6.1 .rUi 
 LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 Presented by 
 
 Division. ..AJ)..\... • ID I 
 
 4 \ -■' ( "^^ 
 
 °^ 
 
MOHAMMED 
 
 AND 
 
 MOHAMMEDANISM 
 
 .f.' 
 
MOHAIMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM 
 
 LECTURES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 IN 
 
 FEBRUARY and MARCH 1874 
 
 BY 
 
 R. BOSWORTH SMITH, M.A. 
 
 ASSISTANT-MASTER IN HARROW SCHOOL 
 LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED 
 
 LONDON 
 SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1876 
 
 [All rights reserved \ 
 
UXORI ME/E, 
 
 NULLIUS NON LABORIS PARTICIPI, 
 HUJUSCE PR/ESERTIM OPUSCULl INSTIGATRICI ET ADMINISTR/E, 
 
 STUDIORUM COMMUNITATIS 
 HAS, QUALESCUNQUE SUNT, PRIMITIAS 
 
 D E D I C O. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 While preparing a Second Edition of these 
 Lectures for the press, I have had the advantage 
 of reading many notices of the First, the great 
 majority of them incisive yet kind, just yet 
 scrupulously appreciative. This has been a 
 great advantage, but it involves a corresponding 
 responsibility. Next to the responsibility and 
 pleasure of writing what it Is hoped may serve, 
 in however humble a measure, the cause of truth, 
 charity, and justice, there Is no greater pleasure 
 or responsibility than that of reading a keen yet 
 sympathetic criticism on it by one who is 
 evidently a master of his subject, and who is 
 aiming at the same goal, even though his stand- 
 
viii PREFACE TO 
 
 point be different, or he be travelling by a 
 different road. The knowledge of the critic, 
 as in more than one instance has been notably 
 the case, may be deeper, his experience wider, 
 his judgment more profound ; he may find out 
 with unerring certainty all the weak points in 
 one's armour, but none the less is he eager to 
 discover ' generosity in the motives,' and con- 
 scientiousness in the work done, to recognise 
 the identity of the end in view, and such advance 
 as may have been made towards it. In a 
 Preface to a new edition I may, indeed I must, 
 refer to such criticisms, because on the one hand 
 I am bound to express my gratitude for the ser- 
 vice they have done me, and to indicate how far 
 they have modified my views ; and, on the other, 
 because I am quite conscious that I owe them 
 far more to the intrinsic interest and importance 
 of the subject than to any merits of my own. 
 
 It is unnecessary to reply here to objections 
 in detail, but there is one general criticism 
 which perhaps had better be noticed fully now 
 rather than referred to repeatedly by way of 
 controversy in the book itself. It has been said 
 by more than one critic, who is entitled at once 
 
THE SECOND EDITION. ix 
 
 to my respectful consideration and my gratitude, 
 that my account of Islam and its founder, 
 though true on the whole, is somewhat too 
 favourable. The objection is natural, and, from 
 more than one point of view, is just. But it 
 seems to me that some at least of those who have 
 dwelt on this point, have not taken sufficiently 
 into account my purpose in venturing to ap- 
 proach the subject, nor yet its vastness and 
 complexity. So many Christian writers, as it 
 seemed to me, had approached Islam only to 
 vilify and misrepresent it, that it appeared 
 desirable that one who was at least profoundly 
 impressed with the dignity and importance of 
 the subject, should, in default of better qualified 
 persons, make an attempt to treat it, not merely 
 with a cold and distant impartiality, but even 
 with something akin to sympathy and friendli- 
 ness. The defects of Islam are well known ; its 
 merits are almost ignored, at all events by the 
 great majority of Englishmen. It is not likely 
 that a Christian and a European will err on the 
 side of over-appreciation of another, and that an 
 Eastern creed : the balance therefore, if per- 
 chance it has been held for a moment uncon- 
 
X PREFACE TO 
 
 sciously to myself, with uneven hand, will soon 
 right itself. 
 
 Again, Islam in its various ramifications is 
 a subject so vast and so complex, and is so full 
 of apparent contradictions, that independent en- 
 quirers may honestly arrive at the most opposite 
 results. It ought, for this reason, to be ap- 
 proached from as many and as different points 
 of view as possible ; and assuredly the precise 
 point of view from which I have approached it, 
 whether it be the best per se or not, is the one 
 from which hitherto there has been hardly any 
 attempt to approach it at all. This, then, is the 
 raison d'etre of my book ; to this, in the main, 
 is doubtless due such favourable reception ais it 
 has met with at the hands of both Musalmans 
 and Christians ; and it is to a want of perception 
 of what this involves that I think I can trace 
 many criticisms on it. In the treatment of a reli- 
 gious revolution which from its mere extent, from 
 what it has achieved, as well as from what it has 
 failed to achieve, must afford an ample field 
 alike for exaggerated panegyric and depreciation, 
 he who endeavours to avoid both extremes must 
 expect to find fewer thorough-going partisans. 
 
THE SECOND EDITION. xi 
 
 and must be willing or even anxious to be 
 criticised by both sides alike. 
 
 To say that subsequent study, or that the 
 remarks of my critics, have only confirmed me 
 in all my views, would of course be equivalent 
 to saying with Pontius Pilate, that ' what I have 
 written I have written ; ' a comfortable but a 
 sorry conclusion to come to, for one who is 
 bound to begin by asking himself with Pontius 
 Pilate, * What is truth ? ' and, unlike him, must 
 feel himself bound by the most sacred of obliga- 
 tions to keep his ears always open for the 
 reception of such fragments of the answer as he 
 may be able from time to time to catch. Some 
 of my views on matters of detail have been 
 modified ; but apart from errors of detail, apart 
 from errors of commission and omission, apart 
 from short-comings incidental to ignorance at 
 first hand of Oriental languages and of Musal- 
 man countries, I more and more cherish the 
 earnest hope that the spirit and the purpose 
 with which I have, at least, tried to approach 
 my subject is the right spirit, and the right 
 purpose with which to approach the study of a 
 creed different from one's own. 
 
xii PREFACE TO 
 
 To dwell on what is good rather than on what 
 is evil ; to search for points of resemblance 
 rather than of difference ; to use a relative and 
 an historical judgment in all things ; to point 
 out what is the out-come of mere human weak- 
 ness as distinguished from the flaws In the 
 primal documents of the religion, or in the life 
 of its founder ; to discriminate between the 
 accidental and the essential, the transitory and 
 the eternal ; above all, constantly to turn the 
 mirror in upon oneself, and to try to make sure 
 that one is complying w^ith that great principle 
 of Christianity of judging and of treating others 
 as we should wish ourselves to be judged and 
 treated ; this, I am convinced, is the only way in 
 which the better spirits of rival creeds can ever 
 be brought to understand one another, or to 
 sink all their differences In the consciousness of 
 a likeness which is more fundamental than any 
 difference, and which, if it is not felt before, 
 will at least be felt hereafter. In 
 
 That one far off Divine event 
 
 To which the whole creation moves. • 
 
 These are the aims I have kept and will con- 
 tinue to keep steadily in view, however Imper- 
 
THE SECOND EDITION. xiii 
 
 fectly I have been able or may yet be able to 
 carry them out. 
 
 If the alterations or additions, therefore, I 
 have made to the text of my Lectures seem less 
 than those high authorities who have done me 
 the honour of criticising my book have a right 
 to expect, I would assure them that it is not 
 from any want of respect to their judgment, or 
 because I have not carefully weighed their 
 criticisms. The dropping of an epithet, the 
 addition of a word here or there, the omission 
 of a note, or the turn of a sentence, will often 
 indicate the silent homage that I have paid, 
 wherever I could do so, to their superior right 
 to speak upon the subject. There may be little 
 to show for it, otherwise than by way of expan- 
 sion and addition, in the general aspect and 
 arrangement of the book; but there is more 
 than appears at first sight ; and, assuredly, the 
 amount of apparent change bears no propor- 
 tion at all to the time and care I have taken 
 in making it. 
 
 And if I have forborne to enlarge my work by 
 dwelling at length, as I have been asked by some 
 critics to do, upon the darker side of the picture, 
 
xiv PREFACE TO 
 
 the reason is not because I am Ignorant of that 
 darker side, still less because I am indifferent 
 to it, but because it would be wholly inconsis- 
 tent with the end I have in view. To denounce 
 fundamental conditions of Oriental society ; to 
 iofnore the law of dissolution to which Eastern 
 no less than Western dynasties are subject ; to 
 confuse the decadence of a race with that of a 
 creed ; to be blind to the distinction between 
 progressive and unprogressive, between civilised 
 and uncivilised peoples ; to judge of a religion 
 mainly or exclusively by the lives of its pro- 
 fessors, often of its most unworthy professors ; to 
 forget what of good there has been in the 
 past, and to refuse to hope for something better 
 in the future, In despair or In indignation for 
 what is — all this may occasionally be excusable, 
 or possibly even necessary ; but It cannot be 
 done by me so long as I think it neither excus- 
 able nor necessary. 
 
 The object of these Lectures, therefore, in their 
 revised as well as in their original shape, is not so 
 much to dwell upon the degradation of the female 
 sex, for Instance, In most Musalman countries — 
 for that is admitted on all hands — as to show what 
 
THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 XV 
 
 iMohammed did, even in his time, to raise the 
 position of women, and to point out how his 
 consistent and more enHghtened followers may 
 best follow him now ; not so much to dwell 
 upon the horrors of the Slave Trade — for these 
 too are universally recognised — as to show 
 those Musalmans who still indulge in it that it 
 forms no part of their creed, that it is opposed 
 alike to the practice and precept of their 
 Prophet, and that, therefore, if they are less to 
 blame, they are only less to blame than those 
 I ^ Christians who, in spite of a higher civilisation, 
 and an infinitely higher example, indulged in it 
 till so late a period. My object is not so much 
 to dilate on the evils of the appeal to the sword, 
 still less to excuse it, as to point out that there 
 were moments, and those late in the life of the 
 warrior Prophet, when even he could say, 'Unto 
 every one have we given a law and a way ; ' 
 and again, ' Let there be no violence in religion.' 
 My object is, lastly, not so much to dwell on 
 the fables, and the discrepancies, and the repeti- 
 tions, and the anachronisms which form the husk 
 of the Koran, as to show how they sink into 
 
 a 
 
xvi PREFACE TO 
 
 insio-niiicance before the zns viva which Is its 
 soul — not so much to define or to hmit inspira- 
 tion as to indicate by my use of the word that 
 it cannot, as I think, be hmited or defined at ah ; 
 to imply, in fact, that inspiration, in the broadest 
 sense of the word, is to be found in all the 
 greatest thoughts of man ; for the workings of 
 God are everywhere, and the spirits of men and 
 nations are moulded by Him to bring about His 
 purposes of love, and to give them, in a sense that 
 shall be sufficient for them, a knowledge of Him- 
 self. In a word, my object is — with all reverence 
 be it said — not to localise God exclusively in this 
 or that creed, but to trace Him everywhere in 
 measure ; not merely to trust Him for what 
 shall be, but to find Him In what Is. 
 
 Harrow : August, 1875. 
 
 Among the books which, in accordance with the 
 plan pursued in the First Edition of my work, I would 
 wish to mention here as having, apart from the special 
 acknowledgments which I have made in the notes, 
 afforded me assistance in the preparation of the Second 
 Edition, are the following : — 
 
THE SECOND EDITION. xvii 
 
 '■ Sirat-er-Ragoul ' of Ibn Hisham: German translation, by G. 
 Weil, Stuttgart, 1864; the earliest and most authentic history of 
 the Prophet, and founded on a still earlier one, that of Ibn 
 Ishak. 
 
 ' Mishkat-ul-Masabih ' = ' niche for lamps : ' a collection of the 
 most authentic traditions regarding the actions and sayings of 
 Mohammed, translated by Captain A. N. Mathews, Calcutta, 1 809. 
 This valuable book is extremely scarce ; but there is a prospect, 
 if a sufficient number of subscribers can be obtained, of a new 
 edition being brought out by Messrs. Allen and Co., under the 
 editorship of the Rev. T. P. Hughes, Missionary at Peshawur. 
 
 ' History of Mohammedan Dynasties,' by Major Price, 
 London, 181 2 : a voluminous and somewhat dreary account of 
 the wars and crimes of Musalman prmces, but throwing very 
 little hght on the social and religious life of their subjects. 
 
 ' Histoire des Musalmans d'Espagne jusqu'a la Conquete de 
 I'Andalousie paries Almoravides, A.D. 711-1110,' by R. Dozy, 
 Leyden, 1861; a work of hrst-rate historical importance. The 
 author is equally at home in the Arabic literature relating to 
 Spain, and the Spanish literature relating to the Arabs, and he 
 has corrected many of the mistakes of Conde. 
 
 ' Ueber das Verhaltniss des Islam zum Evangelium,' by 
 Dr. J. A. Mohler (1830), Author of 'The Symbolik,' a most 
 suggestive and thoughtful essay. I am happy to find that it has 
 anticipated some of the conclusions, with regard to both the 
 Prophet and the Faith, which I had set forth in my First Edition, 
 in entire independence of it, 
 
 '■ Mohammed's Rt-ligion nach ihrer inneren Entwickelung, 
 und ihrem EinfliAsse, eine historische Betrachtung,' by Dr. 
 Dollinger, Ratisbon, 1838. The distinguished author tias brought 
 together the statements of a large number of travellers, &c., and 
 has weighed them with much ability, and with every wish to be 
 impartial or even generous towards Islam. He seems, however, 
 at the time when he wrote, to have been more unable than he 
 would probably be now, to divest himself of his ecclesiastical 
 prepossessions, and condemns, for instance, Islam for the 
 absence of visible symbols, sacraments, a priesthood, and even a 
 Pope ; forgetting that these things, however essential to his own 
 
 a 2 
 
xviii PREFACE TO 
 
 creed, may have been, not sources of strength, but of weakness, 
 to another, 
 
 ' Essays on the Life of Mohammed and Subjects subsidiary 
 thereto,' by Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador, 1870. 
 
 ' A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mo- 
 hammed,' by Syed Ameer Ah Moulla (1873). It is satisfactory 
 to find that the hope I ventured to express in the Preface to 
 my First Edition, as to the sympathy of views and the conciH- 
 atory spirit of these two learned Musalman reformers, has 
 been amply justified by a study of their works ; and it is difficult 
 not to believe that books like these point, at however remote a 
 period, to a better understanding between the best followers of 
 the two creeds. 
 
 ' L'Islamisme d'apres le Coran, I'Enseignement doctrinal et la 
 Pratique,' by M. Garvin de Tassy, Paris, Third Edition, 1874; the 
 work of a most accomplished Orientalist ; the most instructive 
 and original part of the whole being, perhaps, the essay on the 
 modifications which Islam has undergone in India, 
 
 ' La Langue et la Litterature Hindustanies,' by M. Gargin de 
 Tassy, a collection of Lectures delivered between the years 1850 
 -1875; each Lecture being the commencement of a course upon 
 Hindustani Literature, and containing a very valuable Review 
 of the Events that have taken place in India in the preceding 
 year, with Notices of the Literary and Religious Life of the 
 Natives which are not to be found elsewhere, 
 
 ' L'Islam et son Fondateur, Etude Morale,' by Jules Charles 
 SchoU, Neuchatel, 1874; an able and candid enquiry, which, 
 though written from a difterent point of view to mine, often 
 arrives at somewhat similar conclusions. 
 
 ' Necessary Reforms of Mussalman States,' by General 
 Kheredine, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs at 
 Tunis ; Athens, 1874 5 interesting in itself, and doubly interesting 
 owing to the quarter from which it comes, as showing that 
 India is not the only Musalman country where the ' Moham- 
 medan social and pohtical reformer ' is at work. 
 
 'Notes on Mohammedanism,' by the Rev. T. P. Hughes, 
 Missionary at Peshawur, 1875. ^ valuable compendium of facts. 
 The author has studied Islam both theoretically and practically ; 
 and though he uses the stock phrases ' imposture,' ' would-be 
 
THE SECOiVI) EDITION. xix 
 
 Prophet,' &c., with ominous frequency, he does more just'ce than 
 most of those, whose duty it is to argue with Mohammedans, to 
 the character of the Prophet. 
 
 In Periodical Literature : 
 
 ' Mahometanism,' an able, thoughtful, and generous article 
 in the ' Christian Remembrancer' tor January 1855, which has 
 been reprinted in a separate form by its author, Dr. Cazenove. 
 
 Among books of Travel, Essays, &c., throwing light on 
 different periods or different parts of the Mohammedan world : 
 
 ' Travels of Marco Polo,' translated and edited by Col. Yule, 
 with copious illustrations, Second Edition, 1871. 
 
 'Travels of Ibn Batuta,' translated by Rev. S. Lee, 1829. 
 
 ' Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa,' by Mungo Park, 
 1810. 
 
 'Turkey, Greece, and Malta/ by Adolphus Slade, R.N., 
 
 1837. 
 
 'The Spirit of the East,' by D. Urquhart, 1838. 
 
 ' Christianity in Ceylon,' by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, 1850. 
 
 ' Nestorians and their Rituals,' by Rev. G. P. Badger, 1852. 
 
 'Nineveh and Babylon,' by A. H. Layard, 1853 
 
 'The Ansayrii, or Assassins,' by Hon. F. Walpole, 1854. 
 
 ' Menioires de THistoire Orientale/ by M. C. Defremerv, 
 1854. 
 
 ' Nouvelles Recherches sur les Ismaeliens de Syrie,' by 
 M. C. Defremery, 1855. 
 
 ' Travels in Central Asia,' by Arminius Vambery, 1861, 
 
 ' Monasteries of the Levant,' by Hon. R. Curzon, Fifth 
 Edition, 1865. 
 
 ' East and West, Essays by different hands/ 1865. 
 
 'History of India,' by John Clark Marshman, 1867. 
 
 ' Sketches of Central Asia,' by Arminius Vambe'ry, 1868. 
 
 'The People of Africa — Essays/ New York, 1871. 
 
XX PREFACE TO THE SECOXD EDITION. 
 
 ' Journey to the Source of the Oxus/ by Lieutenant Wood, 
 New Edition, 1872. 
 
 ' African Sketch-book,' by Winwood Reade, 1873. 
 
 ' History of India/ by J. Talboys Wheeler, VoL III., 1874 
 
 ' Women of the Arabs/ by Rev. H. Jessup, 1874. 
 
 ' Literary Remains of Emanuel Deutsch/ 1874. 
 
 Note. — In tiie absence, as yet, of any thorough 
 consensus among Oriental scholars as to the details of 
 transliteration, I have thought it desirable to retain the 
 ordinary spelling in such words as Mohammed, Koran, 
 Sura, Mecca, Medina, rather than adopt the more 
 accurate Muhammad, Kuran, Surah, Makkah, Madyna. 
 With words less universally known, such as Koreishites, 
 Hegira, Mussulman, Sheeah, Sonna, &c., though I have 
 not thought it necessary to use accents, I have adopted 
 the more correct forms of Kuraish, Hijrah, Musalman, 
 Shiah, Sunni, &c. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 -•o^ 
 
 The substance of these Lectures was written 
 early in 1S72 : they were originally intended 
 only for a select audience of friends at Harrow, 
 but, on the suggestion of some of those who 
 heard them, they were afterwards considerably 
 enlarged, and were delivered before the Royal 
 Institution of Great Britain in the months of 
 February and March 1874. 
 
 They are an attempt, however imperfect, 
 within a narrow compass, but, it is hoped, from 
 a somewhat comprehensive and Independent 
 point of view, to render justice to what was 
 great in Mohammed's character, and to what 
 has been good in Mohammed's mfluence oh the 
 world. To original Oriental research they lay 
 
xxii PREFACE TO 
 
 no claim, nor indeed to much originality at all ; 
 perhaps the subject hardly now admits of it : 
 but, thanks to the numerous translations of the 
 Koran into European languages, and to the 
 great works of Oriental scholars, such as 
 Caussin de Perceval, Sprenger, Muir, and 
 Deutsch, the materials for forming an impartial 
 judgment of the Prophet of Arabia are within 
 the reach of any earnest student of the Science 
 of Religion, and of all who care, as those who 
 have ever studied Mohammed's character must 
 care, for the deeper problems of the human 
 soul. 
 
 The value of the estimate formed of the 
 influence of Mohammedanism on the world at 
 large must, of course, depend upon such a 
 modicum of general historical knowledge, and 
 such Catholic sympathies, as the writer has been 
 able, amidst other pressing duties, to bring to 
 his work. The only qualification he would 
 venture to claim for himself in the matter is 
 that of a sympathetic interest in his subject, and 
 of a conscientious desire first to divest himself 
 of all preconceived ideas, and then by a careful 
 study of the Koran itself, and afterwards of its 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. xxiii 
 
 best expounders, to arrive as nearly as may be 
 at the truth. How vast is the interval between 
 his wishes and his performance the author knows 
 full well, and any one who has ever been 
 fairly fascinated with a great subject will know 
 also ; for he will have felt that to have the will 
 is not always to have the power, and that the 
 framing of an ideal implies the consciousness 
 of failure to attain to it. 
 
 A Christian who retains that paramount 
 allegiance to Christianity which is his birthright, 
 and yet attempts, without favour and without 
 prejudice, to portray another religion, is inevita- 
 bly exposed to misconstruction. In the study 
 of his subject he will have been struck some- 
 times by the extraordinary resemblance between 
 his own creed and another, sometimes by the 
 sharpness of the contrast ; and, in order to avoid 
 those misrepresentations, which are, unfortu- 
 nately, never so common as where they ought 
 to be unknown, in the discussion of religious 
 questions, — he v/ill be tempted, in filling in the 
 portrait, to project his own personal predilec- 
 tions on the canvas, and to bring the differences 
 into full relief, while he leaves the resemblances 
 
XXIV PREFACE TO 
 
 in shadow. And yet a comparison between 
 two systems, If it is to hav^ any fruitful results, 
 if its object is to unite rather than divide, if, in 
 short, it is to be of the spirit of the Founder of 
 Christianity, must, in matters of religion above 
 all, be based on what is common to both. There 
 is, in the human race, in spite of their manifold 
 diversities, a good deal of human nature ; enough, 
 at all events, to entitle us to assume that the 
 Founders of any tvv^o religious systems which 
 have had a great and continued hold upon a 
 large part of mankind must have had many 
 points of contact. iYccordlngly, in comparing, 
 as he has done to some extent, the founder of 
 Islam with the Founder of Christianity — a 
 comparison which, if it were not expressed, 
 would always be implied — the author of these 
 Lectures has thought it right mainly to dwell 
 on that aspect of the character of Christ, which, 
 being admitted by Musalmans as well as Chris- 
 tians, by foes as well as friends, m.ay possibly 
 serve as a basis, if not for an ultimate ag^reem.ent, 
 at all events for an agreement to differ from one 
 another upon terms of greater sympathy and 
 forbearance, of understanding and of respect. 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. xxv 
 
 That Islam will ever give way to Christianity 
 in the East, however much we may desire it, 
 and whatever good would result to the world, 
 it is difficult to believe ; but it is certain that 
 Mohammedans maiy learn much from Chris- 
 tians and yet remain Mohammedans, and that 
 Christians have something at least to learn 
 from Mohammedans, which will make them 
 not less but more Christian than they were 
 before. If we would conquer Nature, we must 
 first obey her ; and the Foui-th Lecture is an 
 attempt to show, from a full recognition of the 
 facts of Nature underlying both religions — of 
 the points of difference as well as of resemblance 
 — that Mohammedanism, if it can never become 
 actually one with Christianity, may yet, by a 
 process of mutual approximation and mutual 
 understanding, prove its best ally. In other 
 words, the author believes that there is a unity 
 above and beyond that unity of Christendom 
 which, properly understood, all earnest Chris- 
 tians so much desire ; a unity which rests upon 
 the belief that ' the children of one Father may 
 worship Him under different names ;' that they 
 may be influenced by one spirit, even though 
 
xxvi PREFACE TO 
 
 they know It not ; that they may all have one 
 hope, even if they have not one faith. 
 
 Harrow : April 15, 1873. 
 
 I have to return my best thanks to my friend 
 Mr. Arthur Watson, for a careful revision of 
 my manuscript, and for several valuable suggestions. 
 
 It may be serviceable to English readers to men- 
 tion the more accessible works upon the subject, 
 to the writers of which I desire here to express my 
 general obligations, over and above the acknowledg- 
 ment, in the text, wherever I am conscious of them, 
 of special debts. I am the more anxious to do this 
 fully here, as, while I am quite aware that I could not 
 have written on this subject at all without making 
 their labours the basis of mine, I have yet in the 
 exercise of my own judgment been often obliged to 
 criticise their reasonings and their conclusions. I can 
 only hope that even where I have ventured to express 
 a somewhat vehement dissent from my authorities, 
 they will kindly credit m.e with something at least of the 
 verecundc disscntio, which becomes a learner, and of 
 the zeal for truth, or for his idea of it, which becomes 
 a writer, however diffident of himself, on a great 
 subject. 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. xxvii 
 
 ' The Koran,' translated by Sale, with an elaborate Intro- 
 duction and full Notes drawn from the Arabic Commentators 
 
 (1734). 
 
 'The Koran,' translated by Savary (1782), also with in- 
 structive explanatory Notes. 
 
 'The Koran,' translated by Rodwell (1861): the Suras ar- 
 ranged, as far as possible, chronologically, with an excellent 
 Introduction and concise Notes. 
 
 Gagnier'^f Vie de Mahomet' (1732) ; drawn chiefly from 
 Abul Feda and the Sonna. 
 
 Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ;' Chapters 
 L., LI., LI I. (1788). A most masterly and complete picture. 
 
 Weil's ' Mohamed der Prophet' (1845). Able and to the 
 point. 
 
 Caussin de Perceval's ' Essai sur THistoire des Arabes,' &c. 
 (1847) gives particularly full information upon the obscure sub- 
 ject of early Arabian history and literature, and is written from 
 an absolutely neutral point of view. 
 
 Sprenger's ' Life of Mohammed,' Allahabad, 185 1; and his 
 greater work, ' Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohamad' (185 1- 
 1861), the most exhaustive, original, and learned of all, but by 
 no means the most impartial ; he is often, as I shall point out, 
 on one or two occasions, in the notes, flagrantly unfair to 
 Mohammed. 
 
 Sir William Muirs ' Life of Mahomet' (1858-1861). Learned 
 and comprehensive, able and fair ; though its scientific value is 
 somewhat impaired by theological assumptions as to the nature 
 of inspiration, and by the introduction of a personal Ahriman, 
 which, while it is self-contradictory in its supposed operation, 
 seems to me only to create new difficulties, instead of solving 
 old ones. 
 
 ' The Talmud/ an article in the ' Quarterly Review' (October, 
 1867); ' Islam,' an article in the ' Quarterly Review' (October, 
 1^569); two most brilliant essays. Had the lamented author 
 lived to finish the work he shadowed forth in the last of these, 
 
xxviii PREFACE TO 
 
 he would probably have drawn a more vivid picture of Islam as 
 a whole than has ever yet been given to the world. 
 
 For less elaborate works : — 
 
 Ockley's ' History of the Saracens from 632-705.' Pictu- 
 resque ; dealing largely in romance (1708-17 18). 
 
 Hallam's 'Middle Ages,' Chapter VI. (1818) ; Milman's 
 ' Latin Christianity,' Book IV., Chapters I. and II. (1857); both 
 good samples of the high merits of each as an historian. 
 
 Carlyle's ' Hero as Prophet ' (1846). Most stimulating. 
 
 Washington Irving's ' Life of Mahomet ' (1849). The work 
 of a novelist, but strangely divested of all romance. 
 
 Lecture by Dean Stanley in his 'Eastern Church' (1862). 
 Has the peculiar charm of all the author's writings. Catholic 
 in its sympathies, and suggestive, as well from his treatment of 
 the subject as from the place the author assigns to it on the 
 borders of, if not within, the Eastern Church itself. 
 
 Barthelemy St.-Hilaire's ' Mahomet et le Koran ' (1S65), a 
 comprehensive and very useful review of most of what has been 
 v.ritten on the subject. 
 
 On the general subject of Comparative Religion : — 
 
 ' Religions of the World,' by F. D. Maurice (1846). Perhaps 
 of all his writings the one which best shows us the character 
 and mind of the man. 
 
 ' Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse,' by Renan (1858). Ingenious 
 and fascinating, but not always, nor indeed often, convincing. 
 
 ' Les Religions et les Philosophies dans I'Asie Centrale,' by 
 Gobineau (1866), gives the best account extant of Babyism in 
 
 Persia. 
 
 ' Chips from a German Workshop ' (1868), and ' Introduc- 
 tion to the Science of Religion' (1873), by Max Mliller. Un- 
 fortunately the author says very little about Mohammedanism, 
 but from him I have derived some very valuable suggestions as 
 
THE FIKS7' EDITION. xxix 
 
 to the general treatment of the subject. Perhaps it is well that 
 the learning and genius of Professor Max Miiller should be 
 given mainly to subjects which are less within the r. ach of 
 ordinary European students han is Islam, but it is impossible 
 not to wish that he may some day give the world a ' Chip ' or 
 two on the Religion of Mohammed. 
 
 For books which throw light on the specialities of Moham- 
 medanism in different countries: — 
 
 Al-Makkari's ' History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in 
 Spain' (Eng. Trans.). 
 
 Sir John Malcolm's '■ History of Persia,' i8[5. 
 
 Conde's ' History of the Dominion of the Arabs in Spain ' 
 (1820-21). 
 
 Crawfurd's ' Indian Archipelago' (1820). 
 
 Colonel Briggs's ' Rise of the Mohammedan Power in India/ 
 translated from the Persian of Ferishta (1829), 
 
 Sir Stamford Raffles' ' History of Java ' (2nd edition), (1830). 
 
 Burckhardt's 'Travels in Arabia' (1829). 
 
 Caille's ' Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo,' 
 (1830.) 
 
 Burckhardt's ' Notes on the Bedouins and Wah-Habees' 
 
 (1831). 
 
 Lane's ' Modern Egyptians' (1836). 
 
 Burton's ' Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina ' (1856). 
 
 Barth's ' Travels in Central Africa ' (1857). 
 
 Waitz's 'Anthropologic der Naturvolker' (Leipsig, i86c). 
 
 Lane's ' Notes to his Translation of the Thousand and One 
 
 Nights' (new edition, edited by E. S. Poole, 1865). 
 
 Elphinstone's ' History of India' (3rd edition), (j866). 
 
 Palgrave's ' Arabia ' (1 867). 
 
 Hunter's ' Indian Mussulmans,' (1871). 
 
 Shaw's ' High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar' (1871). 
 
 Burton's ' Zanzibar ' ( 1 872). 
 
 Palgrave's ' Essays on Eastern Subjects ' (1872). 
 
 ' Report of the General Missionary Conference at Allahabad ' 
 
 (1873). 
 
XXX PREFACE TO 
 
 Three Articles in Periodical Literature, besides ' Islam ' men- 
 tioned above, are of very high merit, and have furnished me, 
 in enlarging my work, with some matter for reflection or criti- 
 cism : — 
 
 ^ Mahomet,' ' National Review ' (July 1858). 
 
 ' The Great Arabian,' ' National Review' (October 1861). 
 
 ' Mahomet,' 'British Quarterly Review' (January 1872). 
 
 Among other works which I regret I have not been able to 
 consult may be mentioned: — 
 
 Gerock's ' Versuch einer Darstellung der Christologie des 
 Koran ' (Homburg, 1839). 
 
 Freeman's ' Lectures on the History and Conquests of the 
 Saracens ' (1856), 
 
 Geiger's ' Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume auf- 
 genommen ? ' 
 
 Noldeke's ' Geschichte des Qorans.' 
 
 ' Essays on the Life of Mohammed and subjects subsidiary 
 thereto,' by Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador, 1870. 
 
 ' A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of 
 Mohammed,' by Syed Ameer Ali Moulla (1873). 
 
 The last two books I had not heard of when 
 I wrote the substance of these Lectures ; and in en- 
 larging my work, I have purposely abstained from 
 consulting them, as I have been given to understand 
 that from a Mohammedan point of view they ad- 
 vocate something of the spirit, and arrive at some of 
 the results, which it had been my object to urge from 
 the Christian stand-point. I would not, of course, 
 venture to compare my own imperfect work, derived 
 as it is in the main from the study of books in the 
 
THE FIRST EDITION. xxxi 
 
 European languages, and from reflection upon the 
 materials they supply, with works drawn, as I pre- 
 sume, directly from the fountain-head. But if the 
 starting-points be different, and the routes entirely 
 independent of each other, and yet there turns out 
 to be a similarity in the results arrived at, possibly 
 each may feel greater confidence that there is some- 
 thing of value in his conclusions. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 Introductory. 
 
 Comparative Religion. — Historical Religions of the world moral in 
 their origin, rather than theological. — Judaism — Buddhism — 
 Christianity. — Religion in Greece — Question of originality of Mo- 
 hammedanism. — Two views of Religion. — Obscurity of all origins, 
 above all of Religion — Dim knowledge of Founders of other 
 Religions — Full knowledge of Mohammed. — Bible and Koran con- 
 trasted. — Difficult in other creeds to distinguish the foundation from 
 the superstructure ; possible in Islam. — Problems connected with 
 Mohammed's character. — Survey of the Saracen Conquests, and of 
 what Mohammedanism overthrew. — Its position now — is it losing 
 or gaining ground ? — China — East Indian Archipelago — America — 
 Africa — Extraordinary success of its missionaries there now. — Its 
 progress in the African continent traced historically. — Spreads even 
 into European settlements. — What it has done for Africa, intel- 
 lectually and morally ; and what Christians have done. — Testimony 
 of Mungo Park, Barth, Blyden. — Islam a comparative benefit. — Its 
 probable future in Africa — Armenia and Kurdistan, Revival there. — 
 India ; few, if any, converts to Christianity. — Supreme importance 
 of the subject to England, yet ignorance or indifference. — Causes 
 ordinarily suggested for its success reviewed. — National and Re- 
 ligious prejudices stand in way of a fair judgment. — Principles 
 which must guide investigation. — Do Religions differ in kind ? — 
 Sacred Books and their influence. — Missionary work; its limits 
 and legitimate objects. — Can the world be Christianised ? PAGE I 
 
xxxiv CONTENTS, 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 Mohammed. 
 
 History of Opinions about Mohammed : — the Troubadours — the Middle 
 Ages — Marco Polo — the Reformers — the Catholics — Biblical Com- 
 mentators — Alexander Ross — Englishmen generally. — Reaction — 
 Gagnier — Sale — Gibbon — Carlyle — other modern writers. — 
 Arabia before Mohammed — its social condition — Immobility. — 
 
 Characteristics of Desert. — Virtues of the Arabs — contentment — 
 
 >■ — 
 Liberty, national and individual — Tribal attachment — Poverty — 
 
 Hospitality — Appetite for plunder — War — Knightly chivalry and 
 courtesy — Poetry — Vices of the Arabs — Revenge — Drunkenness — 
 Gambling — Infanticide — Degradation of Women— unlimited Poly- 
 gamy and Divorce — no rights of property — Arab proverbs — Reli- 
 gions of Arabia — Judaism — Christianity — How far living faiths? — 
 Sabseanism — Magianism — Fetish-worship — The Kaaba and its con- 
 tents — Human sacrifice — Divination — Superstitions — Could Mo- 
 hammedanism have been predicted ? — Was it the voice of the spirit 
 of the time, or of individual Religious Genius ? — Moral and National 
 upheaval — pre-Mohammedans. — Youth of Mohammed — A shepherd 
 — A Camel-driver— his call to be Prophet, and its phenomena — 
 marriage to Khadijah — religious temperament — theory of imposture — 
 his leng struggles. — Speech of exiles to the Nagashy of Abyssinia, 
 and its importance — the Hijrah — Change in conditions of life 
 henceforward — would it have been well if he had died on Mount 
 Thor, for himself ?— for the world? — Sincerity of Mohammed ex- 
 amined — his personal characteristics— the prophetic office — Mo- 
 hammed's life at Medina— his faults — his marriages, their possible 
 explanations — his supposed moral declension examined — was he 
 voluptuous? — cruel? — consistent? — Privileges of a Prophet among 
 the Jews — Did he use the Koran for his private purposes? — Illus- 
 trations — the exact nature and limits of his mission — Illustrations — 
 his death ........ page 74 
 
 LECTURE IIL 
 
 Mohammedanism. 
 
 Essence of Mohammedanism — Unity of God — Submission to God's 
 
 will — claims to be universal — how far borrowed from Jews — Juda- 
 
 sm and Christianity as known to Arabs — Mohammedanism a 
 
CONTENTS. XXXV 
 
 misnomer — Mission of Mohammed — Compared with that of 
 Moses — Other articles of Faith — Practical duties enjoined — Prayer 
 — Almsgiving — Fasting — Pilgrimage, its use and abuse — How far 
 alien in reality to Mohammedanism and to Christianity — History of 
 the Kaaba — the Hajj — Dictum of Dr. Deutsch. — The Talmud and 
 its influence. — Mohammed's concessions to the Jews, and his 
 efforts to gain them over. — Why he failed. — Supposed prophecies 
 about Mohammed in the Bible. — The Koran — its characteristics — its 
 history — influence — variety — poetry — theology — morality — the Pro- 
 phet's fits of inspiration. — Relation of Mohammed to Miracles, 
 compared with that of Christ. — The Miraculous generally. — 
 Religion. — Fatalism. — What the Koran says. — What has been 
 drawn from it. — Opposite effects of the same doctrine — Moham- 
 med's views of Prayer, Predestination, and Free Will. — Wars of 
 Islam — an essential part of the system or not ? — how accounted for. 
 — Connection of the Spiritual and Temporal Power — in Eastern 
 Christendom — in Western Christendom — and in Islam. — Character 
 of early Mohammedan Wars — Religious enthusiasm — the Crusades. 
 — Character and gloomy results of later Mohammedan conquests. — 
 The Ottoman Turks — their national character — vices and virtues — 
 What Europeans have done for them — what allowance is to be 
 made for them and for their misgovernment — not essential to Islam 
 now, whatever they were once — results of early Mohammedan 
 conquests — Literature — Science — and Civilisation — the Prophet's 
 own view of learning, and that of his followers — Attitude of 
 Christianity and Christians towards Religious wars — Morality of 
 war. — What wars are Christian .... PAGE 155 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Mohammedanism and Christianity. 
 
 The Future Life of Mohammedanism — of other Religions. — Use Mo- 
 hammed made of Heaven and Hell — their legitimate use, — Does 
 Mohammedanism encourage self-indulgence ? — Morality of Moham- 
 medanism. — Mohammed's attitude towards existing institutions 
 compared with that of other Founders — Solon — Moses — Christ. — 
 How Islam dealt with Polygamy — Divorce — Women generally — 
 Slavery — Caste, as illustrated by Arabia, India — Africa. — How it 
 dealt with Orphans — the poor — the insane — origin of lunatic 
 asylums — the lower animals— moral offences, drunkenness and 
 
xxxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 gambling. — How then ought Christianity to regard Mohammedan- 
 ism ? — How does it ? — Three Monotheistic creeds — Heroes common 
 to all — Spirituality of each. — Mohammed and Moses compared. — 
 Iconoclasm. — Absence of priestcraft and ritual, yet great success 
 in proselytising — reverence for Christ, and sympathy for Christians 
 — three reasons suggested for Mohammed's rejection of Christianity. 
 — Mohammed's views of Christ — of the Virgin Mary — of the 
 Trinity — of the Crucifixion — of God. — Lessons to be learnt from 
 them. — Has Mohammedanism kept back the East by hindering the 
 spread of Christianity ? — Is it a curse or blessing to the world at 
 large ? —Limits of Mohammedanism and of Christianity. — Aspects 
 of Mohammedanism in different countries — Africa — Spain — Sicily — 
 Turkey — Persia — India — Contrast between Christianity and Mo- 
 hammedanism and their founders. — Is the East progressive or not ? 
 — Corruptions of Mohammedanism — Evils more or less rife in 
 Musalman countries, e.g. Religious feuds, Fatalism, disregard of 
 human life, and of humanity in punishments — degradation of 
 women. — Judicial corruption — misgovernment and consequent 
 stagnation or decay — unbridled despotism — conquests of Christian 
 Powers — do these evils imply that the religion is dead ? — Illus- 
 trations from history of Christendom — the other side of the question 
 — inhabitants of Asia Minor — Wonderful power of Islam — Neces- 
 sity of Revival in all religions — Wahhabis in Arabia and India — 
 revival in Eastern Anatolia — Maintenance of Ottoman supremacy 
 in Europe not necessary to Islam — Russian conquests in Asia not 
 fatal to it — Russian conquests do not spread a living Christianity — 
 Eastern Christians, their strength and weakness — Limits to the 
 influence of the West on the East — Despotism — Polygamy — 
 slavery— the slave-trade — condemned by Islam and by all religions 
 — mistakes of travellers and missionaries on this head — Is Moham- 
 medanism reconcilable with Civilisation ? — With Christianity ? — 
 Modifications possible or necessary. — Mohammed's place in His- 
 tory PAGE 222 
 
 Appendix to Lecture 1 347 
 
 Appendix to Lecture III. 356 
 
 Index . 361 
 
LECTURES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 IN 
 
 FEBRUARY and MARCH 1874 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 Delivered at the Royal Institution, 
 February 14, 1874. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Sua cuique genti religio est, nostra nobis. — CiCERO. 
 
 'AXX' iv TvavTL edueL 6 (po^ovfievos avrbv, Ka\ epya^ofxevos diK.aLoavvr]Vj 
 deKTos avTca €<TTi. — St. PETER. 
 
 The Science of Comparative Religion is still in its 
 infancy ; and if there is one danger more tlian 
 another against which it should be on its guard, it is 
 that of hasty and ill-considered generalisation. Hasty 
 generalisation is the besetting temptation of all young 
 Sciences ; may I not say of Science in general ? 
 They are in too great a hurry to justify their exist- 
 ence by arriving at results which may be generally 
 intelligible instead of waiting patiently till the result 
 shapes itself from the premises ; as if, in the pursuit 
 of truth, the chase was not always worth more than 
 
 B 
 
2 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the game and the process Itself more than the result ! 
 Theory has, it is true, its advantages, even in a young 
 Science, in the way of suggesting a definite line which 
 enquiry may take. A brilliant hypothesis formed, 
 not by random guess work, but by the trained ima- 
 gination of the man of Science, or by the true 
 divination of genius, enlarges the horizon of the 
 student whom the limits of the human faculties them- 
 selves drive to be a specialist, but who is apt to 
 become too much so. It throws a flood of light upon 
 a field of knowledge which was before, perhaps, half 
 in shadow, bringing out each object in its relative 
 place, and in its true proportions ; finally, it gathers 
 scattered facts into one focus, and explaining them 
 provisionally by a single law, it makes an appeal to 
 the fancy, which must react on the other mental 
 powers, and be a most powerful stimulus to further 
 research. In truth, much that is now demonstrated 
 fact was once hypothesis, and would never have been 
 demonstrated unless it had been first assumed. But 
 since there are few Keplers in the world — men ready 
 to sacrifice, without hesitation, a hypothesis that had 
 seemed to explain the universe, and become, as it 
 were, a part of themselves, the moment that the facts 
 seem to require it — great circumspection will always 
 be needed lest the facts may be made to bend to the 
 theory, instead of its being modified to meet them. 
 
ORIGIN OF RELIGION, MORAL. 3 
 
 Bearing this caution in mind, we may, perhaps, 
 think that the Science of Comparative Rehgion, 
 young as it is, has yet been in existence long enough 
 to enable us to lay it down, at all events provisionally, 
 as a general law, that all the great religions of the 
 world, the commencement of which has not been 
 immemorial, coeval that is with the human mind it- 
 self, have been in the first instance moral rather 
 than theological ; they have been called into exist- 
 ence to meet social and national needs ; they have 
 raised man gradually towards God, rather than 
 brought down God at once to man. 
 
 Judaism, for instance, sprang into existence at 
 the moment when the Israelites passed, and because 
 they passed, from the Patriarchal to the Political 
 life, when from slavery they emerged into freedom, 
 when they ceased to be a family, and became a 
 nation. * I am the Lord thy God, which brought 
 thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the 
 house of bondage.' The Moral Law which followed, 
 the Theocracy ^itself, was the outcome of this funda- 
 mental fact. The nation that God has chosen, nay, 
 that He has called into existence, is to keep His 
 laws and to be His people. Consequently, all law 
 to the ancient Hebrew was alike Divine, whether 
 written, as he believed, by the finger of God on two 
 
 tables, or whether applied by the civil magistrate to 
 
 B 2 
 
4 ■ MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the special cases brought before him. Moral and 
 political offences are thus offences against God, and 
 the ideas of crime and sin are identical alike in fact 
 and in thought. 
 
 Again, take a glance at the religion of Buddha. 
 We speak of Buddhism, and are apt to think of it 
 chiefly as a body of doctrine, drawn up over two 
 thousand years ago, and at this day professed by four 
 hundred and fifty millions of human beings ; and we 
 wonder, as well we may, how a siiuimiun boimin of 
 mere painlessness in this w^orld, and practically, and 
 to the ordinary mind, of total extinction when this 
 world is over, can have satisfied the spiritual cravings 
 of Buddha's contemporaries ; and, in its various forms, 
 can now be the life guidance of a third of the human 
 race.^ But we forget that, in its origin at least, 
 Buddhism was more of a social than of a relieious 
 reformation. It was an attack upon that web of 
 priestcraft which Brahmanism had woven round the 
 
 ' To Buddha himself and to his immediate disciples, it is now nearly 
 certain that Nirvana meant, not the cessation of being, but its perfection. 
 INIany of his followers' in all ages have, no doubt, developed one side of 
 his teachings only on this subject ; but there are not a i^w who know, 
 as a friendly critic, the Rev. John Hoare, on the high authority of Mr. 
 Beal, has pointed out to me, that on the last night which their master 
 spent on earth he is said to have held high converse with his dis- 
 ciples, much after the manner of Socrates in the Phsedo, on the future 
 life ; and that a Sutra still remains in which the four characteristics of 
 Nirvana are said to be personahty, purity, happiness, and eternity. 
 
JUDAISM AND BUDDHISM. 5 
 
 whole frame-work of Indian society.^ It was the 
 levelling of caste distinctions, the sight of a 'man 
 born to be a king ' throwing off his royal dignity, 
 sweeping away the sacerdotal mummeries which he 
 had himself tested, and found unfruitful, preferring 
 poverty to riches, and Sudras to Brahmans. It was 
 Buddha's overpowering sense of the miseries of sin, 
 his dim yearnings after a better life, his moral system 
 of which the sum is Love, which wrought upon the 
 hearts of his hearers.^ ' He founded, it is true, a new 
 religion, but he began by attacking an old.' He re- 
 constructed society first, and it was his social reform 
 that led to his religion, rather than his religion which 
 involved his social reconstruction. The half we 
 may, perhaps, think would have been more than the 
 whole — 
 
 ' Quaesivit coelo lucem ingemuitque reperta.' 
 
 Nor is it much otherwise with Christianity itself. 
 Christ was before all things the Founder of a new 
 
 1 See Max Mliller's < Chips from a German Workshop,' vol. I., 
 210-226, especially p. 220 ; and Spence Hardy's 'Legends and Theories 
 of the Buddhists,' Introduction, p. 13-20. Cf. also Beal's ' Buddhist 
 Pilgrims,' Introduction, p. 49, seq. 
 
 2 See in 'Travels of Marco Polo,' translated by Colonel Yule {II. 
 300, seq.), the remarkable story of the devotion of Sakj^a Muni to an 
 ascetic life, as a preliminary to all that followed. ' Had he been a 
 Christian,' says the good Venetian, ' he would have been a great saint of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led.' See also 
 Colonel Yule's notes in loc, and Mr. Talboys Wheelei's ' History of 
 India,' vol. III. chap. iii. 
 
6 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Society ; not, it is true, of a political Society : had it 
 been so, more of His countrymen would have seen in 
 His person the Messiah that was to come, and in His 
 kingdom the golden age of their own poets and 
 prophets. The political frame-work, indeed, of the 
 world Christ came neither to destroy, nor to recon- 
 struct, except indirectly and remotely. He recognised 
 the logic of facts ; above all, the tremendous logic of 
 the Roman Empire. Tribute was to be paid to 
 Caesar, even though that Caesar was a Tiberius. The 
 new Society was potentially a world-wide one, a vast 
 democracy in which Jew and Roman, slave and free- 
 man, rich and poor were on a footing of absolute 
 equality. Enthusiastic love to Christ Himself, evi- 
 denced by purity of heart, by forgetfulness of self, and 
 by enthusiastic love to all mankind, was the one 
 condition and the one test of membership. He who 
 would serve God should first serve his fellow-creatures, 
 and he who with singleness of mind should serve 
 them best should be the least unworthy member of 
 the new brotherhood. 
 
 It is true, that to this new Creation of His, Christ 
 gives a name, which we are accustomed to look upon 
 as conveying mainly theological ideas ; He calls it 
 *the Kingdom of Heaven,' but how does He explain 
 the term Himself.'^ His great precursor, John the 
 Baptist, had predicted its immediate advent. Christ 
 
CHRISTIANITY. 7 
 
 says, It is here already, it is iviihin you. At the 
 very opening of His work, He speaks of it as already 
 existing ; the outline was there, even if the details 
 were not filled in. Now if the Kingdom of Heaven 
 existed before it had dawned, even upon the most 
 favoured of His followers, that He was more than 
 ' that Prophet,' it would seem to follow that the 
 essence of His Kingdom was, not the doctrine which 
 they did not and could not as yet accept, but the 
 higher life they saw Christ leading, the life of the 
 soul ; and which, seeing, they reverenced, and reve- 
 rencing, as far as might be, wished to imitate. The 
 Sermon on the Mount, so far as that which is inde- 
 scribable can be described at all, and that which is 
 the fountain head of goodness in infinitely varied 
 types can be judged by one or two of the rills which 
 issue from it, is little else than Christ's own life trans- 
 lated into words ; and those who, least imperfectly, 
 re-translated His words back into their own lives, 
 were the very ' salt of the earth.' They were members 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven, even though they did not 
 believe, as some did not even to the end, that He who 
 'spake as never man spake' was something more 
 than man. 
 
 If we go back to the ipsissima verba, so far as we 
 can now get at them, of Christ Himself, how much 
 of the doctrine that we are apt to attribute to Christ, we 
 
8 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 shall find to be Pauline — how much more Patristic, 
 Scholastic, Puritan ! How little dogma, and how much 
 morality, there is in the Founder of our religion ; how 
 few words, and how many works ; how little about 
 consequences, how much about motives ; in a word, 
 how little theology, and how much religion ! I do not 
 of course mean to deny that Moses, Buddha, Christ 
 Himself were founders of a theology as well as of a 
 life ; I only say that the life came first, since it was 
 that which was most called for by the time, and it was 
 their new views of life which prepared their followers 
 to receive and develope their new views of God. ' If 
 any man will do His will, he shall know of the doc- 
 trine whether it be of God.' ^ He that loveth not his 
 brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
 whom he hath not seen .'' ' ' Blessed are the pure in 
 heart, for they shall see God.' 
 
 I am aware that distinguished German philoso- 
 phers, Professor Max Miiller among them,' have laid 
 it down that men cannot form themselves into a people 
 till they have come to an agreement about their reli- 
 gion, and that community of faith is a bond of union 
 more fundamental than any other bond at all. But I 
 do not think that if the distinction which I have drawn 
 between the primeval and the historical Religions of 
 
 1 ( 
 
 Introduction to the Science of Religion,' Lecture IIL, 144-153. 
 
RELIGION IN GREECE. 9 
 
 the world be kept in sight, there is much necessary 
 antagonism between their view and mine ; that a new 
 rehgion is, in order of time, the outcome and not the 
 cause of a general movement towards a higher life, 
 whether moral or national. Religion is, no doubt, 
 practically all that they say it is, a tie so strong that 
 it can give an ideal unity, as it did in Greece, to tribes 
 differing from one another in degrees of civilisation, 
 in interests and in dialect ; but it does not follow that 
 it was historically ever the original moving power in 
 the aggregation of scattered tribes, or that a new 
 religion was at first a revelation of God rather than 
 a revelation of morality. There must have been 
 a previous community of race and language for the 
 religion to work upon ; there must also have been 
 a strong, though very possibly an ill-directed and a 
 desultory upheaval of society. The fragments still 
 existing of the primeval creed are no doubt a factor 
 in that upheaval, and feel its force ; but the new 
 religion is the result and not the cause of the general 
 movement. It is not till later that it pays the debt it 
 owes to what gave it birth, by lending a higher sanc- 
 tion to each institution of the new society, and so 
 does in truth become, what philosophers say it is, the 
 most important bond in a national life. First the as- 
 pirations, then that which satisfies them ! First a new 
 conception of the relation of men to one another, then 
 
lo MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 that conception sanctioned, vivified, lit up by the 
 newly perceived relation of all alike to God ! 
 
 I would also remark that Greece itself, though 
 Professor Max Miiller appeals to it in favour of his own 
 conclusions, seems to supply an argument in favour 
 of my view. For even in the Persian wars the com- 
 mon danger and the common hatred of the * Bar- 
 barian ' failed to bring about more than a very tran- 
 sitory coalition between two or three of the leading 
 states. The ideal unity of the Greek races was only 
 an ideal, and Panhellenism never went so far as 
 to unite the different states into a homogeneous 
 people. If there had been a real and spontaneous 
 movement among the autonomous cities of Greece 
 towards centralisation, a great reformer might have 
 taken advantage of it, and working upon the ' dim 
 recollection of the common allegiance they owed 
 from time immemorial to the great Father of Gods 
 and men, the old Zeus of Dodona, the Panhellenic 
 Zeus,' ^ have welded the fragments into a nation. 
 The One would not merely have been dimly discerned 
 behind the Many by the highest minds, but the per- 
 ception would have been converted into a practical 
 reality. The intellectual mission of Socrates might 
 have taken something of the shape, and realised some- 
 thing of the results of the mission of Mohammed. 
 
 * ' Science of Religion,' p. 148. 
 
/S ISLAM ORIGINAL? n 
 
 But there was no such national movement in Greece, 
 and therefore no opportunity either for the birth of a 
 new rehgion, or a revival of the old one. In Greek 
 Polytheism we see historically nothing but decay. 
 Mythology thus early had overgrown Religion, and 
 the gross stories of Homer and of Hesiod which so 
 scandalised Socrates and Plato, had, even in their 
 time, concealed from all but the highest minds the 
 vague primitive belief, common probably to the 
 whole Indo-Germanic race, in one Father who is in 
 Heaven. 
 
 To what extent the principle I have laid down as 
 to the origin of the three great historical religions, is 
 also true of that of Mohammed, will develope itself 
 gradually in the sequel. 
 
 It has been remarked, indeed, by writer after 
 writer, that Islam is less interesting than other reli- 
 gions, inasmuch as it is less original. And this is one 
 of the favourite charges brought against it by Chris- 
 tian apologists. In the first place, I am inclined to 
 think that the charge of want of originality, though it 
 cannot be denied, has been overdone by recent writers ; 
 most conspicuously so by M. Renan, who, ingenious 
 and beautiful as his Essay is, seems disposed to ex- 
 plain the whole fabric of Islam by the ideas that 
 existed before Mohammed ; and the political direction 
 given to it by his successors, most notably by Omar ; 
 
12 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 in fact, it seems to me that the only element left out, 
 or not accounted for, in his analysis of Mohammedan- 
 ism, is Mohammed himself His Mohammedanism 
 resembles a Hamlet wjth not only the Prince of Den- 
 mark, but with Shakespeare himself cut out. The 
 disjointed members and some few elements of the 
 fabric remain ; about as much as we should have of 
 the Hamlet of Shakespeare in the Amlettus of Saxo- 
 Grammaticus ; but the informing, animating, inspiring 
 soul is wanting. 
 
 It is undeniable that a vague and hearsay acquaint- 
 ance with the Old Testament, the Talmud, and the 
 New Testament, and the undefined religious cravings 
 of a few of his immediate predecessors, or contempo- 
 raries, influenced Mohammed much, and traces of them 
 at second hand may be found in every other page of 
 the Koran ; but then, in the second place, it may be 
 asked whether want of originality is any reproach to 
 a religion ; for what is religion } 
 
 It is that something, which, whether it is a collec- 
 tion of shadows projected by the mind itself upon the 
 mirror of the external world, explaining the Macro- 
 cosm by the Microcosm, and invested with a reality 
 which belongs only to the mind that casts them, if 
 indeed even to that, or whether it is indeed an insight 
 of the soul into realities which exist independently of 
 it, and which underlie alike the world of sense and the 
 
WHAT IS RELIGION? 13 
 
 world of reason ; it is something, at all events, which 
 satisfies the spiritual wants of man. Man's spiritual 
 wants, whatever their origin, are his truest wants ; and 
 the something which satisfies those wants is the most 
 real of all realities to him. 
 
 The founder, therefore, of a religion which is to 
 last must read the spiritual needs of a nation correctly, 
 or, at all events, must be capable of seeing the direc- 
 tion in which they lead, and the development they 
 will one day take. If he read them correctly, he need 
 not care about any originality beyond that which such 
 insight implies ; he will rather do well to avoid it. 
 The religious world was startled a few years ago by 
 the revelations of an Oriental scholar that much sup- 
 posed to be exclusively the doctrine of the New Tes- 
 tament is to be found in the Talmud, as though some 
 reflection was thereby cast upon the Founder of our 
 religion ! Positivists, again, have laid great stress on 
 the fact that some of the moral precepts supposed to 
 be exclusively Christian are to be found in the sacred 
 writings of Confucius and the Buddhists. But what 
 then } Is a religion less true because it recognises it- 
 self in other garbs, because it incorporates in itself all 
 that is best in the system which it expands or sup- 
 plants } What if we found the whole Sermon on the 
 Mount dispersed about the writings of the Jewish 
 Rabbis, as we unquestionably find some part of it t 
 
14 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Christ Himself was always the first to assert that He 
 came, not to destroy, but to fulfil. But it is strange 
 that the avowed relation of Christianity to Judaism 
 has not protected Islam from the assaults of Christian 
 apologists, grounded on its no less explicitly avowed 
 relation to the two together ! 
 
 But what of interest, I am ready to admit, the re- 
 ligion of Mohammed loses on the score of originality, 
 it gains in the greater fulness of our knowledge of its 
 origin. It is the latest and most historical of the great 
 religions of the world. 
 
 Renan has remarked that the origin of nearly all 
 the leading phenomena of life and history is obscure. 
 What, for instance, can Max IMiiller tell us of the 
 origin of language.-^ What well-authenticated facts can 
 political philosophers like Hobbes or Locke, or even 
 scientific antiquaries like Sir Charles Lyell or Sir John 
 Lubbock, tell us of the origin of society ? What can 
 Darwin tell us of the origin of life } Trace the genea- 
 logy of all existing languages into the three great 
 groups of Aryan, Semitic, and Turanian ; find, if you 
 can, the parent language from which even these three 
 families have originally diverged ; are we any nearer 
 an explanation of what language really is.^ Our hopes, 
 indeed, are aroused by hints dropped throughout Pro- 
 fessor Max Miiller's fascinating book that he has a secret 
 to divulge to those who have gone through an adequate 
 
ELEMENTS OF RELIGION. 15 
 
 process of initiation. But to our disappointment we 
 find that the explanation of ' Phonetic Types ' is only a 
 roundabout way of saying what, no doubt, is true, that 
 language is instinctive, and that we know nothing what- 
 ever of its origin. That sound expresses thought we 
 knew before ; but how does it express it ? That is 
 the question. Trace elaborately through Geological 
 Periods, if you can, the steps by which the Monad has 
 been developed into Man, and show that there is no 
 link wanting, and that Nature, so far as we can trace, 
 never makes a leap. Perhaps not ; but there is a leap 
 somewhere, and who can say how vast the leap before 
 the Protoplasm can have received the something that 
 is not Protoplasm but Life, and which has all the dig- 
 nity of life, even though it be a Monad's 1 
 
 So, too, if the Science of Religion lasts long 
 enough, we may one day be able to trace a conti- 
 nuity of growth from the very dawn of man's belief 
 till, as in history so in religion, 
 
 ' We doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.' 
 
 We shall find, however, that, even in the dimmest 
 dawn of history, the essence of religion was already 
 there, not forming, but already formed ; a feeling of 
 mystery which, as it is the beginning of philosophy, 
 so, perhaps, it is the very first beginning of religion ; 
 the distinction between right and wrong ; the idea of 
 
i6 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 a Power which is neither Man's nor external Nature's, 
 though it is evidenced by them both ; the sense that 
 there is something in this world amiss ; and the fear, 
 or, possibly, the hope, that it may be unriddled by- 
 and-bye.^ Where did those ideas come from ? And 
 do we know anything more of the origin of religion 
 itself by having traced it to some of its elements ? 
 
 And, what is true of religion generally, is also 
 true, unfortunately, of those three religions which I 
 have called, for want of a better name, historical — 
 and of their founders. We know all too little of the 
 first and earliest labourers ; too much, perhaps, of 
 those who have entered into their labours. We know 
 less of Zoroaster and Confucius than we do of Solon 
 and Socrates ; less of Moses and of Buddha than we 
 do of Ambrose and Augustine. We know indeed 
 some fragments of a fragment of Christ's life ; but 
 who can lift the veil of the thirty years that prepared 
 the way for the three } What we do know indeed 
 
 * I do not mean to touch here upon the disputed question whether 
 there are races without any definite religious ideas at all. Sir John 
 Lubbock ('Origin of Civilisation,' cap. iv.) has brought together the 
 testimony of many missionaries and travellers as to a great variety of 
 tribes, which seem to be, at all events, without anything beyond the 
 elements I have named ; but I much doubt whether these elements, 
 or some of them, do not exist in all tribes, even in the lowest. It is 
 certain that a longer acquaintance and minuter observation among 
 savage tribes, especially the African, have often led to the reversal-of an 
 opinion naturally but hastily formed in the first instance. See Waitz, 
 'Anthropologic der Naturvolker, ' ii. 4. 
 
FULL KNOWLEDGE OF ISLAM. 17 
 
 has renovated a third of the world, and may yet 
 renovate much more ; an ideal of life at once remote 
 and near; possible and impossible; but how much 
 we do not know ! What do we know of His mother, 
 of His home life, of His early friends, and His rela- 
 tion to them, of the gradual dawning, or, it may be, 
 the sudden revelation, of His divine mission ? How 
 many questions about Him occur to each of us that 
 must always remain questions ! 
 
 But in Mohammedanism everything is different ; 
 here instead of the shadowy and the mysterious we 
 have history.^ We know as much of Mohammed as 
 we do even of Luther and Milton. The mythical, 
 the legendary, the supernatural is almost wanting in 
 the original Arab authorities, or at all events can 
 easily be distinguished from what is historical.^ No- 
 body here is the dupe of himself or of others ; there 
 
 ^ Cf. Renan, 'Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse,' pp. 220 and 230. 
 
 2 The belief in Djinn, beings created of smokeless fire 2,000 years 
 before Adam, as a part of the original Arab mythology, was not 
 discarded by Moaammed (Koran, Sura i. 7-S ; xlvi. 2S, 29; Ivii. 17-18, 
 Ixxii. I, &c. ), but, in other respects, the miraculous and mythological 
 element in Mohammedanism comes almost exclusively from Persian 
 sources. Pei-sia has revenged the destruction of her national faith by 
 corrupting in many particulars the simplicity of the creed of her conquer- 
 ors. For an exhaustive account of Arab ideas on the Djinn, their cre- 
 ation, their influence on human affairs, and their abode, see Note 21 to 
 the Introduction of Mr. Lane's edition of ' The Thousand and One 
 Nights.' The legends illustrating the power of Solomon over the Genii 
 are well known. The notes to Mr. Lane's edition of the ' Arabian 
 Nights ' form a storehouse of accurate information upon Arab manners 
 and customs. 
 
1 8 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 is the full light of day upon all that that light can 
 ever reach at all. ' The abysmal depths of person- 
 ality ' indeed are, and must always remain, beyond 
 the reach of any hne and plummet of ours. But we 
 know everything of the external history of Moham- 
 med — his youth, his appearance, his relations, his 
 habits ; the first idea and the gradual growth, inter- 
 mittent though it was, of his great revelation ; while 
 for his internal history, after his mission had been 
 proclaimed, we have a book absolutely unique in its 
 origin, in its preservation, and in the chaos of its 
 contents, but on the substantial authenticity of which 
 no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt. 
 There, if in any book, we have a mirror of one of the 
 master-spirits of the world ; often inartistic, inco- 
 herent, self-contradictory, dull, but impregnated with 
 a few grand ideas which stand out from the whole ; 
 a mind seething with the inspiration pent within it, 
 ^ intoxicated with God,' but full of human weaknesses, 
 from which he never pretended — and it is his lasting 
 glory that he never pretended — to be free.^ 
 
 Upon the striking resemblances between the 
 Koran and the Bible — the book with which it is most 
 naturally compared — and the still more striking dif- 
 ferences, I need not now dwell at length, especially 
 
 ' It was a proverbial saying in very errly times among Musalmans 
 that ' Mohammed's character was the Koran. ' 
 
KORAN AND BIBLE COMPARED. 19 
 
 as the latter have been admirably drawn out by- 
 Dean Stanley.^ 
 
 To compress, as best I may, into a few sentences 
 what he has said so well, making only a few amend- 
 ments or additions where, from my point of view, they 
 seem to be called for. — The Koran lays claim to a 
 verbal, literal, and mechanical inspiration in every part 
 alike, and is regarded as such by almost all Mohamme- 
 dans. The Bible makes no such claim, except possibly 
 in one or two controverted passages ; and there are few 
 Christians who do not now admit at least a human 
 element in every part of it. The text of the Koran is [ v 
 stereotyped ; in the Bible there is an immense variety 
 of readings. The Koran has hitherto proved to be 
 incapable of harmonious translation into other lan- 
 guages, and good Musalmans have always on that 
 account consistently discouraged the attempt ; the 
 Bible loses little or nothing in the process, and those 
 Christians who value it most have been most anxious 
 to translate it into all the known languages of the 
 world. The Bible is the work of a large number of 
 poets, prophets, statesmen, and lawgivers, extending 
 over a vast period of time, and incorporates with 
 itself other and earlier, and often conflicting docu- 
 ments ; the Koran comes straight from the brain, some- 
 times from the ravings, of an unlettered enthusiast, 
 
 * * Lectures on the Eastern Church,' viii. p. 266-273, 
 
 c 2 
 
20 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 who yet in this proved himself to be poet and pro- 
 phet, statesman and lawgiver in one. Finally, the 
 strength of the Koran lies in its uniformity, in its 
 intolerance, in its narrowness ; the strength of the 
 Bible in its variety, its toleration, its universality. In 
 f all these points, as in the more important one of the 
 morality of its highest revelations, the supremacy of 
 our sacred books over the one sacred book of the 
 Mohammedans is indisputable. 
 
 Dean Stanley asks somewhat triumphantly, but 
 on the whole rightly enough, whether there is a 
 single passage in the Koran that can be named, as a 
 proof of inspiration, with St. Paul's description of 
 Charity. But it is worth remarking that sayings of 
 Mohammed's have been preserved, which, though 
 they are in no way equal to this, the sublimest pas- 
 sage of the greatest of the Apostles, yet show a real 
 insight into the nature and comprehensiveness of this 
 Christian grace ; and may at all events serve as a 
 comment on i Corinthians xiii. They are in the 
 form of an Apologue : ' When God made the earth, it 
 shook to and fro till He put mountains on it to keep 
 it firm.' — Then the angels asked, ' O God, is there 
 anything in thy creation stronger than these moun- 
 tains } ' — And God replied, ' Iron is stronger than the 
 mountains, for it breaks them.' — * And is there any- 
 thing in thy creation stronger than iron t ' — * Yes, fire 
 
MOHAMMEUS VIEW OF CHARITY. 21 
 
 is stronger than iron, for it melts it' — ' Is there any- 
 thing stronger than fire ? ' — ' Yes, water, for it 
 quenches fire.' — * Is there anything* stronger than 
 water ? ' — ' Yes, wind, for it puts water in motion.' — 
 ' O our Sustainer ! is there anything in thy creation 
 stronger than wind } ' — * Yes, a good man giving 
 alms ; if he give with his right hand and conceal it 
 from his left, he overcomes all things.' But Moham- 
 med did not end here, or restrict his notion of charity 
 to the somewhat narrow sense which, in common 
 language, it bears now, that of liberal and unostenta- 
 tious almsgiving ; he went on to give almost as wide 
 a definition of Charity as St. Paul himself ' Every 
 good act is charity ; your smiling in your brother's 
 face ; your putting a wanderer in the right road ; 
 your giving water to the thirsty is charity ; exhorta- 
 tions to another to do right are charity. A man's 
 true wealth hereafter is the good he has done in this 
 world to his fellow-man. When he dies, people will 
 ask, what property has he left behind him } But the 
 angels will ask, what good deeds has he sent before 
 him .? ' 1 
 
 ' See 'Mishkat-ul-Masabih,' translated by Captain Matthews, I. vi. 
 445, 447, 450, &c. The authorities are Abu Hurairah, Abu Dhar and 
 Anas. A friendly American critic in ' The Nation ' (New York), May 20, 
 1875, points out that much of this view of charity is to be found in the 
 Talmud, Baba Bathra, fol. x. a ; another proof that traditional Judaism 
 is an important component part of Islam. Mohammed did not claim origi- 
 nality for this, or for any other part of his teaching. 
 
22 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 But from one point of view the Koran has to the 
 comparative mythologist, and therefore to the student 
 of human nature, an interest quite unique, and not 
 the less absorbing that it springs out of the very 
 defects that I have pointed out. By studying the 
 Koran, together with the history of Mohammedanism, 
 we see with our own eyes, what we can only infer or 
 imagine in other cases, the precise steps by which a 
 religion naturally and necessarily developes into a 
 mythology. 
 
 In the Koran we have, beyond all reasonable 
 doubt, the exact words of Mohammed without sub- 
 traction and without addition. We see with our own 
 eyes the birth and adolescence of a religion. In the 
 history of Mohammedanism we descry the parasitical 
 growth that fastens on it, even in its founder's life- 
 time. We see the way in which a man who denied 
 that he could work miracles, is believed to work them 
 even by his contemporaries, and how in the next 
 generation the extravagant vision of the nocturnal 
 flight to the seventh heaven, with all its gorgeous 
 imagery, and the revolutions of the moon round the 
 Kaaba, is taken for sober fact, and is propagated with 
 all the elaboration of details, which, if they came 
 from anybody, could have come only from Moham- 
 med himself ; and yet all of it with the most perfect 
 good faith. We see how a man, who, though he had 
 
GROWTH OF MYTHOLOGY. 23 
 
 once in an outburst of anger uttered a prophecy 
 which turned out true, always denied that he could 
 predict the future, and was yet, in spite of himself, 
 credited with all the supernatural insight of a seer. 
 Lastly, we mark how the formalities and the sacri- 
 fices and the idolatries which he spent his life in 
 overthrowing, revived in another shape out of the 
 frequency of prayers and fasts that he enjoined, and 
 of the pilgrimages he permitted. The holy places 
 themselves became more holy, as having been the 
 scene of his preaching and of his death, and so, in 
 time, received more than human honours. We know 
 from history what the outgrowth and superstructure 
 have been, and we read in the Koran how narrow the 
 foundation was. 
 
 But from the Bible, by its very nature, and owing 
 to those peculiarities which constitute its special 
 strength, we fail to know, in the same sense, the 
 exact limits of the foundation of the Christendom 
 that has overspread the world. In the outward 
 shape in which it has come down to us, and in the 
 questions connected with the authorship of its dif- 
 ferent parts and the variety of its contents, the Bible 
 resembles not so much the Koran as the Sunnah, 
 which, in its authorised form of the ' six correct 
 books/ is, of course, rejected by the Shiah half of 
 
24 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the Mohammedan races.^ Even in the Gospels as 
 we have them, comment and inference and the indi- 
 viduality of the writer are mixed with verbal accuracy 
 and exact observation. We can detect conflicting 
 currents of feeling and of thought which it taxes the 
 ingenuity and honesty, even of harmonists to harmo- 
 nise. The New Testament is not less, but more 
 valuable because of these discrepancies. Its unde- 
 signed discrepancies have been as valuable in widen- 
 ing the base of our Christianity as its undesigned coin- 
 cidences are in assuring it. Whether we may legiti- 
 mately apply the inferences to be drawn from our full 
 knowledge of the growth of Mohammedanism to our 
 imperfect knowledge of the growth of other religions 
 is, of course, open to argument, but the interest and 
 importance of the . enquiry can hardly be over- 
 estimated. 
 
