tihvavy of t:he theological ^tminavy PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY •>» «i- PRESENTED BY Dr. James K. Quay THE LIFE OF MAHOMET 'd 4 1' ■! ■ •;: THE LIFE OF MAHOMET FEOM ORIGINAL SOURCES SIR WILLIAM "MUIR, K.C.S.L LL.D., D.C.L., Ph.D. (Bologna) THIRD EDITION LONDON SMITH, ELDEE, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1894 [.All rights reserved] PREFACE TO THE PEESENT EDITION Eighteen years have passed since the last edition of this Book was sent to press. Having in that period studied much that bears on the subject, I have made free use of a New edition to introduce alterations wherever advisable, as well as to omit certain pas- sages which unduly burdened the page, and in some instances may have embodied speculations at the best but conjectural. The original work was published in 1861 in four volumes, with profuse notes and references, also with introductory chapters on the Early History of Arabia' and an Essay on the 'Sources for the Biography of Mahomet — the Coran and Tradition.' In the Second edition most of these were omitted, and the Essay was removed to the close of the Volume. But as the value of a history depends entirely on the credibility of the evidence on which it is based, I have placed the Essay on the subject at the be- ginning of the present volume. Edinburgh Univeestty: 1894. PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The present volume is an abridgment of the ' Life OF Mahomet' published in four vohimes in 1861. The introductory chapters on the pre-Islamite history of Arabia, and most of the notes, with aU the refer- ences to original authorities, have been omitted. The text, though here and there shghtly enlarged, and throughout amended, is in both editions substantially the same. The chapter on the Goran and Tradition has been retained as an Appendix, with the view of showing to those interested what reliance may be placed on the materials for this history. If the reader should wish to verify the authority for any particular statement, I must ask him to con- sult the references which have been freely given in the larger edition. W. M. Simla: 187G. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER PAGB I. Sources for the biography of Mahomet — The Coran, Tra- dition, and early Biographies .... xiii II. Arabia before the time of Mahomet . . . lixvii in. Prehistorical notices of Mecca — The Kaaba — Abrahamic legends ....... Ixxxvii IV. Forefathers of Mahomet — ^Abraha's attack on Mecca — The Horns — Hashimites and Omeyyads . . , xciy PART FIRST. MAHOMET TILL THE HBGIRA. CHAPTER I. jEtat. 1-12. — Birth of Mahomet — Nursed among Bedouins- Death of his mother — Abd al Muttalib and AbuTalib- First journey to Syria .... CHAPTER II. ^tat. 12-40. — Youth of ]Mahomet — Sacrilegious war — Second journey to Syria — Khadija — Children by her — Mahomet described — Rebuilding of Kaaba — Aly and Zeid — The Four Inquirers — Mahomet gropes after light . . 12 CHAPTER III. ALtat. 40-43. — Mahomet's belief in his own inspiration — Early poetical fragments — Commission to preach — Traditional account ....... 38 CONTENTS CHAPTER IV. PART SECOND. MAHOMET AT MEDINA. PAGE ^tat. 44-45. —Early converts — Abu Bekr; Otliman— Persecu- tion— First emigration to Abyssinia . . . .54 Supplement. — Coran as revealed during this period — Precepts — Paradise — Hell . . . . . .69 CHAPTER V. JEtat. 45-50. — The lapse — Second emigration to Abyssinia— Hamza ; Omar — The Ban . , . . .78 Supplement. — Appeal in Coran to Jewish Scriptures — Scriptural and Ptabbinical stories . . . . .95 CHAPTER VI. yEtat. 51-52. — Ban removed — Death of Khadija and Abu Talib — Mahomet marries Savpda and is betrothed to Ayesha — Medina — First pledge of Acaba .... 101 CHAPTER VII. yEtat. 52-53. — Midnight journey to Jerusalem — Second pledge of Acaba — Emigration to Medina — Council of Coreish — Ma- homet escapes to the cave — Flight from Mecca . .117 Supplement. — Relation of Islam to Christianity — Knowledge of Christianity whence derived — Effect of Mahomet's teaching at Mecca . . . . . . .139 CHAPTER VIII. yEtat. 53. — Mahomet's arrival at Medina — P)uildi)ig of Mosque — Marriage with Ayesha . . . . .159 CHAPTER IX. State of parties at Medina — Refugees ; Citizens ; Disaffected ; Jews 173 CHAPTER X. A.H. I. and II. — Religious institutions— Miscellaneous events . 181 CONTENTS CHAPTER XI. First hostilities with Coreish— Divine comraand to fight . . 196 CHAPTER XII. A.H. IL—J^tat. 54.— Battle of Bedr— Consternation at Mecca , 207 CHAPTER XIII. A.H. II. and III. — JEtat. 56. — Assassinations — Beni Cainiicaa exiled — Haphsa — Fatima married to Aly . . . 231 CHAPTER XIV. A.H. Ul.—^tat. 56.— Battle of Ohod— Mahomet wounded— Hamza slain — Law of inheritance .... 244 CHAPTER XV. A.H. IV. — yEtat. 57. — Expeditions — Kajiand Bir Mauna — Exile of Beni Nadhir ....... 266 CHAPTER XVI. A.H. IV. and \. — JEtat. 57-5S. — Bedr the second — Expeditious — Mahomet marries Zeinab daughter of Khozeima, 0mm Salma, and Zeinab (divorced wife of Zeid) — Veil for Moslem women — Juweiria — Ayesha's misadventure , . . 277 CHAPTER XVII. A.H. Y.—^tat. 58.— Siege of Medina— Battle of the Ditch— Mas- sacre of Beni Coreitza — Eihana — Death of Sad ibn Muadh 296 Supplement. — Suras revealed at Medina — Jews discarded — Maho- met's power and dignity — Marriage, divorce, and female slavery — Style of Goran ..... 316 CHAPTER XVIII. A.H. VI. — ^tat. 59. — Expeditions — Abul Aas and Zeinab — Expe- dition to Dumah — Assassination of Abu Rati, and attempt to assassinate Abu Sofian ..... 330 CHAPTER XIX. Pilgrimage to Hodeibia— Pledge of the Tree— Treaty with Coreish —Abu Basir . . . . . . .341 CHAPTER XX. A.H. Yll.—jEtat. 60.— Despatches to the Kaiser, the Chosroes, and other Princes . . . . . . 356 CONTENTS CHAPTER XXI. PAGE Conquest of Kheibar — Safia — Mahomet poisoned — Return of Abyssinian exiles — 0mm Ilabiba — Mahomet bewitched by Jews . , . . . . . .362 CHAPTER XXII. Pilgrimage to Mecca — ^leimuna — Conversion of Khalid and Amru . . . . . . .373 CHAPTER XXIII. A. II. YIll.—^Etaf. 61.— Battle of Muta— Generalship of Khalid . 379 CHAPTER XXIV. Conquest of Mecca ....... 387 CHAPTER XXV. Battle of Honein — Siege of Tayif— Mahomet mobbed — Lesser pilgrimage ....... 400 CHAPTER XXVI. A.H. VIII.-X.— ^^«^. 61-62.— Mary the Coptic maid, and her son Ibrahim . . . . . .411 CHAPTER XXVII. Deputations from Arabian tribes . . . . .417 CHAPTER XXVIII. Campaign of Tebuk — Conquest of Dumah— Death of Abdallah ibu Obey . . . . . . . .425 CHAPTER XXIX. Submission of Tayif — Pilgrimage of Abu Bt-kr — The 'Release ' . 435 CHAPTER XXX. A.H. IX. and X. — .Etat. (i-JGS. — Embassies of submission . 441 CHAPTER XXXI. A. II. X. — ^Etat. 63. — Mahomet's Farewell pilgrimage . . 453 CONTENTS The three Pretenders CHAPTER XXXII. PAGE 461 CHAPTER XXXIII. A.H. Xl.—^tat. 63.— Sickness and death of Mahomet 465 CHAPTER XXXIV. Abu Bekr elected Caliph CHAPTER XXXV. Burial of Mahomet . 481 488 CHAPTER XXXVI. Osama's campaign CHAPTER XXXVII. Person and character of Mahomet .... Supplement.— Traditions on the person and habits of Mahomet INDEX 491 . 494 . 508 . 521 ARABIAN CALENDAR. Arabian Corresponding Months Months Moharram April Safar May Rabi I. June Rabi 11. July Jumad I. August Jumad II. September Rajab October Shaban November Ramadhan December Shawwal January Dzul Cada February Dzul Hi]] March The Arabian month is lunar, and the year was originally corrected by the inter- calation of a month every third year. The reckoning was thus luni-solar until, at the Farewell pilgrimage, Mahomet, by abolish- ing intercalation, made the Mussulman or Hegira year a purely lunar one. This table gives the months as they stood at the time of Mahomet's flight to Medina, and they were so maintained, by intercala- tion, with little variation till the Farewell pilgrimage. After that the year is of course shorter by about eleven days than the solar year. The calculation is according to M. C. de Perceval. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS MAPS AND PLANS. The Kaaba, as it now stands, at the time of Pil- GRI3IAGE .... Map of Aeabia .... Plan of Mecca .... MorNT HiRA (the Mountain of Light) Plan of Modern Medina Mediita as it now is . YiEAv OF ^Iodeen Mecca . Mount Aeaf.vt at the time of Pilgrimage Devil's Corner (Place of Throwing Stones) Frontifjnece . to face page Ixxvii >} 1 36 150 173 „ „ 387 ■ „ 453 457 IN TEXT. ] ACi; The Black Stone, front and side views . . .27 The Kaaba, as at present, showing the curtain cut and ADJUSTED . . . , . . i'> The Kaaba, as it now stands, showing the curtain fes- tooned AT pilgrimage . , . . .20 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET. THE CORAN AND TRADITION. CONFIDEXCE in a narrative must vary with the medium through Ancient which it has been transmitted. The exploits of Hercules carry legendary, less conviction than the feats of the heroes of Troy ; while, again, ^^ ^^^^^^. the wanderings of Ulysses and the adventures of the early foun- porary ders of Rome, are regarded with incomparably less trust than the history of the Peloponnesian war or the fortunes of Julius C^sar. Thus there are three great divisions of ancient narrative. Legen- dary tales are based upon visionary materials, and it is doubtful whether they shadow forth facts or only myths and fancies Tradition and the rhapsodies of bards have for their ob.iect actual or supposed events ; but the impression of these events is liable to become distorted from the imperfection of the vehicle which conveys them. It is to contemporary history alone, or to history deriving its facts from contemporary records that we accord a reliance which, proportioned to the means and the fidelity of the observer, may rise to absolute certainty. _ _ The narrative which we now possess of the origin of Islam R-e^of^^_ does not belong exclusively to any one of these classes It is long, to legendary, for it contains multitudes of pure myths, such as the 'Light of Mahomet,' and the ' Cleansing of his Heart It is tra- ditional, since the main material of the story was handed down by oral recitation not generally recorded until Islam had attained to a full growth. But it possesses also some of the elements ot History, because there are certain contemporary records ot un- doubted authenticity, to which we can refer. Moreover, Moslem tradition is of a peculiar and systematic character, bearing m some respects an authority superior to that of common tradition. From such imperfect and incoherent materials it might be classes SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET Sources specified Value, absolute and com- parative CORAN. How preserved during Mahomet's lifetime supposed difficult, if not impossible, to frame a uniform and con- sistent biography of the Arabian Prophet, the various points of which shall be supported by sufficient evidence or probability. It will be my attempt to elucidate this topic ; to inquire into the available sources for such a narrative ; and the degree of credit to which they are severally entitled. We have two main sources from which to draw materials for the life of Mahomet and rise of Islam — the Coran and Tradi- tion. Two minor classes may be added, namely, contemporary documents and Arab poetry ; but these have been, for the most part, transmitted also by tradition, and may with propriety be treated as coming under the same head. What dependence, then, can be placed on these sources 1 What is their individual merit as furnishing historical evidence, and what their compara- tive value in relation to each other ? The solution of these ques- tions will form the subject of this Essay. The Coran consists exclusively of the revelations or com- mands which Mahomet professed, from time to time, to receive through Gabriel, as a message direct from God ; and which, under alleged divine direction, he delivered to those about him.' At the moment of inspiration or shortly after, each passage was recited by Mahomet before the friends or followers who happened to be present, and was generally committed to writing by some one amongst them, at the time or afterwards, upon palm-leaves, leather, stones, or such other rude material as conveniently came to hand.- These divine messages continued throughout the three ' According to the orthodox doctrine, every syllalile of the Coran is of divine origin, eternal and ' uncreate ' as the Deity itself. Some of the earliest rhapsodies, indeed (as the 91st, 100th, 102nd, and 103rd Suras), do not seem to have been intended as revelations at all. But when Mahomet's die was cast of as^suming the Most High as the immediate speaker, then these earlier Suras also came to be regarded as emanating directly from the Deity. Hence Mahometans rigidly include every n-ord of the Coran, at whatever stage delivered, in the category of ' Thus saith the Lord.' And it is one of their arguments against our Scriptures, that they are not exclu- sively oracles professing to proceed directly from the mouth of God. * The Prophet himself neither read nor wrote. His being an Ummy (unlearned) is lield to enhance the marvel of his revelation. At Medina, he had many Arabic amanuenses; some of them occa-sional as Aly and Othman, others official as Zeid ibn Thdbit, who also learned Hebrew for the purpose. In Wakidy's collection of despatches, the writers are named, and they amount to fourteen. Some say tliere were four-jind-twenty followers whom Mahomet used as scribes; others as many as forty-two. In liis early Mfccan life, he could not have had theso facilities ; but even then Khadija, Waraea, Aly, or Abu lUkr, who could all read, might have recorded his revelations. At Medina, Obey ibn Kab is mentioned as one who used to do 80. Another, Abdallah (Abu Sarli), was excepted from the Meccau amnesty. Ci. I. THE CORAN XV and twenty years of his prophetical life, so that the last portion did not appear till near the time of his death. The canon was then closed ; but the contents during the Prophet's lifetime were never as a whole systematically arranged or even collected together. We have no certain knowledge how the originals were preserved. That there did not exist any special depository for them, is evident from the mode in which, after Mahomet's death, the various fragments had to be sought for. Much of the Coran possessed only a temporary interest, arising out of circumstances which soon ceased to be important ; and it is doubtful whether the Prophet intended such passages to be used for public or private worship, or even maintained in currency at all. Such portions it is little likely he would take any pains to preserve. Whether he retained under his own eye and custody the more important parts, we have no indication ; perhaps he regarded them as sufficiently safe in the current copies, guarded by the miraculous tenacity of the Arab memory. The later, and the more important, revelations were probably left with the scribes who recorded them, or laid up in the habitation of some one of the Prophet's wives.' However this may have been, it is very certain that, when Mahomet died, there was nowhere any deposit of the complete series, and it may be doubted whether the original transcripts themselves were anywhere preserved. But the preservation of the various Suras, during the lifetime Committed of Mahomet, was not altogether dependent on any such archives. |o ^^mory The divine revelation was the corner-stone of Islam. The recital Moslems ; of a passage from it formed an essential part of daily prayer public and private ; and its perusal and repetition were enforced as a duty and privilege fraught with religious merit. Such is the universal voice of early tradition, and may be gathered also from the revelation itself. The Coran was accordingly committed to memory more or less by ever?/ adherent of Islam, and the extent because he had falsified revelations dictated by the Prophet before the Flight. It is also evident that the revelations were recorded, because they are called in the Coran itself A'itdb, i.e. ' what is written ' or ' Scriptures.' The name Coran signifies simply ' recitation,' and does not necessarily imply a written original. • if the originals were retained by Mahomet himself, they must needs have been in the custody of one of his wives ; since at Medina the Prophet had no special house of his own, but dwelt by turns in the abode of each of his wives. Omar committed his exemplar (as we shall see) to the keep- ing of his daughter Haphsa, one of the widows of Mahomet, and this may have been done in imitation of the Prophet's own practice. The statement made by Sale, that the fragmentary revelations were cast promiscuously into a chest, is not borne out by ary good authority that I have met with. xvi SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET iktrod. to which it could be recited was one of the chief distinctions in the early Moslem empire.' The custom of Arabia favoured the task. Passionately fond of poetry, but without the ready means for committing to writing the effusions of their bards, the Arabs had long been used to imprint these, as well as the tradi- tion of genealogical and tribal events, on the living tablets of the heart. The recollective faculty was thus cultivated to the highest pitch ; and it was applied, with all the ardour of an awakened spirit, to the Goran. Such was the tenacity of their memory, and so great their power of application, that several of his followers could, during the Prophet's lifetime, repeat with scrupulous accuracy the whole as then in use.^ But not in We are not, however, to assume that the entire Goran was at onier of *^^^ period repeated in any fixed order. The present compilation, parts indeed, is held by the Moslems to follow the arrangement pre- scribed by Mahomet ; and early tradition might appear to imply some known sequence.^ But this cannot be admitted ; for had any fixed order been observed or sanctioned by the Prophet, it would unquestionably have been preserved in the subsequent collection. Now the Goran, as handed down to our time, follows in the disposition of its several parts no intelligible arrangement ' Thus, among a heap of warrior martyrs, he who had been the most versed in the Coran was honoured with the first burial. The person who in any company could most faithfully repeat the Coran was of riarht en- titled to be the Imam, or conductor of the public prayers (a post ordinarily implying also mihtary command) and to pecuniary rewards. Thus after the usual distribution of the spoils taken on the field of Cadesia, A.H. 14, the residue was divided among those who knew most of the Coran. - Four or five such persons are named; and several others also who could very nearly repeat the whole before Mahomet's death. * Thus we read of certain Companions, who could repeat the whole Coran in a given time, which might be held to imply some usual connection of the parts ; but the original tradition may have intended such portions only as were commonly used in public worship, and these may have fol- lowed, both in copying and repetition from memory, some understood order; or the tradition may refer to a later period when the order had been fixed by means of Omar's compilation. There was no fixed order observed (as with ' Lessons ' in Christian worship) in the portions of the Coran recited at the public prayers. The selection of a passage was dependent on the will and choice of the Imam. Thus Abu Hureira one day took credit to himself for remembering which Sura the Prophet had read the day before; and on urgent occasions we hear of a short Sura being used. It is only in private recitals that the whole, or large portions, of the Coran are said to have been recited consecutively. The common idea of the Mahometans, that the Coran was fixed by Ma- homet as we have it now, originates in the tradition that Gabriel had an annual recitation of the whole Coran with the Prophet, as well as in the desire to augment the authority of the book as it now stands. preserved CH. I. THE GORAN XVll whatever, either of subject or time ; and it is inconceivable that Mahomet should have enjoined its recital invariably in this order. We must even doubt whether the number of the Suras, or chap- ters, was determined by Mahomet as we now have them. ^ The internal sequence at any rate of the contents of the several Suras cannot, in most cases, have been that intended by the Prophet. The constant chaotic mingling of subjects, disjoined as well by chronology as by the sense ; a portion produced at Medina sometimes immediately preceding a passage revealed long before at Mecca ; a command put in some places directly after a later one which cancels or modifies it ; or an argument suddenly dis- turbed by the interjection of a sentence foreign to its purport ; all this forbids us to believe that the present, or indeed any com- plete, arrangement was in use during Mahomet's lifetime. On the other hand, there is no reason to doubt that several at Fragments least of the Suras are precisely the same, both in matter and CoI."n'''"*^ order, as Mahomet left them : '^ and that the remainder, though compiled, faithfully > But there is reason to believe that the chief Suras, including all pas- sages in most common use, were fixed and known by name or other distinc- tive mark. Some are spoken of, in early and well-authenticated traditions, as having been so referred to by Mahomet himself. Thus he recalled his fugitive followers at the discomfiture of Honein, by shouting to them as ' the men of the Sura Bacr ' {i.e. Sura ii.). Several persons are stated by tradition to have learnt by heart a certain mimber of Suras in Mahomet's lifetime. Thus Abdallah ibn Masud learned seventy Suras from the Prophet's own mouth, and Mahomet on his death- bed repeated seventy Suras, 'among which were the Seven long ones.' These traditions signify a recognised division of at least some part of the revelation into Suras, if not a usual order in repeating the Suras them- selves. The liturgical use of the Suras by Mahomet must, no doubt, have in some measure fixed their form, and probably also their sequence. But I fail to follow Sprenger in his conclusions as to ' double ' Suras, and Suras ' in groups ' {matlidni and natzair). - Where whole Suras were revealed at once, this would naturally be the case ; but short passages were often given out in driblets, and even single verses, as occasion required. With regard to these, it is asserted in some traditions that Mahomet used to direct his amanuensis to enter them ' in the Sura which treated of such and such a subject.' This, if authentic (and it is probably founded on fact), would indicate that Mahomet intended the Goran to be arranged according to its matter, and not chronologically. There are also several Suras which, from the imity of subject, or from the form of composition, are evidently complete and integral. Such are the history of Joseph, Sura xii. ; and the psalm descriptive of Paradise, Sm-a Iv., quoted in ch. iv. The traditions just cited as to the number of Suras which some of the Companions could repeat, and which Mahomet himself repeated on his death-bed, also imply the existence of such Suras in a complete and finished form. and Me- dina xyiii SOURCES for the biography of MAHOxMET ixtrod. often resembling a mosaic of various material rudely dovetailed together, are yet composed of genuine fragments, generally of considerable length, each for the most part following the con- nection in which it was recited in public, and committed to memory or to paper from the mouth of the Prophet by his followers.^ The irregular interposition and orderless disposal of the smaller fragments have indeed frequently destroyed the sequence, and produced a perplexing confusion. Still, the fact remains, that the fragments themselves wei-e strictly and exclu- sively Mahomet's own composition, and were learned or recorded under his instructions ; and this fact stamps the Goran, not merely as formed out of the Prophet's own ivords and sentences, but to a large extent as his in relation to the context also. Ability t(. However retentive the Arab memory, we should still have write com- reo'arded with distrust a transcript made entirely from that aTM^TcI' source. But there is good reason for believing that many fragmentary copies, embracing amongst them the whole Goran, or nearly the whole, were during his lifetime made by the Prophet's followers. Writing was without doubt generally known at Mecca long before Mahomet assumed the prophetical office. And at Medina many of his followers were employed by the Prophet in writing his letters or despatches. Though himself delighting in the title of the * illiterate Prophet,' and abstaining, whether from inability or design from the use of penmanship, he by no means looked with a jealous eye upon the art. The poorer captives taken at Bedr were offered their release on condition that they taught a certain number of Medina citizens to write. And although the people of Medina were not so generally educated as those of Mecca, yet many are noticed as having been able to write before Islam.- The ability thus existing, it may be safely inferred that 'the verses so indefatigably committed to memory would be likewise committed carefully to writing. ' Anecdotes are told of persons who in reciting the Coran, from an imperfect memory, or when tired, omitted passages— passing from one to another, because of the similar termination, and of others who, having been guilty of such omission, could spontaneously correct themselves. (Ilnmoio- teleuta arc of very frequent recurrence in the Coran, from the rhythm of the verses being often formed by the repetition of set phrases at their close, such as the attributes of God, &c.) These anecdotes certainly suppose a settled order of the "parts repeated; and though the period referred to is subsequent to Mahomet's death, yet the habit of such connected repetition was most probably formed during his lifetime, and before the collection into one volume. - Thus, to cite out of a score of instances, Wakidy says that ' Abu Abbas used to write Arabic before the rise of Islam, while as yet writing was rare among the Arabs.' CH. I. THE COKAN, WHEN FORMED INTO A VOLUME xix We also know that when a tribe first joined Islam, Mahomet Transcripts was in the habit of deputing one or more of his followers to teach of Coran°^ them the Coran and the requirements of the faith. We are common frequently informed that they carried loritten instructions with early^Mos- them on the latter point, and they would naturally provide them- ^^™^ selves also with transcripts of the more important parts of the Revelation, especially those upon which the ceremonies of Islam were founded, and such as were usually recited in the public service. Besides the reference in the Coran to its own existence in a written form, express mention is made, in the account of Omar's conversion, of a copy of the 20th Sura as used in his sister's family.^ This refers to a period preceding, by three or four years, the emigration to Medina. If transcripts of the revelations were made, and in common use, at that early time when the followers of Islam were few and oppressed, it is certain that they must have multiplied exceedingly when the Prophet came to power, and his Book foi'med the law of Arabia. But such transcripts were (like the portions committed to But incom- memory) mere fragments compiled and put together with little jvagnicn- or no connection of subject and date. The Suras used in public tary worship, or for private perusal and recitation, would be those of which the greatest number of copies existed. Transcripts of the earliest Suras, and of those of evanescent interest, if extant at all, would be few in number. Such was the condition of the text during Mahomet's life- ^^ate of time, and such it remained for about a year after his death, im- the year^ printed upon the hearts of his people, and fragmentary tran- ^^^^^' . . AX' o J MahomGt s scripts increasing daily. The two sources would correspond death. closely with each other ; for the Coran, even during the Prophet's lifetime, was regarded with a superstitious awe as containing the very words of God ; so that any variations would be recon- ciled by a direct reference to Mahomet himself,''^ and after hia death to the originals, or to copies, or to the memory of the Prophet's confidential friends and amanuenses. It was not till the overthrow of Moseilama, when great car- Coran coi- nage took place amongst the Moslems at Yemama, and large a.h!xi.- numbers of the best reciters of the Coran were slain, that a mis- "^'Y- ^^ . giving arose in Omar's mind as to the uncertainty which would text au- ^ be experienced regarding the text, when all those who had *^'^'^''i*^'i'^i"^e ' ' The Coran, . . . none shall touch the same, excepting such as are clean.' This passage was referred to by the sister of Omar when at his conversion she refused to let him take her copy of Sura xx. into his hands. 2 We meet with instances of such references made in case ^f doubt to Mahomet by Omar, Ibn Masud, and Obey ibn Kab. a2 XX THE GORAN COLLECTED BY ABU BEKR AND OMAR inthod. durini?the stored it in their memories should have passed away. 'I fear,' ofOmar ^ Said he, addressing the Caliph Abu Bekr, ' that slaughter may again wax hot amongst the reciters of the Coran, in other fields of battle ; and that much may be lost therefrom. Now, there- fore, my ad\ace is, that thou shouldest give speedy orders for the collection of the Coran.' Abu Bekr agreed, and thus made known his wishes to Zeid ibn Thabit, the Prophet's chief amanu- ensis : ' Thou art a young man, and wise ; against whom no one amongst us can cast an imputation ; and thou wast wont to write down the inspired revelations of the Prophet of the Lord. Wherefore now search out the Coran, and bring it together.' So new and unexpected was the enterprise that Zeid at first shrank from it, and doubted the propriety, or even lawfulness, of attempting that which Mahomet had neither himself done nor commanded to be done. At last, yielding to the joint entreaties of Abu Bekr and Omar, he sought out the Suras and fragments from every quarter, and 'gathered them together, from date-leaves, and tablets of white stone, and from the breasts of men.' ^ By the labours of Zeid, these scattered and confused materials were within two or three years reduced to the order and sequence in which we now find them, and in which it is said that Zeid used to repeat the Coran in the presence of Mahomet. The original copy thus prepared was committed by Omar to the custody of his daughter Haphsa, the Prophet's widow. The compilation of Zeid, as embodied in this exemplar, continued during Omar's Caliphate to be the standard and authoritative text. Recension But variety of expi'ession either prevailed in the previous man's Cali- ^r^i^scripts and modes of recitation, or soon crept into the copies phate which were made from Zeid's edition. The Moslem world was scandalised. The Revelation as sent down from heaven was one, but where was >now its unity 1 Hodzeifa, who had warred in Armenia and Adzerbaijan and had observed the different readings of the Syrians and of the men of Irac, was alarmed at the number and extent of the variations, and warned Othman to in- terpose, and ' stop the people, before they should differ regarding their Scripture, as did the Jews and Christians.' Tlie Caliph was convinced, and to remedy the evil had recourse again to Zeid, with whom he associated a syndicate of three of the Coreish. • Other trarlitions arid, frag-raents of parchment or paper, pieces of leather, and tlie ylioulder and rib bones of camels and jjoats. Leather was frequently used for writing, and many of Mahomet's treaties and letters were recorded on it. There is a curious tradition regarding a man who used a leather letter, received from JIahomet, for the purpose of mending his bucket, and whose family were thence called the ' chiklren of (he cobbler.^ A.H. XXX. remains unaltered CH. I. RECENSION BY OTHMAN XXI The original copy of the first edition was obtained from Haphsa's depository, the various readings were sought for throughout the empire, and a careful recension of the whole set on foot. In case of difference between Zeid and his coadjutors, the voice of the latter, as conclusive of the Coreishite idiom, was to be followed, and the collation thus assimilated exclusively to the Meccan dialect. • Transcripts were multiplied and forwarded to the chief cities in the empire, and previously existing copies were all, by the Caliph's command, committed to the flames. The original was returned again to Haphsa's custody. The recension of Othman has been handed down to us unal- Which tered. So carefully, indeed, has it been preserved, that there are no variations of importance — we might almost say no variations to the pre at all — to be found in the innumerable copies scattered through- ^^'^'^ *^ out the vast bounds of the empire of Islam. Contending and embittered factions, taking their rise in the murder of Othman himself within a quarter of a century from the death of Mahomet, have ever since rent the Mahometan world. Yet but One Coran has been current amongst them ; and the consentaneous use by all of the same Scripture in every age to the present day is an irrefragable proof that we have now before us the very text pre- pared by command of the unfortunate Caliph. ^ There is probably in the world no other work which has remained twelve centuries ' It is one of the maxims of the Moslem world (supported perhaps by .Sura xi. 2) that the Coran is incorruptible, and that it is preserved from error and variety of reading by the miraculous interposition of God him- self. In order, therefore, to escape the inconsistency of a revision, it is held that the Coran, as to external form, was revealed in seven dialects of the Arabic tongue, so that no change was made in the integrity of the text. " The Moslems would have us believe that some of the self-same copies, penned by Othman or by his order, are still in existence. The copy which the Caliph held in his hand when he was murdered is said to have been preserved in the village of Antartus. Others hold that leaves of it were treasured up in the Mosque of Cordova, and Edrisi describes the ceremo- nies with which they were treated ; they were finally transferred to Fez or Telemsan. Ibn Batuta, when in the fourteenth century he visited Bussorah, declares that this MS. was then in its Mosque, and that the marks of the Caliph's blood were still visible (according to tradition) at the words ' God shall avenge thee against them ' (Sura ii. 138). Other of Othman's originals are said to be preserved in Egypt, Morocco, and Damascus, as well as at Mecca and Medina. The Medina copy has a note at the end, -relating that it was compiled by the injunctions of Othman; and the compilers' names are also given. But it appears very unlikely that any of Othman's copies can have escaped the innumerable changes of dynasty and party to which every part of the Moslem world has been subjected. Any very ancient copy might come to be called that of Othman. XXU THE EXISTING CORAN A FAITHFUL introd. with so pure a text. The various readings are wonderfully few in number, chiefly confined indeed to differences in the vowel points and diacritical signs. But these, invented at a later date, can hardly be said to affect the text of Othman.^ I. Was Assuming, then, that we possess unchanged the text of 0th- Othman's , • •. • x • • i j.\l j^i ^ , , text a '^^■^^ s recension, it remains to inquire whether tliat text was an faithful honest reproduction of Zeid's, with the simple reconcilement of reproduc- . . . ■ i ^ ,, tion of unimportant variations. Ihere is the fullest ground for believing Zeid's .' ^^i^^i j^ y^r^g so ]si"o early or trustworthy tradition throws sus- picion upon Othman of tampering with the Coran in order to support his own claims. The Shiahs, indeed, of later times pretend that Othman left out certain Suras or passages which Reasons for favoured Aly. But this is incredible. When Othman's edition believins ^y^s prepared, no open breach had taken place between the that it was ^ , , so Omeyyads and the Alyites. The unity of Islam was still un- threatened. Aly's pretensions were as yet undeveloped. No sufficient object can, therefore, be assigned for the perpetration by Othman of an offence which Moslems would have regarded as one of the blackest dye. Again, at the time of the recension, there were still multitudes alive who had the Coran by heart as they had heard it originally delivered ; and copies of any passages favouring Aly — had any ever existed — must have been in the hands of his numerous adherents, both of which sources would have proved an effectual check upon any attempt at suppression. Farther, the party of Aly, immediately on Othman's death, assumed an independent attitude, and raised him to the Caliphate. Is it conceivable that, when thus arrived at power, they would have tolerated a mutilated Coran — mutilated expressly to destroy their leader's claim 1 Yet we find that they continued to use the same Coran as their opponents, and raised no shadow of an ob- jection against it.^ The insurgents, indeed, made it one of their complaints against Othman that he had caused the revision, and ' There are, however, instances of variation in the letters themselves, not confined always to difference in the dots, but extending sometimes to the for/ii, of the letters also ; these too, however, are immaterial. This almost incredible purity of text, in a book so widely scattered over the world, and continuallj' copied by people of different tongues and lands, is without doubt owing mainly to Othman's recension and to the official pro- mulgation and maintenance of his edition. To countenance a various read- ing was an offence against the State, and as such would still to this day be punished. We need not wonder then that, with such means resorted to, perfect uniformity of text has been maintained. To compare (as the Moslems are fond of doing) their pure text with the various readings of our Scriptures, is to compare things between which there is no analogy. ^ So far from objecting to Othman's revision, Aly multiplied copies of it. Among other MSS. supposed to have been written by Aly himself, one is revela- tions ? CH. I. REPRODUCTION OF MAH0:MET'S REVELATIONS XXlll ordered all previous copies of the sacred volume to be burned ; but these proceedings were objected to simply as in themselves unauthorised and sacrilegious. No hint was dropped of ulterior object, or of any alteration and omission. Such supposition, pal- pably absurd at the time, is altogether an after-thought of the Shiah sect. We may then safely conclude that Othman's recension was, II. Was what it professed to be, namely, the reproduction of the text of gji[|^jj .^ Zeid, with a more perfect conformity, it is true, to the dialect of faithful Mecca, and the elimination of the various readings prevalent Mahomet'i throughout the realm, but still a faithful reproduction. The most important question yet remains, viz. Whether Zeid's collec- tion was itself an authentic and exhaustive collection of Mahomet^ s Revelations. The following considerations warrant the belief that it was authentic and in the main as complete as at the time was possible. First. — Abu Bekr, under whose direction it was undertaken, Reasons for was a sincere follower of Mahomet, and an earnest believer in the it^^aTso -. divine origin of the Coran. His faithful attachment to the Pro- ^.'^^'~7 phet's person, conspicuous for the last twenty years of his life, ami faith of and his simple, consistent, and unambitious deportment as Caliph, ^^]^ ^'^^^ ^ ' ' '^ P • 1 *^"f' early admit no other supposition. Believing the revelations of his friend Moslems to be the revelations of God himself, his first object would be to secure a pure and complete transcript of them. A similar argu- ment applies with equal force to Omar, under whose Caliphate the revision was completed. From the scribes employed in the compilation, to the humblest Believer who brought to Zeid his little store of writing on stones or palm-leaves, all would be influ- enced by the same earnest desire to reproduce the very words their Prophet had declared to be his message from the Lord. A similar guarantee existed in the feelings of the people at large, in whose soul no principle was more deeply rooted than an awful reverence for the supposed word of God. The Coran itself con- said to have been preserved at Meshed Aly as late as the fourteenth cen- tury, which bore his signature. Some leaves of the Coran, said to have been copied by him, are now in the Lahore Tosha-Kliana ; others in the same repository are ascribed to the pen of his son, Hosein. Without lean- ing on such uncertain evidence, it is sufficient for our argument that copies of Othman's Coran were notoriously used and multiplied hy Ahfs partisans, and have been so used and multiplied to the present day. Aly was, more- over, deeply versed in the Coran, and his memory (if tradition be true) would amply have sufficed of itself to detect, if not to restore, any passage that had been tampered with. Aly said of himself : ' There is not a verse in the Coran of which I do not know the matter, the parties to whom it refers, and the place and time of its revelation, whether by night or by day, whether in the plains or upon the mountains.' SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET inteod. Second. — Coran, as delivered b3- Maho- met, yet fresh in inemorv of his fol-" lowers Third.— It nuHt have corre - sponded ivitli nu- inerous transcripts in dailv use Fourth.