading a great Army after him. 
a Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1, & 2.  And at the same time Aswad started up in Hamyar, or the Country of the Homerites, with the same Pretence, and seized on Sanaa, Nasra, and Tayif. And after him Taluha, and others, thought to have played the same Game, but could not hit on the same Success, being all in their turns subdued and brought to nothing. But this Work Mahomet not being able to undertake himself, was forced to leave it to his Successor.  
For after his return 
b Abul Faraghius p. 103. Elmacin lib. 1. c. ●. Eutychius Tom. 2. p. 251. Abul Feda All Jannabi All Kodai Sharestani, etc. Heg. 11. March 28. A. D. 632.  to Medina from his late Pilgrimage, he began daily to decline through the force of that Poison, which he had taken three years before at Caibar, which still working in him, at length brought him so low, as forced him on the 28th day of Saphar (the second Month of their Year) to take his Bed, and on the twelfth day of the following Month he died, after having been Sick thirteen days. The beginning of his Sickness was a slow Fever, which at length made him delirious, whereon 
c Bochari. Sharestani. Al Jannabi Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 178, 179.  he called for Pen, Ink, and Paper, telling them that he would dictate a Book to them, which should keep them from erring after his Death. But Omar would not admit this, saying, the Alcoran sufficeth, and that the Prophet, through the greatness of his Malady knew not what he said. But others, who were present, were of another mind, and expressed a great desire, that the Book might be wrote, which their Prophet spoke to them of, whereon a Contention arose between them, some being of Omar's mind, and some of the contrary, at which Mahomet taking offence, bid them all be gone, telling them, That it did not become them thus to contend in his presence. So the Book was not wrote, the loss of which was afterwards lamented by some of his Followers as a great Calamity to their Cause.  
During his Sickness 
d Abul Feda Ebnol Athir Ebn Phares All Jannabi. , he much complained of the bit which he had taken at Caibar, telling those that came to visit him, That he had felt the Torments of it in his Body ever since; that at times it brought on him very dolorous Pains, and that then it was going to break his very Heartstrings. And when among others, there came to see him the Mother of Bashar, who died on the spot of that Poison, 
e Al Jannabi Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 190.  He cried out, O Mother of Bashar, the Veins of my Heart are now breaking of the bit which I eat with your Son at Chaibar. So it seems notwithstanding the intimacy he pretended with the Angel Gabriel, and the continual Revelations, which he bragged that he received from him, he could not be preserved from thus perishing, by the Snares of a silly Girl.  
On his Death there was great Confusion among his Followers. Many of them 
f Abul Feda Sharestani All Jannabi Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 179.  would not believe that he could dye. For, said they, how can he dye since he is to be a Witness to God for us? It cannot be so, he is not dead, but is only taken away for a season, and will return again, as did Jesus. And therefore they went to the Door of the House, where the dead Corpse lay, crying out, Do not Bury him, for the Apostle of God is not dead. And Omar being of the same mind, drew his Sword, and swore, that if any one should say, That Mahomet was dead, he would immediately cut him in pieces. For (said he) the Apostle of God is not dead, but only gone for a season; as Moses, the Son of Amran, was gone from the People of Israel for forty Days, and then returned to them again. For the composing of this Disorder, Abu Beker came in, crying out unto them, Do you worship Mahomet, or the God of Mahomet? If you worship the God of Mahomet, he is Immortal and liveth for ever; but as to Mahomet, he certainly is dead. And then from several Passages in the Alcoran, he proved that he must dye as well as other Men. Which having satisfied Omar and his Party, they then all took it for granted, that Mahomet was dead, and no more to return to Life again till the general Resurrection of all Mankind. What goes so current among us, as if the Mahometans expected Mahomet again to return to them here on Earth, is totally an Error. There is no such Doctrine among them, nor are there any of them, that ever fancied such a thing, since the time that Omar was convinced of his mistake herein.  
But this disorder was no sooner appeased 
g Abul Faraghius, p. 103. Ahmed Ebn Yusef Abul Feda Sharestani Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 180. , but another arose to a much greater heat about his Burial. The Mohagerins, that is, those who accompanied him in his Flight from Mecca, would have him carried thither to be buried in the place where he was Born. The Ansars, that is, those of Medina, who joined with him, would have him buried there where he died. And there were others, who had a fancy to have him carried to Jerusalem, and there buried among the Sepulchers of the Prophets. For that, said they, was the City of the Prophets. And while each Party strove to have their own way complied with, the Contest grew so high, that they had like to have all gone together by the Ears; but that the wisdom of Abu Beker composed this matter also. For he coming in, told them, that he had often heard from the Prophet himself, that Prophets were to be buried in the place where they died. And then without more ado commanded the Bed whereon he lay to be plucked out, and a Grave to be immediately dug under it, to which all consented, and there they buried him forthwith in the place where he died, which was in the Chamber of Ayesha, his best beloved Wife at Medina, and there he lieth to this day without Iron-Coffin or Lodestones to hang him in the Air, as the Stories which commonly go about of him among Christians fabulously relate. There was indeed 
h Plinius, lib. 34. c. 14.  one Dinocrates, a famous Architect, that had a device by building the Dome of the Temple of Arsinoe at Alexandria, of Loadstone, to make her Image all of Iron hang in the middle of it, as if it were in the Air; but there was no such attempt ever made as to Mahomet's Carcase. For that being buried in the manner, as I have related, hath lain in the same place without being moved or disturbed ever since, only they have built over it 
i Appendix ad Geographiam Nubiensem cap. 8. Thevenot part. 1. Book 2. chap. 21.  a small Chapel, which joineth to one of the Corners of the chief Mosque of that City, which was the first that was ever erected to that impious Superstition, Mahomet himself being the first Founder of it, as hath been afore related. Here such Pilgrims, as think fit, on their return from Mecca call in to pay their Devotions, but there is no Obligation from their Law for it. The Pilgrimage which that enjoins being to be performed to the Caaba at Mecca, and not to the Tomb of the Impostor at Medina, as some have erroneously related.  
And thus ended the Life of this wicked Impostor 
k Eutychius Tom. 2. p. 251 Elmacin lib. 1. c. 1. Abul Faraghius, p. 103. Abul Feda All Jannabi All Kodai, etc. , being full Sixty three years old on the day in which he died, that is, according to the Arabian Account, which make only sixty one of our Years. For twenty three years he had taken upon him to be a Prophet, of which he lived thirteen at Mecca, and ten at Medina. During which time, from very mean beginnings, he arose by the impulse of his Ambition, and the sagaciousness of his Wit to that height, as to make one of the greatest Revolutions that ever happened in the World, which immediately gave Birth to an Empire, which in Eighty years' time extended its Dominions over more Kingdoms and Countries, than ever the Roman could in Eight hundred. And although it continued in its strength not much above Three hundred Years, yet out of its Ashes have sprung up many other Kingdoms and Empires, of which there are three at this day, the largest, and most Potent upon the face of the Earth, I mean the Empire of Turkey, the Empire of Persia, and the Empire of the Mogul in India, which God hath permitted of his All wise-providence still to continue for a Scourge unto us Christians, who having received so Holy, and so Excellent a Religion through his mercy to us in Jesus Christ our Lord, will not yet conform ourselves to live worthy of it.  
He 
l Elmacin. lib 1. c. 1. Abunazar. Abul Feda. Al Kodai. Schikardi Tarich, p. 32.  was as to his Person of a proper Stature, and comely Aspect, and affected much to be thought to resemble Abraham. He had a very piercing and sagacious Wit. And for the accomplishing of the Design which he undertook was thoroughly vested in all the Arts, whereby to insinuate into the favour of Men, and wheedle them over to serve his purposes, to which he chiefly owed the success of his undertaking.  
For the first part of his Life 
m Bartholomaeus Edessenus. Disputatio Christiani, etc.  he led a very wicked and licentious Course, much delighting in Rapine, Plunder, and Bloodshed, according to the usage of the Arabs, who mostly followed this kind of Life, being almost continually in Arms one Tribe against another, to plunder and take from each other all they could. However the Mahometans would have us believe, That he was a Saint from the fourth year of his Age. For then 
n Liber de Generatione & nutritura Mahometis. Johannes Andreas, c. 1. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 1. Guadagnol. p. 169. E●libro Agar. Ecchilensis Hist. Arab. Part 1. c. 23.  say they, The Angel Gabriel took him from among his Fellows, while at play with them, and carrying him aside, cut open his Breast, and took out his Heart, and wrung out of it that black drop of Blood in which, say they, was contained the Foams peccati, so that he had none of it ever after. And yet in the Forty eighth Chapter of his Alcoran, he brings in God giving him a large Charter of Pardon for all his Sins past and to come.  