 And over and above the interest attaching to the 
 J one religion of the world which is strictly historical 
 in its origin, and which therefore may, rightly or 
 wrongly, be used to explain the origin of those of 
 which we know less, there is the fascination that 
 must always attach 'to those mixed characters of 
 whom we know so much, and yet so little ; who 
 
 * The Shiahs, however, have four books of their o\vx\. which they 
 are said to look upon as only inferior in authority to the Koran itself. 
 (See Hughes's Notes, p. 35-39.) 
 
HISTORY OF ISLAM. 25 
 
 have made the world what it is, and yet whom the 
 world cannot read. 
 
 ' Hero, impostor, fanatic, priest, or sage : ' 
 
 which element predominates in the man as a whole 
 we may perhaps discover, and most certainly we can 
 say now it was not the impostor ; but taking him at 
 different times and under different circumstances, the 
 more one reads the more one distrusts one's own con- 
 clusions, and, as Dean Milman remarks, answers with 
 the Arab ' Allah only knows.' ^ 
 
 Nor does Mohammedanism lack other claims on 
 our attention. Glance for one moment at its marvel- 
 lous history. Think how one great truth working in 
 the brain of a shepherd of Mecca gradually produced 
 conviction in a select band of personal adherents ; 
 how, when the Prophet was exiled to Medina, the 
 faith gathered there fresh strength, brought him back 
 in triumph to his native place, and secured to him for 
 his lifetime the submission of all Arabia ; how, when 
 the master-mind was withdrawn, the whole structure 
 he had reared seemed, for the moment, to vanish away 
 like the baseless fabric of a vision, or like the mirage 
 of the desert whence it had taken its rise ; how the 
 faith of Abu Bakr and the sword of Omar recalled it 
 once more to life and crushed the false prophets that 
 always follow in the wake of a true one, as the jackals 
 
 ^ Latin Christianity, I. 555. 
 
26 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM, 
 
 do the trail of a lion ; how it crumpled up the Ro- 
 man Empire on one side, and the Persian on the 
 other, driving Christianity before it on the west and 
 north, and Fire- Worship on the east and south ; how 
 it spread over two continents, and how it settled in a 
 third, and how, the tide of invasion carrying it head- 
 long onward through Spain into France, it at one 
 time almost overwhelmed the whole, till Charles 
 the Hammer turned it back upon itself in his five- 
 days' victory at Tours ; how throughout these vast 
 conquests, after a short time, to intolerance succeeded 
 toleration, to ignorance knowledge, to barbarism 
 civilisation ; how the indivisible empire, the represen- 
 tative on earth of the Theocracy in heaven, became 
 many empires, with rival Khalifs at Damascus and 
 Bagdad, at Cairo, Cairoan, and Cordova ; how horde 
 after horde of barbarians of the great Turkish or 
 Tartar stock, were precipitated on the dominions of the 
 faithful, only to be conquered by the faith of those 
 whose arms they overthrew, and were compelled 
 henceforward, by its inherent force, to destroy what 
 they had worshipped, to worship what they had 
 destroyed ; how, when the news came that the very 
 birth-place of the Christian faith had fallen into their 
 hands, ' a nerve was touched,' as Gibbon says, ' of ex- 
 quisite feeling, and the sensation vibrated to the 
 heart of Europe ; ' how Christendom itself thus be- 
 
EXTENT OF ISLAM NOW. 27 
 
 came for two hundred years half Mohammedanised, 
 and tried to meet fanaticism by counter-fanaticism — 
 the sword, the Bible, and the Cross, against the scy- 
 mitar, the Koran, and the Crescent ; how, lastly, when 
 the tide of aggression had been checked, it once more 
 burst its barriers, and seating itself on the throne of 
 the Caesars of the East, threatened more than once 
 the very centre of Christendom, till at length, 
 
 ' The Moslem faith, though flickering like a torch 
 In a night struggle on the shores of Spain, 
 Glared, a broad column of advancing flame. 
 Along the Danube and the Illyrian shore 
 Far into Italy, where eager monks 
 
 Who watch in dreams, and dream the while they watch. 
 Saw Christ grow paler in the baleful light, 
 Crying again the cry of the forsaken.' 
 
 — all this is matter of history, at which I can only 
 glance. 
 
 And what is the position of Islam now .'* 
 It numbers at this day more than one hundred 
 millions, probably one hundred and fifty millions, of 
 believers as sincere, as devout, as true to their creed 
 as are the believers in any creed whatever. It still 
 has its grip on two continents, and a foothold, even if 
 a precarious foothold, in a third. It extends from 
 Morocco to the Malay peninsula, from Zanzibar to 
 the Kirghis horde. It embraces within its ample 
 circumference two extensive empires, one Sunni, the 
 other Shiah, the first of which, though it has often 
 
28 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 been pronounced sick unto death or even dead, is not 
 dead yet, and is even showing some signs of reviving 
 vitality. It still claims the allegiance of those widely 
 scattered countries from which in the dimmest anti- 
 quity sprang the worship of Stars and of Fire, the 
 worship of Baal and of Moloch, of Al Lat and of Al 
 Uzza, of Ormuzd and of Ahriman, of Isis and of 
 Osiris. It still grasps Mount Sinai, the cradle of the 
 Jewish, and Bethlehem, the cradle of the Christian 
 Faith. It is to be found beneath the shadow even of 
 those giant mountains of Nepal which gave birth to 
 Buddha. To the votaries, therefore, of Islam belong the 
 spots which, from their antiquity or their associations, 
 are most dear to the great religions of the world ; and 
 the countries which are the birthplace of them all. 
 Theirs is the Cave of Machpelah, theirs the Church of 
 the Nativity, theirs the Holy Sepulchre, theirs Mount 
 Elburz. To Islam belong El Azhar at Cairo, the Taj 
 at Agra, Saint Sophia at Constantinople, the Dome 
 of the Rock at Jerusalem, and the Kaaba at Mecca. 
 Africa, which had yielded so early to Christianity, 
 nay, which had given birth to Latin Christianity it- 
 self, the Africa of Cyprian and Tertullian, of Antony 
 and of Augustine, yielded still more readily to Mo- 
 hammed ; and from the Straits of Gibraltar to the 
 Isthmus of Suez may still be heard the cry which 
 with them is no vain repetition of ' AUahu-Akbar, 
 
ISLAM IN CHINA. 29 
 
 Allahu-Akbar,' — ' God is most great, there is no God 
 but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God.' ^ 
 
 And if it be said, as it often is, that Mohammed- 
 anism has gained no territorial extension since the 
 first flame of religious enthusiasm, fanned, as it then 
 often was, by the lust of conquest, has died out, I 
 answer that this is far from the truth. 
 
 In the extreme East, Mohammedanism has since 
 then won and maintained for centuries a moral su- 
 premacy in the important Chinese province of Yun- 
 nan, and has thus actually succeeded in thrusting a 
 wedge between the two great Buddhist empires of 
 Burmah and of China. ^ Within our own memory, 
 
 ^ In tlie Adhan, or morning call to Prayer, which at once by 
 its musical cadences, and its associations, produces so deep an im- 
 pression on all Eastern travellers, the words Allahu-Akbar are re- 
 peated four times at the beginning, and twice at the end. The \ 
 translation of the call is as follows : — ' God is most great. I testify ' 
 there is no God but God. I testify that Mohammed is the messenger 
 of God. Come to prayer. Come to salvation. Prayer is better than 
 sleep. God is most great. There is no God but God.' See Curzon's 
 'Monasteries of the Levant,' p. 56, &c. Walpole's * Ansayrii,' p. 
 55-59. Lane's 'Modern Egyptians,' L 91. 
 
 - Marco Polo (IL 52 seq.) found Musalmans as well as Nestorian 
 Christians in the province of Carajan, i.e. Yun-nan, in the thirteenth 
 century ; and Colonel Yule in a note ad /oc. cites a statement ofBashid- 
 uddin, the Persian historian of the Mongols, that ' aH the inhabitants 
 of Yachi, its capital town, were in his time Mohammedans ; ' an over- 
 statement no doubt, but still substantially true. Ibn Batuta in the 
 following century (Ibn Batuta's ' Travels,' translated by Rev. S. Lee), 
 says (p. 208) that * in every Chinese province there was a town for the 
 Mohammedans, with cells, villages, and mosques, and that they were 
 made much of by the Emperor of China ; ' ' in each town too there was 
 a Sheikh el Islam who administered justice.' 
 
30 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 indeed, after a fifteen years' war, and under the 
 leadership of Ta Wen Siu, one of those half-mihtary, 
 half-religious geniuses, which Islam seems always 
 capable of producing, it succeeded in wresting from 
 the Celestial Empire a territorial supremacy in the 
 western half of this province. A few years ago an 
 embassy of intelligent and, it is worth adding, of pro- 
 gressive and of tolerant Musalmans from Yun-nan^ 
 headed by Prince Hassan, son of the chieftain who 
 had now become the Sultan Soliman, appeared in our 
 own country, and the future of the Panthays,^ as they 
 are called, began at length to attract attention, not so 
 much, I fear, from the extraordinary interest attach- 
 ing to their religious history — that interests few Eng- 
 lishmen — as from the possible opening to our Eastern 
 trade, the only Gospel which most Englishmen care 
 now to preach, and one which we did consistently 
 for many years propagate by our commercial wars 
 in China and Japan, at the expense of every principle 
 of religion and humanity. Unfortunately the interests 
 of our trade were not sufficiently bound up with the 
 existence of the Panthays to call for any representa- 
 tions on the part of a nation which, in spite of its higher 
 instincts and aspirations, is still above all commercial, 
 
 1 A name given to them by their Burmese neighbours, from whom 
 the word has passed into the Western World. It is said to be a cor- 
 ruption of the Burmese ' Putthee,' i.e.^ Mohammedan. 
 
ISLAM IN CENTRAL ASIA. 31 
 
 and Prince Hassan was compelled to return to Asia 
 without any prospect of moral support from us or from 
 the Sultan of Turkey. On arriving at Rangoon he 
 was met by the news that the Musalmans had at 
 length been overpowered by the fearful odds arrayed 
 against them ; that Tali-Fu, the capital, had fallen, 
 and men, women, and children to the number of some 
 thirty thousand had been massacred by the victors. 
 The fate of Momien, the other stronghold, was of 
 course only a question of time ; but though the short- 
 lived Mohammedan sovereignty has been destroyed, 
 and what was won by the sword has since perished 
 by the sword, Mohammedanism itself has not been 
 extinguished in the Celestial Empire. Within the 
 last eight years that vast tract of country called 
 Western Chinese Tartary, or Eastern Turkestan, has \ 
 thrown off the yoke of China, and has added another 
 to the list of Musalman kingdoms.^ Khoten and, 
 Yarkand and Kashgar are united under the vigorous! 
 rule of the Atalik Ghazee,^ Yakub Beg. Whatever 
 
 ' By so doing, it has only returned to the faith professed by it in 
 the time of Marco Polo. ' The people of Khoten,' says he, I, 196, 'are 
 subject to the Great Khan, and are all worshippers [sic] of Mohammed. ' 
 Ibn Batuta says (p. 86) of the inhabitants of Khavarism = Khiva, that 
 he ' never saw better bred or more liberal people, or those who were 
 more friendly to strangers. ' He especially approved of the whip hung up 
 in every mosque to chastise those who absented themselves from prayers. 
 
 2 The title was given him by the Amir of Bokhara. It means 
 ' Guardian of the Champions of Religion.' For the abolition of the 
 slave trade see the best authority on the subject, Shaw's 'High Tartary,' 
 
32 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 may be his private character, the aboHtion of the slave 
 trade throughout his dominions, his rigid administra- 
 tion of justice, his readiness to estabUsh commercial 
 relations with India, and the respect shown even by 
 the Meccan pilgrims among his subjects for Christian- 
 ity are some indication of what Mohammedanism 
 may yet have in store for it in Central Asia under the 
 influence of a master mind, and with the modifications 
 that are possible or necessary to it. Throughout the 
 Chinese Empire, at Karachar for instance, there 
 are scattered Musalman communities who have higher 
 hopes than Buddhism or Confucianism, and a purer 
 morality than Taoism can supply. The Panthays 
 themselves, it is believed, still number a million and 
 a half, and the unity of God and the mission of God's 
 prophet are attested day by day by a continuous 
 line of worshippers from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 Nay, even beyond, in the East Indian Archipelago, 
 beyond the Straits of Malacca, if I may venture just 
 now so to call them, in Java and Sumatra, in Borneo 
 and Celebes, Islam has raised many of the natives 
 above their former selves, and has long been the 
 dominant faith. It established itself in the Malay 
 
 p. 347 ; and for the view of Christians taken by some pilgrims to Mecca 
 from Central Asia, p. 65. The letters received from Mr. Forsyth's 
 Mission (see limes, of March 17, 1874) seem quite to bear out the view 
 I had formed of Yakub Beg's position. 
 
ISLAM IN EAST INDIAN ISLANDS. 33 
 
 Peninsula and Sumatra in the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth, and in Java and Celebes in the fifteenth 
 century ; and it is interesting to note, as is remarked 
 by Crawfurd, that about the time it was being gradu- 
 ally expelled from Western Europe, it made up for 
 its expulsion by extending itself to the East of Asia. 
 The Arab missionaries were just in time, for they 
 anticipated by only a few years the first advent of 
 grasping Portuguese and ambitious Spaniards. It 
 cannot, of course, be supposed that among races so 
 low in the scale of humanity as are most of the Indian 
 islanders, Mohammedanism would be able to do what 
 it did originally for the Arabs or for the Turkish 
 hordes ; but it has done something even for them. 
 It expelled Hinduism from some islands, and a very 
 corrupt Buddhism from others. It was propagated 
 by missionaries who cared very much for the souls 
 they could win, and nothing for the plunder they 
 could carry off. They conciliated the natives, learned 
 their languages, and intermarried with them ; and in 
 the larger islands their success was rapid, and, so far 
 as nature would allow, complete.^ The Philippines 
 
 ' Crawfurd's ' Indian Archipelago,' II. 275 and 315. 
 
 Marco Polo (chap. IX.) says of Ferlec, a kingdom in what he 
 calls Java the Less = Sumatra : ' This kingdom is so much frequented by 
 the Saracen merchants that they have converted the natives to the law 
 of Mohammed.' In the following century, the Moorish traveller, Ibn 
 Batuta, visited the island, and describes the king, Malik-al-Zhahir, as 
 being ' one of the most eminent and generous of princes ; ' the learned 
 
 D 
 
34 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 and the Moluccas, which were conquered by Spain 
 and Portugal respectively, did not become Moham- 
 medan, for they had to surrender at once their liberty 
 and their religion. It is no wonder that the religion 
 known to the natives chiefly through the unblushing 
 rapacity of the Portuguese, and the terrible cruelties 
 of the Dutch, has not extended itself beyond the reach 
 of their swords. Here, as elsewhere in the East, the 
 most fatal hindrance to the spread of Christianity has 
 been the lives of Christians.^ I will only add further 
 that the Musalmans of the East Indian Islands are 
 very lax in their obedience to many of the precepts 
 of their law, that they are tolerant of other religions, 
 and that the women enjoy a liberty, a position, and 
 
 were admitted to his society and had free converse with him, while he 
 proposed questions for their discussion. So humble withal was he that 
 he used to walk to the mosque divested of his royal robes, and wearing 
 those of a doctor of divinity. With the exce^'tioii of the Sultan of Fez, 
 Ibn Batuta thought him * the most learned of all the Musalman Sultans;' 
 and he had seen them all from Tangiers to China (p. 226) ; he found 
 that the inhabitants of Sumatra had adopted Islam to a distance of 
 twenty-one days' jouruey onward from the capital, Samathrah. 
 
 ' For the cruelties of the Portuguese, see Crawfurd, II. 403, and 
 for the Dutch, see especially II. 425 seq. and 441. The Portuguese in 
 the fifteenth century carried (m a piratical crusade against every Musal- 
 man ship they could find. INIeeting with a vessel containing two hundred 
 and sixty pilgrims bound for Mecca, of whom fifty were women and 
 children, they saved and baptised twenty of the children ; the remainder 
 were thrust down into the hold, and the ship scuttled and set on fire. 
 For some startling facts as to the comparative morality of some native 
 and Christian communities in India, see a paper by the Rev. J. N. 
 Thoburn, in the Report of the Allahabad Missionary Conference, held 
 m 1S72 73, p. 467-470- 
 
ISLAM IN AMERICA. 
 
 35 
 
 an influence which contrasts favourably with that 
 allowed to them in any other Asiatic country.^ 
 
 The New World, even, is not without some repre- 
 sentatives of the Musalman faith. Islam has crossed 
 the Pacific with the Coolies, and the Atlantic with the 
 Negroes, and counts its adherents by thousands in 
 some of the West India Islands, in Trinidad, and m 
 Dutch Guiana. 
 
 In Africa, again, Mohammedanism is spreading 
 itself by giant strides almost year by year. Every- 
 one knows that, within half a century from the 
 Prophet's death, the richest states of Africa, and those 
 most accessible to Christianity and to European civili- 
 sation, were torn away from both, by the armies of 
 the faithful, with hardly a struggle or a regret ; but 
 few except those who have studied the subject, are 
 aware that, ever since then, Mohammedanism has 
 
 > Crawfurd, II. 260 and 269-271 ; and Sir Stamford Raffles' 'Java,' 
 I. p. 261 and II. 2-5. During the latter half of the seventeenth century 
 four Queens, all called ' Sultans,' reigned in succession over Achin. The 
 Achinese Mohammedans are admitted to be more enterprising and sao-a- 
 cious than any of the Pagan tribes in Sumatra, and they have given con- 
 spicuous proof of their valour in their recent contest with the Dutch. I am 
 informed that two works recently published by Professor Veth of Leiden, 
 the one on Achin and its relation to the Netherlands, and the other on 
 Java, contain most interesting particulars concerning the spread and in- 
 fluence of Islam in that part of the world, and are written in the most 
 impartial spirit. It is to be hoped that they may be translated from the 
 Dutch into more familiar European languages, as has been the case 
 with the admirable work by Professor Dozy of Leiden, on the ■'■ History 
 of the jMusalmans of Spain.' 
 
 D 2 
 
36 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 been gradually spreading over the northern half of the 
 Continent. 
 
 Let me now trace its progress through these vast 
 regions, as clearly and as briefly as I can. 
 
 When the conqueror Akbah had overrun the States 
 of Barbary from end to end, and, after passing through 
 wildernesses in which he himself or his successors were 
 one day to found the literary and commercial capitals 
 of Fez, Cairoan, and Morocco, had reached the point 
 where the Atlantic and the Great Desert meet, it was 
 his ' career only, and not his zeal,' which was checked 
 by the prospect of the ocean. Spurring, so it is said, 
 his horse into its waves, and raising his eyes to heaven, 
 he exclaimed, * Oh Allah ! if my course were not 
 I stopped by this sea, I would still go on to the unknown 
 jkingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of Thy 
 Iholy name, and putting to the sword the rebellious 
 Miations who worship other gods than Thee ! ' Before 
 many years had passed, the wish of this * Mohammedan 
 Alexander who sighed for more worlds to conquer ' ^ 
 was gratified in a direction and to an extent which he 
 little expected. Muza crossed the Straits of Gibraltar 
 to carry Islam northward into Spain, while Musalman 
 missionaries, starting in the other direction, braved 
 even the terrors of the Sahara to carry their message 
 to the unknown kingdoms of the south. Leaping 
 
 ^ Gibbon, cap. 51, 464-466. 
 
ISLAM IN AFRICA. 37 
 
 from Oasis to Oasis of the Great Desert with almost 
 the speed of its nomad horsemen, and subduing to its 
 message, as it passed, even some of the wild and wan- 
 dering Touariks, we know that before the year 1000 it 
 had reached Timbuctoo, that mysterious city, a sea- 
 port, as it has been well described, in the heart of Africa, 
 situated on the remotest shore of the dry ocean, or 
 the sandy sea of the Sahara. It thence travelled to the 
 Jolofs between the Senegal and the Gambia, thence 
 to the wide-spread Mandingoes on the Niger,^ thence 
 again to the Foulahs, and then, turning eastward 
 towards the land of its birth, it reached, by the thir- 
 teenth century, Lake Tchad, and the kingdoms be- 
 yond, where, finally, these Musalman missionaries of 
 the West were met by other Musalmans from the 
 
 * See the 'Travels' of Ibn Batuta, who, about the year 1357, found 
 Islam in full possession of some of the countries on the Niger, or, as he 
 calls it, the Nile (p. 237). At Zaga (Sego ?), the 'first city in these 
 parts to embrace Islam,' he found that the inhabitants were 'religious 
 and fond of learning.' At Mali there was an avaricious and worthless 
 Sultan, but ' the people paid great regard to justice.' ' A traveller may 
 proceed alone among them without the least fear of a thief or a rol)ber ; ' 
 ' they are so regular in their attendance at the mosque, that unless one 
 makes haste he will find no place left to say his prayers ' (p. 246). Every, 
 one knew the Koran by heart : a father would keep his son under restrair;t 
 till he could say the whole perfectly ! Negro Musalmans who had been 
 the Pilgrimage to Mecca were to be met with everywhere (p. 239, 241). 
 The women were not veiled, and accompanied their husbands to prayer^ 
 (p. 234). Among their bad customs, that which. seems to have offended 
 Ibn Batuta most was their want of clothing, and 'the contempt in which 
 they held the white people ' (p. 234), of whom, doubtless, in comparison 
 with the ebony Negroes, he considered himself to be one. 
 
38 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 East in the very centre of the Soudan.^ Of course enor- 
 mous tracts of heathenism were left, and are still left, 
 in various parts of this vast area, and it is mainly among 
 these that, at this day, Mohammedan missionaries are 
 meeting everywhere with a marked success which is 
 denied to our own. We hear of whole tribes laying 
 aside their devil-worship, or immemorial Fetish, and 
 I springing at a bound, as it were, from the very lowest 
 ; to one of the highest forms of religious belief. Chris- 
 ' tian travellers, with every wish to think otherwise, 
 have remarked that the Negro who accepts Moham- 
 medanism acquires at once a sense of the dignity of 
 human nature not commonly found even among those 
 who have been brought to accept Christianity. 
 
 It is also pertinent to observe here, that such pro- 
 gress as any large part of the Negro race has hitherto 
 made is in exact proportion to the time that has 
 elapsed since their conversion, or to the degree of 
 fervour with which they originally embraced, or have 
 since clung to Islam. The Mandingoes and the 
 Foulahs are salient instances of this ; their unques- 
 tionable superiority to other Negro tribes is as un- 
 questionably owing to the early hold that Islam got 
 upon them, and to the comparative civilisation and 
 culture that it has always encouraged. 
 
 Nor can it be said that it is only among those 
 
 ) ( 
 
 Anthropologic der Natarvolker,' by Dr. Theodor Waitz, p. 248. 
 
SPREAD OF ISLAM IN AFRICA NOW. 39 
 
 Negroes who have never heard anything of a purer 
 faith that Mohammedanism is making such rapid pro- 
 gress. The Government Blue Book of the year 1873 
 on our West African settlements, and the reports of 
 missionary societies themselves, are quite at one on 
 this head. The Governor of our West African colo- 
 nies, Mr. Pope Hennessy, remarks that the liberated 
 Africans are always handed over to Christian mission- 
 aries for instruction, and that their children are bap- 
 tised and brought up at the public expense in Chris- 
 tian schools, and are, therefore, in a sense, ready-made 
 converts. Missionary societies are not likely to err 
 on the side of defect in enumerating their converts ; 
 yet the total number of professing Christians in all 
 our African settlements put together, as computed 
 by the missionary societies themselves^ — very {^\v 
 even of these, as the Governor says, and as we can 
 unfortunately well believe from our experience in 
 countries that are not African, being practical Chris- 
 tians — falls far short of the original number of Africans 
 liberated at Sierra Leone alone, and their descend- 
 ants.2 On the other hand, the Rev. James Johnson, 
 a native clergyman, and a man of remarkable energy 
 and intelligence as well as of very Catholic spirit, 
 
 * For further illustrations of this see Appendix to Lecture I. p. 351. 
 - Papers relating to Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions. Part II., 
 1873, 2nd division, p. 14. 
 
40 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 deplores the fact that, of the total number of Moham- 
 medans to be found in Sierra Leone and its neigh- 
 bourhood, three-fourths were not born Mohammedans, 
 but have become so by conversion, whether from a 
 nominal Christianity or from Paganism.^ 
 
 And, what is still more to our purpose to remark 
 here, Mohammedanism, as it spreads now, is not 
 attended by some of the drawbacks which accom.- 
 panied its first introduction into the country. It is 
 spread, not by the sword, but by earnest and simple- 
 minded Arab missionaries. It has also lost, except 
 in certain well-defined districts, much of its in- 
 
 * Papers relating to Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions. Part II., 
 1873, 2nd division, p. 15. As Mr. Pope Hennessy's Report has been 
 much ci"iticised, chiefly on the ground that he is a Roipan Catholic (see a 
 letter to \hQ.Times, of Oct. 21, 1873, signed * Audi alteram partem '), and 
 as I have based some statements upon it, it may be worth while to mention 
 that I have had a conversation with Mr. Johnson, who is a strong Protes- 
 tant himself, and that he bore testimony to the bona fides of the Report, 
 and to its accuracy even on some points which have been most ques- 
 tioned. He told me that Mohanimedanism was introduced into Sierra 
 Leone, not many years ago, by three zealous missionaries who came from 
 a great distance. It seems now not only to be rapidly spreading in the 
 colony itself, but in the countries to the North of it to be gaining the 
 ascendency, in spite of all the European influences at \A-ork. It may 
 perhaps be questioned, since he does not dwell much upon it, whether 
 Mr. Pope Hennessy, in his remarks on the diminished number of 
 Christians in Sierra Leone, made allowance for the return of a certain 
 number of true Christians, such as Bishop Crowther, to their own 
 countries. The object of Mr, Johnson in dwelling on the spread of 
 Islam in Africa was no doubt, as he has stated since, rather to stimulate 
 the zeal of Christian missionaries than to celebrate that of Musalmans ; 
 but, wdiatever his object, he spoke the simple truth, and the facts remain, 
 and are all the more striking, from the unexceptionable medium through 
 which they have come to us. 
 
INTELLECTUAL BEAEFITS IN AFRICA. 41 
 
 tolerant and exclusive character. The two leading 
 doctrines of Mohammedanism, and the general moral 
 precepts of the Koran, are, of course, inculcated 
 everywhere. But, in other respects, the Musalman 
 missionaries exhibit a forbearance, a sympathy, and a 
 respect for native customs and prejudices, and even 
 for their more harmless beliefs, which is no doubt one 
 reason of their success, and which our own mis- 
 sionaries and schoolmasters would do w^ell to imitate. 
 We are assured, on all hands, that the Musalman 
 population has an almost passionate desire for educa- 
 tion, and those in the neighbourhood of our colonies 
 would throng our schools, first if the practical educa- 
 tion given was more worth having, and, secondly, if 
 the teachers would refrain from needlessly attack- 
 ing their cherished and often harmless customs. 
 Wherever Mohammedans are numerous, they estab- 
 lish schools themselves ; and there are not a few who 
 travel extraordinary distances to secure the best 
 possible education. Mr. Pope Hennessy mentions 
 the case of one young Mohammedan Negro who is in 
 the habit of purchasing costly books from Triibner in 
 London, and who went to Futah, two hundred and 
 fifty miles away, to obtain an education better than 
 he could find in Sierra Leone itself.* Nor is it an 
 
 ^ Papers relating to Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions. Part II., 
 1873, 2nd division, p. 10. 
 
42 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMED ANTSM. 
 
 uncommon thing for newly-converted Musalmans to 
 make their way right across the Desert from Bornu, 
 or from Lake Tchad, or down the Nile from Darfur 
 or Wadai, a journey of over one thousand miles, that 
 they may carry on their studies in El-Azhar, the 
 great collegiate Mosque at Cairo, and may thence 
 bring back the results of their training to their native 
 country, and form so many centres of Mohammedan 
 teaching and example.^ 
 
 Nor as to the effects of Islam when first embraced 
 by a Negro tribe, can there, when viewed as a whole, 
 be any reasonable doubt. Polytheism disappears 
 almost instantaneously ; sorcery, with its attendant 
 evils, gradually dies away ; human sacrifice becomes 
 a thing of the past. The general moral elevation is 
 most marked ; the natives begin for the first time in 
 their history to dress, and that neatly. Squalid filth 
 is replaced by some approach to personal cleanliness ; 
 hospitality becomes a religious duty ; drunkenness, 
 instead of the rule, becomes a comparatively rare 
 exception. Though polygamy is allowed by the 
 Koran, it is not common in practice, and, beyond the 
 limits laid down by the Prophet, incontinence is rare ; 
 chastity is looked upon as one of the highest, and 
 
 ' Waitz, p. 251. He calculates the number of students returning 
 each year to be about fifty. To his book, and to the authorities to 
 whom he refers, I owe many of the facts mentioned in the text illustra- 
 tive of the influence of Islam on the native mind and character. 
 
MORAL BENEFITS IN AFRICA. 43 
 
 becomes, in fact, one of the commoner virtues. It is 
 idleness henceforward that degrades, and industry 
 that elevates, instead of the reverse. Offences are 
 henceforward measured by a written code instead of 
 the arbitrary caprice of a chieftain — a step, as every- 
 one will admit, of vast importance in the progress of 
 a tribe. The Mosque gives an idea of architecture at 
 all events higher than any the Negro has yet had. 
 A thirst for literature is created, and that for works 
 of science and philosophy as well as for commentaries 
 on the Koran, ^ There are whole tribes, such as the 
 Jolofs on the river Gambia, and the Hausas, whose 
 manly qualities we have had occasion to test in 
 Ashantee, which have become to a man Mohamme- 
 dans, and have raised themselves infinitely in the 
 process ; and the very name of Salt-water Mohamme- 
 dans given to those tribes along the coast who, from 
 admixture with European settlers, have relaxed the 
 severity of the Prophet's laws, is a striking proof of 
 the extent to which the stricter form of the faith 
 prevails in the far interior. 
 
 But lest any one should think that in giving so 
 
 ^ Waitz, p. 252-254. Aristotle and Plato are known to not a few 
 Mohammedans in the interior — Earth, in his 'Travels in Central Africa,' 
 Vol. V. p. 63, mentions that Sidi Mohammed, of Timbuctoo, main- 
 tained that they were both Musalmans, that is to say, worshippers of 
 the true God. Cf. III., 373, for the case of a Pullo at Massera, who 
 had read Plato and Aristotle in Arabic, was well acquainted with the 
 history of Spain, and sympathised with the Wahhabis. 
 
44 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 favourable an account of Islam in Africa, I am draw- 
 ing on my own imagination, or depending on the 
 testimony of untrustworthy travellers, I will select 
 from a large number of those whose works I have 
 read, and whose testimony all tends in the same 
 direction, the explicit statements of two or three, as 
 bearing on the points at issue. 
 
 Browne, an Englishman, who undertook extensive 
 travels in Central Africa in the years 1799 ^^^^ 1806,^ 
 remarks that, among the idolaters of Sheibon and of 
 other places, the only persons whom he saw wearing 
 decent clothes, or indeed clothing at all, were Mo- 
 hammedans ; that it was to the introduction of Islam 
 a century and a half before his time that Darfur 
 owed its settled government and the cultivation of 
 its soil ; and that the people of Bergoo were remark- 
 able for their zealous attachment to their religion, 
 and read the Koran daily. Here then we find the 
 use of decent clothing, and the arts of reading and 
 agriculture, attributed to Islam. 
 
 But Browne, perhaps, is not well known to those 
 who have not made a speciality of African travel. 
 Let us hear then what was the experience of a 
 traveller who is known to all the world, and who was 
 the first to explore a large district of the Western 
 Soudan. 
 
 > See Pinkerton's 'Voyages,' Vols. XV. and XVI. 
 
EVIDENCE OE TRAVELLERS. 45 
 
 M Lingo Park, educated as he was for the Scotch 
 church, and cruelly persecuted as he was throughout 
 his travels by Moorish banditti, would not be likely 
 to be a friend to Islam, and many of his remarks 
 show a strong bias against it : his testimony therefore 
 is all the more valuable. His travels lay almost 
 exclusively among Mohammedan or semi-Moham- 
 medan tribes, and he found that the Negroes were 
 everywhere summoned to prayer by blasts blown 
 through elephants' tusks. On reaching the Niger, 
 the main object of his wanderings, he found, to his 
 surprise, that Sego, the capital of Bambarra, was a 
 walled town, containing some 30,000 inhabitants, that 
 the houses were square and very often white-washed, 
 and that there were Moorish mosques in every 
 quarter, ' The view of this extensive city,' he writes, 
 ' the numerous canoes upon the river, the crowded 
 population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding 
 country, formed altogether a prospect of civilisation 
 and magnificence which I little expected to find in 
 the bosom of Africa.' ^ 
 
 The Mandingoes, a Mohammedan tribe through 
 whose territories he returned, he describes as being, 
 unlike the Moors, a very gentle race, cheerful in their 
 dispositions, hospitable, inquisitive, and credulous. 
 
 ' See Mungo Park's 'Travels,' Cap, I, ad fin. 
 
46 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 The propensity to pilfer, so common amongst bar- 
 barians, though he suffered himself by it, he thought 
 to be not greater than could be found among many 
 European nations. His impression of the women 
 was most favourable. * I do not recollect,' he says, 
 ' a sina;le instance of hard-heartedness towards me 
 among the women. In all my wanderings and 
 wretchedness I found them uniformly kind and com- 
 passionate.' One of the first lessons in which the 
 Mandingo women instructed their children was the 
 practice of truth. In the case of an unhappy mother 
 whose son had been murdered by the Moors, her 
 only consolation was, that in the whole of his blame- 
 less life he had never told a lie. On another point, 
 he remarks that the Negroes, whether Mohammedan 
 or Pagan, allowed a plurality of wives ; but that the 
 Mohammedans alone were by their religion confined 
 to four. Though in a position of inferiority com- 
 pared w^ith more civilised nations, their wives were 
 not as a rule ill-treated, each wife taking her turn in 
 ruling the household. In a third and all-important 
 matter, that of sobriety, the advantage was entirely 
 on the side of the Mohammedans. * The beverages,' 
 he says, ' of the pagan Negroes are beer and mead, of 
 which they frequently drink to excess.^ The Moham- 
 medan converts drink nothing but water.' 
 
 1 Cap. VII. 
 
TESTIMONY OF MUNGO PARK. '47 
 
 As to education, Mungo Park found schools and 
 active teachers everywhere ; not, of course, advanced 
 schools nor highly educated teachers, but institutions 
 which, humble though they be, should not be scorned 
 as they often are by the representatives of Christian 
 missions, but treated w^ith the respect and the sym- 
 pathy with which the Founder of Christian missions, 
 nay, of Christianity itself, would undoubtedly have 
 treated them. The master of one of these schools in 
 Kamalia, to whose care Mungo Park was himself for 
 some time committed, adhered strictly to the religion 
 of Mohammed, but was by no means intolerant 
 towards those who differed from him.^ His school 
 consisted of seventeen boys, most of whom were sons 
 of * Kafirs,' i.e. unbelievers. He possessed the Koran, 
 some commentaries on it, and a considerable num- 
 ber of Arabic manuscripts. Mungo Park witnessed 
 the examination held in presence of the assembled 
 * Bushreens ' for the purpose of conferring the like 
 degree on a young student. No one was admitted 
 to the degree unless he had read through the Koran, 
 and could answer questions intelligently upon it. 
 Many of the Negroes were in possession of Arabic 
 versions of the Pentateuch, the Psalms of David, and 
 the Prophecies of Isaiah, and a considerable know- 
 ledge of the facts of Old Testament History was 
 
 1 Cao. XI. 
 
48 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 diffused amongst them. As to the thirst for know- 
 ledge and the desire to get books, an Arabic copy of 
 the Pentateuch was often sold for the value of a 
 prime slave, while a Negro offered Park himself an ass 
 and sixteen bars of goods for an Arabic grammar ! 
 
 It is strange to read these accounts of the spread 
 and influence of Islam in Africa, and to discover on 
 a searching inquiry that — if allowance be made for 
 bias, or ignorance, or unreasoning indignation on 
 the part of a few travellers who have attributed to 
 Islam in Africa every crime it has not been able 
 to prevent, or which has been perpetrated by the 
 most unworthy of its professors — every one of Mungo 
 Park's statements may be strengthened and supported 
 by a continuous succession of dispassionate and phi- 
 lanthropic travellers ever since, and then to find it 
 gravely stated by the editor of a quasi official mis- 
 sionary periodical that 'more Mohammedanism 
 means more slavery, more brutality, more polygamy, 
 and, we do not scruple to add ' (as if such a writer 
 would feel scrupulous in making any statement upon 
 any subject !), ' more drunkenness for Africa,' and 
 * that in the waiting-room of Euston Square Station 
 all the Mohammedan Negroes in Africa who have 
 read the Koran, even once, could be most comfortably 
 accommodated.' ^ 
 
 * Church Missionary Intelligencer, Aiignst 1874, p. 247, and March 
 1875, P- 75- 
 
TESTIMONY OF DK. BAR TIL 49 
 
 But lest it should be said as a last resource by 
 such opponents that, whatever was the case at the 
 time of Browne and Mungo Park, and other 
 travellers, such as Caillie, and Laing, and Winter- 
 bottom, and Richardson, and Galton, and Winwood 
 Reade, whose evidence, had I the time and space, I 
 might quote, that Islam has now suddenly become a 
 curse to Africa, I will adduce here the testimony of 
 two other very recent travellers, each of whom is the 
 eye-witness of what he records. The first is that of 
 Dr. Barth, whose travels in Northern and Central 
 Africa are probably more extensive than those of any 
 other European traveller, and whose bias is certainly 
 not in favour of Islam. The second is that of the 
 Rev. Edward Blyden, which has reached me only 
 since the first publication of these Lectures, and which 
 is therefore the most recent evidence that I can obtain. 
 
 As to the rapid spread of Islam, Dr. Barth says 
 that ' a great part of the Berbers of the Desert were 
 once Christians, and that they afterwards changed 
 their religion and adopted Islam ; ' and he describes 
 ' that continual struggle which, always extending 
 further and further, seems destined to overpovv'er the 
 nations at the very Equator if Christianity does not 
 presently step in to dispute the ground v/ith it' Fle 
 remarks in another place, that Mohammedans alone 
 seem able to maintain any sort of government in 
 
 E 
 
50 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Africa ; and, what is more important, that there ' is a 
 vital principle in Islam which has only to be brought 
 out by a reformer to accomplish great things.' ^ 
 
 On the other hand, the Rev. Edward Blyden, a 
 native African of the purest Negro blood, a Christian 
 missionary who has given the energies of his life to 
 extending education and founding schools in the in- 
 terior of Liberia, and who has learned by experience 
 to deal with Mohammedan prejudices against Chris- 
 tianity, writes to me as follows. It may be worth while 
 to add that he is now Principal of the Presbyterian 
 High School in Monrovia, West Africa, that he was 
 quite unknown to me before, and is known to me 
 now only by his writings and his reputation. 
 
 ' It is curious,' he says, ' how at a distance from 
 the scene and only from " the study of books in the 
 European languages, and from reflection upon the 
 materials they supply," you have arrived at precisely 
 the same conclusions with regard to the character 
 
 ' Earth's * Travels,' I. 164, 197, 310; II. 196, &c. Mr. T. W. 
 Higginson, to whom I am indebted for some of these references, and for 
 several interesting publications on the subject of Comparative Religion, 
 in a suggestive address delivered by him at Boston in America, on the 
 ' Sympathy of Religions, ' adduces the testimony to be found in favour of 
 the effects of Islam in Africa in the following works, which I have been un- 
 able to consult -.—Wilson's 'Western Africa;' Johnstone's 'Abyssinia;' 
 Allen's ' Niger Expedition ; ' Du Chaillu's ' Ashango Land ; ' Reade's 
 ' Savage Africa ; ' but the authorities I have myself read and have 
 quoted or referred to in the text seem to me to be ample to convince all 
 who are open to conviction, that Islam is, on the whole, a great forv/ard 
 rrovement for the Negroes. 
 
TESTIMONY OF MR. BLYDE.V. 51 
 
 and influence of Mohammedanism in Africa which I 
 have reached after years of travel among, and inter- 
 course with, the people. Your remarks as to the 
 superiority of the Mohammedan Negro are quite in 
 accordance with my own observation and experience. 
 If those Christians who are so unmeasured in their 
 denunciations of Mohammedanism could travel, as I 
 have travelled, through those countries in the interior 
 of West Africa, and witness, as I have witnessed, the 
 vast contrast between the Pagan and Mohammedan 
 communities — the habitual listlessness and continued 
 deterioration of the one, and the activity and growth, 
 physical and mental, of the other ; the capricious and 
 unsettled administration of law, or rather absence of 
 law, in the one, and the tendency to order and regu- 
 larity in the other ; the increasing prevalence of ardent 
 spirits in the one, and the rigid sobriety and con- 
 servative abstemiousness of the other — they would 
 cease to regard the Musalman system as an unmiti- 
 gated evil in the interior of Africa.' 
 
 It is melancholy to contrast with the wide-spread 
 beneficial influences of Mohammedanism, on which I 
 have insisted, the little that has been done for Africa, 
 till very lately, by the Christian nations that have 
 settled in it, and the still narrower limits within 
 which it has been confined. Till a {&\v years ago 
 the good effects produced beyond the immediate 
 
 £ 2 
 
52 MOHAMMED AND M0HAMM,EDAN1SM. 
 
 territories occupied by them were absolutely nothing. 
 The achievement of Vasco da Gama, for which Te 
 Deums were sung in Europe, proved for centuries to 
 be nothing but the direst curse to Africa. If the 
 Oceanic slave trade has been, to the eternal credit of 
 England in particular, at last abolished by Christian 
 nations, it cannot be forgotten that Africa owes also 
 to them its origin, and on the West Coast, at all 
 events, its long continuance. The message that 
 European traders have carried for centuries to Africa 
 has been one oi rapacity, of cruelty, of selfishness, 
 and of bad fiith. It is a remark of Dr. Livingstone's' 
 that the only art that the natives of Africa have 
 acquired from their five hundred years' acquaintance 
 with the Portuguese, has been the art of distilling 
 spirits from a gun-barrel ; and that the only perma- 
 nent belief they owe to them is the belief that man 
 may sell his brother man ; for this, he says emphati- . 
 cally, is not a native belief, but is only to be found in 
 the track of the Portuguese. 
 
 A century and a half before the time of Dr. Living- 
 stone, William Bosman, a chief factor of the Dutch 
 at the castle of Elmina in 1705, and the author of a 
 valuable work on the Coast of Guinea, remarked on 
 the fatal results, which were even then apparent, of 
 the introduction of spirits among the Negroes ; ex- 
 
 ^ Livingstone's 'Expedition to the Zambesi,' page 240. 
 
WHAT CHRISTIANS HAVE DONE FOR AFRICA. 53 
 
 .cessive brandy drinking, he said, seemed to be the 
 favourite vice of the Negro, but that of the Gold 
 Coast exceeded all others whom he had ever met. Is- 
 lam, it should be remembered, had not then approached 
 the Gold Coast : if it had, his statement as to the 
 extent of the evil amongst the Negroes of that part 
 might have needed an important qualification ; and 
 when we reflect on the havoc wrought by the 'deso- 
 lating flood of ardent spirits ' poured into Africa ever 
 since by European merchants, what Christian should 
 not rejoice that what a native African well calls a 
 ' Total Abstinence Association ' extends now, owing 
 to the spread of Islam, right across Central Africa 
 from the Nile to Sierra Leone ? 
 
 The stopping of the Oceanic slave trade by 
 England on the other hand is an enormous benefit 
 to Africa. Like the suppression of slavery itself 
 throughout the British dependencies, it is directly due 
 to the noble exertions of genuine Christian philan- 
 thropists ; and it is one of the greatest triumphs 
 which Christianity has ever Vv^on over the self-seek- 
 ing and baser instincts of a great nation. It were 
 to. be wished that one could discern any imme- 
 diate prospect of a wave of such philanthropy sweep- 
 ing spontaneously through Musalman countries. 
 Musalmans would, as I hope to show hereafter,^ only 
 
 » See Lecture IV. p. 328. 
 
54 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 be true to the spirit of their Faith in now at length 
 
 striking the fetter from the slave, and in once and 
 
 for ever branding the slave hunter and the slave 
 
 Seller as the worst of men. But, if we except the 
 
 small number of converts made within the limits of 
 
 their settlements, the suppression of the foreign slave 
 
 trade has been the only benefit hitherto conferred by 
 
 Europeans on Africa. The extension of African 
 
 commerce is of more than doubtful benefit at present. 
 
 The chief articles that we export from thence are the 
 
 produce of slave labour, and, what is worse, of a 
 
 vastly extended slave trade, in the inaccessible 
 
 interior.^ Nor is it wholly without reason that in 
 
 spite of Krapf and jMofi"at, of Frere, and Livingstone, 
 
 and of a score of other single-hearted and energetic 
 
 philanthropists, the white man is still an object of 
 
 terror, and his professed creed an object of suspicion 
 
 and repugnance to the Negro race. 
 
 Here I must leave this, as I think, one of the 
 most interesting and important parts of my subject. 
 Do not let me be misunderstood. I contend here 
 
 ^ For the introduction, or rather the invention, of the Slave Trade 
 by the Portuguese in the year 1444, see Helps' ' Spanish Conquest in 
 America,' I, 35 sq, ; and the quotation there given from the Chronicle 
 of Azurara, relating the capture of 200 Africans by a Portuguese 
 company at Lagos, and their shipment \o Portugal. A disastrous pre- 
 cedent from that time down to the end of the last century, only too 
 fatally followed by all the Christian nations of Europe which had the 
 chance ! 
 
^ ISLAM A COMPARATIVE BENEFIT TO AFRICA. 55 
 
 only that Islam is a comparative benefit to Africa ; 
 that Christendom till very lately has failed to in- 
 fluence it in any direction extensively for good ; that 
 certain evils, such as drunkenness, always accompany 
 European progress there ; and that there is room 
 enough, and degradation enough, amidst its barbarous 
 races for any and for every elevating agency. 
 Making every deduction for possible exaggeration in 
 the accounts I have quoted ; granting freely, what I 
 have never denied, that there is a vast amount of 
 superstition, of impurity, of cruelty among African 
 Mohammedans, as there is in every other semi-civilised, 
 I might add among other highly civilised races, I 
 yet think that enough has been demonstrated to any 
 unbiassed mind to justify the view I have taken. A 
 religion which indisputably has made cannibalism 
 and human sacrifice impossible, which has introduced 
 reading and writing, and, what is more, has given a 
 love for them ; which has forbidden, and, to a great 
 extent, has abolished, immodest dancing and gam- 
 bling and drinking, which inculcates upon the whole 
 a pure morality, and sets forth a sublime, and at the 
 same time a simple theology, is surely deserving of 
 other feelings than the hatred and the contempt 
 which some portions of our religious press habitually 
 pour upon it. 
 
 Truly, if the question must be put, whether it is 
 
56 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Mohammedan or Christian nations that have as yet 
 done most for Africa, the answer must be that it is 
 not the Christian. And if it be asked, again, not 
 j j what reUgion is the purest in itself, and ideally the 
 i'l best, for to this there could be but one answer ; but 
 which, under the peculiar circumstances, historical, 
 geographical, and ethnological, is the religion most 
 likely to get hold on a vast scale of the native mind, 
 and so in some measure to elevate the savage cha- 
 racter, the same answer must be returned. The 
 question is, indeed, already half answered by a glance 
 at the map of Africa. Mohammedanism has already 
 leavened almost the whole of Africa to within five 
 degrees of the Equator ; and, to the south of it, 
 Uganda, the most civilised state in that part of 
 Central Africa, has just become Mohammedan.* A 
 few years ago, a Mosque was built on the shores of the 
 Victoria Nyanza itself, and the Nile, from its source 
 
 ' See some interesting remarks by Mr. Francis Galton at a meeting 
 of the British Association at Leeds, on Sept. 22, 1873. I have also to 
 thank him for giving me, in conversation, his experience of Mohammed- 
 anism in Africa, and for directing me to the best authorities on the sub- 
 ject. Along the coast-line Mohammedanism of a degraded kind has, of 
 course, extended much further South, beyond Zanzibar to ^Ilozambique 
 and the Portuguese colonies. There are Mohammedans to be found 
 even among the Kaffirs and in' Madagascar. The original Portuguese 
 settlers found the Arabs established along the coasts of Mozambique and 
 in the interior. They exterminated the former ; but as they failed to 
 dispossess the latter, it is possible, or rather it has lately been proved to 
 be the case, that some of the teri'a J>a7'wn cognita in the interior is still 
 Mohammedan. 
 
DESTINY OF AFRICA. 57 
 
 to its mouth, is now, with very few exceptions, a Mo- 
 hammedan river. 
 
 That Mohammedanism may, when mutual mis- 
 understandings are removed, as I hope to show in a 
 future Lecture, be elevated, chastened, purified by 
 Christian influences and a Christian spirit, and that 
 evils such as the slave trade, which are really foreign 
 to its nature, can be put dov/n by the heroic efforts 
 of Christian philanthropists, I do not doubt ; and I 
 can, therefore, look forward, if with something of anx- 
 iety, v/ith still more of hope, to what seems the des- 
 tiny of Africa — that Paganism and Devil-worship will 
 die out, and that the main part of the continent, if it \ 
 cannot become Christian, will become, what is next 
 best to it, Mohammedan. 
 
 Anyhow, it is certain that the gains of Moham- 
 medanism, in Africa alone, counterbalance its ap- 
 parent losses from Russian conquests, and from 
 Proselytism everywhere else ; nor can I believe, not- 
 withstanding predictions inspired by the wash, that its 
 work is yet done, or nearly done, in any of the 
 countries, except, perhaps, those of Europe, that have 
 ever owned its sway. 
 
 I speak of the apparent losses from Russian con- 
 quest, for the onward march of the Russian Colossus 
 through Central Asia, so far from carrying any 
 form of Christianity with it, seems to intensify the 
 
58 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 religious convictions of the half-conquered or threat- 
 ened races. What was dead in the religion before, 
 it revives ; to what was only half-alive, it gives fresh 
 vigour. Islam has now become with them a patriot- 
 ism as well as a creed ; and Mr. Gifford Palgrave, an 
 able and accurate observer, has lately described how 
 the distinctive precepts of the Mohammedan religion 
 — those enjoining the observance of the month of 
 Ramadhan, the reading of the Koran, the pilgrimage 
 of the Hajj, the abstinence from gaming, from to- 
 bacco, and from intoxicating drinks — are now much 
 more rigidly observed in the debateable territories ; 
 and, more than this, the Abkhasians with their 
 immemorial antiquity, and the heroic Circassians 
 driven from their homes after a desperate struggle by 
 Muscovite oppression and bad faith, dropping such 
 traces of Christianity as they had, but carrying with 
 them a legacy of immortal hate to the creed and 
 country of their tyrants, have crossed the frontier of 
 the more liberal Turkish Empire, and coalescing with 
 Kurds, Turkomans, and Arabs, have settled down in 
 the uplands of Armenia, and are there forming, as 
 Mr. Palgrave believes, the nucleus of a new, and 
 vigorous, and united Mohammedan nation.^ 
 
 In India, again, where the two religions are brought 
 
 * Palgrave's * Essays on Eastern Questions,' iv. and v. 
 
ISLAM IN INDIA. 59 
 
 face to face, and where, if anywhere, we may expect the 
 great drama to play itself out, Mohammedanism gives 
 no sign of yielding. Unlike Brahmanism, which the 
 thousand influences of Western civilisation are sapping 
 in every direction, Mohammedanism, on the contrary, 
 seems to concentrate the strength it already has, and 
 owine to the efforts of its zealous missionaries, is 
 giving symptoms at once of a Revival and of a Re- 
 form that may, at any time, change the religious 
 destinies of the country. The Faithful are as cour- 
 ageous, as sincere, as ardently monotheistic as they 
 ever were ; witness it the Indian Mutiny, the Wah- 
 habee Revival, and the last terrible argument of 
 assassination. The heroism and self-devotion of our 
 missionaries seem to be wasted on them in vain, and, 
 except in individual cases, I see no sign that it will 
 ever be otherwise. Buddhism and Brahmanism may 
 be driven out of India, but Mohammedanism never, 
 except by the Mohammedan method of the sword. ^ 
 
 The most recent historian of India '-^ remarks, that 
 *few impartial observers will deny the fact that, to all 
 appearance, the people of India are drifting, slowly 
 but surely, towards the religion of the Prophet of 
 Arabia rather than towards that Christianity which 
 is freely offered to them, but which they are not 
 
 ' See Appendix to this Lecture. 
 
 ' Talboys Wheeler, in the Preface to his ' History of India.' 
 
6o MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 prepared to accept.' And if this be true, or nearly true 
 how profound the importance to England, even from 
 an Imperial point of view, of a sympathetic study of 
 the religion which, under her very rule, threatens to 
 become dominant ; and how far more profoundly 
 important to the Christian and to the philanthropist 
 to understand and to influence, while yet he may, a 
 system w^hich, long probably after the British Empire 
 in India shall have passed away, will be the chief 
 motive power — for in most Eastern countries religion 
 and national feeling are one and the same thing — 
 among its two hundred millions of inhabitants ! Yet, 
 probably, nowhere is there a more profound ignorance 
 of Islam and its founder, and a greater indifference to 
 Vvdiat it is doing in the world, than in England. Popular 
 preachers and teachers still call the Prophet of Arabia 
 an impostor ; and military officers, and even civil 
 servants of the Crown, have gone out to India, passed 
 years there, and returned again, still fancying that 
 Musalmans are idolaters. 
 
 Such are the leading facts of Mohammedanism 
 viewed from the outside; and now how are we to 
 account for them .'' 
 
 One thing is certain, that the explanations so 
 readily offered by historians and Christian apologists 
 till within a very recent period will not suffice now. 
 People who think they have nothing to do with a 
 
CAUSES OF MOHAMMED'S TRIUMPH. 6i 
 
 system except to attack it, are not those who can 
 best explain the causes of its vitality or its success. 
 One historian tells us that Mohammedanism tri- 
 umphed by the mere force of arms ; another, by the 
 use Mohammed made of the tendency so deeply 
 planted in man to fall victims in masses to any well- 
 conceived imposture ; a third traces his success to his 
 skilful plagiarisms from faiths purer than his own ; 
 and a fourth to the elevated morality, or to the 
 lax morality, inculcated in the Koran ; for both of 
 these are strangely enough urged almost in the 
 same breath by the same people : while, lastly, others 
 dwell on the inherent strength of the founder's cha- 
 racter and the enthusiasm that must accompany a 
 crusade against idolatry.^ We feel that most of 
 these have some truth in them ; some of them have 
 much ; and cue or two of them are not only not true, 
 but they are the very reverse of the truth. But we also 
 feel that none of them singly, nor all of them to- 
 gether, adequately account for the phenomena they 
 profess to explain. 
 
 In treating of Mohammedanism, as remarked by 
 M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire,^ we have to try in liniijie 
 to discard alike our national and our religious 
 
 ' See some of these explanations admirably dealt with by F. D. 
 Maurice, ' Religions of the World,' Lecture I. 
 * * Mahomet et le Koran, ' preface, p. 6. 
 
62 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 prejudices. It was not till Mohammedanism had existed 
 for eight hundred years that it was possible to discard 
 the one ; and not till very lately that it was even 
 attempted to discard the other. Since the conquest 
 of Constantinople, or rather since the brilliant naval 
 victory of Don John of Austria at Lepanto, and its 
 final repulse by John Sobieski from the walls of 
 Vienna two hundred and thirty years later, Moham- 
 medanism has ceased, in Europe at least, to be an 
 aggressive and conquering power ; and since then, it 
 has been possible for the states of Christendom to 
 breathe more freely, and to forget the infidel in the 
 ally or the subject. 
 
 Religious prejudice is more difficult to overcome. 
 Men who are ardently attached to their own religion 
 find it difificult to judge another dispassionately, and 
 from a neutral point of view. The philosopher who, 
 according to Gibbon's famous aphorism, looked upon 
 all religions of the Roman Empire as equally false, 
 and the magistrate who looked upon all as equally 
 useful, would be alike incapacitated for viewing the 
 Musalman creed from the Musalman stand-point. 
 Perhaps the populace who looked upon all religions 
 as equally true would have been the best judges of 
 the three ; but I doubt whether in this, as in most 
 epigrammatic sentences, something of truth has not 
 been sacrificed to the antithesis. Nature does not 
 
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RELIGION, 63 
 
 arrange herself in antithetical groups for our conveni- 
 ence ; and I doubt whether the mass of any people, 
 at any time, have looked upon all religions as equally 
 true. 
 
 But the comparative study of religion is beginning 
 to teach, at all events, the more thoughtful of man- 
 kind, not indeed that all religions are equally true or / 
 equally elevating, but that all contain some truth ; 
 that no religion is exclusively good, none exclusively ' 
 bad ; that any religion which has a real and con- / 
 tinned hold on a large body of mankind must satisfy 
 a real spiritual need, and is so far good. God is in 
 all His works, and not the least so in the thoughts 
 and aspirations of His creatures towards Himself; 
 and what we have to do is to feel after Him in 
 each and all, assured that He is there, even if haply 
 in our ignorance we can find no trace of Him. 
 
 Truly, when we are dealing with religion at all, 
 even though it be Polytheism or Fetishism, we are 
 * treading upon holy ground ; ' and in order that we 
 may treat that creed, sublime in its simplicity, which 
 is our special subject, with that union of candour and 
 of reverence which alone befits it, it is necessary be- 
 fore concluding this introductory Lecture that I should 
 lay down clearly one principle which must guide us 
 in our investigation. 
 
 It is this, that for the purposes of scientific 
 
64 MOHAMMED AXD MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 (investigation, religions must be regarded as differing 
 from one another in degree rather than in kind. 
 This is the one postulate, itself the result of a careful 
 induction^ upon which alone the existence of any true 
 science of religion must depend. Without a clear 
 perception of this truth you enter upon the study of 
 the religions of the world, with a preconceived idea, 
 which will colour all your conclusions, and will invali- 
 date them the more gravely, the more favourable 
 those conclusions are to your own creed. The ordi- 
 nary distinctions of kind, therefore, drawn betvreen 
 true and false, natural and supernatural, revealed and 
 unrevealed religions, are, for our present purpose, un- 
 real and misleading. The fact is, that from one point 
 of view all religions are more or less natural, from an- 
 other all are more or less supernatural ; and all alike 
 are to be treated from the same standpoint, and investi- 
 gated by the same methods. In the Science of Religion, 
 to quote an expression of Max Miiller s used in this 
 place, Christianity * owns no prescriptive rights, and 
 claims no immunities.' It challenges the freest inquiry; 
 and as it claims to come from God Himself, so it fears 
 not the honest use of any faculties that God has given 
 to man. Christianity is indeed a revelation, and what it 
 really reveals is true ; and, so far, if the alternative must 
 needs be put in this shape, no Christian would have 
 any doubt in which category to place his own creed. 
 
DO RELIGIONS DIFFER IN KIND? 65 
 
 But does Christianity claim any such monopoly 
 of what is good and true as is implied in this crude 
 classification, or will any one say that there is no 
 real revelation of God in the noble lives of Confucius 
 or Buddha, and no fragments of Divine truth in the 
 pure morality of the systems which they founded ? 
 Truth, happily for man, is myriad-sided, and happy 
 he who can catch a far-off glance of the one side of it 
 presented to him ! Claim, if you like, for the Bible 
 what the Koran does claim for itself and the Bible 
 does not — a rigid or a verbal inspiration. Grant that 
 the truth revealed passed mechanically through the 
 mind of the sacred writer without contamination and 
 without alloy, yet who can say, — since the Verities 
 with which religion deals are all beyond the world of 
 sense, — that the precise meaning attached by him to 
 any one word in his creed is the same as that attached 
 to it by any other ? — qiiot hoiniiics tot sententicB. The 
 recipient subject colours every object of sensation or 
 of thought as it passes into it, and is conscious of that 
 object, not as it entered, but as it has been instanta- 
 neously and unconsciously transformed in the alembic 
 of the mind. In religion, as in external nature, the 
 human mind is, as Bacon says, an unequal mirror to 
 the rays of things, mixing its own nature indissolubly 
 with theirs. And this relative element once admitted 
 into religion at all, it follows that to divide religions 
 
 F 
 
66 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 b/ an impassable barrier into true and false, natural 
 
 and revealed, is like dividing music into sacred and 
 
 secular, and history into sacred and profane. It is a 
 
 division convenient enough for those — the majorit}- of 
 
 , the human race — who are content with an artificial 
 
 \ classification, and who care for no religion but their 
 
 -• own ; but, for scientific purposes, it is a cross division, 
 
 it begs the question at issue, and is as unphilosophical 
 
 as it is misleading/ 
 
 Nor do Sacred Books, whatever be the theory of 
 inspiration on which they rest, lend to the religion to 
 which they belong any distinction of kind ; they fix 
 the phraseology of a religion, and we are apt to 
 believe that they also fix the thought. They do not 
 do so, however. The ' poetic and literary terms 
 thrown out,' to use Mr. Matthew Arnold's happy 
 expression, by the highest minds at the highest 
 objects of thought, as faint approximations only to 
 the truth respecting them, become enshrined in the 
 Sacred Canon. They are misunderstood, or half un- 
 derstood, even by those who hear them from the 
 Psalmist's or the Prophet's own lips, and in a few 
 years the misunderstanding grows till they become 
 fixed and rigid.^ Poetic imagery is mistaken for 
 
 ' For a full discussion of the ordinary methods of classifying religion 
 see Max Miiller's ' Science of Religion,' pp. 123-143. 
 
 " For illustrations of this, see 'Literature and Dogma.' cap. II. and 
 
INFLUENCE OF SACRED BOOKS. 67 
 
 scientific exactness, and dim outlines for exhaustive 
 definitions. A virtue is attached to the words them- 
 selves, and the thought, which is the jewel, is hidden 
 by the letter, which is only the casket. If it be true 
 that man never knows how anthropomorphic he him- 
 self is, still less do sacred writers know the anthropo- 
 morphism and the materialism which will eventually 
 be drawn even from their highest and most spiritual 
 utterances. How little did the author of the prayer 
 at the dedication of the temple of Solomon — the 
 grandest assertion, perhaps, in the Old Testament of 
 the infinite power and the infinite goodness of God, 
 His nearness to us and His distance from us — ima- 
 gine that the time would ever come when it would be 
 held that in that temple alone, and by Jews alone, 
 the Father could be worshipped ! 
 
 Christians may and must rise from an impartial 
 study of the religions of the world with their belief 
 vastly deepened that their Sacred Books stand as a 
 whole on a far higher level than other Sacred Books, 
 and that the ideal life of Christianity, while' it is 
 capable of including the highest ideals of other creeds, 
 ' cannot itself be attained by any one of them. But 
 the value of this belief will be exactly proportioned 
 
 V. p. 123. This part of Mr. Arnold's work, it may. be pretty coiifi- 
 dently asserted, is done once for all ; and its influence will be felt, 
 avowedly or not, throughout the domain of Biblical criticism. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 to the extent to which they have been able, for the 
 purposes of scientific study, to divest themselves of 
 any arbitrary assumption in the matter ; and they 
 must also acknowledge that it is possible and natural 
 for sincere Mohammedans or Buddhists to arrive at 
 the same conclusions concerning their own faiths. It 
 is not easy to be thoroughly convinced of this, or to 
 act upon it ; for intolerance is the * natural weed of 
 the human bosom,' and there is no religion which 
 does not seem superstitious to those who do not be- 
 lieve in it.^ 
 
 But this belief is far from necessitating in practical 
 life a religious indifference, nor, however it may seem 
 so at first sight, is it averse to all missionary efforts. 
 Missionaries will not cease to exist, nor will they lose 
 their energy, their enthusiasm, and their self-sacrifice. 
 But they will go to work in a different way, will view 
 other rehgions in a different light, and will test their 
 success by a different standard. They w^ill no doubt 
 Abe forced to acquiesce in what seems the will of 
 I Providence, that a national religion is as much part 
 of a man's nature as is the genius of his language, or 
 the colour of his skin ; they will admit that the pre- 
 
 ' See Grote, VI. p. 156, sq., on the death of Socrates. The boast 
 of Cicero, ' Majores nostri superstitionem a religione separaverunt ' 
 (de Nat. Deorum, II. 28), is the natural belief of every one, even 
 of the Fetish-worshipper, concerning his own, and none but his own, 
 creed. 
 
MISSIONARY WORK. 69 
 
 else form of a creed is a matter of prejudice and of 
 circumstance with most of us, and that, in spite of the 
 rise of historical rehgions which have shattered other 
 faiths and risen upon their ruins, nine-tenths of the 
 whole human race have died, and will in all probability 
 continue to die, in the profession of that faith into 
 which they were born ; but this will no longer seem 
 to them, as it must seem now, a mysterious and 
 overwhelming victory of evil over good, which appals 
 the moral sense, and, if a man be not better than the 
 letter of his creed, must tend to shake at once his 
 belief in the Universal Fatherhood of God, and the 
 true brotherhood of humanity ; they will rather, in 
 proportion to the strength of their belief in the good- 
 ness of God, believe that His creatures cannot grope 
 after Him, even in the dark, without getting that 
 light which is sufficient for them ; they will not seek 
 to eradicate wholly any existing national faith, if only 
 it be a living one ; nor, as the phrase is, Avill they aim 
 at * bringing its adherents over to Christianity ; ' they 
 will seek rather to bring Christianity to them, to in- 
 fuse a Christian spirit into what is, at worst, not an 
 anti-Christian, but merely a non-Christian, or, it may 
 be, a half-Christian faith. 
 
 The Apostles did not cease to be Jews because 
 they became Christians, nor did they look up to 
 Moses less because they reverenced Christ more. 
 
70 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 And yet the difference between Judaism and Christi- 
 anity, between the forms and the ceremonies and the 
 exclusiveness of the one, and the spirituaUty and the 
 freedom and the universaUty of the other, is at least 
 as great, as I hope to show, is the difference between 
 a sincere believer in the teaching of the Prophet of 
 Arabia and a humble follower of the character of 
 Christ 
 
 St. Paul, the one model given us in the New 
 Testament of what a missionary should be in dealing 
 with the faith of a cultivated people much dissimilar 
 to his own, a faith, most people would say now, differ- 
 ing in kind as well as in degree from Christianity, 
 never thought himself of drawing so broad a 
 distinction between the two. He might well have 
 been disposed to do so, for the Polytheism of Athens 
 had long ceased to be an adequate expression of the 
 highest religious life of the people. It was in its de- 
 cadence even when it had inspired the profoundest 
 utterances of ^schylus or Sophocles ; it could not 
 have inspired them then, even had there existed 
 genius like theirs to be inspired. Its oracles were 
 dumb ; and yet St. Paul dropped not a word of scorn 
 for the echoes that still lingered, and the flames that 
 were still flickering, on its shattered altars. He did 
 / not talk of false gods or of devil-worship, of impos- 
 ture or of superstition. Those whom our translation 
 
 V 
 
EXAMPLE OF ST. PAUL. 71 
 
 calls 'superstitious' he calls * God-fearing.' He 
 quotes their great authors with sympathy and with 
 respect. He professes only to give articulate utter- 
 ance to their own thoughts, and to declare more fully 
 to them that God whom, unknowingly, they already 
 worshipped. 
 
 And so, again, in writing to the converts to be 
 found even in the metropolis of the world, and, it 
 must be added, the head-quarters of its vices, while 
 he lashes its moral iniquities and its religious corrup- 
 tions with an unsparing hand, yet, with a toleration 
 wholly alien to the Jewish race, and without forfeit- 
 ing his supreme allegiance to his Master, he strikes at 
 the root of the impassable distinction between re- 
 vealed and unrevealed religion, by pointing out that 
 those who, not having the law, yet did by nature the 
 things contained in the law, were in truth a law unto 
 themselves. He showed that the Eternal could 
 reveal Himself as well by His unwritten as by His 
 written law, and that the voice of conscience is, in very 
 truth, to everyone who follows it, the voice of the 
 living God. 
 
 The missionaries of the future, therefore, will try 
 to penetrate to the common elements which, they 
 will have learned, underlie all religions alike, and make 
 the most of those. They will be able, with a sym- 
 pathy which is real because it is drawn from a 
 
72 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 knowledge of the history of their own faith, to point 
 out the abuses which have crept, and ahvays will 
 creep, into an originally spiritual creed. They will 
 inculcate in their teaching, and exhibit in their lives, 
 as they do now, something of that highest morality 
 which they have learned from their Master, and 
 which they will then have learned is the very 
 essence of their faith, and which, in its broad outlines 
 at least, in the * secret ' as well as in the ' method ' of 
 Jesus,^ may adapt itself to the wants of every nation 
 and every creed. 
 
 They will never, therefore, think it necessary to 
 present Christianity to those of an alien creed as a 
 collection of defined yet mysterious doctrines which 
 must be accepted whole or not at all, but will rather 
 be content to show them Christ Himself as He ap- 
 peared to His earliest disciples — before the mists of 
 metaphysics had gathered round His head, and the 
 watchwords of theology had half hidden Him from the 
 view — glorious in His moral beauty, sublime in His 
 
 ^'- * ' Of the all-importance of righteousness there is a knowledge in 
 , Mohammedanism, but of the method and secret of Jesus, by which 
 Wlone is righteousness possible, hardly any sense at all.'— 'Literature 
 and Dogma,' p. 343, There is substantial truth in this ; but few 
 can read Mr. Arnold's own account of what he conceives the secret and 
 method of Jesus to have been, without feeling that all the higher re- 
 ligions of the world, — any religion, in fact, which controlling the lower 
 part of man's nature and stimulating the higher, makes him to be at 
 peace with himself, which gives hope in adversity, and calmness in the 
 prospect of death, must contain much both of the one and of the other. 
 
HO IV MAY CHRISTIANITY SPREAD? 73 
 
 self-surrender, Divine in His humanity and by reason 
 of it. And they may then leave it to the moral 
 sense of some, at least, in every section of the race 
 whose greatest glory and Ideal Representative He is, 
 to judge of Him aright, and to recognise in His per- 
 son the supreme and the final Revelation of God. 
 Here, in the ambition to set before the eyes of all a 
 higher Ideal, and a more perfect example than any 
 they have yet known ; in the proclamation of the 
 truth, which Christ came to proclaim, of the universal 
 Fatherhood, and the perfect love of God — here is 
 ample work for the enthusiasm of humanity ; in this 
 sense Christ may live again upon the earth, and in ' 
 this sense, and only in this, is it likely that Christi- j 
 anity will overspread the world. I have premised' 
 this much, even at the risk of anticipating some of the 
 conclusions to which we shall, I believe, ultimately 
 come, because I think it necessary to prevent any 
 misunderstanding as to my point of view. 
 
 if oiodv oio<i ; how far the way was prepared for 
 Mohammed by circumstances, and what part he him- 
 self bore in the great revolution that goes by his 
 name ; what we are to say on the nature of his mission, 
 on the much-disputed question of his sincerity, of the 
 inconsistencies in his career and the blots upon it, 
 this will form the subject of my next Lecture. 
 
74 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 LBCTUEE II. 
 
 February 21, 1874. 
 
 MOHAMMED. 
 
 MeyaXcoi' kavrov a^ioi (i^ios cov. — ARISTOTLE. 
 
 There goeth the son of Abdallah, who hath his conversation 
 in the heavens. — The Kuraish. 
 
 A COMPLETE history of the opinions that have been 
 held by Christians about Mohammed and Moham- 
 medanism would not be an uninstructive chapter, 
 however melancholy, in the history of the human 
 mind. To glance for a moment at a few of them. 
 
 During the first few centuries of Mohammedanism, 
 Christendom could not afford to criticise or explain ; 
 ^ it could only tremble and obey. But when the 
 Saracens had received their first check in the heart of 
 France, the nations which had been flying before them, 
 faced round, as a herd of cows will sometimes do when 
 the single dog that has put them to flight is called 
 off ; and though they did not yet venture to fight, 
 they could at least calumniate their retreating foe. 
 
