' ' ■■■ ' /^< of "WS^ ^ttCAL Sfc*^ T5 MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Matt. xxiv. ii. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, whic) Jesus Christ. i Cor. in. n. MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM Critically congitiereti BY S. W. KOELLE, Ph.Dr. CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN BERLIN, AND FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS MISSIONARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN SIERRA LEONE AND IN TURKEY ; AUTHOR OF THE POLYGLOTTA AFRICANA, A VEI GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY. A BORNU GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY, ETC. RIVINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON MDCCCLXXXIX [All rights reseri'ed.} PREFACE A NEW work on Mohammed and Mohammedanism seems to require some words of explanation to the reading public whose attention it claims. There exists already a goodly number of such works, both in the English language and in other European languages. It stands to reason that any further addition should be able to justify itself, either by opening fresh sources of information, or by placing old materials into a new and clearer light. Is this possible? Have the previous works, with the widely diverging results of their investigations, wholly exhausted the topic, or have they left room, if not for startling discoveries, at least for the useful gleanings of earnest and painstaking followers ? One of my English predecessors wrote, fifteen years ago, that the treatment of the subject ' hardly now admits of originality.' Probably many are of the same opinion. But I would in all modesty, and yet with confidence, appeal to the judg- ment of any qualified reader, whether the following work possesses a degree of independence and originality sufficient to vindicate its place amongst all the more or less meri- torious productions by which it has been preceded. It is true, the historical data exist for all alike, and we cannot multiply them at will ; but in their investigation and utilisa- tion there remains a wide field for the play of a variety of talents and of sundry measures of judgment. As in nature, so in history, objects assume a different aspect according to the standpoint from which they are contemplated. In the suitability of the different stand- points also there is a gradation from the worst to the best. vi PREFACE. As a rule, the higher and freer the standpoint, the more serviceable it is for obtaining a correct view. He would be a bold man who affirmed that he had so entirely exhausted the momentous subject of Islam and its Prophet, as to leave nothing more to be done by those who follow after. Taking for granted that my predecessors, whose merits I gratefully acknowledge, rather wished to encourage than prohibit further research, I kept my eyes open, whilst following in the way they had trodden, and judged for myself, as they had done before me. The intelligent reader, by accompany- ing me on the stern and bracing march of research, will be able to say, whether I have succeeded in observing here and there what had been left unnoticed by those who went before me, and in occasionally placing in a fuller and truer light what was already known. I would especially invite the thoughtful reader to direct his attention to the manner in which I have traced the development of Mohammed into the prophet he became ; to the inward harmony which I have shown to exist between his Meccan and Medinan periods, notwithstanding their out- ward dissimilarity ; to the large mythical element in the Moslem biographies which I have laid bare, together with the leading idea from which it sprang ; and to the peculiar character of the Mohammedan opposition to Christianity and Christendom, which I have pointed out in its fundamental principle and in its practical manifestation throughout the course of its history. It appears to me almost impossible that any judicious reader could honestly and impartially ponder the grave array of data and records which I unroll before him, without becoming convinced, with me, of the designedly and deeply antichristian character of the entire system of Islamism. Many have wondered at the haughty complacency and air of superiority with which the devout Mohammedans are wont to look down upon Christianity and its professors. Often the scanty success of Christian Missionary efforts PREFACE. vii amongst Mussulmans has been discussed as something strange, and calling for explanation. But leaving aside the intimate union between the secular and the religious in the Islamic system, which places the sword of coercion in its hand, and looking only at the transcendent halo of the mythical Mohammed, as it is set forth in my Second Book, who can wonder any longer that if such a Mohammed sits enthroned in the hearts of the Mohammedans, they should see in Christ but scant ' comeliness and beauty ' that they 'should desire Him'? What a mass of superstitious rubbish has to be swept away from the path of the pious Moslem, before his vision can become unimpeded and free enough to perceive the all-surpassing spiritual majesty of Him who could say, ' He who hath seen me hath seen the Father ! ' (John xiv. 9.) I repeat, Let any one who wonders why a greater number of Mohammedans do not become Chris- tians, carefully read our Second Book, and he will understand the self-sufficiency of men who regard such fancy-pictures of Mohammed as real, and such fairy-tales about his apostolic pre-eminence as true. In order to become Christians, the Moslems have as much to unlearn as to learn. Some Christian writers have considered it an act of jus- tice towards them to endeavour to prove that their Prophet was innocent of much with which Christians had charged him. No one will deny that justice is a virtue which we are bound to exercise even towards adversaries. But if our goodwill to the Mohammedans is of the sterling kind which wishes to help them into the full daylight of Chris- tian Truth, we are more likely to benefit them by frankly pointing out the distortion of the lengthened shadow they are following, and the perfect symmetry of the image it reflects, than by assuring them that however distorted the shadow may be, yet it is not quite so distorted as has been represented. Fashions are proverbially tyrannous. So strong has the modern fashion of 'justice to Mohammed' grown, that it has sometimes manifested itself by positive viii PREFACE. misstatements in his favour. What hollow and undeserved praise has, e.g., been lavished on the Arabian Prophet by reason of his retirement to a cave on Mount Hira ! To such a degree these fancies have been repeated that they have become a widespread superstition. I trust that the advocates of fairness and justice, whom I claim as colleagues, will feel beholden to me for having reduced their exaggerating cave- story to its proper historical dimension. I have not concealed, throughout the work, that my standpoint, in forming a judgment, is that of Christianity. All civilised and well-informed men who have impartially studied the subject agree in this, that, as a whole, Christianity is far superior to Islam, or to any other existing religion. It further admits of not any doubt, that only by the light of the higher religion can the lower be rightly estimated : just as in nature, in science, and in art, the higher develop- ment throws the necessary light on the less developed forms. In judging anything, a standard is required to guide our judgment. I have not heard of any one having dis- covered a worthier standard for judging the claims of Moham- med than is given in the Person of Christ ; or the claims of Islam, than genuine Christianity. Any one who declines to judge the lower religion by the higher one, rejects the only standard by which he can hope to arrive at a correct and sure judgment. When I lived amongst the Mohammedans as a Christian Missionary, I, in dealing with them, naturally felt it an incumbent duty to seek to discover all the bright spots, all that is true and good, in their religion, all that might form a bond of agreement between us, and a starting-point for a still higher advance. But it was no less a plain duty to have an open eye for all the defects and faults inherent to the system, in order to be able to point them out to its votaries, and thus to help them to a just sense of the pos- sibility and necessity of rising to something far higher and better. No one more than a Missionary to the Mohammedans PREFACE. ix must see how indispensable it is for him to form a correct estimate as well of the bright as the dark side of Islam, and to meet its professors in a spirit of fairness and benevolence. The Moslems deserve our esteem as fellow- worshippers with us of the Great God of the Universe ; and they need our heartfelt sympathy, our loving help, as un- happily deprived, by the Islamic veil, of a full sight of the One Mediator between God and man, the only Saviour of sinners. In this spirit I found it quite possible to have friendly intercourse with them, which in several cases ripened into actual friendship. My practical acquaintance with Mohammedans began over forty years ago, when I held the post of Professor of Hebrew and Arabic in the Church Missionary College at Fourah Bay, near Freetown, on the west coast of Africa. I often visited a Mohammedan village in the immediate vicinity, and was on such friendly footing with its spiritual head as to be often invited to accompany him to the mosque, and to be present during their service. In Egypt, in Pales- tine, and in European Turkey, I had ample opportunity, during more than a quarter of a century, of still further extending my acquaintance with Mohammedanism and the Mohammedans. I had the pleasure of counting amongst my friends some of all the classes of Moslem society, from the highest to the lowest. We must not look for perfection in fallen man anywhere, but I have met with truth-loving, honest men, and fine natural characters, amongst the Mussul- mans of my acquaintance. If one has the opportunity of an insight into men's inner life and religious aspirations, one may still be disposed to say, with Tertullian, Anima humana naturaliter Christiana. Man as such, no matter of what country or nationality, has a natural sensorium and capacity for the Divine verities of Christianity. Often I said to myself, in becoming acquainted with God-fearing, open- hearted Moslems, 'What noble Christian characters these men will become, if once they receive Christ ! ' But the PREFACE. Mohammedans are, as it were, defrauded of their faith in Christ by the counterfeit obtruding itself to their vision, and intercepting their heart's ready trust in a Mediator and Saviour, of whom they stand as much in need as other men. Islam has an undoubted tendency to engender in its votaries an excessive sense of religious superiority, and a contempt for every other faith and its professors. The Moslems are not accustomed to examine into the foundation and proofs of their own religion. They are taught to look upon the question ' Why ? ' in matters of religion, as blamable rather than laudable. They take for granted that their Islam is the Divine revelation in the absolute sense, and their Prophet the seal and chief of all other prophets. They have to be taught to think and reason, to ask for proof and weigh evidence, to rise from a blind faith to an enlightened faith. When once they consent to learn that all the boasted equality or superiority of Mohammed to Christ rests on mere fiction, devoid of all foundation in fact ; and if their Governments make religious liberty a reality, — then we may hope that they will as readily enter the common bond of European Christianity, as they have already begun to adopt the advantages of European civilisation. I trust it will not be deemed unbecoming in one, who has spent the best part of his life in seeking to interpret Christ and Christianity to the Mohammedans, to have devoted some of his declining years to this present attempt of interpreting Mohammed and Mohammedanism to the Christians. May it prove useful in fostering a true, i.e. a Christian, estimation of Mohammed and Mohammedanism, and in stimulating the zeal of the Church of Christ to pro- mote amongst our Moslem fellow-men the Kingdom of God and of Christ, which is a Kingdom of Truth ! S. W. KOELLE. Richmond House, 2S Lillie Road, Fulham, London. In Advent 1888. CONTENTS BOOK I. MOHAMMED VIEWED IN THE DAYLIGHT OF HISTORY. PAGE He is to be understood in his Relation to his Surroundings, i, 2 CHAPTER I. Mohammed developing into the Prophet he became, or his history up to the fortieth year of his life, . . • 3-71 I. The Political Factor, 3-*7 II. The Religious Factor, *7-28 III. The Ancestral or Family Factor, 28-36 IV. The Personal Factor, 36"48 V. The Product of the afore-mentioned Factors, or Mohammed as- suming the character of a prophet and messenger of God, . . 