His two predominant Passions were Ambition and Lust. The course which he took to gain Empire, abundantly shows the former; and the multitude of Women which he had to do with, proves the later. And indeed these two run through the whole Frame of his Religion, there being scarce a Chapter in his Alcoran, which doth not lay down some Law of War and Bloodshed for the promoting of the one; or else give some liberty for the use of Women here, or some promise for the enjoyment of them hereafter to the gratifying of the other.  
While Cadigha lived, (which was till the fiftieth year of his Age) I do not find that he took any other Wife. For she being the rise and foundation of his Fortunes, it seems he durst not displease her, by bringing in another Wife upon her. But she was no sooner dead, but he multiplied them to a great 
o Appendix ad Geographiam Nubiensem, c. 8. Johannes Andreas, c. 7. Bellonius, lib. 3. etc.  number; besides several Concubines which he had. They that say the fewest, allow him to have married 
p Abul Feda. Al Kodai. Almed Ebn Yusef.  Fifteen, but others reckon them to have been 
q Vide, Gentium in notis ad Musladinum Sadum, p. 568.  one and twenty, of which five died before him, six he repudiated, and ten were alive at his Death. But the tenth, with whom he contracted but a little before his Sickness, was never brought home to his House. The Names of the other nine were, Ayesha, the Daughter of Abu Beker; Haphsa, the Daughter of Omar; Zewda, the Daughter of Zoma; Zainab, the Daughter of Hasheth; Sephia, the Daughter of Hai; Em Selema, Em Haliba, and Maimacna.  
Ayesha, the Daughter of Abu Beker, was his best beloved Wife. He married her very young, as hath been before related; and although she was a very wanton Woman, and▪ 
r Disputatio Christiani, c. 6. Commentatores in Alcorani, c. 24.  given to hold amorous Intriqus with other Men, and on that account Mahomet was moved to put her away; yet his love to her was such that he could not part with her. But to salve her Reputation, and his own in keeping her, the Twenty fourth Chapter of the Alcoran was composed, and brought forth as sent from God to declare her Innocent; wherein he tells his Muslemans', That this Charge against her was an Imposture, and an impudent Lie, and forbids them any more to speak of it, threatening a severe Curse, both in this Life, and that which is to come, against all those who should accuse of Immodesty, Women chaste, Innocent, and Faithful. Mahomet marrying her young, took care to have her bred up 
s Appendix ad Geographiam Nubiensem, c. 8.  in all the Learning then going in Arabia, especially in the Elegancy of their Language, and the Knowledge of their Antiquities, and she became one of the most accomplished Ladies of her time in that Country. She was a 
t Disputatio Christiani, c. 6. Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 4. Abul Faraghius, Abul Feda, etc.  bitter Enemy to Ali, he being the Person that discovered her Incontinency to Mahomet, and therefore employed all the Interest she had on every Vacancy, that after happened, to hinder him from being chosen Caliph, although, as Son in-Law to the Impostor, he had the fairest pretence thereto; and when at last, after having been thrice put by, he attained that Dignity, she appeared in Arms against him; and although she prevailed not that way, yet she proved his ruin by causing that Defection from him, which at length was the undoing of him and all his House. She 
u For she died the Fifty eighth Year of the Hegira, Elmacin. lib. 1. c. 7.  lived Forty eight Years after the Death of Mahomet, and was in great Reputation with her Sect, being called by them the Prophetess, and the Mother of the Faithful. And in most points of difficulty concerning their Law, they had recourse to her, to know what had been the Sense of the Impostor while alive, in the particular doubted of; and whatsoever Answer she gave, went for an 
w Johannes Andreas, c. 3.  Authentic Tradition among them ever after. For all their Traditions, which compose their Sonnah, are pretended to be derived either from her, or some of Mahomet's ten Companions, that is, those ten who first came in unto them. But her Testimony to a Tradition is reckoned the most Authentic; and next her, that of Abdorrahman Ebn Auf. For 
x Gentius in notis ad Musladinum Sadum, p. 578.  being of all others, the most familiarly Conversant with the Impostor all the time that Scene of Delusion was acting by him, and a Person of extraordinary Memory; he was most confided in for the giving of an exact account of all his Sayings and Doings relating to his Religion, and there are reckoned no fewer than 5340 Traditions among them which are built upon his Authority only. This Abdorrahman is also called Abu Hareira, that is, the Father of a Cat, which Name Mahomet gave him for the fondness he had for a Cat, which he was used most an end to carry with him in his Bosom wherever he went. For it is usual in the Arabic Tongue when a Man is remarkable for any one particular thing, thus to express it by calling him the Father of it. 
y Bochartus in Hierozoico.  And so Chalid, who was Mahomet's Host when he first came to Medina, was for his remarkable patience, called Abu Job, that is, the Father of Job, or of the Patience of Job. And this is that Job, 
z Elmacin, lib. 1. c. 7.  who dying at the Siege of Constantinople, when besieged by the Saracens, was there buried under the Walls of the City, and hath his Tomb there to be seen even to this day, 
a Ricaut's History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire, Book 1. Chap. 2. Smith's Brief Description of Constantinople.  where all the Grand Signiors go forth to be inaugurated, when they first take upon them the Regal Authority.  
Haphsa, the Daughter of Omar, was next to 
b Johannes Andreas, c. 7.  Ayesha, most in favour with him, and her he entrusted with the keeping of the Chest of his Apostleship, wherein were laid up all the Original Papers of his pretended Revelations, out of which the Alcoran was composed, as hath been already said; and the Original Copy of that Book, 
c Abul Feda. Hottingeri Bibliotheca Orientalis, c. 2. Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 362.  Abu Beker, after the finishing of it, delivered also unto her to be kept in the same Chest, which proves the mistake of Johannes Andreas 
d De confusione Sectae Mahometanae, cap. 2. , in assigning the keeping of this Chest to Ayesha. For it is not likely that Abu Beker would have dispossessed his own Daughter of this Office, which was so honourable among them, had she first been entrusted with it by the Impostor. Haphsa was much the elder Woman, and for that reason probably preferred to this Trust. For when she died, which was towards the later end of the Reign of Othman, she was sixty six Years 
e Gentius in Notis ad Musladinum Sadum, pag. 568.  old, and therefore must have been at the Death of the Impostor, at least forty Years old, when Ayesha was not fully twenty.  
Sewda was in least favour with him of any of his Wives 
f Gentius in notis ad Musladinum Sadum, p. 568. , and he intended to have put her away; but she earnestly desired him that she might still have the Reputation and Honour of being his Wife, promising him, if he would grant her this, she would be content no more to lie with him, but to give her turn always to Ayesha, which condition he willingly accepted of out of that great love which he had for Ayesha, and so permitted her to continue in his House as long as he lived.  
Zainab, was first the Wife of Zeyd, his enfranchised Slave, who being a Woman of great Beauty 
g Al Jannabi. Abul Feda. Al Kodai. Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 182. Richardi confutatio, c. 8. Disputatio Christiani, c. 6. Ecchelensis, Hist. Arab. Part 1. c. 5. Confutatio Mahometis Edita per Le Moyne. Johannes Andreas, c. 6. Guadagnol. Tract. 2. c. ●. Sect. 3. etc. 10. Sect. 2. Zamach Shari Bidawi & alii Commentatores, ad cap. 33. Alcorani. Liber Almawa Keph. , the old Lecher fell desperately in love with her. But for fear of the Scandal, which his taking of her might give, he did all he could to suppress his Flame, till at length being able to resist no longer, he did break the matter to her, and caused Zeyd to put her away, that he might take her to Wife. Which he being forced to submit to; this gave great Offence to all his Followers, that he, who called himself a Prophet, and an Apostle of God sent to teach Men his Law, should for the gratifying of his Lust, do so scandalous a thing. But to salve the matter, out comes the thirty third Chapter of the Alcoran, called the Chapter of Heresies, where God is brought in declaring, That he had married Zainab to Mahomet, and given him free liberty to enjoy her according to his desire; and also rebuking him, that knowing God had given him this thing, he should abstain so long from her out of regard he had to the People, as if he feared them more than God. However this could not clear him so, but that many of his followers are hard put to it, to excuse him from the Scandal of this fact, even unto this day; and there are some of them who make no doubt to charge him with Sin on the account hereof. Zainab hereon becoming the Wife of Mahomet, lived with him to the time of his Death, always glorying and vaunting herself above his other Wives, that 
h Ecchelensis Hist. Arab. p. 1. c. 5.  whereas they were married to Mahomet by their Parents and Kinsfolk, she was married to him by God himself, who dwells above the Seven Heavens.  
How he married Juweira, hath been already related. 
i Disputatio Christiani, c. 6.  Saphia was a Jewish Woman, and descended of the Race of the Priests, on which account she was used to brag, that she had Aaron for her Father, Moses for her Uncle, and Mahomet for her Husband. Of the rest of his Wives, I find not any thing said.  