 • ) 
 
MEDIEVAL VIEW OF MOHAMMED. 75 
 
 Drances-like, they could manufacture calumnies and 
 victories at pleasure : — 
 
 ' Quae tuto tibi magna volant ; dum distinct hostem 
 Agger murorum, nee inundant sanguine fossae.' 
 
 The disastrous retreat of Charles the Great through 
 Roncesvalles, and the slaughter of his rear-guard by 
 the Gascons, is turned by Romance mongers and 
 Troubadours into a signal victory of his over the 
 Saracens ; Charles, who never went beyond Pan- 
 nonia, is credited, in the following century, with a 
 successful Crusade to the Holy Sepulchre, and even 
 with the sack of Babylon ! The age of Christian 
 chivalry had not yet come, and was not to come for 
 two hundred years. 
 
 In the romance of ' Turpin,' quoted by Renan, 
 Mohammed, the fanatical destroyer of all idolatry, is 
 turned himself into an idol of gold, and, under the 
 name of Mawmet, is reported to be the object of wor- 
 ship at Cadiz ; and this not even Charles the Great, 
 Charles the Iconoclast, the destroyer of the Irmansul, 
 in his own native Germany, would venture to attack 
 from fear of the legion of demons which guarded it. 
 In the song of Roland, the national Epic of France, re- 
 ferring to the same events, Mohammed appears with 
 the chief of the Pagan Gods on the one side of him 
 and the chief of the Devils on the other ; a curious an- 
 ticipation, perhaps, of the view of Satanic inspiration 
 
76 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 taken by Sir William Muir. Marsilles, Khalif of 
 Cordova, is supposed to worship him as a god, and 
 his favourite form of adjuration is made to be ' By- 
 Jupiter, by Mohammed, and by Apollyon,' — strange 
 metamorphosis and strange collocation ! Human 
 sacrifices are offered to him, if nowhere else indeed, 
 in the imagination and assertions of Christian writers 
 of the tenth and eleventh centuries, under the various 
 names of Bafum, or Maphomet, or Mawmet ; and in 
 the same spirit Malaterra, in his ' History of Sicily,' 
 describes that island as being, when under Saracenic 
 rule, *a land wholly given to idolatry,'^ and the expe- 
 dition of the Norman Roger Guiscard is characterised 
 as a crusade against idol worship. Which people 
 were the greater idolaters, any candid reader of the 
 Italian annalists of this time, collected by Muratori, 
 can say. Even Marco Polo, the most charming and, 
 where his religious prejudices or his partiality for the 
 * Great Khan ' do not come in, the most trustworthy 
 of travellers, yet speaks of the Musalmans whom he 
 met everywhere in Central Asia and in China as 
 ' worshippers of Mahommet.' ^ It is not a little curious 
 that both the English and French languages still bear 
 witness to the popular misapprehension ; the French 
 
 ' B. II. I. 'Terrain idolis deditam.' 
 
 - Marco Polo, II. 196, 200, 266. Colonel Yule, in his gorgeous 
 and exhaustive edition of the Venetian traveller, quotes, in illustration 
 
MISCONCEPTIONS SHOWN BY LANGUAGE. 77 
 
 by the word 'Mahomerie' ; the Enghsh by the word 
 ' mummery,' still used for absurd or superstitious rites.^ 
 Nor has a Mohammedan nothing to complain of in 
 the etymology and history, little known or forgotten, 
 of the words ' Mammetry ' and ' Paynim,' * terma- 
 gant ' and * miscreant ' ; ^ but to these I can only refer 
 in passing. 
 
 of the misconception, from Baudouin de Sebourg, where a Christian 
 lady wlio is renouncing her faitli before Saladin is made to say 
 
 ' Mahom voel aourer, apportez le moi cha.' 
 
 = I wish to worship Mahommed ; bring him to me here. Whereupon 
 Saladin commanded 
 
 ' Qu'on aportast Mahom ; et celle I'aoura.' 
 
 He also remarks that even Don Quixote, who ought to have known 
 better, celebrates the feat of Rinaldo, who carried off, in spite of forty 
 Moors, a golden image of Mohammed ! In keeping with Marco Polo's 
 calling Musalmans ' Worshippers of Mahom met ' are his other remarks 
 on the subject (I. 70, 74, &c. ) : 'Marvel not that the Saracens hate the 
 Christians ; for the accursed law that Mahommet gave them commands 
 them to do all the mischief in their power to all other descriptions of 
 people, and especially to Christians. See then what an evil law and 
 what naughty commandments they have ! But in such fashion the 
 Saracens act throughout the world.' Perhaj)s the best commentary on 
 this, is, that Marco Polo himself passed unguarded through almost all 
 Musalman countries, and came out unharmed in person and in property. 
 
 1 Renan, ' Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse,' p. 223, note. 
 
 2 Mammetry, a contraction of Mahometry, used in early English 
 for any false religion, especially for a worship of idols, insomuch that 
 Mammet or Mawmet came to mean an idol. In Shakespeare the name 
 is extended to mean a doll : Juliet, for instance, is called by her father 
 'a whining mammet.' See Trench 'On Words,' p. 112. Paynim = 
 Pagan or Heathen. Termagant, a term applied now only to a brawling 
 woman, was originally one of the names given to the supposed idol of 
 the Mohammedans. Miscreant, originally ' a man who believes 
 otherwise,' acquired its moral significance from the hatred of the 
 
78 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 In the twelfth century ' the god Mawmet passes 
 into the heresiarch Mahomet,' ^ and, as such, of course 
 he occupies a conspicuous phice in the * Inferno.' 
 Dante places him in his ninth circle among the 
 sowers of religious discord ; his companions being 
 Fra Dolcino, a communist of the fourteenth century, 
 and Bertrand de Born, a fighting Troubadour: his flesh 
 is torn piecemeal from his limbs by demons who re- 
 peat their round in time to re-open the half-healed 
 wounds. The romances of Baphomet, so common in 
 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, attribute any 
 and every crime to him, just as the Athanasians did 
 to Arius. * He is a debauchee, a camel stealer, a 
 Cardinal, who having failed to obtain the object of 
 every Cardinal's ambition, invents a new religion to 
 revenge himself on his brethren ! ' ^ 
 
 With the leaders of the Reformation, Mohammed, 
 the greatest of all Reformers, meets with little sym- 
 pathy, and their hatred of him, as perhaps was natu- 
 ral, seems to vary inversely as their knowledge. 
 Luther doubts whether he is not worse than Leo ; 
 Melancthon believes him to be either Gog or Magog, 
 
 Saracens which accompanied the Crusades. The story of Blue Beard, 
 the associations connected with the name ' Mahound,' and the dishke 
 of European chivalry in Mediaeval times for the Mare — the favourite 
 animal of the Arabs — are other indications of the same thing. 
 
 ' Renan, loc. cit. 
 
 2 Renan, p. 224. According to Bayle (Dictionary, Art, ' Mo- 
 hammed,') Benvenuti of Imola started this idea. 
 
LANGUAGE OF PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS. 79 
 
 and probably both.^ The Reformers did not see that 
 the Papal party, fastening on the hatred of priestcraft 
 and formalism which was common doubtless to Islam 
 and to Protestantism, would impute to both a common 
 hatred of Christianity, even as the Popes had accused 
 the iconoclastic Emperors of Constantinople eight 
 centuries before. 
 
 The lano;uac-e of the Catholic Church, with the 
 accumulated wisdom and responsibilities of fifteen 
 centuries, was not more refined, nor its knowledge of 
 Islam more profound, than was that of the Protestants 
 of yesterday. Genebrard, for instance, a famous 
 Catholic controversialist, reproaches Mohammed with 
 having written his Koran in Arabic, and not in Hebrew, 
 Greek, or Latin, ' the only civilised languages.' Why 
 did he do so 1 asks he. ' Because, ' he replies to his 
 
 ' See 'Quarterly Review,' Art. Islam, by Deutsch, No. 254, p. 
 296. Cf. Shakespeare's view of him, 
 
 ' The prince of darkness is a gentleman ; 
 Modo he's call'd, and Mahu ' : i.e. Mahound. 
 and, 
 
 ' five fiends have been in poor Tom at once : of lust, as Obidicut ; 
 Hobbididance, prince of dumbness ; Mahu, of stealing ; Modo, of 
 murder.' — King Lear, Act III. Scene IV. ; and Act IV. Scene I. 
 
 As a sample of the controversial works of the theologians of the 
 Reformed Church on this subject, take the folloMdng modest title-page 
 of a ponderous work written in 1666: — ' Anti-christus Mahometes: 
 ubi non solum per Sanctam Scripturam, ac Reformatorum testimonia, 
 verum etiam per omnes alios probandi modos et genera, plene, fuse, 
 invicte solideque demonstratur MAHOMETEM esse unum ilium verum, 
 magnum, de quo in Sacris fit mentio, ANTICHRISTUM.' 
 
8o MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 own question, ' Mohammed was a beast, and only knew 
 a language that was suited to his bestial condition ! ' 
 Nor are some of his other arguments more convincing, 
 however seriously they were meant. 
 
 Now, too, arose the invention, the maliciousness 
 of which was only equalled by its stupidity, but be- 
 lieved by all who wished to believe it — of the dove 
 trained to gather peas placed in the ear of Mohammed,^ 
 that people might believe that he was inspired by the 
 Holy Ghost — inspired, it would seem, by the very 
 Being whose separate existence it was the first article 
 of his creed to deny ! In the imagination of Biblical 
 commentators later on, and down to this very day, 
 he divides with the Pope the credit or discredit of 
 being the subject of special prophecy in the books of 
 Daniel and Revelation, that magnificent series of 
 tableaux, a part of which, on the principle that ' a 
 prophecy may mean whatever comes after it,' has 
 been tortured into agreement with each successive act 
 of the drama of history ; while from another part, 
 lovers of the mysterious have attempted to cast, and, 
 in spite of disappointment, will always continue to 
 cast, the horoscope of the future. He is Antichrist, 
 the Man of Sin, the Little Horn, and I know not what 
 
 ' A similar story is told of the great Shamil ; only in this case it is 
 Mohammed himself who takes the form of a dove, and imparts his 
 commands to the Hero, 
 
SUPPOSED SUBJECT OF PROPHECY. 8i 
 
 besides ; nor do I think, that a single writer, with the 
 one strange exception of the Jew Maimonides, till 
 towards the middle of the eighteenth century, treats 
 of him as otherwise than a rank impostor and false 
 prophet. 
 
 Things did not much improve even when it was 
 thought advisable, before passing judgment, or for the 
 purpose of registering one already passed, to ascend 
 as nearly as possible to the fountain-head. The 
 Koran was translated into French by Andre du Ryer 
 in 1649, and by the Abbe Maracci in 1698. Maracci, 
 the confessor of a Pope, of course dealt with the Koran 
 chiefly from a Romanist point of view : indeed he ac- 
 companies his translation with what he calls a 
 ' Refutatio Alcorani,' and a very voluminous and 
 calumnious one it is ; and when a certain Englishman, 
 named Alexander Ross, ventured to translate the 
 French version of du Ryer into English, he thought 
 it necessary to preface his work by what he calls ' a 
 needful caveat or admonition,' which runs thus : 
 ' Good reader, the great Arabian inpostor, now at 
 last, after a thousand years, is, by the way of France, 
 arrived in England, and his Alcoran, or Gallimaufry 
 of Errors, (a Brat as deformed as the Parent, and as 
 full of Heresies as his scald head was of scurf,) hath 
 learned to speak English.' And one who has pro- 
 bably as much right to speak upon the subject as any 
 
 G 
 
82 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 living Englishman,^ after quoting this refined descrip- 
 tion of the Koran and its author, remarks that, 'though 
 the education of two centuries has chastened the style 
 of our national literature and added much to our 
 knowledge of the East, there is good ground for sup- 
 posing that the views of Alexander Ross are in accord- 
 ance substantially with the views still held by the 
 great majority of Englishmen.' That he is not far 
 wrong, I would adduce as evidence from amongst 
 Churchmen the tone habitually taken by a large 
 part of the religious press when dealing with any 
 subject connected with Islam ; and from among 
 Nonconformists the following hymn written by 
 Charles Wesley for ' believers interceding ' for Mo- 
 hammedans, and still, as I am informed, used by some 
 of them at their religious services : — 
 
 'The smoke of the infernal cave 
 Which half the Christian world o'erspread, 
 Disperse, thou heavenly light, and save 
 The souls by that impostor led — 
 That Arab thief, as Satan bold, 
 Who quite destroyed thy Asian fold. 
 
 ' Oh may thy blood once sprinkled cry 
 For those who spurn thy sprinkled blood ! 
 Assert thy glorious Deity, 
 Stretch out thine ann, thou triune God ! 
 The Unitarian fiend expel. 
 And chase his doctrine back to hell.' 
 
 * Dr. G. P. Badger, in the ' Contemporary Review ' for June 1875 ; 
 Art. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. 
 
POPULAR VIEW OF MOHAMMED STILL. 83 
 
 France and England may, however, In spite of the 
 * needful caveat or admonition ' of Alexander Ross, 
 and the popular misconceptions which are still afloat 
 upon the subject, divide the credit of having been the 
 first to take a different view, and to have begun that 
 critical study of Arabian history or literature which, 
 in the hands of Gibbon and of Muir, of Caussin de 
 Perceval and of St. Hilaire, of Weil and of Sprenger, 
 has at length placed the materials for a fair and un- 
 biassed judgment within the reach of everyone. 
 Most other writers of the i8th century, such as 
 Dean Prideaux and d'Herbelot, Boulainvilliers and 
 Voltaire, and some subsequent Bampton lecturers 
 and Arabic professors, have approached the subject 
 only to prove a thesis. Mohammed was to be either 
 a hero or an impostor ; they have held a brief either 
 for the prosecution or the defence ; and from them, 
 therefore, we learn much that has been said about 
 Mohammed, but comparatively little of Mohammed 
 himself 
 
 It is not unnatural that in some cases extravagant 
 detraction should have given rise to equally extrava- 
 gant eulogy, and that the Prophet of Arabia should 
 have been, more than once, held up to admiration as 
 almost the ideal of humanity. But this is a length to 
 which it is quite unnecessary for me to go, and which is 
 
 inconsistent alike with what Mohammed claimed for 
 
 G 2 
 
84 MOMAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 himself and with recorded facts. These facts are now 
 all or nearly all before us ; and what is most needed now 
 is, as has been well remarked by an able writer in the 
 ' Academy,' the mind that can see their true meaning, 
 ' that can grasp the complex character of the great 
 man whose life they mark out, like a grand but intri- 
 cate mosaic' 
 
 The founder of the reaction was Gagnier, a 
 Frenchman by birth, but an Englishman by adop- 
 tion. Educated in Navarre, where he had early 
 shown a mastery of more than one Semitic lan- 
 guage, he became Canon of St. Genevieve at Paris ; 
 on a sudden he turned Protestant, came to England, 
 and attacked Catholicism with all the zeal of a recent 
 convert. Having been appointed to the Chair of 
 Arabic at Oxford, he proceeded to write a history 
 of Mohammed, founded on the work of Abulfeda, 
 the earliest and most authentic of Arabic historians 
 then known. 
 
 The translations of the Koran into two different 
 European languages by Sale and Savary soon fol- 
 lowed; and from these works, combined with the vast 
 number of facts contained in Sale's Introductory Dis- 
 course, Gibbon, who was not an Arabic scholar him- 
 self, drew the materials for his splendid chapter, the 
 most masterly of his ' three master-pieces of biography,' 
 Athanasius, Julian, and Mohammed. * He has de- 
 
PARTIAL REACTION IN HIS FAVOUR. 85 
 
 scended on the subject in the fulness of his strength,' 
 has been inspired by it, and has produced a sketch 
 which, in spite of occasional uncalled-for sarcasms 
 and characteristic innuendoes, must be the delight 
 and the despair even of those who have access, as 
 we now have, thanks especially to Sprenger and 
 Muir, to vast stores of information denied to him. 
 But Gibbon's unfair and unphilosophic treatment of 
 Christianity has, perhaps, prevented the world from 
 doing justice to his generally fair and philosophic 
 treatment of Mohammedanism ; and, as a conse- 
 quence of this, most Englishmen, who do not con- 
 demn the Arabian prophet unheard, derive what 
 favourable notions of him they have, not from 
 Gibbon, but from Carlyle. Make as large deductions 
 as we will on the score of Carlyle's peculiar views on 
 * Heroes and Hero-worship,' how many of us can 
 recall the shock of surprise, the epoch in our intel- 
 lectual and religious life, when we found that he 
 chose for his ' Hero as prophet,' not Moses, or Elijah, 
 or Isaiah, but the so-called impostor Mohammed ! 
 
 And now, before we go further, let us leap back in 
 imagination to the times preceding the birth of Mo- 
 hammed, and enquire what the country was like from . 
 which he sprung, what were the aptitudes of the 
 Arabs, their tastes, their organisation, their religions ; 
 we shall then, perchance, be better able to approach 
 
86 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the proper subject of this and the succeeding Lectures, 
 the character of the Prophet himself and of the creed 
 which he founded ; and to apply that historical and 
 relative judgment to the matter which is essential to 
 it. ' Man is the creature of circumstances,' says the 
 English aphorism : if we know what the antecedents 
 of Mohammed were, we shall be better able to judge 
 how far the proverb is true or adequate — how far, that 
 is, Mohammed was formed by circumstances, and 
 how far he moulded them by his mighty will and his 
 keen insight. 
 
 The most distinctive feature of the countless 
 tribes who have, from time immemorial, wandered 
 over the vast and arid plains of Arabia, and the one 
 most difficult for us to realise, is their immobility.^ 
 Some few there were among them who, like the in- 
 habitants of Mecca, lived, in the main, by legitimate 
 commerce ; some few also, like the inhabitants of 
 Medina, who lived by the cultivation of the soil ; but 
 the vast majority were shepherds of the desert. This 
 was the air in w^iich alone they could breathe freely, 
 here they could wander at will. Nowhere in the 
 world, says Sprenger in a charming passage, is a man 
 happier than in the desert : the sky is always clear ; 
 
 * For an admirable account, to which I am much indebted, of the 
 characteristics of the Arabs, seethe first two chapters of Dozy's ' Histoire 
 des Musalmans d'Espagne.' 
 
CLIMATE OF THE DESERT. 87 
 
 the air, even in hot weather, is strengthening and 
 refreshing ; every breath we draw makes us thank 
 God for Hfe. A native of the Alps himself, though 
 he would often amidst the burning sands of Arabia 
 dream of glaciers, and long for the echoes of the 
 Jiidel, he confesses that neither the air of his own 
 Alps nor that of the Himalayas was so strengthening 
 or so vivifying as that of the desert. Such a climate, 
 he goes on to remark, had a powerful influence, 
 physical and intellectual, on its inhabitants. They 
 were elastic and quick ; their horses were swifter than 
 any other horses, and very healthy. No king of 
 Hira, so their historians say, ever died of ill-health 
 brought on by natural causes ! and Ibn Chaldun 
 seriously attributes the forty years' wanderings of the 
 Israelites in the desert to the natural feebleness of a 
 race born elsewhere. It required a new generation 
 born in the desert and endowed with the strength 
 which the desert alone can give to conquer Canaan ! ^ 
 The Camel, it has been said, is the Arab's ship of 
 the desert ; the caravan is his fleet. Agriculture the 
 Arabs looked down upon as tethering the cultivator, 
 like a slave, to the soil on which he laboured. Com- 
 merce was in better repute with them, but only 
 
 ' Sprenger, III., Preface, viii. ; and chap. xvii. 3. Compare also 
 the testimony of Mr. Layard in his popular condensation of his works 
 on Nineveh, 
 
88 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 because it gave more material for plunder : the foolish 
 merchants toiled, and the wise and wandering Be- 
 douins entered into their toils. What the Arabs 
 were in the time of Abraham, that they were in the 
 time of Mohammed ; and that, be it rememibered, the 
 bulk of those who cling to their native deserts are, in 
 spite of the vast impulse given by him to the Arab 
 nation, to this very day ; that also, it is not too much 
 to add, they will be hundreds of years hence. They 
 feed on the same food, wield the same weapons of 
 war, water their cattle at the same springs as the 
 Patriarchs themselves. The accounts of Niebuhr and 
 of Burckhardt, of Burton and of Layard, are thus the 
 best commentaries on much of the Koran, on much also 
 of the Book of Genesis. The Bedouins of the desert 
 call themselves Musalmans, but they value freedom 
 too much to trouble themselves about obeying the 
 Musalman laws. *They pray, many of them,' says 
 Burckhardt, ' not five times a day, but never.' The 
 Bedouin, though not the noblest, is yet a noble type 
 of humanity. A stranger to the idea of progress, he 
 despises the hurry and the flurry, the breathless race 
 for wealth, the luxuries and the appliances, and the 
 accumulated knowledge of facts, that go to make up 
 what we call our civilisation. It is surely a relief to 
 turn, if only for a moment, to the supreme content- 
 ment of an Arab with his lot, to his carelessness of the 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ARABS. 89 
 
 future, to his ineffable dignity of repose from the 
 feverish activity, the constant straining after an ideal 
 which can never be satisfied, the * life at high pres- 
 sure,' which is the characteristic of the more active, 
 but hardly the more highly gifted, races of the West. 
 
 It is not that the Arab lacks the intelligence or 
 the power to change his condition — he does not wish, 
 or rather he wishes not, to do so. He looks upon 
 himself as the highest type of creation,^ upon his 
 language as the most perfect language ; and in this, if 
 Arabic scholars are to be believed, and if the music 
 of the Koran is what they say it is, he is not so far 
 wrong. Upon him, and upon him alone, as he 
 proudly asserts, God has bestowed four privileges — 
 that their turbans should be their diadems, their tents 
 their homes, their swords their entrenchments, and 
 their poems their laws. Passionately fond of liberty, 
 the Arab may well boast that, whatever the cause, v 
 his country has never been conquered by foreign foes. 
 Alexander dreamed, but only dreamed, of conquering 
 Arabia. Trajan struck medals to commemorate his 
 conquests of it ; but what he conquered was not 
 Arabia at all, but only an outlying province of it, and 
 that he did not attempt to hold. 
 
 Nor are the individual and the social liberty of 
 the Arabs less than their national. Split up into 
 
 ^ Dozy, Vol. I. p. 4. 
 
90 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 innumerable tribes, constantly at war with each other, 
 each tribe has a Sheik of its own, but that Sheik is 
 elected by the members of his tribe, not for his birth 
 or for his wealth, but for his individual merits. When 
 elected, he has duties only, not rights ; influence, not 
 power. His tent is pitched on that side of an encamp- 
 ment on which an enemy is most likely to attack it, or 
 
 * 
 
 a friend to visit it. To be the first to resist an enemy, 
 or to do honour to a guest, this is at once his duty and 
 his privilege. He can neither issue an order nor inflict 
 a punishment of his own free will. He must summon 
 the heads of all the families of the tribe, and, sitting 
 in council wdth them, he is only pr-inius inter pai'cs. 
 The tie most sacred in the eyes of the Arab is that 
 which binds him to his tribe : he calls his fellow 
 tribesmen his brothers, he will share his last morsel 
 or kill his last sheep to relieve any one of them who 
 is in distress.^ He will avenge any insult or injury 
 offered to him as if it were his own. 
 
 A true Bedouin despises wealth, for his only 
 property consists of flocks and herds. The descent 
 of a band of plunderers may hurry it all away, and 
 the despoiled owner must wait patiently till his turn 
 comes for reprisals. Amongst such a people hospi- 
 tality and open-heartedness would be not only one of 
 the higher, but also one of the easier and commoner 
 
 * Dozy, p. lo. 
 
THE BEDOUINS. 91 
 
 virtues. * Let the torrent of your liberality escape 
 from your hand,' says the Arab proverb, ' without the 
 sound of it reaching your ear.' A man who had 
 ruined himself by his open-handed generosity was 
 held in high honour, while he who had amassed 
 riches was despised and hated. * From the hand of 
 the greedy falls not even a grain of mustard seed,' 
 says one Arab proverb. ' The miser puts a bridle 
 even on the rats of his house,' says a second, meaning 
 that he tries to guard even what cannot be guarded. 
 ' The miser is like a glow-worm's spark, which gives 
 neither light nor heat that is good for anything,' says 
 a third.* 
 
 Next to the passion for liberty, the affection for 
 their tribe, and the duty of hospitality, came, in the 
 breast of a true-born Bedouin, the appetite for 
 plunder, the respect for valour, the love of poetry and 
 eloquence. The scanty sustenance which an arid soil 
 yielded they were fain to eke out by plundering 
 those who conducted caravans along the coast of 
 Hedjaz to exchange the spices and precious stones 
 of India, of Hadramaut, or of Yemen, with the manu- 
 factures of Bozra and Damascus ; their hand was 
 against every man, and every man's hand was against 
 them ; yet even in their plundering excursions 
 
 ^ Quoted by M. Scholl, 'L'Islam et son Fondateur,' p. 12, 13, from 
 Meidani's collection of ancient Arabic Proverbs. 
 
92 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 there was a contempt of danger and a sensibility c?f 
 honour which lends a charm to all we hear of their 
 loves and their wars, their greed and their hospitality, 
 their rapine and their revenge. The Bedouin has 
 been the same in these respects in all ages. ' Be 
 good enough to take off that garment of yours,' says 
 the Bedouin robber politely to his victim ; * it is 
 wanted by my wife ; ' and the victim submits wdth as 
 good a grace as he can muster to the somewhat un- 
 reasonable demands of a hypothetical lady. When a 
 woman is the victim, no Bedouin brigand, however 
 rude, will be ill-mannered enough to lay hands upon 
 her. He begs her to take off the garment on which 
 he has set his heart, and he then retires to a distance 
 and stands with eyes averted, lest he should do vio- 
 lence to her modesty.^ 
 
 El Mutanabi, a poet, prophet, and warrior, three 
 hundred years after the Hijrah, but who, no doubt, had 
 his prototypes before it, was journeying wdth his son 
 through a country infested by robbers, and proposed 
 to seek a place of refuge for the night : ' Art thou 
 then that Mutanabi,' exclaimed his slave, ' who wrote 
 these lines, — 
 
 ' I am known to the night, and the wild and the steed, 
 To the guest and the sword, to the paper and the reed ? ' 
 
 ' See an exquisite story ilhistrating the true knightly courtesy of 
 Othman, son of Zalha, to Onim Salama, who afterwards became a wife 
 of the Prophet. (Sprenger, II. 535-53S.) 
 
ARAB LOVE OF POETRY. 93 
 
 The poet-warrior felt the stain Hke a wound, and 
 throwing himself down to sleep where he then was, 
 met his death at the hands of the robbers.^ The 
 passion indeed for indiscriminate plunder had, before 
 the time of Mohammed, so far given way to the 
 growing love of commerce that a kind of Treuga Dei, 
 or Truce of God, was observed, in theory at least, 
 during four months of the year. But what the law 
 forbade then, ex hypotJiesi it allowed at other times, 
 and it is likely that the enforced abstention gave, at 
 once, the zest of novelty and a clear conscience to the 
 purveyors of the trade when the four months were over. 
 Nor were the Arabs as uncivilised in other 
 respects as has often been supposed. They were 
 as passionately fond of poetry as they were of war 
 and plunder. What the Olympic Games did for 
 Greece in keeping up the national feeling, as 
 distinct from tribal independence, in giving a brief 
 cessation from hostilities, and acting as a literary 
 centre, that the annual fairs at Okatz and Mujanna 
 were to Arabia. Here tribes made up their dissen- 
 sions, exchanged prisoners of war, and, most important 
 of all, competed with one another in extempore poetic 
 contests. Even in the * times of ignorance,' each 
 
 > Burton's 'Pilgrimage to Mecca,' Til. p. 60, where he tells this 
 story and translates the Arabic lines. See the whole of chap. XXIV. 
 for a graphic account drawn from personal observation of Bedouin 
 knight errantry, and poetry, and generosity. 
 
94 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 tribe produced its own poet-laureate ; and the most 
 ready and the best saw his poem transcribed in letters 
 of gold,^ or suspended on the wall of the entrance of 
 the Kaaba, where it would be seen by every pilgrim 
 who might visit the most sacred place in the country. 
 But the Arab poetry, rich as it was in sparkling 
 gems, in melody, and in all the graces of style, and 
 passionately fond as the Arab was of it, never rose 
 to the dignity of the epic. It was lyrical and descrip- 
 tive only : their amours and their love feuds, the 
 joys of the dice-box and the wine-cup, the heroic deeds 
 of their ancestors, the birth of a son or of a foal of 
 generous breed — these were the themes of their 
 greatest poets, and these the wild tribes of the 
 desert flocked to hear. ' The Kings of the Arabs,' 
 said the Khalif Omar, 'are their orators and poets, 
 those who practise and who celebrate all the virtues 
 of a Bedouin.' ^ 
 
 What those virtues were, the foregoing sketch may 
 indicate ; perchance we may think some among them to 
 be vices ; but there is a yet darker side to the picture, 
 which called aloud for the hand of a reformer, if such 
 could ever be found in so unchangeable a people. 
 
 * Called Moallacat. Sprenger and Deutsch agree that this word 
 means not 'suspended,' but 'strung loosely together,' and question 
 the truth of the story of the suspension in the ' Kaaba.' Some of these 
 poems, as, for instance, that of the poet Labyd, still survive, and are a 
 standing proof of the untaught poetic genius of the Arabs. 
 
 = Quoted by Dozy, p. 8. 
 
DISPOSAL OF FEMALE CHILDREN. 95 
 
 To forgive an injury was with the Arabs the sign 
 of a craven spirit ; revenge was a reHgious duty ; 
 blood feuds were handed down from father to son as 
 the most sacred of obHgations ; the crime, or it m.ight 
 be the misfortune, of an individual involved a whole 
 tribe in its consequences ; and the claim was some- 
 times not considered to be satisfied till the whole 
 tribe had been swept away. Arab writers celebrate 
 with patriotic pride this national characteristic, and 
 attribute it to the flesh of the camel, that most surly 
 and unforgiving of creatures, which forms the main 
 animal food of the Bedouin.^ Drunkenness was, as 
 many poems which have been preserved to us indi- 
 cate, very common, and very fatal in its effects. The 
 passion for gambling was so reckless that a man 
 would often stake all his possessions, and after losing 
 them at a throw, would next stake his freedom, and, 
 losing that also, become a slave.^ 
 
 But the most barbarous practice of these ' times 
 of ignorance,' for so the Arabs after the time of Mo- 
 hammed call with proud humility the times before 
 him, was the burying alive of female children as soon 
 as they were born ; or, worse still, as sometimes 
 happened, after they had attained the age of six 
 
 * Sale, * Preliminary Discourse,' I. 22. 
 
 ' See ' Christian Remembrancer ' for January 1855, by Dr. Cazenove, 
 p. 68. 
 
96 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 years. The father was generally himself the murderer. 
 
 * Perfume and adorn,' he would say to the mother, 
 
 * your daughter, that I may convey her to her mothers.' 
 This done, he led her to a pit dug for the purpose, 
 bade her look down into it, and then, as he stood be- 
 hind her, pushed her headlong in, and then filling up 
 the pit himself levelled it with the rest of the ground ! 
 It is said that the only occasion on which a certain 
 Othman ever shed a tear was when his little daughter 
 whom he was burying alive wiped the dust of the 
 grave earth from his beard. This inhuman practice 
 may have originated from motives of domestic eco- 
 nomy, or from fear of dishonour to the tribe if a 
 woman should be taken captive by the enemy, or, 
 what is more likely, from the general disregard of 
 female life and rights. Anyhow it had once been 
 very common, and in Mohammed's time it was still 
 not rare, even among the Kuraish.^ 
 
 Some women there were who, like the Arabian 
 poetess El Khunsa, by sheer force of character or of 
 genius managed to assert themselves even in * the 
 times of ignorance.' But the majority were in the most 
 degraded position, worse even than that in which they 
 were under the laws of Manu in Hindustan, or than 
 they are in Musalman states now. A woman had 
 no rights ; she could not inherit property ; her person 
 
 * Sale, ' Preliminary Discourse,' V. 92. 
 
FORMER DEGRADATION OF WOMAN. 97 
 
 formed part of the inheritance which came to the heir 
 of her husband, and he was entitled to marry her 
 against her will. Hence sprung the impious mar- 
 riages of sons with their step-mothers and others of an 
 even worse character which Mohammed so perempto- 
 rily forbade. Polygamy was universal and quite unre- 
 stricted ; equally so was divorce, at least as far as the 
 man was concerned. We read of a certain woman 
 Omm-Charijeh, who had distinguished herself, even 
 amongst the Arabs, by having forty husbands. A 
 husband could dismiss his wife on the merest whim, and 
 then, if he so pleased, might recall her again under the 
 influence of a similar whim. A few ancient Arab pro- 
 verbs collected by an American Missionary in Syria, 
 Dr. Jessup,^ will perhaps illustrate, more forcibly than 
 any statements of my own, the degradation of woman 
 in the times preceding Mohammed. Here are some 
 of them : — 
 
 ' To send women before to the other world is a benefit.' 
 
 ' The best son-in-law is the grave.' 
 
 ' Obedience to women will have to be repented of,' 
 
 * A man can bear anything but the mention of his wives. ' 
 ' The heart of woman is given to folly.' 
 
 ' Leave not a girl nor a green pasture unguarded.' 
 ' Women are the whips of Satan.' 
 
 * Our mother forbids us to err, and herself runs into error.' 
 
 ' My father does the fighting, and my mother the talking about it. ' 
 
 * 'Women of the Arabs,* cap, I. 
 H 
 
98 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Such then were the leading social characteristics of 
 the nation from which Mohammed sprang. It is im- 
 portant for us to bear carefully in mind the difficulties 
 that were in the Prophet's way, that we may be 
 better able hereafter to appreciate the manner in 
 which he dealt with them, and the extent to which 
 he was able to overcome them. 
 
 Let us now turn to the religious systems and 
 ideas which prevailed in Arabia before Mohammed's 
 time, and which he, like every other reformer whose 
 work is to last, would have to take into account. 
 
 The two highest religions of the world, Judaism 
 and Christianity, were not unknown in Arabia. The 
 destruction of Jerusalem by Titus had caused a very 
 general migration of Jews from Palestine, southwards 
 and eastwards, beyond the limits of the Roman 
 Empire ; and from that time onwards the northern 
 part of Arabia w^as dotted over by Jewish colonies. 
 In the third century a whole Arabian tribe, even in 
 the south of the peninsula, had adopted the Jewish 
 faith, and the history of Mohammed proves that the 
 neighbourhood of Yathrib ^ contained many Jewish 
 tribes, which, though they maintained in the land 
 of their exile that proud religious isolation which was 
 
 » Not called Medina, i.e. Medinat-an-Nabi, ' the City of the Prophet,' 
 till after the Hijrah. The Arab capital of Malta (now Civita Vecchia) 
 bore for several centuries the same name, Medina. 
 
JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 99 
 
 their national birthright, were not without their influ- 
 ence on Arab poHtics. 
 
 Christianity may have been introduced into Arabia 
 by St. Paul himself. 'Neither went I up into Jerusa- 
 lem to them which were apostles before me,' he says to 
 his Galatian converts, ' but I went into Arabia.' 
 Anyhow, the persecutions which sprang up in the 
 Eastern Church in the third century drove large 
 numbers of Christians, chiefly those of the Jacobite 
 persuasion, into this land of .liberty and free toleration. 
 ' I reign,' said Marthan, a king of Yemen in the fourth 
 century, ' over men's bodies, not over their minds. I 
 require of my subjects that they should obey my 
 government : of their opinions God alone will judge.' 
 Noble words, but mistimed by above eleven centuries, 
 and how imperfectly carried out even now ! Accord- 
 ingly, we hear of several tribes of Yemen becoming to 
 some extent Christianised. We hear of churches, and 
 even of bishops, at Djafar and at Nadjran. But 
 Christianity seems to have taken even less hold- than 
 Judaism of the Arab character. Controversies on the 
 minutest points of Christian doctrine absorbed all the 
 energies of those who never thought of leading a 
 Christian life ; and the Khalif Ali was not far wrong 
 when he said of a tribe in which Christianity seemed 
 more than elsewhere to be the dominant religion, 
 
 H 2 
 
loo MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 ' The Taglibites are not Christians : they owe nothing 
 to Christianity except the custom of drinking wine.' ^ 
 
 Thus neither Christianity nor Judaism ever struck 
 deep root in the Arabian soil. The people were not 
 suited to them, or they were not suited to the people. 
 They lived on, on sufferance only, till a faith, which 
 to the Arabs should be the more living one, should 
 sweep them away. 
 
 I have admitted in my first Lecture that the re- 
 ligion of Mohammed was in its essence not original. 
 Mohammed never said it was : he called it a revival 
 of the old one, a return to the primitive creed of 
 Abraham ; and there is reason to believe that both 
 the great religions of the Eastern world existing in 
 his time, Sabaeanism, that is, and Magianism, had 
 been, in their origin at least, vaguely monotheistic. 
 They had passed through the inevitable stages of 
 spirituality, misunderstanding, decline, and, lastly, 
 intentional corruption, till the God whom Abraham, 
 according to the well-known Musalman legend, had 
 been the first to worship, because, while He had 
 made the stars and sun to rise' and set. He never rose 
 nor set Himself, had withdrawn behind them alto- 
 gether ; the heavenly bodies, from being symbols, 
 had become the thing symbolised ; temples were 
 erected in their honour, and idols filled the temples. 
 
 * Dozy, p. 20. 
 
OBJECTS OF BEDOUIN WORSHIP. loi 
 
 And, as with Sabseanism, so with Magianism ; 
 Ormuzd and Ahriman were no longer the principles 
 brought into existence, or existing, by the permission 
 of the one true God, who, as Zoroaster had taught, 
 would tolerate neither temples, nor altars, nor sym- 
 bols ; worshipped only on the hill-tops with the eye 
 of faith, quickened though it might be by the glory 
 of the rising or setting sun presented to the bodily 
 eye. Fire had itself become the Divinity ; and what 
 offering could be more acceptable to such a God 
 than the human victim, overwhelmed by the myste- 
 rious flame, whose divine power he denied ? 
 
 And, combined with these two religions which 
 had been spiritual in their origin, and, probably, more 
 prominent ^nd popular than either, was the grossest 
 Fetishism. The idea indeed of one God was not 
 altogether lost ; but a number of inferior divinities 
 were worshipped as mediators with Him, or, as the 
 Koran indignantly expresses it, as ' companions ' to 
 Him. Stocks, stones, trees, shapeless masses of 
 dough — such were some of the objects of the Bedouins 
 worship. Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manah were wor- 
 shipped as angels under female names, and were 
 called the daughters of God. * They attribute,' says 
 Mohammed, in a noble Sura of the Koran, 'they 
 attribute daughters to God ; yet they wish not 
 daughters for themselves. When a female child is 
 
'i02 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 announced to one of them, his face grows dark, and 
 he is as though he would choke.' ^ Al-Uzza was 
 worshipped under the form of a tree, Manah of a 
 large stone, Yaghuth of a lion, Sawa of a woman, 
 Ya'uk of a horse, Nasr of an eagle. Here was ma- 
 terial enough for the withering scorn of the Prophet. 
 
 But the most famous and the most ancient sanc- 
 tuary in the country was the Kaaba, called Beit- 
 Allah, or House of God, built in the shape of a cube, 
 and forming a veritable Pantheon of all Arabia. 
 Here was the grim array of the three hundred and 
 sixty idols, one for every day in the year. Here was 
 the famous Hobal, the figure of a man carved in red 
 agate and holding seven wingless arrows in his hand, 
 like those used in divination. Here, strange to say, 
 was a statue of Abraham ; and, stranger still, a 
 statue of the Madonna. Here was Zemzem, the 
 sacred spring w^hich bubbled forth, as the Bedouins 
 believed, from the sandy soil to save the life of 
 Ishmael, their great progenitor, when perishing of 
 thirst. Here was the white stone which was sup- 
 posed to form his sepulchre ; and here, above all, was 
 the black stone, that stone which had fallen from 
 heaven in the time of Adam, once of dazzling white- 
 ness, but long since turned black by the kisses of 
 sinful mortals. 
 
 > Sura XVI. 59, with Rodwell's note ad loc. 
 
SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ARABS. 103 
 
 The religious ideas or superstitions of the Arabs 
 varied as much as did the objects of their worship. 
 A father not unfrequently sacrificed his own child to 
 appease an angry God ; a practice which, common 
 amongst other branches of the Semitic races, the 
 Phoenicians, the Moabites, the Carthaginians, and not 
 unknown even amongst the Jews, need not occasion 
 surprise when found amongst the Arabs. Divination 
 by arrows was a favourite method of finding out the 
 will of God. Seven of these pointless and featherless 
 arrows were kept in the Kaaba, but the number most 
 commonly employed was three : one of them marked 
 with the words, ' My Lord hath commanded thee ; ' 
 a second, ' My Lord hath forbidden thee ; ' the third 
 being left blank. The Arab was always ready to 
 consult these arrows, but not always so ready to 
 abide by their decision. A certain prince was 
 anxious to avenge the murder of his father. He 
 consulted an idol of much repute by drawing from 
 three arrows in his presence. On one of them was 
 inscribed the word ' command,' on the second ' pro- 
 hibition,' on the third ' delay.' He drew out ' pro- 
 hibition : ' dissatisfied, he shuffled the arrows a second 
 time, and the second time drew out the same. Twice 
 ao-ain he shuffled them, and each time with the same 
 result. In his anger he broke the arrows into pieces, 
 and threw them at the idol's head, exclaiming : 
 
I04 MOHAMMED. AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 'Wretch! if it were thy father who had been killed, 
 thou wouldst not have forbidden his being avenged.' ^ 
 
 The fact is, that though there were many religions 
 and many superstitions amongst the Arabs, they 
 were, as a whole, in temperament, neither religious nor 
 superstitious. They were careless, sceptical, mate- 
 rialistic. * Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,' 
 is the Epicurean tone of the majority of the poems 
 that have come down to us. What a contrast they 
 were in this respect to Mohammed, and what a 
 Herculean difficulty did this temperament of theirs 
 place in the way of the religious reformer ! Many of 
 the Arabs believed that death was extinction : some 
 few believed in a future life and a future judgment 
 By these last a camel was tethered to a dead man's 
 grave, and was left to die of hunger, that the corpse 
 might have an animal to carry it at the day of resur- 
 rection. There was a weird superstition too among 
 them, that the soul of the dead hovered over his 
 grave in the form of an owl, and that if the person 
 had been murdered it might be heard crying * Oscuni, 
 Oscuni,' that is, ' Give me drink, give me drink ; ' nor 
 would it cease doing so till the blood of the murderer 
 had been shed.^ 
 
 Such then, very briefly, was the condition of the 
 
 ^ Caussin de Perceval, II. 310, quoted by Cazenove, p. 69. 
 ' Sale, 'Preliminary Discourse,' p. 15. 
 
COULD ISLAM HAVE BEEN PREDICTED? 105 
 
 Arabs, social and religious, when, to use an expres- 
 sion of Voltaire, quoted by Barthelemy St. Hilaire, 
 * The turn of Arabia ' came ; ^ when the hour had al- 
 ready struck for the most complete, the most sudden, 
 and the most extraordinary revolution that has ever 
 come over any nation upon earth. 
 
 One of the most philosophical of historians has 
 remarked that of all the revolutions which have had a 
 permanent influence upon the civil history of man- 
 kind, none could so little be anticipated by human 
 prudence as that effected by the religion of Arabia. 
 And at first sight it must be confessed that the 
 Science of History, if indeed there be such a science, 
 is at a loss to find that sequence of cause and effect 
 which it is the object and the test of all history, which 
 is worthy of the name, to trace out. 
 
 The Emperor Justinian, not the least shrewd of 
 the Byzantine Emperors, who, some forty years be- 
 fore, had thought it necessary to protect his empire 
 from every possible and from many impossible 
 dangers, had neglected to erect a line of fortresses 
 on the side of his empire which, in defiance of nature, 
 really was the most vulnerable.^ ' By a precaution 
 which inspired the cowardice it foresaw,' he had 
 
 * P. 211. See Cap. II., generally, for a description of Pre-Mo- 
 hammedan Arabia. 
 
 2 Cf. Gibbon, Vol. V. 102- 1 11. 
 
io6 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 erected a fortress, even at Thermopylae, where the re- 
 ligio loci would rather have called for a Spartan ram- 
 part of three hundred men, if only they had been 
 forthcoming. He had kept the Sclavonians out of 
 Constantinople by one long wall, and the Russians 
 out of the Crimea by another ; he had fortified 
 Amida and Edessa against the fire-worshippers ; 
 had built St. Catherine's half-monastery and half- 
 fortress in the wilderness of Mount Sinai ; and had 
 even taken precautions against the savages of Ethio- 
 pia : but he had trusted to the six hundred miles of 
 desert which Nature had interposed between him and 
 a set of robber tribes, intent only on molesting one 
 another. What hostile force could pass such an 
 obstacle t 
 
 But we can see now, and Mohammed himself per- 
 haps saw, that the ground was in many respects pre- 
 pared for a great social and religious revolution. * It 
 detracts nothing from the fame of a great man to 
 show, so far as we can, how his success was possible.'^ 
 It is only another proof, if proof were wanting, that 
 genius is little else than insight joined to sustained 
 effort ; the eye sees what it brings with it the power 
 of seeing; and the great man differs from his contem- 
 / poraries chiefly in this, that he can read the dark 
 riddle of his time with an eye a few degrees less 
 * M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire, 'Mahomet et le Koran,' p. 51. 
 
GREAT MEN AND THEIR INFLUENCE. 107 
 
 obscured than those around him. He is the greatest 
 product of his age, but he is still its product, and he 
 is only the father of the age that is to succeed in so 
 far as he owns his parentage. He marches indeed in 
 front of his age ; but his influence will be permanent 
 or fleeting precisely so far as he discerns the direc- 
 tion in which it would advance at a slower pace 
 without him.^ When he tries to go beyond this, and 
 to force the world out of its groove, to adopt hobbies 
 of his own, then begins the region of the remote, the 
 selfish, the personal ; in this the great man fails ; and 
 hence the commonplaces on the failure of greatness, 
 and the greatness of failure, with which we are all 
 familiar. * Perish my name,' said Danton, ' but let 
 the cause triumph ;' ^ and personal failure of this kind 
 is to the great man no failure at all — it is only another 
 word for success. The truth is that greatness, so far 
 as it is the truest greatness, rarely fails altogether of 
 its object; and that failure is great, only when the end 
 proposed is good, and the human means, though in- 
 adequate to its attainment, are yet a real advance 
 towards it. 
 
 It must be remembered therefore as regards what 
 
 ' Cf. Guizot's * Lectures on History,' Vol. III. Lect. XX. ; and 
 Mill's Review of them in 'Dissertations and Discussions,' II. 249, 
 250. 
 
 - A similar saying is attributed to Cavour : ' Perish my name and 
 memory, so that Italy be made a nation ! ' 
 
io8 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 seems the sudden birth of the Arabian nation, fully 
 armed, like Athena from the head of Zeus, that the 
 annual resort to Mecca for purposes of trade, poetry, 
 and religion, had pointed to the Holy City as to a 
 possible metropolis ; and to the Kuraish, the heredi- 
 tary guardians of the Kaaba, as the potential rulers 
 of a future people ; while as regards the new religion, 
 there was the groundwork of Monotheism underlying 
 all the abuses and corruption of Magianism and Sabae- 
 anism. There was also a class of people, called 
 Hanyfs, who prided themselves on preserving the 
 original creed of Abraham, and even his sacred 
 books ; while Ibn Ishak,^ the earliest known historian 
 
 ' See Sirat-er-ra90ul. Weil's Translation, I. 107-108. Ibn Ishak 
 died A.H, 151. His work has been preserved for us in the Sirat-er- 
 ra90ul of Ibn-Hisham, who died in the year of the Hijrah 213, The 
 fullest and most trustworthy historian, in the judgment of Muir and 
 Sprenger, whose writings have come down to us, is the Katib al Wakidi, 
 or secretary of the historian Wakidi : died 207 A.H. The MS. was 
 discovered by Sprenger at Cawnpore. Among other discoveries of 
 Sprenger may be mentioned a portion of the biography of Mohammed 
 by Tabari, who died A.H. 310, and a complete biogi-aphical dictionary, 
 termed Ifaba, of the Companions of Mohammed, compiled by Ibn- 
 Hidjr, in the fifth century, from writers, whose names he gives, of 
 earlier and incontestable authority. It contains the biographies of 
 some 8,000 people. And it may be hoped that the Government of 
 India, which numbers among its subjects more than fifty million 
 Musalmans, may recognise, if they have not already done so, the 
 imperial importance of publishing the three remaining folios of the 
 work. Sprenger brought out one volume, but an order of the Court of 
 Directors suspended the publication of the rest. See Sprenger, Preface, 
 p. 12, Avhere it may be observed how modestly he passes over his own 
 great discoveries, and does not even allude to the slight shown it by the 
 
PRE-MOHAMMEDANS. 109 
 
 of Islam, records a meeting of four or five among the 
 Kuraish at which it was resolved to open a crusade 
 against idolatry, and to seek for the original and only 
 true faith ; and they straightway abandoned their 
 homes and spread over the world in quest of this 
 Holy Grail.i 
 
 Mohammedanism therefore is no real exception 
 to the principle I provisionally laid down in my first 
 Lecture as to the origin of the Historical Religions of 
 the world, though, at first sight, it may appear to be 
 so. To Mohammed's own mind it is quite true that |/ 
 the theological element was the predominant and in- 
 spiring one, but Mohammed's mind itself was the out- 
 come, at least as much as it was the cause, of the 
 great revolution which goes by his name. There was 
 a general social and religious upheaving at the head 
 of which the Prophet placed himself, and which partly 
 carried him on with it, partly he himself carried it on : 
 the train was already laid, and the spark from heaven 
 was all that was needed to set the Arab world ablaze. 
 In this sense it is perhaps true, as Renan has remarked 
 and the Koran itself declares, that Mohammedanism 
 
 Directors. Learned and critical Mohammedans, it would seem, do not 
 think so highly of Wakidi and his secretary as Muir and Sprenger do : 
 they prefer Ibn-Hisham. — See Muir, I. 77-105, and B. St. Hilaire, p. 
 19-25. Syed Ahmed's 'Life of Mohammed,' Preface, p. 14, 18, etc. 
 Syed Ameer Ali, Preface, p. 7. 
 
 1 Sprenger, p. 81. These four 'enquirers' were Waraka, Othman, 
 \bayd, and Zeid. 
 
no MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 was preached before the time of Mohammed ; but 
 there were Mohammedans before Mohammed, only 
 in the sense in which there were Zoroastrians before 
 Zoroaster, Lutherans before Luther, and Christians 
 before Christ. Renan has himself remarked else- 
 where, though he seems to have forgotten it in dealing 
 with Mohammedanism, that the glory of a religion 
 belones to its founder, and not to his predecessors 
 or to his successors.^ It is easy, he says himself, to 
 try to awake faith, and it is easy to be possessed 
 by it when once it has been awakened ; but it is not 
 easy to inspire it. It is the grandest gift, a very gift 
 of God. 
 
 ' It seems to me, though I would speak with the utmost diffidence 
 in venturing to dissent from the greatest European authority on the sub- 
 ject, that Sprenger errs in the same direction as Renan, when he says in 
 his volume, published at Allahabad (p. 171), that Abu Bakr did more 
 for the success of Islam than the Prophet himself ; and again (p. 1 74), 
 after enumerating all those who, merely from their vague Monotheism, he 
 calls the predecessors of Mohammed, he says that even after Mohammed 
 was acknowledged as the messenger of God, Omar had more influence 
 on the development of the Islam than Mohammed himself. ' The 
 Islam is not the work of Mohammed ; it is not the doctrine of the 
 impostor .... it is the offspring of the spirit of the time, and the 
 voice of the Arabic nation. . . . There is, however, no doubt that 
 the impostor has defiled it by his immorality and perverseness of mind. ' 
 It is fair to say that this tone seems somewhat moderated, or even 
 altered, in the author's subsequent and greater work. Cf., however, 
 Vol. I. 209, and II. 83-88. One is inclined to ask, if Islam was merely 
 the spirit of the time, who proved himself best able to read that spirit ? 
 Was it Abu Bakr and Omar, or was it Mohammed that produced the 
 Koran ? And is it their personality, or his, which has stamped itself 
 with ineffaceable clearness for all time upon the Eastern world ? 
 
BIRTH AND YOUTH OF MOHAMMED. iii 
 
 But though, as I have said, the hour had come, the 
 youth of Mohammed gave few signs that he was the 
 man. The portents which ushered in his birth, and 
 that attended his early youth, are the offspring of 
 another country and of a later age. The celestial 
 light that beamed in the sky and from his newly- 
 opened eyes ; the Tigris overflowing its banks ; the 
 palace of Chosroes toppling over to the ground ; the 
 sacred fire of Zoroaster, which had burned for one 
 thousand years, suddenly extinguished ; the mules 
 that talked, and the sheep that bowed to him, were 
 unknown to the contemporaries of Mohammed, and 
 Mohammed himself says nothing of them ! ^ He be- 
 longed to the family of Haschim, not the least dis- 
 tinguished family of the Kuraish, who were then the 
 leading tribe at Mecca. He was born on April 20, 
 575 A.D. His father Abd' Allah died before his 
 birth ; his mother Aminah was weak and sickly, and 
 was obliged to put him out to nurse with the wife of 
 a shepherd : thus the first few years of the Prophet's 
 life were spent in the tent of a nomad family. His 
 mother died when he was only six years old, and 
 his share of his father's property consisted of but five 
 camels, of a few sheep, and of a female slave. His 
 grandfather Abd'al Muttalib took charge of the orphan, 
 
 ^ They appear, however, in the S".rat-er-ra90ul about A.H. 200. See 
 I. 77-81. 
 
112 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM, 
 
 and on his death-bed committed him to the care of 
 his uncle Abu Taleb ; a charge which, though he never 
 beHeved in his nephew's mission, he observed to the 
 day of his death, with all the fidelity of an Arab to 
 a member of his family. Abu Taleb himself, however, 
 was very poor ; the boy's small patrimony was soon 
 spent ; and then, as he loved to recall in after years, in 
 order to support life he was obliged to tend sheep in 
 the wilderness, a calling much despised among the aris- | 
 tocratic Meccans, who got their wealth by merchandise, 
 but one which encouraged his fondness for solitude, 
 and supplied him with the vivid descriptions of the 
 scenery of the desert which we find in the Koran. ' 
 * God had never chosen anyone to be a prophet,' he 
 used to say in his later days, ' who had not, like Moses, ; 
 like David, or like himself, tended sheep in the wilder- 
 ness.' ^ But Mohammed was not always to remain a 
 shepherd. Hitherto a man of few words, and with ' 
 few friends, he was yet notable within his own small 
 circle for his truthfulness and good faith. Men called I 
 
 him * Al-Amin, or the trusty.' A rich widow, named \ 
 
 i 
 
 Khadijah, employed him to goon some trading journeys i 
 
 for her to Syria. The shepherd became a camel-driver, i 
 
 and the trust committed to him he dischars^ed with i 
 
 such fidelity and prudence, that Khadijah offered him | 
 
 * Sprenger, I, 148. 
 
MOHAMMED'S MARRIED LIFE. ii 
 
 J 
 
 her hand in marriage. She was some fifteen years 
 older than he ; old enough, that is, in that Eastern 
 climate to be his mother ; yet the marriage was 
 one of real affection and respect, and from that time 
 to the day of her death, a period of twenty- four years, 
 Mohammed remained faithful to her, and took no 
 second wife, though the universal custom of his coun- 
 trymen would have countenanced him in so doing. 
 
 Mohammed's married life was still, what men would 
 call, an uneventful one. The birth of four daughters, 
 and of two sons, both of whom, to the great grief of 
 their father, died in childhood ; his famous vow to suc- 
 cour the oppressed ; and the skill with which he man- 
 aged to reconcile conflicting claims in placing the Black 
 Stone in the renovated Kaaba — these are the only 
 noteworthy external incidents in the next few years 
 of his life. Up to the age of forty, there is nothing 
 to show that any serious scruple had occurred to him 
 individually as to the worship of idols in general, 
 and in particular of the Black Stone, of which his 
 family were the hereditary guardians. 
 
 Of a nervous, excitable, imaginative temperament, 
 Mohammed was susceptible to influences too subtle 
 for robuster natures to feel. What a contrast in all 
 respects to those who lived around him, and what a 
 contradiction to Sprenger's theory that the Prophet 
 was only the type of his time and nation, and that 
 
 I 
 
114 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Islam was only an impersonation of its tendencies ! He 
 was liable, too, to fits,^ which, whether epileptic or not, 
 involved strange physical phenomena, which at that 
 time and place — hke the so-called ' sacred disease ' 
 among the Greeks, or ' the possession of the devil ' of 
 the Jews-— would suggest both to himself and to his 
 friends influences that were not physical. The month 
 of Ramadhan, like other religious Arabs, he observed 
 with punctilious devotion ; and he would often retire to 
 the caverns of Mount Hira for purposes of medita- 
 tion and prayer. As time passed on, solitude became 
 a passion with him — that solitude which is ' the school 
 of genius,' and in the silence of his own heart he held 
 high converse with the unseen God of the universe. 
 The sin of worshipping idols of wood and stone, which 
 could neither hear nor regard, began to flash at times 
 across him ; the crimes, too, of his countrymen weighed 
 upon his spirit ; when he walked forth from his cave, 
 he heard, or fancied that he heard, the rocks and 
 
 ^ Sprenger (Vol. I. 207) lias described these fits most minutely, and 
 with a great deal of curious learning. He thinks Mohammed suffered 
 from hysteria, followed by catalepsy, rather than epilepsy ; for the 
 Prophet does not seem to have lost all consciousness. It is worth re- 
 marking that Sprenger's medical knowledge is not very favoui-able in 
 its result to Mohammed. He starts by saying, p. 210, that all hysterical 
 people have a tendency to lying and deceit. This is his major premise. 
 His minor is that Mohammed was hysterical, and the inference is 
 obvious. Accordingly, we are not surprised to find him (Vol. I. Cap. 
 IV. p. 306, note) speaking of the * vision ' of the flight to Jerusalem as 
 one 'lie,' and that to the seventh heaven as another lie. r 
 
CALL TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE. 115 
 
 the shrubs of the desert calling him the Apostle of 
 God.^ 
 
 It is possible that his interviews with Nestorian 
 monks, with Zeid, or with his wife's cousin Waraka, 
 may have turned his thoughts into the precise direc- 
 tion they took. Dejection alternated with excitement ; 
 these gave place to ecstasy or dreams ; and in a dream, 
 or trance, or fit, he saw an angel in human form, but 
 flooded with celestial light, and displaying a silver 
 roll. ' Read ! ' said the angel. ' I cannot read,' said 
 Mohammed. The injunction and the answer were 
 twice repeated. 2 ' Read,' at last said the angel, ' in 
 the name of thy Lord, who created all besides Himself; 
 who created man out of a clot of blood ; read, in the 
 name of the Most High, who taught with the pen ; 
 who taught man that which he never knew.' Upon 
 this Mohammed felt the heavenly inspiration, and 
 read, as he believed, the decrees of God, which he 
 afterwards promulgated in the Koran. Then came 
 the announcement, ' O Mohammed, of a truth thou 
 art the Prophet of God, and I am his angel Gabriel' ^ 
 
 ' ' Sirat-er-ra^oul,' I. 153. 
 
 - Cf. Sura XCVI. Deutsch (Islam, p. 306) renders- the word 
 usually translated ' Read ' by ' Cry,' comparing Isaiah xi. 6. 
 
 3 Strangely enough, Sir William Muir, Vol. II, p. 89-96, selects 
 this period, above all others in Mohammed's life, as the one in which 
 to suggest his peculiar view, that the Prophet's belief in his inspiration 
 was Satanic in its origin ; and he supports his view by a somewhat 
 elaborate parallel with the temptations which presented themselves to 
 Christ at the beginning of His work. Whether such a Dms ex machind 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 This was the crisis of Mohammed's hfe. It was 
 his call to renounce idolatry, and to take the office of 
 Prophet. Like Isaiah, he could not at first believe 
 that so unworthy an instrument could be chosen for 
 such a purpose. 'Woe is me, for I am undone, be- 
 cause I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the 
 midst of a people of unclean hps ; ' but the live coal 
 was not imme'diately taken from the altar and laid 
 upon his, as upon Isaiah's lips. Trembling and agi- 
 tated, Mohammed tottered to Khadijah and told her 
 his vision and his agony of mind. He had always 
 hated and despised soothsayers, and now, in the irony 
 of destiny, it would appear that he was to become a 
 soothsayer himself * Fear not, for joyful tidings dost 
 thou bring,' exclaimed Khadijah. * I will henceforth 
 regard thee as the prophet of our nation. Rejoice,' 
 she added, seeing him still cast down ; ' Allah will 
 not suffer thee to fall to shame. Hast thou not been 
 loving to thy kinsfolk, kind to thy neighbours, charit- 
 
 is required to untie the knot is hardly within my province to inquire, 
 since the whole matter is alike incapable of proof and disproof ; but it 
 seems pertinent to remark, first, that the developed and quasi-scientific 
 conception of such a being as Sir William Muir pictures is Persian rather 
 than Jewish in its origin, and is found in Palestine only after the Cap- 
 tivity ; and, secondly, that if the spirit of evil did suggest the idea to 
 rlohammed, he never so completely outwitted himself, since friend and 
 foe must alike admit that it was Mohammed's firm belief in supernatural 
 guidance that lay at the root of all he achieved. Without this \\q should 
 never have heard of him except as one of a thousand short-lived Arabian 
 sectaries ; with it he created a nation, and revivified a third of the then 
 known world. 
 
OPPOSITION TO THE PROPHET W] 
 
 able to the poor, faithful to thy word, and ever a de- 
 fender of the truth ? ' First the life, and then the 
 theology, in the individual as in the tribe and the 
 
 nation. 
 
 But the assurances of the good Khadijah, and the 
 conversions of Zeid and Waraka, did not bring the 
 live coal from the altar. A long period of hesitation, 
 doubt, preparation followed. At one time Moham 
 med even contemplated suicide, and he was only 
 restrained by an unseen hand, as he might well call 
 the bright vision of the future, pictured in one of the 
 earliest Suras of the Koran,^ when the help of God 
 should come and victory, when he ' should see the 
 people crowding into the one true Faith, and he, the 
 Prophet, should celebrate the praise of his Lord, and 
 ask pardon of Him, for He is forgiving.' Three years, 
 the period of the Fatrah, saw only fourteen proselytes 
 attach themselves to him. His teaching seemed to 
 make no way beyond the very limited circle of his 
 earliest followers. His rising hopes were crushed. 
 People pointed the finger of scorn at him as he passed 
 by : ' There goeth the son of Abdallah, who hath his 
 converse with the heavens ! ' They called him a 
 driveller, a star-gazer, a maniac-poet. Thorns were 
 strewn in his path, and stones thrown at him. His 
 uncles sneered, and the main body of the citizens 
 
 » Sura ex. 
 
Ii8 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 treated him with that contemptuous indifference, which 
 must have been harder to him to bear than active 
 persecution. Well might he, to take an illustration 
 suggested by Sir William Muir himself,^ like Elijah 
 of old, go a day's journey into the wilderness, and 
 request for himself that he might die, and say, ' It is 
 enough, O Lord ; now take away my life, for I am 
 not better than my fathers : ' or, again, ' I have been 
 very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the 
 people have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down 
 Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword ; 
 and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life 
 to take it away.' At times his distress was insupport- 
 able : 
 
 ' And had not his poor heart 
 Spoken with That, which being everywhere 
 Lets none, who speaks with Him, seem all alone, 
 Surely the man had died of solitude.' 
 
 And, as the Kuraish said in their bitter scorn, the son 
 of Abdallah did indeed ' have his converse with the 
 heavens ; ' for out of weakness came forth strength at 
 last ; out of doubt, certainty ; out of humiliation, 
 victory. Another vision, in which he was commanded 
 to preach publicly, followed ; and now he called the 
 Kuraish of the line of Haschim together, those who 
 had most to lose and least to gain by his reform, and 
 boldly announced his mission. 
 
 1 Muir, Vol. II., 228. 
 
COURAGE OF THE PROPHET. 119 
 
 Content no longer with preaching in the abstract 
 the one true God, he now ventured to denounce those 
 who, as with righteous indignation he expressed it, 
 *gave companions' to Him. The Kuraish, the guard- 
 ians of the Kaaba, perceived, Hke the silversmiths at 
 Ephesus, that, if this went on, their position would 
 be endangered, and their gains gone. Finding that 
 bribes, and threats, and entreaties were alike powerless 
 to deter him, they expostulated with Abu Taleb, his 
 guardian. Abu Taleb, in his turn, expostulated kindly 
 with his nephew. ' Should they array against me the 
 sun on my right hand, and the moon on my left,' said 
 Mohammed, ' yet while God should command me, I 
 would not renounce my purpose.' These are not the 
 words, nor this the course, of an impostor. 
 
 'Were there as many devils in Worms,' said 
 Luther, ' as there are tiles on the houses, yet would 
 I go there, putting my trust in God.' Luther 
 knew something of the Koran, and knew it only to 
 malign it : had he known how exactly his own noble 
 answer had been anticipated by the Prophet of 
 Arabia, would he not have recognised a singleness 
 and a sincerity of purpose in Mohammed which 
 would have made him honour him as a man, even if 
 he could not have welcomed him as a brother } 
 Like the Hebrew prophets, like St. Anthony and 
 St. Benedict, like Joan of Arc and St. Theresa, like 
 
120 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Swedenborg,' like Luther himself, Mohammed had his 
 visions. Luther's visions, as every one knows, were 
 material enough, for he threw an inkstand at the devil 
 which appeared to him at the Castle of Wartburg. But 
 if an imposture theory is not needed to explain the 
 visions of the one, why is it needed to explain the 
 visions of the other? What Mohammed said he saw, 
 he did see, even if they were only the ' subjective crea- 
 tions of his own brain ; ' and if results are any test of 
 truth, Mohammed's vision must have been in some sense 
 a true one, for it gave him strength for his great work. 
 Ten more years passed away: his doctrine fought 
 its way amidst the greatest discouragements and 
 dangers by purely moral means, by its own inherent 
 strength. But with the number of his disciples, in- 
 creased also the persecutions they had to endure. 
 Mohammed, unwilling to expose their newly awakened 
 faith to too sore a trial, advised them to take refuge in 
 Abyssinia. They did so to the number of fifteen, while 
 Mohammed remained at his post. That they took his 
 advice is not to be regretted ; for first it is a convincing 
 proof, if proof be needed, how throughout this period 
 Mohammed's real strength lay in what the world 
 
 ^ I have to thank a friendly critic, Mr. I. de Maine Bro\^^le, for 
 directing my attention to the analogy to be traced between the ' visions ' 
 of Mohammed and those of Swedenborg, as well as to one or two 
 fine passages in the writings of the remarkable Swede on the founder of 
 Islam. 
 
THE FIRST HIJRAH. 121 
 
 would call his weakness ; and secondly, because to 
 this, the first Hijrah, as it is called, we owe the 
 noblest summary of the Prophet's early teaching that 
 we now possess. 
 
 The Kuraish sent to the Nagashy of Abyssinia 
 demanding that the exiles should be given up for 
 death ; but one of their number, Djafar, came forward, 
 and in the presence of the Christian bishops of the 
 country, who had been specially convened for the 
 purpose, and had ' brought their Bibles with them,' 
 explained the change in their religion as follows : 
 
 ' O King ! we were in ignorance and barbarism, we 
 prayed to idols, we eat animals that had died of them- 
 selves, we committed hateful things, we wounded the 
 love of our own relations, and violated the laws of 
 hospitality ; the strong consumed the weak, till God 
 sent a messenger among us, of whose birth, faithful- 
 ness, and purity we were aware ; he exhorted us to 
 worship God alone, and to turn ourselves from stones 
 and other gods, which we and our fathers had associ- 
 ated with Him. He commanded us to speak the 
 truth, to be faithful to our trusts, to love our relations, 
 and to protect our guests ; not to consume the pro- 
 perty of the orphan, or to slander virtuous women ; 
 he bade us pray, give alms, and keep the fast. We 
 have obeyed Mohammed and have believed in his 
 message. Hence our people have maltreated us, and 
 
122 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 have sought to bring us back to idolatry and their 
 other abominations ; we have come to thee for help ; 
 wilt thou not protect us ? ' 
 
 The Nagashy asked for a sample of the message 
 which had wrought such wonders. Djafar read him a 
 Sura from the Koran, not to our ideas one of the most 
 remarkable ; but the effect was such that all present 
 burst into tears, and the Nagashy exclaimed, his tears 
 gushing down over his beard, and those of all the 
 Bishops upon their books, * I will never deliver you 
 up ; ' and the Kuraish messengers returned to Mecca 
 discomfited.^ 
 
 Warned aftenvards in his solitude by these same 
 Kuraish that they would not cease to oppose his 
 preaching till either they or he had perished, Moham- 
 med answered them only by fearlessly frequenting the 
 approaches to the Kaaba, the stronghold of his ene- 
 mies, and by delivering his message to the wild Arabs 
 of the desert who resorted to the national fair or the 
 pilgrims' festival there.- But a greater disaster than 
 
 * Sirat-er-ra^oul, p. 219, 220. 
 
 2 Sprenger (11. XVI.) thinks that verses 82, 83, &c., of Sura XVI. 
 were delivered especially for the edification of these wandering tribes : 
 ' Allah has given you tents for dwellings and animal skins for cover- 
 ings ; and ye find them light to remove and easy to pitch again ; and 
 He hath given you furniture made of their wool and fur ; — these pleasures 
 last for a time ; and Allah hath given you places of shade and retreats 
 in the mountains ; clothing also to protect you from the heat, and to 
 cover you in the day of battle. He has made His benefits thus com- 
 plete to you that ye may become Muslims.' 
 
THE HIJRAH. 12 
 
 o 
 
 any Mohammed had yet experienced was at hand. 
 Khadijah, his faithful wife, died ; Abu Taleb, his uncle 
 and protector, died also. The Prophet was now alone 
 amongst his enemies, like Elijah amongst the prophets 
 of Baal ; and, persecuted in his own city even to the 
 death, he determined to fly to another. He had 
 already preached to pilgrims from Medina, and had re- 
 ceived from them an offer of an asylum in Case of need. 
 Accompanied by Abu Bakr he fled from the assassin's 
 knife and took refuge on Mount Thor, a league from 
 Mecca : for three days he lay concealed in a cavern 
 there ; the Kuraish pursuers scoured the country, thirst- 
 ing for his blood. They approached the cavern. * We 
 are only two,' said his trembling companion. ' There is 
 a third,' said Mohammed ; ' it is God Himself.' The 
 Kuraish reached the cave : a spider, we are told, had 
 woven its web across the mouth, and a pigeon was sit- 
 ting on its nest in seemingly undisturbed repose. The 
 Kuraish retreated, for it was evident the solitude of the 
 place was unviolated ; and by a sound instinct, one of 
 the sublimest stories in all history has been made the 
 era of Mohammedan Chronology. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow connectedly and in 
 detail any other incidents in Mohammed's life. The 
 above may be found, with some variety in the details, 
 in any History of Mohammed ; but I have thought it 
 essential to dwell upon them, however familiar they 
 
124 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 may be to some of us, as they seem to me, apart from 
 their own intrinsic beauty, to supply the key to 
 almost everything else in Mohammed's career. 
 
 With the flight to Medina the scene changes. j 
 The Prophet and his creed now take their place for | 
 good or evil on the theatre of the world. Was it ' 
 for evil or for good t 
 
 On the one hand, it may be as fairly,^ as it has ■ 
 been often, said that it might have been well for the 
 Prophet's memory if he had died a simple Prophet, 
 as he gave utterance to those grand words, ' There is I 
 a third with us, it is God Himself.' The utterance ' 
 itself would have been not less true, and the speaker 
 would have died, not indeed a great hero, a great law- 
 giver, or a great ruler, but he would have died as he ! 
 had lived, and as so many men who were greater than 
 their generation, and of whom the world was not 
 worthy, have lived and died before and since. But 
 had he died then, his name would never have been 
 known beyond the neighbourhood of Mecca. His 
 small band of followers would have melted away like 
 the other thousand sects that Arabia has produced, 
 leaving not a trace behind them, and Islam itself \ 
 might have been strangled in its cradle. \ 
 
 And what would this have meant for the Eastern ' 
 
 ^ Cf. 'Academy' for June 6, 1874. 1 
 
PRACTICES FORBIDDEN BY MOHAMMED. 125 
 
 world, and for something too of the world which is 
 not Eastern ? 
 