4&-71 CHAPTER II Mohammed exercising the Prophetic Mission he claimed, or His History during the last twenty-three years of his Life, 72-241 Essential Inward Union of the Meccan and Medinan Periods, notwith- standing their Outward Difference, ....-• 72-75 I. Mohammed's ill success in seeking recognition as the Prophet of Islam, or the Meccan Period of his Public Life, from about the Fortieth to the Fifty-Third Year of his age, 76-n5 1. Mohammed's diffident start as a Prophet, . 7°-77 2. Mohammed's earliest converts, ....■• 77_°5 3. A further increase in the number of converts emboldens Mohammed, but, at the same time, arouses persecution, . 85-88 4. Mohammed finds safety from persecution by removing to the house of Arkam ; and his believers by emigrating to Abyssinia, 88-89 5. Mohammed, by sacrificing principles, enters into a compromise with the Koreish, 9°"92 CONTENTS. PAGE 6. Mohammed's withdrawal from the compromise fans afresh the flames of ridicule and persecution, 92"93 7. The two important conversions of Hamza and Omar take place notwithstanding the prevailing persecution, .... 93"97 8. After these conversions, persecution bursts out more fiercely, and Mohammed, with his entire family, is put under a ban, 97'99 9. Mohammed, bereft by death of Khadija and Abu Talib, finds Mecca increasingly unsympathetic, and at last fixedly hostile, 99-101 10. Definitively rejected by Mecca, Mohammed addresses himself to other Arab Communities, but meets with no better reception, 101-104 11. Mohammed succeeds in gaining a number of partisans amongst the people of Medina, 104-107 12. The spread of Islam amongst the people of Medina prepares the way for Mohammed and his whole party to emigrate thither, 107-115 II. Mohammed's complete success in securing recognition as a Prophet, and in rendering Islam the dominant power of Arabia, or his Medinan Period, comprising the last ten years of his life, . 1 15-241 1. Mohammed settles in Medina, and seeks to unite around him the different sections of the population, as a first step in the realisation of his Plan, . . . ■ • • 1 1 5- 1 24 2. Mohammed, by establishing Islam as the paramount power of Medina, displaces the previous Polytheism, and forces the dissenting Arabs either to emigrate, or to simulate sub- mission. In this sense he shows himself anti-Pagan, . 124-128 3. Mohammed at first accommodates himself to the Jews, in the hope of gaining them over to Islam ; but failing in this, he deliberately turns against them, and shows himself decidedly anti-Jewish, 128-134 4. Mohammed, unsuccessful to convert the Christians by way of theological disputations, seeks to degrade their religion, and reduces them to a state of vassalage. He shows himself positively anti-Christian, ...... 135-140 5. Mohammed engages in a number of warlike expeditions against the Koreish, for the purpose of revenge and plunder, which culminate in the victorious battle at Bedr, . . 140-152 6. The Meccans, under a sense of their disgraceful defeat at Bedr, stir up their confederates against Mohammed, and avenge themselves by the decided victory at Ohod, . . . 152-159 7. In consequence of his defeat at Ohod, Mohammed has to meet several hostile demonstrations of Bedouin tribes, and after- wards a protracted siege of Medina by a formidable Meccan army, 159-16S 8. Mohammed's anti-Jewish policy leads to the heartless over- throw of the Jewish tribes of Medina, and the unjust conquest of Khaibar, with other Jewish communities, . . 16S-1S5 CONTENTS. xiii PAGE 9. Mohammed extends his policy of conquest, subjugation, and plunder to a number of Bedouin tribes, and injures Mecca whenever he can, ....... 1S5-188 10. Mohammed shows his veneration for the Kaaba by arranging a pompous pilgrimage to it ; but the Koreish prevent his caravan of pilgrims from approaching nearer than Hodeibia, where he succeeds in concluding an armistice with them, 188-191 11. Mohammed, making good use of his armistice with the Koreish, seeks to extend his influence abroad by sending messengers to neighbouring potentates, summoning them to embrace Islam, ......... 192-196 12. Mohammed, with 2000 followers, visits the pilgrim-festival, according to treaty right ; and, after despatching marauding expeditions to various parts, including one to Muta, finds a pretext for breaking the armistice, and easily conquers Mecca, with an army of 10,000 men, .... 196-203 13. After the conquest of Mecca, Mohammed's power rapidly increases, and he gains the important battle of Honein, which yields him an immense booty, and leads to the capitulation of the rich town of Taif, .... 203-206 14. Mohammed starts with a military expedition against the Roman empire, but only reaches as far as Tabuk, whence he despatches some troops against Duma, and then returns, 206-210 15. The Arab power of resistance being broken by the rapid extension of Mohammed's triumphs, so many tribes are induced by fear and self-interest, to send special deputies to Medina, offering their submission to Islam, that the 9th year after the Flight is styled, ' The Year of the Deputa- tions,' 211-215 16. The superficiality of the conversions and compacts effected by those deputations, is illustrated by the instances of two Arab tribes, and of two rival Prophets, . . . 215-221 17. Mohammed celebrates the complete triumph of Islam over Arabia by attending the reformed pilgrim-festival of the year 632, with a company of 114,000 Moslem followers, . 221-223 18. Mohammed seeks to tighten his grasp on Arabia by the despatch of Collectors or Residents to its different provinces ; and then directs his earnest attention to a fresh attack upon the Roman empire, by collecting an army to invade Syria, 224-228 19. Mohammed is arrested in his career of conquests and sensu- ality by the unsparing hand of death, .... 229-233 20. Mohammed has scarcely closed his eyes, when discord among his followers threatens to break up the whole fabric he had erected ; but Abu Bekr manages to be chosen first Calif, and, as such, takes up the plans of his late friend, . 233-241 xiv CONTENTS. BOOK II. MOHAMMED VIEWED IN THE MOONSHINE OF TRADITION. PAGE Difference between Book I. and Book II. Explained, . 242-245 CHAPTER I. The Biographies of Mohammed by Moslem Authors, attri- buting to their Prophet an equality with, or even a SUPERIORITY TO, THE PROPHET OF NAZARETH, APPEAR IN THE LIGHT OF A THINLY DISGUISED PLAGIARISM OF THE EVAN- GELICAL Records, and Mohammed himself as an obvious Parody of Jesus Christ, 246-374 1. Pre-existence is ascribed, as first to Christ, so afterwards to Mohammed; and each of them is represented as the Cause or Medium of the existence of all other creatures, . . \ 246-252 2. Mohammed's genealogy is traced through Abraham to Adam, just as that of Jesus Christ, 252-253 3. As the angel Gabriel announced the conception of Jesus Christ by the Virgin Mary, so he also announced that of Mohammed by Amina ; but the latter ' to every place on the face of the earth,' 253-254 4. As before the birth of Jesus, so also before that of Mohammed, an angel announced the name he was to bear, 254 5. The birth of both was distinguished by the glory of a heavenly light, the appearance of angels and by signs on the earth and in the starry sphere, 254-257 6. Though both were subjected to the rite of circumcision, yet there was a difference in favour of Mohammed, 257 7. A benediction is uttered on the breasts that gave them suck ; but in the one case it came from the visible, and in the other, from the invisible, world, 258 8. Not long after their birth, their Nature and Destiny are made known by special revelation, 259-261 9. Like Jesus, Mohammed also was presented in his early infancy to the Deity in the national Sanctuary, 261 10. They both developed in their childhood under the special favour of God, and showed marks of an uncommon measure of Divine Grace, 261-265 11. Both were lost in their childhood, but found again : the one by his mother's diligent search, the other by supernatural revelation, 265-266 12. Twelve years old, their special relation to God and uncommon destiny was made known during a journey ; and then they were taken away from the place where their presence might prematurely have roused the hostility of the Jews, 267-269 CONTENTS. xv PAGE 13. The appearance both of Jesus Christ and of Mohammed was expected amongst the Jews and others, having been foretold by Prophets, 270-271 14. Whilst they were honouring a penitentiary institution by accom- modating themselves to it, a supernatural occurrence and voice inaugurated their own public mission, ..... 271-273 15. Witness is borne to them, and their Divine mission is made known to men, by another distinguished servant of the true God, who soon afterwards is removed from this world, . . . 273-276 16. They and their public mission are the object and end of all previous prophecy, as ushering in the grand era of fulfilment, . . 276-279 17. After the commencement of their public ministry, both of them had to pass through the ordeal of a remarkable Satanic temptation, which aimed at seducing them into a most important change of their mission, but without success, ..... 280-282 18. As Jesus Christ chose twelve apostles from amongst His disciples, so also Mohammed selected twelve apostles from his Moslem followers, but he not only from amongst men, but also from amongst spirits, ......•■• 283-284 - 19. In the exercise of their public ministry, they gathered disciples around them, and zealously preached the Faith, one sermon on a mount being especially noted ; and they also made diligent use of the gathering of great multitudes, during the annual festivals of the nation, 284-286 20. In order to tempt and test them, difficult questions were submitted to them by their opponents, which they were able to solve, . 286-290 21. The impression made by their words and presence was such as often to disarm their enemies, and frustrate the hostile designs they entertained against them, 290-293 22. They were reviled and persecuted in their own home because of their testimony and the unflinching discharge of their prophetic mission, especially when this involved opposition to the then existing state of religion, and exposure of prevailing abuses, 294-297 23. Unconvinced by their words and acts of the Divine mission they claimed, the people proffer them unacceptable demands, which are not granted, and only widen the breach between the prophet and the people, 297-299 24. Both of them came in contact with spirits from the unseen world, who recognised, honoured, and obeyed them more readily than the people of this world to whom they addressed themselves, 299-302 25. Both of them received visits from good angels, . . . 302-3°3 26. The most remarkable story concerning the mythical Mohammed is that of his 'Ascension into Heaven.' Whilst Jesus Christ, during His earthly life, conversed only with two of the long- departed saints, Moses and Elijah, and did not ascend into heaven till after his death, Mohammed, honoured with an ascension into heaven long before his natural death, had personal communion with all the previous prophets ; and, leaving Jesus far below in the second heaven, himself mounted high above the seventh ; and, xvi CONTENTS. PAGE entering into the immediate presence of the Divine Majesty, attained to the most exalted degree of God-likeness, so that God said unto him, ' I and thou,' and he unto God, ' Thou and I,' 3°4-3I4 27. Persecuted and threatened with death by their fellow-citizens in the town in which they had grown up, they escaped from their hands as by a miracle ; and, together with their disciples, transferred their domicile to another town, willing to receive them, . 