Besides these, he had a Concubine, whom he much loved. She was an 
k Abul Faraghius, p. 103. Johannes Andreas, c. 8. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 8. Richardi Confutatio, c. 12. Cantacuzeni, Orat. 2. Sect. 8. Guadagnol. Tract. 2. Cap. 10. Sect. 2. Commentatores, in c. 66. Alcorani.  Egyptian Woman, and a Christian of the Jacobite Sect. The Governor of Egypt having occasion to Treat with him about some matters, and being informed of his brutish Passion, to gratify him herein, and thereby the better incline him to his purpose, sent him this Maid for a Present, she being then only fifteen years old: He immediately fell in love with her. But how secret soever he managed the Amours for fear of his Wives, Ayesha and Haphsa found it out, and catched them together in the Fact. Whereon they reproached him bitterly for it, that he who called himself a Prophet sent from God to teach Men Righteousness, should do such a thing; at which being much confounded, he swore a solemn Oath, That in case they would conceal the matter, and not say any thing of it to raise a Scandal against him among his Musslemen, he would never have to do with her more. On which Oath they were content to pass the matter over, and say nothing of it. But Mahomet's Lust being of greater force with him than his Oath, he could not long hold, but was catched again with her by his Jealous Wives. Whereon they flew out into a desperate Rage against him, and after having loaded him with a multitude of Reproaches, both for his Perjury, as well as Adultery, went from him to their Father's Houses, which raising a great Noise, and many being offended with him for it; to smooth the matter again, he hath recourse to his old Art, and out comes a new Revelation to justify him in it, the Sixty sixth Chapter of the Alcoran, called the Chapter of Prohibition, wherein he brings in God allowing Mahomet, and all his Musslemans to lie with their Maids when they will, notwithstanding their Wives. The first words of that Chapter are, O Prophet, why dost thou forbid what God hath allowed thee, that thou mayest please thy Wives? God hath granted unto you to lie with your Maidservants. Which Law being published, it gave such content to his licentious Followers, that no more words were made of this matter; but all gladly laid hold of the liberty which he had granted, and ever since it hath been an established Law among all of that Sect, besides their Wives 
m Ricaut 's History of the Present State of the Ottoman. Empire, Book 2. Chap. 21. Theveno●, Part 1. lib. 1. c. 41. Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 8. etc. 10. Clenardi Epistolae, p. 2●, 30, ●0, & 66. , to keep as many Women-slaves for their Lust, as they shall think fit to buy; and the Children of the one are as legitimate as the Children of the other. And the Grand Signior, who never marries, hath all his Women under this later Notion, that is, as his Slaves, and he keeps none but such in his Seraglio; only after they have born him a Son, he sometimes gives them the Name of Sultana, which is, Queen. Avesha and Haphsa finding the matter to go thus, and that Mahomet had in the same Chapter threatened them with Divorce unless they submitted, and were obedient; they sent their Fathers to him to make their Peace, and again returned to his House, and totally submitted for the future to his Will in all things; and from that time he lay with his Maid, Mary, as often as he pleased without their any further Contradiction or Control, and had a Son by her, who was called Abraham. But after the Death of the Impostor no account was had of her, or her Son; but both were sent away into Egypt, and no mention made of either ever after among them. I suppose, Ayesha, out of the hatred which she bore her, procured of her Father, who succeeded the Impostor in the Government, to have her thus disposed of.  
One of the main Arguments 
n Ahmed Ebn Zin. , which the Followers of Mahomet make use of to excuse his having so many Wives, is, that he might beget young Prophets; but notwithstanding this, the left no young Prophet nor Prophetess neither behind him of all his Wives. Of 
o Abul Faraghius, p▪ 103.  six Children, which he had all by Cadigha, his first Wife, and none by any of the others, they all died before him, excepting only Fatima, the Wife of Ali, and she survived him only sixty Days.  
As the gratifying of his Ambition, and his Lust, was the main end of his Imposture, so they both continually appear through the whole Contexture of it. At first his Ambition had the predominancy in him; but when that began to be somewhat satisfied by the Power he had attained to, his Lust grew upon him with his Age, and at length he seemed totally dissolved into it. And there are strange things said of him this way 
p Guadagnol. Tract. 2. Cap. 7. Sect. 1. Richardi confutatio, c. 8. Disputatio Christiani, c. 6. , as that he had in Venery the strength of forty other Men, and that he knew all his Wives, when he had eleven of them, one after another in an 
q Johannes Andreas è libro Assamail, cap. 7. Guadagnol ex eodem libro, Tract. 2. Cap. 7. Sect. 1.  hours time. Whatever Laws he gave to restrain the Lust of other Men, he took care always to except himself, resolving it seems to take his full swing herein without let or control, according as the violent bent of his brutish Appetite, this way, should lead him. For,  
1. He 
r Alcoran. c. 4.  would not allow any other to have above four Wives, but to himself 
s Alcoran. c. 33. Johannes Andreas, c. 7. Guadagnol Tract. 2. c. 10. Sect. 3.  he reserved a liberty to Mary without restraint, as many as he should think fit, and he had ten together at the same time, when he died.  
2. He obliged 
t Alcoran, c. 4.  all others, who have two, three, or four Wives, to use them all equally alike, both as to their Clothing, Diet, and the Duties of the Marriagebed. And in case any Wife thinks herself unequally used in any of those particulars, and that the Husband doth not as largely dispense to her of them, as to his other Wives, it is allowed through all Mahometan Countries, that she make her Complaint to the Judge, and the Law will give her redress herein, and force the Husband to do her Justice. But Mahomet reserved liberty to himself to do as he should see sit as to this; and therefore when some of his Wives were aggrieved, because he showed more favour to the others, and particularly to Ayesha than to them, and made complaints against him on this account: To still their Clamours, he brings in God in the Thirty third Chapter of his Alcoran, giving him full liberty to deal with his Wives as he should think fit, to go in to which he pleased and abstain from which he pleased; and commanding them to be content herewith, and also to be well-pleased with whatever else he should do in reference to them, accepting as a favour from him, whatsoever he should give them, and take Exceptions at nothing which he should be pleased to order concerning them.  
3. In the fourth Chapter of his Alcoran, which is called the Chapter of Women, he forbids his Musslemen to marry with their Mothers, their Mothers-in-law, the Wives of their Fathers, their Daughters, the Sisters of their Fathers, the Sisters of their Mothers, the Daughters of their Brothers, the Daughters of their Sisters, their Nurses, their Foster-sisters, the Mothers of their Wives, the Sisters of their Wives, the Daughters of their Wives by other Husbands, the Daughters of Women whom they have known, and the Wives of their Sons, and the married Wives of other Men. And yet in the Thirty third Chapter he brings in God exempting him from this Law, and giving him an especial Privilege to take to Wife the Daughters of his Brother, or the Daughters of his Sister, and to go in to any other Woman whatsoever of the Believers, that shall be willing to prostitute herself unto him. But he there takes care to appropriate this liberty so particularly to himself alone, that he excludes all others whatsoever from it. For it seems, the old Lecher feared his Lust should not be sufficiently provided for, if any thing lesle than the whole Sex were allowed him for the gratifying of it; and therefore would endure no restraint or limitation upon himself herein, how strictly soever he lays it upon others. In the abovementioned Law he forbids the Marrying of the Wives of other Men; and abundant Reason there is for it, that no Man should be allowed adulterously to take to Wife, her that is at the same time the Wife of another; and yet he transgressed it in marrying the Wife of his Servant Zeyd. But to allay the Scandal and Offence, which was taken at it; and to secure others from fearing the like Injury and Violence from him, he was content after that to lay a restraint upon himself to do so no more; and therefore brings in God, telling him in the same Thirty third Chapter of his Alcoran, that it shall not be lawful for him for the future to take another Man's Wife, how much soever he may be taken with her Beauty.  
As he was thus brutishly enslaved to the love of Women, so was he as excessively Jealous of those whom he had taken to Wife. And therefore to deter them from what he feared 
u Alcoran, c. 33. , he threatens them with double the punishment of other Wives, both here and hereafter, in case they should be false unto him. And when some of his Followers made too frequent resort to his House, and there entered into discourse with some of his Wives, this gave him that Offence, that to prevent it for the future, out comes, as from God, those Verses of the Alcoran 
w Alcoran, c. 33. , wherein he tells them, That they should not enter into the House of the Prophet without permission, and that if invited to Dine with him, they should depart as soon as Dinner was over, and not enter into discourse with his Wives; that although the Prophet be ashamed to bid them be gone, yet God is not ashamed to tell them the truth. And in the same Chapter he forbids his Wives to speak to any Man, unless with their Faces vailed. And this his jealousy proceeded so far, as to go beyond the Grave. For he could not bear, that any one else should have to do with his Wives, though after his Death; and therefore 
x Alcoran, c. 33.  strictly forbids all his Followers ever to go in to any of them as long as they should live. So that although all other Women when repudiated, or become Widows, had liberty to Mary again, all his Wives were excluded from it. And therefore all those, whom he left at his Death 
y Johannes Andreas, c. 7. , lived Widows ever after, although some of them were very young; as particularly Ayesha, who was not then full twenty Years old, and lived above eight and forty Years after, which was in that hot Country looked on, as a very hard restraint put upon them.  