— Internal evidence of simplicity' and faith- fulness of compilers tains frequent denunciations against those who should presume to ' fabricate anything in the name of the Lord,' or conceal any part of that which He had revealed. Such an action, declared to be the height of impiety, we cannot believe that the first Mos- lems, in the early ardour of their faith and love, would have dared to contemplate. Second. — The compilation was made within two or three years of Mahomet's death. We have seen that some of his followers had the entire revelation (excepting perhaps some obsolete frag- ments) by heart ; that every Moslem treasured up portions in his memory ; and that there were official Reciters of t, for public worship and tuition, in all countries to which Islam extended. These formed a living link between the Revelation fresh from Mahomet's lips, and Zeid's collection. Thus the people were not only sincere in wishing for a faithful copy of the Coran, they were also in possession of ample means for realising their desire, and for testing the accuracy and completeness of the book now placed in their hands. Third. — A still greater security would be obtained from the copies of separate portions made in Mahomet's lifetime, and which must have greatly multiplied before the Coran was com- piled. These were in the possession, probably, of all who could read. And as we know that the compilation of Zeid came into immediate and unquestioned use, it is reasonable to conclude that it embraced and corresponded with every extant fragment ; and there/ore, by common consent, superseded them. We hear of no fragments, sentences, or woi-ds omitted by the compilers, nor of any that difiered from the received edition. Any such would undoubtedly have been preserved and noticed in those traditional repositories which treasured up the minutest and most trivial acts and sayings of 'ohe Prophet. Fourth. — The contents and arrangement of the Coran speak forcibly for its authenticity. All the fragments have, with artless simplicity, been joined together. The patchwork bears no marks of a designing genius or moulding hand. It testifies to the faith and reverence of the compiler, and proves that he dared no more than simply collect the sacred remains and place them in juxta- position. Hence the interminable repetitions ; the wearisome reiteration of the same ideas, truths, and doctrines ; scriptural stories and Arab legends, told over and over again, with little or no verbal variation ; hence also the pervading want of connec- tion, and the startling chasms between adjacent passages. Even the frailties of the Prophet, as noticed by the Deity, have with evident faithfulness been entered in the Coran. Not less undis- guised are the many jiassages contradicted or abrogated by later CH. I. THE COrxAN. TEADITION XXV revelations. ^ Thus the editor plainly contented himself with com- piling and copying in a continuous form, but with scrupulous accuracy, the fragmentary materials within his reach. He neither ventured to select from repeated versions of the same incident, or to reconcile differences, or by the alteration of a letter to con- nect abrupt transitions of context, or by tampering with the text to soften discreditable appearances. In tine, we possess every internal guarantee of confidence. But it may be objected,— If the text of Zeid was pure and Recension universally received, how came it to be so soon deteriorated as gekr's^edi- to require, in consequence of its variations, an extensive recen- tion, whv sion ? Tradition does not afford sufficient light to determine the ''^1^''^^ cause of these discrepancies. They may have been due to various readings in transcripts that remained in the possession of the people, or have originated in the diverse dialects of Arabia, and different modes of pronunciation and orthography ; or have sprung up naturally in the already vast domains of Islam, before strict uniformity was officially enforced. It is sufficient for us to know that in Othman's revision recourse was had to the original ex- emplar of the first compilation, and that there is otherwise every security, internal and external, that we possess the text which Mahomet himself gave forth and used. While, however, it is maintained that we now have the Goran Coran may as it teas left by Mahomet, there is no ground for asserting that °°^e"pj[^"" passages, once put forth as inspired, may not at some subse- sages once quent period have been changed or withdrawn hy the Pro2ihet bu\^sub,se- himselj: On the contrary, repeated examples of withdrawal are quently noticed in tradition ; and alterations (although no express in- stances are given) seem to be clearly implied. The Coran itself recognises the withdrawal of certain passages, after they had been promulgated as a part of the Revelation : ' Whatever verses We cancel, or cause thee to forget, We give thee better in their stead, or the like thereof (Sura ii. 100). Any passages which Mahomet, finding to be inconvenient, or otherwise inexpedient for publication, withdrew before coming into circulation, will, of course, not be found in our present Coran ; nor would an altered passage remain but in its altered form. But this does not in any measure aftect the value of the Coran as an exponent of Mahomet's opinions, or at least of the opinions he finally professed to hold ; since what we now have, ' Though the convenient doctrine of abrogation is acknowledged in the Coran, yet the Mussulman doctors endeavour as far as possible to ex- plain it away. Still they are obliged to allow that the Coran contains no fewer than 225 verses cancelled by later ones. SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET inteod. Nor some obsolete, suppressed, or epheme- ral pas- CONCLU- SION. Goran authentic record of Mahomet's revelations Importance of Goran as contempo- rary evi- dence of Mahomet's words and character though possibly corrected and modified by himself, is still his own. It is, moreover, not impossible that verses which had been allowed to fall into abeyance and become obsolete, or the sup- pression of which Mahomet himself desired, may have been sought out by the blind zeal of his followers, and, with pious veneration for everything believed to be the word of God, en- tered in Zeid's collection. On the other hand, many early pas- sages of ephemeral interest may, without design on the part of Mahomet, have disappeared in the lapse of time ; and, no trace being left, must necessarily have been omitted from the compilation. The conclusion, which we may now with confidence draw, is that the editions of Zeid and Othman were not only faithful, but both of them, so far as the materials went, complete ; and that whatever omissions there may have been, were not on the part of the compilers intentional. The real drawback to the inestimable value of the Goran as a contemporary and authentic record of Mahomet's character and actions, is the want of arrangement and connection which pervades it ; so that, in inquiring into the mean- ing and force of a passage, no certain dependence can be placed upon adjacent sentences as the true context. But, bating this serious defect, we may upon the strongest presumption afiirm that every verse in the Goran is the genuine and unaltered com- position of Mahomet himself, and conclude with at least a close approximation to the verdict of Von Hammer : That ive hold the Coran to be as surely Mahomet^s ivord, as the Mahometans hold it to he the word of God. The importance of this deduction can hardly be over-esti- mated. The Goran becomes the groundwork and the test of all inquiries into the 6rigin of Islam and the character of its Founder. Here we have a storehouse of Mahoineth own ivords recorded during his life, extending over the whole course of his public career, and illustrating his religious views, his public acts, and his domestic character. By this standard of his own making, we may safely judge his life and actions, for it must represent either what he actually thought, or what he affected to think. And so true a mirror is the Goran of Mahomet's character, that the saying became proverbial among the early Moslems, His character is the Corayi. 'Tell me,' was the curious inquiry often put to Ayesha, as well as to Mahomet's other widows, ' tell me something about the Prophet's disposition.' ' Thou hast the Goran,' replied Ayesha ; ' art thou not an Arab, and readest the Arabic tongue ? ' ' Yea, vei'ily.' ' Then why take the trouble to inquire of me ? For the Prophet's disposition is no other than CH. I. TRADITION XXVll the Coran itself.' Of Mahomet's biography the Coran is the key- stone. Having gained this firm position, we proceed to inquire into Tradi- the credibility and authority of the other source of early Maho- ch?ef ma- metan history, viz. Traditiox. This must necessarily form the terial of chief material for the biography of the Prophet. It may be femhis-"^' possible to establish from the Coran the outlines and some of the tory details of his life, but tradition alone enables us to determine their relative position, and to weave them into the tissue of inter- mediate affairs. Mahometan tradition consists of the sayings of the friends Described and followers of the Prophet, handed down by an alleged chain of narrators to the period when they were collected, i-ecorded, and classified. The process of transmission was for the most part oral. It may be sketched as follows. After the death of Mahomet, the main employment of his Habits of followers was arms. The pursuit of pleasure, and the formal Mogig^g round of religious observances, filled up the intervals of active favoured life, but afforded scanty exercise for the higher faculties of the fraclltion mind. The tedium of long and irksome marches, and the lazy period from one campaign to another, fell listlessly upon a simple and semi-barbarous race. These intervals were occupied, and that tedium beguiled, chiefly by calling up the past in familiar conversation or more formal discourse. On what topic, then, would the early Moslems more enthusiastically descant than on the acts and sayings of that wonderful man who had called them into existence as a conquering nation, and had placed in their hands ' the keys both of this World and of Paradise ' 1 Thus the converse of Mahomet's followers would be much I-apse of about him. The majesty of his character gained greatness by vested Ma- contemplation ; and as time gradually removed him farther from fa"™et with f,. p ^ ■ superna- them, the lineaments of the mysterious mortal who was wont to tural attri- hold familiar intercourse with the messengers of heaven rose into ""^^'' dimmer but more gigantic proportions. The mind was uncon- sciously led on to think of him as endowed with supernatui^al power and surrounded by supernatural agency. Here was the material out of which Tradition grew luxuriantly. When there was at hand no standard of fact whereby these recitals might be tested, the Memory was aided by the unchecked efforts of the Imagination ; and as days rolled on imagination gained the ascendency. Such is the influence which the lapse of time would naturally Supersti- have upon the minds and the narratives of the ' Companions ' of ren^e'^j^h Mahomet — more especially of those who, being young when he which tra- XXVlll SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET intkod. ditions of Compa- 7iio?is were regarded by succeed- ing genera- tion Successors belong to latter haU" of first century died, lived long into the next generation. And then another race sprang up who had never seen the Prophet, who looked up to liis contemporaries with a superstitious reverence, and listened to their stories of him as to the tidings of a messenger from the other world. ' Is it possible, father of Abdallah ! that thou hast been with Mahomet ? ' was the question addressed by a pious Moslem to Hodzeifa, in the Mosque of Cufa ; ' didst thou really see the Prophet, and wert thou on terms of familiar intercourse with him 1 ' ' Son of my uncle ! it is indeed as thou sayest.' ' And how wert thou wont to behave towards the Prophet ? ' ' Verily, we used to labour hard to please him.' ' Well, by the Lord ! ' exclaimed the ardent listener, ' if I had been but alive in his time, I would not have allowed him to put his blessed foot upon the earth, but would have borne him on my shoulders wheresoever he listed.' On another occasion, the youthful Obeida listened to a Companion who was reciting before an assembly how the Prophet's head was shaved at the Pilgrimage, and the hair distributed amongst his followers ; the young man's eyes glis- tened as the speaker proceeded, and he interrupted him with the impatient exclamation : ' Would that I had even a single one of those blessed hairs ! I would cherish it for ever, and prize it beyond all the gold and silver in the world.' Such were the natural feelings of fond devotion with which the Prophet came to be regarded by the generation which followed the ' Com- panions.' As the tale of the Companions was thus taken up by their followers, distance began to invest it with an increasing charm, while a living faith and warm imagination were fast degenerating into superstitious credulity. This new generation is termed in the language of the patristic lore of Arabia, Successors. Here and there a Comjoanion survived till near the end of the first century ; but, for all practical purposes, they had passed from the stage long before its close. Their first Successors, who were in some measure also their contemporaries, flourished in the latter half of the same century, and some of the older may have sur- vived for a time even in the second.^ IVteanwhile a new cause was at work, which gave to the tales Companions, termed As-hdb 2'dhiun ,.)»*; lb. jljsvAisl ; their followers, or Successors, j^kXJU?. For practical purposes, the age of Companions maybe limited to the first half or three-quarters of the 7th century A.D. Thus, supposing a Companion to have reached his sixty-third year in A.D. 674, he would have been only twenty years of age at the Prophnt's death, and but ten years of age at the time of the Flight. A margin of ten or twelve additional years may be left for cases of greater age and unusual memory. CH. I. TRADITION. BIOGRAPHIES AND COLLECTIONS XXIX of Mahomet's Companions a fresh and an adventitious import- Wants of ance. The Arabs, a simple and unsophisticated race, found in •^^P-in'^li".? the Coran ample provisions for the regulation of their affairs, quired en- religious, social, and political. But the aspect of Islam soon o7^code°*of underwent a mighty change. Scarcely was the Prophet buried Coran when his followers issued forth from their barren Peninsula resolved to impose the faith of Islam upon all the nations of the earth. Within a century they had, as a first step, conquered every land that intervenes from the banks of the Oxus to the farthest shores of Northern Africa, and enrolled the great majo- rity of their peoples under the standard of the Coran. This vast empire differed widely from the Arabia of Mahomet's time ; and that which sufficed for the patriarchal simplicity of the early Arabs was found altogether inadequate for the multiplying wants of their descendants. Crowded cities, like Cufa, Cairo, and Damascus, required elaborate laws for the guidance of their courts of justice : widening political relations demanded a system of international equity : the speculations of a people before whom Literature was throwing open her arena, and the controversies of eager factions on nice points of doctrine, were impatient of the narrow limits which confined them : — all called loudly for the enlargement of the scanty and naked dogmas of the Revelation, and for the development of its rudimental code of ethics. And yet, by the first principles of Islam, the standard of Coran at Theology, Politics, and Law was the Coran alone. By the divine authorita- Revelation, Mahomet himself ruled. To it in his teaching he tive rule of always referred. From the same infallible source he professed to derive his opinions, and upon it to ground his decisions. If he, the Messenger of the Lord, and the Founder of the faith, was thus bound by the heavenly Revelation, how much more the Caliphs, his uninspired successors ! But new and unforeseen circumstances were continually arising, for which the Coran had made no provision. It no longer sufficed for the needs of society. How, then, was the deficiency to be supplied ? The diflficulty was resolved by adopting the Custom (' Sunnat ') Deficiency of Mahomet ; that is, his sayings and his jwactice, as supplemen- fi"^ g!^. tary of the Coran. The recitals regarding the life of the Prophet nat, or say- now acquired an unlooked-for value. He had never held himself practice of infallible, except when directly inspired of God ; but this new Mahomet doctrine assumed that a heavenly and unerring guidance pervaded every word and action of his prophetic life. Tradition was thus invested with the force of law, and with something of the autho- rity of inspiration. It was in gi'eat measure owing to the rise of this theory, that, during the first century, the cumbrous recitals of tradition so far outstripped the dimensions of realily. The SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET intbod. Eegendary tales of strolling story- tellers General rollections i)i' biogra- phical tra- dition prerogative now claimed for Tradition stimulated the growth of evidence, and led to the preservation of every kind of story, spurious or real, touching the Prophet. Before the close of the century it had imparted an incredible impulse to the search for traditions, and had in fact given birth to the new profession of Collectors. Men devoted their lives to the business. They travelled from city to city, and from tribe to tribe, over the whole Ma- hometan world ; sought out by personal inquiry evei'y vestige of Mahomet's biography yet lingering among the Companions, the Successors, or their descendants ; and committed to writing the tales and reminiscences with which these were wont to edify their wondering and admiring auditors. They also established in every leading city schools of tradition, in which they held lectures, and recited their Collections with the string of authorities on which they rested. Each circle of pupils took notes from their master's oral delivery ; and thus the compilations of the most popular Collectors were preserved and spread abroad. I need here only allude to another body of so-called tradition, namely, the legendary tales of the strolling minstrel or story- teller. This personage has always been popular in the East, and in the early days of Islam had special opportunities for the exercise of his vocation. As he travelled from city to city and village to village, crowds gathered around, and hung upon his lips while he recited in glowing terms some episode of the Pro- phet's life, his birth and childhood, the heavenly journey, or the battle of Bedr. Great latitude both in detail and colouring was allowed to these story-tellers, whose object was at once to enter- tain and edify. Such tales, no doubt, formed the groundwork of the biographical legends so popular all over the Mahometan -world. They are still recited on special occasions (as the birth and childhood of Mahomet in the first ten days of Rabi i.) ; and they form the staple of the modern biographies of the Prophet. It is needless to add that, being utterly uncritical, they are possessed as historical sources of no authority whatever. • It was soon found that the work of collecting and circulating authoritative traditions too closely affected the public interests and the political aspect of the empire to be left entirely to private responsibility and individual zeal. About a hundred years after Mahomet, the Caliph Omar II. issued circular orders for the formal collection of all extant tradition. The task, thus begun, continued to be vigorously prosecuted ; but we possess no authen- • See Sprenger, i. 341 ; and for samples of these legends as cuiTent at the present time, an article by myself in the Calcutta Review on Biogra- phies of Muhammad for India, No. xxxiv., Art. 6. ion \ as rule till CH. I. EFFECT ON TKADITION OF POLITICAL FACTIONS XXxi tic remains of any compilation of an earlier date than the middle or end of the second century of the Hegira. Then, indeed, ample materials had been amassed, and they have been handed down to us both in the shape of Biographies and of General collections which bear upon every imaginable point of Mahomet's character, and record the minutest incidents of his life. It thus appears that the traditions we now possess remained Tradit: generally unrecorded for at least the greater part of a century. °°*/''- It is not, indeed, asserted that some of Mahomet's sayings may rule1:th not have been noted down in writing during his lifetime, and of £,^'0^ from that source copied and propagated afterwards. But the tury"^' "^^ evidence in favour of any such record is meagre, suspicious, and contradictory. And few and uncertain as are the statements of the practice, there was a motive to invent them in the addi- tional credit with which the traditions of a Companion supposed to have committed them to writing would be invested. It is indeed hardly possible that, if the writing down of Mahomet's sayings had prevailed as a custom during his life, we should not have had frequent intimation of the fact, with notices of the writers, and special references to the nature, contents, and pecu- liar authority of their records. But no such references or quota- tions are anywhere to be found. It cannot be asserted that the Arabs trusted so implicitly to their memory that they regarded oral to be as authoritative as recorded narratives, and therefore had these existed would not have cared to notice them ; for we see that Omar was afraid lest even the Goran, believed by him to be divine and itself the subject of heavenly care, should become defective if left to the memory of man. Just as little weight, on the other hand, should be allowed to the tradition that Mahomet 'prohibited his followers from the practice of noting down his words. The truth appears to be that there was at the first no such practice ; and that the story of the prohibition, though spurious, embodies the after-thought of serious Mahometans Is to what Mahomet would have said had he foreseen the loose and fabricated stories that sprang up, and the danger his people would fall into of allowing Tradition to supersede the Goran. The risks of Tradition, in truth, were as little thought of as its value was perceived, till many years after Mahomet's death. But even admitting all that has been advanced, it would Even if prove no more than that some of the Comjmnions used to keep i^^emoranda memoranda of the Prophet's sayings. Now, unless it were pos- Sd'in sible to connect any given traditions with such memoranda, the ^l}l\^f concession would be useless. But it is not, so far as I know time' none demonstrable of any single tradition or class of traditions now in '^Z'eSlnt existence, that they were copied from such memoranda, or have tradition SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET ixtrod. Mahome- tan tradi- tion affected by bias and prejudice Historieal review ;aece!-'aary During first two (Caliphates, faction un- known A. H. 23-35. First effect on tra- dition been derived in any way from them. To prove, therefore, that some traditions were at first recorded, would not help us to a knowledge of whether any of these still exist, or to discriminate between them and such as rest on a purely oral basis. The very most that could be urged from the premises is, that our present collections viay contain some traditions founded upon a recorded original, and handed down in writing. The entire mass of extant tradition rests in this respect on the same uncertain ground, and the uncertainty of any one portion (apart from internal evidence of probability) attaches equally to the whole. In fine, it cannot, with the least show of likelihood, be confidently affirmed of any tradition that it was recorded till nearly the end of the first cen- tury of the Hegira. We see, then, how entirely Tradition, as now possessed, rests its authority on the memory of those who handed it down ; and how dependent it must have been upon their convictions and their prejudices. For, in addition to the frailty of the faculty itself rendering such evidence notoriously infirm, and to the errors and exaggerations which must distort a narrative trans- mitted orally through many witnesses, there exist in Mahometan tradition abundant indications of actual fabrication ; and there may everywhere be traced the indirect but not less powerful and dangerous influence of a latent bias, which insensibly gave colour and shape to the stories of their Prophet treasured up in the memories of Believers. To form an adequate conception of the value and defects of Tradition, the nature and extent of these influences must be thoroughly understood ; and for this purpose the reader should possess an outline of the political aspect of the empire of Islam from the death of Mahomet to the period at which our tvritten authorities commence. Such an outline I will now endeavour to supply. Mahomet survived for ten years the era of his Hfyira or flight to Medina. The Caliphates of Abu Bekr and Omar oc- cupied the thirteen succeeding years, during which the new-born empire, animated by the ruling passion of universal dominion, was unbroken by schism. The distorting medium of Faction had not yet interposed betwixt us and Mahomet. The chief tendency to be dreaded in tradition as transmitted through this period, or originating in it, is one which was then perhaps even stronger and more busy than in the approaching days of civil broil, namely, the disposition to exalt the character of Mahomet, and endow it with superhuman attributes. The weak and vacillating policy of Othman gave birth to the attack of the conspirators on Medina, which, ending in the murder of the aged Prince, caused a fatal rent in the unity of TRADITION INFLUENCED BY FACTION the empire, and left it a prey to contending factions of new com- petitors for the Caliphate. The immediate effect of this disunion was not unfavourable to the historical value of Tradition. For although each party would be tempted to colour its recollections by their own factious bias, they must still do so in the face of a hostile criticism. And, while as yet there were alive on either side eye-witnesses of the Prophet's actions, both parties would be cautious in advancing what might be liable to dispute, and eager to denounce and expose any false statement of their oppo- nents. • The Caliphate of Aly, after a troubled and doubtful existence of four and a half years, was terminated by assassination, and the opposing faction of the Omeyyads then gained undisputed supre- macy. During the long reign of Muavia, i.e. to 60 a.h., and, indeed, more or less throughout the Omeyyad rule, the influence of the reigning power directly opposed the interested dogmas of the adherents of Mahomet's immediate family. The authority of a line deriving its descent from Abu Sofian, so long the grand opponent of the Prophet, may have softened the asperity of Tradition regarding the conduct of their progenitor, while it aided in the chorus of glory to Mahomet. But it would be tempted to none of those distorting elements the object of which was to make out a divine right of succession in favour of the de- scendants of the Founder of Islam ; and which, for that end, invested their heroes with virtues, and attributed to them actions, which never had existence. Such in the process of time were the motives, and such the practice, of the partisans of the houses of Aly and of Abbas, the Son-in-law and Uncle of Mahomet. In the early part, however, of the Omeyyad succession, these in- sidious tendencies had but little room for play. The fiction of divine right, even had it been thought of, contradicted too directly the knowledge and convictions of the early Moslems to have met with support. The unqualified opposition of a large of 0th- nian's mur- der not un- favourable A.ii. 35-60 Omeyyad Caliphate favourable to truthful tradition ' Othman (when Caliph) commanded, saying : ' It is not permitted to any one to relate a tradition as from the Prophet, which he hath not ah-eady heard in the time of Abu Bekr or Omar. And verily nothing hinders me from repeating traditions of the Prophet's sajdngs (although I be one of those endowed with the most retentive memory amongst all his Com- panions) but that I have heard him say, Whoever shall repeat of me that which I have not said, his resting-place shall he in Hell\ This tradition, if well founded, gives pretty clear intimation that, even before Othman's murder, fabricated traditions were propagated by opponents to shake his authority, and that the unfortunate Caliph endeavoured toycheck the prac- tice by forbidding the currency of traditions not already known in the reign of his two predecessors. b in hrst century, never mate rially al- tered XXXIV SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHV' OF MAHOMET i>jteod. section of Mahomet's most intimate friends to Aly himself, shows how little ground there was for regarding him as the peculiar favourite of Heaven. The Khsirijites, or sectarians of the theo- cratic principle and the extreme opponents of the Omeyyads, went the length of condemning and rejecting Aly for the scan- dalous crime of parleying with the denounced Muavia. It is hence evident that the extravagant pretensions of the Alyites and Abbassides were not entertained, or even dreamt of, in the early days of the Omeyyad Caliphate. Type cast During the first century the main fabric of Tradition grew up, and assumed permanent shape. Towards its close, all surviving traditions began to be systematically sought out, and openly put on record. The type then moulded could not but be maintained, at least in its chief features, ever after. Subsequent sectaries might strive to re-cast it ; their efforts could secure but partial success, because the only standard they possessed had been formed under Omeyyad influence. In the traditional impress of this period, although the features of the Prophet were magnified into majestic and supernatural dimensions, yet the character of his friends and followers, and the general events of early Islam, were undoubtedly preserved with very tolerable accuracy, and thus a broad basis of historical truth maintained. Ahites.'inii But in the latter part of the first century an under-current i^^in'^nire ^) ^^ great volume and intensity commenced to flow. The adherents supplant of the house of Aly, beaten in the field and in all their attempts lineT^ " to dethrone the Omeyyads, were driven to other expedients ; and the key-stone of their machinations was the divine right of the family of the Prophet to both temporal and spiritual rule. They established secret associations, and sent forth emissaries in every direction, to decry the Omeyyads as godless usurpers, and canvass for the Alyite pretender of the day. These claims were ever and anon strengthened by the mysterious report that the divine Imam or Leader of Aly's race was about to step forth from his hidden recess, and stand confessed the Conqueror of the world. Such attempts, however, issued in no more permanent results than a succession of rebellions, massacres, and fruitless civil wars, until another party leagued themselves in the struggle. These were the Abbassides, who desired to raise to the throne a descendant of the Prophet's uncle, Abbas. They combined with the Alyites in denouncing as usurpers the reigning dynasty, which, though sprung from the Coreish, was but distantly related to Mahomet. By their united endeavours they at length suc- ceeded in supplanting the Omeyyads, when the Alyites found themselves over-reached, and an Abbasside Caliph was raised to the throne. CH. I. TRADITION AFFECTED BY ABBASSIDE IXFLUENCE XXXV It is not difficult to perceive how much Tradition must have And for been affected by these unwearied conspirators. Perverted tradition t^'^.o'yect was, in fact, the chief instrument employed to accomplish their and pervert ends. By it they blackened the memory of the forefathers of the *''*'^'*i°^ Omeyyads, and exalted the progenitors of the Abbassides. By it they were enabled almost to deify Aly, and to assert their prin- ciple that the right of empire vested solely in the near relatives of the Prophet, and in their descendants. For these ends no device was spared. The Coran was glossed over, and tradition coloured, distorted, and fabricated. Their operations were con- cealed. Studiously avoiding the eye of anyone likely to op- pose them, they canvassed in the dark. Thus they were safe from criticism ; and the stories and glosses of their traditional schools gradually acquired the character of prescriptive evi- dence. In the 132nd year of the Hegira, the Abbassides were installed Accession in the Caliphate ; and the factious teaching, which had hitherto j^^!!?^^^" flourished only in the distant satrapies of Persia or, when it a.h. 132 ventured near the throne, lurked in the purlieus of crowded cities, now stalked forth with the prestige of sovereignty. The Omeyyads were pursued even to extirpation, and their names and descent overwhelmed with obloquy. It was under the auspices of the first two Abbasside Caliphs Under that the earliest ]:)iography of which we have any remains was grs"™; . composed ; that, namely, of Ibn Ishac. It is cause for little graphy of wonder that this author followed in the steps of his patrons ; JS^pTle" and that, while lauding their ancestors, he sought to stigmatise the Omeyyads, and to denounce those of their forefathers who acted a prominent part in the first scenes of Islam. The fifth Caliph from this period was the famous Mamun, Intolerant who, during a reign of twenty years, countenanced with princely o/llammi. support the pursuits of literature. He effected a combination -^-h- 19S- with the followers of Aly, who had been bitterly persecuted l^y "^^ his predecessors ; ^ and he adopted with enthusiasm the peculiar teaching of the Motazelites — a sect whom the learned Weil applauds as the Rationalists of Islam. But however freely this Caliph may have derided the doctrine of the 'eternity of the Coran,' and in opposition to orthodox believers asserted the freedom of the human will, he was not a whit less bigoted or • When the Abbassides reached the throne, they cast aside the Aljite platform from which they had made their fortunate ascent. They were then obliged in self-defence to crush with an iron hand every rising of the Alyites, who found to their cost that they had become the unconscious tools for raising to power a party which had in reality as little fellow-feeling with them as with the Omeyyads. They deserved their fate. b2 XXXVl SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET Its baneful inriiience (111 tradi- tion General collections of tradition made under .similar in- fluences Two schools ; Sinnti, and Shiah intolerant than his predecessors. He not only declared Aly to be the noblest of mortals, and Muavia the basest, but he denounced and punished anyone who should venture to speak evil of the one, or attribute good to the other. He made strenuous efforts to impose his theological views upon all. He went so far as to establish even a species of inquisition, and visited with penalties those who dared to differ from him. Unhappily for us, this very reign was the busiest age of the traditional writers, and the period at which (excepting only that of Ibn Ishac) the earliest extant biographies of Mahomet Avere composed. It was under Mamun that Wakidy, Ibn Hisham, and Madaini, lived and wrote. Justly, indeed, may we grieve over this as a coincidence fraught with evil to the interests of historical truth. ' We look upon it,' says Weil, * as a great misfortune, that the very three oldest Arabic histories, which are nearly the only sources of authority for the first period of Islam, were written under the government of Mamun. At a period when every word in favour of Muavia rendered the speaker liable to death, and when all were declared outlaws who would not acknowledge Aly to be the most distin- guished of mankind, it was not possible to compose, with even the smallest degree of impartiality, a history of the Companions of Mahomet and of his successors.' But besides the biographers of Mahomet, the Collectors of general tradition, who likewise flourished at this period, came within the circle of Abbasside influence, and some of them under the direct patronage of Mamun. This class, as shown above, travelled over the whole empire, and searched after every kind of tradition which bore the slightest relation to their Prophet. The mass of narrations gathered by this lal)orious process was sifted by a pseudo-critical canon, founded on the repute of the narrators forming the chain from Mahomet downwards ; and the approved residuum was published under the authority of the Collector's name. Such collections were far more popular than the bio- graphical or historical treatises. They formed, in fact, and still form, the groundwork of the different theological schools of Islam ; and, having been used universally and studied con- tinuously from the period of their appearance, exist to the present day in an authentic and genuine shape. Copies of them al)0und in all Moslem countries ; whereas the early biogi-aphies can only be procured with difficulty. The six standard Suoitii collections were compiled exclusively under the Abbasside Caliphs, and the earliest of them partly during the reign of INIamun. The four canonical collections of the Shiahs were prepared somewhat later, and are incompara1>ly less trustworthy than the former, because their paramount object CH. I. SERVICE RENDERED BY COLLECTORS XXXvii is to build up the divine Imdmat or headship of Aly and his descendants. That the Collectors of tradition rendered an important Service service to Islam, and even to history, cannot be doubted. The by"conec- vast flood of tradition, poured forth from every quarter of the tors Moslem empire, and daily gathering volume from innumerable tributaries, was composed of the most heterogeneous elements ; without the labours of the traditionists it must soon have formed a chaotic mass in which truth and error, fact and fable, would have mingled together in undistinguishable confusion. It is a legitimate inference from the foregoing sketch, that Tradition in the Second century embraced a large element of truth. That even respectably derived traditions often contained much that was exaggerated and fabulous, is an equally sure conclusion. It is proved by the testimony of the Collectors themselves, that thousands and tens of thousands of traditions were current in their times which possessed not even the shadow of authority. The prodigious amount of base and fictitious material may immense be gathered from the estimate even of Mahometan criticism. P';c'Poi;tion m • f T^ -JTT M -r. T 01 IlctltlOUS To quote again from Dr. Weil : ' Reliance upon oral traditions, tradition at a time when they were transmitted by memory alone, and g""^^* "^ every day produced new divisions among the professors of Islam, lury opened up a wide field for fabrication and distortion. There w^as nothing easier, when required to defend any religious or political system, than to appeal to an oral tradition of the Prophet. The Rejected nature of these so-called traditions, and the manner in which the ^T^" ^^' 1 Mauome- name or Mahomet was abused to support all possible lies and tan Collec- absurdities, may be gathered most clearly from the fact that ^^^^ Bokhary, who travelled from land to land to gather from the learned the traditions they had received, came to the conclusion, after many years' sifting, that out of 600,000 traditions, ascer- tained by him to be then current, only 4,000 were authentic ! And of this selected number, the European critic is compelled, without hesitation, to reject at least one-half.' Similar appears to have been the experience of other intelligent compilers of the day. Thus Abu Daud, out of 500,000 traditions which he is said to have amassed, threw aside 495,200, and retained as trust- worthy only 4,800.' The heavenly vision which induced Bokhary to commence his Anecdote pious and herculean task is significant of the urgent necessity ^ o' ^^7 ' Even of this number a portion is spoken of as doubtful. 'I wrote down,' says Abu Daud, ' 500,000 traditions respecting the Prophet, from which I selected those, to the number of 4,800, contained in this book. I have entered herein the authentic, those which seem to he authentic, and those which are nearly so. XXXVlll SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET ixtkod. Collectors, though un- sparing in rejection of untrust- worthy tra- ditions, did nut discri- minate by any intelligent canon Political element of Islam ex- tinguished free in- quiry and real criti- cism which then existed for searching out and preserving the grains of truth scattered here and there amid the chaff. ' In a dream I beheld the Messenger of the Lord (Mahomet), from whom I seemed to be driving off the flies. When I awoke I inquired of an interpreter of dreams the meaning of my vision. It is, he replied, that thou shalt drive mcay lies far from him. This it was which induced me to compile the SahihJ ' And well, indeed, in the eyes of Mahometans, did he fulfil the hea^'enly behest ; for to this day, the Sahih Bokiiary is regarded by them as one of the most authentic treasuries of tradition. It is evident, then, that some sj^ecies of criticism was prac- tised by the Compilers ; and that, too, so unsparingly that out of every hundred traditions on an average ninety-nine were rejected. But the European reader will be grievously deceived if he at all regards such criticism, rigorous as it was, in the light of a sound and discriminating investigation into the credi- bility of the traditional elements. It was not the subject-matter but simply the 7iames responsible for it, which decided the credit of a tradition. Its authority must rest first on some Companion of the Prophet, and then on the character of each individual in the long chain of witnesses through whom it was handed down.^ If these were unimpeachable, the tradition must he received. Xo inherent improbability, however glaring, could exclude a narra- tion thus attested from its place in the authentic collections. The compilers would not venture upon the open sea of criticism, but steered slavishly by this single canon. They dared not in- quire into iaternal evidence. To have arraigned the motives of the first aujhor or subsequent rehearsers of a story, discussed its probability and brought it to the test of historical evidence, would hat been a strange and uncongenial task. The spirit of Islam would not brook free inquiry and real criticism. Im- plicit faith in Mahomet and in his followers spurned the aids of investigation and of evidence. Thus saith the Prophet of the Lord, and every rising doubt must be smothered, every question vanish. If doubts did arise, the sword was unsheathed to dispel and silence them. The temporal power was so closely welded with the dogmas of Islam, that it had no option but to enforce with a stern front and iron hand an implicit acquiescence in those dogmas. Upon the apostate Moslem the sentence of death — an award resting on the Prophet's authority — was rigorously ' Sahih means Tnie. * Out of 40,000 men, who are said to have been instrumental in hand- ing down Tradition, Bokhary and Muslim acknowledged the authority of only 2,000 by receiving their traditions. Later collectors were less s crupulous. CH. I. HONESTY OF COLLECTORS XXXIX executed by the civil power ; and between the heterodoxy of the free-thinker, and the lapse of the renegade, there existed but a vague and narrow boundary. To the combination, or rather the unity, of the spiritual and political elements in the unvarying type of Mahometan government, must be attributed the absence of candid and free investigation into the origin and early inci- dents of Islam, which so painfully characterises the Moslem mind e^ en to the present day. The faculty of criticism was annihi- lated by the sword. Upon the other hand, there is no reason to doubt that the But Col- Collectors were sincere and honest in doing that which they ^ouesthi professed to do. It may well be admitted that they sought out accom- in good faith all traditions actually current, inquired carefully -(vijat they into the authorities on which they rested, and recorded them with Professed scrupulous accuracy. The sanctions of religion were at hand to enforce diligence and caution. Thus Bokhary, who, as we have just seen, commenced his work on a supposed divine monition, was heard to say ' that he never inserted a tradition in his Sahth, until he had made an ablution, and offered up a prayer of two rakaats.' The prepossessions of the several Collectors would undoubtedly influence them in accepting or rejecting the chain of witnesses to any tradition ; but there is no reason to suppose that they at all tampered with the traditions themselves. Thus a Shiah collector would cast aside a tradition received from Ayesha through an Omeyyad channel ; whilst one of Omeyyad predilections would discard every traditional chain in the links of which he discovered an emissary of the house of Aly. But neither the one nor the other would venture to fabricate a tradi- tion ; or to tamper with a narration, whatever its purport or bearing might be, if only it were attested by a chain of unexcep- tionable names. The honesty of the compilers is warranted by the style and Guarantees contents of their works. The series of witnesses, by which each jg^jg^^f tradition is traced up through each stage of transmission to one or their other of the Prophet's Companions, is invariably prefixed ; and we °^^^ ^ cannot but admit the authority which even the names of at least the later witnesses in such a chain would impart.' These could not be feigned names, but were the names of real characters, ' A tradition is always given in the direct form of speech in which it is supposed to have been originally uttered. Thus : ' A informed me, say- ing that B had spoken to the effect that C had told him, saying D men- tioned that he heard E relate that he had listened to F, who said, I heard O inquiring of Ayeslia, " What food did the Prophet of the Lord like?'" and she replied, " Verily, he loved sweet/neats and honey, and greatly relished the pum2)'kin.''" ' xl SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET How far do the collec- tions of tradition contain ele- ments of truth ? Fragmen- tary and isolated character of each tra- dition pre- vents apjili- cation of ordinary tests many of them personages of note. The traditional collections were openly published, and the credit of the compilers would have been endangered by the fabrication of such evidence. The Collector was likewise, in general, the centre of a school of tra- ditional learning which, as it were, challenged the public to test its authorities. So far, then, as this kind of attestation can give weight to hearsay, that weight may be readily conceded. Again, the simple manner in which the most contradictory traditions are accepted, and placed side by side, is guarantee of sincerity. All that could be collected was thrown together with scrupulous fidelity. Each tradition, though the bare repetition, or possibly the direct opposite, of a dozen preceding it, is noted down un- questioned, with its special chain of witnesses ; whilst no account whatever is made of the most violent improbabilities, of incidents plainly fabulous, or even of patent contradictions.' Now this is evidence at least of honest design. Pains would otherwise have been taken to exclude or soften down opposing statements ; and we should not have found so much allowed to be credible tradition, which either on the one hand or on the other must have crossed the views and prejudices of the compiler. If we suppose design, we must suppose at the same time a less even- handed admission of contrary ti^aditions. Conceding, then, the general honesty of the Collectors in making their selection, upon an untenable principle indeed, yet bond fide from existing materials, let us now turn to their selected compilations, and inquire whether they contain any authentic elements of the life of Mahomet ; and if so, how and to what extent these have become commingled with adventitious or erroneous matter. In the first place, how far does the present text afford ground for confidence that its contents are identical with the supposed evidence originally given by contemporary witnesses 1 To place the case in the strongest point of view, we shall suppose a class of traditions purporting to have been written dotcn by the Com- panions, and to have been recorded afresh at every successive stage of transmission. There is a peculiarity in traditional com- position which, even upon this supposition, would render it always of doubtful authority ; namely, that each tradition is short and abrupt, and completely isolated from every other. The isolation extends not simply to the traditions themselves as finally com- piled by the Collector, but to their whole history and descent ' The biographers of Mahomet, when they relate contradictory or vary- ing narratives, sometimes add an expression of their own opinion as to which is preferable. They also sometimes mark doubtful stories by the addition : ' The Lord knoweth whether this be false or true.' CH. I. FRAGMENTARY CHARACTER OF TRADITION xH throughout the long period preceding their collection. At every point each tradition was completely detached and independent ; and this, coupled with the generally brief and fragmentary cha- racter of the statements made in them, deprives us of the checks and critical appliances which are brought to bear on a continuous composition. There is little or no context whereby to j udge the soundness of a tradition. Each witness in the chain, though pro- fessing simply to repeat the words of the first narrator, is in effect an independent authority ; and we cannot tell how far, and at what stages, variations may or may not have been allowed, or fresh matter interpolated by any of them. Even were we satis- fied of the integrity of all the witnesses, we are unacquainted with their views of the liberty with which tradition might be treated. The style of the narrations marks them for the most part as communicated, at the first, with the freedom of social conversation, and with much of the looseness of hearsay ; and a similar informality and looseness may have attached to any of the steps m their subsequent transmission. Awain, each tradition was not only isolated, but was held by Each tra- ° .,...,,. 