315-322 28. In this new domicile they developed a great activity ; and from it, as their headquarters, they undertook expeditions, in order to carry out their mission, and to secure for it a more extensive recognition, 322-324 29. They united their followers in the closest ties of brotherhood, which caused a relaxation in the stringent laws of possession and in- heritance, ......•••• 324_32" 30. They introduced a mode of worship in which Jerusalem with its temple ceased to be looked upon as the seat of the Divine Presence, or the Kibla, that is, the quarter towards which prayers had to be directed, 326-328 31. They were called upon to decide what punishment should be inflicted on adulterers, regard being had to the punishment prescribed by the Law of Moses, 329-33° 32. They publicly invited the Jews to believe in their heavenly mission, and to embrace the religion they preached, but met only with partial success, ......••• 33°_33I 33. Besides their efforts amongst the Jews, they also commissioned ambassadors to distant nations and their rulers, for the purpose of inducing them to become disciples of the new Faith, . . 332"333 34. They opened up to men the way of atonement and pardon of sin, to find salvation, . 333_33° 35. They had the mission of overcoming the devil and destroying his works, 336-339 36. As Jesus Christ, so also Mohammed, was above all other men in worth and dignity, • • 339"34° 37. Each of them was the greatest and best of all God's messengers, 340-341 38. Each of them is the Holder of the Keys, 342 39. Their body is the true temple, that is, the abode of the Divine Presence, or Shechina, . ...... 342"343 40. They are both stamped with the Divine Seal, .... 343 41. Both of them have seen God, and heard Him speak, . . . 343 42. They taught their people how to pray, 344 43. Each of them sanctioned the drinking of his blood, and ascribed to it a saving virtue, .....•••■• 345 44. Jesus speaks of stones which would cry out under certain circum- stances, but Mohammed of stones and trees which actually did call out, 345-346 45. Each of the two prophets illustrated the hopelessness of a case by referring to a camel passing through the eye of a needle, . . 346 CONTENTS. xvii PAGE 46. Both the prophets sometimes imparted Divine benefits and blessings by the laying on of their hands, 347-34-8 47. By their mediation and benediction a small quantity of food miracu- lously sufficed to feed a large number of people, . . . 348-35° 48. Towards the close of their earthly course, both the prophets triumphantly re-enter the capital city and national sanctuary, accompanied by a vast multitude of exultant followers, though previously they had to flee from it, their liberty and even their life being threatened by the parties in power ; and they authorita- tively rid the sanctuary of what was desecrating it, . . 35°"355 49. Both Jesus and Mohammed continued up to the close of their career, and with death already at the door, in the zealous discharge of their respective life-work, . ...... 355'358 50. The death of both these prophets was no less wonderful than their birth and life, 358-374 a. Their approaching death was foreknown and foretold by them, 358-359 b. Their death was not unavoidable, but freely accepted by them, 359-361 c. Angels would have been ready to prevent their death, had they desired it, 3DI d. They died a martyr's death, 3°i-302 e. As the sufferings in their death were greater than other men's, so also is their reward, ...... 362"3D3 / Their sufferings and death are meritorious, taking away sin and helping all their people into paradise or heaven, . 3D3"364 g. In their sufferings of death, Satan had no power over them, 364-365 h. Their death-agonies were so extreme, that in their distress they called out after God, ....••• 3°5 i. The fact of their death was indubitably established by the state of their body, 365"366 ;'. Their death was accompanied by extraordinary phenomena, and its effects reached even to the invisible world of spirits, 366-368 k. They were expected not to succumb to the power of death, or to remain in its grasp, ....•• 36°-3°9 /. They received an honourable burial, their friends preparing their body, wrapping it in fine linen, and, with an ample use of costly spices, depositing it in a new sepulchre, 369-371 in. Their sacred tomb had been the subject of a previous Divine revelation, 37r-372 n. Devoted friends visited their tomb, and there received super- natural revelations, showing that, even after death, they were still living, ....-•• 372"374 b cviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. PAGE Sundry Sketches of Mohammed under various aspects, drawn by Moslem hands, 375"446 I. Physical Qualities and Moral Virtues of the Lord of the world, 1. Mohammed's bodily or physical qualities, 2. Mohammed's mental qualities, II. Habits of the Prince of Princes, .... 1. His habits in regard to dress, 2. His habits as regards eating and drinking, 3. His noble travelling habits, .... 4. His habits in the intercourse with his pure wives, 5. His habits in the intercourse and conversation with his and companions, ..... 6. His habits in using ornaments and ointments, 7. His habits in regard to auguries, . 8. His habits as regards the Akika-offerings, 9. His habits in asking permission, and in saluting, 10. His habits as to sneezing and yawning, . 11. His habits as to walking and riding, 12. His habits as to waking and sleeping, . 13. His habits in administering medicines to the sick, III. The Religious Services of that Prince, . IV. Peculiarities of the Prophet, .... 1. The religious duties peculiar to the Prophet, . 2. Things unlawful and forbidden to the Prophet, 3. Things permitted to him, i.e. things whose legali peculiar to that prince, .... V. Mohammed's Excellencies and Miracles, 1. His excellencies, ...... 2. His miracles, ....•■ friends 375-383 375-377 377-383 383-405 383-385 385-389 389-390 390-392 392-396 396-397 397-398 398 398-399 400 400 401 401-405 406-416 416-422 417-418 418-420 ty was 420-422 422-446 422-434 434-446 CONTENTS. BOOK III. MOHAMMEDANISM VIEWED IN ITS HISTORICAL POSI- TION, ESPECIALLY AS REGARDS ITS RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY AND CHRISTENDOM. PAGE Our Canon of Judgment, 447-448 I. Mohammedanism, by its historical hostility to Christianity, has proved itself a weapon of the kingdom of darkness against the kingdom of light, thus taking rank, side by side, with anti- Christian Judaism and anti-Christian Paganism, . . 448-458 II. Unbelieving Judaism diabolically opposed Christianity in its personal manifestation, ....... 458-461 III. The Heathenism of Rome diabolically opposed Christianity in its congregational or ecclesiastical manifestation, . . . 461-464 IV. Islamism, a compound of Jewish fanaticism and Roman despotism, likewise opposed Christianity, but more especially in its national and political manifestation, ...... 465-468 V. Mohammed, the Prophet and Propagator of Islam, laid the founda- tion of the anti-Christian and permanently hostile policy of the Mussulman world against Christianity and Christendom, . 468-474 VI. The Mohammedan world, under the direction of the Arabs, and acting in the spirit of its prophet, pursues an interior and exterior policy, decidedly anti-Christian, ..... 474-479 VII. The Mohammedan world, under the direction of the Turks, retains and carries out the anti-Christian policy started by the Arabs, as long as its power of doing so lasts, .... 479_4&5 APPENDIX I. Mohammed's Wives and Concubines, . . 487-509 APPENDIX II. Mohammed's Children and Grandchildren, 510-524 INDEX, 525-540 CORRIGENDA. Page 17, line J, for hel up read held up 137, ,, 18, for El Amran read Al-i-Amran. 159, „ 13, » id- » id- !95) )> 3X> after had insert after claiming to be a prophet. 210, ,, 7, _/»r capitulation read capitation. 250, ,, 20, insert " after mothers. ,, ,, 21, for true."' read true.' 276, ,, 23 and 25, for Him, His raz effected by those Deputations, is illustrated by the in- stances of two Arab Tribes and of two Rival Prophets. That Mohammed, in seeking to make converts, gave so much prominence to purely secular considerations, argues ill for the spirituality of his own character, and throws light on the unsatisfactory nature of the conversions he aimed at, which plainly consisted of a mere outward change, or a substitution of one sort of religious forms and formulas, in the place of others. Heart-religion was of little moment to him, if only he obtained the profession of the mouth and submission to his legal enactments. Hence the conversions to Islam could be so rapid and so general. What Ibn Ishak reports of the Bent Saad is very instruc- tive, in this respect. They sent Dhimam Ibn Thalaba as their deputy, to bring about an arrangement with the Prophet. On arriving in Medina, he found him sitting in the mosque, 2i6 HIS FUIL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. I. ch. n. surrounded by his companions. He therefore tied his camel to the door of the mosque, and, being admitted to Moham- med's presence, addressed him thus, 'I adjure thee to tell me, whether God did really send thee to us as His ambassador and forbid the worship of idols, and whether He commanded thee to enjoin five daily prayers, alms, fasts, the pilgrimage, and other ordinances ? ' On Mohammed answering these questions in the affirmative, he forthwith exclaimed, ' I con- fess that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammed is His ambassador, whose precepts I shall obey, neither adding thereto, nor taking therefrom.' Then, untying his camel, he remounted and hastily travelled back to his tribe. On arriving, his first word to them was, ' The idols Lat and Ozza have been put to shame.' They called out, ' Keep silence, Dhimam ! be afraid of leprosy, elephantiasis, and mad- ness ! ' He answered, ' Woe to you : they can neither harm nor help.' Having added some further account of his visit, the effect was truly magic, and the historian describes it in these words, ' By Allah ! before it had become evening, all the men and women in the whole camp were converted to Islam.' Sometimes, when deputations, suing for treaties of sub- mission, did not come forward as fast as Mohammed expected, he used means to bring them about, quite char- acteristic of his peculiar method. When the Christians of Najran, as recorded above (p. 138), had already secured a treaty for themselves, the Bent HaritJi, a heathen tribe of Najranites, were still sullenly holding back. Mohammed, apprehending that this might lead to unpleasant conse- quences, by unsettling others, despatched his daring cavalry commander Khalid, with a body of chosen troops, to either convert or conquer them. Khalid was instructed not to fight them till he had first, for three days, invited them to Islam and they had refused. Accordingly he sent forth his horse- men in every direction, calling out to the people, ' O ye Beni Harith, believe in Islam, and you shall be spared.' The invitation of these martial missionaries had the desired result. All the people turned Moslems ; and the cavalry commander, as far as his own knowledge went, instructed them in the doctrine and usages of Islam. On writing to the Prophet whether he was to continue his teaching still longer, he was sec. ii. 1 6.] MOSEILAMA. 