In all these instances I have mentioned, it appears how much he made his Imposture serve his Lust. And indeed almost the whole of his Alcoran, was 
z Richardi Confutatio, c. 12.  in like manner framed to answer some purpose or other of his, according as occasions required. If any new thing were to be put on foot, any Objection against him or his Religion to be answered, any Difficulty to be solved, any Discontent among his People to be quieted, any Offence to be removed, or any thing else done for the Interest of his Designs, his constant recourse was to the Angel Gabriel for a new Revelation, and out comes some Addition to his Alcoran to serve his turn herein. So that the most of it was made on such like occasions to influence his Party to what he intended. And all his Commentators thus far acknowledge it, that they are on every Chapter very particular in assigning for what Causes, and for whose sakes it was sent down from Heaven unto them. But hereby it came to pass that abundance of Contradictions got into this Book. For as the Interest and the Designs of the Impostor varied, so was he forced to make his pretended Revelations to vary also, which is a thing so well known to those of his Sect, that they all acknowledge it; and therefore where the Contradictions are such, as they cannot salve them, there they will have one of the contradicting places to be revoked. And they reckon in the whole Alcoran 
a Johannes Andreas, c. Guadagnol. Tract. 2. Cap. 7. Sect. 3. , above an hundred and fifty Verses which are thus revoked, which is the best shift they can make to solve the Contradictions and Inconsistencies of it. But thereby they do exceedingly betray the Unsteadiness and Inconstancy of him that was the Author of it.  
In the beginning of his Imposture, he seemed more inclined to the Jews than to the Christians, and in the first forming of his new invented Religion, followed the Pattern of theirs more than any other. But after his coming to Medina, he took that disgust against them, that he became their bitter, and most irreconcilable Enemy ever after, and used them with greater Cruelty in his Wars, than any other he had to deal with.  
But to the Christians he ever carried himself with as much favour as could be expected from such a Barbarian; and wherever they fell under his Power, they had always good Terms from him. His general Rule, and which he laid as a strict Obligation upon all his Followers, was to fight for the Propagation of his Religion. And there 
b Alcoran. c. 4. c. 9 etc. Disputatio Christiani, c. 8. Richardi Confutatio, c. 1, 6, 7, & 10. Cantacuzeni, Orat. 1. Sect. 11.  were only two Conditions on which he granted Peace to any he had to do with, and these were either to come in to his Religion, or submit to be Tributaries unto him. They that did the former, were admitted into the same Privileges and Freedoms with the rest of his Followers: But the later had only the benefit of his Protection, as to their Goods and Persons, and free Exercise of their Religion, without any other privilege or advantage whatsoever, for which every Man paid an Annual Tribute. But those, who would not come in, and make Peace with him on one of these two Conditions, were by his Law to be put to the Sword. And this Law in every one of its particulars is still observed in all Mahometan Countries, even to this day. At first few submitted to him, but such as he forced by Conquest; but when his Power grew to be formidable, than Multitudes both of Christians, and other Religions, flocked to him for his Protection, and became his Tributaries. And there hath in this last Age been published, first by Sionita at Paris, and after by Fabricius at Rostoch, a Writing in Arabic, which bears the Title of an Ancient Capitulation of the Christians of the East with this Impostor, which is said to have been laid up in the Monastery of Mount Carmel in Palestine, and from thence brought into France, and reposited in the French Kings Library. But 
c In Epist. ad Gallos'.  Grotius rejects it as a Forgery; and good reason he had so to do. For it bears date in the fourth Year of the Hegira, when Mahomet was not yet in a condition to speak in that Language, which he is made to do in that Writiting; nor was his Power then so formidable, as to move any to pray his Protection, he having not long before been overthrown and beaten at the Battle of Ohud; and at the time this Instrument bears date (which was the fourth Month of that Year) not fully recovered from that Blow; but in the lowest Circumstances, he had at any time been since his taking the Sword for the propagating of his Imposture. And there is another particular in it, which manifestly discovers the Forgery. It makes Moawias, the Son of Abu Sophian, to be the Secretary to the Impostor, who drew the Instrument; whereas it is certain, that Moawias, with his Father Abu Sophian, was then in Arms against him; and it was not till the taking of Mecca, which was four Years after that they came in unto him, and to save their Lives embraced the Imposture. This Instrument is to be read in English in the History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire, Book 2. Chap. 2.  
However this is certain, that the Christians had better Terms from him than any other of his Tributaries, and they enjoy them, even, to this day; there being no Mahometan Country where their Religion is not esteemed the best next their own, and the Professors of it accordingly respected by them before the Jews, Heathens, or any other sort of Men that differ from them.  
As the Impostor allowed the Old and New Testament, so would he fain prove his Mission from both. The Texts which are made use of for this purpose by those who defend his Cause, are these following,  
Deuteronomy, c. 33. v. 2. It is said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shineth forth from Mount Pharan, and he came with ten thousand of Saints; from his right hand went a fiery Law for them. By which words they will have 
d Sharestani Safioddinus, Pocockii Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 183.  meant the coming down of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai; of the Gospel to Jesus at Jerusalem, and of the Alcoran to Mahomet at Mecca. For say they, Seir are the Mountains of Jerusalem where Jesus appeared, and Pharan the Mountains of Mecca where Mahomet appeared. But they are here much out in their Geography, for Pharan 
e Ptolemy.  is a City of Arabia Petraea near the Red-Sea, towards the bottom of that Gulf, not far from the Confines of Egypt and Palestine, above five hundred Miles distant from Mecca. It was formerly 
f Geographia Sacra Caroli à Sancto Paulo, p. 317.  an Episcopal See under the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and famous for Theodorus 
g Acta Concilii Laterani sub Martino Papa. , once Bishop of it, who was the first that in his Writings published to the World the Opinion of the Monothelites. It is at this day called 
h Carolus à Sancto Paulo ubi supra. Geographia Nubiensis, Clim. 3. Part. 5.  Fara. From hence the Deserts lying from his City to the Borders of Palestine, are called the Deserts, or Wilderness of Pharan; and the Mountains lying in it, the Mountains of Pharan, in Holy Scripture, near which Moses first began to repeat, and more clearly explain the Law to the Children of Israel before his Death; and to that refers the Text abovementioned.  
Psalm 50. v. 2. We have it, Out of Zion the perfection of Beauty of God hath shined. Which the Syriac Version reads thus, Out of Zion God hath showed a glorious Crown. From whence some Arabic Translation having expressed the two last words by Echilan Mahmudan, i e. an Honourable Crown; by Mahmudan they understand the Name of Mahomet, and so read the Verse thus, Out of Zion hath God showed the Crown of Mahomet.  
Isaiah, c. 21. v. 7. We read, And he saw a Chariot with a couple of Horsemen, a Chariot of Asses, and a Chariot of Camels. But the old Latin Version hath it, Et vidit currum duorum Equitum, Ascensorem Asini, & Ascensorem Cameli: i e. And he saw a Chariot of two Horsemen, a Rider upon an Ass, and a Rider upon a Camel. Where by the Rider upon an Ass, they understand Jesus Christ, because he did so ride to Jerusalem; and by the Rider on the Camel, Mahomet, because he was of the Arabians, who use to ride upon Camels.  
John 16. 7. Our Saviour tells his Disciples, If I go not away, the Comforter, will not come unto you; but if I departed, I will send him unto you. By the Comforter, the Mahometans will have their Prophet, Mahomet, to be here meant; and therefore among other Titles; which they give him in their Language, 
i Al Jannabi. Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 185.  one is Paraclet, which is the Greek word here used in this Text for the Comforter, made Arabic. They also say, That the very Name of Mahomet, both here, and in other places of the Gospel was expressly mentioned, but that the Christians out of Malice have blottd it out, and corrupted those Holy Writings; 
k Pocockii Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 186.  and that at Paris there is a Copy of the Gospels without these Corruptions, in which the coming of Mahomet is foretold in several places, with his Name expressly mentioned in them. And some such thing they had need say to justify the impudent Lie of this Impostor, who in the Sixty first Chapter of his Alcoran, entitled, The Chapter of Battle, hath these words, Remember that Jesus, the Son of Mary, said to the Children of Israel, I am the Messenger of God, he hath sent me to confirm the Old Testament, and to declare unto you, that there shall come a Prophet after me, whose Name shall be Mahomet.  
There needs no Answer to confute these Glosses. The Absurdity of them is sufficiently exposed by barely relating them. And since they could find nothing else in all the Books of the Old and New Testament to wrist to their purpose, but these Texts abovementioned, which are to every Man's apprehending, so exceedingly wide of it: This shows at how vast a distance the true word of God is from this Impious Imposture, and how much it is in all its parts contrary thereto.  