 The practices that Mohammed forbade, and not 
 forbade only, but abolished, human sacrifices and the 
 murder of female infants, and blood feuds, and 
 unlimited polygamy, and wanton cruelty to slaves, 
 and drunkenness, and gambling, would have gone on 
 unchecked in Arabia and the adjoining countries. 
 The Mongols, the Tartars, and the Turks would have 
 devastated, as they did devastate, the fairest regions of 
 the earth without gaining that which, in some degree, 
 softened their national character, and alone prevented 
 their conquests from being an unmitigated evil.^ In 
 Northern and Central Africa there would have been, 
 not the semi-civilisation of the Moors or of the Man- 
 dineoes, but the brutal barbarism of the Fans and 
 
 ^ The Mogul invasion of Hindustan, for instance, gave the peninsula 
 for nearly two hundred years, 1526- 1 707, a succession of princes who, 
 in spite of their passion for war, were the ablest, the most enlightened, 
 and the best whom, till within a very recent period, it has ever known. 
 Baber, the conqueror of Delhi and the founder of the dynasty, is almost 
 as famed for his poems and for his public works as for his military 
 adventures. The administration of Akbar, one of the greatest monarchs 
 of all time, need not shrink from comparison in any respect with that of 
 his great contemporary Elizabeth of England. He introduced not only 
 religious toleration, but entire religious equality among his subjects. 
 Shah Jehan was a great organiser ; and Aurungzebe, with his energy 
 and with his magnificence, filled a large place in the horizon of Europeans 
 themselves. Even the less distinguished members of the dynasty may 
 compare not unfavourably v/ith most of their Christian contemporaries. 
 The architecture of the Mogul emperors, like that of their co-religionists, 
 the Moors of Spain, is the admiration and the despair of the whole world. 
 
126 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the Ashantees. The dark ages of Europe would have 
 been doubly, nay trebly dark ; for the Arabs who 
 alone by their arts and sciences, by their agriculture, 
 their philosophy, and their virtues, shone out amidst 
 the universal gloom of ignorance and crime, w^ho gave 
 to Spain and to Europe an Averroes and an Avicenna, 
 the Alhambra and the Al-Kazar, would have been 
 wandering over their native deserts. As to religion, 
 / a Christianity which, in the East, had long become a 
 corrupt superstition, would have become yet more 
 corrupt, and would have sunk to the condition in 
 which it is in Abyssinia now. Over a seventh part 
 of the earth's surface the Star-worshipper might have 
 been worshipping stars, and the Fetish-worshipper 
 Fetishes, to this very day. The answer therefore 
 to the question whether it would have been well 
 for the Prophet and well for the world, if he had 
 died by the sword of the Kuraish before a wider 
 field, with its greater dangers and temptations, opened 
 before him, is not a simple one ; and in the remainder 
 of this and the subsequent Lectures I hope to give, not 
 indeed a full answ^er to it — for that would be as 
 much beyond my powers as beyond my limits — but 
 at least to indicate the direction in which, as I think, 
 the answer lies. 
 
 The question of the sincerity of Mohammed has 
 been much debated, but to me, I must confess, that 
 
MOHAMMED'S FAITH IN HIS CAUSE. 127 
 
 to question his sincerity at starting, and to admit 
 the above indisputable facts relating to his early life, 
 is very like a contradiction in terms. Nor could any- 
 one have done what Mohammed did without the most 
 profound faith in the reality and goodness of his cause. 
 Fairly considered, there is no single trait in his cha- 
 racter up to the time of the Hijrah which calumny 
 itself could couple with imposture : on the contrary, 
 there is everything to prove the real enthusiast 
 arriving slowly and painfully at what he believed to 
 be the truth. 
 
 It has been remarked by Gibbon that no incipient 
 prophet ever passed through so severe an ordeal as 
 Mohammed, since he first presented himself as a 
 prophet to those who were most conversant with his 
 infirmities as a man. Those who knew him best, his 
 wife, his eccentric slave, his cousin, his earliest friend — 
 he who, as Mohammed said, alone of his converts, 
 ' turned not back, neither was perplexed ' — were the 
 first to recognise his mission. The ordinary lot of a 
 prophet was in his case reversed ; he was not without 
 honour save among those who did not know him well. 
 Strange that Voltaire, who himself wrote on Moham- 
 med, and even made him the subject of a drama, 
 should, with Mohammed's example before him, have 
 ventured on his immoral paradox that * No man is a 
 hero to his valet ! ' Explained in one sense that a 
 
128 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 small mind cannot fully understand or appreciate a 
 great one, it is a feeble truism ; explained in another, 
 which was the sense Voltaire meant, that the hero is 
 only a hero to those who see him at a distance, and 
 that there is no such thing as true greatness, it is an 
 audacious falsehood. It is almost equally strange 
 that Gibbon, who has done such full justice to Mo- 
 hammed in the general result, should say at starting, 
 * Mohammed's religion consists of an eternal truth, 
 and a necessary fiction — There is one God, and Mo- 
 hammed is His prophet.' It was, as I have endea- 
 voured to show, no fiction to Mohammed himself or 
 to his followers ; had it been so, Mohammedanism 
 could never have risen as it did, nor be what it is now. 
 
 But before we go on to consider those points in 
 Mohammed's career which are really open to ques- 
 tion, it may be well to recall a few prominent cha- 
 racteristics of the man who has stamped his impress 
 so deeply on the Oriental world. Minute accounts of 
 his appearance and of his daily life have been pre- 
 served to us ; they may be found in most of the 
 biographies, and Sir William Muir in particular has 
 given us copious extracts from the writings of the 
 secretary of Wakidi.^ 
 
 Mohammed was of middle height and of a strongly 
 
 * Muir, Vol. IV., Supplement to Chap. XXXVII. ; cf. also 
 Deutsch's ' Islam,' pp. 302-304. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPHET. 129 
 
 built frame ; his head was large, and across his ample 
 forehead, and above finely arching eyebrows, ran a 
 strongly marked vein, which, when he was angry, 
 vv^ould turn black and throb visibly. His eyes were 
 coal black, and piercing in their brightness ; his hair 
 curled slightly ; and a long beard, w^iich, like other 
 Orientals, he would stroke when in deep thought, 
 added to the general impressiveness of his appear- 
 ance. His step was quick and firm, ' like that of one 
 descendino- a hill.' Between his shoulders was the 
 famous mark, the size of a pigeon's tgg, which his 
 disciples persisted in believing to be the sign of his 
 prophetic office ; while the light which kindled in his 
 eye, like that which flashed from the precious stones 
 in the breast-plate of the High Priest, they called the 
 light of prophecy. 
 
 In his intercourse with others, he W'Ould sit silent 
 among his companions for a long time together, but 
 truly his silence was more eloquent than other men's 
 speech, for the moment speech was called for, it w^as 
 forthcoming in the shape of some w^eighty apothegm 
 or proverb, such as the Arabs love to hear. When 
 he laughed, he laughed heartily, shaking his sides, 
 and showing his teeth, v^'hich ' looked as if they were 
 hailstones.' He was easy of approach to all who 
 wished to see him, even as ' the river bank to him 
 that draweth water therefrom.' He was fond of ani- 
 
 K 
 
I30 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 mals, and they, as is often the case, were fond of him. 
 He seldom passed a group of children j^laying to- 
 gether without a few kind words to them ; and he vv'as 
 never the first to withdraw his hand fi'om the grasp of 
 one who offered him his. If the warmth of his 
 attachment may be measured, as in fact it may, by the 
 depth of his friends' devotion to him, no truer friend 
 than Mohammed ever lived. Around him, in quite 
 early days, gathered what was best and noblest in 
 Mecca ; and in no single instance, through all the 
 vicissitudes of his chequered life, Vv-as the friendship 
 then formed, ever broken. He wept like a child over 
 the death of his faithful servant Zeid. He visited his 
 mother's tomb some fifty years after her death, and 
 he wept there because he believed that God had for- 
 bidden him to pray for her. He was naturally shy 
 and retiring ; * as bashful,' said Ayishah, ' as a veiled 
 virgin.' He was kind and forgiving to all. * I served 
 him from the time I was eight years old,' said his 
 servant Anas, 'and he never scolded me for anything, 
 though I spoiled much.' The most noteworthy of 
 his external characteristics Vv-ere a sweet gravity and 
 a quiet dignity, which drew involuntary respect, and 
 Avhich was the best, and often the onl}', protection he 
 enjoyed from insult. 
 
 His ordinary dress was plain, even to coarseness ; 
 yet he was fastidious in arranging it to the best ad- 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPHET. 131 
 
 vantage. He Avas fond of ablutions, and fonder still 
 of perfumes ; and lie prided himself on the neat- 
 ness of his hair, and the pearly whiteness of his 
 teeth. His life v/as simple in all its details. He 
 lived with his wives in a row of humble cottages, 
 separated from one another by palm branches, 
 cemented together with mud. He would kindle 
 the nre, sweep the floor, and milk the goats himself. 
 Ayishah tells us that he slept upon a leathern mat, 
 and that he mended his clothes, and even clouted his 
 shoes, with his own hand. For months together, 
 Ayishah is also our authority for saying that he did 
 not 2:et a sufficient meal. The little food that he had 
 was always shared with those who dropped in to par- 
 take of it. Indeed, outside the Prophet's house was a 
 bench or gallery, on which were always to be found a 
 number of the poor who lived entirely on his gene- 
 rosity, and were hence called the ' people of the 
 bench.' His ordinary food was dates and water, 
 or barley bread ; milk and honey were luxuries of 
 which he was fond, but which he rarely allowed 
 himself. The fare of the desert seemed most con- 
 genial to him, even w^hen he was sovereign of Arabia. 
 One day some people passed by him with a basket of 
 berries from one of the desert shrubs. ' Pick me out,' 
 he said to his companion, 'the blackest of those 
 
 K 2 
 
132 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 berries, for they are sweet — even such as I was wont 
 to gather when I fed the flocks of Mecca at Adgad.' 
 
 Such were some of the characteristics of the man 
 whom the Arabs were now called upon to recognise 
 as the prophet of their country, and as a messenger 
 direct from God. 
 
 Monotheism, pure and simple, if it is to be a life 
 as well as a creed, almost postulates the prophetic 
 office. The Creator is at too great a distance from 
 His creatures to allow of a sufficiently direct com- 
 munication with them. The power, the knowledge, 
 the infinity of God overshadow His providence. His 
 sympathy, and His love. Renan has remarked that 
 in only two ways can such a gap be bridged over : 
 first, if, as in the Indian Avatar, from time to time, 
 or, as in Christianity, once for all, there is an actual 
 manifestation of the Godhead upon earth ; or, se- 
 condly, if, as in Judaism or in Buddhism, the Deity 
 chooses a favoured mortal, who may give to his 
 brother men a fuller knowledge of the Divine mind 
 and will.^ The latter would seem the form most 
 congenial to the Semitic mind, if one may be allowed 
 to use that convenient, but since the bold generalisa- 
 tions in which Renan has indulged respecting them, 
 somewhat misleading word. The Arabs themselves 
 looked up to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses as 
 
 * Rencn, p 278. 
 
PROPHETIC OFFICE AMONG SEMITIC RACES. 133 
 
 prophets ; Mohammed did the same, and added Christ 
 to their number. He held that each successive 
 revelation had been higher than the preceding 
 one, though each was complete in itself, as being 
 adequate to the circumstances of the time. Was 
 there, Mohammed might ask, any reason to suppose 
 that Christ had been the last of the prophets, and 
 that His revelation was absolutely as well as rela- 
 tively final ; and were there not evils enough in 
 Arabia and in the world to call for a further com- 
 munication from heaven ? To say that Arabia 
 needed renovation was to say in other words that the 
 time for a new prophet had come, and why might not 
 that prophet be Mohammed himself? Sprenger, the 
 most recent and exhaustive writer on the subject, has 
 shown that for some hundred years before Moham- 
 med the advent of another prophet had been expected 
 and even predicted. So strong was the general con- 
 viction on the subject that the Arab tribes were 
 guided by it even in their politics.^ 
 
 But, if we admit the sincerity of Mohammed and 
 the naturalness of his belief up to the time of the 
 Hijrah, what are v/e to say of him during his first 
 
 * Sprenger, I., p. 245, quotes a saying of the Arabs that the children / 
 of Shem are prophets, of Japhet kings, of Ham slaves. We are told / 
 that the Arab -women were at this time in the habit of praying for male ^ 
 children, in the hope that of them the long-expected prophet might be 
 born. 
 
134 MOHAMMED AND MO HAMMED AXISM. 
 
 years of exile at Medina, and again of his subsequent 
 successes ? 
 
 It is unquestionably true that a change does seem 
 to come over him. The revelations of the Koran are 
 more and more suited to the particular circumstances 
 2,nd caprices of the moment. They are often of the 
 nature of political bulletins, or of personal apologies 
 rather than of messages direct from God. No\\^ ap- 
 pears for the first time the convenient but dangerous 
 doctrine of abrogation, by which a subsequent revela- 
 tion might supersede a previous one.^ 
 
 The limitation to the unbounded license of Orien- 
 tal polygamy which he had himself imposed, he 
 relaxes in his own behalf ; - it is a blot, and, in the 
 Christian view, an indelible blot, upon his memory ; 
 but it is possible, on the one hand, that he may have 
 justified himself to his own mind by the Ethiopian 
 marriage not condemned in the case of Moses,^ 
 whom he always regarded as, in a peculiar sense, his 
 predecessor, and it is certain on the other, that if, in 
 accordance with Eastern notions, he claimed for him- 
 self as Prophet exceptional privileges in this one 
 direction, he imposed upon himself exceptional pri- 
 vations, in the way of prayers, fasting, and poverty, in 
 every other. He Vv^as certainly, therefore, not a 
 
 ' Sura XVI. 103, II. 100. - Sura XXXIII. 49, and LXVI. i. 
 
 ^ See Lecture IV. p. 262. 
 
APPARENT CHANGE IN MOHAMMED. 135 
 
 sensualist or a voluptuary In the ordinary meaning of 
 that term. His marriage with Maria, a Christian, an 
 Egyptian, and a slave, caused an uproar among his 
 lawful v/ives ; but it does not seem to have been any 
 violation of the Harem law, and it Vv'as certainly not 
 condemned by the Arabs themselves. His marriage 
 with Zeinab, the wife of Zeid, his freed man and 
 adopted son, after her divorce from him, bears on the 
 face of it a worse complexion ; but I am satisfied, 
 after a close examination of the circumstances of the 
 case, that it does not bear the interpretation usually 
 placed upon it by Christians. It raised an outcry 
 among the Arabs of the Ignorance, not because they 
 suspected an Intrigue on the Prophet's part to secure 
 a divorce ; but because they looked upon an adopted 
 -as though he were a real son, and considered, there- 
 fore, that the marriage fell within the prohibited 
 degrees. This restriction, which Mohammed, for 
 whatever causes, considered to be an arbitrary one, he 
 ■abolished by his marriage, not for his own benefit 
 only, but for that of the Arabs at large. In the view 
 indeed usually taken of the whole transaction, there is 
 a strange compound of fact and fiction ; and much that 
 was comparatively Innocent has been made to wear the 
 .appearance of deep guilt ; but it must be admitted 
 v^ith sorrow that In the matter of his marriages Mo- 
 hammed laid himself open to much misconception and 
 
136 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 to much blame even on the part of the m^ost temperate 
 and most truth-loving of his opponents.^ 
 
 Whether, indeed, the various explanations of the 
 Prophet's conduct that have been suggested by 
 the piety or the admiration of his followers are quite 
 consistent with the facts or not, matters now com- 
 paratively little : but it matters very much, and 
 should be a subject of rejoicing to every Christian, 
 that pious JMusalmans, instead of justifying an act 
 
 ' It should be remembered, however, that most of Moliammed's 
 marriages may be explained, at least, as much by his pify for the forlorn 
 condition of the persons concerned, as by other motives. They were 
 almost all of them with widows Avho were not remarkable either for 
 their beauty or their wealth, but quite the reverse. May not this fact, 
 and his undoubted faithfulness to Khadijah till her dying day, and till 
 he himself was fifty years of age, give us additional ground to hope that 
 calumny or misconception has been at work in the story of Ztinab ? 
 There are some indications on the face of it, besides those mentioned in 
 the text, that this is the case. For exaiv.ple, Zeinab was the Prophet's 
 cousin, and there was nothing to prevent his having married her himself 
 when both he and she were younger, instead of giving her in marriage 
 to his freedman. An able and a friendly Muslim critic, ]Mir Aulad 
 All, Professor of Oriental Languages at Trinity College, Dublin, suggests 
 to me that the marriage of Zeinab, one of the Kuraish and first cousin ta 
 the Prophet, with a freedman, was distasteful to her ; and that it was an 
 unhappy one for the husband as well as for the -wife, as is shown by Zeid's 
 continuing to demand a divorce, when the Prophet advised him against 
 it. Mohammed by his subsequent marriage with her removed, he goes 
 on to suggest, a restriction which he thought unnecessary ; and showed 
 that he at all events saw nothing degrading m a marriage connection 
 with a freedman. Anyhow it is certain that Zeid, if he had suspected, 
 as Christians have done, anything in the nature of an intrigue on the 
 Prophet's part to alienate his wife's affection from him, could not have 
 served him as he did even to the day of his death with all the loyalty 
 and devotion of a zealous disciple. 
 
APPARENT CHANGE IN MOHAMMED. i 
 
 0/ 
 
 which, if it was in reahty what it has often been 
 represented to have been, they, no less than wc, know 
 to be wrong, are able to explain it to themselves in a 
 way which does not impute a crime to the founder 
 of their creed, nor involve them in condoning it. 
 
 The free toleration of the purer among the creeds 
 around him, which the Prophet had at first enjoined,, 
 gradually changes into intolerance. Persecuted no 
 longer, Mohammed becomes a persecutor himself ; 
 with the Koran in one hand, the scymitar in the other,. 
 he groes forth to offer to the nations the threefold alter- 
 native of conversion, tribute, death. He is once or twice 
 untrue to the kind and forgiving disposition of liis best 
 nature ; and is once or twice unrelenting in the punish- 
 ment of his personal enemies, especially of the Jews, 
 who had disappointed his expectation that they would 
 join him, and of such as had stung him by their lam- 
 poons or libels. He is even guilty more than once of 
 conniving at the assassination of inveterate opponents ; 
 and the massacre of the Bani Koraitza, though they 
 had deserted him almost on the field of battle, and 
 their lives were forfeit bv all the laws of war, moved the 
 misgivings of others than the disaffected. He might,, 
 no doubt, believing, as he did, in his own inspiration, 
 have found an ample precedent for the act in the 
 slaughter of the Midianites by Moses or the Canaanites. 
 by Joshua two thousand years before, or even in the 
 
138 IJO BAMMED AND MOHAmMMEDANISM. 
 
 Avars of Saul and David with neighbouring tribes ; but, 
 judged by any but an Oriental standard of morahty, 
 and by his own conspicuous magnanimity on other 
 occasions, his act, in all its accessories, was one of 
 cold-blooded revenge. 
 
 Can we explain away or extenuate these blots on 
 his memory, or, if we cannot, are they Inconsistent 
 with substantial sincerity and singlemindedness ? 
 Here is a problem of surpassing interest to the psy- 
 chologist, and I have only time to touch lightly 
 upon it. 
 
 In the first place, the change in his character and 
 aims is not to be separated from the general condi- 
 tions of his life. At first he Vv'as a religious and 
 moral reformer only, and could not, even if he would, 
 have met the evils of his time by any other than by 
 moral means. If he was without the advantages, he 
 was also free from the dancrers, of success. A reliction 
 militant is, as all ecclesiastical history shows, very 
 different from^ a religion triumphant. The Prophet in 
 spite of himself became, by the force of circumstances, 
 more than a prophet. Not, indeed, that with him 
 height ever begot high thoughts. He preserved to 
 the end of his career that modesty and simplicity of 
 life vv'hich is the crowning beauty of his character ; 
 but he became a temiporal ruler, and, where the Koran 
 did not make its Vv^ay unaided, the civil magistrate 
 
IIOJV EXPLAINED. 139 
 
 naturally used temporal means. Under such cir- 
 cumstances, and when his followers pressed upon him 
 their belief in the nature of his mission, who can 
 draw the line where enthusiasm ends, and self-decep- 
 tion or even imnosture beG[;ins ? No one who knows 
 
 J. o 
 
 human nature will deny that the two are often per- 
 fectly consistent with each other. Once persuaded 
 fully of his divine mission as a whole, a man uncon- 
 sciously begins to invest his personal fancies and 
 desires with a like sanction : it is not that he tampers 
 with his conscience ; he rather subjects conscience 
 a.nd reason, appetite and affection, to the one domi- 
 nating influence ; and so, as time goes on, with per- 
 fect good faith gets to confound ^^'hat comes from 
 below ^vith what comes from above. What is the 
 meaning of the term ' pious frauds,' except that such 
 acts are frauds in the eyes of others, acts of piety in 
 the eyes of the doer "^ The more fully convinced a 
 man is of the goodness of his cause, the more likely 
 is he to fon'::^et the means in the end ; he need not 
 consciously assert that the end justifies the means, 
 but his eyes are so fixed upon the end that they 
 overlook the interval between the idea and its realisa- 
 tion. He has to maintain a hold over the motley 
 mass of followers that his mission has ijathered round 
 him. Must he not become all things to all to meet 
 their several wants } Perhaps he does become so 
 
I40 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 and, In the process, Avhat he gains in the bulk of his 
 influence he loses in its quality. Its intensity is in 
 inverse proportion to its extension. No man — I 
 quote here, with only such slight alteration as adapts 
 them to my subject, the noble words of George Eliot : 
 * No man, whether prophet, statesman, or popular 
 preacher, ever yet kept a prolonged hold over a 
 mixed multitude without being in some measure 
 degraded thereby. His teaching or his life must be 
 accommodated to the average wants of his hearers, and 
 not to his own finest insight. But, after all, we 
 should regard the life of every great man as a drama,, 
 in which there must be important inward modifica- 
 tions accompanying the outward changes.' ^ Rigid 
 consistency in itself is no great merit, rather the re- 
 verse : what one has a right to demand in a great 
 man is that the intensity of the central truth he has 
 to deliver should become, not less, but more intense ; 
 that that flame shall burn so clear as to throw into 
 the shade other objects which shine with a less bril- 
 liant light ; that the essence shall be pure even if 
 some of the surroundings be alloyed ; and this, I 
 think, if not more than this, with all his faults, we 
 may afiirm of Mohammed. 
 
 On the whole the wonder is to me not how much, 
 but how little, under different circumstances,. Mo- 
 
 ^ Romola, Vol. 11., Chap. V. p. 5. 
 
MORAL VALUE OF CONSTSTENCY. 141 
 
 hammed differed from himself In the shepherd of 
 the desert, in the Syrian trader, in the soHtary of 
 Mount Hira, in the reformer in the minority of one, 
 in the exile of IMedina, in the acknowledged con- 
 queror, in the equal of the Persian Chosroes and the 
 Greek Heraclius, we can still trace a substantial 
 unity. I doubt whether any other man, whose 
 external conditions changed so much, ever himself 
 changed less to meet them : the accidents are 
 changed, the essence seems to me to be the same 
 
 in all. 
 
 Power, as the saying is, no doubt put the man to 
 the test. It brought new temptations and therefore 
 new failures, from which the shepherd of the desert 
 niight have remained free. But happy is the man 
 vvho, living 
 
 ' In the fierce light that beats upon a throne, 
 And blackens every blot,' 
 
 can stand the test as well as did Mohammed. A 
 Christian poet has well asked : — 
 
 * What keeps a spirit v>'holly true 
 To that ideal which he bears ? 
 What record? not the sinless years 
 That breathed beneath the Syrian blue.' 
 
 But it is a current misconception, and, subject to 
 the above explanation, a very great one, that a 
 eradual, but continuous and accelerating moral de- 
 
142 HA AIMED AXD MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 clenslon is to be traced from the time when the 
 fugitive unexpectedly entered Medina in triumph. 
 ' Truth is come — let falsehood disappear,' he said, 
 when, after his long exile, and after the temptations 
 of Medina had done their worst for him, he re-entered 
 the Kaaba, and its three hundred and sixty idols, the 
 famous Hobal amongst them, vanished before him ; 
 and in his treatment of the unbelieving city he was 
 marvellously true to his programme. There was now 
 nothing left in Mecca that could thwart his pleasure. 
 If ever he had worn a mask at all, he would now 
 at all events have thrown it off; if lower aims had 
 gradually sapped the higher, or his moderation had 
 been directed, as Gibbon supposes, by his selfish 
 interests, v/e should now have seen the effect ; now 
 would have been the moment to gratify his ambition, 
 to satiate his lust, to glut his revenge. Is there any- 
 thing of the kind 1 Read the account of the entry of 
 Mohammed into Mecca, side by side v/itli that of 
 Marius or Sulla into Rome. Compare all the at- 
 tendant circumstances, the outrages that preceded, 
 and the use made by each of his recovered power, 
 and we shall then be in a position better to appreciate 
 the magnanimity and moderation of the Prophet of 
 Arabia. There were no proscription lists, no plunder, 
 no wanton revenge. 
 
 The chief blots in his fame are not after his un- 
 
NO CONTINUOUS DECLENSION. 143. 
 
 disputed victory, but during his years of chequered 
 warfare at Medina, and, such as they are, are dis- 
 tributed very evenly over the whole of that time. In 
 other words, he did very occasionally give way to a 
 strong temptation ; but there was no gradual sapping 
 of moral principles, and no deadening of conscience 
 — a verv' imoortant distinction. One or two acts of 
 summary and uncompromising punishment; possibly,, 
 one or two acts of cunning, and, after Khadijah was 
 dead, the violation of one law which he had from 
 veneration for her imposed on others, and had always 
 hitherto kept himself, form no very long bill of in- 
 dictment against one who always admitted he was a 
 man of like passions with ourselves, who was ignorant 
 of the Christian moral law, and who attained ta 
 power after difficulties, and dangers, and misconcep- 
 tions which might have turned the best of men into a 
 suspicious and sanguinary tyrant.^ 
 
 As regards the relaxation of the marriage law in 
 his own favour it must be remembered that, accord- 
 ing to the notions of the Jewish Rabbis, a prophet 
 who was properly commissioned might supersede any 
 
 ^ Yet Spren^rer (I. p. 359), on no more grounds than those here 
 mentioned, can say of Mohammed, that when he attained to power in 
 Medina, ' er wurde zum woUiistigen Theokraten und Ijlutdurstig Ty- 
 rannen, Pabst und Konig.' What Christian Pope or King — to say 
 nothing of Oriental iiders, with whom alone is it fair to compare him 
 — had as great temptations and succumbed to them as little as did 
 Mohammed ? 
 
144 MOHAMMED AhW MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 law ; ^ when Christ broke through the Sabbatarian 
 restrictions of the Pharisees, it was his mission only, 
 .and not his riglit, if he was so commissioned, which 
 they called in question. The answer * He is a Pro- 
 phet ' was a sufficient one to all who could receive it 
 as true. The Arab notions seem to have been sub- 
 stantially similar, and this must be carefully borne in 
 mind in estimating the blame we attribute to the 
 Prophet of Arabia. 
 
 It is no doubt true that some of the revelations of 
 the Koran, particularly the later ones, bear the ap- 
 pearance of having been given consciously for per- 
 sonal and temporary purposes, and these have led, 
 with some show of reason, even such impartial writers 
 as Sir William Muir to accuse Mohammed of ' the 
 high blasphemy of forging the name of God.' But it 
 would be strange indeed if, viewed in the light of 
 v/nat I have said above as to Mohammed's unfalterinc: 
 belief in his own inspiration, he had not occasionally, 
 
 * See Farrars ' Life of Christ,' I. 83, scq. Mir Aulad Ali, whom I 
 ihave quoted above, writes to me on this subject as follows : — ' We 
 Muslims are not bound to follow or accept as law any of the deeds of 
 ■any of the Prophets ; we are only bound to accept what they give us as 
 law. Mohammed has not enjoined polygamy, he has only allowed it 
 under certain conditions. This permission has often been abused ; but 
 whatever its abuses, it has lessened the immorality, the illegitimate births, 
 and the child-murder which are rife in monogamous countries. One 
 Prophet may be right according to us Muslims in practising polygamy, 
 while another may be right in remaining celibate, but it may not be right 
 in others to follow the example of either ; still less is it right to make 
 their example binding.' 
 
DID HE FORGE THE NAME OF GOD? 145 
 
 or even often, revealed in the Koran the mental pro- 
 cesses by which he justified to himself acts about 
 which he may have, at first, felt scruples, or which 
 his contemporaries may have called in question.^ Is 
 not this the true explanation of what is commonly 
 considered to be the deepest stain upon Mohammed's 
 memory, the production of a Sura ^ in which he 
 legalises in God's name his marriage with Zeinab, a 
 divorced wife of his adopted son ? The production 
 of this Sura, whatever else it proves about Moham- 
 med, seems to me to prove not his conscious insin- 
 cerity, but the reverse ; he had already attained his 
 end, why then blazon his shame if shame he felt it to 
 be ? why ' forge the name of God ? ' Why lay him- 
 self open to the crushing retort which his enemies 
 would at once bring against him ? Surely a single 
 act of conscious imposture in the matter of the Koran 
 would have sapped all his strength ; it would have 
 been like 
 
 * The little rift within the lover's lute, 
 Or little pitted speck in garner'd fruit, 
 That rotting inward slowly moulders all.' 
 
 It would have made such a speech as that wherein, at 
 the very close of his life, Samuel-like, he boldly 
 challenged all Musalmans to mention aught that they 
 
 ' Cf. the view of Mohler in his treatise * on the Relation of Islam to 
 the Gospel,' p. 20-22. 
 ' Sura XXXIII. 37. 
 
 L 
 
:i46 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 had against him, impossible : moreover, such an act, 
 if successful, would have been repeated again and 
 again ; the path would have been too slippery and 
 the descent have seemed too easy and inviting for 
 him to recall his footsteps. It seems pertinent also 
 to ask, by way of rebutting the charge, whether he 
 was not at least equally ready, when occasion re- 
 quired, to blame himself for what he had said or done, 
 and to call the whole Musalman world to be witnesses 
 of his self-condemnation ? ^ 
 
 But what are the facts ? Take two samples. 
 
 On one occasion, in a moment of despondency, he 
 made a partial concession to idolatry. He thought to 
 win over the recalcitrant Kuraish to his views by allow- 
 ing that their gods might make intercession with the 
 supreme God. 
 
 « What think ye of Al-Lat, and Al-Uzza, and Manah, the third besides? 
 They are the exalted Females, and their intercession with God may be 
 hoped for.' 
 
 The Kuraish, overjoyed, signified their adhesion to 
 Mohammed, and it seemed that they would bring 
 over all Mecca with them. His friends would have 
 passed the matter over as quietly as possible. So 
 great was the scandal among the Faithful that some 
 of his earliest historians omit it altogether. But the 
 
 ' Cf. Sura XLVIII. 2, ' that God may forgive thee thy preceding and 
 thy subsequent sin.' 
 
DID HE FORGE THE NAME OP GOD? -147 
 
 Prophet's conscience was too tender for that. In an 
 hour of weakness Mohammed had mistaken expe- 
 diency for duty, and having discovered his mistake, he 
 would recall the concession, at all hazards, as pub- 
 licly as he had made it, even at the risk of the impu- 
 tation of weakness and of imposture. The amended 
 version of the Sura ran thus : 
 
 * What think ye of Al-Lat, and Al-Uzza, and Manah, the third besides? 
 They are nought but empty names which ye and your fathers have 
 invented." 
 
 I will give one more instance. It is a memorable 
 one. Mohammed was engaged in earnest conversa- 
 tion with Wallid, a powerful Kuraish, whose conver- 
 sion he much desired. A blind man in very humble 
 circumstances, Abdallah by name, happened to come 
 up, and, not knowing that Mohammed was otherwise 
 engaged, exclaimed, ' Oh, Apostle of God, teach me 
 some part of what God has taught thee.' Mohammed, 
 vexed at the interruption, frowned and turned away 
 from him. But his conscience soon smote him for 
 having postponed the poor and humble to the rich 
 and powerful, and the next day's Sura showed that 
 this * forger of God's name ' was at least as ready to 
 forge it for his own condemnation as in his defence. 
 
 » Sura LIII. ; cf, also XVII. 75, and XXII. 51; see Muir, II. 
 p. 149-158, and Sprenger, II. 17, where there is a curious dissertation 
 on the word Gharanyk, used for Females — 'swans which mount higlier 
 and higher towards God. ' 
 
 L 2 
 
148 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 The Sura is known by the significant title * He 
 frowned,' and runs thus : 
 
 * The Prophet frowned, and turned aside. 
 
 Because the blind man came unto him. 
 And how knowest thou whether he might not have been cleansed from 
 
 his sins, 
 Or whether he might have been admonished, and profited thereby ? 
 
 As for the man that is rich, 
 
 Him thou receivest gi'aciously ; 
 And thou carest not that he is not cleansed. 
 
 But as for him that cometh unto thee earnestly seeking his salvation. 
 And trembling anxiously, him dost thou neglect. 
 
 By no means shouldst thou act thus. ' 
 
 And, ever after this, we are told that, when the Prophet 
 saw the poor blind man, he went out of his way to do 
 him honour, saying ' The man is thrice welcome on 
 whose account my Lord hath reprimanded me,' and 
 he made him twice Governor of Medina.^ 
 
 Mohammed never wavered in his belief in his own 
 mission, nor, what is more extraordinary, in his belief 
 as to its precise nature and well-defined limits. He 
 was a prophet charged with a mission from God ; no- 
 thing less, but nothing more. He might make mis- 
 takes, lose battles, do wrong acts, but none the less 
 
 ^ Sura LXXX., with Sale's note ad loc. ; and Muir, II. p. 128. 
 Sir William Muir tells the story much as I have related it, but seems 
 quite unable to see its gi'andeur, for he only remarks upon it, ' This 
 incident illustrates at once the anxiety of Mohammed to gain over the 
 principal men of the Kuraish, and when he was rejected, the readiness 
 with which he turned to the poor and uninfluential.' Was ever moral 
 sublimity so marred, or heroism so vulgarised ? How Mohammed 
 towers above even his best historians ! 
 
NATURE AND LIMITS OF HIS MISSION 149 
 
 did he believe that the words he spoke were the very 
 words of God. To every Sura of the Koran he 
 prefixed the words ' In the name of God, the Com- 
 passionate, the Merciful,' even as the Hebrew prophet 
 would open his message with his * Thus saith the 
 Lord ; ' and before every sentence and every word of 
 the Sacred Book is to be read, between the lines, the 
 word ' say,' indicating that Mohammed believed, what 
 Moses and Isaiah only believed on special occasions, 
 that in his utterances he was the mere mouthpiece, 
 and therefore the unerring mouthpiece, of the Infinite 
 and the Eternal. He might win his way against 
 superhuman difficulties, preserve a charmed life, do 
 deeds which seemed miracles to others, gain the hom- 
 age of all Arabia, and present in his own person an 
 ideal of morality never before pictured by an Arab ; 
 and yet he never forgot himself, or claimed to be more 
 than a weak and fallible mortal. 
 
 As his view of his own mission is an all-important 
 point in estimating his character, let us deal, in con- 
 cluding this Lecture, with facts alone, and watch his 
 conduct at a few critical epochs which I have purposely 
 selected, as throwing light upon the matter, in its dif- 
 ferent aspects, away from their chronological order and 
 from very different periods of his life. 
 
 When the Persian monarch Chosroes was con- 
 templating with pride, like Nebuchadnezzar of old. 
 
I50' MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the great Artemita that he had built and all its fabu- 
 lous treasures, he received a letter from an obscure 
 citizen of Mecca, bidding him acknowledge Moham- 
 med as the Prophet of God. Chosroes tore the letter 
 into pieces. * It is thus,' exclaimed the Arabian Pro- 
 phet when he heard of it, ' that God will tear his king- 
 dom and reject his supplications.' No prediction could 
 have seemed at the time less likely to be accomplished, 
 since Persia was at its height, and Constantinople at 
 its lowest. But Mohammed lived to see its fulfilment, 
 and yet never claimed in consequence, as others might 
 have done, the power of prophecy. 
 
 While he had as yet only half established his posi- 
 tion, a powerful Christian tribe tendered their submis- 
 sion, if only he would leave their chief some remnant 
 of his power. ' Not one unripe date,' replied Moham- 
 med.^ We remember how the French rhetorician the 
 other day, knowing that his nation, if they are slaves 
 to nothing else, are always slaves to an epigram, pro- 
 longed resistance to the bitter end by his famous de- 
 claration that not 'an inch of their territory nor a stone 
 of their fortresses' would the French surrender. And 
 Ave miay imagine the effect produced upon the handful 
 of Mohammed's Meccan followers who Avere still in 
 exile at Medina by such an answer, coming from one 
 who was certainly no vapid rhetorician, who preferred 
 
 . 1 Muir, Vol. IV. p. 59. , > 
 
MOSEILAMA THE LIAR. 151 
 
 silence to speech, and who never said a thing he did 
 not really mean. 
 
 Moseilama, the most formidable of the rival pro- 
 phets whom Mohammed's success stirred up, thinking 
 that Mohammed's game was a merely selfish one, and, 
 that two might play at it., sent to Mohammed to offer 
 to go shares with him in the good things of the world, 
 which united they might easily divide. The letter was 
 of Spartan brevity : ' Moseilama the apostle of God to 
 Mohammed the apostle of God. — Now let the earth 
 be half mine and half thine.' Mohammed's reply was 
 hardly less laconic : ' Mohammed the apostle of God 
 to Moseilama the liar. — The earth is God's, He giveth 
 it to such of His servants as He pleaseth, and they 
 who fear Him shall prosper.* 
 
 Again mark his conduct under failure or rebuff. 
 He had lost, within three days of each other, Abu 
 Taleb his one protector, and his venerable wife 
 Khadijah, that toothless old woman, as Ayishah 
 long afterwards in the bloom of her beauty called 
 her ; the wife who, as Mohammed indignantly re- 
 plied, ' when he was poor had enriched him, when 
 he was called a liar had alone believed in him, when 
 he was opposed by all the world had alone remained 
 true to him.' ^ What was he to do } Silence and 
 
 * vSprenger characteristically remarks (I. 151) that Mohammed's 
 faithfulness to Khadijah to her dying day was due probably not to his 
 
152 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the desert seemed the one chance of safety, but what 
 did he do ? Followed only by Zeid, his faithful 
 freedman, he went to Tayif, the town after Mecca 
 most wholly given to idolatry ; and, like Elijah in 
 Samaria, he boldly challenged the protection and 
 obedience of the inhabitants. They stoned him out 
 of the city. He returned to Mecca defeated, but not 
 disheartened ; cast down, but not destroyed ; quietly 
 saying to himself, ' If thou, O Lord, art not angry, I 
 am safe ; I seek refuge in the light of thy countenance 
 alone.' * 
 
 After the tide had turned in his favour, and the 
 battle of Bedr had, as it seemed, put the seal to his 
 military success, he was signally defeated and 
 wounded almost to the death at Mount Ohud. 
 People began to desert him ; but a Sura, Moham- 
 med's ' order of the day,' appeared : ' Mohammed is 
 no more than a prophet. What if he had been 
 killed, needs ye go back t He that turneth back 
 
 inclination, but to his dependence on her. Why, then, the. interval 
 before Mohammed maiTied again ? And why, long afterwards, his 
 noble burst of gratitude to her memory when Ayishah contrasted her 
 own youth and beauty with Khadijah's age and infirmities, and asked, 
 *Am not I much better than she?' *No, by Allah,' replied Moham- 
 med ; * no, by Allah ; when I was poor she enriched me,' &c. Was 
 ISIohammed dependent upon the dead ? For cynical remarks of a 
 similar kind see, amongst many other instances, Sprenger, II. 
 19, 23, 86. 
 
 ^ See the story in full in Muir, Vol. II. p. 19S-203. 
 
DEATH OF THE PROPHET. 153 
 
 injureth not God in the least, but himself.' ^ The 
 spell of his untaught eloquence recalled them to 
 themselves, and we are assured that his defeat at 
 Ohud advanced his cause as much as did his victory 
 at Bedr. 
 
 Here is a story which illustrates the nature of the 
 revenge which the Prophet lived to take. He was 
 one day sleeping under a tree, alone, and at a distance 
 from his camp, when he awoke and beheld Durthur, 
 his deadly foe, standing over him with a drawn sword. 
 
 * Oh Mohammed,' cried he, * who is there now to save 
 thee .'* ' * God,' said the Prophet. Struck with awe, 
 Durthur dropped his sword ; Mohammed seized it, and 
 exclaimed in his turn, ' Oh Durthur, who is there now 
 to save thee 1 ' ' No one,' replied Durthur. ' Then 
 learn from me to be merciful ; ' and with these words 
 he gave him back his sword, and made him his 
 firmest friend. 
 
 Ayishah, his favourite wife, one day asked of him, 
 
 * O Prophet of God, do none enter Paradise but 
 through God's mercy .'' ' * None, none, none,' replied 
 he. 'But will not even you enter by your own 
 merits t ' Mohammed put his hand upon his head 
 and thrice replied, ' Neither shall I enter Paradise 
 unless God cover me with His mercy.' ^ There was 
 
 1 Sura III. 138. 2 Mishkat-ul-Masibeh, I. Book IV. 280. 
 
154 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 no ' false certitude of the Divine intentions/ the be- 
 setting temptation of spiritual ambition ; no facile 
 dogmatising upon what he had only to hint to be 
 believed — his own preeminent position in the unseen 
 world. It would have been safe to do so : h a^avk^ 
 Tov ixvOov avevELKas ov/c s-^sl sXsyy^^ov : ^ and how few 
 could have resisted a like temptation ! 
 
 And at the last grand scene of all, when the Pro- 
 phet had met his death, as he had always told his 
 doubting followers he must, and Omar, the Simon 
 Peter of Islam, in the agony of his grief drew his 
 scymitar and wildly rushing in among the weeping 
 Musalmans swore that he would strike off the head 
 of any one who dared to say that the Prophet was 
 dead — the Prophet could not be dead — it was by a 
 gentle reminder of what the Prophet himself had 
 always taught, that the venerable Abu Bakr, the 
 earliest of the Prophet's friends, and his successor in 
 the Khalifate, calmed his excitement : * Is it tlien 
 Mohammed, or the God of Mohammed, that we have' 
 learned to worship ? ' . 
 
 ' Hdt. II. 2^. • 
 
TRUE CHARACTER OF MOHAMMED. 155 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 February 28, 1874. 
 
 MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God Now 
 
 therefore go and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what 
 thou shalt say.— The Hebrew Bible. 
 
 Allahu Akbar— God is most great— there is no God but God, 
 and Mohammed is His messenger.— The Creed of Islam. 
 
 In the concluding part of my last Lecture I discussed 
 at length the question of the character of Mohammed, 
 and we arrived, I think, at the conclusion that, on the 
 one hand, he had grave moral faults which may be 
 accounted for, but not excused, by the circumstances 
 of the time, by the exigencies of his situation, and by 
 the weaknesses of human nature. And on the other, 
 we saw reason to believe that he was not only pas- 
 sionately impressed with the reality of his divine 
 mission in early life, but that the common view of a 
 p-reat moral declension to be traced In his latter years 
 is not borne out by the evidence, and that to the end 
 
156 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 of his career, amidst failures and successes, in life and 
 in preparation for death, he was true to the one prin- 
 ciple with which he started. He became indeed, by 
 the force of circumstances, general and ruler, law- 
 giver and judge of all Arabia ; but above all and 
 before all, he was still a simple prophet delivering 
 God's message in singleness of heart, obeying, as far 
 as he could, God's will, but never claiming to be more 
 than God's w^ak and erring servant. 
 
 And now, perhaps, it is time to ask what was the 
 essence of Mohammed's belief, that which made him 
 what he was, which has given his religion its inex- 
 haustible vitality t How did it resemble, and how 
 did it differ from, the religions which it overthrew, 
 and one of which at least we are accustomed to look 
 upon, and shall, in its pure form as it came from 
 Christ's own lips, and can still be read in Christ's own 
 acts, and even to some extent in the character of His 
 servants, always continue to look upon, as immeasur- 
 ably superior to Mohammedanism .? 
 
 The essence of Mohammedanism is not merely 
 the sublime belief in the unity of God, though it is 
 difficult to us to realise the tumult of the feelings, and 
 the intensity of the life, which must be awakened in a 
 Polytheistic people, who are also imaginative and 
 •energetic, when, on a sudden, they recognise the One 
 in and behind the Many. Mohammed started indeed 
 
ESSENCE OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 157 
 
 With the dogmatic assertion that there was but one 
 God, the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, all 
 powerful, knowing all things, every^vhere present. 
 He reiterates this in a thousand shapes as the fore- 
 front of his message ; ^ and sublimely confident that 
 it need only be stated to ensure ultimate acceptance, 
 he deigns not to offer proof of that which, in his judg- 
 ment, must prove itself. 
 
 But it was more than the unity of God, and the 
 attributes which flow from that conception, which 
 Mohammed asserted. A theoretic assent to this 
 might have had but little influence on practice. 
 What is by its nature immeasurably above man, may 
 also be immeasurably removed from him ; and ac- 
 cordingly Mohammed reasserted that which had been 
 the life of the old Hebrew nation, and the burden ot 
 the song of every Hebrew prophet — that God not 
 only lives, but that He is a righteous and a merciful 
 ruler ; and that to His will it is the duty and the 
 privilege of all living men to bow.^ Nor was the 
 
 * See especially Suras I. and CXII,, the beginning and end of the 
 Koran in the orthodox arrangement ; also Sura XXXV. 41-44. Cf. 
 also Sura II. 19-20, 109; VI. 1-6; XIII. 10, 11 ; XVI. 12-17; 
 LIII. and XCVI. 
 
 2 See this well drawn out in Maurice's 'Religions of the World,' p. 
 21-24. The passage is a most suggestive one. I owe much to it, and 
 it seems to me that here, and in many other passages of his writings, 
 Mr. Maurice did far more, and penetrated far deeper, than is allowed 
 in a very brilliant passage of a recent work (see 'Lite'-ature and 
 Dogma,' p. 345). When the unacknowledged debts of the nineteenth 
 
158 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 sublimity of this doctrine marred in its application by 
 the old Hebrew exclusiveness. The Arabian nation 
 was first called indeed ; but as in Christianity, and as 
 it was not in Judaism, the obligations of the Arabs 
 were to be measured by their privileges, and the call 
 was to be extended through them to the world at 
 large. The Jew surrendered his birthright if he im- 
 parted his faith to other peoples. The Arab sur- 
 rendered his if he did not spread his faith wherever 
 and however he could. 
 
 But Mohammed's assertion of the unity of God 
 . and of His rule over every detail of man's life, was no 
 mere plagiarism from an older faith. The Jewish 
 people at large had, even in their best days, rushed 
 wildly after the worship of alien gods ; at last, indeed, 
 the iron of the Captivity had entered into their souls ; 
 they learned much during their sojourn in the East, 
 but they unlearned more ; they unlearned there, once 
 and for ever, the sin of idolatry. But though they 
 never henceforward worshipped other gods, the higher 
 teaching of their prophets they still too much ig- 
 nored, and the period which might have been the 
 culmination of their glory ended in that tragedy of 
 tragedies which was the immediate precursor of their 
 
 century to its gi"eat ^^Titel■s come to be added up, I am convinced that 
 it will be fully recognised that the mental powers of Mr. INIaurice rank 
 tis high as did the purity and nobility of his life \ and more can hardly 
 be said. 
 
WHAT MOHAMMEDANISM SWEPT AWAY. 159 
 
 fall. The sceptre departed from Judah, but the 
 Jewish exiles in Arabia still clung desperately to the 
 phantom of those proud religious privileges when all 
 which had given some claim to them had disappeared. 
 Christians too, such Christians as Mohammed had 
 ever met, had forgotten at once the faith of the Jews, 
 and that higher revelation of God given to them by- 
 Christ which the Jews rejected. Homoousians and 
 Homoiousians, Monothelites and Monophysites, Jaco- 
 bites and Eutychians, making hard dogmas of things 
 wherein the sacred writers themselves had made no 
 dogma, disputing fiercely whether what was mathe- 
 matically false could be metaphysically true, and 
 nicely discriminating the shades of truth and false- 
 liood in the views suggested to bridge over the abys 
 mal gulf between them ; turning figures into facts, 
 rhetoric into logic, and poetry into prose, had for- 
 gotten the unity of God, while they were disputing 
 about it most loudly with their lips. They busied 
 themselves with every question about Christ except 
 those which might have led them to imitate Christ's 
 life. Now Mohammed came to make a clean sweep 
 of such unrealities. Images : what are the}^ .'' ' Bits 
 of black wood, pretending to be God ; ' ^ philosophical 
 theories, and theological cobwebs. Away with them 
 all ! God is great, and there is nothing else great. 
 
 1 Carlyle, 'Heroes,' p. 226. 
 
l6o MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 This is the Musalman Creed. ' Islam,' that is, man 
 must resign his will to God's, and find his highest 
 happiness in so doing. This is the Musalman life. 
 
 Was there anything in these two principles, an 
 objector may ask, that was either original or new ? 
 There was nothing ; they were as old as the time of 
 Moses, as old, in reality, even as Abraham ; again 
 and again Mohammed asseverates that he has been 
 sent to bring the Arabs nothing new ; he has come 
 only to republish the creed of Abraham which had 
 always existed, however it had been forgotten or neg- 
 lected. Amongst sullen and isolated Jews, amongst 
 wrangling tritheistic Christians, amongst Fetish- 
 worshippers of every grade, came a camel driver, not 
 to teach them what was new, but to remind them of 
 what was old. On Arabian soil more than two 
 thousand years before, there had come to one who 
 was tending his father's flock in the desert, the simple 
 but the startling message, 'I am that I am. Hear, O 
 Israel : the Lord our God is one God ; now therefore 
 go and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what 
 thou shalt say ; ' ^ and at the words, from Africa the 
 chosen people had passed into Asia, slaves had 
 j become freemen, and a family a nation. On that 
 same Arabian soil novv' came the same voice to another 
 shepherd of the desert, and that with effects not less 
 
 ^ Exodus III. 14, lY. 12 ; Deut. VI. 4. 
 
MOHAMMEDANISM A MISNOMER. i6i 
 
 striking, and hardly less fraught with benefit to the 
 world at large : ' Allahu Akbar, God is most great, 
 there is no God but God, and thou, Mohammed, art 
 the Prophet of God.' The mission was accepted and 
 the message proclaimed, and within a century its 
 echoes were heard, and its truth recognised, from 
 Aden to Antioch, and from Seville to Samarkand. 
 
 And I would remark here, and would particularly 
 beg those who are doing me the honour to attend 
 these Lectures to bear in mind, that though I have, 
 in compliance with European custom, often spoken of 
 Mohammedanism and Mohammedans, the name was 
 never used by Mohammed himself, or by his earlier 
 disciples, and, in spite of the reverence paid to their 
 Prophet, it has always been rejected by his followers 
 themselves as a rightful appellation. To quote once 
 more the noble words of Abu Bakr, it was not Mo- 
 hammed, but the God of Mohammed, that the Prophet 
 taught his followers to worship. The creed is ' Islam,' 
 a verbal noun, derived from a root meaning ' submis- 
 sion to ' and ' faith in God,' and the believers who so 
 submit themselves are called Muslims, a participle of 
 the same root, both being connected with the words 
 ' Salam,' or ' peace,' and ' Salym,' or ' healthy.' ^ 
 There was nothing, therefore, theoretically new in 
 what I have described as the central truth of Islam, 
 
 * Sprenger, Vol. I. p. 69. 
 M 
 
i62 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 * for it was this belief that lay at the root of the great- 
 ness of the Jewish nation, and their separation from 
 all other nations. Certain forms of Christianity have 
 asserted it as strongly as did Mohammed. It is this 
 principle which has been the strength of Calvinism 
 and of Puritanism, and in this direction perhaps lies 
 the explanation of the fact that those forms of reli- 
 gion which have been theoretically most fatalistic 
 have by their acts given the strongest practical asser- 
 tion of free-will. This was the spark from heaven 
 which lit the train. In his assertion of this, lay the 
 religious genius of Mohammed. This gave the Arabs 
 ^ unity as a nation, discipline and enthusiasm as an 
 army.' * This sent them forth in their wild crusade 
 against the world ; and, armed with this, they swept 
 away before them every creed, or memory of a 
 creed, which did not then contain any principle so 
 inspiring. 
 
 Such then were the two leading principles of the 
 new creed ; the existence of one God, whose will was 
 to be the rule of life, and the mission of Mohammed 
 to proclaim what that will was. The one doctrine as 
 old, if not older than the time when the father of the 
 faithful left his Chaldean home in obedience to the 
 Divine will ; the other sanctioned indeed, in its 
 general assertion of the prophetic office, by the 
 
 * Maurice, loc. cit. 
 
PRACTICAL DUTIES OF ISLAM 163 
 
 traditionary belief of both Jews and Arabs ; but 
 startling enough in the time at which the revelation 
 came, in the instrument selected, and in the way in 
 which he proclaimed it. In this consists the originality, 
 such as it is, of Mohammedanism. The other articles 
 of faith, added to the two I have already discussed — 
 the written revelation of God's will, the responsibility 
 of man, the existence of angels and of Djinn, the 
 future life, the resurrection, and the final judgment 
 — are to be found, either developed or in germ, in the 
 systems, either of Jews, or Zoroastrians, or Christians. 
 Even in the times of ignorance, the camel tethered 
 to a dead man's grave was an indication that the 
 grave was, even to the wild Arab, not the end of all 
 things.^ . '' 
 
 Nor was there anything much more original in the 
 four practical duties of Islam — in prayer and alms- 
 giving, in fasting and in pilgrimage. Prayer is the 
 aspiration of the human soul towards God, common 
 to every religion, from the rudest Fetishism to the 
 most sublime Monotheism. But it occupies in Islam 
 
 * Sprenger says (1. 4, 301) that the reason why Mohammed refers so 
 often, e.g., in the very first Sura in chronological order, to the 'clot of 
 blood ' from which man was created, is because he looked upon it much 
 as Christians have done to the emerging of the butterfly from the 
 chrysalis, as a proof or illustration of the resurrection. In Sura LIIT. 
 Mohammed says he took not the doctrine merely, but the illustration 
 also, from the roll of Abraham. Cf. Sura'LXXV., entitled 'The 
 Resurrection,' ad fin. : 'Is not the God who formed man from a mere 
 -embryo powerful enough to quicken the dead ? ' 
 
 M 2 
 
1 64 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 a more prominent place both theoretically and practi^ 
 cally than it does in any other religion. Some of the 
 characteristics of Musalman prayer are almost peculiar 
 to it, and render it sometimes, perhaps, more pro- 
 foundly devotional, and sometimes more purely 
 mechanical, than is to be found amongst the followers 
 of any other creed. 
 
 Almsgiving is the most easy and obvious method 
 of evidencing that love to man which leads up to, and 
 is, in its turn, the result of love to God. Fasting is 
 an assertion, though a superficial one, of the great 
 truth that self-denial is a step towards God ; but 
 it is peculiarly liable to abuse as fostering the belief,, 
 so common among the ruder of the Semitic nations,, 
 and still commoner among ascetics in modern times, 
 that God is to be feared rather than loved, and that 
 there is something pleasing to Him in pain as such ; 
 pain, that is, apart from its effect upon the will, and 
 so upon the character. Pilgrimage is a concession to 
 human feelings, not to say to human weakness, 
 common again, in practice, to all the religions of the 
 world. But this last calls, perhaps, for some special 
 remark here, since its actual influence has been so 
 great, while in theory and in reality it is alien alike 
 to Mohammedanism and to Christianity.^ 
 
 ' A high authority, Dr. Badger, has remarked with reference to 
 this passage, that he is at a loss to understand how the Hajj can be 
 
PRACTICAL DUTIES 01 ISLAM. 165 
 
 ' The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this 
 mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.' 
 ' God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must 
 worship Him in spirit and in truth.' But from the 
 time the words were spoken, even to this day, a con- 
 tinuous living stream has poured towards the Holy 
 Land. For nineteen centuries Christian Pilgrims 
 have been seen to leave their homes and kindred, 
 facing, now privations, now dangers, and now ridicule, 
 that they might enjoy the sacred luxury, the ineffable 
 religious rapture, of beholding the city over which the 
 Saviour wept, of standing on the spot which gave 
 Him birth, of gazing on the lake whereon He taught, 
 
 spoken of as in any way alien to Islam, seeing that it is enjoined in the 
 Koran : he has a much greater right to speak on the subject than I have, 
 but I still think that a careful examination of the twenty-second Sura 
 of the Koran, entitled the Pilgrimage, compared with other passages, 
 will justify me in the way in which I have spoken here of it as alien in 
 reality to so spiritual a religion as Islam, even though it is enjoined in 
 the Koran ; as a concession, and an inconsistent concession, to natural 
 weakness rather than as a part of the inner belief of the Prophet, 
 who so emphatically said, ' There is no piety in turning your 
 faces tovrards the East or West, but he is pious who believetli 
 in God.' The gist of the Sura seems to me to be this (cf. 
 Sprenger, II., xvi. 531) : the chief ceremony of the faithful is the 
 pilgrimage, which it is well to observe with all its peculiarities as an 
 historical commemoration (v. 25). Every people has religious rites 
 and ceremonies of its own, and their use will depend on the spirit 
 in v/hich they are performed. ' By no means can the flesh of 
 camels which ye sacrifice reach unto God, neither their blood ; but 
 piety on your part reacheth Him ' (v. 38). But ceremonies are ex- 
 ternals (v. 66) ; the essence of the matter consists in prayer, in 
 giving alms to the poor, in ' cleaving fast to God, to Him who is 
 your liege Lord, a goodly Lord and a great helper ' (v. 77). 
 
1 66 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 and of worshipping in the shrine which covers the 
 rock wherein His body lay. And far be it from me 
 to say, spite of the invention of the true Cross, spite 
 of St. Andrew's lance and the relics of the Apostles, 
 spite of the Crusades themselves, spite of the keys of 
 the Holy Sepulchre, and even of the imposture of the 
 Holy Fire, that the evils belonging to this reverence 
 for places have altogether predominated over the 
 good. A scientific and unimaginative age laughs at 
 the weaknesses and the follies involved, but it forgets 
 the dauntless faith and the heroic endurance, the 
 sacrifice of self, and the romance of danger ; it forgets 
 that it is the oltice of religion to deal with these very 
 human weaknesses and follies, and make the best of 
 such materials as it has to work upon. 
 
 Christ swept away some of the abuses of the 
 temple worship, and looked forward to its ultimate 
 abolition ; but He did not sweep away the temple 
 itself He rather paid it its customary honours. 
 Mohammed saw the dangers of the Kaaba worship, 
 and, once and again, proposed to destroy it alto- 
 gether ; but he had to deal with an historical faith, 
 and with a shrine of immemorial antiquity, one v/hich 
 Diodorus Siculus, a hundred years before the Christian 
 era, tells us, was even then ' most ancient, and was 
 exceedingly revered by the whole Arab race.' The 
 traditions of the Kaaba ran back to Ishmael and 
 
PILGRIMAGE— ITS USE AND ABUSE. 167 
 
 Abraham, nay even to Seth and Adam ;^ and, as its 
 very name, ' Beit Allah,' shows, it might, in its first 
 rude shape, have been erected by some such ancient 
 patriarch as he who raised a pillar of rough stone 
 where in his sleep he had seen the angels ascending 
 and descending, and called it ' Bethel or Beit Allah : 
 this is the house of God, and this the gate of 
 heaven.' Arab poets went further back stUl, and 
 assigned to the holy city a date to be reckoned rather 
 by astronomical or geological time than historical : 
 even ' before Sirius was created,' so says a patriotic 
 poem which commemorates the miraculous repulse of 
 Abrahah, the Christian King of Abyssinia, from the 
 Kaaba, ' even before Sirius was created, was Mecca a 
 holy place : therefore should even the mightiest 
 among men yield it homage. Ask the Nagashy of 
 Abyssinia about it : sixty thousand of them returned 
 not again to their homes ; they quitted life : God sent 
 a mighty wind which scattered them like a flock of 
 sheep.' '^ Now Mohammed cherished all the family 
 associations of a Haschimite,^ as well as all the local 
 
 * Cf. Sura III. 90. ' The first temple that was founded for man- 
 kind was that in Becca (place of resort, i.e., Mecca) — Blessed, and a 
 guidance to human beings. In it are evident signs, even the stand- 
 ing-place of Abraham, and he who entereth it is safe. And the pilgrim- 
 age to the temple is a service due to God from those who are able to 
 journey thither.' This sentence is still woven into the covering of the 
 Kaaba, sent annually by the Sultan. 
 
 2 Sirat-er-ragoul, I. 29. 
 
 ' See a curious conversation between Mohammed and Ayishah on 
 
1 68 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 affections of a Meccan patriot ; and the family, and 
 the place, and the country, the historical lore, and the 
 religious imagination, combined to save the sacred 
 shrine. Mohammed swept away the idols of the 
 Kaaba ; he abolished the nude processions ^ and the 
 other abuses of its worship ; but he retained the 
 Kaaba itself ; and the quaint rites, which were old in 
 Mohammed's time, are still religiously observed by 
 the whole Mohammedan world. Seven times the 
 pilgrim walks around the sacred mosque, seven times 
 he kisses the Black Stone ; he drinks the brackish 
 water of the sacred well Zemzem, buries the parings 
 of his nails, and the hair he has at length shaved, in 
 the consecrated ground ; he ascends Mount Arafat 
 and showers stones on the three mysterious pillars.- 
 Nor is the Kaaba present to the mind at those times 
 only when the prescribed pilgrimage is near at hand, 
 in prospect or in retrospect. The first architectural 
 requisite of every Musalman house of prayer is the 
 niche or arch which points with mathematical pre- 
 
 the Kaaba, illustrating the strong family feelings of the Prophet. 
 Sprenger, I. iv. 315. 
 
 » Sura VII. 27 sq. Cf. XXII. 27-40, and Mishkat-ul-Masibeh, I. 
 Book XL 619. 
 
 2 A plan of the Kaaba, as taken by Ali Bey, and a full description 
 of the Pilgrim ceremonies, which he himself went through, may be 
 seen in Burton's 'Pilgrimage,' III. 61. Burckhardt and Burton have 
 both described the Black Stone minutely from personal observation ; 
 and a picture of it, the size of the original, is given in Muir, II. 18. 
 
THE KAABA AND ITS HISTORY. 169 
 
 cislon to the sacred pile; and, guided by this, every 
 devout Musalman turns five times a day towards the 
 Kiblah of the world, in earnest prayer to God. 
 * That man,' says Dr. Johnson, ' has little to be envied 
 whose patriotism would not gain force on the plains 
 of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warm 
 among the ruins of lona.' The ceremonies of the 
 Kaaba may perhaps seem to us ridiculous, but the 
 shrine is one which kindled the feelings of the Arab 
 patriot, and roused the hopes of the Bedouin of the 
 desert, ages before Miltiades fought, and tens of ages 
 before Columba preached. It has been consecrated 
 in its later history by its connection with the grandest 
 forward movement that the Eastern world has ever 
 known ; and, in spite of the mummeries and the 
 abuses which have grown round the pilgrimage of the 
 Hajj in the course of ages, I should be slow indeed 
 to assert that the feelings which still draw, year after 
 year, Musalmans by myriads from the burning sands 
 of Africa, from the snows of Siberia, and the coral 
 reefs of the Malays, towards a barren valley in 
 Arabia, do not, on the whole, elevate rather than 
 depress them in the scale of humanity. In their own 
 rough and imperfect way, they raise the mind of the 
 nomad and the shepherd from the animal life of the 
 present to the memories of the distant past, and the 
 hopes of the far future. They are a living testimony 
 
 
I70 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 to the unity of God, and a homage paid by the un- 
 progressive nations of the world to that Prophet who 
 softened the savage breast, and elevated the savage 
 mind, and taught them what, but for him, they had 
 never learned at all. 
 
 It will be apparent, from what I have already said, 
 that of the previous faiths existing in the world, the 
 one which influenced Mohammed most was, beyond 
 all question, Judaism. Insomuch, that one whose loss 
 all who take interest in Eastern questions are now 
 deploring, the late Emanuel Deutsch, summed up 
 . the connection between them in the celebrated dictum, 
 that ' when the Talmud was gathered in, the Koran 
 began — post hoc ergo propter hoc* And he went on 
 to endorse and to develope what Dean Milman had 
 hinted before him, that Islam was little else than 
 a republication of Judaism, with such modifications 
 as suited it to Arabian soil, plus the important 
 addition of the prophetic mission of Mohammed. 
 The gifted author was, perhaps, from the very extent 
 of his knowledge of Talmudical literature, prone to 
 trace its influence everywhere ; and the proposition 
 is, perhaps, stated a little too nakedly, and, as he, 
 no doubt, w^ould have been the first to admit, needs, 
 some important qualifications ; ^ but nobody would 
 
 ^ It must be remembered also that in the new fcrm of the faith the 
 ceremonialism which marked Judaism for the time almost entirely 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE TALMUD ON THE KORAN. 171 
 
 deny that It is substantially true. Indeed, the 
 general connection between race and creed has been 
 proved by the Science of Comparative Religion to be 
 so intimate, that it could hardly in any case have 
 been otherwise. It seems a cruel destiny that allows 
 a man of great original genius to accumulate such 
 vast stores of recondite learning, and then snatches 
 him away before he has had time to do more than 
 leave the world dimly and sadly conscious of what it 
 has lost in losing him ! 
 
 Anyhow, the Koran teems with ideas, allusions, 
 and even phraseology, drawn not so much from the 
 written as from the oral Jewish law, from the tradi- 
 tions that grew round it, and the commentaries on it. 
 The Talmud, in its two divisions of Halacha and 
 Haggada, sums up the intellectual and social and 
 religious life of the Jews during a period of nearly 
 a thousand years. It is the meeting point of the 
 three Monotheistic creeds of the world ; and, even 
 with the imperfect information that Eastern scholars 
 have yet given respecting it, it has done much to 
 throw light upon them all. Mohammed was never 
 
 disappeared ; and its exclusive spirit permanently and completely. The 
 propagandist and missionaiy spirit of Islam is a point in which it com- 
 pares most favourably with Judaism. For a full account of the influence 
 of the Essenic communities and their doctrines on the rise of Islam, see 
 Sprenger, I. 17-21, and 30-35 ; and for that of the Ebionites or 
 Judaising Christians to the East of the Jordan, p. 21-28. 
 
172 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 backward to acknowledge the intimate connection 
 between his faith and that of the Jews. And in 
 more than one passage of the Koran he refers with 
 equal respect to their oral and to their written law. 
 Nor did Christ really draw so broad a distinction 
 between these two as might be imagined from the 
 sweeping way in which He sometimes denounces 
 the Scribes and Pharisees. ' Whatsoever they that 
 sit in Moses' seat bid you observe, that observe and 
 do.'^ And it is incontestable that the Pharisees, 
 as a body, contained some of the best and noblest — 
 Hillel and Shammai, Gamaliel and St. Paul — as it 
 contained some of the worst and meanest, of their 
 nation. 
 
 And, accordingly, Mohammed, during the early 
 years of the Hijrah, struggled hard, and, as it might 
 have seemed to him, w^ith every prospect of success, 
 to secure the adhesion of the Jewish tribes who dwelt 
 round Medina. He appealed to their Scriptures, 
 which, he said, he came not to destroy, but to fulfil, 
 and which, as he argued, for those who had eyes to 
 see, pointed to him. ' A prophet shall the Lord your 
 God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; 
 to him shall ye hearken.' Was he not like unto 
 Moses } he asked again and again ; and did he not 
 
 ^ St. Matt. XXIII. 2 and 3, See this well ai-gued in an article on 
 the Talmud, Edinburgh Revieio for July 1873, 
 
EXCLUSIVENESS OF JUDAISM. 173 
 
 spring from their brethren, the children of Ishmacl ? 
 ' In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed : ' 
 v/ere Abraham's descendants by Ishmael, he asked, 
 to be altogether excluded from this blessing, and had 
 they not nov/ their part of the prophecy to fulfil, as 
 Abraham's descendants by Isaac had already fulfilled 
 theirs ? ' The Lord came from Sinai, He rose up 
 from Mount Seir unto them. He shined forth from 
 Mount Paran.' ^ From Sinai had come the law of 
 Moses, so argued others for Mohammed, if he did not 
 argue for himself, from Mount Seir the Gospel ; and 
 now from Paran, the hills round Mecca, had come the 
 Koran.^ He adapted the fasts and the feasts of the 
 new religion to the Jewish model. He took from 
 them the law of usury and the law of inheritance. 
 He owes to them some of his regulations respecting 
 ablutions and unclean animals. He even, till he 
 could hope no longer, made Jerusalem the Kiblah of 
 the world for the five daily prayers. 
 
 It must have surprised Mohammed, with his half 
 
 ' Deut. III. 2. 
 
 - Other passages of Scripture taken by Mohammed himself, or by 
 Musalman doctors, to refer to Islam, are Gen, XVI I. 20 ; Isa. XXI. 7, 
 XLII. LXIII. 1-6; Habakkuk III. 3; John I. 21, 'art thou that 
 Prophet? ' John XIV, 16 ; Rev. VI. 4. The treatment of the passage 
 in Isa. XXI, 7 is interesting : the watchman, according to the right 
 translation of the Hebrew original, ' saw a chariot M'lth a couple of riders, 
 the one a rider on an ass, the other on a camel :' if, as Christian con- 
 troversialists maintained, the Prophet of Nazareth was one, is not, so 
 argue the Musalman doctors, the Prophet of Mecca the other ? 
 
174 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 knowledge of their history, that the Jews should be 
 unable to enter into his views of a great Catholic 
 creed, or Religion of Humanity — the creed of 
 Abraham — embracing Jews, Arabs, and Christians 
 in one body. But it can surprise no one who has 
 ever in any degree entered into the religious genius 
 of the Jewish race, or who has reflected on the 
 almost insuperable difficulties which lay in the way 
 of the Jews accepting that higher creed, the Author 
 of which it is their eternal honour to have produced, 
 and their tragic destiny to have rejected. And the 
 Bani Kainucaa, and the Bani Nadhir, the Bani 
 Kuraitza, and the Jews of Kheibar, bitterly expe- 
 rienced in Mohammed's subsequent treatment of 
 them the truth of the now-all-too-familiar maxim in 
 ecclesiastical history, that they who differ least in 
 religious matters hate the most. 
 
 It is impossible to gain for oneself, and almost 
 equally so to give to others within a short space of 
 time, anything like an adequate idea either of the 
 form or of the contents of the book of which Moham- 
 med, whatever the general influences brought to bear 
 upon his mind, was the undisputed author, and which 
 still underlies the life of the vast fabric of the 
 Mohammedan world. In my First Lecture I com- 
 pared and contrasted the Koran with the Bible ; but 
 at is necessary, perhaps, to say something more of its 
 
HISTORY OF THE KORAN. 175 
 
 leading characteristics, or the want of them. The 
 Koran defies analysis, for that presupposes something 
 like method in the thing to be analysed. It can 
 hardly be characterised by any one epithet, for there 
 is not a single Sura of any length which sustains a 
 uniform character throughout. It has often been re- 
 marked that there is no more striking proof of the 
 discrepancies of national taste than the diametrically 
 opposite opinions held by the cultivated classes of 
 East and West on the literary merits of the Koran. 
 Having performed repeatedly, for the purpose of 
 these Lectures, a task which Bunsen and Sprenger and 
 Renan all pronounce to be almost impossible — that of 
 reading the Koran continuously from beginning to 
 end, both in the orthodox and chronological order 
 — I have acquired a better right, perhaps, than most 
 people to endorse the superficial opinion that dulness 
 is, to a European who is ignorant of Arabic, the pre- 
 vailing characteristic of the book as a whole until 
 he begins to make a minute study of it. The 
 importance of the subjects it handles, the unique 
 interest attaching to the speaker, and the unaffected 
 reverence with which every utterance is still regarded 
 by so large a portion of the world, are insufficient to 
 redeem it from this general reproach. 
 