1 1 . I dition was the collectors to be an mchvisiole umt, and as such received or regarded as reiected. If the traditional links were unexceptionable, the a unit, to be 7 1 1 T • rm accepted or tradition must be accepted as it stood, whole and entire, ihere rejected as could be no sifting of component parts. Whatever in each a whole tradition might be true, and whatever might be fictitious, — the probable and the fabulous, — composed an indissoluble whole ; so that the acceptance or rejection of one portion involved the acceptance or rejection of every portion, as equally credible or undeserving of credit. The power of eradicating interpo- lated words, or of excluding such parts of a tradition as were evidently unfounded or erroneous, was thus renounced. The good seed and the tares were reaped together, and the latter vastly predominated. Such is the uncertainty that would attach to tradition, even Exclusive if we should concede that it had been recorded from the first, terdepiives But (as we have seen) there is no ground for believing that the early tra- , . . 1 T • ^ i? . ^ dition 01 practice of writing down traditions was observed m the first days check of Islam, or became general until many years, perhaps the greater ^^ainst^^^ part of a century, had elapsed. The existence of an early record fabrication would have afforded some check ; but as the facts stand, there is no check at all. A record would have at least fixed the terms in which the evidence was given ; whereas tradition purely oral is affected by the character and habits, the associations and the prejudices, of each witness in the chain of repetition. No pre- caution could hinder the commingling in oral tradition of mistaken or fabricated matter with what at the first may have xlii SOURCES FOR THE I3I0GRAPHY OF MAHOMET Tradition as tested by Coran Main historical and bio- graphical outlines agree Disagree- ment in certain im- portant points, as power to work miracles Perplexing alternative been trustworthy evidence. The flood-gates of error, exaggera- tion, and fiction were thrown wide open ; and we need only look to the experience of every country and every age, to be satisfied that but little dependence can be placed on the recital of historical incident, and none whatever upon supernatural tales, conveyed for any length of time through such a channel. That Islam forms no exception to the general principle is amply proved by the puerile extravagances and splendid fabrications which adorn or disfigure the pages of its early history. The critical test applied by the Collectors had no reference whatever to these pregnant sources of error ; and, though it may have rejected multitudes of the more recent fabrications, it failed to place the earlier tradi- tions upon any certain basis, or to supply the means of discerning between the actual and the fictitious, the offspring of the imagi- nation and the sober evidence of fact. It remains to examine the traditional collections with re- ference to their contents and internal probability. And here we fortunately have in the Coran a standard of comparison which has been already proved a genuine and contemporary document. We find accordingly that in its main historical outlines the Coran is at one with the received traditional collections. It notices, either directly or incidentally, those topics which, from time to time, most interested Mahomet ; and with these salient points, tradition is found upon the whole to tally. The state- ments and allusions of this description in the Coran, though themselves comparatively few, are linked more or less with a vast variety of important incidents which refer as well to the Prophet individually and his domestic relations, as to public events and the progress of Islam. A just confidence is thus im- parted that a large amount of historical truth has been conveyed by tradition. Upon the other hand, there are subjects in which the Coran is at variance with Tradition. For example, there is no position more satisfactorily established by the Coran than that Mahomet did not in any part of his career perform miracles, or lay claim to the power of performing them. Yet tradition abounds with miraculous acts belying the plain declaration of the Coran. Moreover, such miracles, if at all based on fact, would undoubtedly have been mentioned in the Coran itself, which omits nothing, however trivial, calculated to strengthen the prophetical claim. Here, therefore, in matters of simple narration and historical incident, we find tradition discredited by the Coran. The result of the comparison, then, is precisely that already arrived at, a priori, from the foregoing historical review. But though it strengthens our conclusion, the comparison does not TRADITION MINGLED WITH FICTION xliii .afford us much help in the practical treatment of Tradition itself . Excepting in a limited number of events, it furnishes us with no rule for eliminating falsehood. Facts which we know from the Coran to be well founded, and tales which we know to be fabri- cated, are indiscriminately woven together; and of both the fabric and colour are so uniform, that we are at a loss for any means of distinguishing the one from the other. The biographer of Mahomet continually runs the risk of substituting for the realities of history some puerile fancy or extravagant invention. In striving to avoid this danger he is exposed to the opposite peril of rejecting as pious fabrication what may in reality be important historical fact. It is, indeed, the opinion of Sprenger that ' although the O^^^^lf nearest view of the Prophet which we can obtain is at a distance jq^ favour- of one hundred years,' and although this long vista is formed of ■•^^e^to tra- a medium exclusively Mahometan, yet our knowledge of the bias of the narrators ' enables us to correct the media, and to make them almost achromatic' The remark is true to some extent ; but its full application would carry us much beyond the truth. The difficulties of the task cannot without danger be underrated. To bring to a right focus the various lights of Tradition, to reject those that are fictitious, to restore to a proper direction the rays reflected by a false and deceptive surface, to calculate the extent of aberration, and make due allowance for a thousand disturbing influences ; — this is indeed a work of entanglement and compli- cation, which would require for its perfect accomplishment a finer discernment, and deeper analytic power, than human nature can boast. Nevertheless, it is right that an attempt should be made, Attempt to and it is possible that, by a comprehensive consideration of the discrimiui- subject, and careful discrimination of the several sources of error, na<^i°? we may reach at the least a fair approximation to the truth, liable in With this view I will endeavour to lay down some principles tradition which may prove useful to the inquirer in separating the true from the false in Mahometan tradition. The grand defect in the traditional evidence consists in its Traditional being wholly ex parte. It is the statement of witnesses, in which ex parte. the license of partiality and self-interest is unchecked by any Tests must •^ "^ . . ., ,. . depend on opposing party, and the sanction even of a neutral audience is internal wanting. But what is thus defective in the process, may in some measure be corrected or repaired by close scrutiny of the record. By analysing the evidence, and considering the position and qualifications of the witnesses, we may find internal grounds for credit or for doubt ; while, in reference to some classes of state- ments, it may even appear that a Moslem public would itself examma- tion xliv SOURCES FOR TUE I5I0GRAPHY OF MAHOMET Two divi- sions ; pe- riod and subject of events nar- rated I. PkI!IOI>. /'/rs^— Be- fore Maho- met's entry on public life. Wit- nesses younger, most of them much younger, than Ma- homet Personal knowledge cannot go farther back than his youth at earlic>t Attention not attract- ed till Ma- homet had publicly assumed prophetic office supply the place of an impartial censor. In this view, the points on which the probability of a tradition will mainly depend appear to hejirst, whether there existed a bias in the mind of the nation at large on the subject narrated ; .seco7id, whether there are traces of any special interest, prejudice, or design, on the part of the narrator j and third, whether the narrator had opportunity for personally knowing the facts. These topics will perhaps best be discussed by considering the Period to which a narration relates, and then the Subject of which it treats. I. A. — The PEiiiOD to which a tradition purports to refer is a point of vital importance. The original authors of all reliable tradition were the Companions of Mahomet himself. But Mahomet was above threescore years old when he died ; and few of his then surviving Companions, from whom tradition has come down, were of equal age, — hardly any of them older. In propor- tion to their years, the number of aged men was small and the period short during which they outli\ od Mahomet ; and these are precisely the considerations by which their influence, in the forma- tion of tradition, must be limited also. The great majority were young ; and in proportion to their youth was the number that survived longest, and gave the deepest impress to tradition.' We may, then, fix the term of Mahomet's own life as the extreme backward limit within which our witnesses range themselves. In other words, we have virtually no original witnesses who lived at a period anterior to Mahomet ; few, if any, were born before him ; the great majority, many years after him. They are not, there- fore, trustworthy authorities for events preceding Mahomet's birth, or for details of his childhood ; few of them, even, for the incidents of his youth. They could not by any possibility possess a personal knowledge of these things ; and to admit that they gained their information at second-hand is to impair the value of their testimony as that of contemporary witnesses. B. — Again, the value of evidence depends upon the degree in which the facts were noticed by the witness at the time of their occurrence. If attention was not specially attracted, it would be in vain to expect a full and careful report ; and after the lapse ' Abu Bekr, for instance, was within two years of Mahomet's age; but then he survived him only two-and-a-half years. Most of the elderly Companions either died a natural death, or were killed in action before the practice of tradition came into vogue. Thus "Wakidy : 'The rejison why many of the cliicf men of the Companions have left few traditions, is that they died before there was any necessity for referring to them. The chiefest among the Companions, Abu Bekr, Otlinian, Tallia, kc, gave forth fewer traditions than others. There did not i»suf from them ain/- thiiKj Ithe the number of traditions that did from the younger Comjianions.' CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION xlv of many years, the utmost that could be looked for would be a bare general outline. This principle applies forcibly to the biography of Mahomet up to the time when he became the pro- minent leader of a party. Before, there was nothing remarkable about him. A poor orphan, a quiet, inoffensive citizen, he was perhaps of all the inhabitants of Mecca the least likely to have the eyes of his neighbours turned upon him, and their memory and imagination busy in noting the events of his life, and con- juring up anticipations of coming greatness. The remark may be extended, not merely to the era when he first laid claim to inspiration (for that excited the regard of a few only among his earliest adherents) ; but to the entire interval preceding the period when he stood forth pitblidy to assume the prophetic rank, oppose polytheism, and enter into open collision with the chiefs of Mecca. Then, indeed, he began to be narrowly watched ; and thenceforward the Companions of the Prophet are not to be distrusted on the score at least of insufficient attention. C. — It follows that, in traditions affected by either of the fore- For events going rules, circumstantiality will be a strong token of fabri- Mahomet's cation. And we shall do well to adopt the analogous canon of public life Christian criticism, that any tradition whose oiigin is not strictly stantialitv contemporary with the facts related is worthless exactly in pro- ground of portion to the particularity/ of detail.^ This will relieve us of a vast number of extravagant stories, in which the minutiae of close narrative and sustained colloquy in early passages of the Pro- phet's life are preserved with the pseudo-freshness of yesterday. D. — It will, however, be just to admit an exception for the Exception main outlines of Mahomet's life, which under ordinary circum- ^f j^^^q^o- stances his friends and acquaintance would naturally remember outlines of or might learn from himself, and would thus be able in after days jjf^ °™^ ^ to call up with tolerable accuracy. Such, for instance, are the death of his father, his nurture as an infant by the Beni Sad, his mother's journey with him to Medina, and the expedition with his uncle to Syria while yet a boy. A still wider exception must Public be allowed in favour of public personages and national events, even ^^^"**' preceding Mahomet's birth ; because the attention of the people at large would be actively directed to these topics, while the pa- triarchal habits of the Arabs and their spirit of clanship would ' The renaarks of Alford are strikingly in point : ' As usual in tradi- tional matter, on our advance to later writers, we find more and more par- ticular accounts given ; the year of John's life, the reigning Emperor, &c., under which the Gospel was written.' But Christian traditionists were mere tyros in the art of discovering such particulars in comparison with Moslems, at the talisman of whose pen distance vanishes, and even cen- turies deliver up the minutest details which they had engulfed. xlvi SOURCES FOR THE lilOGRArHV OF MAHOMET ismoD. And na- tional liis- torv Secoiii/ period. — From en- trance on public life to takin.i^ of Mecca, I.e. n.H. 10 to A. II. 8 be propitious to tenacious recollection. Thus the conversation of Mahomet's grandfather with Abraha, the Abyssinian invader, is far more likely to be founded in fact than any of the much later conversations which ^lahomet himself is said to have had with the monks on either of his journeys to Syria ; and yet the leading facts regarding these journeys there is no reason to doubt. Under the same exception will fall those genealogical and his- torical facts, the preservation of which for several centuries by the memory alone, is so wonderful a phenomenon in the story of Arabia. Here poetry, no doubt, aided the retentive faculty. The rhapsodies of the bard were at once caught up Ijy his admiring clan, and soon passed into the mouths even of the children. In such poetry were preserved the names of the chieftains, their feats of bravery, their glorious lilierality, the unparalleled nobility of their breeds of camel and horse. Many of these odes became national, and carried with them the testimony, not of the tribe alone, but of the whole Arab family. Thus poetry, the passion for genealogical and tribal reminiscences, and the singular capa- city of imprinting them indelibly on the memory for generations, have secured to us the interwoven details of many centuries with a minuteness and particularity that would e.xcite suspicion were not their reality in many instances established by other evidence and by internal coincitlence.' E. — A second marked section of time is that which intervenes between jNIahomet's entrance on public life and the taking of Mecca. Here, indeed, we have two opposing parties, marshalled against each other in mortal strife, whose statements might have been a check one upon the other. But during this interval (i.e. for some 18 years), or very shortly after, one of the parties came wholly to an end. Its chief leaders were nearly all killed in ' M. Caussin de Perceval who, with incredible labour, has souLrht out and arrantred these facts into a uniform history, thus expresses his esti- mate of the Arab genealogical traditions : ' J'ai dit que toutes les g6n6alo- gies Arabes n'6taient point certaines ; on en trouve en erfet un grand nombre d'6videmraent incompletes. Mais il en est aussi boaucoup d'authen- tiques, et qui remontent, sans lacune probable, jusqu'ii environ six sitcles avant Mahomet. C'est un ph6nom6ne vraimcnt singulicr chez un pcuple inculte et en g6n6ral dtranger il Tart de recrituro, commc I'^taicnt les Arabes, que cettc fid61it^ a garder le souvenir des ancetres. EUe prenait sji source dans un sentiment de liert6, dans I'estime qu'ils faisaient de leur noblesse. Les noms de aieux, grav6s dans la memoire des enfants, t'taient les archives des families. A ces noms se rattachaient nficessairement quelques notions sur la vie des individus, sur les ^vencments dans lesquels ils avaient figure ; et c'est ainsi que les traditions sc perpetuaicnt d'uge en CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION xlvii battle, and the remainder went over to the victors. We have No survi- therefore no surviving evidence whatever on the side of the ^ig^^g o„ Prophet's enemies. Not a single advocate was left to explain s\de of their actions, often misrepresented by hatred, or to rebut the or against accusations of Mahomet and his followers. On the other hand, ^^^l^'!"*^* we have no witnesses of any kind against Mahomet and his party, party whose one-sided assertions might perhaps otherwise have been often liable to question. The intemperate and unguarded lan- guage of the fathers of tradition is sufficient proof that, in speak- ing of adversaries, their opinion was seldom impartial, and their judgment not always unerring. F. — It may be urged in reply that the great body of the To what hostile Meccans who eventually went over to Islam would still Meccan form a check upon any material misrepresentation of their party. ^^^^' ^? It may be readily admitted that they did form some check on corpoVated the perversion of public opinion in matters not vitally connected ^^^'^ ^«^' with the credit of Islam and its Founder. Their influence would proved a also tend to preserve the reports of their own individual actions, ^^grepje""^ and perhaps those of their friends and relatives, in as favourable sentation a light as possible. But this influence at best was partial. It must be borne in mind that the enemies of the Prophet who now joined his ranks acquired at the same time, or very shortly after, all the esprit de corps of Islam.' And, long before the stream of tradition commenced, these very men had learned to look back upon the heathenism of their own career at Mecca with horror and contempt. The stains of a Believer's previous life were, on his conversion, washed away, and imparted no tarnish to his subsequent character. He had sinned ' ignorantly in unbelief ; ' but now, both in his own view and in the eyes of his com- rades, he was another man. He might now, therefore, well speak of his mad opposition to ' the Prophet of the Lord ' and the divine message, with as hearty a reprobation as others ; nay, the violence of reaction might make his language even stronger. Such are the witnesses who constitute our only check upon the ex-jjarte story told of the long struggle with the idolaters of Mecca. G. — It is therefore incumbent upon us, in estimating the Evidence folly, injustice, and cruelty of the Unbelievers at Mecca, to opponents make much allowance for the hostile tendency of the evidence. ^ Xt On the other hand, looking to the merit of suffering for the bo received faith, we may suspect exaggeration in the tales of hardship and ^^^ ^^^^' persecution endured by Believers at their hands. Above all, ' Thus Abu Sofian, leader iu the last stage of opposition to Mahomet, became shortly after a zealous Moslem, and fought under the banners of his own son in the first Syrian campaign. xlviii SOURCES FOR THE lilOGKAPHY OF MAHOMET So also with Jew- ish, Chris- tian, and Pagan tribes of Arabia Similar considera- tions applj' to disaffec- ted inhabi- tants of Medina the history of those who died in unbelief, before the conquest of Mecca, and under the ban of Mahomet, must be subject to a rigid criticism. For such men as Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab, hated and cursed by the Prophet, what Believer dare be the advocate 1 To the present day, the hearty ejaculation, Tfie Lord II. Slb- JECT-MAT- TER ; per- sonal, parti/, or national, bias 1. Personal ambition of being asso- ciated with Mahomet curse mm / is linked by every Moslem with the name of those ' enemies of the Lord, and of his Prophet.' What voice would be raised to correct the pious exaggerations of the faithful in the stories of their execrable deeds, or to point out just causes of provocation which they may have received ? Impious attempt, and mad perversity ! Again and again was the sword of Omar brandished over the neck of a luckless offender for conduct far more excusable and far less offensive to Islam. n. — Precisely similar limitations must be brought to bear on the evidence against the Jewish inhabitants in the vicinity of Medina, whom Mahomet either expatriated, brought over to his faith, or utterly extirpated. The various Arab tribes also, whether Christian or Pagan, whom Mahomet at different times of his life attacked, come more or less under the same category. I. The same considerations apply also, though in a modified form, to the ' Hypocrites,' or disaffected population of Medina, who covertly opposed the claim of Mahomet to temjioral authority over that city. The Prophet did not wage the same war of defiance with these as he did with his Meccan opponents, but sought to counteract their influence by skilful tactics. Neither was this class so suddenly rooted out as the idolaters of Mecca ; they rather vanished gradually before the increasing authority of Islam. Still its leaders are held in abhorrence by the tradi- tionists, and the historian must keep a je ilous eye on the testi- mony against them. II. — The SUBJECT-MATTER of ti\idition itself, both as regards the motives of its authors and the views of early Moslem society at large, will help us to an estimate of its credibility. The chief aspects in which this argument may be treated refer to per.'^onal, 'party, and national bias. A. — /;zc?it5w/?irt^ prepossession and self-interested motives would cause exaggeration, false colouring, and even invention. Besides the more obvious cases falling under this head, there is a fertile class which originates in the ambition of the narrator to be associated with ]\Iahomet. The name of the Prophet threw a halo around every oliject connected with it ; while his friend- ship imparted a rank and dignity acknowledged by the universal voice of Islam. It is difficult to conceive the reverence and court enjoyed by his widows, friends, and servants. Interminable inquiries were put to them ; and their responses received with CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION xlix implicit deference. All who possessed personal knowledge of the Prophet, and especially those who had been honoured with his familiar acquaintance, were admitted by common consent into the envied circle of Moslem aristocracy ; and many a picturesque scene is sketched by traditionists of the crowds which listened to these men as they delivered their testimony in the Mosques of Cufa or Damascus. The sterling value of such qualifications would induce imitation. Some who may have had but a distant and superficial knowledge of Mahomet would be tempted, by the consideration it imparted, to counterfeit a more perfect intimacy ; and the endeavour to support their equivocal position by parti- cularity of detail would lead the way to loose and unfounded narratives of the life and character of the Prophet. Equally misleading was the ambition, traceable throughout the traditions of Companions, of being closely connected with any of the sup- posed mysterious visitations or supernatural actions of Mahomet. To have been noticed in the Revelation was the highest honour that mortal man could aspire to ; and in any way having been linked with the heavenly phases of the Prophet's life, reflected a divine lustre on the fortunate aspirant.' Thus a premium was put upon the invention or exaggeration of superhuman incideiats. B. — Under the same head are to be classed the attempts of Exaggera- narrators to exaggerate their labours and exjoloits, and to mul- gou^l merit tiply their losses and perils in the service of the Prophet. The '^^, tbe ser- tendency thus to appropriate a special, and often an altogether Mahomet unwan-antable, merit is obvious on the part of many of the Companions.^ A reference to this tendency may even occa- ' Thus Ayesha's' party having been long delayed when with the Pro- phet on a certain expedition, the verse permitting the substitution of sand for lustration was in consequence revealed. The honour conferred upon lier father by this indirect connection with a divine revelation is thus eulogised : ' This is not the least of the divine favours poured out upon you, ye house of Abu Bekr 1 ' - We have many examples of the glory and honour lavished upon those who had suffered persecution. Thus when Omar was Caliph, Khobab showed him the scars of the stripes he had received from the un- believing Meccans twenty or thirty years before. Omar seated him upon his throne, saying that there was but one man more worthy of this favour than Khobub (as having been also tortured), namely, Bilal. But Khobab replied : ' And why is he more worthy ? He had his friends among the idolaters whom the Lord raised up to help him. But I had none. I well remember one day they kindled a fire, and threw me therein upon my back ; and a man stamped with his foot upon my chest, my back being all 1 he while upon the ground. And when they uncovered my back, lo ! it was blistered and white.' SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET Small chance of exaggera- tions and lictions being checked 2. Party. Party tra- ditions come into general currency sionally tend to exculpate the Prophet from questionaljle actions. For example, Ibn Omeyya, in narrating his mission by Mahomet to assassinate Abu Sofian, so magnifies the dangers and exploits of his adventure as might have involved that dark mission itself in suspicion, were there not collateral proof to support it. It may be objected, — Would not untrue or exaggerated tales like these receive a check from other parties, free from the interested motives of the narrator ? They would to some extent. But to prove a negative position is generally difficult, and it would not often be attempted without some strong impelling cause, especially in the early spread of Islam when the public mind was in the highest degree impressible and credulous. Such traditions, then, were likely to be opposed only when they inter- fered with the private claims of others, or ran counter to public opinion, in which case they would fall into discredit and disuse Otherwise they would be carried down upon the traditional stream of mingled legend and truth, and with it lind a place in the unquestioning record of the Second century. c. — We have undoubted evidence that the bias of party effected a deep and abiding impress upon tradition. Where this spirit tended to produce or embellish a tale adverse to the inter- ests of another party, and the denial of the facts involved nothing prejudicial to the honour of Islam, endeavour might be made to rebut the fictitious statement, and the discussion so produced would subserve the purity of tradition. But this could seldom occur. The tradition would often affect that section alone in whose favour it originated, and therefore would not be contro- verted. The story would probably at the first be confined within the limits of the party which it concerned, and no opportunity afforded for its contradiction until it had taken root and ac- quired a prescri.ptive claim. Under any circumstances, the consi- The same principle led the Moslems to magnify the hardships which Mahomet himself endured ; such as Ayesha's strange exaggeration of the Prophet's poverty and frequent starvation, which she carries so far as to say that she had not even oil to burn in her chamber while Mahomet lay dying there. The subsequent affluence and luxury of the conquering nation, also, led them by reaction fondly to contrast it with their former simplicity and want, and even to weep at the remembrance. Thus of the same Kiiobab it is recorded: He had his winding-sheet made ready of fine Coptic cloth ; he compared it with the wTetched pall of Hamza (killed at Ohod), and contrasted his own poverty when he possessed not a dinar, with his present condition : ' and now I iiave in my chest by me in the house 40,000 pieces of gold. Verily, I fear that the sweets of the present worhl have hastened upon us. Our companions have received their reward in Paradise ; but truly I dread lest my reward consist in these benefits I have obtained after tiieir ilcparture.' CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION ll derations advanced in the preceding paragraph are equally appli- tales have come down to us, owing their existence to pai'ty spirit. By the bias of party is not to be understood simply the influ- ence of faction, but likewise the partiality and prejudice of lesser circles forming the ramifications of Mussulman society. The former we are less in danger of overlooking. Where the full development of faction laid bare the passions and excesses to which it gave rise, the reader is on his guard against misrepre- sentation ; he receives with caution the darkened or resplendent phases of such characters as Aly and Abbas, Muavia and Abu So flan. But, though on a less extensive scale, the influences of tribe, family, and the smaller associations of party clustering around the several heroes of Islam, were equally real and efiec- tive. The spirit of clanship, which ran so high among the Arabs that Mahomet endeavoured in vain at Medina to supplant it by a so-called ' Brotherhood,' perpetuated the confederacies and antipathies of ante-Mahometan Arabia far down into the annals of Islam, and often exerted, as in the rivalries of the Cays and Moclhar Clans, a potent influence upon the destinies of the Cali- phate itself. It cannot be doubted that these combinations and prejudices imparted a strong and often a deceptive hue to the sources of tradition. As an example, may be specified the rivalry which led the several families or parties to claim the earliest con- verts to Islam until in the competition they arrived at the conclu- sion, and consequently propagated the tradition, that some of their patrons or ancestors were Moslems before Mahomet himself. D. — We now come to the class of motives incomparably the most dangerous to the purity of Tradition, namely, those which were comnnon to the whole Moslem body. In the previous cases the bias was confined to a fragment, and the remainder of the nation might form a check upon the fractional aberration. But here the bias was universal, pervading the entii-e mediimi through which we have received tradition, and leaving us, for the correc- tion of its divergencies, no check whatever. To this class must be assigned all traditions the object of which is to glorify Mahomet, and to invest him with supernatural attributes. Although in the Coran the Prophet disclaims the power of working miracles, yet he implies that there existed a continuous intercourse between himself and the agencies of the other world. The whole Coran, indeed, assumes to be a message from the Almighty, communicated through Gabriel. Besides being the medium of revelation, that favoured angel is often re- ferred to as bringing directions from the Lord for the guidance of his Prophet in the common concerns of life. Familiar in- C 2 Prej udicial influence of such asso- ciations as Tribe, Familj', Patron, &c. .3. Xational bias ; com- mon to whole of Islam ; therefore most fatal Tendency to exalt Mahomet, and ascribe to him su- pernatural attributes Hi SOURCES FOR THK UHJGKArilY OF MAHOMET Dimculty of dlscri- minatin^ what ori(.'i nflU'd with Mahomot in sticli tales tercourse with heavenly messengers, thus countenanced by the Prophet, was implicitly believed by his followers, and led them even during his lifetime to regard him with superstitious awe. On a subject so impalpable to sense and so congenial with imagination, it may be fairly assumed that reason had little share in controlling the fertile productions of fancy ; that the conclusions of his susceptible and credulous followers far ex- ceeded the premises granted by Mahomet ; that even simple facts were construed by excited faith as pregnant with supernatural power and uneart hly companionship ; and that, after the object of their veneration had passed from their sight, fond devotion perpetuated and enhanced the fascinating legends. If the Prophet gazed into the heavens, or looked wistfully to the right hand or to the left, it was Gabriel with whom he was holding mysterious converse. Passing gusts raised a cloud from the sandy track ; the pious Believer exulted in the conviction that it was the dust of the Archangel with his mounted squadrons scouring the plain, as they went before them to shake the foundations of some doomed fortress. On the field of Bedr, three stormy blasts swept over the marshalled army ; again, it was Gabriel with a thou.sand horse flying to the succour of Mahomet, while IMichael and Seraphil each with a like angelic troop wheeled to the right and to the loft of the jNIoslem front. Nay, the very dress and martial uniform of these helmed angels are detailed by the earliest and most trustworthy biographers with as much nn'ive/e as if they had been veritable warriors of flesh and blood ; while the heads of the enemy were seen to drop olf before the jNIoslem swords had even touched them, because the unseen scimitars did the work more swiftly than the grosser steel of Medina ! Such is a specimen of the vein of legend and extravagance which runs throughout even the purest sources of tradition. It will frequently be a question, extremely diflicult to decide, what portions of these supernatural stories either originated in Mahomet himself, or received his countenance ; and what por- tion owed its birth, after he was gone, to the excited imagina tioii of his followers. No doubt, facts have not seldom been adorned or distorted by a superstitious fancy. The subjective conceptions of the fond believer have been retlected back upon the biography (»f the I'ropliet, and have encircled even the reali- ties of his life, like the flgures of our saints, with a lustrous halo. The false colouring and flctitious light so deluge the picture, as often to place its details altogether beyond the reach of analytical criticism.' ' Tlio (.•orpsu of Sail lay in an ciiiiity room. Mahomet enterod alonf. picking bis steps carefully, a.s if he walked in the midst of men seated CH. 1. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION liii E. — To the same universal desire of glorifying their Prophet, must be ascribed the miraculous tales with which even the earliest biographies abound. They are such as the following : A tree from a distance moves towards the Prophet, ploughing up the earth as it advances, and then similarly retires ; oft- repeated attempts at murder are miraculously averted ; distant occurrences are instantaneously revealed, and future events foretold ; a large company is fed from victuals hardly adequate for the supply of a single person ; prayer draws down immediate showers from heaven, or causes their equally sudden cessation. A frequent class of miracles is for the Prophet to touch the udders of dry goats which immediately distend with milk ; or to make floods of water well up from parched fountains, gush forth from empty vessels, or issue from betwixt his fingers. With respect to all such stories, it is sufficient to say that they are opposed to the clear declarations and pervading sense of the Coran. It by no means, however, follows that, because a tradition re- lates a miracle, the collateral incidents are thereby discredited. It may be that the facts were fabricated to illustrate or embellish a popular miracle ; but it is also possible that the miracle was invented to adorn, or to account for, well-founded facts. In the former case, the supposed facts are worthless ; in the latter, they may be true and valuable. In the absence of other evidence, the main drift and apparent design of the narrative is all that can here guide the critic. F. — The same propensity to fabricate the marvellous must be borne in mind when we peruse the childish tales and extravagant legends put by tradition into the mouth of Mahomet. The Coran, it is true, imparts a far wider basis of likelihood to the narration by Mahomet of such tales, than to his assumption of miraculous powers. When the Prophet ventured to place such fanciful fictions as those of ' Solomon and the Genii,' of ' The Seven Sleepers,' or ' The Adventures of Dzul Carnein,' in the pages of a divine Revelation, to what puerilities might he not stoop in the familiarity of social converse ! It must, on the other hand, be remembered that Mahomet was taciturn, laconic, and reserved, and is therefore not likely to have given forth more than an infinitesimal part of the masses of legend and fable which tradi- Mi racks That it mentions a miracle does not altogether discredit a tradition Tales and how far ascribable to Ma- homet closely on the ground. On being asked the cause, he replied : • True, there were no men in the room, but it was so tilled with angels, all seated on the ground, that I found nowhere to sit down, until one of the angels spread out his wing for me on the ground, and I sat thereon.' It is almost impossible to say what in this is Mahomet's own, and what has been concocted for him. Other supernatural tales connected with the same occasion will be seen below. liv SOURCES FOR THE HIOGRAPHV OF MAHOMET inthod. Supposed anticipa- tions of Mahomet by Jews and Cliris- tiaiis Anticip! tions of Islam tion represents as gatliered from his lips. These are probably the growth of successive ages, each of which added its contribu- tion to the nucleus of the Prophet's pregnant words, if indeed there ever was such a nucleus at all. For example, the germ of the elaborate pictures and gorgeous scenery of the Prophet's heavenly journey lies in a very short and simple recital in the Coran. That he subsequently expanded this germ, and enter- tained or edified his Companions with the minutiae which have been brought down to us by tradition, is possihlp. But it is also possible, and (by the analogy of Mahomet's miracles) far more probable, that the vast majority of these fancies have no other origin than the heated imagination of the early Mussulmans.' G. — Connected indirectly with Mahomet's life, but more im- mediately with the foundations of Islam, is another class of narrations which would conjure up on all sides prophecies regard- ing the Founder of the faith and anticipations of his approach. These probably, for the most part, depended upon some general declaration or incidental remark of the Prophet himself, which his enthusiastic followers deemed themselves bound to prove and illustrate. For example, the Jews are often accused in the Coran of wilfully rejecting INIahomet, although, in point of fact, ' they recognised him as they did one of their own sons.' Tradition provides us, accordingly, with an array of Jewish rabbins and Christian monks, who found it written in their books that the last of the Prophets was at this time about to arise at Mecca, and asserted that not only his name, but appearance, manners, and character were therein depicted to the life, so that recognition could not but be certain and instantaneous ; and among other particulars, that the very city of Medina was named as the place wliere he would take refuge from the persecution of his people. Again, the Jews 'are in the Coran accused of grudgiiig that a Prophet should arise among the Arabs, and that their nation should thus be robbed of its prophetic dignity ; and so, in fit illustration, we have repeated stories of Mahomet having been recognised by the rabbins, and of attempts maile by them to kill him ; and thi.s, too, long before he had any suspicion himself that he was to be a prophet, nay dm-in;/ hv< vcri/ infancij ! It is enough to have alluded to this class of fabrications. II. — Such unblushing inventions will lead us to treat with caution the whole series of tales in which it is pretendetl that Mahomet and his religion wcvg J'orisliadoirt'd , so that pious men ' Sprenger holds (hnt tlie narrativo. in its main features, emanated from Mahoraot liiinsclf, because (sjiys he) Thert- is no event in his life, on n'hioh wr hare more numerous and genuine traditioTis than on his nightly journey. The fact is significant, but the conclusion doubtful. CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION Iv anticipated, long before the Prophet arose, many of the peculiar rites and doctrines of Islam. It was a fond conceit of Mahomet that Islam is as old as Adam, and has been from the beginning the faith of all good men, who looked forward to him as the Prophet charged with winding up all previous dispensations. It was therefore natural for his credulous followers to carry out this idea, and to invest the memory of any serious-minded man or earnest inquirer who preceded Mahomet with some of the dawn- ing rays of the divine eflfulgence about to burst upon the world. I. — To the same spirit we may attribute the palpable History of endeavour to make Mahometan tradition and the legends of and^earlv Arabia tally with the Scriptures of -tJie Old Testatnent, and toith Arabia, " Jeivish tradition. This canon has little application to the bio- f^m Jews graphy of Mahomet himself, but it has a wide and most effective range in reference to the legendary history of his ancestors and of early Arabia. The desire to regard the Prophet of Islam as a descendant of Ishmael, and possibly the endeavour to prove it, began even in his lifetime. Many Jews, versed in the Scrip- tures, and won over by the inducements of Islam, placed them- selves at the service of Mahomet and his followers. Jewish tradition had long been well known in Medina and in the countries over which Islam early spread, and the Moslem system was now made to fit upon it ; for Islam did not ignore, but pro- fessed merely to supersede, Judaism and Christianity, as the whole does a part, or rather as that which is complete swallows up the inchoate. Hence arose such strange anachronisms as the at- tempt to identify Cahtan with Joktan (between whom, at the most moderate estimate, fifteen centuries intervene) ; and thus also were cast the earlier links of the Abrahamic genealogy of Mahomet, as well as numberless tales of Ishmael and the Israel- ites, all in a semi-Jewish semi- Arab mould. These, though pro- fessing to be original traditions, can generally be recognised as mere plagiarisms from rabbinical lore, or as Arabian legends forced into accommodation with them. J. — Of analogous nature may be classed such traditions as Traditions affirm that Jews and Christians mutilated or interpolated their \Iyi and^ Scriptures. After repeated examination of the Coran, I have Christian been unable to discover any grounds for believing that Mahomet being muti- himself ever expressed a doubt in regard either to the authority l^'^^ed and or the genuineness of the Old and New Testaments, as extant in lated his time.