And thus far I have laid together, as exactly and particularly, as I could out of the best Authors, that treat of this Impostor, all that is credibly related of him, and those Methods which he took for the framing and propagating that Impious Forgery, which he hath imposed upon so large a part of Mankind, as have been deluded thereinto. And what is my Design in the present Publishing hereof, is shown in the ensuing Treatise.   

AN ACCOUNT OF THE Authors quoted in this Book.  

Arabic Authors.  
ABul Faraghius, a Physician of Malatia in Lesser Armenia, of the Christian Religion, and the Sect of the Jacobites. He is an Author of eminent note in the East, as well among Mahometans as Christians. His History of the Dynasties is from the Creation of the World to the Year of our Lord. 1284. It was published at Oxford with a Latin Version by Dr. Pocock, A. D. 1663. He flourished about the time where his History ends. His name at length is Gregorius Ebn Hacim Abul Faraghi.  
Abul Feda, an Author of great repute in the East for two Books which he wrote; The first a General Geography of the World after the Method of Ptolemy; and the other a General History, which he calls the Epitome of the History of Nations. He was born A. D. 1273. He finished his Geography A. D. 1321. Twenty years after that he was advanced to the Principality of Hamah in Syria, from whence he is commonly called Shahab Hamah, i e. Prince of Hamah, where after having Reigned three Years, two Months, and thirteen Days, he died A. D. 1345. being Seventy two years old. He was by Nation a Turk, of the Noble Family of the Jobidae, of which was Saladin the famous Sultan of Egypt. His name at length is Ishmael Ebn Ali All Melec All Moaiyad Amadoddin Abul Feda. Ecchelensis quotes him by the name of Ishmael Shiahinshiah.  
Abunazar, a Legendary Writer of the Mahometans, much quoted by Hottinger.  
Agar, a Book of great Authority, among the Mahometans, saith Guadagnoi (pag. 165.) wherein an Account is given of the Life and Death of Mahomet. Johannes Andrea's makes great use of it under the name of Az●er, as doth Bellonius in the Third Book of his Observations under the name of Asaer. Guadagnol, who had a Copy of the Book, calls, it the Book Agar, and takes most of what he objects against the Life and Actions of Mahomet out of it.  
Ahmed Ebn Edris, an Author that writes in the defence of the Mahometan Religion against the Christians and the Jews.  
Ahmed Ebn Yuseph, an Historian, who flourished A. D. 1599 for then he finished his History.  
Ahmed Ebn Zin Alabedin, a Nobleman of Hispahan in Persia of this last Age, who hath wrote the sharpest and acutest Book against the Christian Religion, in defence of the Mahometan, of any they have among them on this Argument. It was published on this Occasion. Ecbar the Great Mogul, Great Grandfather to Aurang Zeb, who at present reigneth in India, for some Reasons of State making show of encouraging the Christian Religion, did in the Year 1595. write to Mathias de Albuquerque, than Viceroy of the Portuguese in India, for some Priests to be sent to him to his Court at Agra. The Persons pitched upon for this Mission were Jeronimo Xavier, than Rector of the College of the Jesuits at Goa, and Emanuel Pigneiro and Benedict de Gois, two others of that Society. On their coming to Agra, they were very kindly received by the Mogul, and had a Church there built for them at his Charges, and many Privileges and Immunities granted unto them, which on the death of Ecbar (which happened A. D. 1604.) were all confirmed to them by his Successor Jehan Guire. At the Command of this Ecbar, Xaverius wrote two Books in Persian (which is the Language of that Court); The first the History of Jesus Christ, collected for the most part out of the Legends of the Church of Rome, which he intended to be instead of the Gospel among them; and the other called A Looking-Glass showing the Truth, which is a defence of the Doctrines of that Gospel against the Mahometans. What the former is, those who have the Curiosity to see what kind of Gospel the Jesuits preach in the East, may satisfy themselves, for the Book is translated into Latin by De Dieu, and was published by him with the Original, A. D. 1639. This Gospel of the Jesuits was first presented to Ecbar by Xaverius at Agra, A. D. 1602. But the other Book was not published till a Year or two after. When it first came abroad, it unluckily fell into the hands of this Learned Persian Gentleman, who immediately wrote an Answer to it, which he calls The Brusher of the Looking-Glass, wherein he makes terrible work with the Jesuit through the advantages which he gave him by teaching the Idolatry and other Superstitions and Errors of the Church of Rome for the Doctrines of Jesus Christ. When this Book came abroad, it so alarmed the College de propaganda Fide at Rome, that they immediately ordered it to be answered. The first who was appointed for this Work was Bonaventura Malvasia, a Franciscan Friar of Bononia, who published his Dilucidatio Speculi verum monstrantis, in answer to this Brusher, A. D. 1628. But this, I suppose, not being judged so sufficient by the College, they appointed Philip Guadagnol, another Franciscan Friar, to write a second Answer thereto. And on this occasion he composed his Book styled Apologia pro Christiana Religione, which was published at Rome first in Latin, A. D. 1631. and after in Arabic, A. D. 1637. For this, I suppose, meeting with better approbation from the College, they ordered it to be translated into that Language, and it being accordingly done by the same Author, they sent it into the East to be dispersed among the Mahometans for the defence of the Jesuits Looking-Glass against this rude Brusher of it. But his Performance doth by no means answer the Design, abundance of his Arguments being drawn from the Authorities of Popes and Councils, which will never convince an Infidel of the truth of the Christian Religion, how much noise soever they may make with them among those of their own Communion.  
Al Bochari, an Eminent Writer of the Traditionary Doctrines of the Mahometan Religion. He is reckoned by Johannes Andreas, c. 3. and Bellonius, lib. 3. c. 4. to be one of the Six Doctors, who by the appointment of one of the Califs, meeting at Damascus, first made an Authentic Collection of all those Traditions which make up their Sonnah. His Book contains the Pandects of all that relates either to their Law or their Religion, digested under their several Titles in Thirty Books, and is the Ancientest and most Authentic which they have of this matter, and next the Alcoran, of the greatest Authority among them. He was born at Bochara in Cowarasmia, A. D. 809. and died A. D. 869.  
All Coranto, i e. The Book to be read, or the Legend, it is the Bible of the Mahometans. The name is borrowed from the Hebrew Kara or Mikra (words of the same root as well as signification with the Arabic All Coranto) by which the Jews called the Old Testament, or any part of it; And so any part of the Mahometan Bible is called Alcoran. The whole together they call All Moshap, i e. The Book, which also in respect of the Chapters, into which it is divided, they call All Furkan, from the Arabic word Faraka, which from the Hebrew Pharak signifies to divide or distinguish; but others will have that Book to be so called in respect of the Matter or Doctrine therein contained, because, say they, it distinguisheth Good from Evil.  
Al Fragani, an Astronomer of Fragana in Persia, from whence his name Al Fragani, i e. Fraganensis, by which he is commonly called. His name at length is Mohammed Ebn Katir Al Fragani. He wrote a Book called, The Elements of Astronomy, which hath been several times published in Europe at Nurenburgh, A. D. 1537. at Paris, A. D. 1546. at Frankfort cum Notis Christmanni, A. D. 1590. in Latin; and afterwards by Golius in Arabic and Latin at Leiden, A. D. 1669. with large Notes of great use for the understanding of the Geography of the East. He flourished while Al Mammon was Calif, who died A. D. 833.  
Al Gazali, a famous Philosopher of Tusa in Persia. He wrote many Books, not only in Philosophy, but also in the defence of the Mahometan Religion against Christians, Jews, Pagans', and all others that differ there from, whereof one is of more especial note entitled, The Destruction of Philosophers, which he wrote against All Farabius, and Avicenna, and some others of the Arab Philosophers, who to solve the Monstrous Absurdities of the Mahometan Religion, were for turning many things into Figure and Allegory, which were commonly understood in the literal sense. Those he violently opposeth on this account, accusing them of Heresy and Infidelity, as Corrupters of the Faith, and Subverters of Religion, whereon he had the name of Hoghatol Estam Zainoddin, i e. The demonstration of Mahometism, and the honour of Religion. He was born A. D. 1058. and died A. D. 1112. His name at length is Abu Hamed Ebn Mohammed All Gazali Al Tusi.  
Al Jannabi, an Historian born at Jannaba, a City in Persia, not far from Shiras. His History comes down to the Year of our Lord 1588. and therein he tells us, that he went in Pilgrimage to Mecca, and from thence to Medina, to pay his Devotions at the Tomb of the Impostor, in that Year of the Hegira which answers to the Year of our Lord 1556. His name at length is Abu Mohammed Mustapha Ebnol Saiyed Hasan All Jannabi.  