217 directed to return home and to bring with him a deputation from those new converts, to solicit and receive a formal treaty. This was accordingly done ; and when the deputies, on their arrival in Medina, wished to show some indepen- dence, and calmly reiterated that they were men who, after being beaten, returned to the attack, Mohammed cowed them by the declaration, ' If Khalid had not written to me that you did embrace Islam, without going to war, I should now lay your heads before your feet' It is evident, therefore, that the treaties of amity, concluded with the deputations of so many different tribes, proceeding as they did from a sense of fear and worldly interest, were often of a very hollow character, and glaringly failed in establishing a state of mutual confidence and cordial agreement. Sometimes they did no more than momentarily conceal and gloss over a still-continuing and deep-seated disagree- ment, which at any moment might break out into an open rupture. The treaty effected with the Bern Hanifa of Yemama was of this nature. Their deputation to Medina included Abu Thumama, who, in Mohammedan documents, figures only by the opprobrious appellative of ' Moseilama ' {i.e. ' the diminutive Moslem '). He claimed to be Moham- med's equal, entitled to share with him the authority over Arabia, and eventually to succeed him. Mohammed, as was his wont, received him in the mosque, sitting amongst his companions ; and though we are assured that, in reply to the rival's demands, he, holding a dry palm-branch in his hand, declared to him, ' Even if thou wert to demand this branch only, I should not give it thee ' ; yet the subsequent pact seems to have resulted from concessions on both sides. Tradition affirms that Moseilama received presents, like his fellow-deputies, but that, on returning to Yemama, he apo- statised, like an enemy of God, and began to speak to his people in rhyme, imitating the Koran. After a time, he de- spatched two messengers to Mohammed, to hand to him the following letter : ' From Moseilama,1 the Apostle of God, to 1 The reader will observe that the Mohammedan historian makes the rival prophet call himself by the nickname with which the Moslems invariably stig- matise him. This can hardly be in accordance with the terms actually employed in the letter. 2i8 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. ii. Mohammed, the Apostle of God. Peace to thee. Then know, that I am thy equal in dominion : half of the land belongs to us and half to the Koreish, though they are evil- doers.' Having read the letter, Mohammed asked the messengers, ' And what is your opinion ? ' They replied, ' We speak as he does.' Thereupon Mohammed said to the messengers, ' If ambassadors were not inviolable, I should have your heads cut off; ' and he sent them back to Mosei- lama with the following letter : ' In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate ! From Mohammed, the Apostle of God, to Moseilama, the liar. Peace to him who follows the guidance. Then know, the earth belongs to God, He gives it to the servant He pleases. The pious shall have a good end.' Notwithstanding this epistolary antagonism between the two rival prophets, the compact with the Beni Hanifa seems to have been silently admitted as still in force, inasmuch as we are not told of any open hostility or actual fighting between the two parties, till after Mohammed's death, when we find Moseilama a leading figure amongst those who made a desperate, though finally unavailing, effort to throw off and break the yoke of Mussul- man domination. If Moseilama of Yemama in the Nejd contented himself during Mohammed's lifetime with a war of correspondence, and a mere theoretical assertion of equal claims, another rival prophet who made his appearance further south, in Yemen, openly unfurled the banner of revolt, four months before Mohammed's death, and for a short time drew the whole southern portion of Arabia after him. This was Ayhala Ibn Kab, of the Beni Madhij, who is only known amongst the Mussulmans by the nickname of ' El Aswad" {i.e. 'the Black '). He also had for a time professed Islam. But when Mohammed made sundry arbitrary changes in the governor- ships of the south, substituting men of his own choice, often strangers, to the native chiefs whom he had at first confirmed in their office, and when he directed the tithes to be forwarded to Medina, instead of having them spent where they were raised, Aswad availed himself of the general discontent caused thereby, drove the Moslem tax-gatherers out of Naj- ran, and in a few weeks made himself master of the fortified sec. ii. 16.] EL ASWAD. 219 town of Sana, whose governor, appointed by Mohammed, fell in its defence. Aswad, to make his triumph more telling, forthwith espoused the governor's widow. This proved his ruin. For she was actuated more by thoughts of revenge for her former, than by feelings of affection for her present, hus- band. Mohammed, through his unscrupulous agents, who were amply furnished with means, found the way to Aswad's generals and to Aswad's wife. She herself placed a lamp to direct the assassins to her husband's sleeping apartment, where they foully murdered him. This is stated to have happened only one day before Mohammed himself breathed his last in Medina. Mohammed must have felt the rivalry and hostility of Moseilama and El Aswad all the more deeply, as they are both reported to have, for a time, made profession of Islam. Ibn Ishak records a tradition according to which he said one morning, ' To-night I dreamt that I saw two golden rings upon my arm ; but, being displeased with them, I blew upon them, and they flew away. I interpret this of the two liars, the lords of Yemen and of Yemama.' With a reference to the same inconvenient rivals, he is also reported to have said on another occasion, ' The hour of the resurrec- tion will not come before thirty Antichrists will have risen up, pretending to be prophets.' But who can help seeing that his rivals, and any impartial persons, could with equal justice regard Mohammed himself as one of the thirty? If he treated as false prophets those who put forth claims similar to his own, in what character must he appear, if it is considered that he claimed to be equal with Christ, yea, even superior to all the previous prophets, as being their ' seal ' ? Moseilama and Aswad only wished to restrict his dominion within certain limits and to prevent his encroachment upon other parts of Arabia ; but he aimed at subjugating the Christian world, as is seen from the summonses he sent to the Christian rulers, and from the humiliating capitation tax he imposed on the Arab communities who made their retention of Christianity a stipulation in the treaties to which they had to submit. By his own practice he has justified being himself called an Antichrist. In connection with ' The Year of Deputations,' two in- 22o HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. ii. stances are mentioned by which the anti-Christian character of his aims becomes particularly apparent. When the deputies of the Beni Sohaim, connected with the Beni Hanifa, returned to their home, the Prophet, besides having imposed a treaty upon them, also gave them a leather bag full of water, wherewith he had made his ablution, adding this injunction, ' Having arrived in your country, demolish your church ; then sprinkle the place with this water and build a mosque upon it.' And the Beni Taghlib, who sent a deputa- tion of sixteen men, had to accept a treaty which, in addition to the usual burdensome stipulations, contained also a clause to the effect that, though they themselves might remain Christians, their children were no longer to be baptized, or brought up in the doctrines of Christianity. These treaties, though Mohammed judiciously strove to make their conditions, at the first, as little galling as his vast and autocratic ulterior designs permitted, could not but be felt irksome and oppressive by tribes who hitherto were wont to manage their own affairs independently and without being interfered with by other tribes. The national move- ment in favour of Islam, which manifested itself by the arrival of a multitude of pliable deputies from every quarter, was spontaneous rather in appearance, than in reality. As a rule, these deputations were brought about by solicitations, very peremptory in tone, and by the application of more or less of direct and indirect pressure. Left to their own free choice, the tribes would have far preferred their ancient independence, with its relative weakness, to their union under the iron yoke of Islam, with its concomitant increase of power. Therefore Mohammed's great national work was not of a very sound and solid quality, as we can see from the fact that it threatened altogether to crumble to pieces, the moment he closed his eyes in death. But for the present, and in appearance, Mohammed's plan had proved completely successful ; and the prophet of Medina, by means of the formidable military power which he had called into existence, ruled with the sovereign authority of an autocrat, over all the multitudinous tribes of Arabia. Arrived at this pinnacle, he could afresh revert to his long- cherished idea, by preparing another serious attempt to invade SEC. II. 17.] PILGRIMAGE OF MOSLEMS ONLY. 221 and conquer the Roman empire. But first of all he gave a grand spectacle to all Arabia, by exhibiting before their eyes the vastness of his success, in replacing the ancient religion of the whole nation by the victorious institution of Islam. (17.) Mohammed celebrates the Complete Triumph of Islam over Arabia, by attending the Reformed Pilgrim- Festival of the year 632, with a compatiy of 114,000 Moslem followers. Meanwhile the season for the annual festival of the pilgrimage to Mecca had come round again, which appears to have always been celebrated in spring, about March ; . and Mohammed resolved to give it this time a character of unprecedented grandeur. It was at the Festival of the previous year that he had caused a proclamation to be published by his son-in-law Ali to the effect that then, for the last time, Pagans were admitted to share in the ceremony ; but that thenceforth the privilege should be open to pro- fessed Moslems only. Thus this ancient festival of Arabian heathenism was at one stroke converted into an exclusively Mussulman institution, for all future times ; and, as such, it was also a token and proof of the public recognition of Islam as the national religion, for the whole of Arabia. Mohammed determined, formally to usher in this new era of the complete national triumph of the religion whose prophet he was, by arranging a pilgrimage for the spring 632, on the grandest scale, and by joining it in person, with his entire household. To make known his intention, he sent out 1 messengers in all directions. The professors of the new religion responded to the call in vast numbers. It is recorded by some Mohammedan historians that the Prophet's retinue on this occasion consisted of 114,000 persons ; by others, of 124,000 ; and again by others, that the multitude of pilgrims, accompanying him, was so immense that none, save God, could know their number. Ali was at this time commanding a body of troops in Najran, and therefore took Mecca on his march back, arriving early enough to have a share in the sacrifices at Mina. No special mention is made of the Prophet's concubines ; but all his surviving married wives, 222 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. CH. II. nine in number, he took with him, having them comfortably seated in litters, on the backs of camels. Starting from Medina five days before the beginning of the month of pilgrimage, the caravan reached the sacred territory in very good time ; and Mohammed made his entrance into Mecca from the same gate by which he had entered it, as its conqueror, little more than two years before. During the following days he went through the accustomed ceremonies, as they had to be performed in the sundry traditional spots of the sacred locality, only making slight alterations here and there, and omitting throughout whatever had been a direct homage to idols. On the tenth day of the month, the high day and climax of the entire festival, the offering of animal sacrifices took place at Mina. Who- ever had brought animals for that purpose, slew them, and divided amongst the people the flesh he did not require for his own use. So abundant was the flesh, that it could not be consumed at once, but had to be cut in slices and dried in the sun, for future use. Mohammed alone had brought with him ioo camels, intended for sacrifice. Of them he slaughtered 63 himself, by cutting their throat with his own hand. This number, as the historian observes, corre: sponded to that of