^ He was profuse in assurances that his system was in ' The reader will find all passages of the Coran relating to the Scrip- tures in a little work called The Coran and the Testimomj it bears to the Holy Sc7-ij>tures, published by the S.P.C.K. Ivi SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET introd. Why such extrava- gant and unfounded traditions not con- tradicted close correspondence with both, and that he had been foretold by former prophets. As compliant Jews and Christians were at hand to confirm his words, and as the Bible was little known among the generality of his followers, these assurances were im- plicitly believed. But as Islam spread abroad and began to include countries where the Holy Scriptures were familiarly read, the discrepancies between them and the Coran became patent. The sturdy believer, with an easy conscience, laid the blame at the door of the dishonest Jews and Christians, the former of whom their Prophet had accused in the Coran of ' Iiiding ' and ' dislocating ' the prophecies regarding himself ; and, according to Moslem wont, a host of stories with details of Jewish fabri- cation soon grew up, exactly suited to the charge.' If it appear strange that extravagant and unreasonable tales of the kind described in the last few paragraphs should not have been contradicted by the more upright and reasonable Moslems of the first age, and thus nipped in the bud, it must be remem- bered that criticism and freedom of opinion were stifled under the crushing dogmas of Islam, Any simpleton might fancy, and every designing man could with ease invent, such tales ; when once current, the attempt to disprove them would be difficult and dangerous. Supposing that they contradicted no well-known fact or received dogma, by what arguments were they to be re- butted 1 If anyone had contended that human experience was opposed to the marvellous foreknowledge of the Jews regarding the person of Mahomet, he would have been scouted as an infidel. Honest inquiry, such as might touch the foundations of Islam, was not tolerated. Who would dare to argue that the ascription of a miracle to Mahomet was in itself improbable, that the narrator might have laboured under a false impression, or that in ' As exaraples, take the following-. A Copt, reading: his uncle's Biblo, was struck by finding two leaves closely glued together. On opening them, he discovered copious details regarding Mahomet, as a Prophet immediately about to appear. Plis uncle was displeased at his curiosity and beat him, saying that the Prophet had not yet arisen. Again, there was in the kingdom of Syria a Jew who, while busied on the Sabbath perusing the Old Testament, perceived on one of the leaves the name of the blessed Prophet in four places ; and outof .«pite cast that leaf into the fire. On the following day, he found the same name written in eight places : again he burnt the pages. On the third, he found it written in twelve places. The man marvelled exceedingly. He said within himself : ' The more I remove this name from the Scripture, tlic more do I find it written therein. I shall soon liave the wliole Bible filled with tlie same.' At last he resolved to proceed to Medina and seetlie Projihet. He arrived goon after Mahomet's deuth, embraced his garments, 'and expired in the arms of his love.' CH. T. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION Ivii the Coran itself miraculous powers were disclaimed by the Pro- phet 1 The argument would have placed the neck of the honest inquirer in jeopardy ; for it has been already shown that the faith and the polity of Islam were one, and that free opinions and heresy were synonymous with conspiracy, treason, and rebellion. And thus, under the shelter of the civil arm and the fanatical cre- dulity of the people, these marvellous legends grew up in perfect security from the attacks of doubt and of rational inquiry. K. The converse is likewise true ; that is to say, traditions. Traditions founded upon good evidence, and undisputed because notorious "ijie^ir"^ in the first days of Islam, gradually fell into disrepute, or were J^'^^o^ec entirely rejected, because they appeared to dishonour Mahomet or countenance some heretical opinion. The nature of the case renders it impossible to prove this position so fully as the preceding, since there can have survived but little trace of such traditions as were early and entirely dropped. But we discover vestiges of a spirit that would necessarily produce such results, working even in the second and third centuries. We find that the momentary lapse and compromise of Mahomet with the idolatry of Mecca is well supported by the earliest and the best authorities. But theologians began to deem it dangerous or heretical to suppose that Mahomet should have thus degraded himself ' after he had received the truth ; ' and the occurrence is therefore denied, or entirely omitted, by some of the earliest and by most of the later biographers, though the facts are so patent that the more candid fully admit them.- The principle thus ' Take as an illustration the following. On the expedition to Tebuk, Mahomet prayed for rain, which accordingly descended. A perverse doubter, however, said : ' It was but a chance cloud that happened to pass.' Shortly after, the Prophet's camel strayed; again the doubter said: 'Doth not Mahomet deem himself a Prophet? He professeth to bring intelligence from the Heavens ; yet is he unable to tell where his own camel is ! ' 'Ye servants of the Lord ! ' exclaimed his comrade, ' there is a plague in this place, and I knew it not. Get out from my tent, enemy of the Lord ! Wretch, remain not in my presence ! ' Mahomet had, of course, in due time, sujiernatural intimation conveyed to him not only of the doirbter's speech, but of the spot where the camel was ; and the doubter afterwards repented, and was confirmed in the faith. Omar's sword was readily unsheathed to punish such sceptical temerity, and Mahomet himself once and again visited it in the early part of his Medina career with condign punishment. 2 The author of the Mawahib Alladonlya traces the omission of the - passage to fear of heresy and injury to Islam. ' It is said that this story is of an heretical character and has no foundation. But it is not so ; it is really well founded.' 'Again [another author] rejects it on the ground that if it had really happened, many of those who had believed would have become apostates, which was not the case.' SOURCES FOH tiip: biogkapiiy of maiiomf.t I'ious frauds allciwable in Islam Difticultv of distin- guishinf; conscien- tious -wit- nesses found in existence in the second and third centuries, may be pre- sumed to have been at work also in the first. L. — The system of pious frauds is not abhorrent from the axioms of Islam. Deception, in the current theology, is under certain circumstances allowable. The Prophet himself, by pre- cept as well as by example, encouraged the notion that to tell an untruth is on some occasions allowable ; and what occasion would approve itself as more justifiable, nay meritorious, than that of furthering the interests of Islam ? Early ISIoslems would suppose it to be fitting and right that a divine religion should be supported by the evidence of miracles, and they no doubt believed that they were doing God service by building up such testimony in its favour. The case of our own religion, whose purer morality renders such attempt the less excusable, shows that pious fabrications of this description easily oommend themselves to the conscience, wherever there is the inclination and the opportunity for their perpetration. There were indeed conscientious men among the early Mos- lems, who would have scrupled at such pious fraud ; but these are the very individuals from whom we have the fewest tradi- tions. We read of some cautious and scrupulous Companions who, perceiving the difficulty of reciting accounts of their Pro- phet with perfect accuracy, and perhaps oflfended at the effrontery' of the ordinary propagators of garbled and unfounded traditions, abstained entirely from repeating the sayings of the Prophet. ' ' Thus Omar declined to give certain information, .'*a3'ing: 'If it were not that I feared lest 1 should add to the facts in relating them, or take therefrom, verily I would tell you.' Similar traditions are given regarding Otliman. Ibn Alasud was so afraid of repeating Mahomet's words wrongly, that he always guarded his relation by the conditional clause — ' He spake something like this, or near imto it ; ' but one day, as he repeated a tradi- tion, the uiaonditiohal formula of repetition^' thus spake the Prophet of the Zoy^?'— escaped his lips, and he bet-ame oppressed with anguish, so that the sweat dropped from his forehead. Then he .said: ' If the Lord so will, the Prophet may have said more tlian that, or less, or near unto it.' Again. Sad was asked a question, and he kept silence, saying : ' I fear that if I tell you one thing, ye iviU go and add thereto, as from me, a hundred.' Thus also one inquired of Ibn Zobeir : 'Why do we not hear tiiee telling anecdotes regarding the Propliet, as such and such persons tell?' He replied : ' It is very true tiiat I kept close by the Prophet from the time I first believed (and therefore am intimately acquainted with his words) ; but I heard liitu say, "Whosoever shall repeat a lie concerning me, his resting-place shall be in hell fire."' So in explaining wiij' sevenil of the principal Companions liad left no tniditions, Wakidy writes: ' From some there are no remains of tradition regarding the Prophet, although they were more in his company, sitting and liearing him, tlian others who have left us many traditions; and this wr nttritnitr to their fear' (oi giving forth errout'ous traditions). CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION lix But regarding those Companions from whom the great mass of tradition is drawn, and their immediate successors, it does not appear that we are now in possession of any satisfactory means for dividing them into separate classes, of which the trustworthi- ness would vary to any great extent. With respect, indeed, to some it is known that they were more constantly than others with Mahomet, and had therefore better opportunities for acqui- ring information ; some, like the garrulous Ayesha, were specially "iven to gossiping tales and trifling frivolities ; but none of them, so far as we can judge, was free from the tendency to glorify the Prophet at the expense of careful recital, or could be withheld from the marvellous by the most palpable violations of probability or reason. Such at least is the impression derived from their evidence in the shape in which it has reached tis. M. — The aberrations from fact hitherto noticed are presumed Examples to have proceeded from some species of bias, the nature of which "[^^^''Pfjl'i^j.j. I have been endeavouring to trace. But the testimony of the cation Companions, as delivered to us, is so unaccountably fickle and capricious that, even where no motive whatever can be guessed at, and where there were the fullest opportunities of observation, traditions often flatly contradict one another. For instance, a score of persons affirm that Mahomet dyed his hair : they men- tion the substance used ; some not only maintain that they were eye-witnesses of it during the Prophet's life, but after his death produced relics of hair on which the dye was visible. A score of others, possessing equally good means of information, assert that he never dyed his hair, and that, moreover, he had no need to do so, as his grey hairs were so few that they might be counted.' Again, with respect to his Signet ring—a. matter in- volving no faction, family interest, or dogma — tradition is most discordant. One party relate that, feeling the want of a seal for his despatches, the Prophet had a signet ring prepared for that purpose of pure silver. Another party assert that Khalid ibn Said made for himself an iron ring plated with silver ; and that Mahomet, taking a fancy to it, appropriated it to his own use. A ' Even the exact number of his white hairs is given by different authorities variously, as 17, 18, 20, or 30. Some say that when he oiled his head these appeared ; others that the process of oiling concealed them. As to the colour used, the accounts also differ. One says he employed Henna and Katam which gave a reddish tinge, but that he liked yellow best ; another mentions a jet-black dye, while others say the Prophet forbade this ; e.g. Mahomet said : ' Those who dye their hair black like the crops of pigeons, shall never smell the smell of Paradise.' ' In the day of judgment, the Lord will not look upon him who dyes his hair black.' SOURCES FOR THE BIO(iRAPIlY OF MAHOMET intijou. Unsup- ported tra- dition is insufficient evidence III. Con- siderations confirming tradition Afcrecment between indepen- dent tradi- tions third tradition states that the ring was brought by Ibn Said from Abyssinia ; and a fourth that Muadli had it engraved for himself in Yemen. One set of traditions hold that Mahomet wore this ring on his right hand, another on his left ; one that he wore the seal inside, others that he wore it outside ; one that the inscription upon it was The truth of God, while the rest declare that it was Muhammad, Frojihet of God. These traditions all refer to one and the same ring ; because it is repeatedly added that, after Mahomet's death, it was worn by Abu Bekr, by Omar, and by Othman, and was lost by the latter in the well Aris. There is yet another tradition that neither the Prophet nor any of his immediate successors ever wore a ring at all. Now these varying narratives are not given doubtfully, as con- jectures which might either be right or wrong ; but they are told with the full assurance of certainty, and with such minute circumstantiality as to leave the impression on the simple reader's mind that each of the narrators had the most intimate ac.juaint- ance with the subject. To what tendency, then, or habit of mind, but sheer love of story-telling, are we to attribute such gratuitous and wholesale inventions ? In fine, we may from all that has been said, con- clude that tradition cannot be received with too much caution, or exposed to too rigorous a criticism ; and that no important statement should be accepted as securely proved by tradition alone, unless there be some farther ground of probability, analogy, or collateral evidence in its favour. III. — We now proceed to the considerations which should be regarded as conjirining the credit of a tradition. A. — General agreement between traditions independent one of another, or which, though traceable to a common origin, have descended by different chains of witnesses, may be regarded as a presumption of credibility. The sources of tradition were nume- rous ; and the stream reaches us through many separate channels. Evidence of this description may therefore afford a cumulative presumption that matter common to many separate traditions was currently reported or believed at the period immediately succeeding the Prophet's death. But, on the other hand, close agreement may be a ground of distrust ; it may argue that, though attributed to different sources, the traditions really belong to one and the same family, perhaps of spurious origin, long subsequent to the time of Mahomet. If the uniformity be so great as to exclude circumstantial variety, it will be strong ground for believing that either the common source of such tradi- tions is not of old date, or that the eh.anuels of their conveyance have not been kept distinct. Some degree of incidental dis- CH. I. CANONS FOR TESTING CREDIBILITY OF TRADITION Ixi crejjancy must be looked for, and will improve rather than injure the character of the evidence. Thus the frequent variations as to the day of the week on which remai-kable events occurred are just what we should expect in independent traditions havino- their origin in hearsay ; and the simplicity with which these are placed in juxtaposition speaks strongly for the honesty of the Collectors as having gathered them bond fide from various and independent sources, as well as having refrained from any attempt to blend or harmonise. A like argument may be applied to the several parts of a At^reement tradition. Certain portions of distinct versions of the same between subject-matter may agree almost verbally together, while other Fndepen-" portions may contain circumstantial variations ; and it is pos- ^.^"'^ *'"'^^''" sible that the latter may have a hond fide independent origin, which the former could not pretend to. Thus the story of Mahomet's infantile days, which professes to have been derived from his nurse Halima, has been handed down to us in three distinct traditions. ' These three accounts,' says Sprenger, 'agree almost literally in the marvellous, but they differ in the facts.' The marvellous was derived from a common source of fabrication, but the facts from original authorities. Hence the uniformity of the one, and the variation in the other. Verbal coincidence may sometimes involve a species of evi- Verbal dence peculiar to itself ; it may point to a common recorded ^oi°cidence original of date older probably than that at which most of the to'Y sm- other traditions were reduced to writing. There being no reason "vritton to believe that any such documents were framed till some con- original siderable time after Mahomet's death, they can assume none of the merit of contemporaneous remains. But they may claim the advantage of a greater antiquity of record than the mass of ordinary tradition, as in the history by Zohri of the Prophet's military conquests, recorded probably before the close of the first century. B.— Correspondence at any point with facts mentioned in the Corre- Coran will generally impart credit to the traditional narrative. 'I^'J^'S'' Some of the most important incidents connected with Mahomet's Coran a*^ l>attles and campaigns, as well as a variety of domestic and coifirma- political matters, are thus attested. Such apparent confirmation tio°i """" may however be deceptive, for the allusion in the Coran may have given rise to the tradition. The story may have originated in some illustrative supposition or paraphrastic comment on the text ; and, gradually changing its character, been transmitted to posterity as a recital of fact. Take for example the following verse in the Coran : Remember the favour of thy Lord unto thee, when certain men designed to stretch forth their hands ujwn thee, Ixii SOURCES FOR THE lilOGRAPIIY OF MAHOMET inthod. and the Lord lidd back tlieir hands from thee. By some this passage is supposed to refer to Mahomet's escape from Mecca ; Ijut, the craving after the circumstantial and marvellous not being satisfied with this reasonable interpretation, several differ- ent occasions have been given on which the liand of the enemy, in the ^•ery act of brandishing a sword over Mahomet's head, was miraculously stayed by Gabriel.' Again, the discomfiture of the army of Abraha shortly before the birth of 3Iahomet, is thus poetically celebrated in Sura cv. : And did not the Lord sand against tJiem flocks of little birds, which cast u2)on them small clay stones, and made them like u7iio the stubble of lohich, the cattle have eaten ? This seems only a highly coloured metaphor setting forth the general destruction of the army by the ravages of small- pox or some similar pestilence. But it has afforded a starting- point fur the extravagances of tradition, which gives a detailed statement of the species of bird, the size and material of the stones, the mode in Avhich they struck the enemy, the kind of wound inflicted, Arc, as if the portent had but just occurred within sight of the narrators ; and yet the whole has evidently no other foundation than the verse above quoted, which the credulous Moslems, interpreting literally, deemed it necessary to clothe with ample illustration. Such are examples of the num- berless legends which, though purely imaginary, have been reared upon a Coranic basis. ■^ Disparage- c. — When a tradition contains statements which, from tJie -Mahomet ^losUm' s point of vicw, would reflect unfavoural^ly on the Pro- phet, that will be held in its favour. Such would be tlie tradition ' In tlic attack upon the Beni Ghataf;in, wo learn from Wakidy that whilst Mahomet was resting under a tree, tlie enemy's leader came stealtli- ily up, and, snatching his sword, exclaimed : ' Who is there to defend thee against me this day? ' 'The Lord,' replied the Prophet. Immediately Gabriel struck the foe a blow upon his chest, which caused the sword to fall from his hand ; thereupon Mahomet in his turn seized the sword and retorted the question on his adversary, who forthwith became a convert ; ' and n'ith reference to this,'' it is added, 'was Sura v. 12 revealed ' (i.e. the verse quoted in the text). The tale is a second time clumsily repeated by the biographers almost in the same terms, on the occasion of his expedition to Dziit al lUca ; and here Hishami adds : 'With special reference to this event. Sura v. 12 was revealed ; but others attribute the pa.ssage to the attempt of Amr ibn Jahsh, one of the Beni Nadhlr,' who (as is pretended) tried to roll down a stone upon the Prophet from the roof of the house in which he .sat. Thus we have three or four diflerent incidents to which the text is ap- plied, some of which are cndcntli/ fahricatcd to suit the passoffc itfelf. • As illustrative of similarly fabricited stories in tiie early liistory of the Church, the legend of St. Paul's battle with the wild boasts may be re- ferred to as growing out of 1 Cor. xv. 32. See Stanley in loco. CH. I. TREATIES AND REPLIES TO EMBASSIES Ixiii of an indignity shown to him by his followers, or an insult from his enemies after his emigration (for then the period of humilia- tion had passed) ; his failure in any enterprise or laudable en deavour ; anything, in fine, at variance either in fact or doctrine with the principles and tendencies of Islam, then there will be strong reason for admitting it as authentic ; because, otherwise, it seems hardly possible that a tradition of the kind could be fabricated, or, having been fabricated, that it could obtain cur- rency among the followers of Mahomet. At the same time we must be careful not to apply the rule to all that is considered hy ourselves discreditable or opposed to morality. Cruelty and revenge, however ruthless, ivhen practised against infidels, were regarded by the first followers of Islam as highly meritorious ; and the rude civilisation of Arabia admitted with compla- cency a coarseness of language and behaviour, which we should look upon as reprehensible indecency. These and similar excep- tions must be made from this canon of otherwise universal application. D. — There is embodied in tradition a source of information far Treaties more authentic than any yet alluded to, though unfortunately of '^°'^t^™P*^' very limited extent, — I mean the transcripts of treaties purporting recorded to have been dictated by Mahomet, and engrossed in his presence. It has been already shown that ordinary traditions were not re- Their au- corded in his lifetime ; and that, even were we to admit an ^uperior^to occasional resort to early notes or memoranda, there is no evi- that of dence regarding their subsequent fate, nor any criteria for distin- guishing traditions so derived from those that originated and were long sustained by purely oral means. To a very different category belong the treaties of Mahomet. They consist of com- pacts entered into with surrounding tribes, which were at the time reduced to writing, and attested by one or more of his followers. They are of course confined to the period succeeding the Prophet s acquisition of political influence, and from their nature limited to the recital of a few simple facts. But these facts again form valuable points of support to the traditional outline ; and, especially where they detail the relations of Islam with the neighbouring Jewish and Christian tribes, are of the highest interest. In Wakidy's biography is a section expressly devoted to Especially the transcription of such treaties, and it contains two or three l" regard to , ' Jewish and scores of them. Over and again, the author (at the end of the Christian second or beginning of the third century) states that he had *"^^^ copied these from the original documents, or recorded their pur- port from the testimony of those who had seen them. 'They were still in force,' writes Sprenger, 'in the time of Harun al ordinary tradition ; SOURCES FOR THE DIOGKArilY OF MAHOMET ixtrod. Written details r.f embassies I)reserve(l in several tribes Rashicl (a.ii. 170-193), and were then collected.' This is quite conceivable, for they were often recorded upon leather, and would invariably be preserved with care as charters of privi- lege by those in whose favour they were concluded. Some of the most interesting, as the terms allowed to the Jews of Kheibar and to the Christians of Najran, formed the bases of political events in the Caliphates of Abu Bekr and Omar ; the concessions made in others to Jewish and Christian tribes are satisfactory proof that they were not fabricated by Moslems ; while it is equally clear that they would never have been acknowledged if counterfeited by a Jewish or a Christian hand. Whenever, then, there is fair evidence in favour of such treaties, they may be placed, as to historical authority, almost on a par with the Coran itself. The narrative of official deputations to Mahomet is sometimes stated to have been derived from the family or tribe which sent the embassy, and which had preserved a written memorial of the circumstances. Accounts so obtained may undoubtedly be viewed as founded on fact, for the family or clan would naturally treasure up in the most careful way any memorials of the manner in which the Prophet had received and honoured them, although there would, no doubt, be a tendency in such IVKJtifll ri'inains have .special autlinritv. 1. Those ascriliC'd U> a period before tlie rise of Mahomet E. — Another traditionary source, supported by authority peculiar to itself, consists of the verses and poetical fragments attributed to the time of Mahomet. Some of these profess to be the composition of persons who died before the Prophet, as Abu Talib, his uncle ; others, of those who survived him, as Hassan the poet of ]\Iedina. There can be no question as to the great antiquity of these remains, though we may not always be able to fix with exactness the period of their composition. With respect to those . which purport to be of date preceding the Prophet's rise to power, when we consider the poetical habits of tlie nation, their faculty of preserving poetry by memory,* the ' Thus Wakiily : ' My informant. Muhamraad ihn Yaliya, relates, that he found it in the ivrltings of liis father, that,' &c.; and again, ' Amr the Odzritc says, he found it written 171 the papers of his father, that,' c<:c. ; proceeding: wit h the narrative of a deputation from the tribe to Jlahoniet. •^ Burckhardt's testimony shows that the faculty still remains. 'Through- out every part of the Arabian desert, poetry is equally esteemed. Many persons are found who m:>kc verses of true measure, although they cannot either read or write; yet as they employ on such occasions chosen terms only, and as the purity of their vernacular language is such as to preclude any grammatical errors, these verses, after pas.sing from mouth to mouth, may at last be committed to paper, and will most commonly be found regular and correct. I presume that the greater part of the regular poetry of the Arabs, which has descended to us, is derived from similar compositions. <:h. I. POETICAL REMAINS Ixv ancient style and language of the pieces themselves, and the likelihood that carefully composed verses were from the first committed for greater security to writing, it cannot certainly be deemed improbable that such poems or fragments should in reality have been composed by the parties to whom they are ascribed. It is, on the other hand, quite possible that poetry of date long after the death of Mahomet, but descriptive of some passage in his life, may gradually have come to be regarded as composed by a contemporary poet upon the occasion, or as the actual effusion of the actors in the scene to whom, by poetical fiction, the modern author attributes it. As a general rule, it may be laid down that wherever there is betrayed an anticipation of Mahomet's prophetical dignity or victories, the poetry may at once be concluded as an after- thought, triumphant Islam having reflected some rays of its refulgence upon the bare points of its early career. Tried by this rule, there are fragments which may be ascribed, as more or less genuine, to the men whose names they bear ; but there is also much which, from patent anachro- nism either in fact or spirit, is evidently the composition of a later age.^ Pieces said to have been recited by poets who survived Poets who Mahomet, there is every reason for believing to be the compo- sition of the persons to whom they are ascribed. But whether they were composed before the Prophet's death, even when so ' The following glaring anachronism shows with what Ccaution poetry of tills class must be received. When Mahomet with his followers performed the pilgrimage to Mecca under the treaty of Hodeibia, the leader of his camel, as he encircled the Kaaba, shouted verses of hostile defiance against the Coreish, who had retired by compact to the overhanging rocks and thence viewed the Prophet and his people. Among these verses was the couplet : ' We shall slay you on the score of the interpretation of ',it (the Coran), as we slew you on the score of its revelation ' {i.e. for rejecting it). Now this ev-idently belongs to a period long subsequent, when, Islam having been broken up into parties, men fought against each other for their several ' interpretations ' of the Coran, and looked back to the struggle with the idolaters of Mecca as to a bygone era. Yet the verses are ascribed both by Wakidy and Hishami to the Hodeibia armistice, i.e. a period anterior even to the conquest of Mecca. As a further example, I may refer to the rhetorical contest held before Mahomet between his own followers and the embassy of the Beni Temim. Anticipations of universal conquest are developed in the orations of the Mahometan party. Thus the threat is used by Thabit ibn Cays that the Moslems ' n-ould fight agaijist all the world till they were convened: This was language appropriate only to the time when the Arabs had issued from Arabia. The speeches and poems were, no doubt, composed afterwards as suitable to the occasion, and, like the orations of classical history, attributed to the speakers of the original scene. d survived Mahomet Ixvi SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET Their poetry useful ;i8 coufirnia- tory of tra- dition represented, is a more difficult question ; and their authority will in some measure depend on the answer. Under any circum- stances they must be of great value, as the work of Mahomet's contemporaries. Wherever they bear upon historical events, they are of much use as adding confirmation to the corresponding traditions ; for, whether handed down by writing, or l)y memory alone, their poetical form is a material safeguard against change or interpolation. As examples, may l)e specified the odes of Hassan ibn Thabit on the ' Battle of the Ditch,' and on ' the taking of ]Mecca ; ' and the poem of Kab ibn Malik, descriptive of the oath of fealty by the Medina converts at the ' Second pledge of Acaba,' in which are mentioned the names of the twelve leaders chosen by the Prophet. Besides illustrating specific facts, this early poetry is often instructive, from its ex- hibition of the spirit of the first Moslems towards their uncon- verted brethren, and the biting satire employed against the enemies of Islam. But while these poetical pieces attest many facts we are already acquainted with, they reveal none which, without them, we should not otherwise have known. They are valuable be- cause confirmatory of tradition, and, as the earliest literary remains of a period which contained the germ of such mighty events, they deserve our best attention ; but they give us little fresh insight into the history or character of the Prophet. Conclusiou Such, then, are the criteria which should be applied to Mahometan tradition. It is obvious that the technical rule of ' respectable names,' used by the Collectors as the connecting chain of evidence, can carry no authority with us ; that every tradition, separately subjected to close examination, must stand or fall upon its own merits ; and that, even after its reception as generally credible, the component parts are still severally liable, upon a close scrutiny of internal evidence, to suspicion and rejection. The sure light of the Coran will be the pole-star of the historian ; and by it he will judge tradition. Where in its absence tradition stands alone, he will maintain a jealous guard against the misleading tendencies which I have endeavoured to explain, and will reject whatever bears their traces. In the remainder he will find ample and trustworthy materials for the l)iography of the Propiiet. Eaki.v I5n>oi!A- i-iriEs. Xtihti, and i>tlier crirn- iiilers of I will now notice briefiy the early historians of Mahomet. We have seen that towards the end of the first century the general practice of recording tradition was first .systematically set on foot. ( )in' of the persons known to have been employed EARLY BICGRAPHIES Ixvii in the task was ZoJiri, who died a.h. 124, aged 72. It has been biographi- even stated that both he and his master Orwa (who died as early tion'°^'^*^" as A.H. 94) composed regular biographies of Mahomet ; but the grounds are uncertain. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that Zohri at least made separate collections of the traditions bearing on various episodes of the Prophet's life, certainly on that relating to his military career. It is conjectured by Sprenger, that such compilations gave rise to the uniformity of narrative and coincidence of expression observable in many parts of the various biographies of Mahomet, and especially in the history of his expeditions and battles. The supposition is pro- bable ; at all events the work of Zohri was one of such sources. He lived at the court of the Omeyyad Caliphs, and there is every reason to believe that his accounts are as unbiassed as could be expected from any Mussulman author. There is nothing of Zohri extant in independent form, but he is largely quoted by subsequent biographers ; and their account of Mahomet's military operations is probably in great part the reproduction of materials collated by him. Two other authors are mentioned as having written biogra- Biogra- phies of Mahomet early in the second century, MusA ibn Ockba P^^^^. and Abu Mashar. Neither of their works is extant ; but the second ^cen- latter is extensively referred to by Tabari. To these may be '"""-^ '^■"* added, as no longer available, the histories of Abu Ishac, who died A.H. 188, and Madaini, who survived to the beginning of the third century. Though the latter published many works on the Prophet, not one of them is now known to exist. The earliest biographical writers whose treatises are extant Extant bio- more or less in their original state are : — I. Ibn Ishac ; II. Ibn g>'<''Pli'es Hisham ; III. Wakidy, and his Secretary ; lY. Tabari. These S oTd? works, though professing, like the traditional collections, to be nary col- composed exclusively of trustworthy traditions, differ from them '^'^^'°°' in the following particulars.' First — The traditional matter is confined to biographical First— subjects, and is arranged in chronological order. Commencino- ^'p^^^ed to . , .• • i 11- * biograpni- with anticipatory and genealogical notices, the work advances cal matter to the birth of Mahomet, and traces with some degree of method ""^iiyf^}^' the various periods of his life. To each stage a separate chapter ranged is devoted ; and all traditions, which have any bearing whatever on the subject, are thrown together in that chapter, and arranged with more or less of intelligible sequence. The practice of the Collectors as to the quotation of their authorities is generally ' Biographical works are called Siyar (or Sirat), while the general Col- lections of tradition are termed Hadeeth (or Hadees). d 2 Ixviii SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET Sernud. — Traditions sometimes formed into connected narrative Third.— A measure of critical collatiim MlHAM- :mad iun IsnAf ; Jestirao- nies to his iiutlioritv observed ; namely, that each separate tradition must be supported by its original Avitness, and the chain of witnesses specified by name which connects the biographer with that authority. Tiiis induces the same motley and fragmentary appearance which marks the traditional Collections. The biography of Mahomet, in fact, resembles a collection of 'table talk.' It is a compilation rather than an original composition. Second. — Traditions are sometimes fused together, or reduced into a uniform story. Such is more particularly the case in descriptions of Mahomet's military life, where the expeditions are often detailed in an unbroken narrative, the authorities for which are generally thrown together at the beginning. Third. — This process at times induces some degree of critical examination of the several traditions so collected. Where the authorities diflFer, we find the biographer occasionally stating his opinion as to which is the correct exposition of fact. Verbal differences are sometimes mentioned, and various readings noted. Satisfactory evidence is thus afTorded of the labour bestowed by the ])iographers in bringing together all authentic tradition which could illustrate their subject, and of the accuracy with which they recorded it. The following account of the four authors whose works are more or less extant will enable the reader to form an estimate of their value as biographical authorities. I. Muhammad ibn Isiiac is the earliest biographer of whom any extensive remains, the authorship of which can certainly be distinguished, have reached us. He died a.h. 151, that is, some twenty years after the overthrow of the Omeyyad dynasty. His work was published under the auspices and influence of the Abbasside Princes, and was in fact composed ' for the use ' of the Caliph Mansur, the second of that line. Its accuracy has been impugned. But from the portions which have come down to us there seems no ground for believing that Ibn Ishac was less care- ful than other traditionists ; while the high character generally ascribed to him, and the confidence with which he is quoted by later authors, leave little doubt that the aspersions cast upon him have no good foundation. In the biographical dictionary of Ibn Khallican wo find the following testimonies in his favour : ' Muhammad ilm Ishac is held by the majority of the learned as a sure authority in tradi- tions, and none can be ignorant of the high character borne by his work, tlie Macjhdzi (military expeditions). Whoever vishes to knotv the early Moslem conquests, says Zohri, let him refer to Ibn Ishac ; ' and Bokhary himself cites him in his history. Shaft said : Whoever icishes to obtain a complete acquaintance icith the early CB. I. EARLY BIOGRAPHIES. IBN ISHAC AND IBN HISHAM Ixix Moslem conquests, must borrovj his information from Ibn Ishac. Safyan ibn Oyeiiia declared that he never met any one who cast suspicions on Ibn Ishac's recitals ; and Shoba ibn al Hajjaj was heard to say : Muhammad ibn Ishac is the Coinmander of the Faithful, meaning that he held that rank as a traditionist. . . . Al Saji mentions that Zohri's pupils had i-ecourse to Muhammad ibn Ishac, whenever they had doubts respecting the exactness of any of the traditions delivered by their master ; such was the confidence they placed in his excellent memory. It is stated that Yahya ibn Main, Ahmed ibn Hanbal, and Yahya Said al Kattan, considered Muhammad ibn Ishac as a trustworthy authority, and quoted his traditions in proof of their legal doctrines. ... It was from Ibn Ishac's works that Ibn Hisham extracted the materials of his biography of the Prophet, and every person who has treated on this subject has been obliged to take Ibn Ishac for his authority and guide.' These testimonies are conclusive of the popularity of Ibn Ibn Ishac Ishac in the Moslem world, and of his general fidelity as a writer, two chief^ But the surest proof of his character and authority is that his sources of statements have been embodied in all subsequent biographies of biographres the Prophet, excepting that of Wakidy, who in comparison with others quotes sparingly from him ; and that in fact the two works of Ibn Ishac and Wakidy contain between them the chief mate- rials on which later writers have drawn for authentic details of the Prophet's life. No copy of Ibn Ishac's biography, in its oi'iginal form, is now -^ot extant, available. But the materials have been so extensively adopted but largely by Ibn Hisham, and wrought into his history in so complete and in Ibn unaltered a form, that we have probably not lost much by the ^'^^•'^"1 absence of the work itself. II. Ibn Hisham, who died a.h. 213 (or 218), made the labours I™ Hi- of Ibn Ishac the basis of his biography of Mahomet. Copies of character this work are extant, and are known to the European historians of the Prophet. The following extract from Ibn Khallican will place before the reader all that it is necessary to know regarding the life of this author : ' Ibn Hisham, the author of the Strat al Rasul, or Biography of the Prophet, is spoken of in these terms by Abul Casim al Suhaili, in his woi-k entitled Al Baud al Unuf which is a commentary on the Sirat. He was celebrated for his learning, and possessed superior information in genealogy and grammar. His native place was Old Cairo, but his family were of Bussorah. He composed a genealogical work on the tribe of Himyar and its princes ; and I have been told that he wrote another work, in which he explained the obscure passages of poetry cited in [Ibn Ishac's] biography of the Prophet. His Ixx SOURCES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF MAHOMET Suspicions of his can- dour anil lidolity Arrange- ment and composi- tion VVakiia- : His cha- racter and ■writings death occurred at Old Cairo a.ii. 213. This Ibn Hisham is the person who extracted and drew up the " History of the Pro- phet " from Ibn Ishac's work, entitled " The Wars and Life of Mahomet." Al Suhaili explained its difficulties in a commentary, and it is now found in the hands of the public under the title of Sirat ibn Hisham, i.e. " The Biography of Mahomet, by Il)n Hisham.'" There is reason to suspect that Ibn Hisham was not quite so trustworthy as his great authority Ibn Ishac. Certainly there is one instance which throws suspicion upon him as a witness, dis- inclined at least to tell the ichoh truth. We find in Tabari a quoUttion from Ibn Ishac, in which is described the temporary lapse of Mahomet into idolatry ; and the same incidents are also given by Wakidy from other original sources. But no notice whatever of the fact appears in the biography of Ibn Hisham, though it is professedly based upon the work of Ibn Ishac. His having thus studiously omitted all reference to so important an incident, for no other reason apparently than because he fancied it to be discreditable to the Prophet, cannot but lessen our confi- dence generally in his book. Still, it is evident from a comparison of his text with the quotations made by Tabari from the same passages of Ibn Ishac (the two ordinarily tallying word for word with each other) that whatever he did excerpt from his author was faithfully and accurately quoted. The arrangement and composition of Ibn Hisham are careful, if not elaborate. The traditions are well classified, and the narra- tive proceeds with much of the regulaiity of an ordinary biography. The frequent fusion of traditions, however, renders it sometimes difficult to single out the separate authorities, and to judge of them on their iiidividual merits.' III. WAKiDYyor as his full name runs Muliammad ibn Omar aJ Wakichj—\vas born at Medina about a.h, 130, and died A.n. 207. He studied and wrote exclusively under the Abbassides. He enjoyed their patronage, and passed a part of his life at their ' ' Even of tliis work copies are rare.' — Sjtrenger. Tlic fact is tliat the literary public among Mahometans do not atfect the early and original sources of their Prophet's life, and hardly ever use thcni. They prefer the modern Vjiographies with their marvellous tales. An abridged edition of Ibn Hisham was made at Damascus A.H. 707 (A.D. i:}07) by one Alimed ibn Ibrahim. The abridgment consists chiefly in the omission in cacli case of the long scries of witnesses le^iding up to the Companion wlio first gave forth tlie tradition. A beautiful manu- script, in the handivritlrKj of the ahhrevlator himself, was met with by Dr. Rprenger in Delhi, and has been used botli by Dr. Sprenger and myself. I liave placed a portion of this valualjle MS., with an English abstract of its contents, in the India Oflicc Library. y an indescribable freshness and verdure. Until the 7th century, when Mussulman conquest drew aside the veil. Central Arabia was an unknown land. Only on the extreme northern and southern confines did it touch the outer world. In ancient times notices of Arabia are few and meagre. In the days of Jacob we find Arab traders carrying the spiceries of Gilead on their camels down to Egypt. During the reign of Solomon a naval station was formed at Elath, the modern Acaba ; the ' kings of Arabia ' and its merchantmen supplied Judaea with the rarities of the East ; and so widely throughout the peninsula was the fame of the Jewish monarch noised abroad, that the queen of Sheba came from the far south to visit him. In the reign of Augustus, ^lius Gallus, .starting with a Roman army from the northern shores of the Red Sea, pene- trated to the south probably as far as Mareb and Saba ; but after some months was forced, by treachery and scarcity of water, to retrace his steps. Comparatively modern as is this expedi- tion in the annals of Arabia, not a vestige of it is traceable in the national traditions and poetry of Arabia ; and (stranger still) with very few exceptions it has been found impossible to identify the many names recorded by Pliny and Strabo in their account of the invasion with any known localities or tribes. But though thus hidden for long ages from external view, we know that a great stream of trade was all the time passing through the peninsula, which made the Arabs in fact the carriers of the world between the east and west. In those days the sea was dreaded, and commerce confined almost exclusively to the land. A continent, now the greatest obstacle to traffic, was then its chief facility. The steppes of Central Asia and Arabia were the ocean of the ancients, and companies of camels their fleets. But the way was long and perilous ; and hence the necessity for caravans travelling at fixed periods and by determined routes. 