Al Kamus, i e. The Ocean, a famous Arabic Dictionary, so called, because of the Ocean of words contained in it. It was written by Mohammed Ebn Jaacub Ebn Mohammed All Shirazi All Firauzabadi. He was a Person of great esteem among the Princes of his time for his eminent Learning and Worth, particularly with Ishmael Ebn Abbas, King of Yaman, Bagazet King of the Turks, and Tamerlan the Tartar, from the last of which he received a Gift of Five thousand pieces of Gold at one time. He was born A. D. 1328. being a Persian by birth, but he lived mostly at Sanaa in Yaman. He finished his Dictionary at Mecca, and dedicated it to Ishmael Ebn Abbas, under whose Patronage he had long lived, and afterwards died at Zibit in Arabia, A. D. 1414. being near Ninety years old.  
Al Kodai, an Historian. He wrote his History about the Year of our Lord 1045. and died A. D. 1062. his name at length is Abu Abdollah Mohammed Ebn Salamah Ebn Jaafar All Kodai.  
Al Masudi, an Historian. He wrote an History called the Golden Meadows, but in what time he lived, I do not find. His name at length is Ali Ebn Hozsain All Masudi. He wrote also another Book, wherein he makes it his business to discover and expose the Fraud which the Christians of Jerusalem are guilty of about lighting Candles at the Sepulchre of our Saviour on Easter Eve. For then three Lamps being placed within the Chapel of the Sepulchre, when the Hymn of the Resurrection is sung at the Evening Service, they contrive that these three Lamps be all lighted, which they will have believed to be by fire from Heaven, and then a multitude of Christians of all Nations are present with Candles to light them at this holy Fire, which hath been a fraudulent Practice kept up among them for many hundred years. And the Emperor Cantacuzenus was so far imposed on by this Cheat that in his Third Apology for the Christian Religion against the Mahometans he makes mention of it, and urgeth it against those Infidels, as a Miracle, which being annually performed in their sight, aught to convince them of the truth of the Christian Religion, and convert them thereto. But the Imposture hath all along been too well known to the Mahometans to be of any such effect with them. For the Patriarch of Jerusalem always compounds with the Mahometan Governor to permit him to practise this Trick for the sake of the Gain which it brings to his Church, and annually allows him his share in it. And therefore, instead of being of any effect to convert them, it becomes a matter of continual scandal among them against the Christian Religion. And not only this Author, but Ahmed Ebn Edris, and most others of the Mahometans, that write against the Christian Religion, object it as a reproach thereto (as in truth it is) and urge it with the same earnestness against the Christian Religion, that Cantacuzenus doth for it. Al Mansor Hakem Beamrilla, Calif of Egypt, was so offended at it, that A. D. 1007. he ordered the Church of the Resurrection at Jerusalem, wherein this Chapel of the Sepulchre stands, to be for this very reason pulled down and razed to the Ground, that he might thereby put an end to so infamous a Cheat. But the Emperor of Constantinople having by the release of Five thousand Mahometan Captives, obtained leave to have it rebuilt again, the Imposture hath still gone on at the same rate, and it is there to the great sport of the Mahometans, (who come in Multitudes every Year to see this Farce) acted over in their sight in the same manner as is above related even unto this day. Thevenot, who was once present at it, gives us a large Account of this whole Foolery in the first Part of his Travels, Book II. Chapter 43.  
All Mostatraf, the Name of a Book, written by an unknown Author.  
Al Motarrezi, the Author of the Book called Mogreb, he was born A. D. 1143. and died A. D. 1213. His Name at length, is Nasir Ebn Abil Macarem Abul Phatah Al Motarrezi. He was of the Sect of the Motazali, and seems by his last Name, All Motarrezi, (by which he is usually called) to have been by Trade a Tailor, that being the signification of the word in Arabic.  
Assamael, a Book much quoted by Johannes Andreas, and also by Guadagnol.  
Bidawi, a famous Commentator on the Alcoran. He died A. D. 1293. His Name at length, is Naseroddin Abdollah Ebn Omar All Bidawi. His Commentary is written for the most part out of Zamach Shari.  
Kazwini, an Arabic Author, so called from the City Kaswin. His Name at length is Zacharias Ebn Mohammed Ebn Mahmud All Kazwini. In what Age he lived, I cannot find.  
Dialogus Mahometis cum Abdollah Ebn Salem, a Book wrote in Arabic, containing a great many of the Fooleries of the Mahometan Religion, under the form of a Dialogue between Mahomet and this Jew, who was his chief helper in forging the Imposture. It was translated into Latin by Hermannus Dalmata, and that Version of it is published at the end of the Latin Alcoran, set forth by Bibliander.  
Disputatio Christiani contra Saracenum de Lege Mahometis. It was written in Arabic by a Christian, who was an Officer in the Court of a King of the Saracens, to a Mahometan Friend of his, who was an Officer with him in the same Court, and contains a Confutation of the Mahometan Religion. Peter, the famous Abbot of Clu●y in Burgundy, who flourished A. D. 1130. caused it to be translated into Latin by Peter of Toledo; an Epitome of which is printed with the Latin Alcoran. by Bibliander, taken out of the 24th Book of the Speculum Historiale of Vincentius Bellovacensis.  
Elmacinus, an Historian of the Christian Religion. His History is from the Creation of the World to the Year of our Lord, 1118. The later part of it, which is from the beginning of Mahometism, was published by Erpenius, under the Title of Historia Saracenica, A. D. 1625. He was Son to Yaser Al Amid, who was Secretary of the Council of War under the Sultan's of Egypt, of the Family of the Jobidae, for 45 Years together, and in the Year of our Lord 1238. (in which his Father died) succeeded him in his place. His Name at length is Georgius Ebn Amid; and for his Eminent Learning, he was also styled All Shaich Al Raiis Al Macin, i e. The prime Doctor solidly Learned. The last of which Titles, Almacin, was that whereby Erpenius (who pronounceth it Elmacin) chose to call him; but by others he is generally quoted by the Name Ebn Amid.  
Ebnol Athir, a Mahometan Author, who was born A. D. 1149. and died A. D. 1209. His Name at length is Abussaadat Al Moharac Ebn Mohammed All Shaibani Ebnol Athir All Jazari Magdoddin.  
Ali Ebnol Athir, an Historian, Brother to the former Ebnol Athir. His Name at length is Abul Hasan Ali Ebn Mohammed All Shaibani Ebnol Athir All Jazari Ezzoddin. He was born A. D. 1160. and died A. D. 1232. His History, which he calls Camel, is from the beginning of the World to the Year of our Lord, 1230.  
Ebnol Kassai, Author of the Book called Taarifat, which is an Explication of the various Terms used in Arabic by Philosophers, Lawyers, Divines, and other sorts of learned Professions among them.  
Ebn Phares, a Mahometan Author, who died A. D. 1000  
Eutychius, a Christian Author of the Sect of the Melchites, his name in Arabic is Said Ebn Batrik. He was born at Cair in Egypt, A. D. 876. and became very eminent in the knowledge of Physic, which he practised with great reputation, being reckoned by the Mahometans themselves to have been one of the Eminentest Physicians of his time. But towards the later part of his life giving himself more to the study of Divinity, he was A. D. 933. chosen Patriarch of Alexandria for his Sect (for there was another Patriarch of that place for the Jacobites at the same time) and then he first took the name of Eutychius. But he happened not to be so acceptable to his People, for there were continual Jars between them until his death, which happened seven years after, A. D. 940. His Annals of the Church of Alexandria were published at Oxford in Arabic and Latin by Dr. Pocock, A. D. 1656. at the Charge of Mr. Selden, and this is the meaning of these words in the Title-page, [Johanne Seldeno Chorago] for he who was the Choragus in the Play, always was at the Charges of exhibiting the Scenes. And therefore Mr. Selden having born the Expenses of this Chargeable Edition, the most Worthy and Learned Author of that Version acknowledged it by those words in the Title-page, which several having mistaken to the robbing him of the honour of his Work, as if Mr. Selden had begun the Translation, and Dr. Pocock finished it, I cannot but do this justice to that worthy Person, now with God, as to clear this matter. For he needed no Partner in any of his Works. The Translation was totally his, and only the Charges of printing the Book Mr. Selden's. Mr. Selden did indeed publish a Leaf or two of that Author, which he thought would serve his purpose to express his Spite against the Bishops of the Church of England, in revenge of the Censure which was inflicted on him in the High Commission Court for his History of Tithes; but he made those slips in that Version, that Dr. Pocock was not at all eased of his labour, by having that little part of it translated to his hands.  
Liber de Generatione & Nutritura Mahometis, a most frivolous and silly Tract, wrote originally in Arabic; and being translated into Latin by Hermannus Dalmata, is published with the Latin Alcoran by Bibliander.  