 Endless assertions as to what the Koran is, and 
 what it is not, warnings drawn from previous 
 
176 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Arabian history, especially the lost tribes of Ad and 
 Thamud ; Jewish or Arab legends of the heroes 
 of the Old Testament, stories told, and, it must be 
 added, often spoiled in the telling of them ; laws^ 
 ceremonial and moral, civil and sumptuary ; personal 
 apologies ; curses showered upon Abu Lahab or the 
 whole community of the Jews ; all this alternates, 
 with sublime revelations of the attributes of the 
 Godhead, bursts of admiration for Christ Himself^ 
 though not for the views held of Him by His so- 
 called followers, flights of poetry, scathing rebukes of 
 the hypocrite, the ungrateful, the unmerciful. 
 
 That the book as a whole is a medley, however it 
 may be arranged, will seem only natural when we 
 remember the way in which it was composed, pre- 
 served, edited, and stereotyped. Dictated from time 
 to time by Mohammed to his disciples, it was by 
 them partly treasured in their memories, partly written 
 down on shoulder-bones of mutton or oyster-shells, 
 on bits of wood or tablets of stone, vrhich, being 
 thrown pell-mell into boxes, and jumbled up together, 
 like the leaves of the Cumean Sibyl after a gust of 
 wind, were not put into any shape at all till after the 
 Prophet's death by order of Abu Bakr. The work of 
 the editor consisted simply in arranging the Suras in 
 the order of their respective lengths, the longest first, 
 the shortest last ; and, though the book once after- 
 
HISTORY OF KORAN. 177 
 
 wards passed through the editor's hands, this is sub- 
 stantially the shape in which the Koran has come 
 down to us. Various readings, which would seem, 
 however, to have been of very slight importance, 
 having crept into the different copies, a revising com- 
 mittee was appointed by order of the Khalif Othman, 
 and, an authorized edition having been thus prepared 
 *to prevent the texts differing, like those of the Jews 
 and Christians,' all previous copies were collected 
 and burnt ! 
 
 Nor is it to be wondered at that the principle of 
 arrangement, combined with the impossibility of 
 keeping the rhyme or rhythm in any translation, have 
 prevented European critics, as a body, from endorsing 
 the judgment, not merely of Mohammed himself, for 
 that, if it had stood alone, might be looked upon as 
 partial, but also of the whole Eastern world. 
 
 * If ye be in doubt as to our revelation to our ser- 
 vant, then produce a Sura like unto it, and summon 
 your witnesses, God and all, if ye be men of truth.' ^ 
 
 And again, ' If men and genii were assembled to- 
 gether that they might produce a book like the Koran, 
 they must fail' ^ 
 
 It is to be remarked that Mohammed and Mo- 
 hammed's enemies are quite at one as to the merits of 
 the book. The Arabs said that the Koran could not 
 
 ' Sura II. 21. 2 Sura XVII. 90. 
 
 N 
 
178 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 be Mohammed's work because it was too good. Mo- 
 hammed repHed to the effect that they were both right 
 and wrong. They were right, for it was too good for 
 Mohammed uninspired ; they were wrong, for it was 
 too good to have come originally from any one but 
 the All-Merciful.i 
 
 Of course, by the existing arrangement, even such 
 psychological development as there was in the Koran 
 has been obscured ; for, as a rule, what the editor put 
 last comes really first. These are the burning utter- 
 ances of the Prophet who knows no influence but the 
 inspiration pent within him ; in these are the pith and 
 poetry of the whole ; while the elaborate and laboured 
 arguments, the apologies pro vita sua, are the product 
 of the mind which the force of circumstances and the 
 love of spiritual power, that most exquisite and most 
 dangerous of fascinations, had driven to become con- 
 scious of itself. The very titles of the earlier Suras, 
 the imprecations with which they abound, the imagery 
 they employ, suggest the shepherd of the desert, the 
 despised visionary, the poet and the prophet. ' The 
 folding up,' ' the cleaving in sunder,' ' the celestial 
 signs,' ' the unity,' ' the overwhelming,' ' the striking,' 
 'the inevitable,' 'the earthquake,' 'the war-horses,' 
 tell their own story. There are passages in these, 
 though it must be admitted they are rare, which may 
 
 ^ Sura XVI. 105, compared \\\\X\ XXV. 5, etc. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF KORAN. 179 
 
 be compared in grandeur even with some of the sub- 
 limest passages of Job, of David, or of Isaiah. 
 
 Take, for instance, the vision of the last day with 
 which the eighty-first Sura, ' The folding up,' begins : 
 
 * When the sun shall be folded up, 
 And when the stars shall fall, 
 And when the mountains shall be set in motion, 
 And when the she-camels with young shall be neglected, 
 And when the wild beasts shall be huddled together, 
 And when the seas shall boil, 
 
 And when souls shall be joined again to their bodies, 
 And when the female child that had been buried alive shall ask for 
 
 what crime she was put to death, 
 And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled, 
 And when the Heavens shall be stripped a^^'ay like a skin, 
 And when Hell shall be made to blaze, 
 And when Paradise sliall be brought near, 
 Eveiy soul shall know what it has done.' 
 
 Allusions to the monotony of the desert ; the 
 sun in its rising brightness ; the moon in its splen- 
 dour ; are varied in the Koran by much more vivid 
 mental visions of the Great Day when men shall be 
 like moths scattered abroad, and the mountains shall 
 become like carded wool of various colours, driven by 
 the wind. No wonder that Labyd, the greatest poet 
 of his time, forbore to enter the poetic lists with 
 Mohammed when he recited to him the description of 
 the infidel in the second Sura. 
 
 * They are like one who kindleth a fire, and when 
 
 it hath thrown its light on all around him, God taketli 
 
 X 2 
 
I So MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 away the light and leaveth him in darkness, and they 
 cannot see.' 
 
 * Deaf, dumb, bHnd, therefore they shall not retrace 
 their steps/ 
 
 * They are like those who, when there cometh a 
 storm-cloud out of heaven big with darkness, thunder 
 and lightning, thrust their fingers into their ears be- 
 cause of the thunder-clap for fear of death. God is 
 round about the infidels.' 
 
 * The lightning almost snatcheth away their eyes : 
 so oft as it gleameth on them, they walk on in it ; 
 but when darkness closeth upon them, they stop ; 
 and if God pleased, of their ears and of their 
 eyes would He surely deprive them ; verily God is 
 almighty.' 
 
 And at the end of the same Sura, which, it is to be 
 remembered, appeared quite late in the Prophet's life, 
 at a period when it might have been expected that the 
 cares of government would dim the brightness of the 
 Prophet's visions, we find the sublime description of 
 Him vvhoni it had been the mission of his life to 
 proclaim, and which is still engraved on precious stones, 
 and worn by devout Musalmans. 
 
 * God ! there is no God but He, the Living, the 
 Eternal. Slumber doth not overtake Him, neither 
 sleep ; to Him belongeth all that is in heaven and 
 in earth. Who is he that can intercede v/ith Him but 
 
POETRY OF KORAN. i8i 
 
 by His own permission? He knoweth that which is 
 past and that which is to come unto them, and they 
 shall not comprehend anything of His knowledge 
 but so far as He pleaseth. His throne is extended 
 over heaven and earth, and the upholding of both is no 
 burden unto Him. He is the Lofty and the Great.' 
 
 Such is the theology of the Koran ; and here, in 
 the same grand Sura, is perhaps the best summary of 
 its morality : — 
 
 * There is no piety in turning your faces towards 
 the East or the West, but he is pious who believeth 
 in God, and the Last Day, and the Angels, and 
 the Scriptures and the Prophets ; who for the love of 
 God disburseth his wealth to his kindred, and to 
 the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and 
 those who ask, and for ransoming ; who observeth 
 prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and who is of those 
 who are faithful to their engagements when they have 
 engaged in them, and patient under ills and hardships 
 and in time of trouble; these are they who are just, 
 and those who fear the Lord.' 
 
 Almost equally well too, as a proof of his poetic 
 inspiration, might have Mohammed quoted that other 
 description of Lifidelity also produced late in his 
 life, and pronounced by Sir William Muir and by 
 Emanuel Deutsch to be one of the crrandest in the 
 whole Koran. 
 
1 82 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 ' As to the Infidels, their works are Hke the Serab 
 / 
 ' on the plain/ which the thirsty traveller thinketh to 
 
 be water, and then when he cometh thereto, he findeth 
 
 it to be nothing ; but he findeth God about him, and 
 
 \He will fully pay him his account ; for swift in taking 
 
 an account is God ; 
 
 ' Or as the darkness over a deep sea, billows riding 
 upon billows below, and clouds above ; one darkness on 
 another darkness : when a man stretcheth forth his. 
 hand he is far from seeing it ; he to whom God doth 
 not grant light, no light at all hath he.' - 
 
 Strange and graphic accounts have been presented 
 
 to us by Ayishah of the physical phenomena attending 
 
 the Prophet's fits of inspiration. He heard as it were 
 
 the ringing of a bell ; he fell dov/n as one dead ; he 
 
 sobbed like a camel ; he felt as though he were being 
 
 rent in pieces, and when he came to himself he felt as 
 
 thoueh words had been written on his heart. And 
 
 when Abu Bakr, * he Avho would have sacrificed father 
 
 and mother for Mohammed,' burst into tears at the 
 
 sight of the Prophet's whitening hair, *Yes,' said 
 
 Mohammed, ' Hud and its sisters, the Terrific Suras, 
 
 have turned it Avhite before its time.' ^ 
 
 ^ i.e. the Mirage of the Desert. 
 
 - Sura XXIV. 39, 40. See Muir, III. 308; and Deutsch, 'Islam,^ 
 in 'Quarterly Review,' X^o. 254, p. 346. 
 
 3 Suras XL, Hud ; LVL, ' The Inevitable ; ' CI., ' The Striking.^ 
 See Muir, II. 88. 
 
FITS OF INSPIRATION. 183 
 
 But in order to make the general outline of Mo- 
 hammed's system, which I am attempting to draw, as 
 little imperfect as it is possible for me to make it within 
 the limits I have prescribed myself, it is necessary to 
 touch upon three difficult questions, Avhich have ac- 
 quired different degrees of prominence at successive 
 periods in the history of Mohammedanism — questions 
 which have been much misunderstood, and sometimes 
 intentionally misrepresented, and which call more 
 loudly even than other matters which we have been 
 considering for a laborious investigation and a candid 
 judgment. They need also above all things the his- 
 torical sense, which does not apply the standard of the 
 nineteenth century to the seventh, ot Europeans to 
 Asiatics, or of a high civilisation to semi-barbarism ; 
 and which is content to balance the evil against the 
 good, without requiring a verdict either for an absolute 
 acquittal or an uncompromising condemnation. The 
 three questions I refer to are the relation of Moham- 
 medanism to Miracles, to Fatalism, and to wars for 
 the sake of Religion. I propose in the remainder of 
 this Lecture to deal with these in succession ; not 
 I hope consciously shirking any difficulty, or glossing 
 over what is unquestionably bad, but, of course, not 
 professing in any degree to exhaust the subject. 
 
 First, then, Miracles. Mohammedanism is a 
 system in many respects unique, but in none more 
 
i84 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 SO than in this, that alone of the great reh'gions of 
 the world it does not, in its authoritative documents, 
 rest its claims to reception upon miracles ; and yet 
 the attitude of Mohammed towards the miraculous 
 has been made the ground by different people of very 
 conflicting accusations. Superficial observers up to 
 the middle of the last century, and Christian mission- 
 aries of later times, whose zeal has not always been 
 tempered by accurate knowledge of their subject, 
 fastening on the fantastic character of the few miracles 
 attributed to Mohammed by the pious credulity of his 
 followers or the ' successors,' have triumphantly torn 
 the mask from the * impostor,' and have gone on to 
 contrast, as well they might from their point of view, 
 the purposeless character and impossibility of his 
 supposed miracles, Avith the sober nature and the 
 moral purpose which underlie the miracles of the New 
 Testament, however supernatural they may be. 
 Other Y/riters — White in his ' Bampton Lectures,' 
 and Paley in his 'Evidences of Christianity,' and 
 Butler in his 'Analogy' — preferring to appeal to 
 what Mohammed said of himself, rather than to what 
 was said of him by others, have driven home the 
 contrast between Mohammedanism and Christianity 
 by pointing out that Christianity is attested by super- 
 natural manifestations, and is therefore Divine, while 
 Mohammedanism is neither the one nor the other. 
 
THE MIRACULOUS, 185 
 
 Let US enquire what the Koran itself, the only trust- 
 worthy authority on the subject, says, and then make 
 one or two remarks on the general question. 
 
 In the thirteenth Sura we read, — 
 
 ' The unbelievers say, Unless a sign be sent down 
 with him from his Lord, we will not believe. But thou 
 art a preacher only, O Mohammed ! ' 
 
 Mohammed replies that God alone can work 
 miracles ; and, after specifying some of them, he 
 5ays : — 
 
 ' God alone knoweth that which is hidden, and 
 that which is revealed. He is the great and the 
 Most High.' 
 
 In the seventh Sura the Infidels ask why Mo- 
 hammed had not been sent with miracles, like 
 previous prophets } Because, replied Mohammed, 
 miracles had proved inadequate to convince. Noah 
 had been sent with signs, and with what effect.? 
 Where was the lost tribe of Thamud > They had 
 refused to receive the preaching of the prophet Sahleh 
 unless he showed them a sign, and caused the rock to 
 bring forth a living camel. He did what they asked. 
 In scorn they had cut off the camel's feet, and then, 
 daring the Prophet to fulfil his threats oi judgment, 
 were found dead in their beds next morning, stricken 
 by the angel of the Lord. There are some seven- 
 teen places in the Koran in which Mohammed is 
 
i86 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 challenged to work a sign, and he answers them all 
 to the same effect 
 
 There are in the whole of the sacred book only 
 two supposed exceptions to the attitude thus assumed 
 by him ; and those who know how large a part 
 the Miraj, or miraculous journey on the Borak/ bears 
 in popular conceptions of Mohammedanism will learn 
 with surprise, if they have not gone much into the 
 matter, that there is only one passage in the Koran 
 which can be tortured into an allusion to the journey 
 to heaven. 
 
 ' Praise be to Him who transferred His servant by 
 night from the sacred temple to one that is more 
 remote.' ^ 
 
 To make this refer at all to the Miraj, we have to 
 insert the word ' Mecca ' in one place, and Jerusalem 
 or * seventh heaven ' in another, and this, though in 
 the sixtieth verse of the same Sura Mohammed tells 
 us he was not sent with miracles, because people 
 would not believe them ; and in the sixty-second 
 verse express mention is made of a vision he had 
 had, beyond doubt of this very journey ! So, too, in 
 the verse : ' The hour hath approached and the moon 
 hath been split in sunder : ' ^ people were so anxious 
 
 » Borak after all means only Lightning ; the Barak of the Jews ; the 
 Earca of the Carthaginians. 
 
 2 Sura XVII. i. ^ Sura LIV. i. 
 
MOHAMMED'S ATTITUDE TO MIRACLES. 187 
 
 to see an allusion to their own extravagant invention 
 of the moon's descending on the Kaaba, and entering 
 Mohammed's sleeve, that they forgot that ' the hour ' 
 means 'the hour of judgment,' and that the tense 
 used is the prophetic preterite. To the eye of the 
 Semitic ' nabi,' whether Jewish or Arab, the future is- 
 as the past.^ 
 
 Without discussing the question of miracles at 
 length, I would make three remarks on the general 
 subject : — First, that in a new religion the real cause 
 for wonder is, not that it claims to be founded on 
 miracles, but that it should ever be able to profess to- 
 do without them. In certain stages of the human 
 mind there is no natural phenomenon which will not 
 bear a supernatural interpretation. In fact, the super- 
 natural is then the rule ; the natural, the exception. 
 Gibbon, I think, has somewhere asked whether there 
 exists a single instance in ecclesiastical history of a 
 Father of the Church claiming for himself the power 
 of working miracles, and I am not aware that the 
 question has ever been answered in the affirmative.. 
 And yet we know that during many centuries there 
 was hardly a Father of the Church who did not have 
 miracles attributed to him by other men of equal, or 
 
 1 Cf. the past tense used in Sura XCVIII., called 'The Victory'— 
 'Verily, we have won for thee an undoubted victor}',' believed to point, 
 to the conquest of INIecca two years later. 
 
1 88 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 even greater, reputed sanctity. Among many others 
 I need only mention the names of St. Benedict and 
 St. Martin of Tours, of St. Bernard and St, Francis of 
 Assisi. They attribute even to inanimate remains, 
 and to rehcs, which were often fictitious, powers v/hich 
 they would never dream of claiming for themselves. 
 St. Augustine, whose honesty is above suspicion, tells 
 us gravely that he had ascertained, on certain evi- 
 dence, that some small fragments of the disinterred 
 relics of St. Stephen had, in his own diocese, within 
 two years, performed no less than seventy miracles, 
 and three of them raisings from the dead ! St. Ber- 
 nard was believed by his admirers to have excommu- 
 nicated some flies which teased him, and 'they 
 straightway fell down in heaps.' And if such be the 
 mental atmosphere of a Church in its adolescence, 
 a fortiori will an age which is capable of producing 
 or receiving a new religion throw a mystic halo of 
 supernaturalism round the supreme objects of its 
 reverence. Even if the founder himself disclaims the 
 power of working miracles, they will be thrust upon 
 him in the most perfect good faith by the warm 
 imagination of his disciples. 
 
 Secondly, and what would seem to follow from 
 my first remark : in proportion as exact knowledge 
 advances, the sphere of the supernatural is narrowed ; 
 anci therefore a proof which is fitted for an imaginative 
 
RELIGIOUS INSTINCT AN ULTIMATE FACT. 189 
 
 and creative age is not best suited for a critical and 
 scientific one. Many minds, no doubt, will always 
 crave the supernatural, and they will always find 
 plenty of it ; but to many, also, in an age like this, 
 miracles have been a stumbling-block, and have seemed 
 a reason for rejecting the religion which is made to 
 rest mainly on them. Where there is a choice, it is at 
 least wise to select the strongest ground we have ; nor 
 is there any fear that Science will ever explain too 
 much. Behind what she explains, there will always 
 remain the unexplained and the unexplainable. Let 
 her classify and explain the phenomena of Mind and 
 Matter as she will, but will she ever be able to tell us 
 what Mind and Matter are themselves? Let her 
 analyse the springs of human action, and dissect the 
 complex anatomy of the human conscience ; but the 
 religious instinct Vv^ll still remain, as an ultimate fact 
 of human nature ; and that instinct will find without, 
 or supply from its own resources, the verities with 
 which it deals, the verities which supplement and 
 explain to it the facts of Nature, and are not explained 
 by them ; which assure us that this life is not the only 
 life, nor death extinction ; and that love, the main 
 source of human happiness, is not given us to make 
 all real happiness impossible ; which, in a word, supply 
 the soul with the supreme objects for its worship and 
 its aspirations. 
 
I90 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Thirdly, I would remark that the answers given by- 
 Mohammed himself to those who demanded miracles, 
 that God gave the power of working miracles to whom 
 He pleased ; that other prophets had wrought mira- 
 cles, and had not been believed ; that he who could 
 not know even himself adequately, could not know 
 what God had hidden ; that there were greater mira- 
 cles in nature than any which could be wrought out- 
 side of it ; that the Koran itself was a miracle, find at 
 least one line of thought in a greater than Moham- 
 med, which is not opposed to, but identical with them. 
 People have raised questions about the authenticity 
 and meaning of nmch that is in the Gospels, but by 
 the rules of all critical interpretation, what they can 
 least question is the genuineness and accuracy of those 
 passages which the Disciples have, in their undoubted 
 honesty, recorded, as it were, in spite of themselves, 
 and which appear to run counter to other and loftier 
 conceptions of that majestic character on whose par- 
 tially-preserved utterances all Christendom still hangs. 
 He who said he could of His own self do nothing ; 
 it was the spirit which quickened, the flesh profiteth 
 nothing ; the words that He spake unto them, they 
 were spirit and they were life ; He who, when His 
 Disciples wondered at the withered fig tree, told them 
 that the trust in God which underlay His act would 
 enable even them to do greater things ; who, we are 
 
FATALISM. 191 
 
 told, could not, in certain places, work miracles because 
 of their unbelief ; and when people declined to accept 
 His teaching on higher grounds, told them, with a 
 touch of scorn, that they might do so if they liked on 
 the lower ground, for ' His very works' sake ; ' and, 
 lastly, who said it was an evil and adulterous genera- 
 tion which sought after a sign, and that no sign should 
 be given it ; and that if a man believed not Moses 
 and the Prophets, not even would he repent though 
 one rose from the dead ; in one aspect, at all events, 
 of His teaching agreed with the Arabian Prophet 
 whom Christians have so much discredited. He, at 
 all events, treated the miraculous as subordinate to 
 the moral evidences of His mission, and struck upon 
 a vein of thought and touched a chord of feeling 
 which, it seems to me, is reconcilable at once with the 
 onward march of Science, and all the admitted weak- 
 nesses of human nature. 
 
 n. Fatalism. I have spoken above of the extra- 
 ordinary impulse given to the earlier followers of 
 Mohammed by their vivid sense of God's personal 
 presence with them. Inspiring, indeed, this princi- 
 ple then was ; for it must never be forgotten, as I 
 hope now to prove, that the belief in an absolute 
 predestination, which turns men into mere puppets, 
 and all human life into a grim game of chess, wherein 
 men are the pieces, moved by the invisible Hand of 
 
192 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 but a single Player, and which is now so general in 
 Mohammedan countries, was, all appearances to the 
 contrary, no part of the creed of the Prophet himself 
 or of his immediate successors ; ^ and I venture, 
 therefore, to think that Gibbon is wrong in tracing 
 the desperate valour of the primitive Musalmans 
 mainly to the notion that since there was no chance, 
 there need be no fear : the germ, indeed, of fatalism 
 v/as there, but its effects v/ere as yet anything but 
 fatalistic. 
 
 It is of course true that there are many passages 
 in the Koran which assert in the strongest way the 
 foreknowledge of God. For instance, ' The fate of 
 every man have we bound about his neck ; ' and the 
 relations of the slain at the battle of Ohud are com- 
 forted by the assurance that every one must die at 
 his appointed time, whether it be in his own bed or 
 on the field of battle. Nor is it possible to any reli- 
 gion to reconcile the conflicting dogmas of the fore- 
 knowledge of God and of the free will of man. The 
 New Testament does not try to do so. St. Paul's 
 simile of the potter, for instance, in the Romans is as 
 fatalistic as is any passage in the Koran. It asserts 
 an absolute predestination as strongly as many other 
 passages in his Epistles assert free-will. It is not 
 likely that Fathers of the Church or controversialists 
 
 J Cf. * National Review ' for July, 1S3S, p. 154. 
 
MOHAMMED NOT A FATALIST. 193 
 
 will succeed in doing what an Apostle found it neces- 
 sary to leave undone, and the maxim of John of 
 Damascus, ' illud scire oportct, Deiiui omnia prcsscirc scd 
 11011 ovinia prcefinire', does not get over the difficulty, 
 though he appears to have imagined that it did. Most 
 assuredly our own Articles of Religion, however suc- 
 cessful they may be in finding a compromise between 
 opposing views on other things, fail to effect a com- 
 promise here. Press to its logical result either the 
 omnipotence or the omniscience of God, and what 
 becomes of man's free will } But logic is not the 
 only criterion of truth, nor is it the only rule of life ; 
 and consequently there is hardly a religion which 
 does not, in words at all events, assert as strongly 
 as possible God's foreknov/ledge ; in acts, at all events, 
 man's freedom. Sometimes one will be the more pro- 
 minent, sometimes the other. 
 
 The Prophet of Arabia naturally dwelt most on 
 those attributes of God which, throwing the widest 
 gulf between the Creator and His creatures, would, 
 once and for all, rescue the Arabs from worshipping 
 what their own hands had made.^ He inculcates 
 hope in adversity, and humility in success, on the 
 ground that there is a supreme Ruler who never leaves 
 the helm ; who knows what is really best for man 
 
 ^ Cf. Gobineau, * Les Religions et les Philosophies dans I'Asie 
 Centrale. ' See the whole passage on this subject, p. 72, 73' 
 
 O 
 
194 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 when man himself does not ; and whose supreme will 
 and power, where He asserts them, cannot be crossed 
 by the efforts of the creatures of His hand. But this 
 is not the only side to his teaching. He asserts that 
 man is a free agent ; free to refuse or to accept the 
 Divine message, responsible for his acts, and therefore 
 deserving, now of punishment, now of reward. The 
 future, in fact, is in his own hands, and Mohammed 
 incessantly urges him to use his opportunities. Ali, 
 the most saintly, I would almost say the most Chris- 
 tian, of all Musalmans, pronounces those who say the 
 will is not free to be heretics.^ There are at least 
 four sects among Mohammedans that differ from one 
 another on the one point of predestination and free 
 will. One of them, the Mutazalites, almost assert 
 what philosophers have called the ' liberty of indif- 
 ference ; ' and there is little doubt that Mohammed 
 himself, if the alternative had been clearly presented 
 to him, would have had more in common with Pela- 
 gius than with Augustine, with Arminius than with 
 Calvin. 
 
 It is difficult to believe that if Mohammed had 
 been the consistent fatalist he is often represented to 
 have been, he would have made prayer one of the 
 four practical duties enjoined upon the faithful, and 
 that on an equal or even a higher footing than alms- 
 
 ^ Quoted by Gobineau, loc. cit. 
 
MOHAMMED'S VIEW OF PRAYER. 195 
 
 giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. He is said to have 
 called it the Pillar of Religion and the Key of Para- 
 dise. He told a tribe which, after its conversion, 
 begged for a remission of some of the daily prayers en- 
 joined upon them, that there could be no good in the 
 religion in which there was no prayer ; and, according 
 to one of his successors, prayer of itself lifts men half 
 way to heaven.^ Now, if all events are absolutelv 
 fixed by the Divine will, and foreseen by the Divine 
 mind, then there is no possibility, I do not say of 
 altering the fixed laws of nature, for that is a power 
 which few would claim for prayer, but even of a 
 man's improving in the smallest degree, by any 
 acts or petitions of his, his own spiritual condition. 
 
 ' As to the reality of Prayer amongst Mohammedans, see the testi- 
 mony of Lieutenant Wood, the intrepid explorer of the Oxus, who o-ave 
 a signal proof of his high Christian character by resigning his post under 
 the Indian Government on finding that it had employed him to make 
 promises of friendship to the Afghans which it was not prepared to 
 keep. He says ('Journey to the Source of the Oxus,' p. 93), after 
 mentioning a remarkable proof of the importance which his Moham- 
 medan guides attached to prayer, ' Often since that time have I observed 
 ihat the Mohammedans, both old and young, however worn out by 
 fatigue or suffering from hunger and thirst, have postponed all thought 
 of self-indulgence to their duty to their God. It is not with them the 
 mere force of habit ; it is the strong impression on their minds that the 
 -duty of prayer is so important that no circumstances can excuse its 
 omission.' Nor did their dependence on God make them less ready to 
 help themselves. As they neared the dangerous whirlpools of the 
 Indus below Attock (p. 77), 'the crew Avent to prayers : tlien, steering 
 the oars, they fixed their eyes upon the steersman, watching for his 
 signal when they were to exert themselves.' (Cf. Walpole's ' Ansayrii,' 
 I. 56-59. Curzon's 'Monasteries,' p. 56, &c.) 
 
 o 2 
 
196 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Prayer would thus be a superfluity and delusion if 
 explained in any other way than as an aspiration of 
 the heart towards God, which, being an end in itself, 
 necessarily brings its own answer with it. Now, 
 whether this last is a true view of prayer or not, it 
 was certainly not Mohammed's view. In neither case 
 Avould he have been quite a consistent fatalist ; but it 
 is not likely that he could have overlooked the 
 elarina- inconsistencies involved between an absolute 
 predestination on the one hand, and material answers 
 to prayer on the other. The prayers that he enjoined 
 five times a day ' are still offered with full confidence 
 in their efficacy by all devout Musalmans, and the 
 cry of the Muezzin, before daybreak, from a myriad 
 mosques and minarets — ' Prayer is better than sleep, 
 prayer is better than sleep' — is a living witness, 
 w^herever the influence of the Prophet of Arabia has 
 extended, more vivid than the letter of the Koran 
 itself, overpowering even the lethargy and quietism of 
 the East, to Mohammed's belief in God's providen- 
 tial eovernment of the world, and in the freedom of 
 man's will. 
 
 Mohammed, on one occasion, complains of the 
 
 1 It is worth noticing, in passing, that the five daily prayers, like 
 the rite of circumcision, though universally obsen'ed by Musalmans, are 
 not enjoined in the Koran itself. Circumcision is not even mentioned 
 in the Koran : it is one of the many Pre-Islamitic practices which 
 Mohammed tacitly sanctioned. 
 
OPPOSITE EFFECTS OP SAME DOCTRINE. 197 
 
 Jews, that ' if good fortune betide them, they say it is 
 from God ; if evil betide them, they say it is from 
 Mohammed : ' say rather, he suggests, all is from 
 God. But what, he asks in the veiy next verse, has 
 come to these people that they are not near to under- 
 standing v/hat is told them ? 
 
 'Whatever good betideth thee is from God, and 
 whatever betideth thee of evil is from thyself.' ^ 
 
 There are the two contradictories brought face to 
 face, and left fronting one another for all time ; and 
 can any religion do more, and, perhaps, I may add, 
 less, than this ? 
 
 It is not difficult to see how one and the same 
 doctrine of God's foreknowledge on the one hand, 
 and of His actual intervention in human affairs on 
 the other, may have diametrically opposite effects in 
 different natures, or in even the same natures under 
 different circumstances. 
 
 ' There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 Whicli taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
 Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
 Is hom:id in shallows and in miseries.' 
 
 The early Musalmans in the new burst of life 
 breathed into them by Mohammed, it inspired with 
 double energy and double enthusiasm, as in their best 
 days it inspired the Puritans, the Covenanters, the 
 
 ^ Sura IV. So, Si. 
 
198 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Pilgrim Fathers. But to their descendants in their 
 more normal state — the dreamy Sufi, the brooding 
 Sepoy, the insensate Turk ; I would add, to those 
 rcHgious people who refuse to prevent the miseries and 
 the diseases which Nature they think has attached to 
 guilt — it furnishes with a new excuse for that life of 
 inactivity to which they are already too much dis- 
 posed, since they believe that they are acquiescing, as 
 in duty bound, in the immutable decrees of God.^ 
 
 III. One rnore question remains to be discussed to- 
 day — the wars of Islam and the relation they bear to 
 Mohammed's religion. It is true that it was not till 
 the Prophet found himself, to his surprise, in a position 
 of power at Medina, that we hear even a whisper of 
 the sword as an instrument of conversion. It is then,, 
 and not till then, that we are told that other prophets 
 have been sent by God to attest His different attributes 
 in their own person and by their miraculous acts ; but 
 that men had closed their eyes to the character, and 
 denied the miracles, even of Moses and of Christ. 
 What remained to the last of the prophets except 
 that he should try the last argument of the sword } 
 Was the sword then an afterthought and an accidental 
 appendage merely to Mohammed's religion, or was it 
 
 * See an eloquent passage on this subject in an article of the 
 'National Review' for October, 1861, entitled the Great Arabian^ 
 p. 312. 
 
USE OF THE SWORD. 199 
 
 an essential part? I am inclined to think that the 
 nature of the case itself and the verdict of subsequent 
 experience will tend to show that, however absent it 
 was from Mohammed's thoughts at first, and however 
 alien to his gentle and forgiving nature, it came in the 
 progress of events to some extent in his own life, and 
 still more so in the lives of his successors, to be the 
 latter. How this came about requires careful ex- 
 planation. 
 
 Mohammed's notion of God had never been that of 
 a great moral Being who designs that the creatures 
 He has created should, from love and gratitude to 
 Him, become one with Him, or even assimilated to 
 Him. Mohammed believed in God, feared, reverenced, 
 and obeyed Him after his light, as few Jews or 
 Christians ever did ; but he could hardly be said in 
 the Christian, or even the Jewish sense of the word, to 
 love God. It is possible that repeated acts of obedience 
 to a God whom he always represents as compassionate 
 and merciful might imply or result in love ; but at all 
 events with him love was not, as it is in Christianity, 
 the fulfilling of the law, the inspiring motive to 
 action, the sum of its theology as of its morality. 
 Had it been so, Mohammed would have seen more 
 reason to doubt whether the sword could ever be its 
 best ally ; but though he must in any case have seen 
 that it was impossible to force men to love God, it 
 
200 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 may have crossed his mind that it was possible to 
 force men to abstain from idolatry, to acknowledge one 
 God with their lips, to fear and to obey Him, at all 
 events in their outward acts. 
 
 Had Mohammxcd remained master of himself — 
 had he remained, that is to say, the simple Prophet 
 throughout his career — it is possible, on the one hand, 
 that his message would never have spread in his life- 
 time beyond the walls of Mecca and Medina ; and it 
 is more than probable, on the other, that his character 
 might now be held up to the world as that which we 
 feel the Founder of a religion ought to be ; that which 
 Confucius and Buddha were, and that which Mo- 
 hammed himself, throughout his life at Mecca, unques- 
 tionably was— a perfect model of the saintly virtues. 
 There is one glory of the founder of a religion, another 
 of the founder of a nation, another of the founder of 
 an empire. They are better kept distinct ; and the 
 limits of the human faculties are an adequate security 
 against their being often found united in one person. 
 It is the uncongenial mixture of earthly needs and 
 heavenly aspirations which has made Mohammed at 
 once a smaller and a greater man — at once more and 
 less commanding than he would otherwise have been. 
 What he gains as a ruler of men, he loses as a guide 
 and as an example ; and people are, naturally enough, 
 led to condemn the prophet for the drastic energ^^ of 
 
MOHAMMED SOLDIER AS WELL AS PROPHET. 2or 
 
 the leader, and the leader for the shortcomings of the 
 prophet. It is, perhaps, inevitable that Christians 
 should do so ; for the image of Him whose kingdom 
 was not of this world, who did not strive nor cry, 
 whose servants were never to draw the sword in 
 His defence, forces itself upon the mind, in silent 
 and reproachful antithesis to the mixed and sullied 
 character of the Prophet-soldier Mohammed. The 
 trumpet-call is not the still small voice ; it is im- 
 measurably below it : but there has been room for 
 both in the development of humanity. 
 
 Now, on a sudden, Mohammed found himself in a 
 position he had not courted, which was forced on him 
 by his enemies ; and the exigencies of his exiled 
 followers — the need of sustenance, the appetite for 
 plunder, the desire of revenge, and the longing for 
 their homes, no less than the impending attack of the 
 Kuraish — drove the Prophet for the first time to 
 place himself at their head ; and, for temporal pur- 
 poses only, to unsheath the sword. Mohammed thus 
 became a general by accident ; and the extraordinary 
 success of his first ventures deepened the impression, 
 already half natural to an Arab, that the sword might 
 be a legitimate instrument of spiritual warfare, and 
 that God had put into his power a new means, where 
 all other means, as in the case of previous prophets, 
 had failed. At all events the sword, originally drawn 
 
202 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 for temporal purposes only, was found to have, half- 
 unexpectedly, answered another end as well. It was 
 found that the religion, once started by the sword, was 
 soon able to throw the sword away. The march of 
 the Faith anticipated the m^arch of the army of the 
 Faithful, and the all but uniform success of the armies, 
 when they had to fight, seemed to stamp the means 
 used with the Divine approbation ; and so it was 
 that Mohammed felt less and less scruple as to the 
 use of the sword where it seemed to him to be 
 wanted ; and at the close of his life, in one of the last 
 Suras of the Koran we are hardly surprised to find the 
 stern command and the ' magnificent presentiment : ' 
 
 * Fight on, therefore, till there be no temptation to 
 idolatry, and the religion becomes God's alone.' ^ 
 
 The early Khalifs obeyed the precepts and imi- 
 tated the example of the warrior-Prophet, and went 
 forth on their enterprise in all the plenitude of auto- 
 cratic power ; there was no rivalry between Church 
 and State to tie their hands, for the Khalif was the 
 head of both in one ; the State, so far as it had any 
 separate existence at all, being simply a creature of 
 the Church. And let us here turn aside for a moment 
 to examine the relation then subsisting between the 
 spiritual and ' temporal power, first in the Western, 
 
 ' Sura VIII. 40. Cf. also XXII. 40,^ and IX. passim : perhaps 
 the last Sui'a Mohammed composed. 
 
SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL POWER. 203 
 
 and then in the Eastern Empire, and to contrast it 
 with the extraordinary concentration of all the ener- 
 gies of a new-born enthusiasm, placed in the hands of 
 the Khalif We shall then see, on the one hand, from 
 what a vantage-ground the Arabs, at that precise 
 moment, entered the lists to contend with Christendom; 
 but, on the other, we shall note how few are the men 
 who, even under the most exceptional circumstances, 
 can, in the exercise of power, afford to dispense 
 with those checks which are a condition of its per- 
 manence, and which alone can prevent it from deve- 
 loping into unbridled tyranny, or dying of inanition. 
 
 The Christianity of the West then had, centuries 
 before this, organized an impcriiivi in impej^io v/hich 
 afforded a substantial check to the tyranny of the 
 Emperors, and, by its moral majesty, could restrain a 
 savage barbarian even in the full career of conquest. 
 Ambrose had sternly rebuked Theodosius ; Innocent 
 had mitigated the horrors of the sack of Rome by 
 Alaric ; Leo had turned back Attila, and half-dis- 
 armed Genseric. The transference of the seat of 
 Empire to Constantinople forced the Bishops of Rome 
 into a political prominence which would not otherwise 
 have belonged . to them ; and, in process of time, 
 the spiritual power thus fortified began to contend, 
 on something like equal terms, with the temporal. 
 Gregory the Great, whose pontificate ended shortly • 
 
204 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 before the * call ' of the Prophet of Arabia, was the 
 virtual sovereign of Rome, able to protect it alike 
 from the ferocity of the Lombards, and from the pre- 
 tentious weakness of the Exarchs. Before long the 
 sacerdotal monarchs who reigned on the Tiber were 
 to be seen deposing by right Divine one Frankish 
 dynasty which ruled upon the Rhine ; setting up an- 
 other of their own creation ; and, finally, in the person 
 of Charles the Great, giving new body to the phantom 
 of the ancient Roman Empire which had never ceased 
 to flit before the mind oi Europe, and fancying, in 
 their superb audacity, that a breath might overthrow 
 what a breath had made. And by the time that 
 the Eternal City itself heard the dreaded Tecbir 
 at their gates, it Vv^as to a Pope, and not a Caesar — 
 a Pope, too, elected in hot haste, without even the 
 formal sanction of the Caesar -that Rome owed her 
 safety ! ^ 
 
 But the religion of the Eastern Empire, to cjuote 
 Gibbon's epigram, could teach men only ' to suffer and 
 to yield.' The Patriarch of Constantinople, unlike the 
 Patriarch of Rome, was the puppet of the Emperor, 
 endorsed his v/orst deeds, or was swept away if he 
 objected to them.'- And the Saracens who besieged 
 
 1 Leo IV. 
 
 - See the liistory of the Iconoclastic Emperors generally, a.d. 
 717-841, and their dealings with the Patriarchs of Constantinople. 
 Read especially, on the one hand, the account of the dastardly submis- 
 
KHALIFS, SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL RULERS. 205 
 
 the * ceremonious ' Emperor of the East in his own 
 capital must have enjoyed, if they could read, the 
 form of service, prescribed by Church and State 
 together, for the day on which the Emperor should 
 trample on the necks of the captive Musalmans, while 
 the singers were to chant, ' Thou hast made mine 
 enemies my footstool,' and the people were to shout 
 forty times the * Kyrie Eleeson.' ^ The crusading 
 spirit which might have been evoked by a proposition 
 of the great Emperors, Nicephorus and Zimisces, to 
 give a martyr's crown to those who fell in battle with 
 the infidels, was checkmated by a counter-proposition 
 of the Patriarch to exclude from the highest rites of 
 the Church all those who took up arms even in self- 
 .defence.2 Had it been otherwise, the period of the 
 Crusades might have been anticipated by more than 
 a hundred years ! We see, therefore, that in the West, 
 by the time that the tide of Arab conquest had spread 
 from Mecca to Gibraltar, the spiritual power was in- 
 dependent of the temporal, and was often able to control 
 or neutralise its action, even in temporal affairs; while 
 in the East, on which the storm was first to burst, it 
 
 sion of the Patriarch Anastasius to Leo, and, on the other, the horrible 
 cruelties inflicted on the Patriarch Constantine by Copronymus. 
 Milman, II. Chap. VII. 
 
 1 See the ' De Ceremoniis AuIk et Ecclesire Byzantinre ' of Con- 
 stantine Porphyrogenitus, II. 19 ; quoted by Gibbon, Chap. LIII. ir6, 
 and note. 
 
 ^ See Gibbon, loc. cit. 
 
2o6 MOHAMMED AND MOIIAMMEDAXISM. 
 
 was almost non-existent ; and if ever it did cause 
 its voice to be heard, the cry it uttered was that 
 of Phocion, not of Demosthenes — of Jeremiah, not of 
 Isaiah ; that of submission to the inevitable, not of 
 resistance to the bitter end. 
 
 But with the Saracens the case was different. The 
 God of Mohammed, like the God of the wanderers of 
 the wilderness, and unlike the God of Christendom, 
 was pre-eminently the God of battles. The early 
 Musalmans shed tears when held back within their 
 leashes from the battle and the Emperor Leo, who 
 condemned the Mohammedan idea of God, must have 
 secretly envied the vigour that it brought. Military 
 zeal under a tried leader is a strong passion, so is 
 religious enthusiasm; and never probably in the 
 history of the world have these two passions burned 
 with so consuming a flame as they did in the breasts 
 of the early followers of Mohammed. The civil, the 
 religious, and the military were as indissolubly blended 
 together in his system as they were in mediaeval 
 chivalry. It was not so much religion that became 
 warlike, as war, the normal condition of the Arabs on 
 a small scale, now itself became religious, with the 
 whole world for its battle ground. Probably in no 
 army in the world, not even among the Scotch 
 Covenanters, nor among Cromwell's Ironsides, did 
 religious exercises so form part of the military dis- 
 
EARL Y BA TTLES AND SIEGES OF ISLAM. 207 
 
 cipline, and religious enthusiasm so infuse an esprit 
 de corps. 
 
 The early battles of Islam, Bedr and Ohud, Kade- 
 sia and Nehavend, the Yermuk and Aiznadin ; its 
 early sieges, Bozra and Damascus, Jerusalem and 
 Aleppo, Memphis and Alexandria, are more than 
 Homeric in the reckless valour and the chivalrous 
 devotion that they exhibit. And it is to be re- 
 membered that they are in the main historical. 
 Khaled is the Achilles of the siege of Damascus, Amru 
 of that of Memphis, Dames of Aleppo. At Bedr, 
 Omeir, a mere stripling, who, fearing that he might be 
 rejected on account of his youth, had managed to join 
 the small army of the Faithful unknown to Mohammed, 
 flung away the dates he was eating, with the vow that 
 he would eat the next in the presence of God. 'Para- 
 dise is before you, the devil and hell-fire in your 
 rear,' was the exhortation of the generals at the battle 
 of Yermuk. The Faithful courted death with the 
 ecstasy of martyrs, and received a martyr's reward. 
 At Aiznadin, Derar maintained a flying fight single 
 handed against thirty infidels, and killed seventeen of 
 their number. To Khaled, after he had been fighting 
 long, he cried, 'Repose yourself: you are tired of 
 fighting with this dog.' ' He that labours to-day,' ' 
 replied Khaled, ' shall rest in the world to come.' 
 * God is victorious,' said Ali, four hundred times in a 
 
2o3 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 conflict, and each time he laid low an unbeliever. 
 At the siege of Damascus, a Saracen heroine, who 
 had followed her husband, Aban, to the holy 
 war, saw him killed by her side, stopped to bury him, 
 and then fought on in the post of danger till she 
 slew the famous archer who had killed her husband. 
 Nor is there any period in the history of Mohamme- 
 danism, late or early, in which the intensity of the 
 crusading spirit does not on occasion manifest itself 
 It is God's battle that each Muslim is fighting ; and 
 as God may will, he is ready for either event, for victory 
 or defeat, for life or death. In the Crusades them- 
 selves, when Christendom seemed to be seized with a 
 double portion of the Mohammedan spirit, by the 
 confession of the Christians, the generosity, the reck- 
 less valour, the self-sacrifice, and the chivalry were 
 not all on one side. Richard of England and 
 Frederick Barbarossa found their match in Saladin ; 
 and even the history of our own Empire in India 
 teems wath proofs that the vital spark of fanaticism 
 is latent only, not extinct. 
 
 Whenever hitherto, in the history of Mohamme- 
 danism, the belief has grown feeble that the Faithful 
 hold a commission from on high to put down evil, 
 wherever it shows itself, with a strong hand, it must 
 be admitted that the religion itself has proportion- 
 ately failed to do its proper work, both as a com- 
 
RELIGIOUS AMD MILITARY EyfTIIUSIASM. 209 
 
 pelling and as a restraining power. In the Middle 
 Ages the vitaHty and energy of Mohammedanism 
 evidenced itself most clearly, not in Arabia, or 
 Persia, or Northern Africa, where its success was most 
 complete, but in the Christian border lands, in Spain, 
 in Palestine, in Asia Minor, where the crusading spirit 
 was most evoked. Where there was no outlet for an 
 active, and even a material warfare, against what was 
 believed to be evil, there corruption crept in, and 
 stealthily paralysed all the energies of Musalman 
 society. ' Corniptio optimi fit pcssima! Ommiade, and 
 Abbasside, and Fatimite Khalifs ; Ghaznevide, and 
 Seljukian, and Ottoman Sultans passed through the 
 same dreary stages of luxury and decay ; and the 
 government that now represents, or misrepresents, the 
 Khalifate, and is by most people foolishly supposed 
 to be the main support of Islam, originally in the 
 hands of men like Abu Bakr, or Omar, the best, 
 the simplest, and the most republican of all absolute 
 governments, has, in the hands of the Ottoman Turks, 
 ever since their faith ceased to be militant, become 
 the most hopeless of despotisms, since the abject 
 submission to the ruler remains, while all reason for 
 submission has vanished.* 
 
 » See this line of thought developed by Maurice, * Religions o.'" the 
 World,' p. 29 sq. I have done little more in this paragraph than con- 
 dense and illustrate his argument. 
 
2IO MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 In the eyes of many the admission I have frankly 
 made that the propagation of rehgion by the sword has 
 been an essential part of Mohammedanism will serve to 
 condemn it at once, and so in the abstract and from 
 the highest point of view it ought. The sword is a 
 rough surgical instrument in any case ; but the doc- 
 trine that religion can ever be propagated by it, 
 paradoxical as it sounds now, has seemed a truism in 
 more ages than one ; and though the Arabs were 
 semi-barbarians, the conquered nations were con- 
 strained to admit that in their conquests they were 
 not barbarous. Their wars were not mere wars of 
 devastation like those of Genseric or Attila in earlier 
 times, or of Chenghis Khan or Tamerlane in later. 
 It was the savage boast of Attila, the genius of 
 destruction, the ' scourge of God,' that the grass never 
 prew where his horse had once trodden ; and the proverb 
 has, in later times, been applied by their enemies to 
 the conquests of the Turks, to those rich provinces 
 whose resources, from whatever causes, have been so 
 long wasted, and whose inhabitants have been so 
 misgoverned under the sway of the Othmanlis. 
 
 The saying that the grass never grows in the foot- 
 prints of a Turk is, it must be admitted, not without 
 some truth. The system of government, never an 
 enlightened one, has at all events since the so-called 
 * reforms' of the Sultan Mahmoud been rotten at the 
 
TURKISH MJSG0VERNMEN7\ 211 
 
 core. Stambul has become an asylum for the rascality 
 of West and East alike ; the finest peasantry in the 
 Avorld, the inhabitants of Asia Minor, are dying by 
 starvation, partly, no doubt, owing to bad harvests, 
 but still more owing to the neglect of the most ordinary 
 precautions and duties of government. Roads un- 
 made, bridges broken down, mines unworked, unprin- 
 cipled and exorbitant provincial Pashas, wastefulness 
 and disorder and excessive centralisation ; such is the 
 picture which travellers give us of those fair regions 
 of the earth, ^ and unfortunately v/e know it to be a 
 true picture. But it is easy, for all this, to be too 
 hard upon the Turk — to forget how much there is that 
 is fine in his character, to forget that many of the vices 
 of which we complain are not Turkish, but European 
 in their origin — to forget that those governments which 
 are loudest in their complaints are the very govern- 
 ments which by the injurious privileges they have 
 claimed in the ' Capitulations '^ for the most worthless 
 of their subjects resident at Stambul ; by their 
 usurious loans, and by their incessant interventions ; by 
 
 * See Admiral Slade's 'Turkey, Greece, and Malta,' Vol. I. 295- 
 353, &c. Layard's ' Nineveh and Babylon/ I. i. p. 5, 11-13, &c. 
 'Quarterly Review,' Oct. 1874, Art. Provincial Turkey. 
 
 - See Walpole's ' Ansayrii,' I. ii. 2^, 24 ; ' East and West,' Essays 
 I. and II ; and compare Curzon's 'Monasteries of the Levant,' p. 69, 
 for the like deleterious effects produced by Western influences on Cairo- 
 See also the dignified protest of General Kheredine, Prime Minister of 
 Tunis, ' Reforms of Musalman States,' p. 34 se^. 
 
 P 2 
 
212 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDAmSM. 
 
 the funeral orations they have so frequently pro- 
 nounced upon the sick man, and by their ill-disguised 
 eagerness to divide his effects even before his death, 
 have done most to render anything like good govern- 
 ment impossible. 
 
 The genuine Othmanli has many noble social 
 and national characteristics : he is, or was, till the 
 example and the precept of the Western money-makers 
 influenced him, eminently a man of his word ; his 
 word was his bond, and a bond which was a first-rate 
 security. He is still sober, temperate, dignified, and 
 courageous. Terribly cruel as he is when his passions 
 are aroused, he is at other times gentle, hospitable, 
 and humane. Nowhere in Christendom, with the one 
 exception perhaps of Norway, are beasts of burden and 
 domestic animals treated with such unvarying kind- 
 ness and consideration as they are in Turkey, and 
 nowhere probably, in spite of all the depressing in- 
 fluences of polygamy and the degradation of women 
 generally, does the mother retain more hold on her 
 children, or do children regard their mother with such 
 constant and indissoluble veneration. It was not a 
 Musalman, but a Christian Missionary, and he a 
 zealous and successful one, who in rebuking some 
 younger missionaries at Stambul who were speaking 
 contemptuously of the Turks, remarked, 'You will 
 see practised here the virtues we talk of in Christen- 
 
CHARACTER 01^ WARS OT ISLAAl. 213 
 
 ■dom ; ' ^ an over statement, no doubt, but still with 
 ^ome truth in it, and truth which we should do well 
 to bear in mind as a makeweight against the official 
 corruption and the misgovernment and the vices with 
 which the Turks may be justly charged, and which 
 those who most admire what is fine in their national 
 character have the best right to deplore. With all 
 their vices, the Turkish Sultans, as a whole, compare 
 favourably with many of the Christian Caesars who 
 preceded them ; nor is it certain that, taking differences 
 of time and circumstances into account, they compare 
 imfavourably with the Pontiffs of more than one 
 century of the Papacy. 
 
 But whatever may be said or thought of the con- 
 ■quests of the Ottoman Turks and of their rule now, 
 of the early Saracen conquests it would rather be 
 true to say that after the first wave of invasion had 
 swept by, two blades of grass were found growing 
 where one had grown before ; like the thunderstorm, 
 they fertilised while they destroyed ; and from one 
 ^nd of the then known world to the other, with their 
 religion they sowed seeds of literature, of commerce, 
 ■and of civilisation. And as these disappeared, in the 
 lapse of years, in one part of the Musalman world, 
 they reappeared in another. When they died cut, 
 with the dying of the Abbasside Khalifate, along the 
 1 Dr. Gooddall, an American, ' East and West,' p. 141. 
 
214 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, they revived again- 
 on the Guadalquivir and Guadiana. To the splendours 
 and civilisation of Damascus succeeded Bagdad ; to 
 Bagdad, Cairo ; to Cairo, Cordova. 
 
 Mohammedanism has been accused of hostility to 
 the growth of the human intellect. It may have been 
 so in its earliest days, when Omar, as the story goes, 
 condemned the Alexandrian Library to the flames by 
 his famous dilemma : * If these books agree w^ith the 
 Book of God, they are useless: if they disagree, they are 
 pernicious ; and in either case they must be destroyed.* 
 It may be so whenever there is a passing outburst of 
 fanaticism ; but it is not so in its essential nature, 
 nor has it been so historically not even in its wars. 
 The Prophet himself, it has been objected, was not a 
 learned man ; he was scarcely able to read or write ; 
 but even if the story be true, what does it prove I 
 Theodoric the Great, the patron of art and science and 
 philosophy, was only able to sign his own name by 
 drawing a pen round the first four letters of it, which 
 having been carved in brass were placed on the paper 
 which was to receive the signature ; Charles the Great 
 strove laboriously in his later years to acquire the 
 simple arts, which, by the foundation of schools and 
 coDeges throughout his vast empire, he took care that 
 his subjects should, as far as possible, acquire in their 
 youth. Nor was Mohammed less eager than the 
 
HIS ENCOURAGEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE. 215 
 
 Ostrogothic King or the Prankish Emperor to promote 
 the studies of which he felt that he had all too little. 
 ' Seek for science, even though it be in China,' is one 
 of the sayings attributed to him. 'A learned man is 
 as superior to a worshipper as the full moon to stars,' 
 \s another. ' One learned man is harder on the devil 
 than a thousand ignorant believers,' is a third. To 
 impart knowledge to others was in Mohammed's 
 view as imperative a duty as to acquire it. ' He who 
 concealeth his knowledge shall be reined with a bridle 
 of fire at the day of resurrection.' ' The wise are more 
 exalted than those who pray. The latter hope to 
 attain by prayer their own desires, the former learn 
 themselves, that they may instruct the ignorant' ^ 
 The story of Balaustion, romantic as it is in itself, 
 and sung as it has been by a great poet, is known to 
 all the world ; but no poet has sung, and few have 
 ever heard of a story less romantic perhaps, but 
 certainly not less suggestive or less beautiful, of the 
 great Arabian. The Greeks, who, to gratify their 
 artistic tastes, allowed a shipwrecked maiden to 
 purchase the lives of her companions in misfortune 
 by reciting a tragedy of Euripides, did well ; but the 
 illiterate Prophet, who, when in exile at Medina, 
 allowed the Meccan prisoners who could write Arabic 
 
 ^ For these sayings and others of a like tendency see Mishkat-ul- 
 Masibeh, Book II. Cap. II. and III. 
 
2i6 . MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 to go free so soon as they should have taught twelve 
 lads of Medina the art of which he and they were 
 ignorant, did better.^ 
 
 Nor have the best portion of Mohammed's followers 
 been unw^orthy of him. The religion which has 
 declared that * the ink of the learned is as precious as 
 the blood of the martyrs ; ' ^ and which declares that 
 at the Day of Decision a special account wall be given 
 of the use made of the intellect, cannot fairly be 
 accused of obscurantism. It w^as not so when, during 
 the darkest period of European history, the Arabs for 
 five hundred years held up the torch of learning to 
 humanity. It was the Arabs who then ' called the 
 Muses from their ancient seats ; ' who collected and 
 translated the writings of the great Greek masters ; 
 who understood the geometry of Apollonius, and 
 wielded the w^eapons found in the logical armoury of 
 
 • Sprenger, XVIII. 131. 
 
 2 Quoted by Gobineau, p. 26. So, too, Abulpharages, in his 
 'Dynasties,' says that Ahuamun, Khalif of Bagdad, invited learned men 
 to his court because they were the elect of God, whose lives were 
 devoted to the development of the mind. (See Gibbon, VII. 34.) 
 Against the destruction of the Alexandrian Library by Omar may fairly 
 be set the destruction by the Crusaders of an immense library at 
 Tripoli, in Palestine. The General, finding that the first room of the 
 library contained the Koran only, ordered the whole library to be 
 burnt. So, too. Cardinal Ximenes, on entering the Moorish capital, 
 showed that a crass fanaticism is not the prerogative of one religion only, 
 by his order to destroy the vast collection of Arabic MSS. there, v.ith 
 the exception of 300 medical works, which he reserved for his own 
 university. 
 
SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. 217 
 
 Aristotle. It was the Arabs who developed the 
 sciences of Agriculture and Astronomy, and created 
 those of Algebra and Chemistry ; who adorned their 
 cities with colleges and libraries, as well as with 
 mosques and palaces ; who supplied Europe with a 
 school of philosophers from Cordova, and a school of 
 physicians from Salerno. When we condemn the 
 Mohammedan wars, let us at least remember what of 
 good they brought with them. 
 
 Nor is Mohanmiedanism the only religion which 
 has tried to propagate itself by the sword. It is true, 
 of course, that a holy war waged by Christians is in 
 direct contravention of the spirit of their Founder, 
 while one waged by Mohammedans is in accordance 
 with both the practice and the precept of the Pro- 
 phet, and so far there is no parallel at all between the 
 two religions. The means authorised by Christ for the 
 spread of His religion were moral and spiritual only. 
 The means authorised by Mohammed were persuasion 
 and example first ; but, failing these, the sword. 
 
 Yet, historically speaking, the contrast between 
 the practice of Christians and Mohammedans has not 
 been so sharp as is often supposed. The Saxon wars 
 of Charles the Great were avowedly religious wars, and 
 differed chiefly from the Syrian wars of Omar and 
 of Ali, from the African wars of Amru and Akbah, 
 and the Spanish wars of Mussa and of Tarik, in that 
 
2t8 MOHA^IMED and MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 they were much more protracted and vastly less suc- 
 cessful. Otto the Great, the best of Charles's succes- 
 sors, used the sword with vigour to extend the exter- 
 nal profession of Christianity among the Sclavonian 
 tribes who dwelt along the shores of the Baltic. The 
 Mediaeval Papacy, whatever its other services to pro- 
 gress, was never backward to unfurl the standard of a 
 religious war, whether against the common enemy of 
 Christendom, or, as more often happened, against a 
 sect of heretics, the Albigenses or the Waldenses, 
 nearer home. Nor, in point of ferocity, is it clear that 
 religious wars waged by Christians will compare 
 favourably with those of IMohammedans. The Mo- 
 hammedan wars were never internecine. Even on 
 the field of battle the conquering Musalman allowed 
 his conquered foe the two other alternatives of con- 
 version or of tribute. When Abu Bakr first invaded 
 Syria, he charged his troops not to mutilate the dead, 
 not to slay old men, women, and children, not to cut 
 down fruit-trees, nor to kill cattle unless they were 
 needed for food ; and these humane precepts served 
 like a code of laws of war during the career of Moham- 
 medan conquest. And this, be it remembered, among 
 Orientals, who had always been rem.arkable for their 
 disregard of human life. When we rem.ember, on the 
 other hand, the massacre of 4,500 Pagan Saxons in 
 cold blood by Charles the Great — when we remember 
 
RELIGIOUS WARS OF CHRISTIANS, 219 
 
 the famous answer by which the Papal Legate, in the 
 Albigensian war, quieted the scruples of a too con- 
 scientious general, 'Kill all, God will know His own' 
 — when we recall the Spanish Inquisition, the Con- 
 quest of Mexico and Peru, the Massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, and the sack of Magdeburg by Tilly, we 
 shall be disposed never, indeed, to justify religious 
 wars, but to point out that, of the religious wars 
 which the world has seen, the Mohammedan are cer- 
 tainly not the worst — in their object, in their methods,, 
 or in their results. 
 
 Nor is the extermination of moral evil in all cases 
 an unworthy object of war. There are occasions even 
 in our modern civilisation, and in an era of non-inter- 
 vention, when one longs to feel that the sword a 
 nation wields may be, in their eyes at all events, the 
 sword of the Lord and of Gideon. An unselfish war 
 to put down the slave trade or the opium traffic, to 
 counteract some ' Holy Alliance ' of Emperors against 
 the rights of peoples, to prevent a giant iniquity like 
 the partition of Poland, is perhaps the only kind of 
 war, except those of self-defence, to which the spirit of 
 Christianity is not opposed. Christianity is opposed 
 to wars of aggression, to dynastic wars, and, above 
 all, to religious wars ; for a religious war rests upon 
 the irreligious assumption that one fallible man holds 
 a fiat from Omnipotence to step between another 
 
C20 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 human soul and God ; and to enforce his partial views 
 of truth upon a fellow-mortal, who, for aught he knows, 
 may have as wide a prospect, and as deep an insight, 
 as he has himself. ' Dcoritm mJ2iri(B Deis airce! The 
 sword may silence ; it cannot convince : it may 
 enforce hypocrisy ; it can never force belief But 
 this has not always seemed so self-evident ; and I say 
 it deliberately and with all the force of conviction, 
 compared with the war of the Confederate States in 
 the nineteenth century for the perpetuation of 
 slavery, compared with our own Japanese wars for the 
 extension of our trade, our Chinese wars for the sale 
 of our opium, and our miserable African wars waged 
 for the possession of a territory which we bought, 
 and had no moral right to buy, from those who sold 
 what they had no moral right to selV the Mohamme- 
 dan wars for the propagation of a comparatively pure 
 religion and a higher morality were, in their time 
 and according to their light, inasmuch as they were 
 not purely selfish, I do not say excusable, but they 
 were at least intelligible and natural. 
 
 Here I must close for to-day. What of good and 
 what of evil the world owes to Mohammed ; what is 
 the condition and what the prospects of Mohamme- 
 danism now ; what, as a matter of fact, is the histori- 
 cal connection between Mohammedanism and Chris- 
 
 * See Appendix to Lecture III. 
 
WHAT WARS ARE CHRIST/AN? 22 1 
 
 tianity — its points of difference as well as of resem- 
 blance ; finally, and most important of all, how that 
 connection ought to be regarded by Christians, and 
 under what conditions or modifications the two great 
 creeds may work together, or, if needs be, apart, for 
 their common object, the general good of humanity — 
 these are some of the points I hope to be able to. 
 discuss in my fourth and concluding Lecture. 
 
 V 1 
 
222 MOHAMMED AND MOIIAMMEDAXISM. 
 
 LECTUEE IV. 
 
 March 7, 1874. 
 
 MOHAMMEDANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Say unto the Christians, their God and my God is one. — 
 
 The Koran. 
 
 'O 6e 'iTyo-oCs eiVe, M)7 fccoXveTe avToV o? yap ovk eari KaO^ rjfxcbv, VTrep 
 
 TjfiCiv ecTTiv. — St. Mark. 
 
 It may have been observed that In attempting, in 
 my last Lecture, to deal with some of the questions 
 connected with Mohammedanism, such as miracles, 
 fatalism, religious wars, which hav^ much perplexed 
 the Christian mind, I omitted to say anything on a 
 point which, more even than any of these, has scandal- 
 ised those who view Mohammedanism from a distance: 
 I mean the notions Mohammedans have formed of a 
 future state. The omission was not altogether acci- 
 dental, for I am inclined to think that too much stress 
 has been laid upon these notions, no less by Moham- 
 med's apologists than by his critics ; more stress than 
 the Koran itself, and more even than the current 
 Mohammedan belief, will warrant. But, remembering 
 
THE FUTURE LIFE OF ISLAM. 223 
 
 a remark of Sprenger's,^ that, although Islam has been 
 described in many books, yet educated people have 
 not got much further in the knowledge of it than that 
 the Turks are Mohammedans, and allow polygamy, I 
 think it will be well to add a few words to counteract 
 the common notion, which I should be disposed to 
 place on a par with this, that the Paradise of the 
 Mohammedans is nothing more than the enjoyment 
 of polygamy, with its earthly drawbacks and limita- 
 tions removed. 
 
 So much has been said and written about the 
 gross nature of Mohammed's Paradise, the black-eyed 
 Houris, the perfumes and the spices, the cushions and 
 the carpets, with which his imagination furnished it, 
 that ordinary people may be excused for believing 
 that it was mainly, if not wholly, sensual. But this is 
 not, in the main, a true, and still less is it an adequate 
 account of the matter. The passages are few in 
 number in which Mohammed dwells much on these 
 aspects of the future, and, even in these, much of 
 what is said is explained by orthodox Mohammedans 
 to be merely Oriental imagery, while some of it is 
 especially suitable — the bubbling fountains and the 
 shady gardens above all — to the inhabitants of a dry 
 and thirsty land, such as Arabia is.^ 
 
 1 Sprenger, Vol. II. Chap. XI. p. 18. 
 
 - See Sale's ' Introduction,' p. 73 ; and Lane's * Modern Egyp- 
 tians,' I. Chap. III. 84. 
 
2 2:* 
 
 MOHAMMED AMD MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Few people now put a literal interpretation upon 
 the gorgeous imagery and the glowing colours used 
 in the Book of Revelation to describe the Celestial 
 City; and every one will admit that in all religions, 
 even the most spiritual, the circumstances of this life 
 must necessarily, to some extent, lend both form and 
 colour to the views of the life to come. The Red 
 Indian dreams of a heaven behind the cloud-topped 
 hills, embosomed in woods, wherein his faithful dog 
 will bear him company. The fierce Norseman hoped 
 to be admitted after death to the Hall of Odin, and 
 there, reclining on a couch, to drink ale for ever from 
 the skulls of his enemies whom he had slain in battle. 
 The earnest Methodist pictures to himself a place 
 
 * Where congregations ne'er break up, < 
 
 And Sabbaths never end,' 
 
 for the simple reason that he finds his highest j 
 spiritual happiness in these things on earth. A 
 polygamous people could hardly have pictured to 
 themselves a heaven without polygamy. > It would 
 never even have occurred to them that such a thing- 
 was possible, since few of them, had ever known a , 
 society on earth v/hich was without it ; nor do I sup- \ 
 pose that any individual Christian who has ever j 
 known the luxury of home affection, has been able to | 
 accept in any literal sense the doctrine that, in the 
 
THE FUTURE LIFE OF OTHER RELIGIOXS. 225 
 
 future world, there are to be no exclusive attachments,^ 
 for the simple reason, again, that without individual 
 love no human heart can conceive of the possibility 
 of any happiness as complete or real. 
 
 Again, it is to be remembered that much that is 
 material, or even gross, in the Mohammedan concep- 
 tion of a future life is due, not to Mohammed, but to 
 Mohammed's successors ; and it is not the least of 
 the enigmas that attach to the extraordinary and 
 unique character of the Prophet, that his views of a 
 future state are never more spiritual than at the time 
 when, according to the common theory, he had most 
 entirely, and, in fact, he had to some extent, fallen 
 away from his austerely moral life. Contrast the tone 
 of the Suras, referring to this subject, which were writ- 
 ten at Mecca early in his life,^ with the third, for in- 
 stance, which was written at Medina many years later. 
 
 ' Fair,' says he, ' in the sight of men are the plea- 
 sures of women and children ; fair are the treasured 
 treasures of gold and silver ; and fine horses ; and 
 flocks ; and corn-fields ! Such is the enjoyment of 
 this world's life. But God ! goodly is the home with 
 Him! 
 
 ' Shall I tell you of better things than these, pre- 
 pared for those who fear God in His presence t Theirs 
 
 » St. Matt. XXII. 30. 
 
 2 Sura LV. 44-58; LVT. 17-36; LXXVI. 12-22. 
 
226 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM, 
 
 shall be gardens beneath which the rivers flow, and 
 in which they shall abide for aye, and wives of stain- 
 less purity, and acceptance with God, for God regard- 
 eth His servants. 
 
 ' They who say, O our Lord, we have indeed be- 
 lieved, pardon our sins, and keep us from the torment 
 of the fire. 
 
 * The patient are they, and the truthful, the lowly, 
 and the charitable, and they who ask for pardon as 
 each day breaks.' ^ 
 
 Surely here, as elsewhere, and increasingly so as 
 the Prophet drew near his end, it is the presence of 
 God, the knowledge of Him, the eternal Salaam or 
 Peace with which they shall salute one another, the 
 purity of love, and not its sensuality, which are the 
 most prominent ideas. 
 
 Heaven and Hell, indeed, were realities to the 
 Mohammedan mind in a sense in which they have 
 hardly ever been to any other nation. With a more 
 than Dantesque realism, Mohammed saw the tortures 
 of the lost no less than the bliss of the faithful. 
 
 * They shall dwell,' he says, ' amidst burning winds 
 
 and in scalding water, under the shade of a black 
 
 smoke which is no shade, neither cool nor grateful, 
 
 . . and they shall surely eat of the fruit 
 
 of the tree Ez-Zakkoum, and shall fill their bellies 
 
 ' Sura XIII. 12-15. 
 
REALITY OF FUTURE LIFE TO MOHAMMED. 227 
 
 therewith, and they shall drink thereon boiling water, 
 ^ven as a thirsty camel drinketh.' ^ 
 
 And again he says : 
 
 ' They shall have garments of fire fitted unto them, 
 their bowels shall be dissolved thereby, and also their 
 .skins, and they shall be beaten with maces of iron.' ^ 
 
 And once more, in one of his very early Suras, 
 which, if it is memorable for nothing else, is memor- 
 able for its superb audacity, when we recollect that 
 as yet Mohammed's prophetic claims were treated 
 <only with contemptuous indifference, and he himself 
 was a mere outcast : 
 
 'Woe be,' he says, 'on that day to those who 
 accused the prophets of Imposture ! 
 
 ' It shall be said unto them, Go ye into that which 
 ye denied as a falsehood, 
 
 ' Go ye into the shadow of the smoke of hell, 
 which, though it ascend In three columns, 
 
 * Shall not shade you from the heat, neither shall it 
 be of service against the flames ; 
 
 ' But it shall cast forth sparks as big as towers, 
 
 ' And their colour shall be like unto that of red 
 camels. 
 
 ' Woe be on that day unto those who accuse the 
 prophets of Imposture ! ' ^ 
 
 1 Sura LVI. 4^-56. ^ Sura XXIT. 2C-21. 
 
 3 Sura LXXVII. 29 to end. The * Woe be,' «S:c. is a refraia 
 -which recurs ten times in the Sura. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 'What shall be our reward,' asked his earliest 
 followers of Mohammed, ' if we fall in battle ? ' 
 * Paradise/ said the Prophet, without the slightest 
 hesitation. In the war of Tabuk his men demurred to 
 marching because it w^as harvest time. * Your harvest 
 (ft lasts for a day,' said Mohammed ; ' what will come 
 I of your harvest through all eternity.-*' They com-' 
 plained of the burning sun. ' Hell is hotter,' said the 
 Prophet, and on they went.^ 
 
 That it was desirable to dwell with so much per- 
 sistence upon the enormous issues involved as re- 
 gards the future life, in every act and thought of this,. 
 I am far from asserting ; since self-interest, how- 
 ever enlightened, and however refined, however even 
 spiritualised it may be, is self-interest still. But at all 
 events it was stern reality to Mohammed and to his 
 followers. The future was all as real and as instant 
 to him as it was to the Apostles when, expecting, as 
 they did, from the interpretation they put upon 
 Christ's Avords, to see Him in their own lifetime 
 coming in the clouds of heaven, they drove home their 
 Avarnings by bidding men flee from * the wrath to come.' 
 In every successive crisis of the Christian Church, it 
 Jias been the belief of Christians that the darkest hour 
 
 • Carlyle's 'Heroes,' p. 239; and Sura IX, 82, &c. In this 
 expedition water was so scarce that the fainting troops were obliged to> 
 kill the camels and drink the water out of their stomachs. 
 