'The cour.se of the caravan,' says Heeren, ' was not a matter of free choice, but of established custom. In the vast steppes of sandy deserts, which they had to traverse, nature had sparingly allotted to the traveller a few .scattered places of rest, where under the shade of palm trees, and beside the cool fountains at their feet, the merchant and his beast of burden might enjoy the refresliment rendered necessary by so much suffering. Such places of repose became rntrppofs of commerce, and not unfre- quently the sites of teinplfs and .sanctuaries, under the protection CH. n. MERCANTILE PROSPERITY AKD CARAVAN TRAFFIC Ixxix of which the merchant prosecuted his trade, and to which the pilgrim resorted.' ' Through Arabia there were two main routes between Syria Two routes and the Indian Ocean. One struck north fi'om Hadhramaut to ArTwa Gerra on the Persian Gulf, and thence by Palmyra to Palestine and Tyre. The western (with which we are more immediately concerned) started from the same quarter, and ran parallel with the Red Sea, avoiding on the one hand the parched deserts of Nejd, and the impracticable clifi's of the coast upon the other. Mecca, the ancient Macoraba, was probably the half-way station between Arabia Felix and Petra?a. The traffic afforded a wide field of employment to the Arab tribes. Some settled in the various emporia, and became traders on their own account. Others, without abandoning their nomad habits, were carriers of the trade. The commerce assumed great dimensions, and enriched the Mercantile nation. About 600 B.C. Ezekiel's denunciation of haughty Tyre Pi"'^f^P^|^\^y marks the busy intercourse which then replenished the Phenician markets with the products of Arabia and the East.- Several centuries later, we learn from Roman writers that the Arabs of Hejaz still carried on the same traffic ; and, which is remark- able, the number of stages from Hadhramaut to Ayla, given by them as seventy, corresponds exactly with the number at the present day. From the stately ruins which in the Syrian desert still denote the sites of ancient emporia, some conception may be formed of the prosperity and wealth of the merchant princes inhabiting them. And, no doubt, at the southern terminus also thei-e were in Yemen and Hadhramaut cities which might vie, though in a ruder and simpler way, with the queenly Palmyra. It was an evil hour for Arabia when Roman enterprise, early Failure of in the Christian era, established a maritime traffic from Egypt ^qVJw, ' Heeren's Researches : Africa, vol. i. p. 23, The concluding sentence -pc^ua bears upon the origin and rise of Mecca. But it will still be a question, which had the priority, the temple or the mercantile station ? ^ Ezek. xxvii. 19-24, which Heeren translates : ' Wadan and Javan hroicght thee, from Sanaa, sn-nrd Hades, cassia and cinnamon, hi exchange for thy wares. The merchants of Sala and of Baama traded with thee; the best spices, precious stones, and gold hrovght they to thee for thy mares. Haran, Canna, Aden, Sala, traded with thee.' He adds : ' Some of these places, as Aden, Canna, and Haran, all celebrated sea-ports on the Indian Sea, as well as Sanaa and Saba (or Mariaba) still the capital of Yemen, • have retained their name unchanged to the present day ; the site of others, as Wadan, on the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, rest only on probable conjec- ture. These accurate statements of the prophet at all events prove what a special knowledge the inhabitants of Palestine had of Happy Ai-abia, and how great and active the intercourse with that country must have been.'— Heeren s As. lies., vol. ii. p. 98. IXXX ARABIA BEFORE THE TIME OF MAHOMET istrod. direct to Yemen and the East, and thus inflicted a fatal blow on the caravan trade of the peninsula. The land commerce melten-ation sustenance elsewhere. To this cause may most probably be tiviced iiort iwards ^]^^^^^ great emigrations from the south of Codh&ite and A/.dite tribes, which tradition tells us took place in the second century. These all tended northwards, some to Mecca and Syria, some to Central Arabia, and others to the Persian Gulf and Hira. Kingdnms There were but a few points at which, in ancient times, GhJwnn- Arabia touched the outer world. The northern region, stretch- i'iis and i,,^, from Syria to the Euphrates, was occupied in the 2nd cen- tury by some of those tribes which had, according to native tradition, about that time immigrated from the south ; and of whom we frequently hear in the later annals of the Roman em- pire. To the west, in the Syrian (h'sert, with their capital at Palmyra, was the dynasty of the Ghassanides ; and to the east, on the banks of the Euphrates, the kingdom of Hira ; the former, as a rule, adheied to the Roman, the latter to the Per- sian, empire. At some points we can even identify the hero«'S of Arab story with those of western history. Tims, Odzeina and Zebba of Tadmor are, without doubt, the Odenathus and Zenobia of Palmyra. In the marvellous tales of Zebba, her beauty, wealth, and knowledge of many languages, and her capture at the tunnel which she had constructed under the Euphrates, we can dimly read the story of Zenobia, her splendid reign, her re- bellion and defence of Palmyra, and her seizure l)y the Romans as she endeavoured to e.scape across the river. The princes of Hira, again, are often mentioned by the (Jreek and Roman his- torians, in the wars of the Hth and Gth centuries, as adherents of the Persian cause. Suddenly as a thunder-cloud their trottps would darken some fated spot on the Roman border, and sweep- ing in their train devastation, captivity, and death, Jis suddenly disappear, scorning pursuit, and leaving no trace, but in their ravages, behind. Thoir d( - The dynasty of Palmyni, with the Wfst«'rn tribes, had em- tl'c'ti«vii'''b '""'"^fd Christianity in the time of Constantine ; to the ejist our cfuturv Faith was later of gaining ground, and indeed was not adopted CH. II. SEPARATED FROM REST OF THE WORLD Ixxxi by the court of Hira till near the end of the 6th century. Early in the 7th, that kingdom fell from its dignity as an independent power, and became a satrapy of Persia. The Ghassanide rule also broke up into various petty sections, and eventually merged into the Roman empire. The Persian inroads in the I'eign of Phocas and early years of Heraclius, gave the Syrian tribes a shock from which they never recovered. Thus the decadence of kingdoms on both sides of the desert was destined to smooth the victorious path of the Arabian conqueror. Turning now to the south, we find Hadhramaut and Yemen Kingdom ruled by the Himyarites, a dynasty of which tradition carries maut^anrt'^' the oi'igin back into the obscurity of ages. In the 4th century Ytmen an embassy from Constantius visited this court, headed by a Christian bishop. In 523 a.d. the throne was seized by a bigoted and dissolute usurper. A proselyte to Judaism, he perpetrated frightful cruelties on the Christians of the neighbouring pro- vince of Najran who refused to embrace his faith. Trenches filled with combustible materials were lighted, and the martyrs cast into the flames. Tradition gives the number thus miserably burned, or slain by the sword, at twenty thousand. However exaggerated, there can be no doubt of the bloody character of the tyrant's reign. An intended victim escaped to the court of Justinian, and, holding up a half-burned Gospel, invoked retri- bution. At the Emperor's desire the Negus crossed from Ethiopia and defeated the usurper ; and thus the Himyarites were supplanted by a Christian government under an Abyssinian viceroy. But African rule was distasteful to the people ; an appeal was made to Persia, and before the end of the 6th cen- tury the Abyssinians were expelled, and Yemen sank into a simple dependency of Persia. Thus, whether we look to the north or the south, it was but Arabia be- the farther outskirts of the Peninsula which came into even f*''^® ^^' hornet, un- casual contact with the civilised world. The rest of Arabia was known to absolutely unknown ; and excepting through the medium of VorM^^' countrymen engaged in merchandise, or settled on the confines of Syria, the Arabs themselves had but little knowledge of any- thing beyond their own deserts. For any community of interest with nations beyond, they might have been at the very antipodes of the Roman empire. It is not till the 5th century that native tradition, as preserved by Mahometan writers, begins to shed a fitful and shadowy light upon the political and religious condi- tion of the country. Before, therefore, turning to Mecca, we shall take a rapid survey of Arabia at the period of Mahomet's appearance. The habits of the nomad tribes roaming over the Peninsula Ai{Ai;iA i!i:i-uKi: the time of mahomet Political conditiun of the Peninsula Politi.Jil And re- ligious state of Arabia Sub-divi- sion and in- depondenci; of Arab tribes a for- niidnblc obstai'Ie to union .Small i>ro- cpect of re- ligious re- form are singularly changeless ; and Arabia, as we find it in the Gth century, diHiers little from the Arabia of Abi-aliam and of Job. The leading feature has ever been impatience of lestraint, and the consetjuent independence of the clan, the family, and the in- dividual. The aHairs of each tribe, or coml)ination of tribes, are guided by a Sheikh, their popular representative ; but there is no bond that of necessity holds them permanently together, and dissentients may secede at pleasure. With a code of honour bordering on jealousy, personal hostility and tribal warfare are ever lial tie to occur; new combinations arise, ajid old ones dis- appear ; some cling to their ancestral haunts, and stjme, with characteristic restlessness, roam abroad, or even migrate to dis- tant parts. On the other hand, a strong cohesive power, counteracting these disintegrating tendencies, conserves the tribal constitution, binds together the members of each body, and in- terests them in its safety and honour. So strong, indeed, is this conservatism, that after the lapse of twelve centuries we find at the present day some tribes, as the Beni Adwan and Hawazin, the same in name and lineage, and inhabiting the same localities, as in the days of ]\Iahomet. The lirst peculiarity, then, which attracts (jur attention is the subdivision of the Arabs into innumerable bodies, governed by the same code of honour and morals, exhibiting the same manners, speaking for the most part the same language, but eacli independent of the others ; restless and often at war amongst themselves ; and even where united by blood or by interest, ever ready on some insignificant cause to separate and give way to an implacable hostility. Thus at the era of Islam the retrospect of Arabian history exhil)its, as in the kaleidoscope, an e\er- varying state of combination and repulsion, such as had hitherto rendered abortive any attempt at a general union. Tlie freedom of Araltia from foreign concjuest was owing not so much to the difficulties of its parched and pathless wilds, as to the endless array of iso- lated clans, and the absence of any head or chief ])0wer which miglit be made the object of subjugation. The problem had yet to 1)0 solved, by what force these tribes could be subdued, or drawn to one common centi-e ; and it was solved by Mahomet, who struck out a ])olitical system of his own, univer.sally accept- able because derived from elements common to all Arabia ; vigfirous, because b.-ised upon the energy of a new religious life ; rapidly and inepressibly expansive, bei'ause borne forward by inducements, irresistible to an Arab, of war and plunder. The prospects of Arabia before the rise of Maliomet were as unfavourable to religious reform as they were to political union or national regeneration. The foundation of Arab faith was a IDOLATRY, JUDAISM, AND CHRISTIANITY deep-rooted idolatry, which for centuries had stood proof, with no palpable symptom of decay, against every attempt at evangelisa- tion from Egypt and Syria. Several causes increased the insen- sibility of Arabia to the Gospel. A broad margin of hostile Judaism on the northern frontier neutralised the eflfects of Chris- tian teaching, and afforded shelter to the paganism beyond. Thus Jewish influence spread far towards the south, and was there supported by the powerful Jewish settlement in Yemen, which at times even sought to proselytise the neighbouring tribes. But more than this, the idolatry of Mecca had formed a com- promise with Judaism, and had admitted enough of its legends, and perhaps of its tenets also, to steel the national mind against the appeal of Christianity. Idolatry, simple and naked, may be comparatively powerless against the attacks of reason and the Gospel ; but, aided by some measure of truth, it can maintain its ground against the most urgent persuasion. To advance the authority of Abraham for the worship of the Kaaba, and vaunt his legacy of divinely inculcated rites, would be a triumphant reply to the invitations either of Judaism or of Christianity. Moreover, the Christianity of the 7th century was itself decrepit and corrupt. It was disabled by contending schisms, and had substituted the puerilities of superstition for the pure and ex- pansive faith of the early ages. Northern Arabia, long the battle-field of Persia and the Em- pire, was peculiarly unfavourable to Christian effort. Alternately swept by the armies of the Chosroes and of Constantinople, of Hira and the Ghassanides, the Syrian frontier presented little opportunity for the advance of peaceful Christianity. The vagrant habits of the'Nomads themselves eluded the im- portunity of missionary endeavour ; while their haughty temper and vindictive code equally resented the peaceful and forgiving precepts of the Gospel. A nominal adhesion to Christianity, as to any other religion, may indeed be obtained without participa- tion in its spirit or subjection to its moral requirements ; but such formal submission could have resulted alone from the political supremacy of a Christian power, not from the persuasion of a religious agency. Let us inquire, then, what political induce- ments at this time bore upon Arabia from without. To the North, we find that Egypt and Syria, representing the Roman empire, exercised at the best but a remote influence upon Arabian affairs ; and even that was neutralised by the victories of Persia. The weight of Constantinople, if ever brought to bear directly upon Arabia, was but lightly and transiently felt. The kingdom of Ghassan, on the borders of Syria, was indeed at Christi- anity neu- tralised by Judaism Combina- tion with Judaical legends Unsettlc.l frontier to the ^orlh Habits of the Arnl)s opposed to Christi- anitv Political influence of Christi- anitj' from •without. 1. From the North the Ixxxiv AHAIJIA RKFORE THK TIME OI' MAOOMET introd. once Arabian and Christian, hut it yielded to Hira the palm of suj)reiiiafy, and never exercised any important hearing on the affairs an«l policy of central Arabia. tiieAWM Turning to the North-fitsl, we observe that the prospects of runt Christianity had improved by the conversion of tlie court of Hira and many of its suljject tribes. Jiut Hira itself was only a vassal ; for its native dynasty had lately been replaced by the direct government of Persia, a .strong opponent of Christianity. Thus the authority of pagan Persia over the northern and eastern Arabs more than counterbalanced the influence <»f Chri.stianity in the west. ;!. From To the South, the Faith had suffered an important loss. The prestige of a Christian monarchy, though but an Ethiopian, was gone ; and in its room had arisen a Persian .satrapy, under the shadow of whicli the ancient Himyarite idolatry, and once royal 4. Froii) Jutlaism, llourished apace.' On the W>'st there lay the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, but it was di\ided from Araljia by the Red Sea ; and the Negro race, even if Ijrought into closer con- tact, could never liave exercised much influence upon the Arab mind. The ponin- Thus the star of Christianity was not in the ascendant : in sented'^no some resjjects it was declining. There was no liope from external l>ro«i't'ct of aid ; and, apart from such aid, the strong influence of Judaism, and almost universal submission to national idolatry, renderesiriia WDiiUl have prevented a revolution, which has ciian^jed the civil and re- lipous si:.t.. .,f tl,.. W...I.1 ■ fi.ri: ../ /.•„/; ,.!,., p vi;; iio()i.-('ui chjili^'i; CH. II. SUNK IN IDOLATRY IxxxV lytism ; but, as an active and converting agent, the Jewish faith was no longer operative. In fine, viewed in a religious aspect, Arabia the surface of Arabia had been now and then gently rippled by fixSh!'tire the feeble efforts of Christianity; the sterner influences of profession . ., 1 . 1 1 of idolatrv Judaism had been occasionally visible m a deeper and more troubled current; but the tide of indigenous idolatry and Ishmaelite superstition, setting strongly from every quarter towards the Kaaba, gave ample evidence that the faith and wor- ship of Mecca held the Arab mind in a rigorous and undisputed thraldom. Yet, even amongst a people thus enthralled, there existed StiU uia- ' ® '^ \ -, 1 • ,1 X- £ tenal pre- elements which a master mind; seeking the regeneration ot pajg^ by Arabia, might work upon. Christianity was well known ; living ^^'^'*^^"|.'jj,_ examples there were amongst the native tribes ; the New Testa- tianity ment was respected, if not revered, as a book that claimed to be divine ; in most quarters it was easily accessible, and some of its facts and doctrines admitted without dispute. The tenets of Judaism were even more familiar, and its legends, if not its sacred writings, known throughout the peninsula. The worship of Mecca was founded upon patriarchal traditions common at once to Christianity and Judaism. Here, then, was ground on which the spiritual fulcrum might be planted ; a wide field in close connection with the truth, inviting scrutiny and upward movement. No doubt, many an Arab heart, before Mahomet, had responded to the voice, casually heard it may be, of Chris tianity and of Judaism : many an honest Bedouin spirit confessed of the law that it was just and good : many an aspiring intel- lect, as the eye travelled over the spangled expanse of heaven, concluded that the universe was supported by One great Being ; and in time of need, many an earnest soul had accepted with joy the Christian sacrifice. Coss, bishop of Najran, was not the first, nor perhaps the most eloquent and earnest, of Arab preachers who sought to turn their fellows from the error of their ways, and reasoned with them of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. The material for a great change was here. But it required to It wiis Ma- be wrought ; and Mahomet was the workman. The fabric of Islam I^qj]^^^ the no more necessarily grew out of the state of Arabia, than a gor- material , into shape geous texture grows from the slender meshes of silken filament ; or the stately ship from unhewn timber of the forest ; or the splendid palace from rude masses of rock. Had Mahomet, stern to his early convictions, followed the leading of Jewish and Chris- tian truth, and inculcated upon his fellows their simple doctrine, there might have been a ' Saint Mahomet '—more likely a ' Mahomet the Martyr ' — laying the foundation stone of the Ixxxvi ARABIA BEFORi: THE TIME OF MAHOMET iNxnoD. Arabian Church. But then (so far as human probabihties and analogy indicate) Arabia would not have been convulsed by his preaching to its centre, or even any considerable portions of it converted. Instead of all this, he, with consummate skill, devised a machinery, by the adaptive energy of which he gradu- ally .shaped the broken and disconnected masses of the Arab race into an harmonious whole, a body politic endowed with life and vigour. To the Christian, he was as a Christian ; to the Jew he became as a Jew ; to the idolater of Mecca, as a reformed wor- shipper of the Kaaba. And thus, by unparalleled art and a rare supremacy of mind, he persuaded the whole of Arabia, Pagan, Jew, and Christian, to follow his steps with docile submission. Such a process is tliat of the icorkman shnjnnr/ his iiKit'^rial. It is not that of the material shaping its own form, much less (as some would hold) moulding the workman himself. It was Mahomet that formed Islam ; it was not Islam, or any pre-exist- ing Moslem spirit, that moulded Mahomet. PRE-HISTORICAL NOTICES OF MECCA Ixxxvii CHAPTER III PRE-HISTORICAL NOTICES OF MECCA Legendary founding of Mecca We shall in this chapter consider such mythical and traditional notices of Mecca as may throw light on the origin of the Kaaba and its worship, and on the ancestry of Mahomet. Native legend ascribes the building of the Kaaba to Abra- ham. Hagar (so the story runs) wandering in the desert with her boy, reaches at length the valley of Mecca. In the agony by Ishmael of thirst she paces hurriedly to and fro between the little hills of Safa and Marwa, seeking for water. Ishmael, whom she had left crying on the ground, kicks around him in childish passion, when behold the spot bubbles forth beneath his feet in a clear stream of sweet water. It is the well Zemzem. Amalekites and Arab tribes from Yemen, attracted by the fountain, settle there ; Ishmael grows up amongst them, and marries the daughter of their chief. In fulfilment of the divine command received in a vision, Abraham is about to offer up his son upon an emi- nence in the neighbourhood, when his arm is stayed and a vicari- ous sacrifice accepted. On a subsequent visit, the patriarch, assisted by his son, erected the temple where it now stands, and reconstituted the primeval rites of pilgrimage. Descending from this myth, we find little more than bare genealogical tables (borrowed palpably from the Jews) in which it is sought to trace up generation by generation the Coreishite stock to Abraham. It is not till we reach the Christian era that tradition commences, and soon begins to teem with tales and legends in which, mingled with a mass of fiction, there may be grains of fact. The guardianship of the Kaaba (belonging to the Coreishite ancestry in virtue of descent from Ishmael) was usurped by the tribe of Jorhom, which remained long in posses- sion of the temple and supi-emacy of Mecca. In the 2nd century some of the numerous tribes migrating (as we have seen) from Yemen northwards, settled in the vicinity. Most of these passed on eventually to Medina, Syria, and Hira ; but a remnant, called Khozaa, remained behind, and in their turn seized upon the Traditional history to Ixxxviii rRE-niSTOHir.\L N0TICI--S of MECCA intkod. jjfoveminent of Mecca. The Jorliom dyiui-sty was thus ousted in the .'Jrcl century, and their hist king, on retiring from Mecca, buried in tlie well Zenizem his treasures ; among these wei-e two gazelles of gold, and swords and suits of armour, of which we shall hear more hereafter. C«)S8«i II.S For L'OO years the Khozaa remainerarwa. This n>ay Ik* performed with merit at any sea.son of the year, l)Ut esp<>cially in the wicred month of Hajab. Hefore entering the holy territory, the votary as.iumes the pilgrim garb, and at the conclusion of the ceremonieH shaves his head and pares his nails. ^J''*!*''" The ' (Sreatcr pilgrimage ' can be performed only in the holy njonth D/ul Hiji. In addition to the ceremonies of the liessor. CH. III. THE KAABA WORSIIII' Ixxxix it embraces the tour of Arafat, a small granite hill in the moun- tains, ten or twelve miles east of Mecca. The pilgrims, starting from Mecca on the 8th of the month, stay the following day at Arafat, and having ascended the hill, hasten back the same evening three or four miles to Mozdalifa. Next day, returning half way to Mecca, they stay at Mina, where they spend the two or three succeeding days. Small stones are cast by the pil- grims at certain objects in the Mina valley, and the pilgrimage is concluded by the sacrifice of victims there. The Harain or sacred tract several miles round Mecca was Sacred en- hallowed and inviolable, and had from time immemorial been so J^ig""^ ^ad regarded. Four months of the tear were held sacred ; three four holy o "^ . . . . , months consecutive, and one separate. ^ During this period war was by unanimous consent suspended, hostile feeling was suppressed, and amnesty reigned throughout Arabia. Pilgrims from every quarter could then safely repair to Mecca, and fairs in various parts were thronged by those whom merchandise, or the contests of poetry or social rivalry, brought together. There is reason to suppose that the year was originally lunar. The luni and so continued till the beginning of the fifth century, when 0?^.^ . in imitation of the Jews it was turned, by the interjection of a month at the close of every third year, into a luni-solar period. If by this change it was intended to make the season of pilgrim- age correspond invariably with the autumn, when a supply of food for the vast multitude would be easily procurable, that object was defeated by the remaining imperfection of the cycle ; for the year being still shorter by one day and a fraction than the real year, each recurring season accelerated the time of pilgrimage ; so that when, after two centuries, intercalation was altogether prohibited by Mahomet, the days of pilgrimage had moved from October gradually backward to March. In reviewing the history of Mecca, the origin of the temple ^rigin of and of the local worship demands further scrutiny. Moslem .^^^ 5^!, belief attributes both to Abraham, and connects part of the worship ceremonial with Biblical legend ; but the story is plainly a fable. The following considerations strengthen the conviction that Mecca and its rites cannot possibly claim any such origin. First. ' The consecutive months were the last two of the Old year, and tlie first of the New ; the other was the seventh, Rajah. An innovation was introduced (as is said, by Cossai) by which the first month of the year might be commuted into the second, i.e. Moharram into Safar. Cossai may have wished, liy abridging the long three months' recess of peace, to humour the warlike Ai'abs, as well as to obtain for himself the power of holding a month either sacred or secular as might best suit his purpose. The office of intercalation and connnutation was called Sasd ; and the person holding it, IVdsi. PKE-IIISTOKICAL NOTICES OF MECCA No Abra- haiiiic ele- ment in its chief cere- monies Kemotc an tiquity of the Kaiib.i Wide ex- tent of thr worshii> ( 'onnection with Hys- tcniM native to Arabia There is no trace of anything Abrahamic in the essential ele- ments of the superstition. To kiss the Black stone ; to make the circuit of the Kaaba, and perform other observances at Mecca, Arafat, and the vale of Mina ; to keep the sacred months and to hallow the sacred territory — have no conceivable connec- tion with Abraham, <»r with the ideas which his descendants ■would be likely to inlierit from him. Such rites originated in causes foreign to the country chiefly occupied by the children of Abraham ; they were either strictly local ; or, in so far a.s based on the idolatry prevailing in the south, were imported by immi- grants from Yemen. Si'cond. A very high antiquity must be assigned to the main features of the religion of Mecca. Although Herodotus does not refer to the Kaaba, yet he names as one of the chief Aral> dignities, Alilat ; and this is strong evidence of the worship at that early period of Alldt, the great idol of Mecca. He like- wise alludes to the veneration of the Arabs for stones. Diodorus Siculus, writing about half a century before our era, says of Arabia washed by the Red Sea, 'there is, in this country, a temple g/-eatly revered by the Arabs.' These words must refer to the Holy house of Mecca, for we know of no other which ever commanded such universal homage. Early hhitorical tradi- tion gives no trace of its first construction. Some authorities assert that the Amalekites rebuilt the edifice which they found in ruins, and retained it for a time under their charge. All agree that it was in existence under the Jorhom tribe (about the time of the Christian era), and, l)eing injured by a flood of rain, was then repaired. Tradition represents the Kaaba as from time immemorial the scene of pilgrimage fi-om uU quarters of Arabia : — fi-om Yemen and Hadhramaut, from the shores of the Persian Gulf, the deserts of Syria, and the distant environs of Hii-a and J^Iesopotamia, men yearly flockend would be eagerly welcomed and readily assimilated with native legend and tradition. I'.y a sununary adjustment, the story of Pah-stine CH. II r. JUDAISM AND THE KAABA WORSHIP xciii became the story of the Hejaz. The precincts of the Kaaba were hallowed as the scene of Hagar's distress, and the sacred well Zemzem as the source of her relief. The pilgrims hasted to and fro between Safa and Marwa in memory of her hurried steps in search of water. It was Abraham and Ishmael who built the temple, imbedded in it the Black stone, and established for all Arabia the pilgrimage to Arafjit. In imitation of him it was that stones were flung by the pilgrims as if at Satan, and sacri- fices offered at Mina in remembi'ance of the vicarious sacrifice by Abraham. And so, although the indigenous rites may have been little if at all altei'ed by the adoption of Israelitish legends, they came to be viewed in a totally different light, and to be con- nected in Arab imagination with something of the sanctity of Abraham the Friend of God.' The gulf between the y no sensible symbol is clearly not cognate with any of the indigenous forms of Arab superstition. It was borrowed directly from the Jews, or from some other Abrahamic race among whom contact with the Jews had preserved or revived the knowledge of the * God of Abraham.' Familiarity with the Abrahamic races also introduced the doctrine of the immortality 6f the soul, and the resurrection from the dead ; but these were held wdth many fantastic ideas of Ai-abian growth. Revenge pictured the murdered soul as a bird chirping for retribution against the murderer ; and a camel was sometimes left to starve at the grave of his master, that he might be ready at the resurrection again to carry him. A vast variety of Biblical language was also in common use, or at least suificiently in use to be commonly understood. Faith, Eepentance, Heaven and Hell, the Devil and his angels, the heavenly Angels, Gabriel the messenger of God, are specimens acquired from some Jewish source, either current or ready for adoption. Similarly familiar were the stories of the Fall of man, the Flood; the destruction of the cities of the plain, &c.— so that there was an extensive substratum of crude ideas bordering upon the spiiitual, ready to tlie hand of Mahomet. PRE-HISTORICAL NOTICES OF MECCA CHAPTER IV THE FOREFATHERS OF MAHOMET ("ivil polity bawd on the habits of the Bedouins General principles of Bedouin yovern- raent The social institutions of Mecca did not essentially differ from those of the wandering Bedouins. They were to some extent modified by their settled habitation and by the pilgrimage and surroundings of the Kaaba. But the ultimate sanctions of society, and the springs of political movement, were in reality the same at Mecca then as exist in Arabia at the present day. It must be borne in mind that at Mecca there was not, before the establishment of Islam, any government in the common sense of the term. No supreme authority existed whose mandate was law. Every separate tribe was a republic governed by public opinion ; and the opinion of the aggregate tribes, who chanced for the time to act together, the sovereign law. There was no recognised exponent of the popular will ; each tribe was free to hold back from the decree of the remainder ; and no individual was more bound than his collective tribe to a compulsory con- formity with even the unanimous resolve of his fellow-citizens. Honour and revenge supplied the place of a more elaborate sys- tem. The former prompted the indi\idual, by the desire of upholding the pame and influence of his clan, to a compliance with the general wish ; the latter provided for the respect of private right, by the unrelenting pursuit of the injurer. In effect, the will of the majority did form the general rule of action, although there was continual risk that the minority might sepa- rate and assume an independent, if not a hostile, attitude. The law of revenge, too, though in such a society perhaps unavoidable, was then, even as now, the curse of Arabia. The stain of blood once shed was not easily effaced : its price might be rejected by the heir, and life demanded for life. Retaliation followed retri- bution : the nearest of kin, the family, tlio clan, the confederate tribes, one by one in a widening circle, identified themselves with the sufferer, and adopted his claim as their own ; and thus a petty affront or unpremeditated blow not unfrcquently invoh <'d whole tribes and tracts of country in protracted and bloody CH. IV. COSSAI AND HIS DESCENDANTS XCV strife. Still, in a system which provided no legal power to inter- fere in personal disputes, it cannot be doubted that the law of retaliation afforded an important check upon the passions of the stronger ; and that acts of violence and injustice were repressed by fear of retribution from the relatives or adherents of the in- jured party. The benefit of the custom was further increased by the practice of patronage or guardianship. The weak resorted to the strong for protection ; and when the word of a chief or powerful man had once been pledged to grant it, the pledge was fulfilled with chivalrous scrupulosity. At first sight it might appear that, under this system, a Chief Offices con- possessed no shadow of authority to execute either his own wish ^l^^l^^-^^. or that of the people. But in reality his powers, though vague on Chiefs and undefined, were large and effective. The position of Chief always secured an important share in forming and giving ex- pression to public opinion ; so that, excepting rare and unusual cases, he swayed the councils and movements of his tribe. It was mainly by the influence derived from the offices attaching to the Kaaba and the Pilgrimage, that the Chiefs of Mecca differed from the Sheikhs of the nomad tribes, and exercised a more regular and permanent rule. "We have seen that about the middle of the 5th century Cossai Cossai, had concentrated the chief of these offices in his own person. ^:^^ j^^^ '^g_ When he became old and infirm, he resigned them into the hands scendants of his eldest son, Abd al Dar. From him they descended to his sons and grandsons ; but the latter, who succeeded to the in- heritance in the beginning of the 6th century, were too young effectually to maintain their rights, Abd Menaf, another son of Cossai, had been the powerful rival of his brother ; and the sons of Abd Menfif inherited their father's influence. The chief wei-e, Muttalib, Hashim, Abd Shams, and Nowfal.* These con- J This was the branch from which Mahomet descended. The foUowang table illustrates the family influences which affected not only the position of the Prophet, but the destinies of the Caliphate long ages after : — Cossai (b, circa 400 a.d.) I I Abd al Dar Abd Menaf (b, circa 430 a.d.) I III I AbdSliams Nowfal Hashim (b. «>ca 464) Muttalib I I OmeTya Abd al Muttalib (b. circa 497) f I III II III Harb Harith Abu Talib Abu Laliab Abdallah (b. circa 545) Abbas Hamza Ackil I ^-1 I AbuSoflan Jafar Aly MAHOMET (b. 570 a.d.) I Muavia. THE FOHKFATIIKRS OF MAHOMET Discord amonjfCos- siii's de- scendants Tlio offices amicabi}- divided Jltishim born A.u. 401 I'eeds the people of .Moccn ill a fain i DC spired to wrest from the dcsceuclants of Abd al Dar the here- ditjiry offices bequeathed by Cossai. Hashini took the lead, and grounded his claim on the superior dignity of the family of Alxl Menaf. But the descendants of Abd al Dar refused to cede their rights, and an open rupture ensued. The Coreish were equally divided, one portion siding with the claimants, and the other with the actual possessore of the offices. The respective factions, having bound themselves by the most stringent oaths, were already marshalled in hostile array, when une.vpectedly truce was called. The conditions were to give Hashim and his party the offices of providing food and water for the pilgrims, while the descendants of Abd al Dar retained custody of the Kaaba and Council-hall, and the right of mounting the banner on its staff in war. Peace was restored upon the.se terms. Hasiiim, thus installed in the office of entertaining the pil- grims, fulfilled it with princely magnificence. He was himself rich, and many of the Coreish had also by trading acquired much wealth. He appealed to them as his grandfather Cossai had done : ' Ye are the neighbours of God, aiui the keepers of His house. I'ilgrims to the temple are His guests ; and it is meet that ye entei'tain them above all other guests. Ye are especially chosen unto this high dignity ; u-herefore honour His guests and refresh them. For, from distant cities, on their lean and jaded camels, they come unto you fatigued and harassed, with hair dishevelled and bodies covered toith the dust and squalor of tJie way. Then invite them hospitably, and furnish them with water in abun- dance.' Hashim .set the example by a munificent provision, and the Coreish were forward to contribute, every man according to his ability. Water sufficient for the great assemblage was col- lected in cisterns close by the Kaaba, and at the stations on the route to Arafat.' The distribution of food commenced upon the day on which the pilgrims set out for Mina and Arafiit, and continued until they dispersed. During this period, that is for five or six days, they were entertained with pottage of meat and bread, butter and liarley, and with the favourite national repast of dates. Thus Hashim .supported the credit of Mecca. JJut his name is even more renowned for the splendid charity by which in a time of famine he relieved the necessities of his fellow-citizens. Journeying to Syiia, he purcha.sed an immense stock of bread, and conveyed it upon camels to Mecca. The provisions were cooked, the camels slaughtered and roasted, and the whole di- vided among the citizens. Destitution and mourning were turned into mirth and plenty; and it was (the historian adds) ' as it wci-e the beginning of new lift' after the year of scarcity.' The foreign relations of the Coreish were conducted by the Commer- sons of Abd Menaf. With the Roman authorities, and the of^Hasilhif Ghassanide prince, Hashim himself concluded a treaty ; and he is and his said to have received from the Emperor a rescript authorisin'^' the ^° ^^^ Coreish to travel through Syria in security. Abd Shams made a treaty with the Negus, in pursuance of which the Coreish traded with Abyssinia ; Nowfal and Muttalib entered into an alliance with the king of Persia who allowed the merchants of Mecca to traffic in Irac and Fars, and with the kings of Himyar who encouraged their commercial operations in Yemen. Thus the affairs of the Coreish prospered in every direction. To Hashim is also ascribed the credit of establishing upon a uniform footing the mercantile expeditions of his people, so that every winter a caravan set out for Yemen and Abyssinia, while in the summer a second visited Gaza, Ancyra, and other Syrian marts. The success and glory of Hashim exposed him to the envy Hashim of Omeyya, the son of his brother Abd Shams. Omevva was f^^lenged 1,11 1 1 1 • ■ 1 • . bj'Omevva, opulent, and he expended his riches m a vain attempt to rival the who is van- splendour of his kinsman's munificence. The Coreish perceived and Sled the endeavour, and turned it into ridicule. Omeyya was enraged. Who, said he, is ffashim ? and he defied him to a trial of supe- riority. 