the years of his age. The remaining 37 camels he assigned to the hand of his son-in-law, Ali, to be sacrificed by him. The three days spent at Mina, when the sacrificing was over, were a time of feasting, merriment, and barter ; and Mohammed is reported to have proceeded every evening to a certain spot in the valley, for the purpose of casting a number of little stones at the devil, in compliance with a superstitious custom of ancient date. All the festival observances being finished, Mohammed and the rest of the pilgrims had their heads shaved ; and it is mentioned that he distributed his hair amongst his friends for mementoes. His famous cavalry general, Khalid, re- ceived, at his special request, some hairs from his forehead, which he fixed to his skull-cap, as a talisman ; and we are told that, in consequence, he was always victorious in his attacks on the enemy. After being shaved, Mohammed had himself anointed by his favourite wife, the youthful Aisha, with an ointment largely consisting of musk. The time for sec. II. 17.] THE FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE. 223 observing the pilgrimage festival was now changed, and fixed, for the future, to be always the last month of the lunar year. Thus it happened ever since that, in the course of thirty-three years, it makes a complete circle through all the solar months. Ibn Ishak concludes his account of this celebrated festival in the following words, ' By thus performing the pilgrimage, Mohammed showed its usages to the people and instructed them in the Divine precepts respecting it,' as also concerning the halting-places, the stone-casting, the circumambulation of the temple, and the things allowed and forbidden during the pilgrimage. Hence this is called the "Pilgrimage of Instruction" and also, on account of its being the last per- formed by Mohammed, the " Farezvell Pilgrimaged ' This ostentatious visit to the sanctuary of his native city, which was now entirely under his control, and from which every one who rejected his pretensions to sovereign authority in civil and religious matters, was rigidly excluded, shows Mohammed at the height of his success and in the pleni- tude of his power. Surrounded by a vast army of followers, from all parts of Arabia, he reformed the national sanctuary at his will, and reconstituted it as the local centre of his new religion and the annual rendezvous of its votaries. This reformed, that is, purely Mussulman, pilgrimage, whose first celebration by its author proved also his last and his final farezvell, was in fact the initiation of a lasting institution of welcome to all future Moslem generations, from every quarter of the globe. Hither they were to direct their steps, once a year, as obedient, humble pilgrims, and hence they were to carry back to their homes a deeper sense of mutual brother- hood, a livelier appreciation of the common faith and the common interests, and a more fanatical zeal to make their cause triumphant throughout the world, by every means in their power. Mohammed's farewell pilgrimage was the crowning of his successes, the zenith of his power. He had triumphed over every obstacle and rendered his cause un- deniably victorious. But he had achieved his triumph by force, by fear, and by fraud. Therefore the proud edifice he left behind him to the world, was lacking in solidity, and contained within itself the germs of inevitable decay. These, however, could not fully develop till after his death. 224 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA, [bk. i. ch. ii. ( (18.) MoJiammed seeks to tighten his grasp on Ambia by the despatch of Collectors or Residents to its different provinces, and then directs his earnest attention to a fresh attack iipon the Roman empire, by collecting an army to invade Syria. Returned from his pilgrimage, and conscious of the great power which he wielded, and with which the immense multitude of pilgrims had just strongly impressed him, Mohammed speedily reverted to his grand idea of conquer- ing Syria and began active preparations for making another vigorous attempt in that direction. He had reached Medina before the end of March 632 ; but finding that Badzan, the chief of Yemen, whom he had confirmed in his post after making his submission, had just died, his attention necessarily had first to be directed to affairs in the south. He permitted Shahr, Badzan's son, to succeed his father at Sana ; but ordained that the highest political power should pass into the hands of Mohajir, whom he had sent thither from Medina as collector of the taxes. Similar collectors of taxes and political agents had, for some time past, been sent forth from Medina, to promote the interests of Islam, by replenishing the Prophet's treasury and by controlling the action of the native chiefs. Ibn Ishak furnishes us with the following list of such collectors or residents : Mohajir to Sana, Ziyad to Hadramaut, Adi to the Beni Asad and Tay, Malik to the Beni Hanzala, Ala to Bahrein, AH to Najran. What the biographers say about this last-mentioned mission requires some elucidation. AH was sent at the head of a body of troops to that portion of Najran which had already made its submission, in order to ' collect the alms and the capitation-tax.' This mission seems to have taken place in the summer of the year 631. Some time after he had left, Khalid was despatched with more troops to second him, and received the instruction, ' If you meet, then AH is to have the chief command.' We do not read that they met, but Khalid remained in Najran and brought the still refractory Beni Harith to terms. Their deputies accompanied him to Medina, to make their submission to sec. ii. iS.] ALI IN YEMEN. 225 the Prophet in person, according to superior orders, and Ibn Ishak remarks that they returned to their own country ' not quite four months before Mohammed's death,' that is, about a month before the farewell pilgrimage. Ali appears to have marched further south than Khalid, to the remoter parts of Yemen, but to have returned to Medina about the same time as he did. Now as Ibn Hisham states that Ali, at this period, undertook two expeditions to Yemen, he can only have remained a very short time at head-quarters, and must have started again soon after, with a fresh body of troops. In all probability the object of this second mission was, to keep order and quiet in the province, whilst the collector, who had been sent in company with the returning Najranite deputies, was entering upon his unpopular office. It must have been at the close of this second expedition, that he rejoined Mohammed, during the farewell visit to Mecca in March 632, as already mentioned. His own actual collectorship can only have lasted a very short time. The great number of men who were responding to Mohammed's pressing invitation to swell the bulk of his followers, on his ostentatious pilgrimage to Mecca, naturally caused, by their departure from home, an almost complete disappearance of the more decided and trusted supporters of Islam. Ali also, with his army, departing soon after, to join the pilgrim-throngs at Mecca, still further denuded the south of the guardians of public tranquillity. This was seized upon by those who had only from sheer necessity submitted to the new order of things, as the opportune moment for casting off the hated yoke of Mussulman domination. The rival prophet, El Aswad, as we have already seen, forthwith placed himself at the head of the discontented, and, for the brief space of two or three months, held up the banner of independence in the south. The patriots of Najran received him with open arms, and Mohammed's delegate had to flee for his life. As Mo- hammed had hitherto pursued the political aim of ' Arabia for the Arabians,' so El Aswad, in adapting the same principle to his own circumstances, insisted on the project of ' The South for the Southerners,' and treated Moham- 226 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. ii. med's collectors and plenipotentiaries as odious intruders. In a letter addressed to Moadz, Mohammed's political Resident in southern Yemen, El Aswad used the bold language : ' Give back to us, ye intruders, the land which you have seized, and restore to us in full what you have taken from us.' These occurrences wore a sufficiently threatening aspect to engage Mohammed's serious attention, when their report reached him after his return from the farewell pilgrimage. For a few weeks they kept his settled designs upon Syria in the background. But to get rid of a dangerous adversary and rival, this fighting prophet possessed such great means, and had such little scruple in using them, that the rising of Aswad did not cause him great alarm, or turn him aside from his northern scheme. We have already seen that Sana, the capital of Yemen, which was the scene of Aswad's great triumph, also shortly after witnessed his assassination. Mohammed had not found it necessary to despatch a great army to the south : he accomplished his object in a simpler way, by applying a golden key to those in whom his rival trusted. As soon as Mohammed had made arrangements to restore his supremacy in the south, by such easy means, he felt again at liberty to direct his whole attention to the renewal of attacks on the Roman empire, which he still contemplated as the consummation of his long-cherished and far-reaching plans. United Arabia, under his leader- ship, was not only to remain free from foreign domination and invasions, but it could aspire after subjugating foreign nations and supplying its wants from their riches. Towards the end of May, a.d. 632, two months after his last visit to Mecca, Mohammed issued orders to the people that the fighting men were to assemble, prepared to start on a ivar expedition against the Romans. His own career was now rapidly drawing to a close, and the enterprise he thus commenced, but did not live to accomplish, fittingly crowns his life, and afresh reveals to us the ambitious goal to which it had long been directed. Mohammed began his activity as a prophet, by trying to make himself the supreme authority in heathen Mecca ; sec. II. 18.] OSAMA APPOINTED TO INVADE SYRIA. 227 he spent the last ten years of his life as autocratic Ruler of Medina, whence he gradually extended his power over the whole of Arabia ; and when death was already hovering over him, to snatch him for its prey, we find him absorbed in preparations for a renewed attempt to wrest dominion from the hands of the Christian Emperor of Rome. In this last military enterprise it was not his intention to take the command of his army in person. His late experience with the expedition to Tabuk let it appear preferable for him to devolve the hardships and great responsibilities of such a campaign on younger shoulders. On the day following his call to arms, Mohammed sent for Osama, the son of his emancipated slave and constant friend Zeid, who had lost his life in the first invasion of Syria, which he commanded, and addressed him thus : ' Osama, I appoint thee Commander-in-Chief of the army. March against the infidels of the country where thy father has been killed. Set fire to their goods and dwellings. March rapidly, so as to arrive before tidings of thy approach reach them. If the Most High give thee victory, do not long delay in the country, but return hither. Take guides and spies with thee, and send on archers in front.' Is it not remarkable and characteristic of this martial prophet that his course was cut short in the midst of the bustle of pre- parations for such a war, and that he died with these orders for slaughter, fire, and devastation, as it were, still on his lips ? In confiding to youthful Osama so responsible a post, the acute prophet was not only guided by feelings of gratitude for his late heroic friend, but also by the shrewd calculation that a young man who burned with the desire to avenge his father's death, and gallantly to win his spurs as a successful commander, would carry out most faithfully and fully the sanguinary instructions given him. Three days after Osama's appointment, Mohammed was seized with a violent attack of illness, an acute form of remittent fever, which