LEGITIMATE INELUENCE OF A FUTURE\LIFE. 229 
 
 is that before the dawn, and it has been used, however 
 mistakenly, yet with effect and with sincerity, to com- 
 fort the depressed, to awaken the sleeping, and to 
 arouse the dead. * Fineiii suiun nunidus jam non 
 iiunciat solum, scd ostcndit,' says St. Gregory amidst 
 the devastations of the Lombards. * Appropinquante 
 Jam nmndi tcrmino', is the heading of even legal 
 documents amidst the deeper depression of the tenth 
 century caused by the ravages of the Hungarians by 
 land and the Norsemen by sea. This is the burden 
 of St. Bernard's hymns, cf Savonarola's] preachings, 
 of Bunyan's allegories. Truly, if Mohammed sinned 
 .at all in this respect, he sinned in good^company. 
 
 But the future world, ever present though it was 
 to the minds of the early Mohammedans, did not 
 supply the motive by which they were really inspired. 
 ISiot such the motive which, at the present day, impels 
 the Wahhabi missionary to brave social^and religious 
 ostracism in India, or the Negro Musalman to face 
 the Great Desert, or the terrors of cannibalism and of 
 human sacrifice, with the hope of winning new con- 
 verts to their faith ; still less is it a sufficient, or, as I 
 think, even a partial explanation of their astonishing 
 .success. A selfish hope of Heaven, and a slavish fear 
 of Hell, may act as a ' negative stimulus ' — may possi- 
 bly teach passive resistance to temptation — but it does 
 not nerve the arm to strike, or quicken the eye to see. 
 
230 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Perhaps, indeed, the highest heroism of all, that 
 which consists in absolute conscious self-sacrifice or 
 self-annihilation for the good of others — the heroism 
 of the ideal just man in the second book of Plato's 
 Republic ; the heroism of Moses when he prayed to- 
 be blotted out of the Book that God had written ; the 
 heroism of a greater than Moses when He died upon 
 the cross — is impossible to those who believe firmly 
 in a future life, the happiness or misery of which is ta 
 be exactly determined by the life here. But there 
 may be true heroism even short of the truest ; and 
 all true heroism, even if it cannot deny or forget its 
 reward, is stimulated not so much by the reward as 
 by the difficulty of obtaining it. The reward, to use 
 an Aristotelian phrase, is an sTri'yi'yvofiBvov tl tsXo9, 
 something thrown in, an after-thought and accessory 
 merely ; and this is what a future life was to the- 
 primitive warriors of the Crescent. 
 
 Nor is it true, in any sense of the word, if we- 
 appeal to its primal documents and not to the lives 
 of its more unworthy professors, that Mohammed's is. 
 an easy or sensual religion. With its frequent fasts,. 
 its five prayers a day, its solitudes, its almsgivings, its 
 pilgrimages, even in the tortures of Indian fakirs and 
 the bowlings of Mecca dervishes, which are the abuse, 
 and not the use, of the religion — it certainly does not. 
 
IVAS ISLAM A SE.YSUAL RELIC ION? 231 
 
 appeal much to the laziness, or the sensuality, or the 
 selfishness of mankind. 
 
 In his capacity even of temporal ruler, Mohammed 
 rarely <^ave material rewards to his followers. Abu 
 Bakr, Ali, Omar, Hamza, when in his early days they 
 ranged themselves as friends round the then friendless 
 enthusiast, sacrificed, as it must have appeared to 
 them, all their worldly hopes ; they little thought that 
 they were enrolling themselves in that most select 
 band of heroes who may be r.aid to have made 
 History. On one occasion, late in his life, Moham- 
 med did give some material rewards to recent and 
 perhaps half-hearted converts ; but the exception only 
 proved the rule, and that in the most memorable 
 manner. The Helpers of Medina were naturally dis- 
 satisfied, but Mohammed recalled them to their alle- 
 giance by words which went straight from his heart 
 to theirs : that he had given things of the world to 
 those who cared for such things, but to them he had 
 given himself. Others returned home with sheep 
 and camels, the Helpers with the Prophet of God. 
 Verily, if all the men of the earth went one way, and 
 the Helpers of Medina another, he would go the way 
 of the Helpers of Medina.^ The Helpers burst into 
 tears, and exclaimed that they were more than 
 
 ^ Alluded to in Sura LIX. 8 and 9, and VIII. 42. See Muir, 
 
 IV. 151-154- 
 
232 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 satisfied with what he had given them. And, just 
 before his death, Mohammed commended these same 
 Helpers of Medina to the protection of the exiles who 
 had accompanied him from Mecca. ' Hold in honour,' 
 said he, * the Helpers of Medina : the number of be- 
 lievers may increase, but that of the Helpers never 
 can.^ They were my family, and with them I found 
 a home ; do good to those v/ho do good to them, and 
 break friendship with those who are hostile to them.' 
 
 Perhaps there is no remark one has heard more 
 often about Mohammedanism than that it was so suc- 
 cessful because it was so sensual ; but there is none more 
 Idestitute of truth, as if any religion could owe its perma- 
 nent success to its bad morality ! I do not say that its 
 morality is perfect, or equal to the Christian morality. 
 Mohammed did not make the manners of Arabia, and 
 he was too wise to think that he could either unmake 
 or remake them all at once. Solon remarked of his 
 own legislation that his laws were not the best that he 
 could devise ; but that they were the best the 
 Athenians could receive ; and his defence has generally 
 been accepted as a sound one. Moses took the 
 institutions of a primitive society as he found them — 
 
 ' Cf. Herodotus iii. 119. 5 ^aaiXev, aviip fxiv fioi tiv aXXos yeuoiro, el 
 Saifj-oov idiXoi, Kol reKva aWa, el ravra airo^dAoifxi- irarphs 5e Ka\ /xrjTpos 
 ovK en fiev ^wovruiv aheKcpehs av uWos uvdevl rpoTrw yivoiro. Cf. also 
 Soph. Antigone, 909-912. 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS EXISTING INSTITUTIONS. 233 
 
 the patriarchal power, internecine war, blood feuds, 
 the right of asylum, polygamy and slavery — and did 
 not abolish any one of them ; he only mitigated their 
 worst evils, and so unconsciously prepared the way in 
 some cases for their greater permanence, in others for 
 their eventual extinction. 
 
 In like manner the religion of Christ did not sweep 
 into oblivion any national or political institutions. 
 He contented Himself with planting principles in the 
 hearts of His followers which would, when the time 
 was ripe for it, work out their abolition. Willing to 
 sow if others could reap, to labour if others could enter 
 into His labours. He cast into the ground the grain of 
 mustard seed, and Avas content, with the eye of faith 
 •alone, to see it grow into the mighty tree whose 
 branches should overspread the world, and whose 
 leaves sliould be for the healing of the nations. With 
 sublime self-restraint and self-sacrifice, governed by 
 His thought for the boundless possibilities of the 
 future of His Church, rather than by the impulse of 
 the moment. He forbore to denounce in so many words 
 the inveterate evils of the Roman Empire, which must 
 have gone to His soul's soul — foreign conquest, tyranny, 
 the amphitheatre, slavery. He even used words which 
 have been wrongly construed to mean that at all times 
 passive obedience is a duty, and that tlie people have 
 nothing to do with the laws but to obey them. Nor 
 
234 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 has the Christian Church — sections of which have for 
 strange and various, but intelHgible, reasons, canonised 
 a Constantine and a Vladimir, a Cyril and a Charles 
 the Great, a Dunstan and a Becket — ever attached the 
 name of Saint to some who, in the fulness of time, have 
 carried out far more fully and in spirit Christ's work, 
 albeit in seeming contradiction to the letter of the law 
 which inculcated submission to existing powers and in- 
 stitutions — to a Telemachus or a Theodoric, to an 
 Alfred or a Wilberforce. And yet no Christian will 
 deny that the monk Telemachus, who threw himself 
 between the swords of the gladiators, and, braving the 
 fury of the spectators athirst for blood, accomplished 
 by his death what his life could never have won, did 
 a deed which all the * Acta Sanctorum ' could be 
 searched to parallel. 
 
 Now Mohammed was a legislator and a statesman, 
 as well as the founder of a religion ; and why is the 
 defence which we allow to Solon, and the praise we 
 bestow upon the limited scope of the Mosaic legisla- 
 tion, denied to Islam ? 
 
 Pol}^gamy is, indeed, next to caste, the most 
 blighting institution to which a nation, which has- 
 passed through the early stages of its growth, can 
 remain a prey. It tends to degrade love into an 
 animal passion, and so to unspiritualise all the relations 
 between the sexes. It pollutes society at the fountain- 
 
TREATMENT OF WOMEN. 235 
 
 head, for the family Is the source of all political and 
 of all social virtues. Mohammed would have more 
 than doubled the debt of gratitude the Eastern world 
 owes to him had he swept it away, but I cannot think 
 that he could have done so, even if he had fully seen 
 its evils. 
 
 Polygamy is an institution which springs from 
 causes far too deep down among the roots of society 
 for any reformer, however great, to abolish it by the 
 word of his mouth or the stroke of his pen. In abo- 
 lishing idolatry, Mohammed found among the Arabs, 
 as I have shown In my last Lecture, an historical 
 groundwork of belief in the unity of the Godhead, 
 and even an existing religious sentiment in his favour, 
 and he was not backward to avail himself of its help. 
 But in forbidding polygamy he would have found no 
 such extraneous support : there does not seem among 
 the higher spirits of Arabia to have been even so 
 much as a floating sentiment in favour of monogamy, 
 and the women themselves were as contented with 
 this part of their condition as were their masters. 
 
 As a true Arab, Mohammed recognised polygamy 
 as an existing Institution ; as a reforming legislator, 
 he made many regulations for lessening Its evils ; but 
 it is hardly more fair on these grounds to say that 
 Mohammedanism is responsible for polygamy, than it 
 is to say that Christianity is responsible for slavery.. 
 
236 MOHAMMED AXD MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 The New Testament contains, it is true, no direct 
 condemnation of slavery ; on the contrary, it recog- 
 nises it as an existing institution ; and St. Paul is at 
 least as precise upon the duties of servants — whom, 
 by the way, he calls by the downright name of slaves, 
 a term hardly used in the Koran — to their masters, 
 as he is upon the duties of masters to them ; but no 
 Christian vvill grant, on this score, that his religion 
 has either sanctioned slavery, or is responsible for it, 
 for he will have no difficulty in showing that the 
 humanity everywhere inculcated in it is inconsistent 
 with the prolonged maintenance of slavery, and would 
 of itself suffice, first in the case of individual Christians, 
 and afterwards of Christian nations, to secure, as now, 
 at last, it has secured, its abolition. Slavery, there- 
 fore, has simply co-existed with Christianity without 
 being mixed v\'ith it, even as the muddy Arve and the 
 clear Rhone keep their currents distinct long after 
 they have been united in one river-bed. Perhaps it 
 is strange that they ever could have co-existed, even 
 for a day ; but we have to deal with facts as they are ; 
 and it is a fact that slavery has co-existed with Chris- 
 tianity, nay, has professed to justify itself by Chris- 
 tianity, even till this nineteenth century. As a code, 
 indeed, of law and morals, it is of course fairer to 
 compare Islam with Judaism than, as I have just been 
 doing, with Christianity ; for in manners and in civili- 
 
POLYGAMY. 237 
 
 sation, as in race, the Arabs of Mohammed's time 
 resembled the Israehtes far more nearly than they 
 did any of those nations upon whom Christianity was 
 destined to take real hold. Now the Mosaic law, so 
 far from prohibiting polygamy, did not even put any 
 limitation on it. The Patriarchs indulged in poly- 
 gamy ; so did the Judges ; so did the Kings ; and not 
 least so the more elevated and the more spiritually- 
 minded amongst them. The man after God's own 
 heart, and the king whose wisdom and magnificence 
 still form the folk-lore of so many Eastern countries, 
 can hardly be surpassed in this particular even by 
 those Musalman princes who break the laws of the 
 Koran, and strain the traditions almost to bursting, 
 that they may gratify their love of display, or their 
 brutal appetites. 
 
 Mohammed could not have made a tabula rasa 
 of Eastern society, but what he could do he did. He 
 at least put some limitations on the unbounded 
 license of Eastern polygamy,^ and the absolute reck- 
 lessness of Eastern divorce.^ If the two social touch- 
 stones of a religion are the way in which, relatively to 
 the time, it deals v.'ith the weaker sex, and the way 
 in which it regards the poor and the oppressed, Mo- 
 hammed's religion can stand the test."^ The laws of 
 
 1 Sura IV. 3, &c. 
 
 '^ Sura IV. 39 and 127, XXXIII. 48, 52, &c. 
 
 ^ Among many other illustrations of this see (c?) the oath taken 
 
238 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMED AXISM. 
 
 the Prophet in these particulars, as in others, were 
 greatly ahead of the pagan, and in some respects also 
 of the Hebrew practice. 
 
 The Arabs of the Ignorance, for instance, allowed 
 any number of wives ; the Koran limits the number 
 of lawful wives to four.^ Among the Arabs of the 
 Ignorance divorce was a matter of the merest 
 caprice, and the divorced wife lost her dowry as well 
 as all conjugal rights. The Koran orders the dowry 
 in all cases to be given back ; and to ensure delibe- 
 ration, or to prevent mere caprice, in carrying out or 
 in recalling what, unlike his countrymen, the Prophet 
 considered so momentous and so objectionable a re- 
 solve, he ordained that a man who had once pro- 
 nounced the formula of divorce should not be at 
 liberty to take his wife back till he had done some 
 
 early in his life with other Kuraish, ' to defend the oppressed so long as 
 a drop of water remained in the ocean,' an act the remembrance of 
 which INIohammed said ' he w'ould not exchange for the choicest camel 
 in Arabia ; ' {h) the account given by Djafar to the Nagashy of Abys- 
 •sinia of the change wrought by ]\Iohammed among his followers ; 
 perhaps the noblest and truest summary we have of the moral teaching 
 of the Prophet ; {c) the pledge of Acaba, A. d. 621, taken by his first 
 •converts from Medina ; {d) Sura IT. 172 : ' There is no piety in turning 
 your faces towards the East or the West, but he is pious who believeth 
 in God .... who for the love of God distributeth his wealth to his 
 kindred, and to the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer.' 
 
 * It was a remark of Napoleon's that Mohammed was the only 
 
 Eastern legislator who ever attempted to impose any restraint on 
 
 polygamy; a fact which should be bonie in mind.. See Lane's 
 
 * Modern Egyptians,' I. 1 21- 128 for an analysis of the laws of Islam 
 
 ^relating to women and slaves. 
 
DIVORCE. 
 
 239 
 
 penance for his thoughtless cruelty by setting a slave 
 free.^ 
 
 The Arabs of the Ignorance allowed a woman 
 no part of her husband's or father s property, on the 
 ground that none should inherit property who could 
 not bear arms. The Koran says women are entitled 
 to a share of the inheritance : a daughter, for instance, 
 should have half as much as a son.^ The Arabs of 
 the Ignorance treated the wife of a deceased husband 
 as part of the inheritance of his heir-at-law, who would 
 often be her own step-son. Mohammed condemned 
 all such marriages, which were not uncommon before 
 his time, as infamous. The Arabs of the Ignorance 
 buried alive their female children ; for as the Arab 
 proverb expressed it, ' To send women before to the 
 other world is a benefit. The best son-in-law is the 
 grave ; ' and the wish offered to newly-married 
 couples, 'With concord and permanence, with sons 
 and no daughters,' implied similar ideas.^ Mohammed 
 
 ' See Sale's ' Preliminary Discourse,' VI. 95. If a man had pro- 
 nounced the formula twice at different times, he was not to have the 
 right to claim her again at all, until she had fulfilled the condition 
 which, to the pride and jealousy of an Arab, Mohammed knew M^ould 
 be insupportable, of being married previously to another person. A 
 third divorce was to be absolutely irrevocable. 
 
 - Sura IV. 12 ; and Sale's Preliminary Discourse, VI. 98. 
 
 3 'Women of the Arabs,' by the Rev. Henry Jessup, American 
 Missionary in Syria, p. 2. The first two chapters give a forcible 
 description of the degradation of women in the East now, among both 
 Musalmans and Christians ; but in a summary, to which I am much 
 
240 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 sternly forbade the cruel practice, and said that at 
 the last great day the girl who had been buried 
 alive would demand for what crime she had been 
 slain. The Arabs of the Ignorance who believed in 
 any form of future life denied all share in it to 
 woman, and Mohammed has been thought by many 
 to have done the same ; but the Koran says, ' Whoso 
 doeth good works and is a true believer, whether 
 male or female, shall be admitted into Paradise; An 
 Old woman once came to the Prophet begging him to 
 intercede with God that she might be admitted into 
 Paradise. * No old woman finds admittance there,' 
 replied Mohammed. She burst into tears, when 
 Mohammed smiled, and v/ith the kindly humour 
 which was characteristic of him, said, * No old woman, 
 for all will there be young again.' ^ 
 
 It has been said that * husbands love your wives ' 
 is a precept of the Bible, and not of the Koran.^ Hear, 
 however, the farewell address of Mohammed to the 
 pilgrims assembled on Mount Arafat in the year 
 before his death. ' Ye people, ye have rights over 
 your wives, and your wives have rights over you» 
 Treat your wives with kindness : verily ye have taken 
 
 indebted, do full justice to the improvement in their condition effected, 
 or at lea.st aimed at, by Mohammed. 
 
 ^ Sale, ' Preliminary Discourse,' p. 73. 
 
 - By Dr. Jessup, loc. cit. 
 
DIVORCE. 241 
 
 them on the security of God, and have made them 
 lawful unto you by the words of God.' 
 
 The Prophet's personal view of the prevalent 
 practice of divorce is well expressed in the beautiful 
 saying attributed to him in the Traditions, ' God has 
 created nothing which He likes better than the eman- 
 cipation of slaves, and nothing which He hates more 
 than divorce,' and it must be admitted that his ex- 
 ample, in this respect at all events, was as good as his 
 precept. It is difficult in this or in any other of his 
 sayings ^ to find aught to justify the epithet used by 
 the most recent writer on the Life of Christ when he 
 speaks of the * cynical sanction ' given by Mohammed 
 to polygamy or despotism ; ^ and it is to be regretted 
 that in his treatment of the religion of One who said | 
 that ' those who were not against Him were for Him,' 
 there is not a single passage which refers to the great 
 kindred creed of Islam, which does justice either to its 
 founder or to his reforms. Nor do the provisions I 
 have mentioned above constitute the whole of what 
 Mohammed did for the female sex, for besides imposing 
 restrictions on polygamy, by his severe laws at first, 
 
 > Cf. Sura IV. 126-128, 175; anclLXV., entitled 'Divorce,' through- 
 out. 
 
 - Farrar's ' Life of Christ,' I. 269. The passage in Sura IV. 32, 
 ' God desireth to make your burden light, for man hath been created 
 weak,' is, surely, not 'cynical,' but the reverse, and may be compared 
 with the ' hardness of their hearts ' allowed as a sufficient reason for 
 divorce under the Mosaic law by Christ himself. Matt. XIX. 8. 
 
242 MOhAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 and by the strong moral sentiment aroused by these ■ 
 laws afterwards, he has succeeded, down to this very, 
 day, and to a greater extent than has ever been the 
 case elsewhere, in freeing Mohammedan countries 
 from those professional outcasts who live by their 
 own misery, and, by their existence as a recognised 
 class, are a standing reproach to every member of the 
 society of which they form a part. 
 
 I do not forget, on the other hand, that Mohammed 
 authorised the corporal punishment of the wife by 
 the husband in extreme cases, provided it was done 
 with moderation ; that he allowed or enjoined the 
 seclusion of women ; that he relaxed in his own behalf 
 the restriction with regard to polygamy which he 
 imposed on others, and that he allowed concubinage 
 with captives taken in war ; ^ and I fully admit that 
 his followers have been far more ready to imitate and 
 to obey him in these, the defective parts of his teach- 
 ing and example, than in the more elevated ones ; 
 but I say confidently that compared with Paganism, 
 and even with Judaism, Mohammed gave women a 
 
 1 Sale maintains, and he is supported by many Muslim doctors, 
 and, to all appearance, by the M'ords of the Koran (Sura IV. 3), that 
 under no circumstances is a man allowed to take his slaves as concu- 
 bines if he have the maximum number of four wives allowed him by 
 the law. Tvlr. Lane maintains the contrary, and supports his argument 
 by the authority of other Muslim doctors, and by the practice of some 
 of the Companions of the Prophet ; but it is surely dangerous to lay 
 stress on this. No Musalman will contend that the Companions are 
 examples to be followed. 
 
SLAVERY. 243 
 
 great advance on their previous position, and so has 
 deserved well of them. It must be remembered also, 
 what we are apt to forget, that it required not the 
 sublime moral precepts of Christianity alone, but the 
 influence of codes of Roman law, and the innate 
 respect felt by Teutonic nations for the female sex, 
 and centuries of civilisation also, to raise Vv'oman to 
 her proper position in European countries ; and can 
 we be surprised that the unprogressive East is some 
 centuries behind us in this as in other respects ? I 
 think also that consistent and enlightened followers 
 of the Prophet, such as are Syed Ahmed and Syed 
 Ameer Ali in India, and Mir Aulad Ali, Professor 
 of Oriental Languages at Trinity College, Dublin, 
 have a right to say that Musalmans now would be 
 best carrying out the spirit of the Prophet, as shadowed 
 forth in many precepts of the Koran, in pronouncing 
 polygamy to be out of date, and therefore unlawful. 
 
 And how was it with Slavery t Here, too, the 
 advance is incontestable, and much more decisive 
 than in his legislation for women. Mohammed did 
 not abolish slavery altogether, for in that condition of 
 society it would have been neither possible nor de- 
 sirable to do so ; but he encouraged the emancipation 
 of slaves ; he laid down the principle that the captive 
 who embraced Islam should be ipso facto free, and, 
 what is more important, he took care that no stigma 
 
 R 2 
 
244 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 should attach to the emancipated slave In co-nsequence 
 of his honest and honourable life of labour. As tO' 
 those who continued slaves, he prescribed kindness 
 and consideration In dealing with them.^ ' See,' he 
 said, in his parting address at MIna, the year before 
 his death, ' see that ye feed them with such food as 
 ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the stuff ye 
 yourselves wear ; for they are the servants of the 
 Lord, and are not to be tormented.' 
 
 A slave thus protected by the law and by the 
 highest sanctions of religion was not a slave In the 
 modern sense of the word at all. It Is significant, 
 as I have remarked above, that the word itself hardly 
 occurs in the Koran. The phrase that is used, ' those 
 whom your right hand possesses,' means only those 
 who have been taken prisoners In lawful warfare, and 
 have lost their freedom. Such captives, if they became 
 Musalmans, were set free ; if they retained their own 
 faith, they were, as Mohammed told his follov.'ers, 
 none the less their brethren. The master who treated 
 them kindly would be acceptable to God ; he who 
 abused his power would be shut out of Paradise. 
 
 * How many times,' asked a follower of Mohammed,, 
 
 * oucrht I to forgive a slave who displeases me } ' 
 
 * Seventy times a day,' replied the Prophet. 
 
 Concubinage, indeed, with his female captives,, 
 
 » Sura XXIV. 34, 57. 
 
SLAVERY. 24s 
 
 Mohammed, like the chiefs of every other semi-civihsed 
 -State that has ever existed, allowed to their captor, 
 but she who bore her master a child was never to be 
 severed from it. She could never again be sold, and 
 at her master's death she received her freedom. 
 These humane provisions are, as might be expected, 
 in the same plane as those of the Mosaic law, but 
 they are an advance, in many respects, upon it ; and 
 they are such as no European or American slave- 
 trading power ever enrolled in its code of laws till the 
 wave of total abolition swept over Christendom. For 
 example, when the Hebrew who had become a slave 
 had served his time, he might go free ; but the wife 
 his master had given him, and the children she had 
 borne to him, were to be severed from him and to 
 remain slaves.^ The Musalman master who chas- 
 tised his slave without cause was bound to set him 
 free ; the Hebrew, on the other hand, who chastised 
 his slave so severely as to cause his death at once, 
 ■was liable to a certain penalty, but if he survived for 
 a day or two, he got off scot free ; for, as the English 
 version of the Bible expresses it with terrible blunt- 
 ness, * he is his money.' - In the Slave States of 
 America, again, a slave had no legal rights : if a 
 master treated his female slaves well, it was because 
 he happened to be humane, not because, as in Islam 
 
 1 Exodus XXI. 4. - Exodus XXI. 21. 
 
246 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 in its best days, the courts were open to compel him 
 to be so. The equality of all men before God was 
 a principle which Mohammed everywhere maintained, 
 and which, taking, as it did, all caste feeling from 
 slavery, took av/ay also its chief sting. To Moham- 
 med's mind labour could never be degrading ; and the 
 domestic slavery of the Arabs, under which, thanks 
 to him, parents were never to be separated from their 
 children, nor indeed relations from each other at all,, 
 though always to be condemned in the abstract, 
 became, under the Prophet's hands, a bond closer 
 and more lasting, and hardly more liable to abuse, 
 than domestic service elsewhere. 
 
 Mohammedanism, in fact, preaches equality al- 
 most as explicitly as does Christianity. ' No more 
 pride in ancestry,' said Mohammed to the assembled 
 Musalmans, the haughty Kuraish themselves am^ong 
 them : ' ye Musalmans are all brothers, all equal ; ' 
 and it must be admitted that Mohammedans have, 
 from whatever causes, acted up to their creed in 
 this respect more fully than have Christians.^ In 
 
 ' See Wood's 'Oxus,' p. 194. ' Nowhere is the difference betv.een 
 European and Mohammedan society more strongly marked than in the 
 lower walks of life. The broad line that separates the rich and poor 
 in civilised society is as yet but faintly drawn in Central Asia. Here 
 unreserved intercourse with their superiors has polished the manners of 
 the lower classes, and instead of this famdliarity breeding contempt, it 
 begets self-respect in the dependent. . . . indeed all the inferior 
 classes possess an innate self-respect and a natural gravity of deport- 
 
MOHAMMEDAN CONVERTS. 247 
 
 India, for instance, Mohamnriedans make converts by 
 hundreds from among the Hindus, while Christians 
 with difficulty make ten, and this partly at least 
 because they receive their converts on terms of entire 
 social equality, while Europeans, in spite of all the 
 efforts of missionaries to the contrary, seem either 
 unwillinp- or unable to treat their converts as other 
 than inferiors. The Hindu who becomes a Christian 
 loses, therefore, his own cherished caste without being 
 admitted into that of his rulers. The Hindu who 
 turns Mohammedan loses his narrow caste, but he 
 becomes a member of the wide brotherhood of Islam. 
 In Africa there is, happily, no caste system analogous 
 to that of India, but like causes have, even there, pro- 
 duced like effects or like contrasts. The 'Negro' con- 
 vert to Islam is received at once as an equal by the 
 Arab, or the Moorish, or the Mandingo missionary 
 who has brought him his message ; he is enrolled in 
 a fraternity which has influenced half the v/orld, and 
 in which Negroes themselves have played no incon- 
 siderable part. A literature and a language are 
 thrown open to him which, if they are not his own, 
 are yet a classical literature and language, and one 
 which he may well claim as, in some sense, his, in 
 view of what they have already done for his race. 
 
 ment which differs as far from the suppleness of a Hindustani as from 
 the awkward lusticity of an English clown.' 
 
248 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 He thus acquires a sense of independence, of dignity, 
 and of brotherhood, to which he was before a stranger. 
 The Christian Negro, on the other hand, with fev/ 
 exceptions, still feels at an immeasurable distance 
 from those Europeans to whom, indeed, he owes the 
 message of love that he has received, but who, as a 
 race, for centuries past, have enslaved and sold him, 
 and, alien as they are to him in all respects, still 
 Idebar him from the possession of his own coasts that 
 they may enrich themselves with his merchandise, 
 or flood his country with those ardent spirits which 
 are the curse of their own. He sets to work to 
 imitate, as best he may, the dress and the habits, the 
 virtues and the vices, of those who have so little in 
 common with him ; and the result is that with which 
 we are all familiar.^ Christianity is not to blame for 
 this, but Christian nations are. As to his religion, 
 while nothing can quite deprive him of the sense of 
 equality before God, and of the bright hopes beyond 
 the grave which the self-sacrificing missionary preaches 
 to him, in spite of all the caste prejudices and that 
 most fatal of obstacles to missionary work, the ex- 
 ample of the Europeans themselves, he naturally takes 
 
 ' See on this subject a very remarkable article in Eraser's Magazine 
 for November 1875, by a Negro, the Rev. Edward Blyden, headed 
 ' iSIohammedanism and the Negro Race.' The author speaks in great 
 measure from his own experience, and treats the subject with originality, 
 with earnestness, and with deep pathos. 
 
CHRISTIANITY. 249 
 
 hold of that side of Christianity which any reHgion 
 that is of such universal applicability must certainly 
 contain ; the side, I mean, which dwells upon the 
 helplessness of man to help himself, his dependence 
 upon merits not his OAvn, the sense that even his best 
 efforts and aspirations have something in them of the 
 nature of sin. These notions have much truth in 
 them, but they are only one side of the truth, and 
 they require to be balanced and held in check by 
 that other side of Christianity which inculcates self- 
 reliance and self-respect, the active and the heroic, 
 as well as the passive and the saintly virtues. Races 
 which are more energetic, more fortunate, or more 
 highly-gifted, are, in some imperfect sense, better able 
 to lay hold of this other side of Christianity, and the 
 result, such as it is, is seen in the progressive nations 
 of the West. Christianity has done much for Europe, 
 but Europe has done much also for Christians. Down- 
 trodden and unfortunate nations like the African, 
 which have been brought into contact wdth more 
 powerful races only to be oppressed by them, and 
 have, by their mere geographical peculiarities, been 
 unduly weighted- throughout their history in the 
 struggle for existence, naturally lay hold, with i^y}^ 
 exceptions, of that side of Christianity which comes 
 most home to them, and wdiich appeals most to their 
 depressed condition. The same general causes which. 
 
250 IJOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 with or without reason, make the Turk despise the 
 Armenian, the Druse despise the Maronite, and the 
 Copt the Abyssinian, are at work in Central Africa 
 also ; and in spite of the ineffable superiority of 
 Christianity in its purity, serve to point the contrast 
 between the dependence and the servility of the 
 average Christian, and the dignity and the self-reli- 
 ance of the average Musalman, Negro. 
 
 * La carriere ouverte aux talens ' has thus been 
 throughout the history of Islam something of a reality. 
 No considerations of birth, or race, or colour, or 
 money, have prevented a man rising to the post for 
 which it had been recognised that he was best fitted. 
 Zeid, the Prophet's freed man, led his armies in war. 
 Bilal, a blind Negro, became the first Muezzin ; and, 
 as Deutsch remarks, even Alexander the Great is at 
 this day an unknown personage in Asia compared to 
 him. A dynasty of Circassian slaves ruled Eg>^pt 
 for a century before its conquest by the Ottoman 
 Turks, and it is said that Christians from the Caucasus 
 were glad to be carried off as slaves to Egypt because 
 each one felt that he might rise to be sultan.^ In 
 Islam the emancipated slave is actually, as well as 
 potentially, equal to a free-born citizen, and through- 
 out the Turkish Empire at all periods of its history,. 
 
 ' Mohammed's Religion, by J. J, Dollinger, p. 32. 
 
THE ORPHAN AND THE POOR. 251 
 
 slaves have risen repeatedly to the highest offices, and 
 have never been ashamed of their origin.^ 
 
 The orphan was not less than the slave the object 
 of the Prophet's peculiar care, for he had been an 
 orphan himself; and v/hat God had done for him, he 
 was anxious, as far as might be, to do for others.^ 
 The poor were always present with him, and their 
 condition never absent from his mind. In one of his 
 early Suras, * the steep,' as he calls it — that is to say, 
 the strait and narrow way, is said to be to release 
 the captive, to give food to the poor that lieth in tlie 
 dust, and to stir up one another to stedfastness and 
 compassion.^ And in another Sura Jews and Arabs 
 are alike warned in their exclusive pride in their 
 common progenitor, Abraham, that verily the nearest 
 of kin to Abraham are they who follow him in his 
 works."^ 
 
 And how, as a matter of history, has Islam dealt 
 with these classes of society, which more even than 
 
 ^ Captain Burton mentions (' rilgiimage,' I. p. 89) that the pacha 
 of the vSyrian caravan with which he travelled to Damascus had been 
 the slave of a slave. Sebuktegin, the father of the magnificent Mah- 
 mud, and founder of the Ghaznevide dynasty, "was a slave ; so A\as 
 Kutb-ud-din, the conqueror and first king of Delhi, and the true 
 founder, therefore, of the Mohammedan Empire in India. (See 
 Elphinstone's ' India,' p. 320, and 363, and 370.) The dynasty of 
 the Egyptian Mamelukes derived their name from an Arabic word 
 meaning slave. • 
 
 2 Sura VIII. 42, and XCIII. 6 to end. 
 
 ^ Sura XC. 12, 15, zxi^ passim. ,■* Sura III. 61. 
 
252 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the ordinary poor, need the help of those who are 
 richer, stronger, more fortunate than they ? It is the 
 glory of Christianity to have created that enthusiasm 
 of humanity which, from the earliest times, has made 
 the care of the sick and the relief of the distressed to 
 be not only the first of duties, but of happinesses. 
 The Emperor Julian, an unwilling and therefore a 
 trustworthy witness, remarked with reference to the 
 ^ splendid outpouring,' even in his own day, of charity 
 among the Christians whom he despised, that it was 
 a scandal that the Galileans should support the 
 destitute not only of their own religion, but of his. 
 Following Christ's example, and believing what He 
 taught, that in finding out the afflicted and in tending 
 the leper and the outcast, Christ Himself may in 
 some sense be found and tended. Christians have 
 everywhere erected orphanages for the bereaved, 
 refuges for the aged, penitentiaries for the fallen, 
 hospitals for the sick, and asylums for the insane. 
 These institutions are the result not of any positive 
 external law among Christian nations, but of that 
 glowing impulse of love which Christ has breathed 
 into His true disciples, and which, under their influ- 
 ence, has become a second nature to numbers who do 
 not acknowledge either its origin or its sanction. 
 They have grown with the growth of Christianity, 
 and in their number, in their size, and their efficiency, 
 
HOSPITALS. 2S3. 
 
 those of the present clay throw into the shade the 
 efforts of all other religions and of all previous ages. 
 
 But no Christian need be sorry to learn, or be 
 backward to acknowledge, that, contrary to what is 
 usually supposed,* two of those noble institutions which 
 flourish now most in Christian countries, and are 
 assuredly most characteristic of Christianity, owe their 
 origin and their early spread not to his own religion, but 
 to the great heart of humanity which beats in two 
 other of the grandest religions of the world. Hospi- 
 tals are the direct outcome of Buddhism, and from 
 the time of the charitable edicts of King Asoka for 
 the establishment of medical dispensaries both for 
 men and animals, three hundred years before Christ,, 
 began to overspread the Buddhist East- To 
 
 * ' Amid all the boasted civilisation of antiquity there existed no 
 hospitals, no penitentiaries, no asylums,' Farrar's 'Life of Christ ' I. 
 334- 
 
 - For the Buddhist origin of hospitals see some facts collected by 
 the Rev. J. Hoare, of Killiskey, Dublin, in an interesting and able 
 sermon on hospitals ; and for the origin of lunatic asylums, and some 
 of the facts here mentioned, see Mr. Lecky's ' History of European 
 Morals,' II. 94. Mr. T. Wheeler in his 'History of India' (III. 
 257) quotes from Fa hian, a Euddhist pilgrim from China to India 
 about A. D. 400, a vivid description of the hospitals at Patali-putra or 
 Patna, the former capital of King Asoka, which were open gratuitously 
 to the poor and the diseased of all countries. A hospital for the 
 relief of animal suffering on an extensive scale existed at Surat down to 
 the beginning of this century. It doubtless owed its origin to Budd- 
 hist influences, flourished throughout the period of the Musalman 
 rule under the special guardianship of the Jains, and has only fallen 
 into decay in very recent times. 
 
254 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Mohammedanism, it would seem, Christendom is in- 
 debted for the foundation of lunatic asylums, and for , 
 the comparatively humane treatment of the insane. 
 The lunatic asylum at Cairo was founded in A.D. 1304, 
 and it was not till more than a century afterwards 
 that we hear of any institutions of the kind in Europe, 
 and then only in that part of it which was most open 
 to Mohammedan influences — I mean in Spain. It was 
 from Spain that they gradually spread over Europe ; 
 and it was to the Spaniards, strange to say, that Rome 
 itself, the capital of Christendom, owed in the year 
 1548 the foundation of its earliest asylum. In the 
 fifteenth century Leo Africanus found that portions 
 of several hospitals at Fez, in the interior of Morocco, 
 were dedicated to the care of the insane ; and the 
 Mosque itself, so far from being exclusively dedicated, 
 as Europeans commonly suppose, to those services 
 which alone we are apt to call religious, is in most 
 Musalman countries immediately connected with 
 schools for the young or hospitals for the sick and 
 the insane ; and its guardians, in the belief that 
 those serve God best who most benefit their fellow- 
 creatures, have generally devoted a part of the funds 
 of the foundation to these most truly sacred purposes. 
 Instead of the harsh treatment which, till lately in the 
 West, has been thought to be the only possible one, 
 lunatics have in the Mohammedan East been treated 
 
THE LOWER ANLMALS. 2,55 
 
 •o-enerally not only with humanity, but with respect. 
 They are regarded in Egypt now, Mr. Lane tells us, 
 as men who, their minds being in heaven, are not 
 responsible for what their bodies do on earth : their 
 souls being absorbed in devotion, it is thought only 
 natural that their passions should be without control.^ 
 Nor does Mohammed omit to lay stress on what I 
 venture to think is as crucial a test of a moral code, 
 and even of a religion, as is the treatment of the poor 
 and the weak — I mean the duties we owe to what we 
 call the lower animals. There is no religion which 
 has taken a higher view in its authoritative documents 
 of animal life, and none wherein the precept has 
 been so much honoured by its practical observance. 
 ^ There is no beast on earth,' says the Koran,^ * nor 
 bird which flieth with its wings, but the same is a 
 people like unto you— unto the Lord shall they 
 return ; ' and it is the current belief that animals will 
 share with men the general resurrection, and be judged 
 according to their works. At the slaughter of an 
 animal, the Prophet ordered that the name of God 
 should always be named, but the words ' the Compas- 
 sionate, the Merciful,' were to be omitted ; for on the 
 one hand such an expression seemed a mockery to 
 the sufferer, and, on the other, he could not bring 
 
 ' Lane's * Modern Egyptians,' p. 2S8. 
 2 Sura VI. 38, and Sale's note ad loc. 
 
256 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 himself to believe that the destruction of any life, 
 however necessary, could be altogether pleasing to the 
 All Merciful. 'In the name of God,' says a pious 
 Musalman before he strikes the fatal blow ; ' God is 
 most great ; God give thee patience to endure the 
 affliction which He hath allotted thee ! ' ^ In the East 
 there has been no moralist like Bentham to insist in 
 noble words on the extension of the sphere of morality 
 to all sentient beings, and to be ridiculed for it by 
 people who call themselves religious ; there has been 
 no naturalist like Darwin, to demonstrate by his mar- 
 vellous powers of observation how large a part of the 
 mental and moral faculties which we usually claim 
 for ourselves alone Ave share with other beings ; there 
 has been no Oriental ' Society for the Prevention of 
 Cruelty to Animals ; ' but one reason of this is not far 
 to seek. What the legislation of the last few years has 
 at length attempted to do, and, from the mere fact that 
 it is legislation, must do ineffectually, has been long 
 effected in the East by the moral and religious senti- 
 ment which, like almost everything that is good in that 
 part of the world, can be traced back, in part at least, 
 to the great Prophet of Arabia.^ In the East, so far 
 
 ' Lane's 'Modern Eg>'ptians,' I., 119. 
 
 - The sympathy of the Prophet for his domestic animals is well 
 knovrn. There is a great variety of traditions respecting his horses, 
 his mules, his milch and riding camels, and his goats. It Avould be 
 easy to write a complete biography of his favourite she-camel, Al 
 
TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 257 
 
 as it has not been hardened by the West, there is a 
 real sympathy between man and the domestic ani- 
 mals ; they understand one another, and the cruelties 
 which the most humane of our countrymen uncon- 
 sciously inflict in the habitual use, for instance, of the 
 muzzle or the bearing-rein on the most docile, the 
 most patient, the most faithful, and the most intelli- 
 gent of their companions, are impossible in the East. 
 An Arab cannot ill-treat his horse ; and Mr. Lane 
 bears emphatic testimony to the fact that in his long 
 residence in Egypt he never saw an ass or a dog (though 
 the latter is there looked upon as an unclean animal) 
 treated with cruelty, except in those cities which were 
 overrun by Europeans.^ 
 
 Mohammed was not slow to forbid the practices 
 nearest to the Arab heart if he saw them clearly to be 
 wrong ; a strong reason surely for putting the most 
 charitable interpretation possible upon his retention of 
 polygamy. All hostilities and plundering excursions 
 
 Kaswa. Her eccentricities and perversities exercised an influence on 
 some critical occasions in the Prophet's life — e. g. on his entrance to 
 Medina, and at Kodeiba. Among the phenomena attending Mo- 
 hammed's fits, it is recorded that if one came on him while riding, 
 his camel itself became first wildly excited, and then fixed and rigid ! 
 And I have little doubt that the stoiy arose from the almost electric 
 sympathy that exists between an intelligent animal that is kindly- 
 treated and its master. 
 
 ^ Lane, I., 359-361. Many mosques in Egypt and in other parts 
 of the Mohammedan East have funds belonging to them which are 
 specially appropriated to the relief or support of animals. 
 
 S 
 
258 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 between neighbouring tribes that had become Mu- 
 salman he forbade on pain of death ; and this among 
 those who had hitherto Hved by plunder or by war, 
 and who he knew might be deterred by such pro- 
 hibition from joining him. * Let us make one more 
 expedition against the Temim,' said a tribe that was 
 almost, but not altogether, persuaded to embrace the 
 faith, ' and then we will become Musalmans.' ^ Usury 
 and divination, drunkenness and gaming, were, as I 
 have shown in my Second Lecture, among the darling 
 practices of the Arabs : how did the Prophet deal 
 with them ? ' O true believers, surely wine, and lots, 
 and images, and divining arrows are an abomination 
 of the work of Satan : therefore avoid them, that ye 
 may prosper. Satan seeketh to sow dissension and 
 hatred among you, by means of wine and lots, and to 
 divert you from remembering God and from prayer : 
 will ye not therefore abstain from them ? ' ^ 
 
 By thus absolutely prohibiting gambling and in- 
 toxicating liquors, Mohammed did much to abolish, 
 once and for all, over the vast regions that own his 
 sway, two of the worst and most irremediable evils of 
 European society ; evils to the intensity of which the 
 Christian Governments of the nineteenth century are 
 hardly yet beginning to awake. 
 
 1 Quoted by Dr. Cazenove, 'Christian Remembrancer,' January 
 1855, p. 71, from Caussin de Perceval. 
 ' Sura Y. 92. 
 
HOJV SHOULD CHRISTIANS REGARD ISLAM? 259 
 
 Can anyone then who recollects what the Arabian 
 Prophet did for woman, and the slave and the orphan, 
 for the poor and the sick, and the lower animals, and 
 who knows also how much he has done to restrain 
 throughout the East certain vices which are still ram- 
 pant in Christendom, deny what I have already 
 hinted above, that, looking at him merely as a moral 
 reformer, and apart from his great religious revolution, 
 Mohammed was really doing Christ's work, even if he 
 had reverenced Christ less than in fact he did ? 
 
 And this brings me to the most important question 
 that I shall touch upon at present ; and one, but for 
 which, in its various bearings, I do not know that I 
 should have written these Lectures : I mean the at- 
 titude that Christianity ought to bear to Mohammed- 
 anism now. To say that in spite of the theoretic 
 intolerance of Mohammedanism, it ought, unless its 
 theory is put into practice, itself to be tolerated, is 
 happily now a mere truism. But it ought not to be 
 treated with a merely contemptuous or distant re- 
 cognition, or to be inserted tanqiLam infainicB causa — 
 'Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics'— in a collect, 
 once a year, upon that day of all others upon which 
 the universality of Christ's self-sacrifice is brought be- 
 fore us. When the draft of a treaty was brought to 
 the General of the armies of revolutionary France, tlie 
 iirst clause of which contained a formal recognition by 
 
 s 2 
 
26o MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the Emperor Francis of Austria— the representative of 
 legitimacy, absolutism, and divine right — of the exist- 
 ence of the French Republic, ' Strike that clause out,' 
 said Napoleon ; ' the French Republic needs no re- 
 cognition from him — It Is as clear as the sun at noon- 
 day.' Mohammedanism needs no formal recognition 
 of Its existence by a faith with which It has so much 
 in common. The Immemorial quarrel between Mo- 
 hammedanism and Christianity Is, after all, a quarrel 
 between near relations ; and, like most Immemorial 
 quarrels, Is based chiefly on mutual misunderstandings. 
 / Without any appearance of extraordinary condescen- 
 sion, we should recognise the fact which Mohamme- 
 dans themselves might at present certainly be inclined 
 to deny, that Islam is the nearest approach to 
 Christianity, I would almost call it, remembering 
 Mohammed's intense reverence for Christ, the 
 only form of Christianity, which has proved Itself 
 suited to the nations of the East. John Cantacuzene, 
 the Greek Emperor of Constantinople, who calls him- 
 self in the title of his book ' the most pious and Christ- 
 loving ' king, and who was often compelled to sharpen 
 his sword, as well as his pen, against the Turkish foes 
 who w^ere then closing in around his capital, yet treats 
 them throughout as sectaries only, and not pagans.^ 
 
 1 The title of the book is suggestive : tov euae^effrdTov koI <pi\o- 
 Xpi(rrov fiaaiXiws 'ladupov toD KavTUKod Cmov .... Kara rris ^apaKr,vo}V 
 
THREE MONOTHEISTIC CREEDS. 261 
 
 Dante himself placed Mohammed in the ' Inferno,' 
 not as a heathen, but as a heretic ; and is there any 
 reason why our notion of Christianity should be less 
 comprehensive than that of the patriot Greek Em- 
 peror or of the Christian poet ? 
 
 Mohammedanism is the one religion in the world, ^ 
 besides our own and the Jewish, which is strictly and 
 avowedly Monotheistic. ' Dispute not,' said Moham- 
 med to his followers, ' against those who have received 
 the Scriptures, that is Jews and Christians, except 
 with gentleness ; but say unto them we believe in the 
 revelation which hath been sent down to us, and also 
 in that which hath been sent down to you ; and our 
 God and your God is one.' ^ And again he says in 
 another place, ' Verily the Believers, and those who 
 are Jews, those who are Christians and Sabeans, who- 
 ever believeth in God, and the last day, and doeth 
 that which is right, they shall have their reward with 
 their Lord, there shall come no fear upon them, 
 neither shall they be grieved.' ^ And in a still more 
 striking passage we find it written : ' Unto every one 
 have we given a law and a way. Now if God had 
 pleased. He would surely have made you one people, 
 but He hath made you to differ that He might try 
 
 alpeo-e'cos a.-Ko\6'yia\. A. He married his daughter to a Turk. See Ibii 
 
 Batata's Travels, p. 79-85, for an interesting account of a similar 
 occurrence. 
 
 » Sura V. ^Z. - Sura II. 59. 
 
262 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 you in that which He hath given to each, therefore 
 strive to excel each other in good works. Unto God 
 shall ye all return, and He will tell you that concerning 
 which ye have disagreed.' ^ 
 
 The three Creeds are branches _ from the same 
 parent stock, not different stocks ; and they all alike 
 look back to the majestic character of Abraham as 
 the first teacher of the unity of God. Mohammed 
 says, again and again, that the belief he inculcates is 
 no new belief — it is the original creed of Khalil Allah^ 
 the Friend of God. The heroes of the Old Testament 
 history, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph and Joshua, David 
 and Solomon, arc heroes of the Mohammedan 
 religion as well as of the Jewish and Christian. 
 
 1 remarked in my Second Lecture that Mohammed 
 may have thought himself justified in breaking the 
 moral law he himself imposed, because a somewhat 
 similar concession had been made to Moses. This is 
 not a mere conjecture on my part, for it is certain that 
 Mohammed had, for one who was so careless of facts, 
 acquired somehow a full and fairly accurate knowledge 
 of the history of the great Lawgiver. He relates it 
 at length,^ and recurs to it with a passionate fcmdness 
 
 » Sura V. 52, 53. Cf. Acts x. 35. These are passages on v.hich the 
 comparative mythologist thfe Musahiian reformer, and the Christian 
 missionary would alilce do well to dwell. It is noteworthy also that 
 the fifth Sura, from which two of them come, is placed by Rodwell and 
 others last in the chronological order. 
 
 2 See especially Suras VII. XVIII. XXVII. XXVIII. LV. 
 
SPIRITUALITY OF ISLAM. 26 
 
 o 
 
 from an early period in his career, evidently dwelling 
 mentally on the striking parallels between himself and 
 Moses, the shepherd life, the call to the Prophet's 
 office, the rejection by their own countrymen, no less 
 than — be it always remembered to Mohammed's . 
 credit that he does not disguise it — the main point of 
 difference, the prodigality of miracles performed by 
 the one, and the inability to work them in the other. 
 One most sacred spot actually connects the two 
 Prophets together. There is a tradition, to some ex- 
 tent authenticated, that Mohammed drove the camels 
 of Khadijah to the very place where Moses had tended 
 the flocks of Jethro. Moses and Mohammed may 
 have reposed on the same rock, watered their cattle 
 at the same springs, looked upon the same weird 
 mountains.^ And it is a redeeming point, perhaps 
 the only redeeming point, in the melancholy history 
 of St. Catherine's Monastery, that from age to age 
 within the convent walls. Mosque and Church have 
 stood side by side, and Muslims and Christians have 
 knelt together worshipping the same God ; and there, 
 if only there in the world, venerating with a kindred, 
 if not with an equal reverence, the same prophets, 
 Moses and Mohammed, and One who is infinitely 
 greater than them both.^ 
 
 ' Sura II. 57, VII. 160. 
 
 - See the account of St. Catherine's and its degifadation in ' The 
 Desert of the Exodus,' by E. H. Pahner ; and in Stanley's ' Sinai and 
 
V 
 
 264 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM, 
 
 Again, Mohammedanism is in a true sense of the 
 word a spiritual rehgion. As instituted by Mohammed 
 it had * no priest and no sacrifice ; ' ^ in other words, 
 no caste of sacrificing priests were ever to be allowed 
 to come between the human soul and God : forbid- 
 ding the representation of all living things alike, 
 whether as objects of use or of admiration, of venera- 
 tion or of worship, Mohammedanism is more opposed 
 to idolatry even than we are ourselves. Mohammed 
 hated images more sternly even than the Iconoclasts 
 of Constantinople or the soldiers of Cromwell. Every 
 mosque in the world of Islam bears witness to this. 
 Statuary and pictures being forbidden, variegated 
 marbles, and festoons of lamps, and geometric shapes 
 and tortuous inscriptions from the Koran, have to 
 supply their place as best they can, and form that 
 peculiar species of ornamentation, strictly confined to 
 the inanimate world, which we call Arabesque, and 
 
 Palestine,' p. ?3-54. Dean Stanley draws my attention to the fact 
 that there is a large mosque in the principal street of St, Petersburg; 
 and it is said that at Nijni Novgorod the same phenomenon, mosque 
 and church as near and not unfriendly neighbours, may be observed ; 
 but there no doubt it is commerce rather than religious sympathy 
 which we have to thank for it. 
 
 * The Sacrifice at the Annual Pilgrimage is a mere relic of the 
 Pagan practice ; it has little religious significance, and does not imply 
 priestcraft ; it indicates only the belief that sin deserves death. At the 
 feast of Beiram a victim is offered, but only in commemoration of the 
 ram accepted by God in the place of Isaac, or rather, as the Musal- 
 mans represent it, in the place of Ishmael. Each worshipper, moreover, 
 offers the victim for himself, without the intervention of any official. 
 
HATRED OF IDOLATRY. 265 
 
 which is still to be traced in the architecture of so 
 many churches and so many mosques along the 
 frontier line of four thousand miles which divides the 
 realm of the Crescent from that of the Cross. ^ 
 
 This hatred of idolatry has been found even 
 among the most uncivilised followers of the Prophet. 
 The gorgeous ritual, the gaudy pictures, and the pious 
 frauds which play so large a part in the conversion of 
 the Sclavonian nations to Christianity seem only to 
 have alienated these semi-barbarians. Mahmud the 
 Ghaznevide, the son of a slave and the conqueror of 
 Hindustan, was offered a sum of ten millions sterling 
 if only he Avould spare the famous idol in the pagoda 
 of Somnat. Avarice is said to have been his beset- 
 ting fault, but he replied in the memorable words, 
 ' Never shall Mahmud be a merchant of idols ; ' and 
 broke it into pieces.^ 
 
 In this horror of all objective symbols, In the 
 simplicity of Its liturgical forms,^ in the absence of a 
 
 ^ Cf, Stanley's ' Lectures on the Eastern Church,' p. 273. Without 
 discusshig the general question at length, I may remark here that Gothic 
 architecture, though it is not very ready to acknowledge the debt, 
 owes much to Moorish architecture — in particular the Horse-shoe or 
 Crescent Arch. The pointed arch itself is to be found in many early 
 mosques, and some of the most famous Venetian buildings, St. Mark's 
 among them, owe much to Saracenic architecture. 
 
 ^ Ferishta's 'History of Mohammedan Power in India ' (Briggs's 
 translation), I. p. 72 ; and Elphinstone's 'History of India,' p. 336. 
 
 ^ See the forms of prayer, &c., given by Gar9in de Tassy, ' L'lslam- 
 isme,' p. 207-285. Most of them are of course an after-growth. 
 
266 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 priestly caste, and therefore of all belief in such 
 doctrines as those of apostolical succession, inherent 
 sanctity, indissoluble vows, the duty of confession or 
 powers of absolution, Islam stands alone among the 
 religions of the world. Yet without compromising 
 seriously this its essential character, it was able 
 originally, and it is able still, in Africa and in 
 Hindustan, in Central Asia and the East Indian 
 islands, to win over, and that often by pure convic- 
 tion, Pagans from the most debasing and material- 
 istic forms of idolatry, and this to an extent which is 
 quite unequalled in modern times by any form of 
 Christianity, or by any other proselytising creed. In a 
 Protestant country in which the missionary spirit i^ 
 still strong, but in some portions of which a florid 
 ritual and an exotic aestheticism seem to be the order 
 of the day, it is well to draw pointed attention to 
 what another creed can do without any such accom- 
 paniments, and to the stumbling-block which these 
 Avould inevitably place in the way of a Musalman 
 who might otherwise be disposed to listen to the 
 Christian message.^ 
 
 Finally, Mohammedanism, in spite of centuries 
 
 * One of the forms of idolatry which Mohammed found among the 
 Paiians of Arabia, and which he overthrew, was the worship of bread. 
 A tribe called the Hanifa used to pay Divine honours to a shapeless 
 lump of dough ; which, however, with characteristic levity, they were 
 not unwilling to eat when pressed by want of food. 
 
REVERENCE FOR CHRIST. 267- 
 
 of wars and misunderstandings, looks back upon the 
 Founder of our religion Avith reverence only less than 
 that with which the most devout Christians regard 
 Him. 
 
 So far from its being true, as is commonly sup- 
 posed, that Mohammedans regard Christ as Chris- 
 tians have too often regarded Mohammed, with 
 hatred and with contempt ; Sir William Muir remarks 
 that devout Musalmans never mention the name of 
 Seyyedna Eesa, or Our Lord Jesus, without adding the 
 words 'on whom be peace.' The highest honour that 
 a Musalman can conceive is given to Christ in the 
 grave reserved for Him by the side of the Prophet 
 himself in the great Mosque at Medina. Mohamme- 
 dans expect that He will one day return to earth, and 
 having slain Antichrist, will establish perfect peace 
 among men. And Dr. Hunter^ tells us that the 
 Indian Shiahs avowedly look forward to his reap- 
 pearance simultaneously with that of the last of their 
 twelve Imams, and to an amalgamation of the two 
 creeds ; of Islam as the followers of Ali hold it, and 
 of Christianity, not as it is, but as they believe it was 
 taught by Christ Himself^ A Christian indeed is 
 not received by Mohammedans with quite the open 
 
 » ' Our Indian Mussulmans,' p. 120, by W. W. Hunter. 
 ' For a curious discussion on the return of the Messiah to earth 
 held at Timbuctu, see Earth's ' Travels in Central Africa,' V., p. 4. 
 
268 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 arms of hospitality with which they welcome a brother 
 Mohammedan ; but a traveller who was the first to 
 explore the source of the Oxus, and the adjacent 
 countries in Central Asia, tells us, as the result of his 
 own wide experience, that a Christian may count 
 upon a courteous, if not upon a cordial, reception 
 from them, and that he is always treated with kind- 
 ness and respect.^ A Mohammedan, he goes on to 
 say, looks upon Christians in the light indeed of 
 benighted and misguided men, but yet, as the Prophet 
 himself so often called them, as ' people of the Book,' 
 ^vho, though not heirs to the high destinies of Mo- 
 hammed's followers, are nevertheless, from the sacred 
 character of Seyyedna Eesa, entitled to the commi- 
 seration and sympathy of the faithful. The fact is 
 that though, since the first spread of Islam, compara- 
 tively few Christians have ever become Musalmans, a 
 Musalman is still disposed to look upon a Christian 
 as, potentially at least, a brother Musalman. It was 
 .a saying of the Prophet himself, that 'everyone is 
 born a Musalman :' Abraham was one, so was Jesus, 
 in that he was resigned to God's will and had un- 
 bounded faith in Him. The two systems of belief, 
 therefore, were, in the Prophet's view, in no way con- 
 tradictory to each other. Islam was, as he taught 
 at one stage of his life, a religion co-ordinate with 
 
 1 Wood's 'Oxus,' p. 93, 94. 
 
JFI/V DID MOHAMMED REJECT CHRISTIANITY? 269 
 
 Christianity ; at another a development, but not more 
 than a development of it. To revile Jesus has there- 
 fore always been looked upon by the Prophet's con- 
 sistent followers as no less an offence than to revile 
 Mohammed. In the time of Mohammed IV. a 
 convert to Islam at Constantinople, in order to prove, 
 as he thought, the sincerity of his conversion, or to 
 ingratiate himself with those who were now his co- 
 religionists, began to blaspheme Christ. He w^as 
 dragged off by the Musalmans who heard him to the 
 Divan, and was ordered out for instant execution. 
 
 If it be asked, why then did Mohammed not 
 accept Christianity, I apprehend that the reasons are 
 threefold ; and that it appears from the chronological 
 order lately assigned to the Suras of the Koran, that 
 at one period, that of the Fatrah, Mohammed did 
 consider whether first Judaism, and secondly Chris- 
 tianity, as he knew it, contained the message he had 
 to give. 
 
 I. The first explanation I would suggest is, that 
 the Christ known to him was the Christ, not of the 
 Bible, but of tradition ; the Christ, not of the 
 Canonical, but of the Apocryphal Gospels, and ev^n. 
 these only from general tradition. The wonder is, 
 Mohammed's information being confined to the in- 
 coherent rhapsodies and the miraculous inanities of 
 the Gospels of the Infancy, the Acta Pilati and the 
 
270 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 'Descensus ad Inferos,' not that he reverenced Christ 
 so Httle, but so much. In the whole of the Koran 
 there are only three passages which look like any direct 
 acquaintance with the Evangelists ; and one of these, 
 the well-known passage about the Paraclete, he 
 misunderstands himself, and accuses Christians of 
 intentionally perverting from its proper meaning, a 
 prediction of the coming of the Periclyte, the Greek 
 form of Mohammed, the Illustrious, or the Praised.^ 
 
 II. Secondly, the worship of saints and images, 
 and the shape which certain floating ideas had taken 
 when they were stereotyped in the formulas of the 
 Christian Church, seemed to Mohammed to conflict 
 with his fundamental doctrine of the unity of God. 
 The mysteries of the Trinity were to be appraised and 
 handled by every one who called himself a Christian, 
 not merely as a test, but as the test of his Christianity. 
 Mohammed accuses even the Jews of having lost 
 sight of their primary truth, which was also his, in 
 calling Ezra the Son of God,^ and what wonder if he 
 rejected a religion the essence of which he understood, 
 and too many Christians of his time understood to 
 be, not a holy life, but, as it is still represented in the 
 Athanasian Creed, an elaborate and unthinkable 
 mode of thinking of the Trinity t It is doubtful 
 indeed whether a people that has once become mono- 
 
 1 Sura LXI. 6. 2 g^^^a IX. 30. 
 
IVHY DID MOHAMMED REJECT CHRISTIANITY? 271 
 
 theistic in any other form, than the Christian, can ever 
 be brought to accept, I do not say Christianity 
 altogether, but the doctrines that are often supposed 
 to be of its very essence. Among such a people the 
 missionary invariably finds that the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, however explained, involves Tritheism, and 
 their ears are at once closed to his teaching. To a 
 Pagan who accepts Christianity the change no doubt 
 is one from Polytheism to Monotheism, but to the 
 Jew or Mohammedan, except in very rare instances, 
 it is the opposite. 
 
 Let us hear on these points, however, Mohammed 
 himself, remembering all the while how slight was his 
 knowledge of the doctrine which he travestied, and 
 how dim the outline of the majestic character which 
 vet filled his ima2:ination : — 
 
 ' They surely are infidels who say God is the third 
 of three, for there is no God but one God.' ^ 
 
 *■ Say not three ; forbear, it will be better for thee ; 
 God is only one God.' ^ 
 
 Christ was with Mohammed the greatest of 
 Prophets.^ He had the power of working miracles ; 
 He spoke in his cradle; He made a bird out of clay.'* 
 He could give sight to the blind, and even raise the 
 
 J Suva V. 77. 2 3^^^.^^ jv. 6. » Sura II. 254. 
 
 * Incidents drawn from the Gospels of the Infancy or of St. 
 Thomas. 
 
272 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 dead to life.^ He is the Word proceeding from God ; 
 His name is the Messiah. lUustrious in this world 
 and in the next, and one of those Avho have near 
 access to God.- ' He is strengthened by the Holy 
 Spirit,' for so Mohammed, in more than one passage, 
 calls the Angel Gabriel.^ Mohammed all but be- 
 lieves in the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin,* 
 and certainly in the miraculous nature of the birth of 
 Christ, to which he recurs repeatedly.'^ But that 
 Jesus ever claimed, as is affirmed by the writers of 
 the New Testament, and as we know He did, to be 
 the Son of God, still less that He ever claimed to be 
 equal with God, Mohammed could not bring himself 
 to believe. 
 
 * It becometh not a man that God should give him 
 the Scriptures, and the Wisdom, and the spirit of 
 Prophecy, and that then he should say to his followers 
 Be ye worshippers of me as well as of God, but rather 
 Be ye perfect in things pertaining to God, since ye 
 know the Scriptures, and have studied them.' ^ 
 
 And again, * For the Messiah himself said. Oh 
 children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and 
 yours.' " 
 
 1 Sui-a III. 41-43. " Sura III. 40. ^ Sura II. 81. 
 
 * Sura III. 30. There was a well-known sect of Christians called 
 Collyridians in Arabia who paid the Virgin divine honours, and offered 
 her a twisted cake (KoAXvpts). Thence, no doubt, came Mohammed's 
 idea that the Virgin was one of the Persons of the Trinity. 
 
 * Sura XIX. 20. « Sura III. 73. ' Sura V. 76. 
 
MOHAMMED'S VIEWS OF THE TRINITY. 273 
 
 And once more, ' Those who say that Jesus, the 
 Son of Mary, is the Son of God, are infidels, for who 
 could stop the arm of God if He were to destroy the 
 Messiah and His mother, and all who are in the earth 
 together ? ' ^ 
 
 Neither can Mohammed ever believe that Jesus 
 could have been crucified. * It is so long ago, let us hope 
 that it is not true,' said an old Cheshire woman 
 when she heard for the first time in her life the story 
 of the Crucifixion. ' If I and my brave Franks had 
 been there, we would have avenged His injuries,' 
 was the exclamation of the fierce barbarian Clovis 
 when he received his first lesson in the Christian life. 
 The Dreamer of the Desert sympathised rather with 
 the first of these. As Stesichorus ^ believed that 
 the Greeks and Trojans fought for the phantom of 
 Helen, and not for Helen herself; as the Docetists 
 held that the phantom of Jesus and not Jesus Himself 
 had been crucified ; so Mohammed rebels at the 
 thought that God can ever have allowed such a tragedy 
 to take place. Some one else, he curiously supposes, 
 who deserved such a death — perhaps it was Judas 
 himself — may have been substituted for Christ ; and 
 Christ being taken up to heaven, must have felt 
 that the deception thus practised on the Jews was a 
 kind of punishment to Himself for not having taken 
 » Sura V. 19. - Plato, ' Republic,' IX. 86. 
 
 T 
 
274 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 greater pains to prevent men calling Him the Son of 
 God.i And at the resurrection Jesus will Himself 
 testify against both Jews and Christians ; the Jews for 
 not having received Him as a prophet, the Christians 
 for having received Him as God. 
 
 There is a short chapter in the Koran which Mus- 
 lims look upon as equal to a third of the whole in 
 value : 
 
 ' Say there is one God alone — 
 
 God the Eternal ; 
 He begetteth not, and He is not begotten, 
 And there is none like unto Him.' "^ 
 
 And once more, 'They say the Merciful hath 
 gotten offspring. Now have ye done a monstrous 
 thing ; almost might the very heavens rend thereat, 
 and the earth rend asunder, and the mountains fall 
 down in fragments, that they ascribe a son to the 
 Merciful, when it becometh not the Merciful to beget 
 a son. Verily there is nobody in the heavens nor 
 in the earth that shall approach the Merciful but 
 as a servant.' ^ 
 
 It is certain that the notions conveyed to Moham- 
 med's mind by the words he so often uses, * begetting 
 and begotten,' and which called forth this torrent of 
 indignant invective, were such as might well do so ; 
 and such also as he might, under the circumstances, 
 
 > Sura in. 49, IV. 156. = Sura CXII. ^ Sura XIX. 91-94. 
 
MOHAMMED'S VIEWS OF CHRIST. i-j^ 
 
 not unnaturally attribute to Christians. A learned 
 critic to whom I am much indebted, Dr. G. P. Badger, 
 points out that the word ' Walada ' used by Moham- 
 med throughout the Sura quoted just now, does ne- ( 
 cessarily involve notions of sex and of physical pater- 
 nity ; and it was doubtless against these that Moham- 
 med hurled his anathemas. On the other hand, Dr. 
 Badger remarks that the equivalent of this word is 
 never used in the New Testament to express the\ 
 Christian doctrine of the Divine Sonship ; and that 
 the term * Word of God ' is applied to Christ as much 
 by Mohammed and the Koran as by St. John in his 
 Gospel. If this can be made evident to Musalmans, 
 it is clear that one great cause of misconception will 
 be lessened or removed ; and, even if it cannot, it is 
 still fair to remember that for centuries the battle of 
 Ecclesiastical warfare in the East had been rapine 
 round the words which should be used to express the 
 idea of a relationship which, it is admitted, human 
 language cannot adequately convey nor human 
 thought conceive. The followers of the party which 
 had triumphed at the councils of Ephesus and Chalce- 
 don, which had made the word Theotokos, for the time, 
 to be the watchword of mitres and of thrones ; and 
 had driven the Nestorians, with their rival watchword, 
 Christotokos, into exile in the remote East, were not 
 
 likely to steer clear of the physical questions which 
 
 if 
 
 T 2 j.: 
 
276 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 might be involved in the controversy ; and no impartial 
 enquirer will be surprised to hear that in Arabia the 
 Christian doctrine of the Trinity was believed to be a 
 Trinity of a Father, a Mother, and a Son ; or that the 
 Almighty is represented in the Koran as enquiring of 
 Jesus, the son of Mary, 'hast thou indeed said unto 
 men, Take me and my mother for two Gods besides 
 God ? ' The honours indeed paid to the ' Mother of 
 God ' by the party which had triumphed, were little 
 less than divine ; and Mohammed may therefore be 
 excused for believing that in rejecting Christianity as 
 he knew it, he was rejecting Saint-worship and Poly- 
 theism, as well as the adoration of pictures and of 
 images. 
 
 I have dwelt thus at length upon Mohammed's 
 views of Christ, partly because of the intrinsic in- 
 terest and importance attaching to the views held by 
 one so great of One so infinitely greater ; partly 
 because thev shov/ how little Mohammed, and in- 
 deed how little Christians themselves, understood 
 the real nature of Christianity ; partly also because 
 the strictures of Mohammed, however exaggerated 
 and however mistaken, seem to me to suggest a 
 caution necessary for us all. Christ came to reveal 
 God, not to hide Him ; to bring Him down to earth, 
 not to shroud Him in an immeasurable distance ; to 
 tell us that God is not primarily Justice, or Truth, 
 
MOHAMMED'S REJECTION OF CHRISTL4NITY. i^-j 
 
 or Power, but Love. Do Christians always remem- 
 ber this? Are our views of Justification, of Origi- 
 nal Sin, of a Future Life, when drawn out in the 
 forensic and almost legal language in which some 
 Churches foolishly delight to clothe them, always 
 consistent with it ? Do our prayers always pre- 
 suppose a God who, in His own intrinsic nature, is 
 anxious to receive them ? Are we not apt to forget i . i 
 the unity of God, while we dogmatise on the Trinity ? ' ' . 
 Do we not sometimes place Christ as it were in front 
 of God, thinking so much of the Son who sacrificed 
 Himiself, that we ignore the Father who ' spared Him 
 not ;' forgetting the Giver in the very magnitude of 
 the gift ? 
 
 HI. And the third reason, and perhaps the 
 most important of all, for Mohammed's rejection of 
 Christianity is the fact that Christianity as he knew 
 it had been tried and had failed. It had been known 
 for three hundred years in Arabia, and had not been 
 able to overthrow, or even weaken, the idolatry of 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 It is strange, with this fact and the whole course 
 of history before him., with which evidently few are 
 more familiar, that a great writer can conclude a 
 review of Mohammedanism, which is otherwise fair 
 and able, by endorsing the charge made against it, 
 that it has kept back the East by hindering the spread 
 
278 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 of Christianity. The charge has been often made 
 before/ but it rests on so slender a basis that I should 
 not have thought it necessary to discuss it here, had 
 I not found at the last moment that one who is 
 apparently so high an authority has lent the weight 
 of his name to it. That I may do him no injustice, I 
 quote his own words : — 
 
 * Mohammed in his own age and country was the 
 ereatest of reformers — a reformer alike religious, 
 
 moral, and political . But when his 
 
 system passed the borders of the land in which it was 
 so great a reform, it became the greatest of curses to 
 mankind. The main cause which has made the reli- 
 gion of IMohammed exercise so blighting an influence 
 on every land where it has been preached, is because 
 it is an imperfect system standing in the way of one 
 more perfect. Islam has in it just enough of good to 
 
 hinder the reception of greater good 
 
 Because Islam comes nearer to Christianity than any 
 other false system, because it comes nearer than any 
 other to satisfying the wants of man's spiritual nature, 
 for that very reason it is, above all other false systems, 
 pre-eminently anti-Christian. It is, as it were, the 
 personal enemy and rival of the Faith, disputing on 
 equal terms for the same prize ! ' ^ 
 
 » As, for instance, by Sir W. Muir, IV. 321. 
 
 = British Quarterly Review, Jan. 1872, p. 132-134. 
 
IS ISLAM ANTI-CIIRISTIAN? 279 
 
 This indictment is so well drawn, at first sight it 
 so carries conviction with it, and yet, if true, it is so 
 fatal to any favourable or any fair judgnrient of 
 Mohammedanism, that I am compelled, while I gladly 
 acknowledge the author's fair and sympathetic treat- 
 ment of the subject in every page that precedes and 
 follows those I have quoted, to contest, from my 
 point of view, as strongly as I can, upon this question, 
 ahke his facts and his inferences. 
 