1 Hashim would willingly have avoided a contest Avith one so much his inferior both in years and dignity ; but the Coreish, who loved such exhibitions, would not excuse him ; he consented, therefore, but with the stipulation that the vanquished party should lose fifty black-eyed camels, and be ten years exiled from Mecca. A Khozaaite soothsayer was appointed umpire ; and, having heard the pretensions of both, pronounced Hashim to be the victor. Hashim took the fifty camels, slaughtered them in the vale of Mecca, and fed with them all the people present. Omeyya set out for Syria, and remained there the period of his exile. The circumstance is carefully noted by Mahometan writers as the first trace of that rivalry between the Hashimite and Omeyyad factions, which in after ages shook the Caliphate. Hashim was now advanced in years when, on a mercan- Hashim tile journey to the north, he visited Medina with a party of the ^^/^ at Coreish. As he traded there, he was attracted by the graceful Med figure of a female, who from an elevated position was directing her people beneath to buy and sell for her. She was discreet and comely, and made a tender impression upon the heart of ' It is difficult to express the idea implied by such a contest. It was a vainglorious practice, which consisted in one person challenging another, and claiming to be more noble and renowned, brave or generous, than he. Each disputant adduced facts and witnesses to prove his ambitious pretensions, and the arbiter adjudged the palm at his discretion. f who bears him a son THE FOREFAXnEHS OF MAHOMET Mnttalil. fetches his nephew Aba al Muttalilj from Medina, who main- tains pos- gession of paternal estate, eventually succeeds to the office of entertain- inf,' pil- griniB, Hashiiu. He inquired of the citizens whether she was single, and tliey answered that she had been married, but was now divorced. The dignity of the lady, they added, was so great amongst her people that she would not marry, unless it were stipulated that she should remain mistress of her own concerns, and have at pleasure the power of divorce. This was Salma, daughter of Amr, of the Khazraj tribe. Hashim thereupon demanded her in marriage ; and she consented, for she was well aware of his renown and noble birth. She accompanied him to Mecca, but returned to ^Medina where she gave birth to a son, who remained with his mother at Medina. Hashim, dying a few years after on a mercantile expedition to Gaza, left his dignities to his brother Muttalib, who, when Hashim 's son had grown into boyhood, set out for Medina to fetch him thence. On his return, as the inhabitants of Mecca saw him pass with a lad by his side, they concluded that he had purchased a slave, and exclaimed Abd al Muttalib/ — 'lo, the servant of Muttalib 1 ' ' Out upon you ! ' said he ; ' it is my nephew, the son of Hashim.' And as each scrutinised the fea- tures of the Ijoy, they swore — ' By my life, it is the very same.' In this incident is said to have originated the name of Abd al Muttalib, by which the son of Hashim was thereafter called. In due time Abd al Muttalib was installed by his uncle in possession of his father's property ; but Nowfal, another uncle, interposed, and violently deprived him of it. Abd al Muttalib, on reaching years of discretion, appealed to his tribe for aid to resist this usurpation of his rights ; but they declined to inter- fere. He then wrote to his maternal relatives at Medina, who no sooner received the intelligence than eighty mounted men of his mother's clan started for Mecca. Abd al JNluttalib went forth to meet them, and invited them to his house ; but their chief re- fused to alight until he had called Nowfal to account. Proceeding straightway to the Holy house, he found him seated there among the chiefs of the Coreish. Xowfal arose to offer welcome ; but the stranger refused his \\ elcome, and drawing his sword declared that he would plunge it into him unless he forthwith reinstated the oi-phan in his rights. The op})ressor was daunted, and agreed to the concession, which was then ratified by oath before the assembled Coreish. Some years after, on the death of ]\Iuttalib, Abd al :\Iut- talib succeeded to the office of entertaining the pilgrims. liut for a long time he was destitute of power and influence; and, having at the time but one son to a.ssist him in the assertion of his claims, he found it difticult to cope with the opposing faction of the Coreish. It was during this period that he discovered the CH. IV. ABD AL MUTTALIB XCIX .ancient well Zemzem. Finding it laborious to procure water «adjUs^-^^ for the pilgrims from the scattered wells of Mecca and store it in "^^J^'z^^ cisterns by the Kaaba, and perhaps aware by tradition of the zem existence of a well in the vicinity, he made diligent search, and at last chanced upon the venerable masonry. It was a remnant of the palmy days when a rich and incessant stream of commerce flowed through Mecca. Centuries had elapsed since the trade had ceased, and with it had followed the decline of Mecca, and neglect ■of the well. In course of time choked up, the remembrance of it had become so indistinct that even the site was now unknown. As Abd al Muttalib, aided by his son Harith, continued CMm of ■digging deeper, he came upon the two golden gazelles, with the negatived swds and suits of armour buried there by the Jorhomite l^y oracle king more than three centuries before. The Coreish, envying him these treasures, demanded a share ; and they even asserted their right to the well itself, as the possession of their common ancestor Ishmael. Abd al Muttalib was not powerful enough to resist the claim ; but he agreed to refer it to the decision of the arrows of Hobal, the god whose image was set up within the Kaaba. Lots were cast, one for the Kaaba and two for the re- spective claimants. The gazelles fell to the share of the Kaaba, and the swords and suits of armour to Abd al Muttalib, while the arrows of the Coreish were blank. Acquiescing in the divine decree, they relinquished their pretensions to tlie well. Abd al Muttalib beat out the gazelles into plates of gold, and fixed them by way of ornament to the door of the Kaaba. He hung up the swords before the door as a protection to the treasures within ; but at the same time added a more effectual guard in the shape of a golden lock and key. The plentiful flow of fresh ^^^^^^ water, soon apparent in the well Zemzem, was a great triumph abundant to Abd al Muttalib. All other wells in Mecca were deserted, and *P"°S this alone resorted to. From it Abd al Muttalib supplied the pilgrims ; and the water itself soon shared the sacredness of the Kaaba and its rites. The fame and influence of Abd al Muttalib now waxed greater and greater ; a large family of powerful sons added to his dignity ; he became, and continued to his death, the virtual chief of Mecca. But a strange calamity now threatened to embitter Abd al ^j^^^'^jji^^g Muttalib's prosperity. During his early troubles, while supported son, by an only son, he had felt so bitterly his weakness in contending ^^^J^*^' •with the large and influential families of his opponents, as to vow from sacri- that, if Providence should ever grant him ten sons, he would hundiU°^ devote one of them to the Deity. Years rolled on, and the rash camels father at last found himself surrounded by the longed-for number, the sight of whom daily reminded him of his vow. He bade his f 2 THE FOREFATflEKS OF MAHOMET Abdal Muttalib challenged by Harb son of Omeyya His leafjHc with the Beni Khozaa Tlie viceroy of Yemen Invades sons accompany liim to tlie Kaaba ; each was made to write his name upon a lot, and the lots were made over to the intendant of the temple, who cast them in the usual mode. The fatal arrow fell upon Abdallah, the youngest and the best beloved. The vow devoting him to the Deity must needs be fultilled, but how else than by the .sacrificial knife ? His daughters wept and clung around him, and he was willingly persuaded to cast lots l:)etween Abdallah and ten camels, the current fine for bloodshed. If the Deity should accept the ransom, the father ncr-d not scruple to si)are his son. But the lot a second time fell upon Abdallah. Again, and with equal fortune, it was cast between him and twenty camels. At each successive trial the anxious father added ten. camels to the stake, but the Deity appeared inexorably to refuse the vicaiious oHering, and to require the blood of his youngest son. It was now the tenth throw, and the ransom had reached a hundred camels, when the lot at last fell upon them. The father joyfully released Abdallah from his impending fate, and slaugh- tered the hundred camels between Safa and Marwa. The inhabitants of ]\Iecca feasted upon them, and Abd al Muttalib's family refusing to partake, the residue was left to the beasts and to the birds. This Abdallah was the father of Mahomet. The prosperity and fame of Abd al Muttalib excited the envy of the house of Omeyya, whose son Harb challenged his rival to a trial of their respective merits. The Abyssinian king declined to be the umpire, and the judgment was committed to a Coreishite, who declared tliat Abd al ]\Iuttalib was in every respect superior. Harb was deeply mortified, and abandoned the society of his opponent whose companion he had previously been. Thus the ill feeling between the families of Hashim and Omeyya was perpetuated an:l increased. Abd al Muttalib gained an important accession of stability to his party by conclutling a defensive league with the Khozaaite tribe, still inhaliitants of Mecca. They came to him and repre- .sented that, as their quarters adjoined, such a treaty would be advantageous for both. Abd al Muttalib was not slow in per- ceiving this. With ten of his adherents he met the Beni Kho/iia at the Kaaba, and there they mutually pledged their faitli. The league was reduced to writing, and hung up in the Holy house. No one from the family of Omeyya was present, or indeed knew of the tran.saction until thus pulilished. The com- bination was permanent, and in after times proved of es.sential service to Mahomet. In (he year HTO A.n., or about eight years before the death of Abd al Muttalib, occurred the memonible invasion of ^lecca by Abralia, Abyssinian viceroy uf Yemen. This potentate had built CH. IV. MECCA ATTACKED BY ABYSSINIAN VICEROY CI at Sana a magnificent cathedral whither he sought to attract the Mecca_ worship of Arabia ; and, thwarted in the attempt, vented his ^■^- ^'^ displeasure in an attack on Mecca and its temple. Upon this enterprise he set out with a considerable army. In its train was an elephant ; — a circumstance for Arabia so singular that the commander, his host, the invasion, and the year, are still called by the epithet of ' the Elephant.' Notwithstanding opposition from various Arab tribes, Abraha victoriously reached Tayif, three days east of Mecca. The men of Tayif, ever jealous of Mecca, protested that they had no concern with the Kaaba, and fur- nished the Abyssinians with a guide, who died on the way to Mecca. Centuries afterwards, wayfarers marked their abhor- rence of the traitor by casting stones at his tomb as they passed. Abraha then sent forward a body of troops to scour the Tehama and carry otf what cattle they could find. They were successful in the raid, and among the plunder secured two hundred camels belonging to Abd al Muttalib. An embassy was despatched to the inhabitants of Mecca : ' Abraha,' the message ran, ' had no And desire to do them injury. His only object was to demolish the JJf^Sa Kaaba ; that performed, he would retire without shedding the blood of any man.' The citizens had already resolved that it would be vain to oppose the invader by force of arms ; but the destruction of the Kaaba they refused on any terms to allow. At last the embassy prevailed on Abd al INIuttalib and the other chiefs of Mecca to repair to the Viceroy's camp, and there plead their cause. Abd al Muttalib was treated with distinguished honour. To gain him over, Abraha restored his plundered camels ; but he could obtain no satisfactory answer regarding the Kaaba. The chiefs offered a third of the wealth of the Tehama if he would desist from his designs against their temple, but he refused. The negotiation was broken off", and the deputation returned to Mecca. The people, by the advice of Abd al Mutta- lib, made preparations for retii'ing in a body to the hills and defiles about the city on the day before tlie expected attack. As Abd al Muttalib leaned upon the ring of the door of the Kaaba (so the tradition runs), he prayed to the Deity thus aloud : ' Defend, O Lord, thine own House, and suffer not the Cross to triumph over the Kaaba ! ' This done, he relaxed his hold, and, betaking himself with the rest to the neighbouring heights, watched what the end might be. Meanwhile a pestilential dis- Is discom- temper had shown itself in the camp of the Viceroy. It broke pestilence ^ out with deadly pustules and blains, and was probably an aggra- vated form of small-pox. In confusion and dismay the army com- menced retreat. Abandoned by their guides, they perished among the valleys, and a flood (such is the pious legend) sent by the THE rOHEKATHEI{.S Ul' .MAIIOMEf Coreish establisli the JItwi, or excep- tions in their own favour Strength and univer- sality of the Kaaba worship wrath of Heaven swept multitudes into the sea. Scarcely any recovered who liad once been smitten by it ; and Abraha himself, a mass of malignant and putrid sores, died miserably on his return to Sana.' The unexpected and seemingly miraculous disappointment of the magniticent preparations of Abraha increased the reverence with which throughout Arabia the Coreish were looked upon. They became vaingloi-ious, and sought to mark their superiority by the assunipiion of special immunities. 'Let us,' they said, ' release ourselves from some of the observances imposed upon the multitude ; and forbid ourselves some of the things which to them are lawful.' Thus they gave up the yearly pilgrimage to Arafat, and the ceremonial return therefrom, although they still acknowledged these acts to be, as an essential part of the ' religion of Abraham,' binding upon others ; they also refused the use of cheese and butter while in the pilgrim garb ; and, abandoning tents of camels' hair, restricted themselves to tents of leather. Upon pilgrims who came from beyond the Sacred limits, they imposed new rules for their own aggrandisement. Such visitors, whether for the Greater or the Lesser pilgrimage, were forliidden to eat food brought from without the holy boundary ; and were compelled to make the circuit of the Kaaba either naked, or clothed in vestments provided only by the citizens who formed the league. This association, called the Homs, included the Coreish, the Beni Kinana a collateral branch, and the Khozaa. To them the privileges of the league were restricted. All others were subjected to the humiliation of soliciting from them food and raiment. There is some doubt wliethcr these innovations were only now begun or existed from an earlier period. But, however introduced, they give proof that the worship of the Kaaba was activ'e and vigorous, and that its directors exercised a wonderful influence over the whole of Arabia. The practices then enforced were superseded only by Islam ; and (assuming the late.st date assigned for their introduction) they were maintained ' Wakitly, after dcscrihing llic calamity in tlio fanciful style of the Coran, adds : ' A ml tfiat 7ras thefirxt betjinnhiff of the small-pox' The word signifies likewise 'small stones,' and the name as applied to the small- pox is probably derived from the pravelly appeanmce and feelinfr of the pustules. The name, coupled with its derivation, probably g-.ive rise to the poetical description of the event in the Coran : 7/ *^^ y^^^Z- 1: \ ; - ^''.. 1 • T . • ration with Arabs look with fondest reverence as the cradle ot their destmy which it is and arena of the remote events which gave birth to their faith. t^f^Arabs^ Here Hagar alighted with Ishmael, and in search of water hurried to and fro between the little hill of Safa a spur of Abu Cobeis, and the eminence of Marwa an offshoot from the opposite range. Here the Beni Jorhom established them- selves upon the failing fortunes of the ancestors of the Coreish ; and from hence they were expelled by the Khozaaite in- vaders from the south. It was in this pent-up vale that Cossai nourished his ambitious plans, and, in the neighbour- ing defiles of Mina, asserted them in a mortal struggle with his rivals ; and here he established the Coreish in their supremacy. It was hard by the Kaaba that his descendants, the children of Abd al Dar and of Abd Menaf, were drawn up in battle array to fight for the sovereign prerogative. Here it was that Hashim exhibited his princely liberality ; and on this spot that Abd al Muttalib toiled with his solitary son till he discovered the ancient well of Zemzem. Thousands of such associations crowd upon the mind of the weary pil- grim, as the minarets of the Kaaba rise before his longing eyes ; and, in the long vista of ages reaching even to Adam, his imagination pictures multitudes of pious devotees in every age and from all quarters of the globe, flocking to the little valley, making their seven circuits of the holy house, kissing the mysterious stone, and drinking of the sacred water. Well then may the Arab regard the fane, and its surrounding rocks, with awe and admiration. At the period of Abraha's retreat from Mecca (as nar- AbdaiLih rated in the Introduction), Abd al Muttalib, now above 70 545) niar- years of age, enjoyed rank and consideration as the foremost "^^ Amma ' Sprenger thinks the population may have been at this time 12,000. The number seems large ; but materials for even the loosest estimate are wanting. B 2 4 THE HIRTII AND CIIILDIIOOI* OF MAIIOMKT chap. chief of Mecca. Some months previous to tliat event, he had taken his youngest son Audallah,' then about four-and- twenty years of age, to the liouse of Woheib, a distant kins- man descended from Zohra brother of the famous Cossai ; and there affianced him to A.mina^ the niece of Woheib, under whose guardianship she lived. At the same time Abd al Muttalib, notwithstanding liis advanced age, bethought him of a matrimonial alliance on his own account, and married Halah. the cousin of Amina and daughter of Woheib ; of this late marriage, the famous Hamza was the firstfruits. ^1^*0^^ "^^ ^^^ customary in a marriage at the home of the bride, Abdallah remained there with her for three days. Not long after, he left his wife with child, and set out on a mer- cantile expedition to Gaza in the south of Spia. On his way back he sickened at Medina, and was left behind by the caravan with his father's maternal relatives. Abd al Mutta- lib, on learning of Abdallah's sickness, despatched his son Harith to take care of him. Reaching ^ledina, Harith found that his brother had died about a month after the departure v\' the caravan. He returned with these tidings, and his fatlu-r and brethren mourned for Abdallah. He was but five-and- twenty years of age, and Amina had not yet been delivered. He left behind him five camels fed on wild shrubs,-^ a flock of goats, and Oyyim Ayman, a slave-girl (called also Baraka), who tended the infant borne by his widow. This little pro- perty, and the house in which he dwelt, were all the inherit- ance ^Mahomet received from his father ; but, little as it was, the simple habits of the Arab required no more ; and, instead of being evidence of poverty, the possession of a female slave was rather an indication of prosperity and comfort. Amina .ir. Passing over, as fabulous and uuworthv of credit, the livcrod of n . . . " , . . s(.n,Aii;;u8t, marvellous incidents related of the gestation of the infant, it may suffice to state that the widowed Amina gave birth to a son in the autumn of the year 570 A.n. The materials are too vague and discrepant for any close calculation. But we ' Abdallah, or Servant of God (corro-spondinp: with the Hebrew Ahdiel), was a name common among the ante-Mahometan Arabs. " The first syllable of Amina is long, the second .'■hort. * That is to sav, not reared at hniie, and therefore of an inferior kind A.U. I. BIRTH AND NAME OF MAHOMET O are told that the event occurred about fifty-five days after the attack of Abraha ; and we may accept, as an approxi- mation, the date carefully computed by Caussin de Perceval, namely, the 20th of August. No sooner was the infant bom, than Amina sent to tell Joyof Abd- Abd al Muttalib. The messenger carrying the good tidings 1^^,'' ' reached the chief as he sat in the sacred enclosure of the Kaaba, in the midst of his sons and the principal men of his tribe ; and he was glad (so the simple tradition runs), and arose and those that were with him, and visited Amina, who told him all that had taken place. Then he took the young ThechiM child in his arms, and went to the Kaaba ; and as he stood M^ham- beside the Holy house, he gave thanks to God. The child u»ad was called Mohammad. This name was rare among the Arabs, but not unknown. Derivation It is derived from the root Hamd, and signifies 'The "^ the name Praised.' Another form is Ahmed, which having been erro- neously employed as a translation of ' The Paraclete' in some Arabic version of the New Testament, became a favourite term with Moslems, especially in addressing Jews and Christians ; for it was (they said) the title under which the Prophet had been in their books predicted. Following the established usage of Christendom, I will style Mohammad Mahomet. It was not the custom for the better class of women at -fhe infant Mecca to suckle their children. They procured nurses for ^„'^gg^\,,. them, or gave them out to nurse among the neighbouring bis mother, Bedouin tribes, where was gained the double advantage of a robust frame, and the pure speech and free manners of the desert.i Thus the infant Mahomet, shortly after his birth, was made over to Thueiba, the slave of his uncle, Abu Lahab, ^^^. f^^ ^ who had lately suckled Hamza. Though nursed by her for a ;^,^'jjg;Y^^ ^■^' very few days, the Prophet retained in after life a lively sense of the connection thus formed. Both he and Khadija were wont to express in grateful terms their respect for her. Mahomet used to send her periodically clothes and other ' The practice is still common among the Shereefs of Mecca. At eight days old the infant is sent awaj' and, excepting a visit at the sixth month, does not return to his parents till eight or ten years of age. Burckhard names several tribes to which the infants are thus sent ; and among ihem the Be7ii Sad, the very tribe to which the infant Mahomet was made over. See Journal Asiatique for Jan. 1882, p. 18 ; where there is notice of an Arabic inscription in Hauran, five centuries before Mahomet. 6 THE BIRTH AM) CHILDHOOD OF MAHOMET EntriistiMl to Halima, a woman v the Biiii Sa.l Remains amoDj; the Beni Sad till fivf vejirs old Is seized with a lit presents until the 7tli year of the Hegira, when tidings were brouglit of her death. Then he inquired after her son, his foster-brother; but he, too, was dead, and she had left no relatives. When Thueiba had nursed the child for several days, a party of the Beni Sad (a tribe of the Hawazin) arrived at Mecca with ten women who offered themselves as nurses. They were soon provided with children, excepting Halima who was at last with difficulty persuaded to take the infant Mahomet ; for it was to the father that the nurses chieHy looked for reward, and the charge of the orphan child had been already declined. Tradition encircles Halima's journey home with a halo of auspicious fortune, but such legend it is not here our province to relate. The infancy and part of the childhood of ]\[ahomet were spent with Halima among the Beni .Sad. At two years of age she weaned and took him to his home. Amina was delighted with the healthy and robust appearance of her infant, who looked like a child of double the age, and said : ' Take him with thee back again to the desert ; for I fear the unhealthy air of Mecca.' So. Halima returned with him to her tribe. When another two years were ended, some strange event occurred which greatly alarmed his nurse. It was probably a fit of epilepsy ; but Moslem legend has in- vested it with so many marvellous features as makes it diffi- cult to discover the real facts. It is certain that the apprehensions of Halima and her husband were aroused ; for Arab superstition is wont to regard the subject of such ailments as under the influence of an evil spirit. They re- solved to rid themselves of the charge, and Halima carried the child back to its mother. With some difiiculty, Amina obtained from her an account of what had hajipened, calmed her fears, and entreated her to resume the care of her boy. Halima loved her foster-child, and was not unwillingly per- suaded to take him back once more to her encampment. There she kept him for about a year longer, and with such care that she would not sutt'er him to move out of her sight. But uneasiness was again excited l>y fresh symptoms of a suspicious kind ; and she set out finally to restore the boy to his mother when he was about five years of age. As she reached the outskirts of Mecca, he straved from her, and shn I. WHO IS NURSED AMONG THE BEDOUINS 7 could not find him. In her perplexity she repaired to Abd al Muttalib, and he sent one of his sons to aid her in the search ; the little boy was discovered wandering in Upper Mecca, and restored to his mother. If we are right in regarding the attacks which alarmed Advau- Halima as fits of a nervous nature, they exhibit in the con- iifhom-t stitution of Mahomet the normal marks of those excited states ^'""""^ ^^^^' uence and ecstatic swoons which perhaps suggested to his own mind among tho the idea of inspiration, as by his followers they were un- doubtedly taken to be evidence of it. It is probable that, in other respects, the constitution of Mahomet was rendered robust, and his character free and independent, by these five years among the Beni Sad. At any rate his speech was thus formed upon one of the purest models of the beauti- ful language of the Peninsula ; and it was his pride in after days to say : ' Verily, I am the most perfect Arab amongst you ; my descent is from the Coreish, and my tongue is the tongue of the Beni Sad.' When eloquence began to form an important element of success, a pure language and standard dialect were advantages to him of essential moment. Mahomet ever retained a grateful impression of the kind- Grateful ness he had experienced as a child among the Beni Sad. branc" of Hall ma visited him at Mecca after his marriaofe with Khadiia. Haiima's -' It was (the tradition runs) a year of drought, in which much cattle perished ; and Mahomet spoke to Khadija and she gave to Halima a camel used to carry a litter, and forty sheep ; so she returned to her people.' Upon another occasion he spread out his mantle for her to sit upon, — a token of especial re- spect,— and placed his hand upon her bosom in an affectionate and familiar way. Many years after, when, on the expedition against Tayif, he attacked the Beni Hawazin and took a multi- tude of them captive, they found ready access to his heart by reminding him of the days when he was nursed among them. About the same time a woman called Shima was brought in with some other prisoners to the camp. When they threatened her with their swords, she declared that she was the Prophet's foster-sister. Mahomet inquired how he should know the truth of this, and she replied : ' Thou gavest me this bite upon my back, once upon a time when I carried thee on my hip.' The Prophet recognised the mark, spread his mantle over her, and made her to sit down by him. He gave her 8 THK BIRTH AM) CHILDnOOD OF MAHOMET In his ?ixtl; year liis mother takes him to Mfiliiiii A.D.57J-J7i Kemini^- cet ce.-! of the visit Death of Amina.Miid letum tu Mecca In pris-ion proiiuced In- h\> mother's deatb (;ripf..n visitin;; Ler tcmb in j.t'tcr li li- the option of remaining in honour and comfort witli him, but she preferred to return with a present to her people. The sixth year of his life ?*Iahomet spent at ^lecca under the care of his mother. She then planned a visit to Medina, where she longed to show her boy to the maternal relatives of his father. So she departed with her slave-girl 0mm Ayman who tended the child ; and they rode upon two camels. Arrived in Medina, she alighted at the house where her husband had died and was buried. The visit was of sufficient duration to imprint the scene and the society, notwithstand- ing his tender age, upon the memory of Mahomet. He used in later days to call to recollection things that happened on this occasion. Seven-and-forty years afterwards, when he entered Medina as a refugee, he recognised the place, and said : ' In this house I sported with Aynasa, a little girl ot Medina ; and with my cousins, I used to put to flight the birds that alighted upon the roof.' As he gazed upon the mansion, he added : ' Here it was my mother lodged with me ; in this place is the tomb of my father ; and it was there, in that very pond, that I learnt to swim.' After sojourning at Medina about a month, Amina be- thought her of returning to Mecca, and set out in the same manner as she had come. But when about half way they had reached a spot called Abwa. she fell sick and died ; and she was buried there. The little orphan was carried back to Mecca by 0mm Ayman, who although then quite a girl was a faithful nurse to the child, and continued to be his constant attendant. The early loss of his mother no doubt imparted to the youthful Mahomet something of that pensive and meditative character by which he was afterwards distinguished. In his seventh year he could apjireciate the bereavement and feel the desolation of his orphan state. In the Coran he has alluded touchingly to the subject. While reassuring his heart of the divine favour, he recounts the mercies of the Almighty ; and amongst them the first is this : ' Did He not fiiul thee an orjilimi, and furnislied, thee fitJi a rffacje?' On his pilgrimage from ]\ledina to Hodeibia he visited by the way his mother's tomb, and lifted up his voice and wept, and his followers likewise wept around him. AVhen they asked him concerning it. he said : ' M'his is the L'niNe of my mother : 1. ABD AL MUTTALIB TAKf]S CHAEGE OF HIM \) the Lord liatli permitted me to visit it. And I sought leave to pray for her salvation, but it was not granted. So I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her overcame me, and I wept.' The charge of the orphan was now undertaken by Abd Abd ai al Muttalib, who had by this time reached the patriarchal age undertakes of fourscore years. The child was treated by him with ^Jf^f^j^f^ singular fondness. A rug used to be spread under the a.d. 67G Kaaba, and on it the aged chief reclined in shelter from the heat of the sun. Around the carpet, but at a respectful distance, sat his sons. The little Mahomet was wont to run up close to the patriarch, and unceremoniously take posses- sion of his rug ; his sons seeking to drive him off, Abd al Muttalib would interpose, saying ' Let my little son alone,' stroke him on the back, and delight to listen to his childish prattle. The boy was still under the care of his nurse ; but he would ever and anon quit her, and run into the apartment of his grandfather even when he was alone or asleep. The guardianship of Abd al 3.1uttalib lasted but two Abdal years, for he died eight years after the attack of Abraha. di Id. The orphan child felt bitterly the loss of his indulgent grand- ^'^ father; as he followed the bier he was seen to weep, and when he grew up, he retained a distinct remembrance of his death. The heart of Mahomet in his tender years was thus again rudely wounded, and the fresh bereavement was ren- dered more poignant by the dependent position in which it left him. The nobility of his grandfather's descent, the deference paid to him throughout the vale of Mecca, and his splendid hospitality towards the pilgrims, in furnishing them with food and drink, were witnessed with satisfaction by the thoughtful child. These things no doubt left behind them a proud remembrance, and formed the seed perhaps of many an ambitious thought and day-dream of power and domination. The death of Abd al ]\Iuttalib left the children of Effect of Hashim without any powerful head ; while it enabled the Abd al other branch, descended from Omeyya, to gain Ascendency, ^^^ittaiib Of the latter family the chief at this time was Harb, who held the Leadershijy in war, and was followed by a numerous and powerful body of relations. Of Abd al Muttalib's sons, Hurith, the eldest, was now 10 TIIK JHRTII AM) CHILDHOOD OF MAHOMET Thf sons Abd al Muttalib A'. II 'lalib ami Abbas Al.u Talib becomes Kuardiiiii o liisiirphau llt'l)llCW MaboiiK't at twelve years of a^ aciomiia- iiies Abu Talib to Sviia, A.i>, W<2 dead ; the cliief of those who survived were Zobeir and Alju 'J'alib (both by the same mother as Abdallah), Abu Lahab, Abbas, and Haniza. The last two were still very young. Zobeir M-as the oldest, and to him Abd al ]Muttalib be- queathed liis dignity and offices. Zobeir, again, left them to Al)u Talib, who, finding himself too poor to discharge the expensive and onerous task of providing for the pilgrims, waived the honour in favour of his younger brother Abbas. But the family of Hashim had fallen from its high estate, and Abbas was able to retain only the giving of drink, while the furnishing of food passed into the hands of another brancli. Abbas was rich, and his influential post, involving charge of the well Zemzem, was retained by him till the introduction of Islam, and then confirmed to his family by the Prophet ; but he was not a man of strong character, and never attained to a commanding position at Mecca, Abu Talib, on the other hand, possessed many noble qualities, and won greater respect ; but, probably from poverty, he too re- mained in the background. It was thus that in the oscilla- tions of phylarchical government, the prestige of the house of Hashim had begun to wane, and nearly disappear ; while the rival Omeyyad branch was rising to importance. This phase of the political state of Mecca began with the death of Abd al ]Muttalib, and continued until the conquest of the city by ]\Iahomet himself. To Abu Tcllib, the dying Abd al Muttalib consigned the guardianship of his orphan grandchild ; and faithfully and kindly he discharged the trust. His fondness for the lad equalled that of Abd al Muttalib. He made him sleep by hisljed, eat by his side, and go with him wherever he walked abroad And this tender treatment Was continued until his nephew emerged from the helplessness of childhood. It was during this period that Abu Talib, accompanied by [Mahomet, undei-took a mercantile journey to Syria. He intended to leave the lad behind ; for now twelve years of age he was able to tiike care of himself But when the caravan was ready to depart, and Abu Talib about to mount, the child, overcome by the jjrospect of so long a separation, clung to his protector. Abu Talib was moved, and carried him along with the party. The ex])edition extended to Bostra, perliajis farlhei'. It lasted for several months, and afforded to I. JOURNEY TO SYRIA 11 the youthful Mahomet opportunities of observation, which were not lost upon him. He passed near to Petra, Jerash, Am- mon, and other remains of former mercantile grandeur ; and the sight must have deeply imprinted upon his reflective mind the instability of earthly greatness. The wild story of the valley of Hejer, with its lonely deserted habitations hewn impression out of the rock, and the tale of divine vengeance descending excS'by on the cities of the plain over which now rolled the waves of thisjoumey the Dead Sea, would excite apprehension and awe ; while such strange histories, rendered more startling and tragical by Jewish tradition and local legend, would win and charm the childish heart ever yearning after the marvellous. On this journey too, he passed through several Jewish settlements, and came in contact with the Christians of Syria. Hitherto he had witnessed, if at all, only an isolated and imperfect exhibition of their faith : now he saw its rites in full and re- gular performance by a whole community. The national and social customs founded upon Christianity ; the churches with their crosses and images, their pictures and other symbols of the faith ; the ringing of bells ; the frequent assemblages for worship, were all forced on his attention. The reports, and possibly an actual glimpse, of the continually recui-ring cere- monial, effected (we may suppose) a deep impression upon him ; and this impression would be rendered all the more practical and lasting by the sight of whole tribes, Arabs like himself, belonging to the same faith and practising the same observances. However fallen and materialised, the Christianity of Syria must have struck the thoughtful ob- server in strange contrast with the gross idolatry of Mecca. Once again, in mature life, Mahomet visited Syria, and what- ever reflections of this nature were then awakened would, no doubt, receive an augmented force and deeper colouring, from the vivid pictures and bright imagery which, upon the same ground, had been impressed on the imagination of his childhood. No further incident of a special nature is related of Mahomet, until he had advanced from childhood to youth. THE YOLTIl 01' MAHOMET TO HIS FORTIETH YEAH cuvp. CllAlTi:ii 11 I-RUM THE YOUTH OF MAHOMET TO HIS FORTIETH YEAR A.D. 57()-r,09, 'Sacriie- The next passage in the life of Maboniet brings us to events fio"\(7 5*90 o^ ^ wider and more stirring interest. '^ "• Between the years 580 and 500 a.d. the vale of ;Mecca and surrounding country were disturbed by one of thtjse bloody feuds so frequently excited by the fiery pride, and prolonged by the revengeful temper, of the nation. A Fair held In Dzul Cada, the sacred montli preceding the annual unnunllv at ., . „ . i i i , /-v - i • i • ^i Ointz ■ pilgrimage, a fair was held at Ocatz, where, wit Inn three days' journey east of ]Mecca, the shady pahn and cool fountain offered a grateful resting-place to the merchant and traveller after their toilsome journey. Chivalrous Goods were bartered, vainglorious contests (those cha- "^j'j'n!"' racteristic exhibitions of Bedouin chivalry) were held, and tests verses recited by bards of the various tribes. The successful poems produced at this national gathering were treated with distinguished honour. They were transcribed in illuminated characters, and thus styled fiolden ; or they were attached to the Kaaba and honoured with the title Su»pentJed. The ' Seven suspended poems ' ' still survive from a period anterior to ^lahomet, a wondrous specimen of artless eloquence. The beauty of their language and wild richness of their imagery are acknowledged by the l']ur()[)ean reader ; but the subject is limited, and the beaten track seldom deviated from. The charms of his nu.stress, the envied spot marked by the still fresh traces of her encampment, the solitude of her deserted haunts, his own generosity and prowess, the unrivalled glory of his tribe, the noble qualities of his camel ; — these are the ' i^ab.ia Moallacut. II. THE 'sacrilegious WAR ' 13 themes which, with little variation of treatment, and with no contrivance whatever of plot or story, occupied the Arab muse ; — and some of them only added fuel to the besetting vices of the people, vainglory, envy, vindictiveness, and pride. At the fair of Ocatz, a rivalrous spirit had been about Origin of this period engendered between the Coreish and the Beni 'Sacniec;i- r _ o _ _ _ ous war ' Hawiizin, a numerous tribe of kindred descent, which dwelt (and still dwells) in the country between Mecca and Tayif. An arrogant poet, vaunting the superiority of his tribe, was struck by an indignant Hawazinite ; a maid of Hawazin descent rudely treated by some Coreishite youths ; an impor- tunate creditor insolently repulsed.' On each occasion the sword was unsheathed, blood flowed, and the conflict would have become general unless the leaders had interfered to calm the excited people. Such was the origin of the ' Sacri- legious war,' so called because it occurred within the sacred term, and was eventually carried within the sacred territory. These incidents suggested the expediency of requiring P'ecautions all who frequented the fair to surrender, while it lasted, their arms, and to deposit them with Ibn Jodaan, a chief of Mecca. By this precaution peace was preserved for several years, when a wanton raui'der supplied more serious cause of offence. The prince of Hira had despatched to the fair a caravan Hostilities richly laden with perfumes and musk. It proceeded under ^a^^g.^b" the escort of an Hawazin chieftain. Another chief, friend of nunder the Coreish, jealous at being suppla,nted in charge of the convoy, watched his opportunity, and, falling upon the caravan, slew its leader, and fled with the booty. On his flight he • met a man of the Coreish whom he charged to proceed with expedition to the fair then being held at Ocatz, and com- municate the intelligence to his confederate Harb '^ and other ' The incident affords a curious illustration of Arab manners. The dis- satisfied creditor seated himself in a conspicuous place with a monkey by his side, and said : ' Who will (jive me another such aije, and In-ill (lire him in exchange my claim 011 such a one ? ' — naming his creditor with his full pedigree from Kinana, an ancestor of the Coreish. This he kept vocifera- ting to the intense annoyance of the Kinana tribe, one of whom drew his pword and cut off the monkey's head. In an instant the Hawazin and Kinana tribes were embroiled in bitter strife. - Harb was the son of Omeyya and father of ^lahoraet's opponent Abu Sofian. As confederate of the murderer he was bound to take up his 1 I. TIIK YOUTH OF MAlIoMKT TO IMS FORTIETH YEAK chap. Coreishite chiefs. Tlif message was promptly conveyed, and Abdallah, thus privately informed of the murder, forthwith gave back to all their anus, and, feigning urgent business at I^Iecca, departed with his whole tribe. The news of the murder be<'-an rapidly to spread at Ocatz, and as the sun went down it readied the ears of the Ilawazin chief, who at once, perceiving the cause of the precipitate departure of the Coreish, rallied his people and proceeded in hot pursuit. The Coreish had already entered the sacred limits, and so their enemy contented themselves with challenging them to a rencounter at the same period of the following year. The challenge was accepted, and both parties prepared for the struggle. Several battles were fought with various success, and hostilities, more or less formal, prolonged for four years, when a truce was A truce Called. The dead were numbered up, and as twenty had arterfour ]j^^^^ killed of the Hawazin more than of the Coreish, the m"'^ ^ latter consented to pay the price of their blood, and for this purpose delivered hostages. One of these was Abu Sofian, the famous antagonist in after days of Mahomet. In some omcvva.1 of these conHicts. the whole of the Coreish and their allies .nnd Uasii- yfQj.Q eno-ao-ed. Each tri1)e was commanded bv a chief of its imite.- l)Oth o o . t t i ^ ' . hm tngaKedin own; and Ibu Jodaan guided the general movements, ihe the struggle ^^gg^^j^jj^^^^g ^f ^^j Shams were headed by Harb son of Omeyya, and took a distinguished part in the warfare. The children of Hashim were present also, under command of Zobeir eldest surviving son of Abd al ^Muttalib ; but they occupied a less prominent position. In one of the battles Part taken ]^[ahomet attended upon his uncles ; but, though now near by Maha- ^^^,pj^|^y yg^rs of age, he had not acquired the love of arms. According to some, his efforts were confined to gathering up the arrows of the enemy as they fell, and handing them to his uncles. Others assign him a somewhat more active share ; but the sentence in which even this is preserved does not imply much enthusiasm in the warfare ; * I rememlx^r,' said the Projjhet, ' being present with my uncles in the Sacri- legious war ; I discharged arrows at the enemy, and I do not regret it.' Physical courage, indeed, and martial daring, are characteristics which did not distinguish the Prophet at any jieriod of his career.' ' .\mon>f the rliioftains in command of tril.c-^, it is interesting to notice Klniweilln tones when the tempest swept with its forked lightning and far rolling thunder along the vast solitudes of the moun- tains about Mecca. 'J'hus, we may presume, was cherished a deep and earnest fail li in the Deity as an ever-present, all- directing Agent ; — a faith which in after days the Prophet was wont to enforce from the memories, no doubt, of these early days, by eloquent and heart-stirring appeals t^ the sublime operations of Nature and the beneficent adaptations of an ever-present Providence. Our authorities all agree in ascribing to the youth of Mahomet a modesty of deportment and purity of manners rare amonsjr the people of Mecca. His virtue is said to have been miraculously preserved. ' I was engaged one night ' (so he himself relate.s) ' feeding the Hocks in company with a lad of the Coreish. And I said to him. If thou wilt look after my flock, I will go into ^lecca and divert myself there, even a'; vouths are wont by night to divert themselves.' But no sooner had he reached the precincts of the city, than a marriage feast engaged his attention, and he fell asleep. On another night, entering the town with the same inten- tions, lu^ was arrested by heavenly strains of music, and sitting down slept till morning. Thus he escaped temptation. ' And after this," said ^lahomet, • 1 no more sought after vice ; even until I had attained unto the prophetic office.' ^Making every allowance for the fond reverence which favoured the currency of such stories, it is quite in keeping with the character of Mahomet that he should have shrunk from the coarse and licentious practices of his youthful friends. En- dowed with a re'tined mind and delicate tiiste, reserved and meditative, he lived much within himself, and the ponderings of his heart no doubt supplied occupation for leisure houi-s spent by othi-rs of a lower stamp in rude sports and profligacy. The fair character and honourable bearing of the unobtrusive youth won the approbation of his fellow-citizens ; and ht^ received the title, by common consent, of Al Amin, 'the Faithful.' Thus respected and honoured, !Mahon)et lived a quiet and retired life in the family of Abu Talib, who (as we have seen) was prevented by limited means from occupying any promi- nent jiosition in the society of Mecca. At la.st, finding his family increase faster than the ability to j)rovide for them, Abu Talib bethought him of setting his nephew, now of mature II. SECOND JOURNEY TO SYRIA 19 age, to earn a livelilioocl for himself. Mahomet was never covetous of wealth, or at any period of his career energetic in the pursuit of riches for their own sake. If left to himself, he would probably have preferred the quiet and repose of his })resent life to the bustle and cares of a mercantile journey. He would not spontaneously have contemplated such an ex- pedition. But when the proposal was made, his generous soul at once felt the necessity of doing all that was possible to relieve his uncle, and he cheerfully responded to the call. The story is as follows :— When his nephew was now five-and- Mahomet twenty years of age, Abu Talib addressed him in these words : »ccompa- ' I am, as thou knowest, a man of small substance ; and truly Syrian the times deal hardly with me. Now here is a caravan of charge'or thine own tribe about to start for Syria, and Khadija,i daughter ^!^^"?'