was not of rare occurrence in Medina. On the following day, when the malady was steadily settling on his system, he fixed the army's standard with his own hands and presented it to Osama, saying : ' Enter thou on the holy war, in the name of God, and in behalf of the religion of God, and fight every one 228 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. I. ch. II. who disbelieves in Allah.' Osama, thus accredited and in- structed, took up his quarters outside the city, in a place called Jorfy about three miles distant, where the army was to gather round him, and to get into a state of readiness for starting. But as Osama was still very young for so important a post, only about twenty years old, and as experienced elderly men, such as Abu Bekr, Omar, Othman, etc., had to serve in the army, murmurs against the appointment soon became loud, and it was said : ' He has appointed this youth over the most noble refugees and helpers ! ' When this reached the Prophet's ears, he became very angry, we are told, and although fever and headache had already a strong hold on him, yet he left his room to ascend the pulpit in the mosque close by, and, with a cloth tied round his head, freely vented his mind to the people, saying : ' What word is this which has reached me from some of you, concerning my appointment of Osama as commander of the army ? If you now object to his appointment, you also blamed that of his father Zeid, in the late expedition to Muta. But I swear by God that Zeid was a man worthy of the com- mandership, and that his son Osama is likewise worthy of it. Zeid was most dear to me, and his son also is one of those I love. Both of them are worthy the esteem of all good persons. Therefore, accept my appointment of him with pleasure, and fulfil your duties respecting it.' Returned to his own room, the fever naturally became aggravated. Yet he still urged the departure of the army upon those of its leading men who, before leaving, paid him their farewell visit. But Osama was regularly informed about the progress and alarming character of the sickness, by his mother, who attended on the Prophet. He therefore delayed his departure under these critical circumstances. So it happened that he did not actually start till some time after Mohammed's death, when Abu Bekr, the first Calif, insisted on the despatch of the army, exactly as the Prophet had appointed it. The expedition retained the character, probably intended for it from the first, of being a mere sudden incursion to strike terror into the population of Syria, and as the precursor of a speedily succeeding permanent conquest. SEC. II. 19.] HIS LAST ILLNESS. 229 (19.) Mohammed is arrested in his career of conquests and sensuality, by the unsparing hand of Death. A In the midst of the preparations for this unprovoked a gression upon the Christian empire of Rome, Mohammed whs struck down by the interposing hand of death. The ctfurse of unrestrained sensuality, in which, for years, he had been indulging, * had a natural tendency to undermine his constitution and to ruin his nervous system — not of the . strongest from the first — so that he had no stamina left to re- sist the ravages of disease. We cannot wonder that despite the exhilarating air he breathed, especially during his frequent war-expeditions, the oil of his lamp of life was consumed so soon. The fever which at last fastened upon him, exhausted his vital powers and caused death in less than a fortnight. His illness began in the chamber of his wife Meimuna, whose turn it was to have him stay with her that day. From her he went to his favourite wife Aisha. She relates that, suffering herself also from headache, she called out, ' Oh, my head ! ' He said to her, ' Thy headache will pass away easily ; but mine is one whose cure is difficult.' 2 So he went back to Meimuna's room ; and as his symptoms grew worse, all his wives gathered there to see him. He asked - them several times in whose apartment he was to be on the day following ; and they, perceiving his desire to be with Aisha, consented with one accord to his remaining in Aisha's chamber for the rest of his illness, promising to come and attend upon him as occasion might require. Accordingly he removed from Meimuna's to Aisha's apartment ; and the fever had already so much told upon him, that he could not walk the short distance without assistance. The malady progressed rapidly, and, with it, the distress he felt. He could not lie quiet ; but, turning from one side to the other, restlessly threw himself about in his bed. So great was his impatience and disquiet, that Aisha felt called upon to rebuke him, saying, ' O Apostle of God, if one of us had been ill and shown so much distress and restlessness, thou surely wouldest have been angry with us.' He replied, ' O Aisha, my illness is exceedingly severe ; and verily the Most High 1 Compare Book II. Chap. II. Sec. ii. 4. " Compare also pp. 79, So. 230 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch n. I sends the severest troubles to the true believers ; but "c does so only with the intent of raising them to a hig.ei degree and wiping out their sjns, even if that trouble should merely be a thorn in their foot.' Many visitors called to inquire after the health of tl c prophet. Amongst them was the mother (or, according ^o some account, sister) of Bishr. She relates that, fine g him in a very hot paroxysm of intermittent fever, she f1 us expressed her surprise, ' O Apostle of God, I have never s ^n such fever as thine in any one else.' He answered, ' There- fore my reward also will be double that of others ; but ' ~U me, O mother of Bishr, what the people say about y illness.' On her replying, ' They say, the Prophet is sufferi ig from pleurisy.' He said to her, ' It is not in accord with t goodness of the Most High to inflict that illness on r Prophet. The illness of which thou speakest is caused l Satan, and he has no power over me. My illness is the effr :t of that poisoned meat which I ate, together with thy son, Khaibar. Many times have I suffered from it ; but now feel as if the artery of life was being cut through.' T historian, recording this interview, observes that in all pi bability God's purpose with regard to this poisoned meat was, that the Prophet might thus share in the dignity of martyrdom. Remedies were indeed applied, as was sure to be done Li the case of a sick husband, surrounded by so many anxio s wives : but they failed in subduing the violence of the fever. Aisha remembered that, with the view of assuaging pain in himself and in others, her husband had sometimes uttered certain words of incantation, whilst stroking the affected parts with his hand. She, therefore, repeated the same words, and took his hand to draw it over his body. But he soon withdrew it from her, saying, ' Formerly such incantation did me good ; but now it is of no use.' His fever rose so high that the burning heat of his body could be felt through the bed- clothes. He had the sensation of a fire raging within his veins ; and this suggested to him the application of a more drastic remedy which, however, only afforded him relief for the moment. He ordered that seven water-skins, never before used, should be filled from seven different wells and simultaneously poured over him. Accordingly they placed sec U. 19.] HE WISHES TO MAKE A LAST WILL. 231 ,..r in a bathing-tub, belonging to his wife Hafza, Omar's 'a. ghter, and poured the water over him, as he had directed. B it he soon made signs with his hands for them to desist ; and the fever yielded as little to this sevenfold mixture of w j^r, as to incantation. His strength decreased fast, and fail ing fits supervened. During one of these, his wives dn ped some medicine into his mouth, such as was used in Abyssinia against pleurisy. When he ascertained this, on rec /ering consciousness, he was so vexed with them that, sick as he was, he insisted on their all partaking of the same medicine, for a punishment. Every one of them had to s\\ jlow some of the objectionable drug in his presence ; and it i£ expressly remarked that even Meimuna had to submit tor he ordeal, although she was fasting at the time. ;fOn the Thursday preceding his death, when his weakness w« : already very great and his mind clouded, he asked for wi ting materials, to make a last will, probably urged to do sc by some interested person of his surroundings. As he le?.t no son, and there were several parties looking forward to tl privilege of succession, this caused quite a scene and u -eemly quarrel in the very sick-room of the Prophet, several of the persons interested dreading lest he should bar t'leir chance. Some were for complying with the sick Pro- pact's request ; others loudly opposed it, on the ground of it csasing him too great an effort, or, as being the dictate of a delirious mind, under the effect of a burning fever. So boisterous became the altercation, that the patient expressed his displeasure and relinquished his wish in anger. Yet we are told that, in this last illness, he bequeathed to his followers the legacy of three verbal injunctions. The first was, that they should drive all non-Moslems out of the country, so as to have only one religion in Arabia ; the second, that they were to continue his practice of giving presents to Arab communities offering to embrace Islam ; but the third is mysteriously withheld by the biographers, and may possibly have had reference to a successor, which it was deemed prudent to keep secret. Only so much he is reported to have said on this subject, that it was his wish the Califate should remain in the hands of the Koreish. He also still found it necessary to exhort the Refugees 232 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. ii. from Mecca and the Helpers from Medina to recognise each other's merits, and to exercise mutual forbearance and kindness. In the early part of his illness he freely conversed with visitors, and at the public prayers occupied his usual place in the mosque, to which he had a private entrance, by a door from Aisha's apartment ; but for the last few days he was too weak to rise, and Abu Bekr, his father-in-law and old friend, officiated for him as Imam, by taking the lead in conducting public worship. On one occasion Abu Bekr was late and Omar took his place as Imam ; but no sooner did Mohammed hear his voice, than he called through the window, opening into the mosque from Aisha's room, and ordered him to desist and to give way to Abu Bekr. The Mohammedan biographers, in their account of their prophet's death-bed, as in fact of his life in general, make mention of many extraordinary circumstances, calculated to throw a supernatural halo around him, as, e.g. that, for the last three days, God daily sent Gabriel to inquire after his health ; that, on the third day, Gabriel was accompanied by the angel Ismael, who was at the head of 70,000 or 100,000 angels, each one of whom again headed a like number of other angels ; that the angel of death obediently waited outside the room, till the sick man gave him permission to enter ; that the keeper of hell was ordered to extinguish the infernal flames, whilst Mohammed was passing by, on his way to heaven ; that the houris of Paradise were requested to adorn themselves, and the angelic hosts received command to form in lines, in honour of the Prophet's advent to the celestial realms, etc. But no sober-minded person can for a moment doubt that these stories are wholly without founda- tion in fact, and are nothing but the gratuitous invention of friends and partisans, according to whose heated imagination the close of their prophet's life ought to have been thus marvellously distinguished. In reality, Mohammed's death-agonies seem rather to have been unusually severe, than otherwise. We are in- formed that he alternately grew red and pale ; that some- times he pulled back his right, sometimes his left, hand ; that large drops of perspiration, like pearls, fell from his cheeks ; and that Aisha declared : ' Since I have seen his Excellency SEC. II. 19, 20.] HIS DEATH. 