 Upon what single fact then, either before or after 
 Mohammed's time, does the writer ground this charge ? 
 If the purest Christianity of all, preached by Christ 
 and His Apostles, did not make way in the Eastern 
 world ; if the few Christian Churches which did exist 
 among; the half Roman or Hellenic inhabitants of 
 Syria and of Africa had sunk to the condition in which 
 we know they were when Mohammedanism swept 
 them away, what reason have we, either a priori or a 
 posteriori, for supposing that the Christianity of any 
 later time would have been more successful ? Have 
 Christian nations been so energetic or so successful in 
 converting any of those African or Asiatic nations 
 which Mohammedanism has never reached, as to en- 
 title us to turn round upon the religion which has re- 
 moulded so large a portion of the human race, and tell 
 it that it is a curse to humanity because, forsooth, while 
 we admit it was in its time a grand forward movement 
 
28o MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 and has been a higher life to untold millions since, we 
 wish that Fetish worship should have lasted on perhaps 
 till now, that Christianity may now have the chance of 
 doing the work somewhat better ? Jf this is Chris- 
 tianity, I only say most certainly it is not of Christ. 
 It is not of the Spirit of Him who said that those who 
 were not against Him were with Him ; and rejoiced 
 that good was done by others, even if it seemed an 
 infringement of His own Divine commission. Christ 
 was not like the Praetorian prefect of Tacitus, ' Consilii, 
 qiiamvis egregii, quod non ipse ajferrct inimiciis^ 
 though some Christians would have it that He was. 
 The only monopoly of good that Christianity, if it is 
 of the spirit of its Founder, may claim, is the monopoly 
 not of doing good, but of rejoicing at it whenever it 
 is done, and whoever does it ; of showing, if it carries 
 out its Founder's intentions, that it is wide enough to 
 recognise as its own and to embrace within its ample 
 bosom all honest 'seekers after God,' and all true 
 benefactors of humanity. The most ' anti-Christian ' 
 religion is not that which comes nearest to Christianity, 
 but that which is furthest removed from it ; and the 
 religion W'hich after Christianity comes nearest to 
 * satisfying the wants of man's spiritual nature ' is 
 really not its most deadly enemy, but its best ally. 
 To say otherwise, liberal and tolerant as the author 
 unquestionably is, is to encourage weaker men under 
 
CHRISTIANITY THE RELIGION OF THE WEST 28 1 
 
 the shadow of his name/ not merely to indulge in the 
 odiinn theoiogicum, but to assert that the odium thco- 
 logicuin itself is Christian. 
 
 * Non tali auxilio nee defensoribus istis 
 Tempus eget.' 
 
 Can it be forgotten that the churches planted by 
 the great Apostle were, without exception, to the west 
 of Palestine — that star-worship and fire-worship were 
 unaffected by Christianity then, even as Brahminism 
 and Buddhism are unaffected by it now ? Can we 
 point to a single Oriental nation which has been able 
 to accept and to retain Christianity in its pure form, 
 or to a single religion to be named with Mohammed- 
 anism in point of purity and sublimity, which has ever 
 been able to overthrow any national Oriental faith ? 
 And, if we cannot, what right have we to say that it is 
 Islam, and not Nature, that has hitherto stood in the 
 way of Christianity in Arabia and Persia, in Africa and 
 India ? The triumphs of the Cross have indeed been 
 far purer, far wider, far sublimer than those of the 
 Crescent ; but they have been hitherto confined to 
 the higher races of the world. Uncivilised nations of 
 
 * This has actually been the case, for the passage I have quoted 
 was the only one in an otherwise most temperate essay upon which 
 religious periodicals pounced, and, by quoting apart from its context, 
 fanned the flame of misconception and prejudice which, even when 
 read with everything which tends the other way, it would, in my judg- 
 ment, be likely to kindle. 
 
282 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the higher stock, Ostrogoths and Visigoths, Vandals 
 and Lombards, Franks and Northmen, the Celt, the 
 Teuton, and the Sclavonian, Invaded Christianity only 
 to be conquered by it. But upon the Oriental bar- 
 barians of a lower race who invaded Europe, with 
 the one exception of the Magyars, whose case is 
 special,^ Huns and Avars, Turks and Tartars, it has 
 had no influence. Shall Christians, then, complain 
 of Mohammedans for having succeeded in seme 
 measure in doing for the East what they have failed 
 to do ; or would Christ have rejected what good 
 service Mohammed did because his credentials were 
 not precisely those of the Apostles } What super- 
 ficial appearance of truth there is in the charge is this 
 — that no IMohammedan nation has hitherto accepted 
 Christianity, while some nations that were nominally 
 Christians have accepted Mohammedanism. But to 
 
 ' The Magyars, whatever their original home — and it seems that 
 they were of the Finnish stock — are probably the most mixed race on 
 the Continent of Europe, and were so even before they settled within 
 the limits of the present Hungary. In their march towards Europe 
 they were joined by hosts of Chazars, Bulgarians, and Sclavonians. 
 During their ravages, which lasted for some fifty years, and spread 
 from the Oural Mountains to the Pyrenees, they transported women 
 and children wholesale from the countries thev overran to their head- 
 quarters on the Danube ; and it is probable that at the time of their 
 avowed conversion by Adalbert, about A.D. looo, they had almost as 
 much German and Italian as they had Tartar blood in their veins. St. 
 Piligrinus (quoted by Gibbon, VII. 172), the first missionarj' who 
 entered Hungary, says that he found the ' majority of the population 
 to be Christians,' qui ex 07n7ii parte 7?mndi ilhic tracti sunt captivi. 
 
ISLAM THE RELIGION OF PASTORAL RACES. 283 
 
 establish the charge, it would, of course, be necessary 
 to show that the East, if it had not accepted Moham- 
 medanism, would have accepted a real Christianity, 
 or any religion so much like Christianity as Moham- 
 medanism unquestionably is ; and to do this we must 
 read history backwards. 
 
 Now Mohammed offered to the Arabs an idea of 
 God less sympathetic and less loveable, indeed, but as 
 sublime as the Christian, and perhaps still more 
 intense, and one, as it turned out, which they could 
 receive. Christianity was compelled to leave its birth- 
 place — the inhabitants and subsequent history of which 
 it has scarcely affected, except indirectly — to find its 
 proper home in the Western world, among the inhabit- 
 ants and progressive civilisation of Greece and Rome. 
 The lot of Mohammedanism has been different ; ' it is 
 the religion of the shepherd and the nomad, of the burn- 
 ing desert and the boundless steppe.' So admirably 
 suited was it to the region in which it was born, that 
 it needed no foreign air or change of circumstances to 
 develope it.^ 
 
 ' Compare throughout this paragraph, M. Barth. St. Hilaire, 
 p. 230 seq. Sir Emerson Tennent, in his 'Christianity in Ceylon,' 
 after pointing out (p. 272-273) that education must precede direct 
 missionary efforts, remarks that ' neither history nor more recent ex- 
 perience can furnish any example of the long retention of pure 
 Christianity by a people themselves rude and unenlightened. In all 
 the nations of Europe Christianity has taken the hue and complexion of 
 the social state with which it was incorporated, presenting itself un- 
 
 ^X^^^-i's.^'* 
 
284 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 In its simple grandeur it has been able, without 
 tampering with that which is its Alpha and Omega — 
 the belief in one God, who reveals Himself by His 
 prophets — to leave the most essential elements of 
 national life to the various nations which made up the 
 Arabian empire ; and to adapt itself to every peculi- 
 arity, mental and moral, of the inhabitants of Central 
 and Western Asia. The rapid intuition and the wild 
 flights oi imagination ; the vivid mental play around 
 the Antinomies of the reason, and the craving for 
 the supernatural in the utmost particularity of detail ; 
 the fervid asceticism of the Dervish, and the mystic 
 Pantheism of the Sufi, have each found in Islam some- 
 thing to meet their wants. 
 
 But, on the other hand, Mohammedanism has 
 never passed into countries of a wholly different 
 nature, and held them permanently. Spain is not a 
 case in point, though it was never so well governed as 
 under the Mohammedans ; for the Spaniards them- 
 selves never to any great extent became Moham- 
 medan, and the Moorish settlement there was only 
 
 sullied, contaminated, or corrupted in sympathy with the enlightenment, 
 or ignorance, or debasement of those by whom it has been originally 
 embraced. The rapid and universal degeneracy of the early Asiatic 
 Churches is associated with the decline of education, and the intellectual 
 decay of the communities among whom they were established.' Apply 
 these remarks, vmtatis mutandis, to Islam, and how many of the 
 charges made against it fall at once to the ground, or fail to hit their 
 mark ! 
 
ISLAM IN AFRICA AND SPAIN 285 
 
 like a Gi-Q^k kirn sl'x^taij.a or a Roman colonia — an out- 
 post in the heart of the enemy's country. Much the 
 same may be said of Turkey, where the majority of 
 the subject population has always remained Christian. 
 I cannot, therefore, 'pace tanti nominis^ ioWow Gibbon 
 in his picture of the probable consequences to Euro- 
 pean civilisation had Charles Martel been conquered 
 at Tours ; of Musalman preachers demonstrating to a 
 circumcised audience, in the mosques of Paris and of 
 Oxford, the truth of the religion of Mohammed ! 
 The wave of conquest might have spread over Europe ; 
 but it would have been but a wave, and few traces 
 would have been left when it had swept on. In 
 Africa the case was different ; the Greek colonists 
 and Roman conquerors — the higher races, in fact — 
 were driven out by the Saracens, and, * in their climate 
 and habits, the wandering Moors who remained behind 
 already resembled the Bedouins of the Desert.' * 
 Mohammedanism is the only form in which the know- 
 ledge of the true God has ever made way with the 
 native races of Africa ; and the form of Christianity 
 which it supplanted in the North— the Christianity 
 of the Donatists and of the Nitrian monks ; of Cyril, 
 strangely called a saint ; and of the infamous George 
 of Cappadocia, still more strangely transformed into 
 St. George of England, the patron of chivalry and of 
 
 » Gibbon, VI. LI. p. 473. 
 
2S6 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 the Garter — was infinitely inferior to Mohammed- 
 anism itself. 
 
 I fully admit that Mohammedanism, if indeed it 
 had succeeded in conquering the most civilised races 
 of the world and the Christianity of the West, 
 as it succeeded in conquering the Eastern nations 
 and their various forms of belief, would have con- 
 quered something that was potentially better than 
 itself, and then it would have been what Christian 
 writers are so fond of calling it — a curse to the world 
 rather than a blessing. It would have stepped beyond 
 what I conceive to have been its proper mission ; but I 
 maintain that it stopped short of this, and that it de- 
 stroyed nothing that was not far inferior to itself 
 
 I should hesitate to say that even its conquest of 
 Spain was not, while it lasted, a blessing to Spain it- 
 self, and through Spain to the whole of Europe. Has 
 Spain exhibited more order, more toleration, more 
 industry, better faith, more material prosperity, under 
 her most Christian Kings, or under her Ommiade 
 Khalifs ? The names of the three Abdul Rahmans, 
 and of Almamun, suggest all that is most glorious in 
 Spanish history, .and much that has conferred benefit 
 on the rest of Europe in the darkest period of her an- 
 nals — religious zeal without religious intolerance, phi- 
 losophy and literature, science and art, hospitals, and 
 libraries, and universities. 
 
THE MOORS IN SPAIN. 2S7 
 
 Nearly three centuries have elapsed since the 
 fatuous decree of Phihp III. banished from Spain and 
 from Europe the most enlightened and industrious 
 portion of his subjects ; yet even now the traveller in 
 Spain feels as he approaches Andalusia that he is 
 breathing a clearer atmosphere, that he is brought 
 into contact with a finer literature, and is contem- 
 plating a far nobler architecture, than any which the 
 more northern parts of the Peninsula can boast. 
 Moorish, not Catholic, is every thing that appeals to 
 his imagination and to his finer feelings ; Moorish are 
 the legends and the ballads of the country ; Moorish 
 are the Alcazar and the Giralda of Seville ; Moorish 
 everything that is not discordant in the once matchless 
 Mosque, now the interpolated Cathedral of Cordova;^ 
 Moorish all the glories of the Alhambra. And 
 as the traveller passes the hill which is still called, 
 with such deep pathos, * the last sigh of the Moor,' he 
 feels that the day which saw the fall of Granada is a 
 day over which every Spaniard may well sigh for what 
 it cost Spain, and every European for what it cost hu- 
 manity at large. 
 
 Sicily again was conquered by the Arabs and held 
 
 > When Charles V. saw the havoc that had been wrought by those 
 who had converted the Mosque into a cathedral, he reproached the 
 bis>^op and chapter, saying, ' You have built here what you might have 
 built anywhere else, but you have destroyed what was unique in the 
 world. ' 
 
288 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 by them for two hundred years ; and it was their rule 
 that gave to the island the only period of prosperity 
 and good government which it has enjoyed from the 
 time of the first Punic war till now ; and when at last 
 the rule of the Fatimite Khalifs was overthrown by 
 the crusading chieftains of the house of Tancred of 
 Hauteville, the comparative prosperity which still 
 smiled on Sicily Avas due to those Norman princes 
 who adopted the customs and the manners of the peo- 
 ple they had overthrown ; and some of whom, like 
 William the Good, are said to have been at least as 
 much Musalman as Christian.^ 
 
 In spite, however, of what I maintain it has done 
 under exceptional circumstances even for European 
 countries, it follows from what I have equally freely 
 admitted above that Mohammedanism is not a world- 
 wide religion. The sphere of its influence is vast, but 
 not boundless ; in catholicity of application it is as 
 much below the purest Christianity as the Semitic and 
 Turanian nations which have embraced it are below 
 the Western Indo-Germanic. I say the Western Indo- 
 Germanic races, for among the Eastern branches of 
 that great family, the inhabitants of Persia and of 
 Hindustan, Mohammedanism did establish itself 
 
 The Persians are of a race and genius widely diffe- 
 rent from the Arabs ; but the surroundings and the 
 
 * See Deutsch, 'Literary Remains,' p. 457-465. 
 
ISLAM IN PERSIA AND INDIA. 289 
 
 general mode of life are the same in each, and the ex- 
 ception, so far as it is an exception, to the rule I have 
 laid down, tends rather, in its results, to prove its 
 general truth, for the hold of Mohammedanism on 
 them has been much modified by the difference of 
 race. The religion which proclaimed the absolute 
 supremacy of God was no doubt an infinite advance 
 upon the * chilling equipoise ' of good and evil to which 
 the creed of Zoroaster had at that time sunk.^ Nor 
 was the national existence of Persia stamped out, as 
 has been often said, by the Khalifs ; for the Persian 
 province of Khorasan was itself strong enough to 
 place the Abbasside Khalifs on the throne of Bag- 
 dad ; the Persian dynasties of the Samanides and 
 Dilemites gave to the nation a new lease of life, and a 
 wholly new national literature ; and it is to a Moham- 
 medan Sultan of the Turkish race that Persia owes 
 her greatest literary glory, her national epic, the 
 * Shahnameh ' of Firdausi. Still it cannot be said that 
 the religion proved itself altogether suited to the 
 people. In other countries the scymitar had no sooner 
 been drawn from its scabbard than it was sheathed 
 again. But in Persia the scymitar had not only to 
 clear the way, but for some time afterwards to main- 
 tain the new religion.^ The Persians corrupted its 
 
 * See Elphinstone's 'India,' V. I. 313. 
 
 2 See Sir John Malcolm's 'History of Persia,' I. VIII. p. 277, &c. 
 
 U 
 
290 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 simplicity with fables and with miracles ; they actually 
 imported into it something of saint-worship, and some- 
 thing of sacerdotaUsm ; and, consequently, in no nation 
 in the Mohammedan world has the religion less hold on 
 the people as a restraining power. The most stringent 
 principles of the Koran are set at nought ; beng and 
 opium are common ; the Ketman, or religious equivo- 
 cation, is held to be as allowable as it has been by 
 the Casuists or the Jesuits ; and the nation which 
 Herodotus tells us devoted a third of its whole 
 educational curriculum to learning to speak the 
 truth, now contains hardly an individual who will 
 speak the truth unless he has something to gain 
 
 by it. 
 
 In Hindustan, amidst the other branch of the great 
 Aryan race which did not move westward, Mohammed- 
 anism has obtained finally a very strong footing ; but it 
 was slow in winning its way ; and the forty millions 
 of Musalmans over whom we rule — and a tremendous 
 and but half-recognised responsibility it is ' — devout 
 as they are, have become so by long lapse of time, by 
 social influences, and by intermixture with conquering 
 Arabs, Ghaznevides, and Afghans, rather than by the 
 
 » Since this was written, the grievances of Mohammedans in India, 
 so ably and temperately stated by Mr. Hunter, have been in part 
 alleviated by the adoption of some of the remedies he suggests, at least 
 as tar as regards education. 
 
COMPROMISES OF ISLAM AND HINDUISM. 291 
 
 sudden fervour of religious enthusiasm.^ The reve- 
 rence paid to saints and their tombs, which has, in 
 defiance of the letter of the Koran and the traditions, 
 crept into so many parts of the Musalman world, is, 
 as was to be expected, more noticeable in Persia and 
 in India than elsewhere. The festival of the Mo- 
 harram, commemorating the martyrdom of Hassan 
 and Hosein, sons of Ali, and observed in Persia with 
 such passionate indications of grief, is celebrated with 
 hardly less solemnity in India also, and resembles in 
 many particulars the Mysteries and the Miracle-Plays 
 of the Middle Ages. Islam has in the course of 
 centuries and by long contact with Hindu idolatry 
 naturally made many compromises with it. Some of 
 the Musalman saints are reverenced by the Hindus 
 as well as by the Musalmans ; and these last have in 
 their turn accommodated the accessories of their 
 Pilgrimages, of their Fasts, and their Feasts, to the 
 tastes of the Hindus ; to a religion, that is, which speaks 
 more to the senses than to the reason, to the imagi- 
 nation than to the soul.^ 
 
 » Elphinstone, V. I. 314, and Cap. III. on the Reign of the Sultan 
 Mahmud. 
 
 2 See the interesting memoir appended by M, Garfin de Tassy to his 
 '■ Islamisme,' on the pecuHarities of the Musalman religion in India, p. 289 
 -403, especially p. 296. I am indebted to the courtesy of the Rev. T. P. 
 Hughes, missionary at Peshawur, for some valuable 'Notes on Moham- 
 medanism,' in vv'hich he describes the ceremonies and the formalities which 
 unhappily now form so large a part of the religion in India and else- 
 
 u 2 
 
292 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Those who have followed me thus far will perceive 
 that my main object in writing these Lectures has 
 been, if possible, to render some measure of that jus- 
 tice to Mohammed and to his religion which has been 
 all too long, and is still all too generally, denied to 
 them. I have naturally, therefore, been led to dwell 
 rather on the points in which Mohammedanism 
 resembles Christianity than on the points in which it 
 differs, and I have been led, also, to some extent, to 
 compare the persons of their respective Founders. It 
 is not possible to avoid this. Of the Founder of 
 Christianity I have necessarily spoken only under 
 that aspect of His character which Muslim as well 
 as Christian, friend as well as foe, will perforce allow 
 Him ; and in which alone, by the nature of the case. 
 He can be compared with any other Founder at all. 
 In like manner, in comparing the two Creeds, I have 
 insisted mainly on the points in which they approxi- 
 mate to each other ; and to do this is more necessary, 
 more just, and, I venture to think, more Christian, than 
 to do the opposite. 
 
 But if, in order to prevent misconception, the two 
 
 where, and throws some light on the nature of the Wahhabi revival — 
 an obscure subject, on which he has been able to obtain information 
 from very original sources. It is worth remarking that in India the 
 schism between Sunnis and Shiahs is not nearly so marked as in 
 other parts of the Mohammedan world. They both join, for instance, 
 in the Moharram, 
 
CONTRAST BETWEEN ISLAM Ah'D CHRISTIANITY. 293 
 
 Creeds must necessarily be contrasted rather than 
 compared, nothing that I have said, or am going to 
 say, will prevent my admitting fully — what, indeed, is 
 apparent upon the face of it— that the contrasts are 
 at least as striking as the resemblances. 
 
 The religion of Christ contains whole fields of 
 morality and whole realms of thought which are all but 
 outside the religion of Mohammed. It opens humi- 
 lity, purity of heart, forgiveness of injuries, sacrifice j 
 of self to man's moral nature ; it gives scope for 
 toleration, development, boundless progress to his , 
 mind ; its motive power is stronger, even as a friend 
 is better than a king, and love higher than obedience. 
 Its realised ideals in the various paths of human 
 greatness have been more commanding, miore many- 
 sided, more holy, as Averroes is below Newton, ■ 
 Harun below Alfred, and Ali below St. Paul. Finally, 
 the ideal life of all is far more elevating, far more 
 majestic, far more inspiring, even as the life of the 
 founder of Mohammedanism is below the life of the 
 Founder of Christianity. 
 
 And when I speak of the ideal life of Moham- 
 medanism I must not be misunderstood. There is in 
 Mohammedanism no ideal life in the true sense of 
 the word, for Mohammed's character was admitted 
 by himself to be a weak and erring one. It was 
 disfigured by at least one huge moral blemish ; 
 
294 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 and exactly in so far as his life has, in spite of 
 his earnest and reiterated protestations, been made 
 an example to be followed, has that vice been 
 perpetuated. But in Christianity the case is different. 
 The words, ' Which of you convinceth me of sin } ' 
 forced from the mouth of Him who was meek and 
 lowly of heart, by the wickedness of those who, 
 priding themselves on being Abraham's children, 
 never did the w^orks of Abraham, are a definite chal- 
 lens-e to the world. That challenge has been for 
 nineteen centuries before the eyes of unfriendly, as well 
 as of believing, readers, and it has never yet been fairly 
 met ; and at this moment, by the confession of friend 
 and foe alike, the character of Jesus of Nazareth 
 stands alone in its spotless purity and its unapproach- 
 able majesty. We have each of us probably at some 
 period of our lives tried hard to penetrate to the 
 inmost meaning of some one of Christ's short and 
 weighty utterances — 
 
 ' Those jewels, five words long. 
 Which on the stretched forefinger of all time 
 Sparkle for ever.' 
 
 But is there one of us who can say there is no more 
 behind } Is there one thoughtful person among 
 us who has ever studied the character of Christ, and 
 has not, in spite of ever-recurring difficulties and 
 
CONTRAST BETWEEN MOHAMMED AND CHRIST. 295 
 
 doubts, once and again, burst into the centurion's ex- 
 clamation, ' Truly this was the Son of God ' ? 
 
 Nor are the methods of drawing near to God the 
 same in the two religions. The Musalman gains a 
 knowledge of God — he can hardly be said to approach 
 Him — by listening to the lofty message of God's 
 Prophet. The Christian believes that he approaches 
 God by a process which, however difficult it may 
 be to define, yet has had a real meaning to Christ's 
 servants, and has embodied itself in countless types of 
 Christian character— that mysterious something which 
 St. Paul calls a ' union with Christ' * Ye are dead, 
 and your life is hid with Christ in God.' 
 
 But this unmistakeable superiority does not shake 
 my position that Mohammedanism is, after all, an/ 
 approach to Christianity, and perhaps the nearest 
 approach to it which the unprogressive part of huma- 
 nity can ever attain in masses ; and yet how large 
 a part of the whole human race are unprogressive ! 
 Whatever we may wish, and however current con- 
 versation and literature may assert the contrary, 
 progress is the exception, and not the rule, with man- 
 kind. The whole Eastern world, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, has been hitherto, and is still, stationary, not 
 progressive. What Oriental society is now, it was 
 in the time of Solomon — I might say, in the time 
 of Abraham. Even those nations which, like the 
 
296 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Chinese, have considerable powers of invention and 
 mechanical skill, reach a certain height rapidly, and 
 then stop short.^ 
 
 Accepting, then, the non-progressiveness of a large 
 part of the human race, when left to themselves, as a 
 fact, cannot we estimate other religions, not by our 
 conception of what we want, but by their bearing on 
 the life of those whom they affect, ennobling them 
 so far as the other conditions of their existence may 
 render possible ? 
 
 We are apt to forget that there are two factors to 
 be considered in testing the value of a religion in any 
 1 given case, the Creed itself and the people who receive 
 it. There are of course good and bad men, and these 
 of every degree of goodness and badness, to be found 
 professing every Creed, but the average morality of 
 the followers of an imperfect Creed may, in this very 
 imperfect world, be better than the average morality 
 of those who profess a higher one, and of course vice 
 versa. Travroiv fjuhpov avOproiros. Judged, then, by 
 
 ^ I specify China ; for I cannot accept the changes relied upon by 
 Dr. Bridges, in his very able essay on China, in * International Policy,' 
 as being evidence of continuous and progressive change, which is the 
 real point at issue. Of course this in no way affects the more impor- 
 tant questions treated of in the essay, the moral elevation of which 
 seems to me almost unequalled in the writings even of those who, like 
 the contributors to the volume referred to, and the followers of Augusta 
 Comte generally, have laboured most earnestly to treat all political 
 questions from a moral standpoint. 
 
RELATIVE STANDARD THE ONLY TRUE ONE. 297 
 
 this relative standard — which is, as I conceive, the 
 only true one — Mohammedanism has nothing to lose, 
 and much to gain, by the keenest criticism.^ I grant 
 to the full everything that can be said by travellers 
 such as Burckhardt, and Burton, and Palgrave, upon 
 the degradation of the mass of the Bedouins and the 
 Turks, and the want of all vital religion, sometimes 
 of the very elements of religion, among them. And 
 no one will deny there is much indeed in the present 
 state of the whole Mohammedan world to make every 
 thoughtful person, Musalman as well as Christian, ask 
 
 * Abyssinia is a case in point for those who think that a religion, 
 
 because it is better and purer in itself, is necessarily better than all 
 
 other religions, wherever and whenever and in whatever degree of 
 
 purity it may be found. Abyssinia has been nominally Christian since 
 
 very early times, and yet it would puzzle the greatest enemy of Islam 
 
 to name a single particular in which the inhabitants are superior to 
 
 their Musalman neighbours. In the matter, for instance, of marriage 
 
 and divorce see the following quotation from Bruce's 'Abyssinia,' IV. 
 
 p. 487 : — ' There is no such thing as marriage in Abyssinia, unless that 
 
 is to be called so which is contracted by mutual consent without other 
 
 form, and subsists only till dissolved by the dissent of one or other, to 
 
 be renewed, however, or repeated as often as it is agreeable to both 
 
 parties ; for when they please, they live together again as man and wife, 
 
 after having been divorced, had children by others, or whether they 
 
 have had children by others or not. I remember once to have been at 
 
 Koscam in presence of the Itighe (or Queen), when in the circle 
 
 there was a woman of great quality, and seven men, who had all been 
 
 her husbands, but none of whom was the happy spouse at that time.' 
 
 See also a vigorous description of the barbarism and superstitions of the 
 
 Abyssinian Church in Dean Stanley's ' Eastern Church,' p. 10-12. 
 
 Spain may suggest thoughts similar to those suggested by Abyssinia, 
 
 and equally applicable to the question in hand, which is indeed one of 
 
 the main questions of my Lectures. 
 
298 MOHAMMED A.VD MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 himself with the prophet of old, whether what seem 
 to be dry bones can live. 
 
 As regards the faith itself, schisms more numerous 
 even than the seventy-three which the Prophet himself 
 predicted, have sprung up from a very early period 
 in Islam ; and, while they have doubtless contributed 
 to keep up a spirit of free enquiry and of intellectual 
 energy, which the simplicity of a creed that ' can be 
 written on a finger-nail ' has often been supposed to 
 suppress, they have turned chiefly upon questions 
 which have been still more unintelligible or devoid of 
 practical results, and have been fought out with 
 passions even fiercer than those which have prevailed 
 in Christendom. Questions as to the proper successor 
 of the Prophet, resulting first in the great Shiah 
 schism, and afterwards in the belief among many 
 Persian sects in the incarnation of God in Ali, and 
 the Imams ; questions as to the precise nature of the 
 Divine attributes, the upshot of which has now been 
 something resembling the dualism of the ancient fire- 
 worshippers, now the mystic pantheism of the Sufis, 
 and now again the strange amalgam of doctrines which 
 is to be found among the Druses, the Rosheinias or 
 the Yezidis. The predestinarian expressions of Mo- 
 hamm.ed, harmonising, as they did, better than his 
 equally strong assertion of free-will, with the natural 
 quietism of the East, have degenerated into a fatalism 
 
STAINS ON THE PROPHETS CHARACTER. 299 
 
 « 
 
 which tends to sap the springs of human energy in 
 those countries where energy is now most required, 
 and have made men look upon a famine, a pestilence, 
 or a tyrant, as an inevitable dispensation of destiny, 
 to be patiently submitted to, not to be grappled with 
 and overcome. 
 
 The few stains which, making every allowance 
 for his manifold temptations and for the times in which 
 he lived, a Christian must yet always consider to be 
 stains on the grand character of the Prophet, have 
 been fatally improved on by the Eastern dynasties 
 which own his sway. The assassinations at which the 
 Prophet once or twice connived, and the indulgence 
 which he claimed in the observance of the Harem 
 laws which he had himself made, have been prominent 
 features in the history of those who have called them- 
 selves his successors in the Khalifate, and of less con- 
 spicuous Musalman rulers. The murder of the 
 nearest relations by a sovereign on his accession to 
 the throne, as the best means of securing his title to 
 it, has been a common occurrence ; and, though the 
 Ottoman Sultans might justly have retorted upon 
 Lord Bacon, who points one of his most brilliant 
 apophthegms by an allusion to it, that they were only 
 imitating the example of many of the Christian Caesars 
 who had preceded them, there is no doubt that the 
 horrible practice has been raised by them in times 
 
3CO MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 past almost to the dignity of a maxim of Imperial 
 policy. The human body and human life itself have 
 rarely in the East been invested with that sanctity 
 with which Christianity alone of Eastern-born reli- 
 gions regards them. With the example before them 
 of One Vv^ho was solicitous for the happiness and the 
 lives of all around Him, and prodigal only of His own 
 — with the belief, too, that the human body is not the 
 prison but the temple of the soul, and of something 
 holier even than the soul, shame indeed v/ould it be 
 to Christians if the respect for human life were not 
 greater, the average standard of personal purity far 
 higher, and the enthusiasm of humanity more deep 
 and lasting, than in the average of the followers of 
 other Creeds. Unfortunately it has not been always 
 so ; and the dealings of the Holy Father and the 
 Holy Office with suspected heretics, of the Spaniards 
 with the Indians of America, of the Portuguese and 
 the Dutch v/ith the East Indian islanders, of the 
 French with the Arabs of Algeria, of the English, 
 under the rule of the East India Company, with the 
 Hindus, and of all the Christian nations, who in 
 bygone times have had the chance, with the down- 
 trodden Negroes of Africa, will hold their own in the 
 hideous race of cruelty and oppression with the worst 
 deeds of Orientals ; but in the absolute, recklessness 
 of human life which has marked Eastern wars, and 
 
CHRISTIANS AND MUSALMANS CO.\TRASTED. 301 
 
 in the barbarous nature of the punishments inflicted 
 by Eastern rulers, it cannot be said that Musal- 
 man nations have fallen far behind the Tartars 
 or the Chinese.^ Again, the death-bed commands 
 of Musalman princes have rarely breathed forgiveness 
 of their enemies ; they have resembled the last in- 
 junctions of the aged David to his son Solomon — 
 surely one of the darkest pages in his history — or the 
 reckless revenge of the younger Marius when he saw 
 that his fate was sealed, rather than the ' Father, for- 
 give them,' of the Founder of Christianity ; that 
 prayer which has done something to temper the 
 violence and sheath the swords of so many semi- 
 Christian conquerors or rulers, and has filled the souls 
 of so many Christian saints and martyrs. 
 
 Women, again, in spite of the beneficent legislation 
 of the Prophet — the nature of which it has been one 
 of my objects as clearly as possible to bring out — 
 have rarely exercised in the East the humanising, the 
 elevating, the spiritualising influence on husbands, 
 
 ' Vambery (' Central Asia,' p. 139), after describing a horrible exe- 
 cution of prisoners by the Khan of Khiva, remarks, ' Such treatment is 
 indeed horrible, but it is not to be regarded as an exceptional case. In 
 Khiva, as well as in the whole of Central Asia, wanton cruelty is 
 unknown ; the whole proceeding is regarded as perfectly natural, and 
 usage, law, and religion, all accord in sanctioning it.' The word 
 * religion ' can only be understood here in a sense which excludes the 
 Koran and the Traditions — all the documents, in fact, on which the 
 Religion rests. 
 
302 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 fathers, or sons, which it is their glory to have exer- 
 cised again and again in Christendom, and that even 
 through its darkest ages. The Hfe of the Harem, so 
 far as its influence has extended, is not a life in which 
 any of the finer qualities of the human soul, still less 
 love itself in any sense of the word which entitles it 
 to be so called, naturally thrive. Triviality, selfish- 
 ness, heart-burnings, deadly hatreds, if nothing worse, 
 are the weeds which must, in the nature of things, as 
 soon as society has passed beyond its earlier stages, 
 find in it a congenial soil. 
 
 The professed teachers of the people, again, 
 whether theologians or legists — Muftis and MuUas, 
 Kadis and Imams — have sometimes, on the one hand, 
 claimed powers which Islam itself never gave them ; 
 and on the other, have all too often been without those 
 fundamental qualities of zeal for learning, of justice, 
 and of humanity, which should alone entitle them to 
 the offices they hold.^ As to the practical religion of 
 the masses in the towns — more especially those towns 
 which have received a whitewash of European civili- 
 sation — it is not so much what its Founder intended it 
 to be, a brotherly affection, at all events, within the 
 ranks of the faithful, the relief of the orphan and the 
 oppressed, the practice of sobriety, truthfulness, and 
 hospitality, but, as has so often been the case in the 
 » Cf. the anticipation of the Prophet himself, quoted below, p. 314. 
 
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PROSPECTS. 303 
 
 history of Christendom, a frigid round of traditional 
 observances, fastings for fasting's sake, and prayers 
 consisting of a mechanical enumeration of the Divine 
 attributes many times repeated, and accompanied by 
 a childish ceremonial.^ An Arab will often say the 
 Bismillah when he is meditating an atrocious crime ; 
 just as ' the Most Christian king ' would be most par- 
 ticular in his religious observances when he was per- 
 petrating his worst deeds ; the whole resulting, very 
 often, in as complete a separation between religion 
 and morality as was the case in Christendom, for 
 instance, in the age of Leo X. at Rome, of Charles II. 
 in England, or of Louis XV. in France. 
 
 Nor, at first sight, is the prospect more bright 
 politically than it is in its social and its strictly re- 
 ligious aspects. * When the prophets prophesy falsely, 
 and the kings bear rule by their means,' what wonder 
 that the Khalifate of the faithful Abu Bekr, the in- 
 trepid Omar, the saintly Ali, has degenerated into 
 the self-seeking and short-sighted rule of the Sultan 
 or the Shah } It has been said, not without exagge- 
 ration, but still not without some truth, that most of 
 the countries ruled by Musalman princes are deserts, 
 or tend to become so. Towns have dwindled into 
 villages, and whole villages have often disappeared. 
 Fields lying untilled and mines unworked, justice 
 * See Hughes, Notes^ p. 63-75. 
 
304 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 polluted at its source, excessive taxation and arbitrary 
 punishments — such are some of the features which 
 belong to the decadence of a once Imperial race, and 
 which we are apt to attribute to the decadence of 
 a relieion. Meanwhile Christian nations, propelled 
 partly by ambition, partly by a blundering philan- 
 thropy, partly by the mere pressure of events, are 
 threatening to absorb large portions of the Musalman 
 world, and are putting the bit and bridle for the first 
 time in their history on the wildest and most fanatical 
 of the followers of the Prophet who have roamed for 
 ages over the barren steppes of Central Asia, Kirghis 
 and Khivese, Uzbeks and Turkomans. The Cauca- 
 sus, ao-ain, has since the lamentable Circassian Exo- 
 dus, ceased to be Mohammedan, and become Chris- 
 tian, if, indeed, a solitude can ever be so called. Al- 
 giers belongs, by military occupation at least, to 
 France ; and Cairo under the rule of the Khedive is 
 rapidly becoming, for good or evil, a second Paris, 
 and is taking kindly to all the vices of the West. 
 
 How, then, it may be asked again, can these dry 
 bones live ? why busy ourselves about a dead creed, 
 or trouble about that against which, as it may seem, 
 has already gone forth the sentence of God and of 
 the bi"- battalions t 
 
 But look once more a little closer and see if this 
 is really so ; or if all the facts correspond to the super- 
 
ISLAM SUITED TO STATIONARY RACES. 305 
 
 ficlal appearances. I alluded in my First Lecture to 
 the claims which the marvellous history of Islam, its 
 achievements in centuries and on continents other 
 than ours, the intimate relations in which we must 
 stand to it now, the proselytising enthusiasm it still 
 exhibits, and the unmeasured influence it may yet 
 exert on the virgin soil of Africa ^ or among the teem- 
 ing millions of India, have at once upon our attention, 
 our sympathy, and our respect ; but it may be well — 
 now that I have, in order to prevent misconstruction, 
 set forth, in spite of myself, the worst that can be said 
 with any approach to fairness of Musalman countries 
 at the present day — to call renewed attention to those 
 claims, and thereby at once to appraise the evils 
 mentioned at their proper value, and to point out the 
 grounds of hope for the future. 
 
 And, first, it should be remembered that to say 
 that a religion is stationary, and presents an obstacle 
 to the progress and the innovations and the restless 
 struggles which are the life of the West, is no reproach 
 at all in the eyes of a people that is Itself stationary 
 and unprogressive. It is precisely this that has 
 enabled it to take such deep hold of all the nations 
 that have accepted it, and to intertwine Itself with all 
 
 ' ' In Cairo and ConstantinoiDle Islam may appear to be decaying, 
 but in the heart of Africa it is young, vigorous, victorious as in the 
 early days.' — Winwocd Reade's 'African Sketch-book,' p. 315. 
 
 X 
 
J 
 
 06 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 their thoughts and feeh'ngs. ' A Musalman first and 
 a Turk, an Afghan or an Arab afterwards,' is no mere 
 formula or figure of speech with that vast assemblage 
 of peoples and of tongues to whom the Prophet of 
 Arabia, by teaching them to worship the one true 
 God, has given a bond of union stronger than any tie 
 of blood or nation ; and that, by means which were 
 nobler and with objects that were higher than those 
 with which Papal Rome is striving, in these latter days, 
 to implant a similar feeling in the Catholic. Sublime 
 and Eternal and Unchangeable as its God, Islam 
 
 I appears to its votaries a religion worthy at once of 
 the worshipper and of the Being that he worships ; 
 
 I and is it for us to say that it is not so ? 
 
 Secondly, it must be borne in mind that Musal- 
 man countries and Musalmans themselves, whether 
 stationary or progressive, whether elevated or de- 
 
 / graded, are not Islam itself, any more than Christen- 
 
 l-dom and Christians are Christianity. The Faith is 
 something infinitely greater than even its greatest 
 and worthiest votaries ; else it would not be a living 
 Faith at all. The best cure for the evils of Christen- 
 
 ' dom is Christianity ; and the cure for many, at least, 
 of the evils in Musalman countries now, which, if not 
 ideally the best, is yet the most natural, the most 
 ready to hand, and the most likely to be efficacious, 
 is not, perhaps, Islam itself, yet something so nearly 
 
 ^ -4 I K i '••1 V 
 
Ml 'SALMAN COUNTRIES NOT ISLAM. 307 
 
 akin to Islam that it can confidently appeal to its 
 most authoritative documents in its support. 
 
 Thirdly, as to the desolation of countries which 
 were once flourishing-, the question has never, so far 
 as I know, been fairly raised how much of it is, even 
 at this distance of time, the direct consequence of the 
 wholesale havoc and destruction wrought by the suc- 
 cessive inroads of the Mongols and Tartars who fol- 
 lowed Chenghis, or Octai, or Kublai Khan.^ What- 
 ever the answer to such an enquiry might be, Asia 
 would not be the only part of the globe in which 
 devastations far less than theirs would seem in very 
 truth to have sown the land with salt and to have 
 rendered it incapable of revivification. Has Sicily, 
 in spite of all its changes of rulers, and its incom- 
 parable advantages of air and soil, ever recovered 
 from the havoc wrought in it by the first Punic War 1 
 
 Fourth and lastly, the same travellers who give 
 
 ' For the devastations of Chenghis Khan see Ibn Batuta, p. 8/ 
 seq. : — ' He came vrith the Tartars into the countries of Islam, and 
 destroyed them.' 'He left the comrtry quite desolate, destroying the 
 cities, and slaughtering the inhabitants.' ' In Irak alone 24,000 learned 
 men were put to the sword ' (p. 89). Ealkh still lay in ruins, ' not having 
 been rebuilt since its destruction by the cursed Chenghis Khan ' (p. 93). 
 Cf. also the terrible illustrations collected by Col. Yule, in his edition 
 of Marco Polo, I. 256-257. IMarshman ('History of India,' I. 49) 
 says : ' From the Caspian to the Indus, more than 1000 miles in 
 extent, the whole country was laid waste with fire and sword by the 
 ruthless barbarians who followed Chenghis Khan. It was the greatest 
 calamity which had befallen the human race since the Deluge, and five 
 centuries have been barely sufficient to repair that desolation.' 
 
 X 2 
 
,o8 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 US SO gloomy a picture of the condition of the Otto- 
 man Empire are careful to point out that that con- 
 dition is, in great part, the result of the misgovernment 
 and the corruption of a clique ; of elements, in fact,, 
 which in great measure have intruded into Islam and 
 are not of it, and is in no respect the result of the 
 religion.^ On the contrary, it is that religion which 
 alone gives stability to the tottering fabric, and is the 
 one principle of life amidst all the jarring elements of 
 destruction. It is the religion which merges all 
 colours, ranks, and races in the consciousness of a 
 common brotherhood.- It is the religion which 
 
 1 See 'Quarterly Review' for October, 1S74 : Art. 'Provincial 
 Turkey;' Admiral Slade's 'Turkey, Greece, and Malta,' I. 298 seq., 
 318 seq.; Urquhart's 'Spirit of the East;' and Palgrave's 'Eastern 
 Essays,' /^jj/;;/. Admiral S lade says: ' If people were only to take 
 the trouble to enquire into the state of the Mosque, their voices would 
 be hushed ; for they would see in the Mosque the healer of the sores 
 caused by the worst of governments ; they would find libraries, and 
 schools, and hospitals for the insane on the foundation of the Mosque ; 
 they would see well-cultivated estates belonging to it, and would learn 
 that through its agency a man may secure a provision for his wife or 
 daughter after his death. . . . Not one of the reasons ordinarily urged 
 against a Church establishment— tithe, ministers of religion chosen from 
 particular classes, monastic seclusion, celibacy— is applicable to the 
 Mosque.' So, too, Mouradgia d'Ohson, a high authority, quoted in 
 'East and West,' p. 185, says : ' Tons les maux politiques qui affligent 
 les peuples Mussulmans devinrent de leurs prejuges, de leurs fausses 
 oi3inions, les vices de gouvernement, mais non des vraies principes de 
 la' religion et de la loi.' 
 
 - Among Mohammedans there is much kindly feeling; their 
 religion knits them as it were into a general fraternity, in which eveiy 
 member, rich or poor, is, though a stranger, affectionately received. 
 IMuch of this charitable disposition is no doubt to be traced to those 
 
VITALITY OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 309 
 
 elevates the mind by drawing it from the Transitory 
 to the Eternal, and which gives to the half-starved 
 or ill-used peasant that courage in calamity, that calm 
 amidst confusion, and that ineffable dignity in distress, 
 which is found nov/here but in Islam. Without a 
 Khalif, without a hierarchy, without good schools or 
 teachers, the peasants of Asia Minor still cling to 
 their creed as firmly as ever, and, w4iat is more im- 
 portant, to the practical duties enjoined by it. No- 
 vv^here in the world — so I heard it stated at a meeting 
 in London the other day for the relief of the Turkish 
 famine, by traveller after traveller who knew the 
 country well — is there more hospitality to strangers, 
 greater self-respect, m.ore personal cleanliness, greater 
 temperance, freer toleration, than amongst them. The 
 one building well cared for everywhere, well built, 
 well white-washed, well svv'ept, is the village Mosque. 
 The houses of the peasantry may be mere hovels 
 falling into decay for lack of the means to build 
 them up, but each possesses the niche which points 
 tow^ards the holy place, and five times a day does 
 each peasant, at the summons of the village Muezzin, 
 pour forth his heart to God, not so much in petitions 
 
 causes Vv'hich make the inhabitants of thinly-peopled districts so 
 generally hospitable: more, however, is attributable to the precepts of 
 the Koran, nor are the followers of ]\rohammed exclusive in their 
 benevolence, for all strangers share their charities.' — Wood's ' Oxus,' 
 
 P-93- 
 
3IO MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 for relief of his pressing temporal necessities — for 
 this, be it remembered, is not the characteristic of 
 Musalman prayer^ — but rather in a meditation on the 
 power and the majesty, the wisdom and the mercy 
 of God. 
 
 Does all this look much like decadence in their 
 religion ? And even if every item of the accusation 
 detailed abov^e be true, and no account be taken of 
 the considerations which, as I have endeavoured to 
 indicate In the enumeration itself, may be urged in 
 explanation or extenuation of many of them, I still 
 ask whether the state of the Mohammedan world, as 
 
 ' The notion of the duty of submission to God's aaiII, whatever it 
 may be, is perhaps stronger among Muslims than among Christians ; 
 on the other hand, the idea of a filial relation on the part of the 
 Avorshipper to the Being Avhom he worships, -which enables a man to lay 
 all his wants before God as before a father, is almost wanting in Islam • 
 and hence the distinguishing characteristics of Musalman and Christian 
 prayer. The ordinaiy form of prayer among the Muslims is as follows : — 
 
 Holiness to Thee, O God ! 
 And praise be to Thee ! 
 Great is Thy Name ! 
 Great is Thy greatness ! 
 There is no God but Thee ! 
 
 Then comes the Fatihah, or first chapter of the Koran : 
 
 Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds ! 
 
 The compassionate, the merciful. 
 
 King on the day of reckoning ! 
 
 Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we ciy for help. 
 
 Guide Thou us in the straight path ; 
 
 The path of those to vdiom Thou hast been gracious ; 
 
 With %\hom Thou art not angry, 
 
 And who go not astray. Amen. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 311 
 
 a whole, is worse, in proportion to its light, than has 
 been that of Christendom in many stages of its 
 history, and which it has yet passed safely through ? 
 Is it half as bad, for instance, as the age when Brune- 
 haut and Fredegonde ruled the Franks ; as the age 
 when Theodora and Marosia dispensed the patronage 
 of the Church from the Vatican ; or as the age when, 
 at length, the cup of iniquity of Papal Rome was full, 
 and a Luther was born J* To take an instance nearer 
 home, has religion less hold upon the Arabs than it 
 had upon the English throughout the last century, till 
 the evangelical revival of Wesley and Whitefield 
 roused it from its sleep ? Has it less hold even upon 
 the ' Frenchmen of the East,' as the Persians have 
 been called — liars, drunkards, profligate though they 
 are — than it has at this moment upon the Frenchmen 
 of the West ? What account do travellers in Russia 
 give us of the state of religion among the masses 
 there ? And what judgment must pious Mohamme- 
 dans form of Christianity, if their knowledge of it is 
 confined to the average lives of Europeans who pro- 
 fess it ? 
 
 To say that gross abuses have crept into Moham- 
 medanism — that the lives of many, or even of the 
 majority, who profess it are a disgrace to their name — 
 is only to say that it is not exempt from the common 
 conditions of humanity. 
 
^12 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 o 
 
 Take one instance drawn from the history of the 
 Christian Church. Christianity was in its origin and 
 in its essence a creed entirely spiritual ; but Christians, 
 forming, as they did, a new human society, were 
 allowed by their Founder to symbolise this close 
 union, and to bring it home more vividly to them- 
 selves and to the world, by two external rites. The 
 mere fact that they were external, in a religion which 
 was otherwise a matter of the heart, ought to have 
 put men on their guard, lest they should assume in 
 time a too prominent place ; lest what was accidental, 
 and secondary, and relative, should dominate over 
 what was absolute, and primary, and eternal. Baptism 
 was of considerable importance in the infancy of the 
 Church, for it was a pledge of fidelity consciously and 
 voluntarily given by a new recruit, in the face of the 
 enemy, to a cause vv^hose victories were yet in the 
 future. It was, as it were, the uniform assumed by 
 the small army which at its Master's bidding went 
 forth against the world. The Love-feast also was of 
 special importance among the earliest Christians, as 
 a constant reminder that those who had taken upon 
 themselves the commission of the Cross, that crown- 
 ing act of love, were bound to one another by the 
 same enthusiasm of love which bound them to their 
 common Master. Both did good service then, and in 
 the history of the Christian Church have done good 
 
PERVERSIONS AND CORRUPTIONS. 313 
 
 service since, in so far as tliey have acted upon the 
 heart, and thence upon the conduct, through the 
 medium of a very powerful appeal to the religious 
 imagination. But in so far as any mysterious or 
 supernatural efficacy has been attached to the form 
 of either, they have sapped the root of Christianity. 
 They have done for Christianity what of good, no 
 doubt, Mohamimed thought, and, half rightly, half 
 wrongly, thought, that pilgrimages to the holy places 
 might do for Mohammedanism. Both were so far 
 concessions to human weakness that they introduced 
 formal, or even material, conceptions into a spiritual 
 religion ; both, in fact, were capable of being used to 
 advantage ; and experience has proved that they were 
 both alike liable to the same kind of abuse. 
 
 Every human institution, therefore — religion itself, 
 so far as man can affect it — is exposed to inevitable 
 decay; and the purer the religion, the more inevitable 
 the degradation which contact with the world, which is 
 not of it, must bring.' Accordingly, a religion which 
 is not waiting for a revival is v/aiting only till it be 
 swept away. 
 
 But, on the other hand, we must not judge of a 
 religion by its perversions or corruptions ; and it is as 
 fair to take Turkish despots, and maniac dervishes, 
 and Persian libertines, as types of the ]\Iohammedan 
 
 ^ j\Iax Miiller, ' Chips,' Preface, p. 23. 
 
314 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 life, as it would be to take Anabaptists, or Pillar Saints, 
 or Shakers, as types of the Christian life. Most of 
 the well-known vices of our Mohammedan fellow- 
 subjects in India are Indian vices, and not Moham- 
 medan. Professor Max Miiiler has remarked with 
 truth, that without constant reformation — that is to 
 say, without a constant return to the fountain head — 
 every religion, however pure, must gradually degen- 
 erate. Christianity has always reformed itself, and 
 will to the end of time continue to reform itself, by 
 eoine back to the words and to the life of Christ. It 
 is a maxim of the Buddhists that ' what has been 
 said by Buddha, that alone is well said ; ' ^ and 
 it is currently believed that Mohammedanism is dying- 
 out because it has no such power of revival. But the 
 very reverse of this is, rather, true. The Prophet him- 
 self must have foreseen the need there would be for a 
 reformer when he so sorrowfully remarked to Abu 
 Taleb, * The time is near in which nothing will remain 
 of Islam but its name, and of the Koran but its mere 
 appearance ; and the mosques of Musalmans will be 
 destitute of knowledge and worship, and the learned 
 men will be the Avorst people under the heavens, and 
 contentions and strife will issue from them, and it will 
 return upon themselves ; ' but he also confidently hoped 
 that when the time was ripe for it, a reformer would be 
 
 1 Quoted by Max rviiiller, loc. cit. p. 23. 
 
ISLAM HAS POWER OF REVIVAL. 315 
 
 found. 'Certainly,' he said to Abu Hurairah, 'cer- 
 tainly, God will send my sect at the expiration of every 
 hundred years a person who will renew my religion.' ^ 
 Probably no religion has produced, in the various parts 
 of its vast empire, a more continuous succession of 
 reformers whose aim has been to bring it back, by fair 
 means if possible, and if not by force, to its original 
 simplicity and purity.^ Such was one object, however 
 wildly they set about it, of the Carmathians in the 
 ninth century ; and, to select one amongst many 
 individual reformers, such was the career of Abdul 
 Wahhab, the son of a petty Arabian sheik, a hundred 
 and fifty years ago. The facts I take almost vcrbathii 
 from an interesting and able essay on ' Our Indian 
 Mussulmans,' by Dr. Hunter.^ 
 
 Commencing by a moral attack upon the profli- 
 gacy of the Turkish pilgrims and the mummeries which 
 profaned the holy cities, Abdul Wahhab gradually 
 elabcft-ated a theological system which is substantially 
 identical with the original creed of Mohammed. He 
 taught, first, absolute reliance on one God, and the 
 rejection of all mediators between man and God, 
 whether saints or Mohammed himself; second, the 
 
 1 ' Mishkat-ul-Masabih,' II., III., 6S, and II. II., 62. 
 
 - See Dollinger, p. 42-49, for an enumeration of attempted reformers 
 throughout the history of IsLam. He hardly does justice to some of them. 
 
 3 See Hunter, p. 5 5 -60 ; and for a further account of the Arab 
 movement, see Euickhardt's ' Notes on the Bedouins and Wahhabis.' 
 
7, 1 6 MOHAMMED AiYD MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 ■ O 
 
 I 
 
 iglit of private interpretation of the Koran and of the 
 Traditions ; third, the prohibition of all forms and 
 ceremonies with which the pure faith has been over- 
 laid in the lapse of centuries ; finally — and this is the 
 only part to be regretted in the movement — he reas- 
 serted the obligation to wage war upon the infidel. 
 In 1803 Wahhab's successors took the holy cities, and 
 desecrated the sacred mosque at Mecca and the 
 Prophet's tomb at Medina, to save them from the 
 ereater desecration, as it seemed to those Puritans of 
 the Desert, involved in the almost Divine honours 
 lavished on them by ignorant or profligate pilgrims. 
 
 Here was an act upon the significance of which 
 we may well dwell for a moment, and endeavour, by 
 comparing it v^ith somewhat parallel and better- 
 knovvm cases, to realise what it must have seem.ed like 
 then, and what it proves about Mohammedanism 
 now. Imagine the feelings of pious Jews when their 
 most religious king broke into pieces the reiic of 
 relics, the memorial of the Divine deliverance and of 
 their desert life, and stigmatised it as a bit of brass ! 
 Imagine, if you can, the feelings of the Apostles when 
 it dawned upon them that one of their number, even 
 Ihen, was a traitor in his heart ! Imagine, to take a 
 parallel case suggested by Dr. Hunter,^ Mediaeval 
 Christendom, when the news spread that Bourbon's 
 
 ' Hunter, p. 59. 
 
THE WAHHABIS. 317- 
 
 cut-throats were installed in the Vatican, and that the 
 head of the Christian Church had been taken captive 
 by a revolted subject of the Church's eldest son ! 
 Imagine Luther, when in the fervour of youthful 
 enthusiasm he visited the Rome of the Martyrs and 
 of the Apostles, and found it to be the Rome of the 
 Papacy, the Rome of impostures and indulgences, of 
 the Borgias and the Medici ! And we can then 
 picture to ourselves the thrill of horror that must 
 have passed through the orthodox Musalman world 
 when they heard that a sect of reformers, whose one 
 idea of reform was a return to the life and doctrine 
 of the Prophet, had rifled the mosque whose imme- 
 morial sanctity the Prophet had himself increased 
 by making it the Kiblah of the world, and had 
 even violated the Prophet's tomb. Imagine, on the 
 other hand, w^hat it must have cost the Wahhabis to 
 have, like Luther, the courage of their convictions, 
 to appear to stultify themselves, to dishonour their 
 Prophet, and all that they might m.ake their religion 
 the spiritual religion that it had once been ! And 
 then say if you can, that Mohammedanism has 
 no power of self-reform, and is dying gradually of 
 inanition ! 
 
 Beaten down at last by the strong arm of Mo- 
 hammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt in 1812, helped, I regret 
 to say, by Englishmen, the Wahhabis disappeared 
 
3i8 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 temporarily from Arabia,^ only to reappear in 1821 
 in India, under the leadership of the prophet Syed 
 Ahmed ; and the despised sect of Wahhabis are now, 
 perhaps, the real ruling spirit of Musalman politics 
 in India, and enjoy the singular honour of having, as 
 much, no doubt, by their gloomy fanaticism as by 
 their moral lives and their missionary zeal, attracted 
 to themselves considerable attention even from their 
 English rulers at home. Puritans of the Puritans of 
 Islam, they are despised and hated by the so-called 
 orthodox Musalmans, as the Lutherans were hated 
 by Leo, and the Covenanters by Claverhouse. 
 
 And it must be remembered that Wahhabiism, 
 while it denounces, as I have shown, all the existing 
 forms of Islam, and, in its turn, is denounced by them, 
 has yet done much outside of the sphere of its im- 
 mediate influence to purify the Faith, and to reform 
 abuses throughout the Musalman world. The Refor- 
 mation, it has often been observed, did as much good 
 for Europe by the reforms which it drove the nations 
 who rejected it, for very shame, to introduce for them- 
 selves, as by what it did directly for those German 
 
 * For a graphic and not very favourable account of the Wahhabi 
 Empire as it exists now in Arabia, and its seat of Government at Riad, 
 see Palgrave's 'Arabia,' Chap. IX. -XIII. There are one or two 
 passages in this account— r. g.. Vol I. 365-373, 427-437— in which I 
 •cannot but think, with all my admiration for Mr. Palgrave's varied 
 powers, that he has not been, even on his own showing elsewhere, 
 altogether fair to Islam as a system. 
 
MOHAMMEDAN REVIVAL. 319 
 
 peoples \vho threw off for ever the yoke of Rome. Even 
 so has Wahhabiism compelled many who are any- 
 thing but Wahhabis to reform the most crying abuses, 
 and so to make the discrepancy between their practice 
 and their creed less glaring than it was before. 
 
 The extraordinary phenomena attending the great 
 religious movement called Babyism now going on in 
 Persia, the ecstatic martyrdoms and the prodigality 
 of tortures submitted to amidst songs of triumph by 
 women and children, the followers of the ' Bab,' are 
 well worth the study of all who are interested in the 
 history of religion ; and, however we explain the 
 facts, much that I have said of Wahhabiism may, 
 mutatis imitandis, be said of it ; and at all events its 
 existence is a standing proof that Persian Moham- 
 medanism possesses so much of vitality as is necessary 
 to adapt an old creed to a new belief^ 
 
 When I first wrote the above paragraphs on the 
 power of revival which I conceive to be inherent in 
 Islam, I did not know that my words were at that 
 very time being illustrated in the most striking way, 
 not only in India and Persia and Arabia upon which 
 I then dwelt, but also throughout the Asiatic domi- 
 nions of the Ottoman Sultans. Since then Mr. Pal- 
 grave's most interesting * Essays on Eastern Questions ' 
 
 ' See Gobineau, * Les Religions et les Philosophies dans I'Asie 
 Centrale,' p. 141-215. 
 
320 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 have come into my hands ; and I find in them both 
 evidence to show that there is such a revival, and a 
 graphic account of its leading symptoms. 
 
 Secular and denominational schools are everywhere 
 giving place to schools of the most strictly Musalman 
 type. Mosques which were deserted are now crowded 
 Avith worshippers ; mosques which were in ruins are 
 rebuilt. There is a general reaction, not perhaps to 
 be wondered at, against the employment in public 
 offices of the European and the Christian. Wine and 
 spirit shops are closed, for their trade is gone except 
 among the Levantine residents. Even opium and 
 tobacco are becoming luxuries which are not forbidden 
 only, but forsaken. 
 
 Add to this, what Mr. Palgrave has also shown, 
 that a new nation is as it were growing up under our 
 eyes in Eastern Anatolia, rich with all the elements 
 of a vigorous national and religious life ; and we shall 
 then have reason to believe that though the Ottoman 
 supremacy m^ay pass avv^ay, as Khalifs and Sultans, 
 Attabeks and Khans, Padishahs and Moguls, have 
 passed away before them, yet Islam itself is a thing of 
 indestructible vitality, and may thrive the more when 
 rid of the magnificent corruptions and the illusory 
 prestige of the Stambul successors of the Prophet. 
 In truth, Islam has existed for centuries in spite of 
 Othmanh rule, and not because of it; and this the 
 
THE OTTOMAN SUPREMACY. 321 
 
 ambassadors lately sent to the Porte from the most 
 distant parts of the Musalman world — from Bokhara 
 and Khokand, from the Sultan of Achin and the 
 Sultan of the Panthays — must have learnt to their 
 cost, when they found that the so-called Commander 
 of the Faithful was sufficiently employed nearer home, 
 and had neither the power nor the will to give them 
 the help or even the advice they asked. 
 
 Mohammedanism, therefore, can still renew its 
 youth, and it is possible that the present generation, in 
 face of the advance of semi-barbarous Russia, may see 
 a revival of the old Crusading spirit — an outburst of 
 stern fanaticism, which, armed with the courage of 
 despair, obliterating, as it did among the tribes of the 
 Caucasus In the Circassian war,^ even the immemorial 
 schism of Sunni and Shiah, may hurl once more in 
 simple self-defence the united strength of the Crescent 
 
 ^ See Baron Von Haxthausen's ' Tribes of the Caucasus ; ' especially 
 liis interesting account of the rise of Muridism, and the heroic struggle 
 of Shaniil, his personal influence, and his genius for military and 
 political organisation. Truly while Mohammedanism can throw off 
 geniuses like Shamil, it may well be able to dispense with such govern- 
 ments as that of the Turks. The Baron's prophecies of a general 
 collapse of Mohammedanism are being signally falsified. The union of 
 Sunnis and Shiahs was one principle of Muridism as taught by 
 JNIulla Mohammed, and after him by Shamil. Elijah Mansur, the 
 great Circassian hero towards the close of the last century, appears to 
 have been far superior even to Shamil in ability. Like him, he united 
 the characters of warrior, priest, and prophet, and there is a belief 
 among the natives that he is to reappear at the end of a hundred years 
 and drive back the Muscovite from his native country. 
 
322 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Upon the vanguard of advancing Christendom. It is a 
 prospect formidable to every Christian Power — for- 
 midable above all to those who for good or for evil 
 rule forty millions of Musalmans in India. Then if 
 anywhen, and there if anywhere, will be the Arma- 
 geddon of Islam. 
 
 It may be that nothing — not even a holy war 
 waeed in self-defence — can arrest the onward march 
 of the Colossus which, gaunt and grim and inex- 
 orable, like one of the primeval forces of Nature, 
 is pressing, or is being pressed on, towards the East 
 and South ; and is, in the nineteenth century, 
 turning back, in some sense, itself upon itself, that 
 tide of Tartar aggression which, in by-gone times, 
 carried now an Attila from the wall of China to the 
 Catalaunian fields, and now a Tamerlane from Kara- 
 korum to the Vistula or the Danube. Licking up 
 Khanates and kingdoms like the grass of the field in 
 its fn-adual but irresistible advance, it Is threatening 
 at once the national existence of Turks and Persians, 
 and is exciting the uneasy apprehensions alike of 
 those who rule at Calcutta, and of those who rule at 
 Pekin. Doubtless it is well that something like 
 order should be introduced into the Avildest and most 
 lawless people In the world, the nomade hordes of 
 Turkistan ; but it is at least open to question whether 
 this could not be as well done by the religious en- 
 
PROGRESS OF RUSSIA IN THE EAST. 323 
 
 thusiasm of some new Commander of the Faithful, of 
 some heroic Ehjah Mansur or Shamil or Abdel Kader 
 on a vaster scale, as by the dull, heavy tread of mili- 
 tary despotism beneath the shadow of the Czars of 
 All the Russias. The rule of General Kaufmann is 
 not likely to do more for Central Asia ^ than is already 
 in the way of being done for it by Yakub Beg ; and 
 surely those who imagine that the Russian arms of 
 precision are carrying any form of Christianity with 
 them which will get hold of the native mind and 
 character, are indulging in the wildest of chimseras. 
 Injustice has doubtless often been done by travellers 
 who know them but superricially to the sterling 
 qualities which are to be found on a closer investi- 
 gation in some of the scattered Christian communities 
 of the East. They have expected to find in them 
 energies which can only be the offspring of freedom ; 
 and one who knows them intimately avers that credit 
 has not been given to the Christians of the East for 
 the industry, the enterprise, and the social morality, 
 which are to be found amongst them in spite of all the 
 drawbacks of their political position. But Dr. Badger 
 himself would probably admit that the isolation of 
 these communities is too great, their superstitious 
 
 ^ The attack on the Yomud Turkomans in the recent Khiva cam- 
 j")aign was as murderous, as purposeless, and as cruel as any of which 
 the wildest Asiatics were ever guilty. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 practices and their mutual misconceptions too nume- 
 rous, and the want of a missionary spirit amongst 
 them too marked, to enable them, under any circum- 
 stances, to do more than hold their own in the East ; 
 and as to the religion of the ' orthodox ' Greek Church, 
 which is the form of Christianity, if any, which will 
 accompany the Russian arms, who can find in its 
 history of a thousand years any germ of progress, 
 any spark of missionary enthusiasm, any sublimer 
 idea of God, or any nobler conception of man's duty 
 to Him and to his brother man, than is to be found 
 in the authentic documents of Islam ? 
 
 And here, perhaps, will be the place to make 
 a few remarks upon a subject which cannot have 
 failed to attract the attention of the more thoughtful 
 among us in recent years — I mean the attempt made 
 to introduce Western manners and customs into 
 Eastern countries. 
 
 We live in days when we hear of Khans and 
 Khedives, Shahs and Sultans, giving up their imme- 
 morial passivity and seclusion, and even coming to 
 Europe with the avowed intention of carrying back to 
 Asia or Africa what they can of Western science and 
 civilisation. I should be slow indeed to complain of 
 any steps taken by the Western Powers to do away 
 with any institutions which, like the Suttee, the festivals 
 of Juggernaut, the East African slave trade, or the 
 traffic in opium, are a curse to our common humanity, 
 
EASTERN DESPOTISM. . 325 
 
 or are not grounded on any fundamental peculiarity 
 of the Eastern world. But to attempt by force, or 
 even by influence brought to bear upon Eastern rulers, 
 to do away with any domestic or national institutions, 
 such as the form of government, or patriarchal slavery, 
 or even polygamy, can do no good. 
 
 Eastern despotism is not what Western despotism 
 is, nor is Oriental slavery like American. Nor is even 
 polygamy in the East so intolerable an evil as it 
 would be in the social freedom of the West. For 
 example, an Eastern sovereign has all the power over 
 his subjects that a father had in the most primitive 
 times, and had even in Rome, over his children. His 
 power is liable to the same abuses ; but it has also 
 some of its safeguards and redeeming points. To 
 introduce into his government, as the Shah has been 
 supposed to wish, a system of Boards and Parliaments, 
 of checks and counter-checks, such as works fairly well 
 in this country because it has grown with our growth 
 and is suitable to our instinct of compromise in every- 
 thing, would be to make many tyrants instead of one, 
 and to cripple the power and lessen the responsibility 
 of the only man in Persia whose interest it is, whether 
 he sees it or not, to let no one commit injustice but 
 himself. Asia, till its whole nature be changed, can 
 probably never be better governed than it was by the 
 early Khalifs ; and if an Abu Bakr or an Omar, or even 
 a Harun or a INIahmud, a Baber or an Akbar, do not 
 
326 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 come twice in a century, it is probable that Nature 
 has endowed Asiatics with precisely those qualities of 
 patience, docility, and inertness which harmonise better 
 with the evils of such a government than with those of 
 any other. 
 
 Polygamy is a more difhcult question, and it is 
 impossible, for obvious reasons, to discuss it adequately 
 here. It is a gigantic evil, worse even than slavery ; 
 for with its attendant mischiefs, so far as it extends, it 
 does away with all real sympathy and companion- 
 ship between man and woman ; it is unnatural, in 
 the fullest sense of the word, in a highly civi- 
 lised nation, for Nature, by making the number 
 of men and women equal, has declared decisively 
 for monogamy. But, in a barbarous people, poly- 
 gamy has this one redeeming point, that it is less 
 likely that any woman will be left without a natural 
 protector ; and, as a matter of fact, it is almost 
 universal in primitive stages of civilisation.^ In the 
 
 * In an uncivilised nation, split up, as Arabia was before INrohammed, 
 into a number of hostile tribes, or overrun by its more powerful neigh- ' 
 bours, as was Palestine in the time of the Judges, the number of bn-ths 
 of men and women is no doubt, as in more civilised nations, about 
 equal ; but the adult male population being reduced by war to half its 
 proper number, the preponderance of women in such a state of 
 society renders Polygamy possible, and the insecurity renders it from 
 that one point of view allowable. Sir Samuel Baker, in his ' Albert 
 Nyanza,' Introduction, p. 25, remarks that ' In all tropical countries 
 Polygamy is the prevailing evil' lie might have gone on to say much 
 the same of slavery ; but then what v.'ould become of the charge he so 
 often makes against Islam— that it is responsible fur polygamy and 
 slavery ? 
 
POLYGAAIY. 327 
 
 East it is the almost inevitable result of that funda- 
 mental institution of Eastern, as well as of Muslim 
 society, the absolute seclusion of women. There is 
 an impervious bar to all social intercourse between the 
 sexes before marriage. The husband's knowledge of 
 his future vvife is at second hand only, and rests on 
 the report of a Khatibeh,^ or professional match-maker. 
 Such a marriage is more than a lottery ; there can be 
 no affection to begin with, and, except on rare occa- 
 sions, it is not likely that it will turn out to be really 
 happy. If it be thoroughly uncongenial, a man tries 
 his luck once more in the same miserable lottery, and 
 for his own happiness, and probably also for that of all 
 concerned, annuls the previous bond. Hence poly- 
 gamy implies freedom of divorce, and both together 
 are the inevitable result of the seclusion of the female 
 sex. But to abolish by law the two former without 
 dealing with the far more fundamental institution 
 which is its root, would be to carry on a war with symp- 
 toms only, and to introduce evils worse than those it 
 is wished to prevent. The only way of going to the 
 root of the matter would be, if it were possible, to allow 
 a freer intercourse between the sexes at all times ; and 
 Sir William Muir admits that this could not be done 
 at all with the present freedom of divorce.^ It is a 
 melancholy fact, but a fact still, that the strict checks 
 
 * Lane's ' Modern Egyptians, ' I. 199. 
 - jSIuir, III. 234, and note. 
 
328 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 o 
 
 imposed by Mohammed on married women, degrading" 
 though they are/ are essential to prevent what is still 
 worse, and, be it remembered, what was far worse, 
 before the reforms and limitations which Mohammed 
 himself imposed. It is a complete dead-lock ; and 
 the greatest reformers, Moses no less than Mohammed^ 
 have been unable to deal with the root of the evil. 
 It is to be remembered, on the other hand, that both 
 Moses and Mohammed did what they could to restrain 
 and modify its abuses ; and at present neither poty- 
 gamy nor divorce is so common as is often supposed. 
 The humanity of human nature has asserted itself; 
 and Lane, the most accurate of observers, says that 
 polygamy is in Egypt at all events very rare among 
 the higher classes, and not common even among the 
 lower. ^ 
 
 Much the same may be said of slavery. The 
 slavery of the East is a patriarchal institution, coeval 
 
 1 Sura XXXIII. 6 and 56. Also Sura XXIV. 32. 
 
 - Lane, I. 231: ' X'ot more than one husband in twenty has two 
 wives at the same time.' But divorce is very common. If it were not 
 for Lane's proverbial accuracy, one would be inclined to suspect that 
 in the passage referred to in the text he had either accidentally trans- 
 posed the words higher and lower, or had for once made a mistake on 
 a matter of fact. It appears, however, that he is strictly accurate ; and 
 the dropping of Polygamy in Egypt by the higher classes is a clear 
 indication that its continuance there is only a question of time. Cer- 
 tainly in other parts of the Mohammedan world polygamy is, for 
 obvious reasons, much more common among the rich than among the 
 poor. But the current of opinion, like the general conditions of 
 society, seems to be everywhere setting against it, especially in India. 
 