^J4* * of Khuweilid, needeth men of our tribe to send forth with her merchandise. If thou wert to offer thyself, she would readily accept thy services.' Mahomet replied : ' Be it so as thou hast said.' Then Abu Talib went to Khadija, and inquired whether she wished to hire his nephew, but he added : ' We hear that thou hast engaged such an one for two camels, and we should not be content that my nephew's hire were less than four.' The matron discreetly answered: 'Hadst thou askedst this thing for one of a distant or alien tribe, I would have granted it ; how much rather now that thou askest it for a near relative and friend ! ' So the matter was settled, and Mahomet pre- pared for the journey. When the caravan was about to set out, his uncle commended him to the men of the company. Meisara, servant of Khadija, likewise travelled along with Mahomet in charge of her property. The caravan took the usual route to Syria, the same which Mahomet had traversed with his uncle thirteen years before. In due time they Reaches reached Bostra, on the road to Damascus, about sixty bartere'to*^ miles to the east of the Jordan. The transactions of that advantage busy mart, where the practised merchants of Syria sought to overreach the simple Arabs, were ill suited to the tastes and habits of Mahomet ; yet his natural sagacity and shrewdness carried him prosperously through the undertaking. He returned from the barter with a balance more than usually in his favour. The reflective mind of Mahomet, now arrived at the ' Pi-onounccd Khadceja. c 2 20 THE YOirn ok mahomkt t""ts, a servant) was the agent deputed to sound his views. ' What is it, O Mahomet,' said she, adroitly referring to the unusual circumstance of his being unmarried at .so mature an age, — ' what is it that hindereth thee from ' Tlicrc is no mention of these, as we should have exjiectetl from tlicir re- lation to Mahomet: they )iaefore the duties of her establishment, and left him to enjoy his leisure hours, undisturbed and free from care. Her house was thenceforward his home, and her bosom the safe receptacle of those doubts and longings after spiritual light which now began to agitate his soul. Children of Within the next ten or twelve years, Khadija bore to bv^Klladija ^Jidiomet two sons and four daughters. The firstborn was nained Casim ; and after him, according to Arabian custom, AInhomet received the title of AnuL Casi.m, ' Father of Casim.' This son died at the age of two years. Meanwhile, his eldest daughter Zeinab was born ; and after her, at intei-vals of one or two years, three other daughters, Rockeya, Fatima, and 0mm Kolthum. Last of all was born his second son, who died in infancy. Salma, maid of Safia ^Mahomet's aunt, officiated as midwife on these occasions. Khadija sacrificed at the birth of each boy two kids, and one at the birth of every girl. Her children she nursed herself. Many years after, Mahomet used to look back to this period of his life Mutual with fond remembrance. Indeed so much did he dwell upon bfMm-t ami ^^^^ mutual love of Khadija and him.self, that the envious Kbadijfi Ayesha declared herself more jealous of this rival whom she had never seen, than of all the other wives who contested with her the affection of the IVophet. Person of ^0 description of Mahomet at this period has been at- tempted by traditionists. But from the copious accounts of his person in later life, an approximate outline may be traced of his apitearauce in prime of manhood. Slightly above the niiddlf size, his figure though spare was handsome and com- manding ; the chest broad and open ; the bones and frame- work large, and the joints well knit together. His neck was long and finely moulded. His head, unusually large, gave space for a broad and nol)le brow. The hair, thick, ji't black, and slightly curling, fell down over his ears. The eyebrows were arched and joined. The countenance thin. i>ut ruddy. His largt' eyes, intensely black and piercing, received addi- tional lustre from (>yelashes long and dark. The nose was high and slightly a.juiline, but fine, and at the end attenuated. Tilt' teeth were far apart. A long black bushy beard, reach- ing to the breast, added manliness and presence. His ex- pression was ix^tisive and contemplative. The face U-anit-d with intelligence, though something of the .sensuous might Mahomet de6<'rll>oil II. DESCRIPTION OF MAHOMET 25 also be discerned. The skin was clear and soft ; the only hair that met the eye was a fine thin line which ran down from the neck towards the navel. His broad back leaned slightly forward as he walked ; and his step was hasty, yet sharp and decided, like that of one rapidly descending a declivity.' There was something unsettled in his bloodshot eye, which His manner refused to rest upon its object. When he turned towards you, satlo^"''^'" it was never partially but with the whole body. Taciturn and reserved,^ he was yet in company distinguished by a graceful urbanity. His words were pregnant and laconic ; but when it pleased him to unbend, his speech was often humorous and sometimes pungent. At such seasons he entered with zest into the diversion of the moment, and now and then would laugh immoderately. •'' But in general he listened to the conversation rather than joined in it. He was the subject of strong passions, but they were so His emo- controlled by reason and discretion, that they rarely appeared ^^^^i^^^ ^^ upon the surface. When much excited, the vein between his eyebrows would mantle, and violently swell across his ample forehead ; yet he was cautious and circumspect, and in action kept ever aloof from danger. Generous and considerate to- Treatment wards his friends, he knew, by well-timed favour and atten- "JjJ"^"'?'"' tion, how to gain over even the disafiected and rivet them to|'™ie3 his service. His enemies, so long as they continued their' opposition, were regarded by him with a vindictive and un- relenting hatred ; yet he rarely pursued a foe after he had tendered timely submission. His commanding mien inspired the stranger with an undefined and indescribable awe ; but on closer intimacy, apprehension and fear gave place to confidence and love. Behind his quiet retiring exterior lay hid a high resolve, ' This at Medina degenerated into a stoop. Some say he walked like a man ascending a hill ; others as if he were wrenching his foot from a stone. These descriptions imply decision of step. The hollows of his hands and feet were more than usually filled and level: afeature regarded by Orientals v ith interest. - ' Mahomet was sorrowful in temperament ; continually meditating ; he had no rest ; he never spoke except from necessity ; he used to be long silent ; he expressed himself in pregnant sentences, using neither too few nor too many words.' — Walddy. ^ When laughing immoderately, he showed his teeth and gums, and was at times so convulsed that he held his sides. — Ibid. 20 TlIK YOUTH OF MAHOMKT TO IMS lOKTlETII VKAK CHVP. Lnttnt ;v singleness of purpose, a strentrth and fixedness of will, a wuT '' sublime determination, destined to achieve the marvellous work of bowing towards himself the heart of all Arabia as the heart of one man, Khadija was the first to perceive the noble and commanding qualities of her husband, and with a childlike confidence surrendered to him li Zeid was probably about six years 3-ounger than Mahomet. The differ- ence of age between him and his bride was so great, that tradition tells us Mahomet promised him paradise for marrying her. ^ The Beni Odzra and Beni Tay. D 34 THE YOUTH OF MAHOMET TO HIS FORTIETH YEAR Othman ibn Hu- weirith ; aod Wa- raca The Four Inquirers Obeidallah bin Jahsh Zeid ibn Amr severed from his Lome at too early an age to have acquired any extensive or thorough knowledge of its doctrines, he yet no doubt carried with him some impression of the teaching, and some fragments of the facts or legends, of the faith. These would form subjects of conversation between the youth and his adoptive father, whose mind was now feeling in all directions after religious truth. Among the relatives of Khadija, too, there were persons who possessed a knowledge of Christianity, and observed perhaps something of its practice. Her cousin Othman has been already noticed as having embraced Christianity at Constantinople, and made an unsuccessful attempt to gain the rule at Mecca. Waraca, another cousin, is said also to have become a convert to Christianity, to have been acquainted with the religious tenets and sacred Scriptures both of Jews and Christians, and to have even copied or translated some portion of the Gospels into Hebrew or Arabic. In the following chapter it will be seen that this person had an acknowledged share in satisfying the mind of Mahomet that his mission was divine. It is a fanc}' of tradition that, shortly before the appear- ance of ]\Iahomet, several inquirers were not only seeking after the true faith (or as they style it the Religion of Ahraham), but, warned by prophecy and by the unguarded admissions of Jews and Christians, were in immediate expectation of the coming prophet. Of such inquirers among the Coreish, Moslem biographies specify four. Two of these were Othman and Waraca, already mentioned. The third, Olmdalhih (by his mother a gi*andson of Abd al Muttalib) embraced Islam, emigrated with his brethren in the faith to Abyssinia, and there went over to Christianity,' The fourth was Zeid, cousin of Omar. Of him tradition says that he condemned the idolatrous sacrifices of the Kaaba, reprobated the burying alive of infant daughters, and ' followed the religion of Abraham,' But not content with such assertions, the tra- ditionists add that Zeid possessed distinct knowledge of the coming ])rophet and left his salutation to be delivered to him when he should appear. Nay, he described his person, stated that he would be of the family of Abd ' He died in Abyssinia, and Mahomet wlun in Medina married his widow, Omra Habiba, daughter of Abu Sotian, ir. MAHOMET SEEKS SOLITUDE 35 al Muttalib, and foretold that he would emigrate to Medina ! He died while the Kaaba was rebuilding, and was buried at the foot of mount Hira. Although such expecta- tions of the coming Prophet must be rejected as mere fond imaginations, and the manifest tendency to invent anticipatory legends of this description makes it difficult to sever the real from the fictitious in the matter of these four Inquirers, yet it may be admitted as highly probable that a spirit of re- A spirit of ligious inquiry, the disposition to reject idolatry, and a per- probaWy ception of the superiority of Judaism and Christianity, did ^^^^^^^ in some quarters about this time exist. With such inquirers Mahomet would no doubt deeply sympathise, and hold con- verse on the gross idolatry of the Arabs, and need of a true and spiritual faith for their regeneration, Mahomet was now approaching his fortieth year. Always Mahomet pensive, he had of late become even more thoughtful and H^^^^ ^° ^' retiring. Contemplation and reflection engaged his mind. The debasement of his people pressed heavily on him ; the dim and imperfect shadows of Judaism and Christianity ex- cited doubts without satisfying them ; and his soul was per- plexed with uncertainty as to what was the true religion. Thus burdened, he frequently retired to seek relief in medi- tation amongst the solitary valleys and rocks near Mecca. His favourite spot was a cave in the declivities at the foot of mount Hira,' a lofty conical hill two or three miles north of Mecca. Thither he would retire for days at a time ; and his faithful wife sometimes accompanied him. The continued solitude, instead of stilling his anxiety, magnified into sterner and more impressive shapes the solemn realities which agitated his soul. Close by was the grave of the aged Zeid who, after spending a lifetime in the same inquiries, had now passed into the state of certainty ; — might he himself ' Or Hara, since called Jebel Nur, or Mountain of light, because Ma- homet is said to have received his first revelation there. The hill is so lofty as to be seen a long distance off. Knrckhardt says : ' Passing the Sherif's garden house on the road to Arafat, a little further on, we enter a valley, which extends in a direction N.E. by N., and is terminated by the moun- tain, which is conical. ... In the rocky floor of a small building ruined by the Wahabees, a cleft is shown about the size of a man in length and breadth. ... A little below this place is a small cavern in the red granite rock, which forms the upper stratum of this mountain.' This vallej' was often trodden by Mahomet on his way to and from the cleft and the cavern. D 2 36 THE YOUTH OF MAHOMET TO HIS FOllTIETH YEAR Spiritual auxiety and grop- ing after light Poetical IVagmeuts OT this period. Prayer for guidance Sura not reach the same assurance without crossing the gate of death ? All around was bleak and rugged. To the east and south, the vision from the cave of Hira is bounded by lofty moun- tain ranges, but to the north and west the weary prospect is thus described by Burckhardt ; — ' The country before us had a dreary aspect, not a single green spot being visible ; barren, black, and grey hills, and white sandy valleys, were the only objects in sight.' There was harmony here between external nature, and the troubled world within. By degrees the im- pulsive and susceptible mind of Mahomet was wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement ; and he would give vent to his agitation in wild rhapsodical language, enforced often with incoherent oaths, the counterpart of inward struggling after truth. The following fragments belong probably to this period. By the declining day I swear ! Verily, man is in the way of ruin ; Excepting such as possess faith, And do the things which are right, And stir up one another unto truth and steadfastness. And again — By the rushing panting steeds ! Striking fire with flashing hoof, That scour the land at early morn ! And, darkening it with dust, Cleave thereby the Enemy ! Verily Man is to his Lord ungrateful. And he himself is witness of it. Verily he is keen after this world's good. Ah ! witteth he not that when what is in the graves shall be brought forth. And that which is in men's breasts laid bare ; Verily in that day shall the Lord be well informed of them. Nor was he wanting in prayer for guidance to the great Being who, he felt, alone could give it. The following petitions (though probably adapted subsequently to public worship) contain perhaps the germ of frequent prayer at this early period. Praise be to God, the Lord of creation. The most merciful, the most compassionate ! II. MAHOMET GROPES AFTER LIGHT o7 Ruler of the day of Reckoning ! Thee we worship, and invoke for help. Lead us in the straight path ; — The path of those towards wliom Thou hast been gracious ; Not of those against whom Thy wrath is kindled, or that walk in error.' How such aspirations developed into the belief that the subject of them was divinely inspired, is a theme obscure and difficult, which I reserve for another chapter. ' The Fdteha, or opening Sara of the Goran, so often recited in public and private worship. BELIEF OF MAHOMET IX HIS OWN INSPIRATION CHAPTER III FIRST DREAMS OF INSPIRATION: ENDING IN THE CONVICTION THAT HE WAS THE PROPHET OF HIS PEOPLE Poetical fragments and rhap- sodies Specimens of these irasrments Sura ci JETAT. 40-43. A.D. 609-612. Light struggled with the darkness in the soul of Mahomet. Gradually certain grand verities took clear and definite shape before him : — God, the sole Creator, Ruler and Judge of men and angels ; the hopeless wretchedness of his people sunk in heathenism and idolatry ; heaven and hell ; the resurrection, judgment, and recompense of good and evil in the world to come. The conflict waging within found vent in fragments of wild, impassioned poetry. These some- times assume the character of soliloquies, full of melancholy reflection upon the state and prospects of mankind; some- times fraught with burning words and imagery of terror, thiey seem intended for the warning or admonition of his fellow-citizens ; sometimes they exhibit a mind intent upon itself, oppressed by perplexity and distress, and seeking for comfort and assurance by fleeing to its Maker. To aid in tracing the development of spiritual thought and religious belief in the mind of Mahomet, extracts from these will now be laid before the reader.^ Of the soliloquies, the following is a specimen : — - That which sti-iketh ! What is it which striketh ? And what shall certify thee what the striking is 1 ' The earlier chapters of the Goran are mostly composed each of a short piece delivered all at once ; and the period of their appearance is thus more easily assigned than that of the later Sm-as made np of fragments delivered on various occasions. The later Suras also are much longer than the earlier ; but in the Coran, as iinally arranged, the chapters are placed in an order precisely the opposite, the longest being first and the shortest last. The chronological sequence, in short, is reversed. Hence the casual reader of the Coran forms no correct conception of the origin and development of IMahomet's system. 111. EARLY POETICAL FRAGMENTS 39 The day on which mankind shall be like moths scattered abroad, And the mountains like wool of divers colours carded. Then as for him whose balances are heavy, he shall enter into Bliss ; And as for him whose balances are light, the Pit shall be his dwelling place. And what shall certify thee what is the pit 1 A raging fire ! These wild and incoherent rhapsodies are couched in words of rare force and beauty, with such flow and rhythm as the Arab loves, and which his noble tongue gives freest scope to. The Oracle sometimes begins now to come direct from the Deity, speaking as ' We,' and to ]\[ahomet as ' Thou.' The conviction, however, of being inspired, was not reached, as we shall see, till after a protracted time of mental throes. This fragment, for example, purports to come direct from heaven : — I swear by the Fig tree and the Olive, Sura xcv By mount Sinai, and by this land inviolate ! Verily AVe made Man of the choicest creation, Then We rendered him the lowest of the low ; — Excepting such as believe and work righteousness ; Unto them shall be given a reward that fadeth not away. Then, after this, what shall make thee deny the Day of reckon- ing ? What ! is not God the justest of all Judges 1 The voice of expostulation and alarm was raised in Warning accents such as these :— tukttor'' Woe unto the backbiter and the slanderer ; — Snra civ Who heapeth up riches, and counteth them over ! He thinketh that his wealth shall remain with him for ever. Nay ! verily he shall be cast into the crushing tire ; And what shall cause thee to know what is the crushing fire 1 The hre of God kindled, Which shall mount above the hearts ; Verily it shall rise above them as a curtain, Stretched over lofty columns. Allusion is sometimes made, though in a form as yet Arab and brief and vague, both to Arab and Jewish legend. Thus in i^^^^^ the 89th Sura :— What ! hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the children of Ad, — 40 BELIEF OF :MAH0MET IX HIS OWN INSPIRATION chap. f "^"^xix '^^^ Iremites possessed of pillars, The like whereof have not been builded in any city ? — And with the Thamudites which hewed out the rock in the Valley ; And with Pharaoh that used the stakes ? ^ These all behaved insolently in the earth, And multiplied wickedness therein ; Wherefore thy Lord poured upon them the mingled cup of His wrath, Verily thy Lord is upon His watch-tower, &c. Sura cv Nor was there wanting special appeal to national mercies. The lOoth Sura, which recounts God's goodness iu the over- throw of Abraha, ' Lord of the Elephant,' and preservation of the Holy city, belongs probably to this period. ^ And also the following : — Sura cvi For the stirring up of the Coreish ; — The stirring of them up unto the Winter and Summer caravans of merchandise ; Let them worship the Lord of this House, Who hath provided them food against Hunger, And granted them immunity from Danger."* ' ' The stakes ' to which the tjTant bound his victims. The Thamudites are also mentioned in the 91st Sura, which is quoted below as an early ex- ample of the rhyming style so frequent in the Coran. Each vei-se ends with the syllable Jta (pronoun, third person), as indicated by italics. By the Sun and Iiis rising splendour ! By the Moon when she followeth Irivi ! By the Day when it showeth forth Ms glory 1 By the Night when it covereth Mm in darkness ! By the Heavens and Him that made them .' By the Earth and Him that spread it forth ! By the Soul and Him that framed it. Inspiring in it wickedness and piety 1 Verily lie that purifieth the same is blessed ; And he is wretched that corrupteth ii. The Thamudites in their impiety, accused their prophet (Siilih) of im- posture When the most abandoned among them arose (to slay the camel). (Now the prophet of God had said unto them, ' It is the she-camel of the Lord ; Give ye her to drink ;) But they rejected him, and slaughtered her ; Wherefore the Lord overthrew them for their crime and rendered unto them a recompense equal with their Sin : And he feareth not the issue thereof. • See Introdvetion, p. c. ^ I.e. inviolability of the sacred territory. II. EARLY POETICAL FRAGMENTS 41 In elucidation of Mahomet's honest striving after Truth « The two another passage may be quoted, in which are set forth the two paths of Virtue and Vice, and the difficulties of the Straight way : — Verily I swear by this Territory, Sura xc (And thou art a resident thereof ;) By the begetter, and by that which is begotten ! Surely We have ci'eated man in trouble. Ah ! doth he think indeed that no one shall prevail over him 1 He saith, — 'I have wasted-much wealth.' Ah ! doth he think that no one seeth him 1 Have We not made him two eyes, a tongue, and two lips ; And shown unto him the two highways.' Yet he applieth himself not unto the ascent ; — And what shall teach thee what the ascent is 1 — Freeing the captive. Giving food in the day of want To the orphan that is near of kin. Or to the poor that lieth in the dust ; — Further, the Righteous are of those that believe, and stir up one another unto steadfastness and mercy. These shall be the Companions of the Right hand ; But they that deny Our signs, shall be Companions of the Left; Around them the Fire shall close. It seems probable that Mahomet gave vent to his reveries Mahomet's in poetry of this kind for several years before he assumed the gious office of a divine teacher. The early Suras, and no doubt P^^*""-^' other reflective and didactic pieces not preserved because not purporting to be inspired, would be recorded (as Mahomet did not himself write) by the aged Waraca, by Aly who was still a boy, possibly by Khadija herself or by some of her relatives, who were inquirers more or less acquainted with Judaism and Christianity. The friends of Mahomet no doubt listened with reverence to his admonitions, and sought to follow his injunctions as those of a faithful teacher guided haply by the spirit of God. Amongst these were certainly Khadija herself, Zeid and Aly his adopted sons, and perhaps Abu Bekr his bosom friend, with Waraca who saw in his teaching the counterpart of his own ideas. But without this ' I.e. Good and Evil. His early followers BELIEF OF MAHOMET IS HIS OWN INSPIRATION Makes no impression on his fellow- citizens Necessity .•md likeli- hood of a divine com- mission little circle, superstition and the world held undisputed sway. Warning and expostulation were met by gross ignorance and repellent darkness. The kind and generous Abu Talib smiled at the enthusiasm of his nephew. Abu Lahab, another uncle, mocked and insulted him. Abu Jahl and his party sneered. The great body of the Coreish were care- less and indifferent. As ^[ahomet passed by the knots that clustered about the Kaaba discussing the events of the day, they would point disdainfully at him as at a half-witted creature. The more susceptible amongst the citizens listened, per- haps with attention at the first. But when pressed to throw in their lot with the Inquirers, they would answer : ' It is well enough for Jews and Christians to follow the purer faith thou speakest of. They, we know, had prophets with a message from heaven. If to us also, a prophet had been sent, we should doubtless have followed his directions, and been as devout and spiritual in our worship as the Jews and Chris- tians. Let us therefore be content with the light given us, and remain as we are.' ' Mahomet felt the force of the reply, for it was in unison with thoughts hidden and undeveloped yet ever present in his heart. Would the Almighty be un- mindful of the appeal thus made to Him for guidance? The appeal might itself be a divine intimation to furnish the direction so urgently needed and desired. And, again, whence the rush of inspiration regarding the unity of God, His power and providence, and a future recompense in heaven and hell ? Whence the ecstatic moments, the flow of burning thoughts, the spontaneous burst of eloquence and heavenly ' There are many such passages in the Coran, and the pretext thus ex- plicitly put in Sura xxxv. 42, was probably the earliest of the kind he had to answer. It is as follows : — ' The men of Mecca swore by the Lord with the most solemn oath that if a Prophet had come to them they would have followed his directions better than any of the otlier peoples; but now that a preacher (i.e. Mahomet) is come unto them, it hath only increased their aversion from the truth, their arrogance in the earth, and their pursuit of evih' See also Sura vi. ] 55-1 57 : ' And this book We have sent down, — blessed ; wherefore follow it and fear God that ye may find mercy. Lest ye should say: " Verily the Scripture hath been revealed to two Peoples before us, but we are unable to read in their language." Or lest ye should say : " If the Scripture had been revealed to us, we surely would have fol- lowed the direction better than they." And now verily hath a clear expo- sition come unto you from your Lord,— a direction and mercy,' kc. n. NECESSITY OF A DIVINE COMMISSION 43 speech, which gave form and substance to the long conceived yearnings of his heart, and transformed them as it were into the words of God himself? Could the prophets of old have had a more convincing test of inspiration ? "What if all this formed a supernatural call, a divine Mission ? "Why should he hesitate to take the name of God upon his lips, go forth boldly as his Legate, and trust that the same spirit which had guided Jewish and Christian prophets would put words into his mouth ? While absorbed by such reflections, sometimes doubting, Mental sometimes believing, Mahomet at seasons suffered grievous and^^**'"'^ mental distraction. To this period may be attributed such grounds of . . , reassu- passages as the following, in which, after deep depression, he ranee seeks to reassure his soul by remembering the past favours of the Almighty. By the rising sunshine ! Suia xciii By the night when it darkeneth ! Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath He been dis- The Future shall surely be better unto thee than the Past. Thy Lord shall shortly dispense unto thee a gift ; and thou shalt be satisfied. What 1 Did He not find thee an Ox'phan, and give thee a home 1 Found thee astray, and guided thee aright ? Now, therefore, as touching the Orphan, oppress him not ; And as touching him that asketh of thee, repulse him not ; And as touching the Favours of thy Lord, rehearse them. And again : — What ! Have We not opened for thee thy breast 1 Sura xciv And eased thee of the burden, — Which galled thy back ; And exalted the mention of thee ? Then truly with the difticulty, there shall be ease. Verily with the difticulty there shall be ease. And when thou hast finished,' then labour, And towards thy Lord raise thy desire. ' T.e. finished 2JreacJn>iff or jiraying (Beidbawi). Another early Sura, of only three verses (cviii.), refers probably to the taunts of those who re- proached him with the death of his sons as a mark of God's displeasure : — Sm-ely We have given unto thee an abundance ; Wherefore pray unto thy Lord, and offer sacrifice. Verily, he that hateth thee shall be childless. 44 BELIEF OF MAHOMET IX HIS OWN IXSriRATIOX chap. Seeks to commit suicide Belief in divine mis- sion re- vives, min- gled with ambition Notwithstanding such consolations, bis distress was some- times insupportable ; over and again he meditated suicide. What if all this were but the simulation of divine impulse, the stirrings of the Evil one and his emissaries ? Indeed, throughout the Coran, no crime against the high majesty of Heaven is more fearful than to speak falsely in the name of God. Rather than expose himself to a risk so terrible, he would anticipate the possibility by casting himself headlong from one of these wild cliffs. An invisible influence appeared to hold him back. Was it an influence divine ; or might not this too be diabolical ? At such seasons he found solace in the bosom of Khadija, who, as tradition tells us, tnecl the Spirits, and assured him that his Visitants were not wicked, but innocent and virtuous. When thus comforted and re-established, the old hopes and aspirations would again revive in his heart stronger than ever. Bright visions of a united people abjuring their idolatry, would rise before him. Faith and piety should yet reign throughout Arabia ; — When the help of the Lord shall come and victory, And thou shalt see men entering into the faith of God in multi- tudes, Then celebrate His praise, and ask pardon of Him, for He is forgiving. ' Moses led forth his people (he would say to himself), and so did other Jewish chieftains, to do battle for the Lord against the heathen. Arid why should not I, as the vicegerent of God, bring all Arabia in godly submission jDrostrate at His feet? Then, what vain superstition have I not seen in Syria ; they have set up the Queen of Heaven, and burned incense to her ! They have a Revelation, and profess to obey it. I will show to them from their own Book that they have corrupted and obscured the Truth. And Egypt, Persia, Abyssinia, Hira, — all around, why should I not dash to the ground the idols, and every thing that exalts itself against the true God ; — if only ray people will be convinced and rally around me to fight the battles of the Lord. The whole world, Jew and Christian, weary of strife and discord, yearns for a Prophet who shall restore unity and peace. Will not all, then, flock to my standard iir. VISION OF GABRIEL 45 when I proclaim myself that which I sni'ely feel myself to be, — the Prophet of the Lord ? ' Such conceptions were at this time, it may be, vague and undeveloped, but, look- ing to the earliest fragments of his Revelation, there is little doubt that the germ of them existed in the mind of Mahomet. At this crisis, the future of Mahomet and of Islam Mahomet trembled in the balance. On the one hand, he was surrounded ^^onoia^' by a little knot of faithful and believing followers. Truth diyinecom- seemed to shine, clear and radiant as a sunbeam, into his heart ; ecstatic trances impressed a seal, apparently divine, upon his convictions ; he was conscious of a sincere desire, and fancied that he perceived a mission, to call forth his people from darkness into light. On the other hand, the ungodly laughed him to scorn ; while solemn expostulation and warning were treated, even by the wise and sober, as the effusion of a fond enthusiast. Before the Divine Commission all difficulties would vanish. He would wait, then, for the inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit to lead him, as it had ofttimes led the prophets before him. in the right way. Gabriel,' perhaps, would visit him, as he visited Zacharias and Mary, to announce to him the advent of a new Dispen- sation. He was seated or wandering amidst the peaks of Hira Vision of buried no doubt in reveries such as these, when suddenly ^fth ctm- an apparition rose before him. The heavenly Visitant stood m^^sipn to clear and close beside him in a vision. It was no other than the name Gabriel, the Messenger of God, who now appeared in the ^^^^^^ sky, and, approaching within ' two bows' length,' brought from his ]\Iaster this memorable behest : — Recite in the name of the Lord who created, — Sura xcvi Created Man from nought but congealed blood ; — Recite ! For thy Lord is beneficent. It is He who hath taught (to write) with the pen ; — Hath taught man that which he knoweth not. ... Hast thou not seen him that holdeth back The Servant of God when he prayeth ? What thinkest thou ? had he listened to right direction, And commanded unto piety ? ' It is clear that at a later period at lenst, if not from the first, Mahomet confounded Gahriel with the Holy Ghost. 46 BELIEF OF MAHOMET IX HIS OWN INSPIRATION CHiP. Mahomet assumes authority of God for his Revela- tions ; and becomes his com- missioned prophet Dost thou not see that he hath rejected the Truth and turned his back? What ! Doth he not know that God seeth 1 Nay, verily, if he forbear not, AVe shall drag him by the fore- lock,— The lying, sinful forelock ! Then let him call his company of friends, and We shall call the guards of Hell ; Nay ! submit not unto him ; but worship, and draw nigh unto the Lord. Thus was Mahomet led, — by such process as we can only conjecture, but seemingly after a protracted period of doubt and hesitancy, — to give forth his message as proceeding direct from the Almighty. Henceforth he spoke literally in the name of tlie Lord. And so scrupulous was he lest, in his words, there should be even the appearance of human influ- ence, that every sentence of the Coran is prefaced by the divine command, ' Speak ' or ' Say ; ' which, if not expressed, is always to be understood.^ This commission pervaded now his whole career, and mingled with his every action. He was the servant, the prophet, the vicegerent of God ; and however much the sphere of his mission might expand in ever widening cir- cles, the principle on which it rested was the same. How far the two ideas, on the one hand of a resolution in his own mind involving spontaneous action, and on the other a supernatural inspiration objective and independent of his will, were at first consciously and simultaneously present, and in what respective degrees, it is difficult to conjecture. But it is certain that the conception of the Almighty as the immediate source of his inspiration and Author of his com- mission, soon took entire and undivided possession of his soul ; and, however coloured by the events and induce- ments of the day, or mingled with apparently incongruous motives and desires, retained a paramount influence until the hour of his death. The above Sura was, in fact, the starting point of Islam. Theologians and biographers gene- rally hold it to be the first revealed Sura ; and Mahomet ' Thus Sura cxii.: — Say : — He is God alone: God the Eternal ! He begetteth not, and He is not begotten ; And there is not any like unto Him. lit. COMMISSION TO PREACH 47 himself used to refer to it as the commencement of his inspiration.' But the divine commission was unheeded at Mecca. Thecom- Scorn and abuse gathered thicker than ever around him. "i/^htrd bv He was taunted as a poet carried away by wild fancy ; as a ti'^ people" sorcerer given to magic, oaths and rhapsodies ; or as one pos- sessed by the Genii and demons. Grieved and dispirited, he fell back upon his commission. Was it a command to preach and call his stiff-necked and rebellious people to repentance ; or not rather a simple message of the truth, for himself and his disciples ? Wearied and perplexed, the Prophet stretched himself on his carpet, and wrapping his garments about him, fell into a trance. The Angel was at hand, and Mahomet The vision, was aroused from despondency to energy and action by this manJ''™" reanimating message : — preach Oh thou that art covered ! Arise and preach ? ^ And magnify Suia Ixxiv thy Lord. Purify thy garments, and depart from all uncleanness. ****** Leave i\lE and him whom I have created alone ; On whom I have bestowed abundant riches, And sons dwelling before him ; And disposed his affairs prosperously; — Yet he desireth that I should add tliereto. Nay ! Because he is to Our Signs an adversary, I will afflict him with fierce calamity ; For he imagined and devised mischief in his heart, May he be damned ! how he devised ! Again may he be damned ! how he devised ! ' Several years after he thus describes the same vision :— ' By the Star when it riseth ! Tour fellow erreth not, neither hath he gone astray. Nor doth he speak of his own fancy. Verily it is no other than a Revelation that hath been inspired : One mighty and strong taught it him,— One endued with wisdom. He stood In the highest part of the horizon, Then he drew near and approached, Until he was at the distance of two bows' length, or yet nearer : And he revealed unto his servant that which he revealed. The heart did not belie that which he saw. What I Will ye then dispute with him concerning that which he saw ? ' — Sura liii. Then he alludes to a second vision of Gabriel, which will be referred to hereafter. - Preach in the sense of warn, or call to repentance. Traditional account 48 BELIEF OF MAHOMET IN HIS OWN INSPIRATION chap. Then he looked, and frowned and scowled ; Then he turned his back and looked contemptuously : — And he said, ' Verily, this is nought hut Magic to he wrought ; ^ Verily, this is nothing h^it the speech of a mere mortaU Now, will I cast him into Hell- fire. And what shall cause thee to know what hell-fire is ? It leaveth not, neither doth it suffer to escape, Candescent on the skin. . . . Then, after an appeal to the former Scriptures : — Nay, by the Moon ! By the night when it retireth ! By the morn when it reddeneth ! Verily this is one of the most weighty matters,— A warning to mankind . . . . . . The Companions of the Right hand, dwelling In Gardens, shall inquire of the wicked ; — * What hath cast you into Hell ? ' And they shall reply, — ' We were not of those that prayed; neither did ive feed the ])oor ; And tve hahhled vainly with the vain hahhlers ; And we loere rejecters of the Day of reckoning : Until the conviction thereof overtook us.' . . . Then what aileth them that they turn aside from this admoni- tion ; — As though they were affrighted asses fleeing from a lion 1 Every man among them desireth that expanded Scrolls be given unto him. 2 'Nay ! they dread not the Life to come. Nay ! this is a 'sufficient Warning ; Whoso chooseth he shall be warned thereby. But none shall be warned excepting as the Lord pleaseth. ' He is to be feared, and He is the Forgiver. The steps by which ]M.ahomet was led to assume the office not only of an inspired Prophet, but also of a Leader com- missioned to preach and summon his people to the faith of Islam, have now been traced from the various intimations gathered from the Goran itself. To complete the view, I will krther give the corresponding narrative from the pen of the ' Alluding to the doctrine of the KcsniTection ; the revivification of dry bones and dust being laughed to scorn as mere magic. '- I.e. that the divine message recorded upon pages should be miracu- lously brought from heaven and placed in the objectors hands, in proof of Mahomet's mission. TRADITIONAL ACCOUNT OF FIRST IKSPIKATIOX 19 Biographers, premising only that on so mysterious a subject the imagination must, in the process of oral transmission, have had the fullest play.' The following is from Wakidy : — The first beginnings of Mahomet's inspiration were real visions. Every vision that he saw was clear as the morning dawn. These again provoked the love of solitude. He would repair to a cave on mount Hira, and there pass whole days and nights. Then, drawn by affection for Khadija, he would x'eturn to his home. This went on till the truth burst upon him in the cave. It happened on this wise. Wandering in the hills around, an angel from tlie sky cried to him, ' 0 JIahomet, I am (Jahriel I ' He was terrified, for as often as he raised his head, there was the apparition of the angel. He hurried home to tell his wife. ' Oh, Khadija,' he said, ' I have never abhorred anything as I do these idols and soothsayers ; and now verily I fear lest I should become a soothsayer myself.' 'Never,' replied his faithful wife ; 'the Lord will never suffer it thus to be,' — and she went on to speak of his many virtues, upon wliich she founded the assurance. Then she repaired to her cousin Waraca, and told him all. ' By the Lord,' cried the aged man, ' he speaketh truth ! Doubtless it is the beginning of prophecy, and there shall come upon him the Great NomoK, like as it came upon ^Nloses. Wherefore charge him that he thiiik not aught but hopeful thoughts within his breast. If he be raised up a prophet wliile I am yet alive, sui'ely I will stand by liim.' Now the first Sura revealed to Mahomet was the 94th, Recite in the name of the Lord, &c.; and that descended on him in the cave of Hira. After this he waited some time without seeing Gabriel. And he became greatly downcast, so that he went out now to one mountain, and then to another, seeking to cast him- self headlong thence. While thus intent on self-destruction, he was suddenly arrested by a voice from heaven. He looked up, and behold it was Gabriel upon a throne between the heavens and the earth, who said : ' 0 Mahomet ! thou art the Prophet of the Lord, in truth, and I am Gabriel.' Then Mahomet turned to go to his own house ; and the Lord comforted him, and strengthened his heart. And thereafter revelations began to follow one upon another with frequency.'^ ' It must not be forgotten that Mahomet at this period could not have been the object of much observation from without. Khadija was almost the only witness of his earliest mental throes. Aly was but a boy ; and it is doubtful how far Zeid and Abu Bekr were yet on sufBciently close and intimate terms with him to be made the confidants of his most secret thoughts. 2 Wakidy is here more succinct and natural than Ibn Hisham. Tabari E ' First be- ginnings of inspira- tion,' as handed down by tradition Mahomet meditates suicide Gabriel again ap- peal's and comforts him 50 BELIEF OF MAHOMET IN HIS OWX INSPIRATION chap. Various The period succeeding the revelation of the 9Gth Sura, stoppage"*^ during which inspiration was suspended, and Mahomet in of inspira- despondency contemplated suicide, is generally represented as of longer duration than in the above statement. The in- terval is variously held to have lasted from six months to three years. At its close, the 74th and 93rd Suras, containing assurance of mercy and command to preach, were delivered. The accounts, however, are throughout confused, and some- times contradictory ; and we can only gather with certainty that there was a time (corresponding with the deductions already drawn from the Coran itself) during which the mind again surpasses Ibn Hisbam in miraculous statements, the number and variety of which illustrate the rapid fabrication and indiscriminate recep- tion of such stories in the third century. Omitting such, the following is a brief outline from Ibn Hisham and Tabari of the first stirrings of inspiration : — On the night whereon the Loi^d was minded to deal graciously with him, Gabriel came to Mahomet as he slept with his family in the cave of Hira. He held in his hand a piece of silk wdth ^\Titing thereon, and he said Read! Mahomet replied, I cannot read. Whereupon the angel did so tightly gripe him that he thought death had come upon him. Then said Gabriel a second time Read I And Mahomet, but only to escape the agony, replied, Wliat shall I read? Gabriel proceeded : — Read (recite) in the name of thy Lord, &c. ; — repeating the 96th Sura to the end of v. 5. When he had ended, the angel departed ; and ' the words,' said Mahomet, * were as though they had been gi-aven on my heart.' Suddenly the thought occurred to him that he was possessed of evil spirits, and he meditated suicide ; but as he rushed forth wth the intention of casting himself down a precipice, he was ai-rested by the appearance again of Gabriel, and stood for a long time transfixed by the sight. At last, the vision disappearing, he returned to Khadija who, alarmed at his absence, had sent messengers to Mecca in quest of him. In consternation he threw himself into her lap, and told her what had occuiTcd. She reassured him, saying that he would surely be a prophet, and Waraca confirmed her in the belief. Another story is that Khadija tested the character of the spirit by making Mahomet sit first on her right knee, then on her left, in both of which positions the apparition continued before him. Then she took him in her lap, and removed her veil, or uncovered her garments, when the spirit disap- peared,—thus proving that it was at any rate a modest and virtuous being. Whereupon Khadija exclaimed : Rejoice my cousin, for iy the Lord ! it is an angel, and no devil. On another occasion, being terrified, he entreated Khadija to cover him up, on which was revealed the 74th Sura beginning. Oh thoti covered ! Again, the Prophet receiving no visit from Gabriel for some time, Khadija said to him: Verily I fear that God is displeased with thee; whereupon was revealed Sura xciii. ; — Thy Lord hath not removed from thee, neither is He displeased. Sec. But such traditions appear simply to be attempts to explain or illustrate the several passages to which they relate. in. EFFECT OF INSPIEATION ON MAHOMET 51 of ]Mahomet hung in suspense, and doubted the reality of a heavenly mission. It is not easy to say what was the outward manifestation character of Mahomet's ecstatic periods, — whether simply reveries of ofMahu- profound meditation, or swoons connected with a morbid ecstatic excitability of mental or physical constitution, no doubt varied ^'^^^°'^ at different periods and under different circumstances. On a subject so closely allied to the supernatural, we must be on our guard against the tendency of a credulous and excited imagination to conjure up marvellous tales which would find ready currency and be eagerly handed down by tradition. With this caution the following particulars may be read : — At the moment of inspiration, anxiety pressed upon the Traditional Prophet, and his countenance was troubled. He fell to the ^iccouut ground like an inebriate, or one overcome by sleep ; and in the coldest day his forehead would be bedewed with large drops of perspiration. Even his she-camel, if he chanced to become in- spired while mounted on lier, would be affected by a wild excite- ment, sitting down and rising up, now planting her legs rigidly, then throwing them about as if they would be parted from her. To outward appearance inspiration descended unexpectedly, and without any previous warning to the Prophet.' When ques- Mahomet's tioned on the subject he replied : ' Inspiration cometh in one of two ways ; sometimes Gabriel communicateth the Revelation to me, as one man to another, and this is easy ; at other times, it is like the ringing of a bell, penetrating my very heart, and rending me ; and this it is which afflicteth me the most.' In the later period of life Mahomet referred his grey hairs to the withering effect produced upon him by the ' terrific Suras.' ^ ' Abdal Rahman relates that on the return from Hodeibia (A.h. 6), ho suddenly saw the people urging on their camels ; and every one was in- quiring of his neighbour the cause. They replied, Inspiration liatk de- scended on the Prophet. So he too urged on his camel, and reached Mahomet who, seeing that a sufficient number of people had gathered around him, began to recite the 40th Sura. I remember no tradition which represents Mahomet as beforehand aware that inspiration was about to come upon him. "- The ' terrific ' Suras, as specified in the numerous traditions on this subject, are, 'Sura Hud, and its Sisters; ' — the ' Sisters ' are variously given as Suras xi., xxi., Ivi., Ixix., Ixxvii., Ixxviii., Ixxxi., or ci. ;— all revealed at Mecca, and some of them very early. We are told that while Abu Bekr and Omar sat in the Mosque at Medina, Mahomet suddenly came upon them from the door of one of his wives' houses (which opened into tlie mosque), stroking and lifting up his beard, and looking at it. Now his beard had in it many more white hairs than his head. And Abu Bekr own ac- count b-^ BELIEF OF MAHOMET IN HIS OWN INSPIRATION chap Mahome- Before quitting the subject, it may be interesting to note re°arding°^ what tradition says of the class of spirits called Jinn or Genii, devils and Prior to the mission of the Prophet, the Genii, and devils or other spirits of the air, had access to the outskirts of heaven, and by assiduous eaves-dropping secured some of the secrets of the upper world, which they communicated to soothsayers and diviners upon the earth. But on the advent of Mahomet they were driven from the skies, and, whenever they dared to approach, flaming bolts were hurled at them, appearing to mankind like falling stars. Hence at this epoch the show of falling stars is said to have been brilliant and uninterrupted ; and the Arabs were much alarmed at the portentous phe- nomenon.