233 yield up his soul with so much difficulty, I have no longer wished for an easy death : for if an easy death were best, God would certainly have chosen it for His Prophet.' The circumstances of Mohammed's death were in keeping with his life : he was surrounded by a circle of nine surviving wives, to whom another was just about to be added (but who only received his matrimonial promise together with the tidings of his death) ; he expired in the apartment of his favourite Aisha, with his head reposing on her bosom, ' between her lungs and her neck ' ; and whilst he lay on his death-bed, his army was collecting at a small distance from Medina, for the purpose of carrying death and devastation into the Roman empire. Who can help being struck with the contrast of all this to the close of the earthly life of Christ, who died upon the cross, and prayed for His tormentors : ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Mohammed strove to supersede Christ: but how long the distance between them, how great the difference between their respective life and death ! Christ was ' a prophet mighty in deed and in word before God and all the people' (Luke xxiv. 18), and sealed His testimony with His blood ; Mohammed was a worldly ruler in a prophet's garb who, to extend his tyrannical power and compass his selfish ends, did not shrink from employ- ing cunning, assassination, and war. Can any one, with the least spiritual perception, remain a moment doubtful as to which of the two deserves our confidence in the paramount concerns of the soul and of eternity ? (20.) Mohammed has scarcely closed his eyes, when Discord amongst his folloivers threatens to break up the zvhole fabric he had erected: but Abu Bekr manages to be chosen as the first Calif, and, as such, takes up the plans of his late friend. The Arabian Prophet, not more than sixty-three years old, had hardly breathed his last, about noon on Monday, June 8th, A.D. 632, when the politico-religious structure he had reared, threatened to crumble to pieces ; and those who had helped him in fabricating it, had to resort to the same sinister means which he had used himself, in order to keep it 234 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. ii. together. Directly after he had expired, an unpleasant scene occurred between Omar and Abu Bekr, which is graphically narrated by Ibn Ishak. He tells us that, before the death had become known to the people generally, Omar thus harangued the dense congregation, assembled in the mosque : ' Some hypocrites assert that Mohammed is dead : but, by Allah, Mohammed is not dead, he has only gone to his Lord, like Moses who remained away from his people for 40 days and yet returned, after he had already been reported dead. Surely the apostle of God will return like Moses, and cut off the hands and feet of those who reported him dead.' Whilst speaking in this way, Abu Bekr, who had just had ocular demonstration of his friend's death, entered the mosque, and called out to Omar : ' Gently, Omar ! Listen to me ! ' But he took no notice of him and went on speaking as before. Abu Bekr seeing this, now also began to address the people, who soon turned away from Omar and listened to him. Abu Bekr said : ' O ye people, whoever of you worshipped Mohammed, let him know that he is dead ; but whoever worshipped God, let him know that He lives and will never die.' Then he recited the following verse, now incorporated in the Koran as verse 138, or, according to another division, verse 144, of the third Surah. ' Mohammed is only an apostle, and other apostles have died before him. Now if he die or be killed, will ye turn on your heels ? Who does so, will not harm God ; but God rewards the grateful.' Ibn Ishak proceeds to remark : ' By Allah, it was as if the people had not known anything about the revelation of this verse, until Abu Bekr recited it on that day. Then the people received it of Abu Bekr, and still have it in their mouth.' This quite looks as if Abu Bekr had improvised the verse for the occasion ; and if we combine this with the fact that he, directly after, took up and carried on the Prophet's plan, so exactly in the Prophet's way and in the Prophet's spirit, we shall probably not go far wrong by surmising that these are not the only instances where Abu Bekr contributed in giving shape and substance to Islam. But whoever may have been the real author of this verse, it proved very opportune in calming Omar and bringing him over to Abu Bekr's mode of thinkinsr. SEC.II.20.] A THREATENING RUPTURE AVOIDED. 235 It was plainly necessary that these two influential men, as well as the rest of the refugees, should show a firm and united front, in the present critical moment. For already the ' helpers ' of Medina were assembling in a court of the Beni Saida, in order to appoint a chief from amongst them- selves, in the person of Saad Ibn Ubada. Abu Bekr and Omar hastened to them, the same afternoon, to prevent the threatening mischief. Matters indeed looked very grave. Mohammed had not yet grown cold, and was still lying on the couch where he had died, when his followers were already on the verge of separating into two antagonistic parties, the helpers and the refugees, whilst Ali and his friends kept aloof from them both. The helpers, or natives of Medina, formulated their grievances thus : ' We are the helpers of Allah, the army of Islam : but you refugees have come upon us, in a body, to tear us away from our root, and to deprive us of our dominion.' Abu Bekr, speaking the mind of himself and his fellow-refugees, replied in a very conciliatory tone, and said : ' You helpers certainly deserve all the good which you claim for yourselves : but the Arabs will concede the right of sovereign dominion to none but the Koreish. These are the centre of the Arabs, both as regards descent and habitation. Therefore direct your choice to one of their number.' The helpers now showed signs of readiness to come to a compromise, and their speaker, by boasting of their strength, hoped to succeed, at least, with a proposal of such a nature. He said in their name : ' I am the stem against which the camel rubs itself, the well-supported date-tree : let, therefore, one chief be chosen from amongst us, and one from amongst you, the Koreish.' Thereupon the noise became so great, and the voices grew so loud, that a violent collision and final rupture seemed imminent. But Omar, who doubtless acted in unison with Abu Bekr, and probably under his thoughtful inspiration, suddenly led the way to a peaceable solution, by saying to Abu Bekr : ' Stretch out thy hand ! ' Abu Bekr having done so, he seized it and instantly took the oath of allegiance to him. The refugees, all of whom seem to have followed Abu Bekr and Omar to the meeting, forthwith did the same ; and their example drew even the helpers after 236 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. LCH. ii. them, who likewise took his hand and pledged their troth. The intended chief, Saad Ibn Ubada, thus deserted, could easily be disposed of. Omar proceeds with his narrative : ' We fell upon Saad, so that one of them said, " You are murdering him ; " but I replied : " May God kill him ! " This looks remarkably like a coup de main, such as are not uncommon in the sphere of worldly politics ; and the Arabs were too keen-sighted not to have viewed it in this light. Ibn Ishak records that, towards the end of Omar's Califate, some talked to him of overruling the choice of a successor, in favour of a certain individual, in case it should become necessary, and that they justified their intention by saying : ' Verily, the oath of allegiance to Abu Bekr was nothing but a surprise, which was afterwards ratified.' The public reply which Omar made to this suggestion shows, that he could not altogether deny this character of Abu Bekr's appointment, and that he justified it merely on the ground of its inevitableness. He said : ' Let none be so blinded as to affirm that the allegiance to Abu Bekr was only a coup de main which succeeded. For though it was such, God thereby averted evil, and there was none amongst you before whom the people bowed more readily than before Abu Bekr.' By these efforts to prevent an open rupture between the helpers and the refugees, and to unite the leading men of both parties in the election of Abu Bekr to the Califate, the whole afternoon and evening of Monday were taken up. The great work remaining to be done on Tuesday was, to consolidate and secure the success of the previous day, by laying it before the general assembly of the Moslems, and by having it publicly indorsed by the entire population of Medina. For a Calif, once chosen and obeyed by all Medina, would be the exponent of a strong centre of power, for upholding the Koran and the Mohammedan institutions throughout Arabia, where the Prophet's death might possibly unchain centrifugal forces, similar to those which had so soon manifested themselves in Medina. Accordingly, on Tuesday, when the way had been sufficiently prepared amongst the bulk "of the inhabitants, Abu Bekr occupied Mohammed's place in the mosque, and Omar, rising up sec. II. 20.] HIS DELA YED BURIAL. 237 before him, addressed the following oration to the assembly, as reported by Tbn Ishak : ' O ye people, I have yesterday spoken words to you which I had neither found in God's Book, neither had the Apostle of God commissioned me with them. It had only appeared to me that Mohammed would direct our affairs by his last word. But God has left His Book amongst you, which contains the directions of His apostle. If you hold this fast, God will direct you by it, as He directed him. Now God has united you around the best amongst you, around the "companion of the Apostle of God," who had been the only one with him in the cave. Therefore arise and take the oath of allegience to him ! ' To this exhortation the whole body of Moslems at once responded, by taking the oath proposed to them, and thus ratified the arrangement and oath of the previous day. These State affairs, claiming precedence before even the Prophet's burial, furnish us with a fresh illustration of the predominance of the political and secular in the system of Islam. Notwithstanding the intense summer-heat, prevail- ing at the time, the Prophet's dead body was left unburied, contrary to the universal practice, from noon on Monday, all through Tuesday ; and it was not till late at night, be- tween Tuesday and Wednesday, that the pressure of State business permitted a grave being dug for him. This was done in a corner of Aisha's room, on the very spot where he had died, and there his more immediate friends, during the hours of midnight darkness, consigned his mortal remains to the keeping of mother earth. He still tenants the grave which then received him ; and no resurrection has as yet testified to his pretended equality with Christ, Whom he ventured to call his brother-prophet. For a time, the tomb was only separated by a partition-wall from the rest of the apartment, which continued in Aisha's occupation ; but later on, the whole area was added to the mosque, of which it still forms part, and where it is annually visited by crowds of Moslem pilgrims. No sooner had the news of Mohammed's death reached the city of his birth, than most Meccans, as Ibn Ishak records, wanted to throw off the fetters of Islam, which, for some years, they had been obliged to bear. Attab, Moham- 233 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. II. med's representative, who presided at public worship, became so frightened by the mutinous manifestations, that he hid himself. Many of those whom the Prophet believed he had effectually conciliated by rich presents, now wholly forgot the largesses they had received. But Soheil Ibn Amr, one of those whose present from the booty of Taif amounted to ioo camels, summoned courage, and openly declared in the name of other partisans, ' The death of Mohammed will only have the effect of increasing the power of Islam ; and we shall not hesitate to cut off the heads of those whom we may have cause to suspect.' This show of a bold front had the desired effect. The people were afraid of the consequences of actual mutiny and re-assumed a quiet attitude. Attab left his hiding-place and once more became the champion of Islam in Mecca. It was not equally easy, in other places, to suppress the anti-Islamic aspirations after freedom, which were not long in manifesting themselves all over Arabia. Ibn Ishak refers to the gloomy state of things in the following words : ' By the death of Mohammed great misfortune overtook the Moslems. I have been informed that Aisha said : "When Mohammed died, the Arabs rebelled, Judaism and Christianity raised up their heads, and the Hypocrites showed themselves openly. The Moslems resembled a wet flock on a winter's night, because of the loss of their prophet, until God re-united them round Abu Bekr." ' But Abu Bekr, the Prophet's devoted friend from the first, whose calm reflection and open-handed liberality had been no strangers to the development and successes of Islam thus far, also proved the right man for the present emergency. He was fully imbued with the spirit of his late friend, thoroughly acquainted with his aims and plans, and, on being chosen for his successor or Calif, was found in every way qualified to maintain and extend the Islamic common- wealth, by the same means and tactics by which it had been founded. Despite the advice of some, to keep back the army intended for an attack upon Syria, or, at least, to replace its youthful commander by an older and more experienced man, Abu Bekr insisted on carrying out the prophet's wishes to the letter, and on doing so at once. sec. II. 20.] ABU BEKR RETAINS WARLIKE POLICY. 