SLAVERY. 329 
 
 with the very dawn of history. It is an institu- 
 tion allowed and modified by Moses, even as it was 
 allowed and modified by Mohammed, for people in 
 that stage of civilisation which required it. In neither 
 nation has it anything in common with slavery as it 
 was in America, or indeed with slavery at all as prac- 
 tised by civilised nations. It has been remarked with 
 truth that the cruel treatment of domesticated slaves is 
 the shameful and exclusive prerogative of civilisation. 
 To do away with domestic slavery by force, as has 
 been the case in Khiva, though we naturally rejoice 
 at it, will probably do little permanent good. It 
 will revive in another, and probably a worse, shape. 
 Perhaps we have hit upon the one means of gradu- 
 ally getting rid of it in Arabia by making it as diffi- 
 cult as possible to recruit slavery from without by 
 means of the slave trade. Much will have to be done 
 henceforward by free labour in Arabia, in Persia, and 
 in Egypt, which has hitherto been done by slaves ;, 
 and we need not fear but that the result will be so 
 good, that even in a stolid Oriental people the gra- 
 dual movement will be one in the direction of abolition. 
 The horrors of the Slave Trade in East Africa have 
 recently been most graphically described by Dr. 
 Livingstone, by Dr. Schweinfurth, and by Sir Samuel 
 Baker ; and all that they have written falls probably 
 far short of the terrible and overwhelming reality.. 
 
330 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 * May Heaven's rich blessing,' says Dr. Livingstone, 
 and in accents that are all the more touching, and it 
 is to be hoped may be all the more effectual, because 
 they come to us from his grave, ' may Heaven's rich 
 blessing descend on every one, American, English, or 
 Turk, who will help to heal the open sore of the world ! ' 
 Every true friend of humanity will echo his prayer, 
 and will rejoice to know that every one, whether he be 
 Jew or Christian, Hindu, Musalman, or Buddhist, who 
 joins in healing that open sore will be acting not 
 against but in accordance with the precepts and the 
 spirit of his religion. The Slave Trade, in fact, rests 
 for its support on no religion at all, but only on that 
 which is cruel and selfish and licentious in human na- 
 ture. It is a common mistake, but a mistake still, to 
 suppose that the Slave Trade ever received any 
 sanction either from Moses or from Mohammed. 
 Moses ordered the man-stealer and the man-seller to 
 be put to death.^ Mohammed is reported by the 
 Sunna to have said, ' the worst of men is the seller of 
 men.' It is no more fair, then, to tax Islam itself, as 
 is often done, with the horrors of the East African 
 Slave Trade, than it Avould have been in the last 
 century to blame Christianity for the still greater 
 horrors of the West African traffic and its seqiielcs in 
 America. 
 
 » Exod. XXI. 6. 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. -s-.i 
 
 jj' 
 
 It is well therefore, in furtherance of my object in 
 writing these Lectures, to remind once more those 
 who, like the great travellers I have mentioned, have 
 been led to condemn in the most sweeping terms 
 Islam itself, because it happens now that Arabs and 
 Egyptians are the chief slave traders, that the Slave 
 Trade is not Islam, but is opposed to it.^ It is con- 
 demned by the whole spirit of the Koran, condemned 
 by the Traditions, condemned by the doctors of the 
 Mohammedan law. If so-called Musalmans are now 
 the chief slave-traders, it is not long since so-called 
 Christians were the same ; and some of them, the 
 Portuguese for example, are not clean-handed even 
 yet. The spread of Islam over the African continent 
 from the North and West, so far from extending the 
 Slave-Trade, tends, in one important particular, to 
 suppress it, by limiting more and more the area from 
 which slaves are drawn ; for even the most degraded 
 Musalmans have that notion of brotherhood amongst 
 themselves which forbids them to enslave one another. 
 Dr. Schweinfurth himself admits in one passage, what 
 he unfortunately forgets in a score of others, that the 
 
 ' I should be as sorry to think that the doings of the Ai'ab slave- 
 hunters described in such forcible language by Sir Samuel Baker ^\•ere 
 characteristic of Islam in its sacred book, and in its true spirit, as I 
 should be sorry to think that some of the doings of Sir Samuel, as de- 
 scribed by himself in ' Ismailia ' (see especially his dealings \\-ith the 
 Baris), were in any way characteristic of Christianity. 
 
332 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 Arabs in Eastern and in part of Central Africa ' have 
 suppressed the true doctrines of their Prophet which 
 would have enfranchised the very people whom the}^ 
 oppress, and would have raised them to a condition of 
 brotherhood and equality,' ^ And if this be true, as it 
 undoubtedly is, would it not be well for Christian mis- 
 sionaries to attempt to carry their message of love to 
 African Musalmans by telling them that the Slave- 
 Trade is inhuman in itself, and should be doubly hated 
 by those whose Creed in its authentic documents con- 
 demns it, rather than by telling them that their whole 
 Creed is Avorthless and detestable because many 
 amongst them are untrue to it ? Which course 
 is likely to be the most successful, which is the truest, 
 which the most Christian ? 
 
 The question indeed is answered by being asked. 
 Yet authoritative Missionary periodicals,^ and there- 
 
 ' The Arab slave-trader does not preach Islam in Eastern Africa 
 for two reasons : first, because he cares not for his Creed himself ; and 
 secondly, because to do so would lessen his hunting-gi-ound, and cut off 
 the supplies of his nefarious traffic. 
 
 - See 'Church Missionary Intelligencer' for July 1 872, August 
 1874, March 1S75, April 1875, &c. &c. In the number for August 1874, 
 one excellent missionary, the Rev. H. Townsend, who, it is said, has 
 been a missionaiy in Africa for forty years, makes the astounding^ 
 assertion that ' even the religious creed of Muhammadans is further 
 removed from the ti'uth than is that of the heathen ; ' in other words, 
 Polytheism is better than Monotheism, and idolatry than a sublime 
 spiritualism. After this we need not be surprised at being told by the 
 same writer that the morality of Islam ' makes its Xegro Proselyte 
 twofold more a child of Hell than before ! ' 
 
LIVINGSTONE. 333 
 
 fore it is to be feared Missionaries themselves, have 
 all too often adopted the latter course. They have 
 treated Islam as the deadliest foe instead of a potential 
 friend of Christianity, and then they wonder at their 
 want of success in dealing with it. 
 
 Western science, with its railways, its canals, and 
 its printing-presses, may, no doubt, do something for 
 the material prosperity of Eastern countries, but by 
 itself it will do little for their moral welfare ; and a thin 
 varnish of Western civilisation introduced by rulers who 
 have been forced to admire the material power of the 
 West, and have lost their own self-respect in the pro- 
 cess, is earnestly to be deprecated. Those Orientals 
 who have been most influenced by the Franco-mania 
 of Stambul are, beyond all comparison, the most 
 degraded and profligate of their race, and no earnest 
 observer can wish to see imported into other parts of 
 the Mohammedan world that indescribable combina- 
 tion of all that is contemotible in human nature 
 conveyed by the word Levantine. 
 
 The heroic and unselfish lives of a few such men 
 as Livingstone are the only legitimate means of 
 introducing into semi-civilised countries such benefits 
 as we think we have to bestow. A life and cha- 
 racter like Livingstone's has done more to rege- 
 nerate the African races than any amount of direct 
 preaching, or any number of European settlements, 
 
334 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 with the miserable and immoral wars that so often 
 follow in their train. Such men are the true pioneers 
 of civilisation and Christianity — of the only species 
 of civilisation and the only form of Christianity which 
 we have any reason to expect will be a real benefit to- 
 the East. 
 
 But does it follow, from what I have said of the 
 immobility of the East, that it is impossible for Islam 
 to make any advance at all ; that it is impossible for 
 it to yield anything to the progressive civilisation of 
 Christianity and of the West 1 
 
 How Christianity and civilisation should deal with 
 Mohammedanism I have partly indicated already, 
 and shall have a very few more words to say upon the 
 subject presently. But, first, what can Islam do on its 
 part .'^ Where religion and law are indissolubly bound 
 up together, as they are in the Koran, each loses, and 
 each gains, something. What they gain in stability, 
 they more than lose in flexibility. And y^t it may 
 be safely said that there is nothing more extraordi- 
 nary in the whole history of Islam than the way in 
 which the theory of the verbal inspiration of the 
 Koran, and the consequent stereotyped and unalter- 
 able nature of its precepts, have, by ingenuity, by 
 legal fictions, by the * Sunna,' or traditional sayings. 
 of Mohammed, and by rcsponsa pntdcntinn, been 
 accommxOdated to the changing circumstances and the 
 
REFORMERS AMONG INDIAN MUSALMANS. 335 
 
 various degrees of civilisation of the nations which 
 profess it. When the Kadi fails to find in the law 
 laid down for the nornad Arabs a rule precisely appli- 
 cable to the more complex requirements of Smyrna 
 or of Delhi, he places the sacred volume upon his 
 head, and so renders homage to human reason and to 
 the law of progress. He does what Puritans and 
 Churchmen would alike do well to remember, when 
 each professes to find in the varying or convertible 
 expressions of the writers of the New Testament a 
 divinely ordered and unalterable model of Church 
 government. It Is not, therefore, quite so true as is 
 commonly supposed, that Islam is reconcileable with 
 one narrow form of government or society only ; and 
 it is quite possible that where so much has been done 
 already, more may be done in future, and means may 
 be found for reconciling, for instance, the laws against 
 taking interest for money with the requirements of 
 modern society. Already within the ranks of Indian 
 Musalmans Is to be found a party of social and 
 religious reformers, who, without a suspicion of heresy^ 
 so far as I know, having been breathed against them 
 by their co-religionists, can yet maintain that the 
 passages of the Koran which legalise Polygamy and 
 Slavery have done their work, that they are out of 
 date, and that the spirit and purpose of the great 
 Arabian can now be best attained by abolishing them 
 
.336 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 altogether.^ In other Musalman countries the in- 
 tolerant principles of the Koran have long since been 
 reconciled, except where there is a passing out- 
 burst of fanaticism, with the utmost practical tolera- 
 tion ; and the standard of the 'Jihad,' or holy war, 
 will probably never henceforward be raised on an 
 extensive scale, except in a war of self-defence, and 
 unless the lives and liberties of Mohammedans, as 
 well as their religion, are at stake. 
 
 And, what is infinitely more important, it seems 
 to me that while Mohammedans cling as strongly as 
 
 ' ever to their rigid Monotheism, and to their unfaltering 
 belief in the Divine mission of their Prophet — and 
 
 \ what serious person could wish them to do otherwise .'* 
 — to give up those beliefs which have made them 
 what they are, which have given them a glorious 
 histor}^, and which have influenced half a world ; to 
 give up — 
 
 ' , . . Those first affections, 
 Those shadoM'y recollections, 
 
 Which, be they what they may, 
 Are yet the fountain-light of all their day, 
 Are yet a master-light of all their seeing; 
 
 Uphold them — cherish — and have power to make 
 Their noisy years seem moments in the being 
 Of the eternal silence : truths that wake 
 To perish never ! ' — 
 
 ' See on this subject some interesting details in M. Garcin de 
 'Tassy's ' Annual Lectures on the Hindustani Language and 
 Literature. ' 
 
CAN IT APPROXIMATE TO CHRISTIANITY? 337 
 
 Avhile they cling, I say, to these, as strongly, yes, more 
 strongly than ever, they may yet be brought to see that 
 there is a distinction between what Mohammed said 
 himself, and what others have said for him ; and that 
 there is a still broader distinction between what he said 
 as a legislator and a conqueror, and what he said as a 
 simple prophet. There are some among them who see 
 now, and there will be more who will soon see, that 
 there may be an appeal to the Mohammed of Mecca 
 from the Mohammed of Medina ; that there may be 
 an idolatry of a book, as well as of a picture, or a sta- 
 tue, or a shapeless mass of stone ; and that the Prophet, 
 Avho always in other matters asserted his fallibility, 
 was never more fallible, though certainly never more 
 sincere, than when he claimed an equal infallibility for 
 the whole Koran alike. Finally, with the growth of 
 knowledge of the real character of our faith, Moham- 
 medans must recognise that the Christ of the Gospel 
 was something ineffably above the Christ of those 
 Christians from whom alone Mohammed drew his 
 notions of Him ; that He w^as a perfect mirror of that 
 one primary attribute of the Eternal of which Moham- 
 med could catch only a far-off glance, and which, had 
 it been shown to him as it really was, must needs have 
 taken possession of his soul. 
 
 All this may or may not be in our own time ; but 
 in a sympathetic study even of Mohammedanism as 
 
 z 
 
338 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 it is, Christians have not a httle to gain. There is the 
 protest against Polytheism in all its shapes ; there is 
 the absolute equality of man before God ; there is the 
 sense of the dignity of human nature ; there is the 
 simplicity of life, the vivid belief in God's providence, 
 the entire submission to His will ; and last, not least, 
 there is the courage of their convictions, the fearless 
 avowal before men of their belief in God, and their 
 pride in its possession as the one thing needful. There 
 is in the lives of average Mohammedans, from what- 
 ever causes, less of self-indulgence, less of the mad 
 race for wealth, less of servilit}^, than is to be found 
 in the lives of average Christians. Truly we may 
 think that these things ought not so to be ; and if Chris- 
 tians generally were as ready to confess Christ, and to 
 be proud of being His servants, as Mohammedans are 
 of being followers of Mohammed, one chief obstacle to 
 the spread of Christianity would be removed. And 
 the two great religions which started from kindred 
 soil, the one from Mecca, the other from Jerusalem, 
 might work on in their respective spheres — the one the 
 religion of progress, the other of stability ; the one 
 of a complex, the other of a simple life ; the one 
 dwelling more upon the inherent weakness of human 
 nature, the other on its inherent dignity ; ^ the one the 
 
 ' Perhaps the two views are, after all, only different aspects of the 
 same truth. 
 
WHAT CAN CHRISTIANS LEARN FROM ISLAM? 339 
 
 religion of the best parts of Asia and Africa, the other 
 of Europe and America — each rejoicing in the success 
 of the other, each supplying the other's wants in a 
 generous rivalry for the common good of humanity. 
 
 A few words more about Mohammed himself, and 
 I have done. The world, in its wisdom or unwisdom, 
 has never thought proper to distinguish Mohammed 
 from the millions of Mohammeds named after him, 
 by calling him ' the Great' Perhaps he was too 
 great for such an external distinction. People call 
 the conqueror of Constantinople, eight centuries later, 
 Mohammed the Second. But I do not think they 
 ever speak of the Prophet as Mohammed the First ; 
 and perhaps the unconscious homage thus rendered 
 to him by a world which ostensibly, and till very 
 lately, has done him such scant justice, is the 
 highest tribute that can be giv^n to his greatness. 
 The Greeks paid the highest compliment they could 
 to the surpassing splendour of the King of Persia 
 when, consciously or unconsciously, they dropped the 
 article before his name, and so put him on a level, 
 grammatical and moral, with the sun, the moon, and 
 the earth, which could by no possibility need any 
 such distinguishing mark. Compare Mohammed with 
 the long roll of men whom the world by common 
 
 consent has called * Great ; ' while I admit that there 
 
 z 2 
 
340 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 is no one point in his character in which he is not 
 surpassed by one or other, take him all in all, what he 
 was, and what he did, and what those inspired by him 
 have done, he seems to me to stand alone, above and 
 beyond them all. A distinguished writer on the Ho'y 
 Roman Empire has remarked of Charles the Great 
 that, * like all the foremost men of our race, he was 
 all great things in one.' ^ But though Mr. Bryce 
 does not illustrate the truth of his remark by Moham- 
 med — nay, by not including him among the foremost 
 men of the world whom he goes on to enumerate, he 
 seems designedly to exclude him — I venture to think 
 that of no one of them all is the remark more strictly 
 true. 
 
 Mohammed did not, indeed, himself conquer a 
 world like Alexander, or Caesar, or Napoleon. He 
 did not himself weld together into a homogeneous 
 whole a vast system of states like Charles the Great. 
 He was not a philosophic king like Marcus Aure- 
 lius ; nor a philosopher like Aristotle or like Bacon, 
 ruling by pure reason the world of thought for cen- 
 turies with a more than kingly power ; he was not 
 a legislator for all mankind, nor even the highest 
 part of it, like Justinian ; nor did he cheaply earn the 
 title of ' the Great ' by being the first among rulers to 
 turn, like Constantine, from the setting to the rising 
 
 ^ Bryce's 'Holy Roman Empire,' p. 73. 
 
CHARACTER OF MOHAMMED. 341 
 
 sun. He was not a universal philanthropist, like the 
 greatest of the Stoics, 
 
 * Non sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo ; ' 
 
 nor was he the apostle of the highest form of reli- 
 gion and civilisation combined, like Gregory or Boni- 
 face, like Leo or Alfred the Great. He was less, in- 
 deed, than most of these in one or two of the elements 
 that go to make up human greatness, but he was also 
 greater. Half Christian and half Pagan, half civilised 
 and half barbarian, it was given to him in a marvel- 
 lous degree to unite the peculiar excellences of the 
 one with the peculiar excellences of the other. ' I 
 have seen,' said the ambassador sent by the trium- 
 phant Kuraish to the despised exile at Medina ; * I 
 have seen the Persian Chosroes and the Greek 
 Heraclius sitting upon their thrones, but never did I 
 see a man ruling his equals as does Mohammed.' 
 
 Head of the State as well as of the Church, he was 
 Caesar and Pope in one ; but he was Pope without the 
 Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of 
 Caesar. Without a standing army, without a body- 
 guard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue, if ever 
 any man had the right to say that he ruled by a right 
 Divine, it was Mohammed ; for he had all the power 
 without its instruments and without its supports. He 
 rose superior to the titles and ceremonies, the solemn 
 
342 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 trifling, and the proud humility of court etiquette. To 
 hereditary kings, to princes born in the purple, these 
 things are, naturally enough, as the breath of life ; but 
 those who ought to have known better, even self-made 
 rulers, and those the foremost in the files of time — a 
 Caesar, a Cromwell, a Napoleon — have been unable to 
 resist their tinsel attractions. Mohammed was con- 
 tent with the reality, he cared not for the dressings, of 
 power.^ The simplicity of his private life was in keep- 
 ing with his public life. ' God,' says Al Bokhari, 
 * offered him the keys of the treasures of the earth, 
 but he would not accept them.' 
 
 Hagiology is not history ; but the contemporaries 
 of Mohammed, his enemies who rejected his mission, 
 with one voice extol his piety, his justice, his vera- 
 city, his clemency, his humility, and that at a time 
 before any imaginary sanctity could have enveloped 
 him. A Christian even, as is remarked by a great 
 writer whom I have quoted above, with his more per- 
 fect code of morality before him, must admit that 
 Mohammed, with very rare exceptions, practised all 
 the moral virtues but one ; and in that one, as I have 
 shown, he was in advance of his time and nation. 
 \ Assuredly, if Christian missionaries are ever to win 
 over Mohammedans to Christianity, they must alter 
 their tactics. It will not be by discrediting the great 
 
 * See 'British Quarterly Review,' Jan. 1S72, p. 128. 
 
CAN CHRISTIANS INFIUENCE MUSALMANS? 343 
 
 Arabian Prophet, nor by throwing doubts upon his 
 mission, but by paying him that homage which is hi 
 due ; by pointing out, not how Mohammedanism 
 differs from Christianity, b\it how it resembles it ; by 
 dwelHng less on the dogmas of Christianity, and more 
 on Its morality ; by showing how perfectly that 
 Christ, whom Mohammed with his half-knowledge so 
 reverenced, came up to the ideal which prophets and 
 kings desired to see, and had not seen, and which 
 Mohammed himself. Prophet and King in one, could 
 only half realise. In this way, and in this alone, is it 
 likely that Christianity can ever act upon Moham- 
 medanism ; not by sweeping it into oblivion — for what 
 •of truth there is in it, and there is very much truth, 
 can never die — but by gradually, and perhaps un- 
 consciously, breathing into its vast and still vigorous 
 frame a newer, a purer, and a diviner life. 
 
 By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Mo- 
 hammed is a threefold founder — ' of a nation, of an 
 ■empire, and of a religion.' Illiterate himself, scarcely 
 able to read or write, he was yet the author of a 
 book which is a poem, a code of laws, a Book of 
 Common Prayer, and a Bible in one, and is rever- 
 enced to this day by a sixth of the whole human 
 race as a miracle of purity of style, of wisdom, and of 
 truth. It was the one miracle claimed by Moham- 
 med — his ' standing miracle ' he called it ; and a miracle 
 
344 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 
 
 indeed it is. But looking at the circumstances of the 
 time, at the unbounded reverence of his followers, and 
 comparing him with the Fathers of the Church or 
 with mediaeval saints, to my mind the most miraculous 
 thing about Mohammed is, that he never claimed the 
 power of working miracles. Whatever he had said he 
 could do, his disciples would straightway have seen him 
 do. They could not help attributing to him miraculous 
 acts Avhich he never did, and which he always denied 
 he could do. What more crowning proof of his sin- 
 cerity is needed } Mohammed to the end of his life 
 claimed for himself that title only with which he had 
 begun, and which the highest philosophy and the truest 
 Christianity will one day, I venture to believe, agree 
 in yielding to him — that of a Prophet, a very Prophet 
 of God. 
 
 The religion, indeed, that he taught is below the 
 purest form of our own as the central figure of the 
 Mohammedan religion is below the central figure of 
 the Christian — a difference vast and incommensurable ; 
 but, in my opinion, he comes next to Him in the long 
 roll of the great teachers and benefactors of the human 
 race ; next to Him, longo intevjallo certainly, but still 
 next. He had faults, and great ones, which he was 
 always the first himself, according to his light, to con- 
 fess and to deplore ; and the best homage we can render 
 to the noble sincerity of his character is to state them, 
 
MOHAMMED A TRUE PROPHET. 345 
 
 as I hope I have tried to do, exactly as the}^ were. 
 * It was the fashion of old,' to quote once more the words 
 of our greatest novelist and greatest psychologist — 
 and so to conclude this course of Lectures, of the 
 manifold imperfections and shortcomings of which 
 no one of those who have so kindly listened to me 
 week after week can be half so conscious as myself 
 — * It was the fashion of old, when an ox was 
 led out for sacrifice to Jupiter, to chalk the dark 
 spots, and give the offering a false show of un- 
 blemished whiteness. Let us fling away the chalk, 
 and boldly say — the victim is spotted, but it is 
 not therefore in vain that his mighty heart is laid on 
 the altar of men's highest hopes.' 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 -•o*- 
 
 APPEAWIX TO LECTURE I, 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere, in an interesting and able and catholic 
 essay in 'The Church and the Age' on Indian Missions, takes 
 a hopeful view of the future of India, as influenced by Western 
 civilisation and Christianity. He begins (p. 318) by showing, 
 rightly enough, that almost everything Ave do in India tends 
 to break up old beliefs, and so to prepare the way for a new 
 one, and is, therefore, more or less Missionary work ; ' not 
 only railways and printing-presses, education, commerce, and 
 the electric telegraph ; our impartial codes and uniform 
 system of administration ; but our misfortunes and our 
 mistakes, our wars, our famines, and our mutinies.' He 
 then gives (p. 334-337) elaborate statistics of the Missionary 
 agencies at work in 1865 in Western India; they have 
 enormously increased in the last 30 years, and he estimates 
 the number of Missionaries at work at about 105, and the 
 number of converts at somewhere about 2,200 ; and this, 
 multiplied by six or seven, would probably, he thinks, give 
 a general idea of the direct results of I\Iissionary v.ork 
 during that period throughout all India (I would remark 
 
348 APPENDICES. 
 
 here that an official statement pubHshed in 1873 gives a 
 much more favourable account, estimating the number 
 of communicants at 78,494); but when Sir Bartle Frere comes 
 to deal with Mohammedanism (p. 354-356) he gives no 
 statistics on the point we most desiderate — the number of 
 converts, if it be at all appreciable, from Islam to Christi- 
 anity ; the general remarks, indeed, he does make, seem to 
 me to go exactly contrary to the conclusions he draws from 
 them — e.g.., Mohammedans study portions of the Bible more 
 than they did formerly ; but these portions unfortunately 
 seem to be the prophetical writings, especially those of 
 Daniel ; and they find therein the denunciations of Christi- 
 anity which Christians find in it against other creeds ; they 
 are humiliated by the fact that Mohammedanism is no longer 
 the Imperial creed of India ; but the upshot of their depres- 
 sion is not Christianity, but AVahhabiism, i.e., a return 
 to Islam in its simplest and sternest shape. Brahmoism, 
 which is really Brahmanism as modified by Christianity, 
 Brahmanism minus caste and minus idolatry of every kind, 
 seems to be in some respects the beginning of a national 
 movement, and, judging from the authoritative sermon 
 (p. 346-352) delivered in Calcutta on the 39th anniversaiy 
 of the Brahma Samaj, and entitled ' The Future Church/ 
 seems to me to give real hope for the future, and to be very 
 suggestive as to the way in which Missionaries should go to 
 work. ' The answer,' says the preacher, ' of Jesus the 
 immortal Son of God, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
 soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself, 
 is the essence of true religion simply and exhaustively 
 expounded.' ' The composite faith of the future Church is 
 
APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 349 
 
 to combine in perfect harmony the profound devotion of 
 the Hindu and the heroic enthusiasm of the Musalman ; ' 
 but, unfortunately, the simpUcity and intelHgibiHty of the 
 Mohammedan creed render it incapable at present of 
 actually coalescing with the eclectic spirit of Brahmoism. It 
 is strange at first sight that Mohammedanism, originally the 
 most eclectic of religions, should, in India at all events, 
 prove itself to be the least capable of settling down on 
 terms of equality with other creeds, or of combining with 
 them. No doubt the fact that Mohammedanism has been 
 the Imperial creed and is so no longer, and the proud 
 memories of Mahmud and Akbar, of Baber and of 
 Aurungzebe, are a formidable, though it is to be hoped a 
 passing, difficulty. If the Mohammedan revival now going 
 on in India under the influence of the AVahhabis, the 
 Firazees, and the followers of Dudu Miyan, can only be 
 accompanied by a great moral reformation, such as 
 Sprenger himself does not seem to despair of (I., p. 
 459, ' the Arabs only want another Luther'), the result, par- 
 tially at least, of Christian influences, the simplicity of Islam 
 will no doubt in its turn give it a great advantage over the 
 Brahma Samaj in the struggle to fill the void created by the 
 crumbling fabric of Hinduism. It has another great 
 advantage in being already to some extent in possession of 
 the ground. I observe that one of the speakers at the 
 recent Allahabad Missionary Conference says that thirty 
 millions, the estimated number of Musalmans in India, is 
 much below the mark. 
 
 The unfavourable opinion expressed by Dr. Livingstone 
 on the effects of Mohammedanism in Africa (Expedition to 
 the Zambesi, p. 513-516, and 602-603) appears opposed to 
 
350 APPENDICES. 
 
 the general view I have taken in the Lecture; and of course^ 
 so far as his personal experience goes, is unimpeachable and 
 conclusive. But it is clear that Dr. Livingstone drew his- 
 general conclusions almost entirely from his acquaintance 
 with the Arab slave traders in the south and east of Africa, 
 whom it was the main purpose of his noble and heroic life 
 to put down. In the Lecture I have purposely not dwelt 
 upon the extension of Islam along the coast to the south of 
 ( the Equator, for the simple reason that the inhabitants are 
 I TNIohammedans in nothing but the name. The Arabs there 
 ' are of the most degraded type, and are engaged almost to a 
 man in the brutalising slave trade, which by itself is a com- 
 plete obstacle to every species of civilisation and religion. 
 No doubt, as Dr. Livingstone remarks, the native African 
 there contrasts favourably with the Mohammedan — as favour- 
 ably, I would add, as he does even with the Portuguese ; 
 but that Dr. Livingstone judged of the whole of Moham- 
 medan Africa by his experience of its worst part, is clear 
 from his remark — opposed as it is to the unanimous 
 testimony of travellers in Northern and Central Africa — 
 * that the only foundation for the statements respecting the 
 spread of Islam in Africa is the fact that in a remote 
 corner of North- West Africa, the Foulahs and Man dingoes, 
 and some other tribes in Northern Africa, have made con- 
 quests of teiTitory ; but that even they care so little for the 
 extension of their faith, that after conquest no pains whatever 
 are taken to indoctrinate the adults of the tribe' (p. 513). 
 Captain Burton asserts that ' Mohammedans alone make 
 proselytes in Africa.' Dr. Livingstone says as exj^licitly ' in 
 Africa the followers of Christ alone are anxious to propagate 
 their faith.' Here is a direct contradiction ; and it is obvious 
 
 H_. ^ ,. ^ n% 
 
 
 \ 
 
 '\J Wv w 
 
APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 351 
 
 that in a country of such vast extent as Africa no such sweep- 
 ing statement can be absohitely true. Perhaps Sierra Leone, 
 to which Dr. Livingstone paid a visit for the purpose of testing 
 the results of missionary' enterprise, and to which he specially 
 refers (p. (idz), will furnish us with the best materials for 
 pointing out how for the two statements are reconcileable 
 with each other, and with substantial acciu'acy. In Sierra 
 Leone there is a large negro community, the members of 
 which having been brought for many years into contact not 
 only with direct Christian preaching, but, what is more 
 important, with Christian education, government, and 
 example, are both excellent citizens and sincere Christians, 
 and, as one would expect, contrast favourably in point ot 
 morality even with the best Mohammedans. This is un- 
 questionably true ; and of the self-denying efforts of the 
 missionaries, especially the native ones, within certain 
 limits, it is impossible to speak too highly. As to the exact 
 number of Christians in the colony at this moment it is 
 rather difficult to arrive at an accurate conclusion ; but to 
 take Dr. Livingstone's figures, he remarks (p. 605) that in 
 the census of 1861 the whole population of Sierra Leone 
 itself was 41,000 souls, 27,000 of them being Christian, and 
 1,774 Mohammedan, 'not a very large proportion,^ he 
 observes, ' for the only sect in Africa Avhich makes proselytes. 
 It is not a large proportion, but what is the number novr ? 
 Sierra Leone now aftbrds the most striking proof that can be 
 given of the extent to which on the one hand Islam is 
 spreading in that part of Africa by the efforts of unassisted 
 missionaries, and on the other of the absence of any such 
 propagation of the Christian faith among the tribes beyond 
 the limits of the settlement. When Dr. Livingstone visited 
 
.352 APPENDICES. 
 
 Sierra Leone a few years ago, Islam was, as he says, hardly 
 known there ; since then Mohammedan missionaries have 
 come thither from the Foulahs and from the far interior, 
 and with what result ? No one will say that it is the sword 
 to which they owe their success, for the peace of Sierra 
 Leone has been for years undisturbed. And now we have 
 (Government Report of West African Colonies, 1873) the 
 testimony of Mr. Johnson (p. 15), the able and excellent 
 missionary whom I have quoted in my Lecture, endorsed as 
 it would seem by the Bishop of the Diocese, that the 
 •Christian community at Sierra Leone, however flourishing 
 itself, has exercised no influence on the large number of 
 native Africans resorting annually to the town for the pur- 
 pose of trade, and still less has it done anything to propagate 
 itself by sending out missionaries among adjoining tribes. 
 On the other hand, a few active and zealous Mohammedan 
 missionaries have carried their peaceful war into the 
 enemies' country, and have produced great results even 
 among the Christian and native population of Sierra Leone 
 itself ; insomuch that the religion of a large portion, the 
 Governor says of the majority, of the Christians within the 
 settlement has been actually changed by their preaching ! 
 There may be, and it is to be hoped there is, exaggeration 
 as to the numbers ; but there can be no doubt, looking to 
 the consensus of testimony, that Islam is propagated in 
 Western, Northern, and Central Africa; that it is propagated 
 by simple preaching and with marked success even where a 
 Christian Government, and, what is better, Christianity itself, 
 is to a great extent in possession of the ground. One wishes 
 that Dr. Livingstone, the greatest and most single-minded 
 of all the friends of Africa, had himself come into contact 
 
APPENDIX TO LECTURE L 353 
 
 with a few of these simple and single-minded Mohammedan 
 missionaries. They come so near in many respects to his 
 own ideal of what a Christian missionary ought to be, that 
 one feels sure he would have been led to modify his judg- 
 ment as to the system which produces them, and to the 
 great teacher whom he rarely mentions but as the 'false 
 prophet.' 
 
 The remarks I have made in the Lecture as to the atti- 
 tude which it seems to me that Christian Missionaries should 
 adopt, wherever their efforts appear to have a chance of 
 b)eing successful — and surely there is too much evil in the 
 world that is remediable, to allow of a great expenditure of 
 labour or money where there is no such prospect — have been 
 •suggested to me mainly by way of contrast to what I have 
 read in most books devoted to the cause of Missions. Even 
 so noble, and self-sacrificing, and single-hearted a man as 
 Henry Martyn appears to have gone out as a Missionary to 
 India, nay to have argued with Mohammedans, without 
 having first read a word of the Koran, even in its English 
 dress (Memoir of Rev. Henry Martyn, by Rev. J. Sargent, 
 p. 177 : cf 225); and throughout his career he treats it as an 
 '■ imposture ; ' ' the work of the devil.' He is sent to fight 
 *the four-faced devil of India,' — i.e. Hindus, Mohammedans, 
 Papists, and Infidels (p. 259); and see a summary of his 
 written arguments against Mohammedans (on p. 335), which 
 are quite enough by themselves to account for his ill success. 
 See also the account by another devoted missionary, the Rev. 
 C. B. Leupolt, of his mission at Benares (' Recollections of 
 an Indian Missionary '), who takes much the same position. 
 ' The so-called Prophet of the Mohammedans ; ' the Koran 
 is an assemblage of facts and passages taken from the Bible 
 
 A A 
 
 \ 
 
354 APPENDICES. 
 
 mixed with a great number of gross and cunningly devised 
 fables ; ' 'no Mohammedan who believes the whole Koran 
 can have the notion of the true God ; ' ' the Koran is cal- 
 culated to lead man daily further from God. and to unite him 
 closer to the Prince of darkness \ ' ' Satan holds them 
 enthralled by a false religion/ and so on. How not to deal 
 v/ith a different faith could hardly be better demonstrated 
 than by tlie writings of two such admirable and devoted men. 
 Surely the system has been to blame ! There is an anec- 
 dote related of Aidan, first Bishop of Lindisfarne, which every 
 one interested in missions, and most of all those who them- 
 selves attempt to bring over to their own faith the followers 
 of another creed, and that one so sublime and so nearly 
 connected with their own as is Islam, would do well to bear 
 in mind. When a monk of lona who had been sent at the 
 request of King Oswald to preach the Gospel to the heathens 
 of his Northumbrian kingdom, returned disheartened to his 
 native country, and reported that success was impossible 
 among a people so stubborn and so barbarous : ' Was it their 
 stubbornness or your severity?' asked another monk, who 
 was sitting by ; ' did you forget God's word to give them the 
 milk first and then the meat ? ' The speaker was Aidan. 
 He was begged, by all present, himself to take in hand the 
 mission that had been abandoned. He settled as Bishop 
 in the isle of Lindisfarne, and, influenced by his spirit and 
 instinct with his charity and wisdom, missionaries went 
 forth from there, who, in a generation or two, evangelised 
 all the north of England. 
 
 Happily, as is shown from the general tone of the Alla- 
 habad Conference, and the explicit testimony of the Govern- 
 ment of India in 1S73, there has been a great advance in 
 
APPENDIX TO LECTURE I. 355 
 
 the right direction lately. Not to go beyond the limited 
 circle of one's own acquaintance, such men as Bishop Cotton 
 and the Rev. T, P. Hughes, in India ; the Rev. George 
 and the Rev. Arthur Moule, in China ; and the Rev, James 
 Johnson, native of Sierra Leone — though I would not 
 venture to say that they would in any degree accept my 
 point of view — yet in reality would have much in common 
 with it ; and all would certainly admit the immense amount 
 of good that is to be found in the creeds, which it is their 
 duty to controvert. Alas, that those who knew Bishop 
 Cotton well, and who therefore know what his catholic spirit 
 might have done for India, can only now, when they think 
 of him, repeat to themselves, consciously or unconsciously, 
 the touching lament, 
 
 ' But oh for a touch of the vanished hand, 
 And a sound of the voice that is still ! ' 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 . APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX TO LECTURE III. 
 
 That the assertions I have made in the Third Lecture, as 
 to the comparative ferocity of Christian and Musahiian 
 rehgious wars, are within the mark, it would be easy to 
 bring abundance of proof I will adduce here one illustra- 
 tion only, drawn from the chief battle-ground of the con- 
 tending forces, the Holy Land. Jerusalem capitulated to 
 Omar, the third Khalif, after a protracted blockade in the 
 year 637. No property was destroyed except in the in- 
 evitable operations of the siege, and not a drop of blood was 
 shed except on the field of battle. Omar entered the city 
 with the Patriarch, conversing amicably about its history ; at 
 the hour of prayer he was invited by the Patriarch to worship 
 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but he refused to do so 
 for fear that his descendants might claim a similar right, and 
 so the freedom of religious worship, which he wished to secure 
 to the inhabitants by the articles of capitulation, might be 
 endangered. In the year 1099 the Holy City fell before the 
 arms of the Crusaders after a much shorter siege. It was 
 taken by storm, and for three days there was an indiscriminate 
 slaughter of men, women, and children ; 70,000 Musalmans 
 were put to the sword, 10,000 of them in the mosque of 
 Omar itself : ' in eodem temp I decern millia decoUata sunt ; 
 
APPENDIX TO LECTURE III. 357 
 
 J>edites no sir i usque ad bases cruore pei'eviptoruin tlngehantur^ 
 nee feniinis nee parvulis pepeixeruntJ This comes not from 
 an enemy but from the monkish historian, an eyewitness and 
 a partaker of what he relates, Foulcher of Chartres. Ray- 
 mond of Agiles and Daimbert, Archbishop of Pisa, give simi- 
 lar details, and all with approval. The city itself was 
 pillaged ; but the turn of the Saracens came once more in 
 the year 1187. The breach was already forced, when the 
 great Saladin retracted a hasty vow he had made to avenge 
 the innocent blood that had been shed when the city had 
 been sacked by the Crusaders, and took not Godfrey de 
 Bouillon but Omar for his model. No blood was shed, and 
 the captives wxre allowed to ransom themselves, the Frankish 
 Christians leaving the city, the Eastern Christians continuing 
 to reside there in peace. 
 
 As to humanity in war in general, the progress made has 
 not been so great as is commonly supposed, even among 
 those who pride themselves, and who to some extent 
 pride themselves with reason, on being the pioneers 
 of Christianity and civilisation. Take the case of Africa. 
 I am not aware that the Saracens in the full career of 
 conquest deliberately burnt a single city in the whole of the 
 North of Africa, whether as a precautionary measure, or to 
 support their prestige, or to glut their revenge. Can England 
 say the same ? If we assume — a large assumption — that the 
 war on the Gold Coast in 1874 is wholly justifiable, if we 
 also assume that the burning of the enemy's capital was 
 indeed a necessity, it was a necessity for which a Christian 
 nation should go into mourning, and should contemplate not 
 with feelings of triumph, but with those of humiliation and 
 regret. Is there anything of the kind, or has one single 
 
358 APPENDICES. 
 
 ruler either in Church or State — now that the elections are 
 over, and the moral iniquity of the war has been condoned 
 by its success — been heard to raise his voice in condem- 
 nation of it, as even Omar or Saladin might have done ? It 
 is difficult to see how the English nation, which has abolished 
 the slave trade in the West of i\frica, and is in its best 
 portions profoundly philanthropic, can honestly believe 
 that they are advancing the objects they have at lieart when, 
 in support of such a treaty as I have alluded to in the 
 Lecture, they lead on a weaker barbarous nation, whom pro 
 hac vice we designate as ' our allies,' against a more powerful 
 one, and deliberately burn out of their homes a people who, 
 barbarous and cruel as they were, have offended us not by 
 their cruelty, or by their human sacrifices, but by their honest 
 belief that we had come to Africa to bar them from access to 
 their own coast. It seems not to have occurred to anyone 
 that our ' prestige ' would have been sufficiently vindicated, 
 and our future security sufficiently provided for, if we 
 had burned down the palace of the king, the chief offender. 
 But our ' prestige ' serves as an ample excuse for committing 
 what we should condemn as crimes in any other nation. It 
 is an entity that has juggled us into the belief that to destroy 
 what we cannot retain and cannot use is the prerogative, 
 not of barbarism, but of civilisation and of Christianity. 
 Had the war upon the Gold Coast been avowedly a war 
 not for the spread of our influence, or for the security of 
 a territory acquired by questionable means, but a moral 
 crusade against human sacrifice, or for any purely unselfish 
 object, the case would have been different. Truly this war 
 will be a damnosa hcreditas to posterity, alike whether we 
 
APPENDIX TO LECTURE III. 359 
 
 accept or disclaim the fearful responsibilities in which it 
 has involved us. 
 
 There is an anecdote related of Mahmud the Ghaznevide, 
 the great Turkish conqueror of Central Asia, which seems 
 to me to be suggestive. Soon after the conquest of Persia, 
 a caravan was cut off by robbers in one of its deserts, and 
 the mother of one of the merchants who was killed went 
 to Ghazni to complain. Mahmud urged the impossi- 
 bility of keeping order in so remote a part of his terri- 
 tories, when the woman boldly answered : ' Why, then, do 
 you take countries which you cannot govern, and for the 
 protection of which you must answer in the Day of Judg- 
 ment ? ' JNIahmud was struck with the reproach : whether 
 it would have prevented all further conquests on his part 
 we do not know, for he died soon afterwards; but he liberally 
 rewarded the woman, and took immediate and effectual steps 
 for the protection of the caravans. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABA 
 
 A BAN, 208 
 -^^ Abd' Allah, father of Mo- 
 hammed, 1 1 1 
 Abd' Allah, the blind, 147 
 Abd' al Muttalib, ill 
 Abd'-al-kader, 322 
 Abd'-al-Rahman, 2S6 
 Abkhasians, 58 
 Abi-ahah, 167 
 
 Abraham, 100, 160, 173, 262 
 Abu Bakr, 25, 123, 154, 161, 
 
 176, 218 
 Abu Huraira, 21, 315 
 Abu Lahab, 176 
 
 AbuTaleb, 112, 119,123,151,314 
 Abulfeda, 84 
 Abyssinia, 120, seq., 297 
 Achin, 35, 321 
 Acta Sanctorum, 234 
 Ad, Bani, 176 
 Adalbert, 282 
 Adhan, 29 
 
 Africa, Islam in, early spread of, 
 33 seq.; spreading now, 37 seq., 
 40 ; intellectual benefits of, 41, 
 247 ; moral benefits of, 42 seq. , 
 125, 247 ; testimony of travel- 
 lers to, 44-51 ; slavery and slave 
 trade in, 51, 329, 332 ; probable 
 destiny of, 55 seq. ; Christianity 
 in, Sh 53, 248 seq., 285 
 Africanus, Leo, 254 
 Aid an, 354 
 
 Aiznadin, battle of, 207 
 Akbah, the conqueror, 36 
 Akbar, 125, 349 
 Albigenses, 218, 219 
 Alexander, 89, 340 
 Alfred the Great, 234, 341 
 Alhambra, 126, 287 
 Ali, 99, 194, 207, 291 
 AH, Bey, 16S 
 
 TAG 
 
 Ali, INIohammed, 317 
 Allahabad Missionary Conference- 
 
 54, 349, 354 
 Al-Kazar, 126, 287 
 Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, 10 1, 146' 
 Alliance, Holy, 219 
 Almsgiving, 131, 164 
 America, Islam in, 35; slavery in^ 
 
 245, 329 
 Aminah, III 
 
 Amru, 207, 217 
 Anatoha, 58, 309, 320 
 Animals, kindness of Turks to, 
 2X2 ; of Mohammed to, 256 ;. 
 of Egyptians and Arabs to, 257 ; 
 funds devoted to, 253, 257 ;. 
 future life of, 255 
 Anti-Christ, 79, 80 
 Apocryphal Gospels, 269, 271 
 Arabesques, 264 
 Arabs. See Bedouins. 
 Arafat, INIount, 240 
 Architecture, Moorish, 125, 265,. 
 
 287 ; Mogul, 125 
 Armageddon, 322 
 Arnold, Mr. Matthew, 66, 72 
 Ashanti, 220, 357, 358 
 Asia, Central, Islam in, 31 ; Rus- 
 sian advance into, 304, 322, 323. 
 Asoka, 253 
 Asylums, lunatic, 256 
 Attila, 203, 210, 322 
 Augustine, St., 188 
 Aurungzebe, 125, 349 
 Avatar, 132 
 Ayishah, 130, 131, 151, ^53, ^67,. 
 
 182 
 Azurairah, Clironicle of, 54 
 
 TDABER, 125, 325, 349 
 ^-^ Babyism, 318 
 Bacon, Lord, 65, 299 
 
362 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 BAD 
 
 G. P., vii., viii. 
 
 82, 
 
 >0' 
 
 3^3 
 
 88; 
 
 87; 
 con- 
 
 Badger, Dr, 
 164, 165, 
 
 Baker, Sir Samuel, 326, 331 
 
 Balauslion, 215 
 
 Barth, Dr., 43, 49, 50, 267 
 
 Bayle, 78 
 
 Beal, Mr., 4, 5 
 
 Becket, Thomas a, 234 
 
 Bedouins, immobility of, 86, 
 passion for the desert, 
 heathenism, 88 ; never 
 quered, 89 ; tribal organisation, 
 90 ; hospitahty and plunder, 
 91 ; chivahy, 92 ; poetry, 93 ; 
 revenge and cruelty, 94, 96 ; 
 treatment of v^omen, 96 ; pro- 
 verbs, 97 ; religions, 98-102 ; 
 superstitions, 103 
 
 Bedr, battle of, 152, 207 
 
 Beiram, feast of, 264 
 
 Beit-Allah. See Kaaba. 
 
 Bench, people of, 131 
 
 Bentham, 256 
 
 Bernard, St., 188, 229 
 
 Bible compared with Koran, 19- 
 24 ; criticism of, 66 seq. 
 
 Bilal, 250 
 
 Bismillah, 303 
 
 Blyden, Rev. E., 49, 50, 51, 53,248 
 
 Bokhara, 31 
 
 Bokhari, Al, 342 
 
 Boniface, St., 341 
 
 Borak, 186 
 
 Bosnian, Vv'^illiam, 45 
 
 Brahma Samaj, 348, 349 
 
 Brahmanism, 59, 247, 291, 347, 
 
 349 
 Bridges, Dr. J., 296 
 
 Browne, traveller, in Africa, 45 
 
 Browne, INIr. I. de Maine, 120 
 
 Bruce, traveller, in Abyssinia, 297 
 
 Brunehaut, 311 ^ 
 
 Bryce, Mr. J., 340 
 
 Buddha, 5, 28, 200 
 
 Buddhism, 4, 253 
 
 Burckhardt, 88, 168, 315 
 
 Burton, Capt., 88, 93> 168,297,350 
 
 Bushreens, 47 
 
 ^AIRO, 4: 
 Cairoan 
 
 ) o 
 
 214, 
 6 
 
 254, 304 
 
 CLA 
 
 Cantacuzene, Emperor, John, 260 
 
 Capitulations, 2 1 r 
 
 Cappadocia, George of, 285 
 
 Carlyle, Mr. T., xxviii., 85, 226 
 
 Carmathians, 315 
 
 Caste, absence of, in Islam, 246 ; 
 among Hindus, 247 ; amongst 
 Christians, 248 ; effect on Ne- 
 groes, 248 
 
 Cavour, Count, 107 
 
 Cazenove, Dr. , xviii., 95, 104, 258 
 
 Charity, St. Paul on, 20 ; Mo- 
 hammed's apologue on, 21 
 
 Charles Martel, 26 
 
 Charles v., 287 
 
 Charles the Great, 75, 2 14, 2 18, 340 
 
 Chenghis Khan, 210, 307 
 
 China, Islam in, 29 ; early civili- 
 sation of, 296 ; Dr. J. Bridges 
 on, 296 
 
 Chosroes, 141, 149, 150. 341 
 
 Christ, His life and teaching, 6-8 ; 
 our imperfect knowledge of, 16; 
 nature of His miracles, 190, 191 ; 
 nature of His kingdom, 201 ; 
 attitude towards 
 tutions, 
 how He 
 Mohammed, 259, 280, 282 ; 
 JMohammedan ideas of, 267 ; 
 ]\Iohammed's ideas of, 269, 
 275 ; contrasted with Moham- 
 med, 292-294 
 
 Christianity, origin of, 5 seq. ; in 
 Africa, 51, 53, 248, 285; pre- 
 eminent, but not exclusive 
 claims of, 163-170 ; how it may 
 spread, 70, 73 ; in Arabia, 99, 
 160; relation toJudaism,69, 172; 
 spread fjy peaceful means, 217; 
 attitude to slavery, 236 ; en- 
 thusiasm of humanity, 253; rela- 
 tion to Islam, 259 seq. ; rapid 
 degeneracy in the East, 2 7 7-2 79; 
 comprehensiveness of, 280, 288; 
 contrasted with Islam, 293 
 
 Christotokos, 275 
 
 Cicero, 68 
 
 Circassians, 250, 321 
 
 Circumcision, 196 
 
 Claverhouse, 318 
 
 existmg msti- 
 
 ; spirit of, 241 ; 
 
 would have viewed 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 363 
 
 COL 
 
 Collyridians, 272 
 Comparative i-eligion, 1-3, 63-6S 
 ■Conception, Immaculate, 272 
 Concubina.^e, 244, 245 
 Confucius, 13, 16, 200 
 Constantine Porpbyrogenitus, 205 
 Constantine the Great, 234, 340 
 Constantinople, 27, 204, 211, 212 
 Cordova, 26, 76, 217, 287 
 Cotton, Bishoi), 355 
 Covenanters, the, 318 
 Cra\vfurf], 33-35 
 Creed, Athanasian, 270 
 Ci'owther, Bishop, 40 
 Cruelties, of Christians, 300 ; of 
 
 Musalmans, 299, 301 
 Crusades, 209, 356-357 
 Curzon, R., 29, 195, 211 
 Cyril, St., 234, 2S5 
 
 T^AIMBERT OF PISA, 359 
 
 -"^ Damascus, John of, 193 
 
 Damascus, siege of, 207, 208 
 
 Dante, 78, 226, 261 
 
 Danton, 107 
 
 Darwin, Mr. Charles, 256 
 
 Dervishes, 230, 284 
 
 Desert, characteristics of, 86, 87 
 
 Despotism, Eastern, 325 
 
 Deutsch, E., xxvii., 128, 170, 28S 
 
 Divination by arrows, 103 ; for- 
 bidden, 258 
 
 Divorce, 239-243 
 
 Djafar, 121 
 
 Djinn, 17, 163, 177 
 
 Docetists, 273 
 
 D'Ohson, Mouradgia, 308 
 
 Doliinger, Dr. , xvii. , xviii. , 250, 3 1 5 
 
 Dozy, Professor, xvii., 35, 86, 89, 
 90, 94 
 
 Drunkenness, 46, 48, 5 1, 53,95, 258 
 
 Druses, 250, 298 
 
 Dudu J^Iiyan, 349 
 
 Dunstan, St., 234 
 
 Durthur, 153 
 
 Dutch, 34, 52 
 
 ' [7 AST AND WEST,' 211,213 
 
 "^■^ Ebionites, 171 
 Eesa, Seyyedna, 267 seq. 
 El Azhar, 28, 42 
 
 GRE 
 
 El Khunsa, 96 
 
 El Mutanabi, 92, 93 
 
 Elijah, 123, 152 
 
 Eliot, George, 27, 140, 345 
 
 Elphinstone, INIount Stuart, 251, 
 
 265, 291 
 Epilepsy, 114, 182 
 Essenes, 171 
 
 T^A-HIAX, 253 
 
 Fairs, annual, in Arabia, 93, 122 
 
 Farrar, Dr. F.W., 144, 241, 253 
 
 Fatalism, not a dogma of Moham- 
 med, 191 ; norofSt. Paul, 193; 
 common in East, 299 
 
 Fatihah, 310 
 
 Fatrah, 117, 269 
 
 Female children, burial alive of, 
 95 ; prohibited, 125, 239 
 
 Ferishta, 265 
 
 p'etishism, 63 ; Arabian, lor, 
 102, 126 
 
 Fez, 36, 254 
 
 Firazees, 349 
 
 Firdausi, 289 
 
 Fire-worship, 26, 28, loi 
 
 Forsyth, Sir D., 32 
 
 Foulahs, 38, 350 
 
 Foulcher, of Chartres, 357 
 
 P'redegonde, 311 
 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, 54, 347, 348 
 
 Future life, Arab ideas of, 104, 163 ; 
 of Islam, 223-228 ; of other 
 religions, 224 ; legitimate in- 
 fluences of, 229 ; of animals, 255 
 
 GAGNIER, 84 
 Galton, Mr. F., 56 
 Gambling prohibited, 258 
 Genebrard, 79 
 Genseric, 210 
 Gharanyk, 147 
 
 Ghaznevide, 209. See Mahmud. 
 Gibbon, xxvii., 62, 85, 105, 127, 
 
 142, 187, 204, 205 
 Gobineau, Count, xxviii., I93scq., 
 
 216, 319 
 Great men, influence of, 106 seq. 
 Greece, religion in, 9, 70 
 Greek Church, 204, 205, 323, 324 
 Gregory the Great, 203, 229, 341 
 
364 INDEX. 
 
 GUI 
 
 Guiana, Dutch, 35 
 Cuizot, 107 
 
 TTAJJ, 164, 165, 169 
 
 ■^ Hallam, xxviii., 105 
 
 Hanifa, tribe of, 266 
 
 Hamza, 231 
 
 Hanyfs, 108 
 
 Hardy, Mr. Spence, 5 
 
 Harun al Raschid, 293, 325 
 
 Hassan, Prince, 30, ■^yi 
 
 Hassan and Hosein, 291 
 
 Hausas, 43 
 
 Haxthausen, Baron von, 321 
 
 Helpers of Medina, 231 
 
 Helps, Sir A., 54 
 
 Hennessy, Mr. Pope, 39, 41 
 
 Heraclius, 141, 341 
 
 Hijrah, the first, 121 
 
 Hijrah, the, 123 
 
 Hilaii"e, Barthelemy St., xxviii., 
 
 61, 105, 106, 109, 283 
 Hillel, 172 
 
 Hinduism. See Brahmanism 
 Hira, Mount, 114 
 Hoare, Rev. J., 4, 253 
 Hobal, 102, 142 
 Hospitals, 253 
 Hughes, Rev. T. 
 
 303, 355 
 Hunter, Dr. W. 
 
 315 seq. 
 
 P., xviii., 291, 
 W., 267, 290, 
 
 TBNBATUTA, 29,33, 37, 
 
 307 
 Ibn Chaldun, 87 
 Ibn Hisham, 108 
 Ibn Ishak, 108 
 Icaba, loS 
 
 Iconoclasm, 204, 264, 265 
 Idolatry, loi, 102, 264, 265 
 India, Islam in, 59, 60, 247, 
 
 261, 
 
 >90, 
 
 291 ; Mogid invasion of, 125 
 
 Isaiah, 116, 149 
 
 Ishmael, 102, 264 
 
 Islam, historic origin, 17; spread, 
 25-27 ; extent, 27-29 ; in 
 China, 29 ; in Central Asia, 
 31 ; in East Indian islands, 32, 
 34 ; in America, 35 ; in Africa, 
 35> 57; in Asiatic Turkey, 58; 
 
 KAR 
 
 in Hindustan, 59, 60, 247, 290, 
 
 291, 34S, 349, 353, 355 r 
 causes of success, 61 ; prepara- 
 tion for, 108, no; essence of, 
 156 seq. ; meaning of, 161 ; 
 relation to Judaism, 160, 161 ; 
 practical duties, 163 ; relation 
 to the miraculous, 185 seq. ; 
 to fatalism, 191 seq. ; to use of 
 sword, 198 seq. ; to temporal 
 power, 204 seq. ; to future life, 
 223 seq. ; not sensual, 230, 232 ; 
 nature of its reforms, 234, 259 ; 
 relation to Cliristianity,259,277; 
 not anti-Christian, 278, 282 ; re- 
 ligion of pastoral races, 2S3 ; in 
 Spain, 286, 287; in Sicily, 2S8 ;. 
 in Persia, 289, 290; schisms in, 
 298; corruptions and abuses, 299, 
 304; potenlialityof, 305; vitality, 
 308, 309 ; power of revival, 
 314, 321 ; can approximate to 
 Christianity, 337 ; lessons to- 
 be learnt from Christians, 338 
 Itighe, 297 
 
 TAINS, 253 
 
 Jerusalem, 173, 207, 356, 357 
 
 Jessup, Dr., 97, 239, 240.:^ 
 
 Jews, Mohammed's eftbrts to gain, 
 173; later hostility, '137, 174,176 
 
 Jihad, 316, 336 
 
 Joan of Arc, 1 1 9 
 
 Johnson, Rev. J., 39, 40, 355 
 
 Jolofs, 43 
 
 Judaism, its origin, 3 ; in Arabia, 
 98; exclusive spirit, 157-159, 
 174; relation to Christianity, 
 13 seq., 69, 172; relation to^ 
 Islam, 160, 161 ; slavery and 
 polygamy in, 236 seq., 245 
 
 Juggernaut, 324 
 
 Julian, Emperor, 252 
 
 Justinian, 105, 340 
 
 T^AABA, 28, 102, 
 
 ^ 142, 166 seq. 
 Kadis, 302, 335 
 Kafii's, 47 
 Karakorum, 322 
 
 113, 122, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 365 
 
 KAT 
 
 Ivatherine's, St., INIonasteiy, 106, 
 263 
 
 Kaufmann, General, 323 
 
 Kepler, 2 
 
 Ketman, 290 
 
 Khadijah, 112 seq., 116, 117, 
 123, 151. 263 
 
 Khaled, 207 
 
 Xhalifate, 202, 203, 209, 299, 303 
 
 Khalifs-Abassides, 213 seq. ; Fati- 
 niite, 288 
 
 Khatibeh, 327 
 
 Kheredine, General, xviii., 21 1 
 
 Ivhiva, 31, 329 
 
 Khoten, 31 
 
 Kiblah, 173, 317 
 
 Kirghis, 27, 304 
 
 Koraitza, Bani, 137 seq. 
 
 Koran, compared with Bible, 18- 
 21 ; translations of, 81, 84 ; 
 characteristics, 1 74 ; history, 
 176; editions, 177; poetry, 
 178, 180 ; theology, 180; mo- 
 rality, 181; on miracles, 185 
 seq. ; on predestination, 192 ; 
 on the sword, 202 ; on the fu- 
 ture life, 225, 22S ; on tolera- 
 tion, 261; a miracle, 343, 344 
 
 Krapf, Dr., 54 
 
 Kura-sh, the, in, 118, 121-123, 
 146-148, 296 
 
 Kutb-ud-din, 251 
 
 T ABYD, 36, 94, 179 
 
 ^-^ Lane, Mr., 17, 29, 255, 
 
 256, 257, 262, 327, 328 
 Layard, Mr., 87, 88, 211 
 Lecky, Mr., 253 
 I.eo Africanus, 254 
 Leo the Great, 34 
 Leo X., 78. 303 
 Lepanto, battle of, 62 
 Leupolt, Rev. C. B., 354 
 Levantine, 333 
 Library, Alexandrian, 214; at 
 
 Tripoli, 216 ; at Cordova, 216 
 Lindisfarne, 354 
 Literature and science in Islam, 
 
 214, 217, 289 
 Livingstone, Dr., 52, 330, 349-353 
 
 MIS 
 
 Lubbock , S ir J . , 16 
 Luther, 78, 119, 120, 311, 
 
 117 
 
 IWrAGIANLSM, loi 
 
 -'■*-*■ jNLagyars, 282 
 
 Mahmud, the Ghaznevide, 251, 
 
 265, 359 
 ALahu, 79 
 Maimonides, 81 
 Malaterra, 76 
 
 Malay Peninsula, Islam in, 33 
 Malcolm, Sir John, 289 
 Mamelukes, 251 
 Mammetry, 77 
 
 Mandingoes, 37, 38, 45, 46, 350 
 Mansur, Elijah, 321, 322 
 Manu, laws of, 96 
 Maracci, the Abbe, 81 
 Marco Polo, 5, 29, 31, iz, 'j'j 
 RLaria, 135 
 Marshman, Mr., 307 
 Marosia, 311 
 Marriages, Mohammed's, 134-136, 
 
 145 
 
 Marsilles, 76 
 
 Marthan, 99 
 
 Martyn, Rev. Henry, 353 
 
 Maurice, Rev. F., xxviii., 61, 157, 
 209 
 
 Mawmet, 77 
 
 Max Midler, xxviii. ,xxix., 5, 8seq., 
 64, 313, 314 ^ 
 
 Mecca, 86, in seq., 142, 166 
 
 Medina, 25, 98, 124, 151, 198 
 
 Milman, Dean, xxviii.,25, 170,205 
 
 Miracles, at Mohammed's birth, 
 III ; attributed to the Church 
 Fathers, 188 ; Mohammed's 
 attitude towards, 25, 185, 187 ; 
 Christ's attitude towards, 191 ; 
 the Koran a miracle, 343 
 
 Miraj, 22, 186 
 
 Mir Aulad Ali, 136, 144, 243 
 
 INIiscreant, 77 
 
 Mishkat-ul Masabih, xvii., 21, 153, 
 168, 215, 315 
 
 Missionaries, Musalman, in Afri- 
 ca, 38 ; St. Paul as a, 70, 71 ; 
 of the present and future, 71-73, 
 340, 341 ; mistakes of, 353-354 
 
 Missionaiy Intelligencer, 48, 332 
 
366 
 
 Mi 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 MIS 
 results of 
 39> 
 
 ssions, results ot Christian, 
 
 in Africa, 39, 24S, 339- 
 
 353 ; in India, 59, 347, 34S ; 
 
 legitimate objects of, 69 
 jNIoallacat, 94 
 Moffat, Dr., 54 
 Moguls, 125 
 Mohammed, full knowledge 
 
 17 ; opinio'.is 
 
 youth. Til ; 
 
 Khadijah, 112 
 
 phet 
 
 seq. 
 
 of, 
 s about, _ 74, 85 ; 
 marriage to 
 call to be pro- 
 115; persecuted, 117 
 visions, 120 ; flight, 
 
 123 
 
 life at Medina, 124 ; 
 sincerity, 127, 145-147 ; cha- 
 racteristics, 128, 132 ; apparent 
 change in, 134, 140 ; marriages 
 <^f» 1 35) 137 '■> consistency, 141 ; 
 faults, 143 ; nature of mission, 
 148 ; anecdotes of, 149-154 ; 
 feelings towards Jews, 172, 
 173; miracles, 185 seq.; 
 soldier and conqueror, 201 seq. ; 
 encouragement of learning, 215; 
 moral reformer and legislator, 
 234 ; views of Christ and 
 Christianity, 267 seq. ; place 
 in history, 339 seq. ; true pro- 
 phet, 344, 345 
 
 Mohammed II., 339 
 
 Mohammed IV., 269 
 
 Tdohammedanism. See Islam, 
 
 jMohler, xvii., 145 
 
 Mohaiumed, Mulla, 321 
 
 ]Moharram, 291 
 
 jVIomien, 31 
 
 Monotheism, 1 1, 132, 156 seq., 
 261, 271, 274, 336 
 
 I^loors, 125, 209, 216 seq., 2S6 seq. 
 
 Moseilama the liar, 151 
 
 Moses, 112, 134,172,263,328,330 
 
 Mother among Turks, reverence 
 for, 212 
 
 Muezzin, 29, 196, 250 
 
 Muir, Sir W., xxvii., 76,115, 1 16, 
 118, 12S, 144, 148, 267, 278, 327 
 
 Mullas, 302 
 
 T\Iungo Park, 45-48 
 
 Muridism, 321 
 
 Muza, 36 
 
 Mythology, gi-owth of, 23 
 
 ISJABI, 1S7 
 ■^^ Office. 
 
 PRA 
 
 See 
 
 Prophetic 
 
 Nagashy, 121 seq., 167 
 
 Napoleon, 238, 260, 340 
 
 Negro, effects of Islam on, moral, 
 intellectual, and political, 3S-52 ; 
 the Mohammedan Negro com- 
 pared with the Christian, 247 
 
 Nehavend, battle of, 207 
 
 Nestorians, 275 « 
 
 Nicephorus, 205 
 
 Niger, 37, 45 
 
 Nijni Novgorod, 264 
 
 Nirvana, 4 
 
 Nitria, 285 
 
 Norway, 212 
 
 (^DIN, 224 
 
 ^^ Ohud, battle of Mount, 
 
 152, 192 
 Okatz, fair of, 93 
 Omar, 25, 154, 214, 356 
 Omm Salama, 92 
 Opium traffic, 219, 324 
 Originality of Islam, ii, 108, 
 
 158-160 
 Ormuzd, 28, loi 
 Orphans, treatment of, 251 
 Othman, 96, 177 
 Otto the Great, 218 
 
 Gifford, 
 263 
 
 5S, 
 
 pALEY, W., 184 
 
 ^ Palgrave, Mr. 
 297, 318, 319 
 
 Palmer, Prof. E. H. 
 
 Panhellenism, 10 
 
 Panthays, 30, 321 
 
 Papacy, 203, 204, 306 
 
 Paraclete, 270 
 
 Paul, St., 8, 20, 70, 71, 192 
 
 Perceval, Caussinde, xxvii., 83, 104 
 
 Persia, Islam in, 289 
 
 Philip III., 287 
 
 Pilgi-image, 164 seq. 
 
 Piligrinus, 282 
 
 Polygamy, authorised by Moham- 
 med, 235; limited, 238; difficulty 
 of dealing with, 326-328 
 
 Poole, Mr, Stanley Lane, 84, 124 
 
 Portuguese, 34, 52, 59, 350 
 
 Prayer, Mohammed's views on. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 567 
 
 PRE 
 
 163, 195, 3T0; character of 
 Muslim, 195 seq., 310 
 
 rredestination. See Fatalism. 
 
 rre-Mohammedans, 109 
 
 Price, Major, xvii 
 
 Prideaux, Dean, 83 
 
 Prophecies, supposed, of Moham- 
 med, 81, 173; forced interpre- 
 tations of, 80 
 
 Prophetic office, 132, 133, 143, 
 149, 162, 187 
 
 Proverbs, Arab, 91, 97 
 
 Puritans, 318 
 
 "O AFFLES, Sir Stamford, 35 
 
 Ramadhan, 114 
 Raymond of Agiles, 359 
 Reade, AVinwood, 49, 305 
 Religious instinct, 189 ; origin of, 
 
 3 ; nature of, 12 ; elements of, 
 
 15 ; relative element in all, 65 
 Renan, M., xxviii., ii, 75-77, lio, 
 
 132 
 Revival of Islam, in Armenia, &c. , 
 
 58, 320; in Arabia, 315-318; 
 
 in Persia, 318; in India, 59, 348 
 Rodwell, Rev. J, M., xxvii., 260 
 Ross, Alexander, 81, 83 
 Russia, progress of, 5 7, 304, 322 seq. 
 Ryer, Andre du, 81 
 
 CAByEANISM, 100, 126 
 '^ Sacraments, their 
 
 use 
 
 and 
 
 I T -^ 
 
 no sacri- 
 
 abuse, 312, 
 Sacrifice, human, 103 ; 
 
 fices in Islam, 264 
 Sahleh, 185 
 Saladin, 20S 
 
 Sale,G., 84, 95, 96, 104, 239, 242 
 Salerno, 217 
 Samanides, 289 
 S a vary, xxvii., 84 
 Savonarola, 229 
 vScholl, M. J. C, xviii., 
 SchM'einfurth, Dr., 329, 
 Science and literature, 
 
 med's attitude to, 215 seq.; in 
 
 Africa, 40, 41, 47 seq., 286 seq. 
 Sego, Z1^ 45 
 
 Sensuality ot Islam, supposed, 231 
 Sermon on the Mount, 7, 13 
 
 91 
 
 331 
 
 Mohani- 
 
 TAY 
 
 Shah, the, 303, 325 
 
 Sicily, Islam in, 288, 307 
 
 Siculus, Diodorus, 166 
 
 Sierra Leone, 30, 39, 351, 352 
 
 Sirat-er-r;icoul, xvii., 108, in, 
 
 122, 167 
 Shamil, 80, 321, 322 
 Shaw, R. B., 31 
 
 Sheik, privileges and duties of, 90 
 Shiah, 23, 24, 267, 292, 298, 321 
 Slade, Admiral, 211, 30S 
 Slave trade, 53, 54, 329, 332 
 Slavery, ameliorations m, 125, 
 
 243 ; Jewish, 245 ; American, 
 
 245 ; African, 332 
 Sobieski, John, 62 
 Soliman, Sultan, 20 
 Solon, 232 
 
 Spain, Islam in, 284 seq. 
 Spirituality of Islnm, 264 
 Sprenger, xxvii., 86, %"], loS, no, 
 
 112, 113, 114, 
 
 122, 
 
 133, 143, 
 
 147, 151, 161, 
 
 163, 
 
 167, 171, 
 
 223, 226, 233 
 
 
 
 Stanley, Dean, xxviii., 19, 264, 
 
 265, 297 
 Stephen, St., 188 
 Stesichorus, 273 
 Sumatra, 33 
 Sunna, 23, 330, 334 
 Sunni, 27, 321 
 Superstitions, 104 
 Sufis, 1 98, 298 
 Suras, titles and variety of, 178 ;. 
 
 the teiTific, 182. See Koran. 
 Surat, 253 
 Suttee, 324 
 Swedenborg, 120, 121 
 Syed Ahmed, xviii., 243 
 SyedjAhmed, Wahhabi leader, 31 S 
 Syed Ameer Ali, xviii., 243 
 Sword, use of. See War. 
 
 "TAB UK, war of, 228 
 ■*- Talmud, influence of, on 
 
 Koran, 171 
 Tamerlane, 210, 322 
 Taoism, 32 
 Tassy, Garcin de, xviii., 173, 265, 
 
 Tayif, 152 
 
o 
 
 68 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 TEC 
 
 Tecbir, 204 
 
 Telemachus, the monk, 234 
 
 Temim, 258 
 
 Tennent, Sir Emerson, 283 
 
 Termagant, 77 
 
 Thamud, Bani, 176, 1S5 
 
 Theodora, 311 
 
 Theodoric, 214, 234 
 
 Theotokos, 275 
 
 Thor, Mount, 123 
 
 Toleration, 261, 262 
 
 Trajan, 89 
 
 Trinity, JNIohammed's views of 
 
 the, 271, 273 
 Tri theism, 160, 271 
 Turks, conversion of Seljukian, 26 
 Turks, Ottoman, 27 ; vices and 
 
 virtues of, 210 scq., 320 
 Turpin, romance of, 75 
 
 T TGANDA, 56 
 ^ Urquhart, Mr. D., 308 
 Usury, prohibited, 258 
 
 ^AMBERY, Professor, 301 
 ^ ^'eth, Professor, 35 
 Visions of Mohammed, 115, 118; 
 
 their nature, 119, 120 
 Voltaire, 105, 127 
 Vladimir, 234 
 
 VyAHHAB, Abdul, 315 
 ^^ Wahhabis, 315-319, 348-349 
 "Waitz, 16. 42, 43 
 Wakidi, Katib al, 108 
 Walada, 275 
 Walpole, Hon, F.,' Ansayrii,' 29, 
 
 211 
 Waraka, 115-I17 
 '^Vars, Musalman, 205-209 ; 
 
 ZOR 
 
 character of, 213, 356 ; Chris- 
 tian, 217 seq., 357, 358 ; what 
 are Christian, 219 
 
 Wartburg, 120 
 
 Weil, xxvii., 108 
 
 Wesley, J., 311 
 
 W'esley, Charles, 82 
 
 West, influence of, on East, 302, 
 
 304, 333 
 Wheeler, Mr. Talboys, 5, 59, 60, 
 
 253 
 
 White, Professor, 83, 184 
 
 Whitefield, 311 
 
 Wilberforce, 234 
 
 William the Good, 288 
 
 Women, former degradation of, 
 97 ; amelioration in their posi- 
 tion, 234-243 ; yet still inferior, 
 301 
 
 Wood, Lieutenant, 195, 246, 268, 
 308 
 
 Worms, 129 
 
 VIMEXES, Cardinal, 216 
 
 AT'AKUB Beg, 31-32, 323 
 
 Yermuk, 207 
 Yezidis, 298 
 
 Yule, Colonel, 5, 29, 76-77 
 Yunnan, 29 
 
 VANZIBAR, 27, 56 
 
 Zeid, the enquirer, 109, 115 
 Zeid, the Prophet's freedman, 
 
 115, 117, 130, 152, 250 
 Zeinab, 135, 136, 145 
 Zemzem, 102, 16S 
 Zoroaster, 103, 2S9 
 
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