^ Such a belief in the existence and history of the Genii, strange as it may appear, is clearly developed in the Goran ; and throws a mysterious light upon the inner recesses of the Prophet's mind.^ Conciu- The considerations bearing on the first conception by MThomet's Mahomet of a revelation from heaven, have now been given at behefinhis length, both from tradition and from the Goran itself; and, inspiration . . . reaching us with such mysterious and strange surroundings, they leave on the mind no doubt of his sincere and earnest searching after truth at this period of his life. Revelations of the same nature, all shaped as messages or commands direct from God, continued to ' descend ' upon the Prophet through- out his life, and as such are termed the Coran^ or Word of said : ' Ah, thou, for whom I would sacrifice father and mother, white liairs are hastening upon thee ! ' The Prophet, raising his beard with his hand, gazed at it ; and Abu [Bekr's ej-es filled with tears. • Yes,' said Mahomet, ' Hud ' (Sura si.) ' and its Sisters have hastened my white hairs.' — 'And what,' asked Abu Bekr, ' are its Sisters?' 'The Inevitable (Sura Ivi.), and the Striking (Sura ci.).' ' It is possible that at this period there may really have been an unusual display of falling stars, which at certain points of the earth's course are known to be specially abundant. * In the Coran the Genii are represented as conversing thus one with another : — ' Verily we used to pry into the heavens, but we found them to be filled with a strong guard and with flaming darts. And we used to sit in some of the seats thereof to listen ; but whoever listeneth now, findeth a flaming bolt in ambush. And we know not whether evil be hereby intended against those upon earth, or whether the Lord be minded to guide them into the right way.' — Sura l.xxii. 8-10. As we shall .see below, many of the Genii, when they heard Mahomet reciting his Revelation, are said to have been converted. The Coran professes to have been revealed for the benefit and salvation hoth of Men and Genii. Cf. Sui'as xv. 17 ; Ixvii. 5 ; xxxvii. 6-10: xxvi. 210; Ixxxi. 24. HI. SINCERITY OF HIS BELIEF 53 God.' As years advanced tliese began to lose the glow and fervour of the earlier rhapsodies. Ever and anon, indeed, even to the end, we meet with passages — those especially on the Being and Providence of God — grand, impassioned, and kindling with the early fire ; but the ordinary style becomes tame and vapid. Moreover, when Mahomet attained to tem- poral power, the Revelation was used as the means of reaching secular ends, and even, as we shall see, of ministering to lower objects. What could the source have been of ' Inspi- ration ' ending thus ? The answer can, at the best, be but conjecture. It will be for the reader, as he proceeds, himself to judge when and to what extent, consciously or uncon- sciously, material objects obscured for INIahomet the spiritual vista ; — whether, in fact, the eye being no longer single, the light that was in him, from whatever source, lost its ethereal virtue, and became dimmed by the turbid atmosphere of the world. ' Coran ; that is, ' Scripture ' or what is read or renlUd. 64 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS CHAPTER IV FROM THE ASSUMPTION BY MAHOMET OF THE PROPHETICAL OFFICE TO THE FIRST EMIGRATION TO ABYSSINIA JETAT. 4-1-4C A.D. 013-61i Mahomet in his forty- fourth year Earliest converts Khadija Zeid The weary region of uncertainty and speculation may now be left behind. Towards the forty-fourth year of his age we find Mahomet, now emerged from doubt and obscurity, clearly and unequivocally asserting that he was ordained a prophet with a commission to the people of Arabia ; reciting his warn- ings and exhortations as messages that emanated direct from God; and himself implicitly believing (to all outward appear- ance) his call and mission to be divine. We see him already surrounded by a little band of followers, all animated by ardent devotion to his person, and the belief that his guide and inspirer was God himself. It is strongly corroborative of Mahomet's sincerity that the earliest converts to Islam were not only of upright cha- racter, but his own bosom friends and people of his house- hold ; who, intimately acquainted with his private life, could not fail otherwise to have detected those discrepancies which ever more or less exist between the professions of the hypo- critical deceiver abroad and his actions at home. The faithful Khadija is already known to the reader, as sharer in her husband's searchings of heart, and probably the first convert to his creed. ' So Khadija believed ' (runs the simple tradition), ' and attested the truth of that which came to him from God. Thus was the Lord minded to lighten the burden of his Prophet ; for he heard nothing that grieved him touching his rejection by the people, but he had recourse unto her, and she comforted, reassured, and supported him.' Zeid, the adopted son and intimate friend of Mahomet, who lived no doubt in I/. EARLV CONVERTS. ALY AND ABU BEKR 55 close conuection with the family, if not actually a member of it, was also one of the earliest believers. Aly, the Prophet's cousin, now thirteen or fourteen years Aly of age, already gave tokens of the wisdom and judgment which distinguished him in after life. Though possessed of indomitable courage, he was meditative and reserved, and lacked the stirring energy which would have rendered him an effective propagator of Islam. He grew up from a child in the faith of Mahomet, and his earliest associations strengthened the convictions of maturer years. It is said that as Mahomet was once engaged with him in prayer, in a glen near Mecca whither they had retired to avoid the jeers of their neighbours, Abu Talib his father chanced to pass by, and said to Maho- met, ' My nephew ! what is this new faith I see thee following ? ' * O my Uncle ! ' he replied, ' this is the religion of God, and of his angels, and of his prophets ; the religion of Abraham. The Lord hath sent me an Apostle unto his servants ; and thou, my Uncle, art the most worthy of all that I should ad- dress my invitation unto, and the most worthy to assist the Prophet of the Lord.' Abu Talib answered : ' I am not able, my nephew, to separate from the religion and the customs of my forefathers, but I swear that so long as I live no one shall dare to trouble thee.' Then, turning to his son, who pro- fessed a similar faith and the resolution to follow Mahomet, he said : ' Well, my son, he will not call thee to aught but that which is good ; wherefore thou art free to cleave unto him.' To the family group it is hardly necessary to add Waraca, the aged cousin of Khadija, whose profession of Waraca Christianity and support of Mahomet have been already mentioned, because he had already died before Mahomet had entered upon his public ministry. In the little circle there was one belonging to another Abu Bekr branch of the Coreish, who, after Khadija, may claim prece- dence in the profession of Islam. Abu Bekr had long been the familiar friend of Mahomet, and with him no doubt had lamented the gross darkness of Mecca, and sought after a better faith. He lived in the same quarter of the city as Khadija. When Mahomet removed thither the intimacy became closer, and the attachment of Abu Bekr was soon riveted by implicit faith in his friend as the apostle of God. Ayesha his daughter (born about this period, and destined 56 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS His appear- ance and character Ilis gene- rosity and popularity Abu B«kr gains fivf converts ; while yet a girl to be the Prophet's -bride) ' could not remem- ber the time when both her parents were not true believers, and when ]\Iahomet did not daily visit her father's house morning and evening.' Of her father, the Prophet said : ' I never invited any one to the faith who displayed not hesita- tion and perplexity, excepting only Abu Bekr ; who, when I had propounded unto him Islam, tarried not, neither was perplexed.' Abu Bekr was about two years younger than the Prophet ; short in stature, and of small spare frame ; the eyes deeply seated under a high projecting forehead. His com- plexion was fair, and face comely, but thin so that you could see the veins upon it. Shrewd and intelligent, he yet wanted the originality of genius ; his nature was mild and sympa- thetic, but not incapable of firm purpose when important interests required. Impulse and passion rarely prompted his actions ; he was guided by reason and calm conviction. Faithful and unvarying in his attachment to the Prophet, he was known (and is to the present day familiar in the Moslem world) as Al SiDDtCK, ' the True.' ' He was also styled ' the Sighing,' from his tender and compassionate heart. Abu Bekr was a diligent and successful merchant, and, being frugal and simple in his habits, possessed at his conversion about 40,000 silver pieces. His generosity was rare and his charity unwearying. The greater part of his fortune was now devoted to the purchase of such unfortunate slaves as were persecuted for their attachment to the new faith ; so that but 5,000 pieces were left when, ten or twelve years after, he emigrated with the Prophet to ^ledina. Abu Bekr was unusually familiar with the history of the Coreish, who often referred to him for genealogical information. His judgment was sound and impartial, his conversation agreeable, and his demeanour affable and engaging. His society and advice were therefore much sought after by the Coreish, and he was popular throughout the city.- To have such a man a staunch adherent of his claims was for ]\Iahomet a most important step. Abu Bekr's influence ' His proper name was Abdnllah son of Othccan Abu Cahafa. It is not clear when he obtained the name of Ahu Behr, which means Father of the youn{>: Camel. Sec The Caliphate, p. 21. '-' I af^ree with Sprenper in consideriutr 'tlic faith of Abu Bekr the .ECreatest f,'uaranteo of the sincerity of Jlohammed in thebei,'inninir of his career ' — and, indeed, in a modified sense, throui/hout his Ufe. IV. ABU BEKR AND OTHER EARLY CONVERTS 57 was freely surrendered to the cause of Islam, and five of the earliest converts are attributed to his exertions and example. Three were but striplings. Sad, the son of Abu Wakkas, Sad converted in his sixteenth or seventeenth year, was the nephew of Amina, mother of the Prophet.^ Zoheir, probably Zobeir ibn . . 1 . 1 il Awwam still younger, was at once the nephew oi Ivhadija, and the sou of Mahomet's aunt Safia.^ About the same age was Talha, a relative of Abu Bekr and a renowned warrior in Talha after days. The fourth was Othman son of AfFan (successor othman of Omar in the Caliphate) who, though of the Omeyyad stock, ^l'^^^^ ^^^j was also on his mother's side grandson of Abd al Muttalib. Mahomet's daughter Eockeya, being now, or shortly after, free from her connection with Otba (son of the hostile Abu Lahab), the Prophet gave her in marriage to Othman, whose wife she continued until her death some ten or twelve years afterwards. Othman was at this period between thirty and forty years of age. The fifth was Ahd al Rahman, ten years Abd al younger than the Prophet, a man of wealth and character. Abd al Rahman, Othman, and Talha were, like Abu Bekr, merchants. Abd al Rahman was accompanied on his first visit to the Four con- house of Mahomet by four companions, who at the same time accompany embraced Islam : Oheida son of Mahomet's uncle Harith ; ^^^^^^j^ Ahu Salma ; ^ Ahu Oheida, subsequently a warrior of note ; and Othman son of Matzun. The latter had already aban- doned wine before his conversion, and was with difficulty persuaded by JMahomet to renounce the asperities of an as- cetic life. His family appears to have been well inclined to Islam, for we find two brothers, a son, and other relatives, in the list of early believers.'' ' Sad pursued the trade of manufacturing arrows, and is renowned as ' the first who shot an arrow ' on the side of Islam. " Zobeir was the grandson of Khuweilid, Khadija's fatlier; and also the grandson of Abd al ]\Iuttalib by his daughter Saiia. He was a butcher ; and his father a grain merchant, or, as others have it, a tailor. He became a distinguished warrior, and bore a prominent part in the subsequent history. ^ Abu Salma was ten years older than Mahomet, and was killed at Bedr. He emigrated twice to Abyssinia with his wife Omtii Salma. He died of wounds received at Ohod, when Mahomet married his widow. •» He wished to renounce the privileges of conjugal life ; but Mahomet forbade this, and recommended him to imitate his own practice in this respect, saying that the Lord had not sent his prophet with a monkish 58 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS Converted slaves ISilal and others Of the slaves ransomed by Abu Bekr from persecution, the foremost is Bilal, son of an Abyssinian slave-girl. He was tall, dark, and gaunt, with negro features and bushy hair. Mahomet distinguished him as ' tlie first fruits of Abyssinia;' and to this day he is known throughout the Moslem world as the Prophet's Muiidzzin, or crier to prayer. Arar ihn Foheira, after being released from severe trial, was em- ployed by Abu Bekr in tending his flocks.* AhdaUah ihn Masiul, ' small in body, but weighty in faith,' the constant attendant who waited upon Mahomet at Medina ;2 and Khohdb, a blacksmith, were also converted at this period. Meccan The slaves of Mecca were peculiarly accessible to the solicita- slaves sus- . r ^ r, i ceptibieof tions ot the Prophet. As foreigners they were generally impression ^miliar either with Judaism or Christianity. Isolated from the influences of hostile partisanship, persecution had alien- ated them from the Coreish and misfortune made their hearts susceptible of spiritual impressions. iTiirteen In addition to the twenty persons now noticed as amone: other early ,i r. « n -i r> ■ believers " the tirst contessors of the faith, tradition enumerates at least thirteen others as having believed ^before the entry of the Froplbet into the house of Arcam ; ' — by which expression (ex- plained hereafter) the biogi-aphers mark the few earliest years of Islam. Among these thirteen we observe the youthful son Saul and several relatives of the aged inquirer Zeid already some time dead, whose remarkable life has been already alluded to as possibly paving the way for ]\Iahomet. Said's wife of the same family, and her brother, were likewise among the early converts. There were also among the number Oheiclallah, himself one of the ' Four inquirers,' and two of his brothers. On the persecution becoming hot, Obeidallah emigrated with his wife and others of his family, to Abyssinia, where he was converted to Christianity, and died in that faith. '' It is interesting to note among the converts faith. The expressions attribnted to Mahomet on this occasion arestroncrly illustrative of his character; but the passage does not admit of further detail. ' Amr ibn Foheira was a son (by a former owner) of Omni I'lumiln, Abu Bekr's wife, and mother of A^'esha. ' Abdallah at jNledina was climbinp: up a date tree, and his companions were indulging in pleasantry at the expense of his spare legs, when Mahomet used the expression here quoted. ' Mahomet (as we shall see) married liis widow. Obcidallnh was IV. NUMBER OF EARLY CONVERTS 59 Abu Hodzeifa,^ son ox Otba (father-in-law of Abu Sofian), a family inveterately opposed to Mahomet. We find also the name of Arcam, whose house will shortly be mentioned as memorable in the annals of Islam. Besides this little group of three-and-thirty individuals, Several the wives and daughters of some of the converts are men^ converts tioned as also faithful and earnest professors of Islam. Re- ligious movements in every age have found women to take a forward part, if not in direct and public assistance, yet in the encouragement and exhortation which are of even greater value ; and Islam was no exception. On the other hand, as priority in the faith became in after years a ground of social distinction, we must not forget that, in estimating the number of early converts, their ranks have been unduly swelled by the traditions of those whose piety or ambition have ima- gined or invented such priority for their own ancestors or patrons. Weighing both considerations, we shall not Converts in greatly err if we conclude that, in the first three or four yeLsTbout years after the assumption by Mahomet of his prophetic *°''*^' ofiice, the converts to his faith amounted to nearly forty souls. By what degrees, under the influence of what motives or Steps by arguments, and at what precise periods, these individuals, sL^Ss^was one by one, gave in their adhesion to Mahomet, we can attained scarcely determine further than in the general outline already before the reader. It is usual in tradition to assign to the Prophet three years of secret preaching and private solicitation, after which an open call was made to the Coreish at large. But we hardly find grounds for this theory in the Coran. It is probable that the preliminary term of doubt Mahomet's cousin by his mother, a daughter of Abd al Muttalib. He was also brother of the famous Zeinab, who was married to Zeid (Mahomet's freedman) and was afterwards divorced by him that the Prophet might take her to wife. The whole of his tribe, the Beni Dudan, resident at Mecca, were very favourable to Islam ; at the Hegira they all emigrated to Medina, men, women, and children, locking up their houses. It is remark- able that this tribe were eonfederates of Harb and Abu Sofian, leading op- ponents of Mahomet ;— the influence of Islam thus frequently overleaping and baffling the political combinations of Mecca. ' He challenged his father at the battle of Bedr to single combat. His sister Hind (wife of Abu Sofian) retorted in satirical verses, taunting him with being squint-eyed, and with the barbarity of offering to fight his father. He was an ill-favoured man, with projecting teeth. GO EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS c:iap. and hesitancy (which we sought to trace in the preceding chapter) has been confounded by tradition with the actual assumption of the prophetic office. The facts we may con- jecture to have been as follows : An interval of pious musing, and probably of expostulation with near relatives and friends, preceded the fortieth year of Mahomet's life. About that time the resolution to ' recite in the name of the Lord ' (in other words the conviction of insjnration) was fully formed. For some succeeding period his efforts would be naturally directed to individual persuasion and entreaty ; but there is nothing to warrant the belief that the prophetic claim, once assumed, was ever confined as an esoteric creed within the limits of a narrow circle. It was after this that the Prophet received (as he imagined) the command to ' arise and preach ; ' ' and forthwith his appeal was made to the whole community of Mecca. Gradually his followers increased, and the faith of each (though only the reflection of his own convictions) was acce^Dted by Mahomet as new and independent evidence of his mission, emanating from Him who alone can turn the heart of man. Success made the sphere of Islam to expand before him ; and that which was primarily intended for Mecca only, embraced at last in the ever-widening circle of its call, the whole Peninsula. An important change now occurred in the relations of .-ittaci.meiit Mahomet with the citizens of Mecca. Hitherto they had idolatry treated his teaching as that of a harmless enthusiast. But ' That is Sura Ixxiv. The biographers ordinarily quote another passage as the first command to preach : — ' And preach to (or warn) thj- nearer kinsfolk. And lower thy wing to the believers that follow thee. And if they rebel against thee, &c.' — Sura xxvi. But the tradition that this passage was the first call to preach, appears erroneous. It is not only contained in a much later Sura, but itself bears evidence of persecution, and of considerable progress. It was prouaoly revealed while the Prophet with Ids relatives was shut up in the Quarter of Abu Talib, as will be related in the next chapter, and while his preaching was necessarily confined to them. The stories also of the Trophet taking his stand upon mount Safa, summoning his relatives, family by family, and adchressing to them the divine message ; of the contemptuous reply of Abu Lahab (see p. 104) ; of the miraculous dinner at which Mahomet pro- pounded his claim to his relatives, Alj' alone standing forth as his champion and ' Vizier,' ic, are all apocryphal. At this dinner, food was prepare' 62 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS The liouse of A ream, A.i>. Gl;!. yEtat. 4t Conver- sions there Converts connected with Omar of his neighbours passed unexpectedly by. A sharp con- tention arose between tliem, followed by blows. Sad struck one of his opponents with a camel goad ; and this was ' the first blood shed in Islam.' It was probably about this time that, in order to prosecute his mission peaceably and without interruption, Mahomet took possession of the liouse of Arcam (a convert already noticed), situated a short distance from his own dwelling, upon the gentle rise of Safa. Fronting the Kaaba to the east, it was in a frequented position ; and pilgi-ims, in the prescribed course, must needs pass often by it. Thither were conducted any who showed a leaning towards Islam, and there Mahomet expounded to them his way more per- fectly. Thus of one and another of the believers, it is recorded that ' he was converted after the entry into the house of Arcam, and the preaching there ; ' — or, that ' he was brought to Mahomet in the house of Arcam, and the Prophet recited the Coran unto him, and explained the doctrines of Islam, and he was converted and embi'aced the faith.' So famous was it as the birthplace of believers, that it was in after times styled the House of Islam} Four brothers, con- federates of Khattab, were the first to believe and ' swear allegiance to Mahomet ' ^ in this house. Hence we may con- clude that, although Omar, Khattnb's son, was not yet converted, the leaven of the new doctrine was already spread- ing rapidly among his connections. The story of Mitsah, great-grandson of Hashim, will illus- trate the obstacles at this time opposed to the progress of Islam. His wife was sister of Obeidallah (the Inquirer), and it was probably through the influence of her family that he visited the house of Arcam, listened to the exhortations ' There is nothin^^ to sliow on wlwt footing Mahomet occupied this building ; whether with his family, or only as a meeting-house and place of safe retreat. From several incident;d notices of converts remaining there concealed during the day, and slipping away in the evening, the latter ap- pears to be the more probable view. Omar, converted at the close of the sixth year of the mission, was the hist brought to this house ; for his influence enabled Mahomet then to dispense with secrecy. - This remarkable expression is the same as that used for doing homage, or swearing fealty, to a leader or cliief. The 'swearing allegiance to Mahomet' was probably at this time only a general declaration of faith and submission to his teaching. Possibly it may be simply the loose anticipation of a phrase used at a later period. i^- ENTRY INTO THE HOUSE OF ARCAM 63 of Mahomet, and embraced his doctrine. But he feared publicly to confess the change ; for his mother (who doted upon him and through whose fond attention he was known as the most handsomely dressed youth in Mecca), and the whole family, were inveterately opposed to Mahomet. The conversion being at last noised abroad, his relatives seized and kept him in durance; but he escaped, and fled to Abyssinia with the first Moslem emigrants. When he returned, he looked so altered and wretched that his mother had not the heart to abuse him. At a later period, having been deputed by Mahomet to teach the converts at Medina, he revisited Mecca in company with them. His mother,' apprised of it, sent to him saying : ' Ah, disobedient son ! wilt thou enter a city in which thy mother dwelleth, and not first visit her?' ' Nay, verily,' he replied, 'I shall never visit the house of any one before the Prophet of God.' So, after he had greeted Mahomet, he went to his mother, who thus accosted him: 'Well! I sujapose thou art still a rene- gade ? ' He answered : ' I follow the Prophet of the Lord, and the true faith of Islam.' ' Art thou then well satisfied with the miserable way thou hast fared in the land of Abyssinia, and now again at Medina ? ' Perceiving a design to seize' him, he exclaimed : ' What ! wilt thou force a man from his religion ? If ye seek to confine me, I will assuredly slay the first person that layeth hands upon me.' His mother said : ' Then depart from my presence,' and she began to weep. Musab was moved, and said : ' Oh, my mother ! I give thee affectionate counsel. Testify that there is no God^'but the Lord, and that ]\Iahomet is his servant and messenger.' She replied : ' By the sparkling stars ! I shall never make of my- self a fool by entering into thy religion. Begone ! I wash my hands of thee and thy concerns, and cleave steadfastly unto mine own faith.' ' There were social causes on the other hand to aid the spread of the new doctrine. These mav be exemplified by the conversion of Tuleib, a cousin of Mahomet. This young ^^.^^^^ man, having been gained over in the house of Arcam, went to his mother, a daughter of Abd al Muttalib, and told her that he now believed in the true God, and followed his Pro- phet. She replied that he did very right in assisting his ' Musab distinguished himself at Bedr, and was killed at Ohod. 64 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS chap. cousin ; ' And, by the Lord ! ' she added. ' if I had strength to do that which men do. I would myself defend and protect him.' ' But, my mother ! what hindereth thee from believ- ing and following hira ? And truly thy brother Hamza hath believed.' She replied : ' I wait to see what my sisters do, and will follow them.' '• But, I beseech thee, mother ; wilt thou not go unto him and salute hira, and testify thy faith ? ' And she did so ; and thenceforward she assisted the cause of ^lahomet by word of mouth, and by stining up her sons to / aid him and fulfil his commands. Story of The following tradition will illustrate at once the anxiety AUiaii")! of Mahomet to gain over the principal men of the Coreish, ibnonini ^^^ ^|jp readiness with which he turned to the poor and un- Maktum ^ influential citizens of Mecca. The Prophet was engaged in fiy^ deep converse with the chief, Walid ; for he greatly coveted his conversion. Just then the blind man Abdallah ibn 0mm Maktum chanced to pass that way, and asked to hear the Coran. Mahomet, displeased at the interruption, spoke roughly to him. Others coming up still further occupied his attention ; so he turned from the blind man frowningly and left him. But the heart of Mahomet smote him, because he had thus slighted one whom God haply had chosen, and paid court to those whom God had reprobated. As usual, the vivid conception of the moment was framed into a divine revelation, which at once afforded relief to his own mind, and ample amends to the neglected inquirer. Sura Ix- The Prophet frowned and turned aside, Because the blind man came to him. And what shall cause thee to know whether haply he may not be puriBed 1 Or whethor he might not be admonished, and the admonition profit him ? As for the Man that is rich, Him thou receivest graciously ; And it is not thy concern that lie is not purified. But he that cometh unto thee earnestly inijuiring, And trembling anxiously, Him I lust thou neglect. riiis incident shows the tender and ready perception by Mahomet of the slight he had offered, and the magnanimity vith which he could confess his fault. Abdallah, though IV, FURTHER SLAVE CONVERTS 65 related to Khadija, was at present but of little consideration. Yet he was not an ordinary man. He became remarkable for his knowledge of the Coran, and at Medina was re- peatedly placed in positions of command.^ Shortly after Mahomet entered the house of Arcam, Further a further number of slaves professed themselves his converts, ^g^g ^°^' Of these, Yasdr and Jabr are mentioned as among the persons accused by the Coreish of giving instruction to the Prophet. The latter was the Christian servant of a family from Hadh- ramaut, and the Prophet is said to have much frequented his cell. The former, better known under the name of Abu Tasar, or Fokeiha, was subjected to great persecution. His daughter ^gj^^ °' Fokeiha was married to Hattab, a convert, whom we find with others of his family among the subsequent emigrants to Abyssinia. Both these slaves died probably before Mahomet left Mecca. A more important convert, styled by Mahomet ' the first Suheib fruits of Greece,' was Suheib son of Sinan. His home was at Mosul or some neighbouring village in Mesopotamia. His father, or his uncle, had been the Persian governor of Obolla. A Grecian band having made a raid into Mesopotamia, carried him off while yet a boy to Syria, perhaps to Constan- tinople. Bought afterwards by a party of Bedouins, he was sold at Mecca to the chief, Ibn Jodaan, who gave him freedom and protection. A fair skin and ruddy complexion marked his northern birth, and broken Arabic betrayed a foreign edu- cation. By traffic he acquired considerable wealth at Mecca ; but having embraced Islam, and being lefb by the death of his former master without a patron, he sufiered much at the hands of the unbelieving Coreish. It is probable that Mahomet gained some acquaintance with Christianity from him, and he may indeed be the person mentioned in the fol- lowing verse as the source of his scriptural information ; — And indeed We hiow that the Unbelievers saif, verily a cer- tain MAN TEACHETH HIM. But the tongue of him ichom they intend is foreign, whereas this Bevelation is in pure Arabic- At the general emigration to Medina, the people of Mecca en- deavoured to prevent Suheib's departure ; but he bargained to reKnquish his whole property that they might let him go ' He was left in charge of the city at the battle of Ohod. - Sura xvi. 103. See also Suras xsr. i ; and xliv. 14. 66 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EARLY CONVERTS Am mar Persecu- tion of converted slaves ConverlH permitted to dis- semble free. ]\Iahoraet, when he heard of it, exclaimed : ' Suheih, varih/, hath trafficlied to profit.' Another freed slave, Ammar, used to resort to the house of Arcani, and, simultaneously with Suheib, embraced Islam. His father, a stranger from Yemen, his mother, and his brother, were also believers. As time went on, the jealousy and enmity of the Coreish were aggravated l»y the continued success of the new sect, which now numbered more than fifty followers. The brunt of their wrath fell upon the converted slaves and strangers, and the weak and poor of the lower classes who had no patron or protector. These were seized and imprisoned ; or they were exposed on the scorching gravel of the valley to the intense glare of the mid-day sun. The torment was enhanced by intolerable thirst, until the wretched sufferers hardly knew what they said. If under this torture they reviled Mahomet and acknowledged the idols of Mecca, they were refreshed by draughts of water, and then taken to their homes. Bilal alone escaped the shame of recantation. In the depth of his anguish, the persecutors could force from him but one expres- sion, Ahad ! Ahad! 'One, One (only God)!' On such an occasion, Abu Bekr passed by, and secured liberty of con- science to the faithful slave by purchasing his freedom. Some of these confessors retained the scars of sores and wounds now inflicted to the end of their lives. Khobab and Ammar used in after days to exhibit such marks of suffering and constancy to a wondering generation, in which fortune and glory had well-nigh effaced the very thought of persecu- tion as a possible condition of Islam. Towards such as under these trying circumstances re- nounced tlieir faith, ]\Iahomet showed much commiseration. He even permitted them to dissemble, in order that they might escape the torment. Happening to pass by Ammar, as he sobbed and wiped his eyes, Mahomet inquired of him what was tlie matter. ' Evil ; 0 Prophet ! They would not let me go until I had abused thee, and spoken well of their gods.' ' But hoir dod thou find thine aim heart ? ' ' Secure and steadfast in the faith.' ' l^hen,' replied Mahomet, * if the 1/ repeat their critelti/, repeat thou also tJtij wortb.' A special exemption for such unwilling deniers of Islam is even pro- vided in the Goran.' Whot-rcr ilfuicth (! oil after (hut he h,i(h hrlicrrd {cxcfjitiiig him ivho is IV. FIRST EMIGRATIOX TO ABYSSINIA 67 Mahomet himself was safe under the shadow of the re- -Mahomet spected and now venerable Abu Talib, who, although uncon- Abu Taiib ; vinced by the Prophet, scrupulously acknowledged the claims of the kinsman, and withstood resolutely every approach of the Coreish to detach him from his guardianship. Abu Bekr, and con- too, and those who could claim affinity with any powerful n'ectedwiHi family of Mecca, though exposed perhaps to contumely and ^"^"ligg^''^' reproach, were generally secure from personal injury. The chivalry which makes common cause among the members and connections of an Arab family, and arouses fierce impetuosity against the injurers of a single member, deterred the enemies of Islam from open and violent persecution. Such immunity, however, depended in part on the goodwill of the convert's friends. Where the entire family or tribe was inimical to the new religion, there would always be the risk of insult and injury. Thus, when the Beni Makhzum were minded to chastise the converts of their tribe, and among them Walid son of their aged chief, they repaired to his brother Hisliam, a violent opposer of the Prophet, and demanded his permis- sion ; this he readily gave, but added : ' Beware of killing him, ; for if ye do, verily I shall slay in his stead the chiefest among you.' To escape these indignities, and the danger of perversion, Fir8t emi Mahomet now recommended such of his followers as were fo Abys- without protection, to seek an asylum in a foreign land. '*™^''^J- ' Yonder,' pointing to the west, ' lieth a country tvherein no one is ivronged : — a land of righteousness. Depart thither ; and remain until it pleaseth the Lord to open your way before you.' Abyssinia was well known at Mecca as a market for the goods of Arabia ; and the Court of the Negus or Najdshy was the ordinary destination of a yearly caravan. In the seventh month of the 5th year of Mahomet's mission, eleven men, some mounted, some on foot, and four of them accom- panied by their wives, set out for the port of Shueiba ; ' where, finding two vessels about to sail, they embarked in haste, and were conveyed to Abyssinia for half a dinar a- piece. The Coreish pursued them, but they had already left the port. Among the emigrants were Othman son of Affan, forciblij comjielled thereto, his heart remaining steadfast in the faith) on such resteth the wrath of God. — Sura xvi. 106. ' The ancient port of Mecca, not far from Jedda. F 2 this emi- gration 68 EXTENSION OF ISLAM AND EAKLY CONVERTS chap. followed by his wife Rockeya the Prophet's daughter, and Abd al Rahman, both perhaps as merchants already ac- quainted with the country. The youths Zobeir and IMusab were also of the number. The party was headed by Othnian son of Matzun, as its leader. They met with a kind recep- tion from the Najilshy and his people, and the period of exile was passed in peace and in comfort. Bearing This is termed the first ' Hegira ' or flight to Abyssinia, as tagesof ' distinguished from the later and more extensive emigration to the same quarter. On this occasion the emigrants were few, but the part they acted was of deep importance in the history of Islam. It convinced the Coreish of the sincerity and resolution of the converts, and proved their readiness to undergo any loss and any hardship rather than abjure the faith of Mahomet. A bright example of self-denial was ex- hibited to the whole body of believers, who were led to regard peril and exile in ' the cause of God ' as a privilege and dis- tinction. It may also have suggested the idea that the hos- tile attitude of their fellow-citizens, combined with the merits of their creed, might secure for them within the limits of Arabia itself a sympathy and hospitality as cordial as that afforded by the Abyssinian king; and thus given birth to the idea of a greater ' Hegira,' — the emigration to Medina. Finally, it turned the attention of Mahomet more closely and more favourably to the Christian religion. If an Arab asylum had not at last offered itself at ]\Iedina, the Prophet might haply himself have emigrated to Abyssinia, and Mahometanism have dwindled, like i\Iontanism, into an ephemeral Christian heresy. THE CORAN AT THE PRESENT STAGE 69 observable SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER IV THE CORAN AS REVEALED DURING THE PERIOD OF THIS CHAPTER To complete the view o£ the period just described, it is needful Suras of to examine the portions of the Revelation belonging to it ; for '^ ^'^"°* their purport, and even their style, will throw an important light upon the inner, as well as the external, struggles of Mahomet. To the two or three years intervening between the commis- Change sion to preach and the first emigration to Abyssinia, may be assigned about twenty of the Suras as they now stand in the Goran. During even this short time a marked change may be traced, in form as well as sentiment. At first, like a moun- Gradual j tain stream, the current dashes headlong, pure, wild, impetuous. \^^ g°f^° i Advancing, the language becomes calmer and more uniform ; yet spirit | ever and anon, mingled with oaths and wild ejaculations, we • come upon a tumultuous rhapsody, like the unexpected cataract, charged with thrilling words of conviction and fervid aspiration. Onward still, though the dancing stream sometimes sparkles and foam deceives the eye, we trace a rapid decline in the vivid energy i of natural inspiration, and even the mingling with it of earth-born j elements. There is yet, indeed, a wide difterence from the prosaic, tame, and sluggish flow of later days ; but the tendency cannot be mistaken. Decay of life is met by artificial expedient. Elaborate periods, and the measured cadence of rhyming prose, convey too often little more than simple truisms and antiquated fable. Although we still meet with powerful reasoning against idolatry and the burning words of a living faith, yet the chief substance begins to be of native legend expanded by the Prophet's imagination ; pictures of heaven and hell, the resurrection and the judgment day ; dramatic scenes in which the righteous and the wicked, angels, Genii and infernal spirits, converse in language framed adroitly as arguments in the cause of Mahomet. The Suras gradually extend in length. In the preceding stage The Suras a whole Sura seldom exceeds the quarter of a page. Now it Jo^Qge"^„nd occupies one, and sometimes two pages. • The theory of inspira- tlieory of ' It is interesting to watch the gradual lengthening of which Fliigel's 70 THE COHAN AT THE PKESENT STAGE svpr. to inspiration tion becomes more fully developed. The Almighty, from whom (kveloped revelation alone proceeds, is the sole authority also for its recita- tion and interpretation. On these points Mahomet must wait for heavenly guidance. He must not be hasty in its repetition, for * the Coran is revealed by a gradual revelation ; ' and it is the prerogative of the Lord to prescribe what passages shall be re- membered and what forgotten.' How much soever the Prophet may have sincerely believed that this regulating influence was exercised by the Deity, the doctrine offered the temptation to suit his revelations to the varying necessities of the hour. It led eventually to the teaching that where two passages are opposed to one another, the earlier is abrogated by the later. Notwith- A heavenly standing, we begin to trace the claim not only of divine inspira- a"^^»'e'l to *'^^' ^^^^ °^ ^ heavenly original. So in Sura lx.xxv. : ' Tridy, it the Cor.tn is the glorious Coran, IN the preserved tablet ; ' '^ and the following : — Sura Ixxx It is an admonition, in revered pages ; exalted, pure; "Written by scribes (angels) honourable and just. Siua xcvii Verily AVe caused it to descend on the Night of power ; And what shall make thee know what the Night of power is ? The Night of power excelleth a thousand months : beautiful edition, eacli page having 22 lines, forms an excellent standard. The 22 Suras first revealed contain an average of onl}- five lines each. The next 20 (those of the present chapter) 16 lines. From this period to the Hegira, the average length of the 50 Suras is about three and a half pages; one being nearly twelve pages long. The average length of the twenty-one Medina Suras is five pages,— Sura Bacr having as many as 22 pages. As before noticed, the arrangement is directly the reverse of chronological ; tlie longest and latest Suras coming first, the shortest and earliest last. At first, the Suras being shorter appear to have been produced at once, as we now fmd them. Subsequently it became the practice to throw together, according to their subject-matter, passages given forth at various times, — one reason why the later Suras are of such great length, ' ' We shall cause thee to rehearse (the Revelation), and thou shalt not forget excepting that which the Lord shall please ; for He knoweth both that which is public and that which is hid ; and We shall facilitate unto thee that which is easy.' — Sura Ixxxvii. G. Again : ' And move not thy tongue in tiie repetition of the Coran so that thoushoulde.st be hasty there- with. Verily upon Us