Geographia Nubiensis, so the Book is called by Sionita and Hesronita, who published it in Latin with a Geographical Appendix annexed thereto, A. D. 1619. But this Book is only an Epitome of a much larger, and much better Book written by Sharif All Adrisi, at the command of Roger, the second of that name, King of Sicily, for the explaining of a Terrestrial Globe, which that King had caused to be made of a very large Size all of Silver. He finished this Work A. D. 1153. and Entitled it Kelab Roger, i e. the Book of Roger, from the name of him who employed him to compose it. The Author was of the Race of Mahomet, and therefore is called Sharif, which word signifieth one of a Noble Race, especially that of Mahomet, and was descended from the Noble Family of the Adrisidae, who reigned in some parts of Africa, and therefore he is called All Adrisi, that is, of the Family of Adris. His name at length is Abu Abdollah Mohammed Ebn Mohammed Ebn Adris Amir Olmuminin. There was a very fair Copy of this Book among Dr. Pocock's Arabic Manuscripts.  
Georgius Monachus, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Simeon. He wrote a Tract in defence of the Christian Religion against the Mahometans, which is a Disputation he had with three Mahometans, of whom the chief Spokesman was Abusalama Ebn Saar of Mosul.  
Jauhari, the Author of a famous Arabic Dictionary, called All Sahah: His name at length is Abu Naser Ishmael Ebn Hammad Al Jauhari. He was by Nation a Turk. He died A. D. 1007. This is reckoned the best Dictionary of the Arabic Language next Kamùs. Golius makes his Arabic Lexicon mostly out of it.  
Jalalani, i e. the Two Jalals. They were two of the same name, who wrote a short Commentary upon the Alcoran, the first began it, and the second finished it. The first was called Jalal Oddin Mohammed Ebn Ahmed All Mahalli; and the second Jalal Oddin Abdorrahman Al Osynti. This later on the death of the former finished the Book A. D. 1466. and was also Author of an History called Mezhar.  
Shahrestani, a Scholastical Writer of the Mahometan Religion. He was born at Shahrestan A. D. 1074. and died A. D. 1154.  
Safioddin, the Author of a certain Geographical Dictionary in the Arabic Tongue.  
Zamach Shari, the Author of the Book called All Ceshaf, which is a large Commentary upon the Alcoran, and that which is of the best esteem among the Mahometans of any of its kind. His name at length is Abul Kasem Mohammed Ebn Omar Ebn Mohammed All Chowarasmi Al Zamachshari. He was born at Zamachshari, a Town of Chowarasmia, A. D. 1074. and died A. D. 1143.   

Hebrew and Chaldee Authors.  
CHaldee Paraphrase, an Interpretation of the Old Testament in the Chaldee Language. That of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, and that of Jonathan on the Prophets are ancient, being written according to the Account which the Jews give of them before the time of our Saviour. But those which are on the other parts of Scripture, as also that which bears the name of Jonathan on the Law, were written by some later Jews. The Author of the Chaldee Paraphrase on Job, the Psalms, and Proverbs, was Rabbi Joseph Caecus.  
Sepher Cozri, a Book written by way of Dialogue between a Jew and the King of the Cozars, from whence it hath its name Sepher Cozri or Cozari, i e. the Book of the Chozar. The Author of it was Rabbi Judah Levita, a Spanish Jew, who wrote the Book originally in Arabic about the Year of our Lord 1140. and from thence it was translated into Hebrew by Rabbi Judah Ebn Tibbon, in which Translation it was published by Buxtorf with a Latin Version, A. D. 1660.  
Rabbi David Kimchi, a famous Jewish Commentator on the Old Testament. He was by birth a Spaniard, Son to Rabbi Joseph Kimchi, and Brother to Rabbi Moses Kimchi, both men of eminent Learning among the Jews, but he himself far exceeded them both, being the best Grammarian in the Hebrew Language which they ever had, as is abundantly made appear not only in his Commentary on the Old Testament (which gives the greatest light into the literal sense of the Hebrew Text of any extant of this kind) but also in a Grammar and Dictionary which he hath wrote of the Hebrew Language, both by many degrees the best of their kind: The first of these he calls Miclol, and the other Sepher Shorashim, i e. the Book of Roots. Buxtorf made his Thesaurus Linguae Hebraeae out of the former, and his Lexicon Linguae Hebraeae out of the later. He flourished about the Year of our Lord 1270.  
Maimonides, a famous Jewish Writer, his Book, Yad Hachazakah, is a Digest of the Jewish Law according to the Talmudists. His Book Moreh Nevochim, contains an Explication of Words, Phrases, Metaphors, Parables, Allegories, and other Difficulties, which occur in the Old Testament. It was first Wrote in Arabic, and after Translated into Hebrew by Rabbi Samuel Ebn Judah Ebn Tibbon, from which Translation it was published in Latin by Buxtorf, A. D. 1629. He was Born at Corduba in Spain, A. D. 1131. but lived mostly in Egypt; from whence he is commonly called, Rabbi Moses Aegyptius, where he Died, A. D. 1208.  
Mishnah, a Collection of all the Ancient Traditions of the Jews to the time of Rabbi Judah Hakkodish, the Compiler of it, who flourished about the middle of the second Century in the Reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. This Book is the Text to the Talmud, and that a Comment on it. The Jerusalem Talmud was Compiled by the Jews who dwelled in Judaea about 300 Years after Christ; and the Babylonish Talmud by those who dwelled in Mesopotomia about 500 Years after Christ, according to the account which the Jewish Writers gives of them. But there are several things contained in the later, which seem to refer to a much later date. These Three, with the Two Chaldee Paraphrases of Onkelos and Jonathan, are the ancientest Books which the Jews have next the Bible. For how much noise soever may be made about their Rabbinical Writers, there are none of them above Seven hundred years old. There are some of them indeed lay claim to a much ancienter Date, but without any reason for it.   

Greek Authors.  
ARistotelis Ethica & Politica.  
Bartholomaei Edessini Confutatio Hagareni, a Greek Tract against Mahomerism, published by Le Moyne among his Varia Sacra. The Author was a Monk of Edessa in Mesopotamia. In what Age he lived, it doth not appear.  
Cantacuzenus contra Sectam Mahometicam. This Book contains four Apologies for the Christian Religion, and four Orations against the Mahometan. The Author had been Emperor of Constantinople, but resigning his Empire to John Palaeologus his Son-in-Law, A. D. 1355. he retired into a Monastery, where being accompanied by Meletius, formerly called Achaememid, whom he had converted from Mahometism to the Christian Religion, he there wrote this Book for the said Meletius in answer to a Letter written to him by Sampsates a Persian of Hispahan, to reduce him back again to the Mahometan Superstition.  
Cedreni Compendium Historiarum, An History from the beginning of the World, to the Year of our Lord 1057.  
Chrysostomi Homiliae.  
Confutatio Mahometis, a Greek Tract, published by Le Moyne among his Varia Sacra, the Author not known.  
Dionysii Halicarnassei Antiquitates Romanae.  
Eusebii Historia Ecclesiastica and Praeparatio Evangelica.  
Hierocles, the Fomenter and chief Manager of the Tenth Persecution against the Christians. He was first Govenor of Bythinia, and after of Egypt; in both which Places he prosecuted the Christians with the utmost severity; and not content herewith, he also wrote two Books against them, which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, wherein, among other things, he compared Apollonius Tyaneus with Jesus Christ, and endeavoured to prove him in working of Miracles to have been equal to him; to which particular Eusebius wrote an Answer, which is still extant among his Works; but these Books of Hierocles are now wholly lost, excepting some Fragments preserved in the said Answer of Eusebius.  
Josephi Antiquitates Judaicae, and de Bello Judaico.  
Origines contra Celsum.  
Philostratus de vita Apollonii Tyanci.  
Phlegon Trallianus, a Freed man of Adrian the Emperor. He wrote a Chronicon or History, which he called the History of the Olympiads. It contained 229 Olympiads, whereof the last ended in the Fourth year of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. But there is nothing of this Work now extant, except some few Fragments, as they are preserved in such Authors as have quoted it. That relating to the Ecupse of the Sun at our Saviour's Crucifixion is preserved in Eusebius' Chronicon, and is also made mention of by Origen in his 35th Tract on St. Matthews Gospel, and in his Second Book against Celsus.  
Plato.  
Plutarchi Vitae.  
Strabonis Geographia.  
Socratis Scholastici Historia Ecclesiastica.  
Sozomenis Historia Ecclesiastica.  
Theophanis Chronographia. This is one of the Byzantine Historians, and contains a Chronological History of the Roman Empire, from the Year of our Lord 285. to the Year 813. The Author was a Nobleman of Constantinople, where he was first an Officer of the Imperial Court, but afterwards turning Monk wrote this History. He was born A. D. 758. and A. D. 815. died in Prison in the Island of Samothracia, a Martyr for Image-worship, for which he had been a zealous Champion in the Second Council of Nice.  
Zonarae Compendium Historiarum. Another of the Byzantine Historians. It contains an History from the beginning of the World to the Death of Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of Constantinople; which happened A. D. 1118. when the Author flourished. He was first a Prime Officer of the Imperial Court at Constantinople, but afterwards became an Ecclesiastic, and is the same who wrote the Comment on the Greek Canons.   

Latin Authors Ancient and Modern.  
Ammianis Marcellini Historia.  
Anastasii Bibliothecarii Historia Ecclesiastica. The Author was a Priest of the Church of Rome, and Library Keeper to the Pope. He flourished about the Year of our Lord 870.  
Bellonii Observationes de locis ac rebus memorabilibus in Asia. The Book was first published in French, A. D. 1553. and after in Latin, A. D. 1589.  
Bocharti Hicrozoicon.  
Busbequii Epistolae, the Author was Ambassador from the Emperor Ferdinand the First to the Port, from whence he wrote his Epistles.  
Buxtorfii Lexicon Rabbinicum.  
Buxtorfii Synagoga Judaica.  
Clenardi Epistolae. The Author of these Epistles was the famous Grammarian of his Age. Out of love to the Arabic Tongue, he went to Fez of purpose to learn it, A. D. 1540 when well advanced in years, from whence he wrote many things in his Epistles of the Manners and Religion of the Mahometans. He died at Granada in Spain as soon as he returned.  
Cusani Cribratio Alcorani. The Author of this Book was the famous Nicolas de Cusa, the eminentest Scholar of the Age in which he lived. In the Year 1448. he was made Cardinal of Rome, by the Title of St. Peter's ad vincula, and died A. D. 1464. about Ten Years after the Turks had taken Constantinople. Which seems to have given him the Occasion of writing this Book, that so he might provide an Antidote against that false Religion, which on that Success had gotten so great an advantage for its further spreading itself in those Parts of the World. For it appears by the Dedication, that this Book was not written till after the loss of that City; it being dedicated to Pope Pius Secundus, who entered not on the Papacy, till the Turks had been about Three Years in possession of it.  
Abrahami Ecchelensis Historia Arabum. This Book is subjoined to his Chronicon Orientale, in Two Parts, collected out of the Arab Writers. The Author was a Maronite of Mount Libanus in Syria, and was employed as Professor of the Oriental Languages, in the College de Propaganda Fide at Rome, from whence about the Year 1640. he was called to Paris, to assist in preparing the great Polyglot Bible for the Press, which was there publishing, and made the King's Professor of the Oriental Languages in that City. The part assigned him in this Work, was that which they had afore employed Sionita in, a Man of thorough Abilities to perform it; but on some distaste taken against him, they discharged him, and sent to Rome for Ecchelensis; of whose Performance herein, a Learned Sorbonist making a Censure, truly says, Ibi peccatum est toties ac tam enormiter in apponendis vocalibus & apiculis, ut quod ibi primum inter legendum occurrerit summam sapere videatur Tyronis alicujus oscitantiam. He was indeed a Man but of little Accuracy in the Learning which he professed, and shows himself to be a very Futilous and Injudicious Writer, in most of that which he hath published.  
Abrahami Ecchelensis Eutychius vindicatus; which Book is in Two Parts; the first writ against Mr. Selden's Eutychij Patriarchae Alexandrini Ecclesiae suae Origines; and the second against Hottinger's Historia Orientalis. The greatest skill which he shows in this Book, is in railing. It was published at Rome, A. D. 1661.  
Forbesij Instructiones Historico-Theologicae, published at Amsterdam, A. D. 1645.  
Golij Notae ad Alfragani Elementa Astronomica; which are exceeding useful for the understanding of the Geography of the East. The Book was published at Leiden, A. D. 1669.  
Philippi Guadagnoli Apologia pro Christiana Religione, contra Objectiones Ahmed Filij Zin Alabedin Persae Asphahensis. Of which Book I have already given an Account, in what I have written of Ahmed Ebn Zin, against whom it is written.  
Gentij Notae ad Musladini Saadi Rosarium Politicum; published at Amsterdam, A. D. 1651.  
Grotius de Veritate Christianae Religionis; & Epistolae ad Gallos'.  
Hottingeri Historia Orientalis. Of this Book there are two Editions; the first A. D. 1651. and the second A. D. 1660. the later is much enlarged. The Author was Professor of the Oriental Tongues, first at Zurich in Switzerland, and afterwards at Heidelbergh; from whence being called to be Professor at Leiden, he was while on his removal thither, unfortunately drowned in the Rhine. He was a Man of great Industry and Learning; but having written very much within the compass of a few Years (for he died young), his Books want Accuracy; though all of them have their Use.  
Historia Miscella, a Roman History begun by Eutropius, continued by Paulus Diaconus, and finished by Landulphus Sagax.  
Johannes Andreas de Confusione Sectae Mahometanae. The Author of this Book was formerly an Alfaki, or a Doctor of the Mahometan Law; but in the Year 1487. being at Valentia in Spain, converted to the Christian Religion, he was received into Holy Orders, and wrote this Book in Spainsh against the Religion which he forsook; from whence it was translated into Italian, by Dominicus de Gazelu, A. D. 1540 And out of that Translation, it was published in Latin by Johannes Lauterbach, A. D. 1595. and reprinted by Voetius at Utrecht, A. D. 1656. He having throughly understood the Religion which he confutes, doth much more pertinently write against it, than many others do, that handle this Argument.  
Macrobij Saturnalia.  
Caij Plinij Secundi Naturalis Historia.  
Caij Plinij Caecilij Secundi Epistolae.  
Pocock: The Famous Professor of the Hebrew and Arabic Tongues at Oxford; who was for Eminency of Goodness, as well as Learning, the greatest Ornament of the Age in which he lived, and God blessed him with a long Life to be useful thereto. He was born A. D. 1604. and died at Christ-Church in Oxford in the Month of September, A. D. 1691. He was for above sixty Years a constant Editor of learned and useful Books. The first which he published contains an Edition of four of the Catholic Epistles in Syriac, i e. the second of St. Peter, the second and third of St. John, and the Epistle of St. Judas, with Versions and Notes, which was printed at Leiden, A. D. 1630. by Vossius, to whom he presented it the year before at Oxford, on his coming thither to see that University; and the last was his Commentary on Joel, which came forth the year in which he died. His Specimen Historiae Arabicae, which I frequently make use of in this Tract, was published A. D. 1650. and is a most accurate and judicious Collection out of the best Arab Writers, relating to the Subject which he handles.  
Richardi Confutatio Legis Saracenicae. The Author was a Dominican Friar, who in the Year 1210. went to Bagdad of purpose to study the Mahometan Religion out of their own Books in order to confute it; and on his return published this Learned and Judicious Tract concerning it. Demetrius Cydonius translated it into Greek for the Emperor Cantacuzenus, who makes great use of it, taking thence most of that which he hath of any moment in his four Orations against the Mahometan Religion. From this Greek Version of Demetrius Cydonius, it was Translated back again into Latin by Bartholomaeus Picenus, which Translation is published with the Latin Alcoran of Bibliander, and that is all we now have of it, the Original being lost. This and Johannes Andreas' Tract de Confusione Sectae Mahometanae, are the best of any that have been formerly published by the Western Writers on this Argument, and best accord with what the Mahometans themselves teach of their Religion. Others have too much spent themselves on false Notions concerning it, for want of an exact knowledge of that which they wrote against.  
Roderici Toletani Historia Arabum. It contains an History of the Saracens from the Birth of Mahomet to the Year of our Lord, 1150. The Author was Archbishop of Toledo in Spain, and was present at the Lateran Council, A. D. 1215. His History from the Tenth Chapter is mostly confined to the Saracens of Spain, and is but of little Credit, where he relates any thing of them out of that Country. It was published with Erpenius' Historia Saracenica at Leiden, A. D. 1625.  
Schekardi Tarich, seu Series Regum Persarum, Tubingae. A. D. 1628.  
Spanhemii Introductio ad Historiam Sacram. Amstel. A. D. 1694.  
Scaliger de Emendatione Temporum, and Notae ejus ad Sphaeram Manilii.  
Valerius Maximus.  
Vaninus a famous Atheist. He was by birth a Neapolitan, and came into France on purpose to promote the Impiety he had embraced, of which being convicted at Tholouse, he rather chose to become a Martyr for it, than renounce it; and therefore was publicly burnt in that City, A. D. 1619. persisting to deny the being of a God with a wonderful obstinacy even in those very Flames in which he perished. He wrote two Books, the first was published A. D. 1615. Entitled Aeternae Providentiae Amphitheatrum; and the other the next Year after, which is his Dialogi de admirandis Naturae, in both which he serves that Cause for the sake of which he died.   

English and French Authors.  
Purchas' Pilgrimage.  
Ricaut's History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire.  
Smyth's Remarks upon the Manners, Religion, and Government of the Turks.  
Thevenot's Travels.  
FINIS.