239 Osama crossed the borders of Syria ; spread death and desolation before him, as he advanced ; committed to the flames what he could not carry away ; and after having avenged his father's death, and the disaster of Muta, by devastating that whole neighbourhood, he, with his army, returned to Medina in triumph, having carried out his movements with such rapidity that the whole expedition lasted only little more than a month. This speedy return of the army was most opportune and necessary ; for already the contagion of disaffection and opposition to the Moslem rule was openly showing itself far and wide amongst the Arab tribes ; and the rival prophets, Toleiha and Moseilama, lost no time in availing themselves of the anti-Mohammedan movement. Abu Bekr and his friends saw clearly that boldness and physical force were indispensable, to maintain the cause established by wiliness and warfare. The Calif had already intimated the warlike nature of the policy he intended to pursue, when, in the public speech by which he acknowledged his election, whilst Mohammed was still lying unburied, he used these words : ' Never did a people desist from warring in the cause of God, without God delivering it over to shame ; and never did a people commit flagrant acts, without God bringing misfortune upon it.' It was no easy matter to secure the domination of Islam by the force of arms. But what Mohammed had accomplished, with scantier resources, could assuredly also be done by his successor, with far ampler means. The great advantage on Abu Bekr's side was, that his v party was compact, being held together by a rigidly enforced discipline ; that they were conscious of fighting for their very existence, defeat meaning ruin ; and that, for a con- siderable time, warfare had been their regular employment, by which they had been converted into practised warriors, accustomed to act together with one common purpose, always ready for war, like a standing army, and having learnt to fight with the hope of victory, even against superior numbers. Abu Bekr felt all the confidence of superiority on these grounds, and was fully aware of the martial inferiority of his adversaries from corresponding disadvantages. Thus 240 HIS FULL SUCCESS IN MEDINA. [bk. i. ch. ii. the Calif could venture to divide the bulk of his military- forces into smaller armies, and, placing them under efficient commanders, send them forth in every direction, wherever they were most needed at the moment. Resistance was borne down with great rapidity, by the united onslaught of these fierce and valiant corps of Mussulman warriors. The isolated Arab tribes were no match for the iron union of martial Islam. Only, in the centre of the Peninsula, the rival prophet Moseilama had collected around him so powerful an army, that he could rout two Moslem corps which successively advanced against him. But when the able and daring Cavalry-General Khalid, who till then had been ruthlessly quelling the anti-Islamic rebellion further north, arrived on the field with a fresh army, flushed with a succession of victories, his impetuous valour and dexterous generalship soon prevailed ; and the opposing army was completely overthrown with great slaughter, though not without severe losses to the Moslems themselves. By this crushing defeat of the Beni Hanifa in Yemama, in which Moseilama himself lost his life, being afterwards discovered under a heap of slain, the backbone of the general but disunited resistance to Mussulman rule was broken ; and, before Abu Bekr had completed the first year of his Califate, all Arabia was com- pelled to acknowledge his sovereign authority. With Arabia at his feet, the Calif had his hands free to resume the cherished plan of foreign conquests. This open- ing prospect of abundant plunder was, at the same time, also the best means for keeping together in one commonwealth the multitude of reluctant and inwardly disunited Arab tribes, by beckoning them to a common goal of self-interest, possessing irresistible attraction to the marauding instincts of the whole nation. What wonder, then, that already in the second year of Abu Bekr's Califate, we find the hungry and fanatical hosts of Arab warriors leaping the northern boundaries of their Peninsula and casting themselves, almost simultaneously, on the already much-weakened empires of Rome and Persia. This is the manner in which Abu Bekr understood and carried out the duties bequeathed to him by the author of sec. II. 20.] WARS AND WOES CA USED B Y ISLAMISM. 241 Islam ; and thus it came to pass, that the Mohammedan armies entered upon that furious march of conquest through the world, the track of which has been lurid for centuries with fire and blood. Now, as the saying is true, that the nature of a tree becomes known from the fruit it bears, so also we may be prepared, by what has hitherto passed in review before our eyes, to admit that the untold miseries and woes which the politico-religious amalgam of Islamism has, age after age, inflicted on mankind, as the pages of history testify, are really the outward and tangible manifesta- tion of its true inward nature. As such they revert, in due proportion, to the prophet and author of the system, their indirect cause, and brand them both with the stigma of well- merited reprobation. BOOK II. S^oljammcti tnctoco fix tlje S^oonsljmc of Cratutiom The object of the First Book was, to set forth Mohammed in his true historical character, as, from the materials and data transmitted to us, he can be conceived to have lived and acted, to have been influenced by his surroundings, and to have exercised an influence upon others. Our historical information concerning him being derived almost exclusively from his enthusiastic admirers and implicit believers, the picture with which they have furnished us is not the least likely to do injustice to the actual man. It might possibly have had to be drawn still more to his disadvantage, had the stream of Mohammed's history flowed from purer and less partial sources. It was a plain duty for the author, in avail- ing himself of the material at our disposal, to make use of a due measure of critical discrimination, and to put the reader on his guard against the exaggerations of blindly uncritical narrators. In this Second Book the author's duty is changed. He no longer aims at placing before the reader an image of the Arabian Prophet, as he actually lived in the body ; but he wishes, by mere literal quotations from professed Mussulman writings, to illustrate how the glowing imagination and devout admiration of the Moslem believers have metamor- phosed him, and enveloped the genuine natural original in the fictitious halo of a dazzling radiance and a supernatural glory. There can be no doubt, that the first impulse to this transfiguration of the eminently earthly Prophet into the all, but in name, superhuman Apostle and transcendent Favourite of God, was given by Mohammed himself. What DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOOK I. AND BOOK II. 24 we have seen of him in the First Book must have sufficiently convinced us that he was by no means given to the rational- istic method of seeking to explain supernatural things by natural causes ; but that he was rather prone to raise himself in the estimation of others, by imparting a miraculous colouring to things perfectly natural. From the moment he affirmed himself to be equal, nay superior, to all the pre- ceding prophets, as their chief and seal, he was almost com- pelled also to claim ascendency over them as the recipient of Divine favours. This he must have found very difficult, especially with regard to Jesus Christ ; and it could not but draw him on to very hazardous assertions. His partisans soon understood how he wished to be estimated by them, and that it was their interest to please him by responding to his wishes. Once having indorsed his pretension of being God's highest Apostle, they became naturally disposed to attribute to him what they fancied so transcendent a dignity should actually comprise. They reasoned thus, if they reasoned at all, ' Mohammed is the last and greatest of the prophets ; and therefore it is but right and fitting that he should possess, in a superlative degree, those gifts and favours which distinguished former prophets.' In this way the true dimensions of their prophet's figure imperceptibly magnified themselves to them into gigantic proportions ; more especially after his death, when they looked at him through the radiance of almost unex- ampled military glory and undreamt-of riches of spoil. The not unnatural admiration of his successes soon degenerated into a superstitious credulity, which accepted whatever was told about him, with all the greater avidity, the more extra- ordinary' and fantastic it appeared. To the dazzled vision of devout Moslems, a story possessed the highest degree of probability, when it most tended to raise the founder of their triumphant religion far above any other messenger of God. Hence we find that what is to correspond, in Mohammed, to the ' signs and wonders ' of former prophets, notably of Jesus Christ, assumes such an offensively grotesque and utterly incredible character. What an immense contrast between the miracles of the Bible and the miracles of Moslem 244 CHRIST 'S &- MOHAMMED'S MIRACLES CONTRASTED. Tradition ! The Biblical wonders resemble beautiful flowers of Paradise, springing up from a purely ethical ground, where the ever-faithful God of Love pities the need of His children, hears their prayers, and helps them. The Moham- medan marvels look like unreal phantoms of the air, pro- duced for the purpose of ostentatious display, and result from an unethical trifling with the supernatural. The miraculous works of Jesus Christ were deliverances from death, disease, and distress, with the only exception of the withering of a fruitless fig-tree, as the symbol of the punish- ment awaiting a favoured nation in which God looks in vain for the fruits of repentance and righteousness. But even this one exception, how favourably does it compare, on the ground of reasonableness and chaste propriety, with the date-tree which is said to have been caused by Mohammed's prayer to grow forth from a camel's hump, and instantane- ously to bear fruit of which a whole assembly of men could eat, the dates being exceeding sweet to the palates of be- lievers, but becoming stones in the mouths of unbelievers ! or with the other tree which, in obedience to a message sent by Mohammed, swayed from side to side, as is reported, in tearing up its roots, and walked to his Excellency, greeting him with the salutation, ' Peace be on thee, O thou Apostle of God ! ' Surely the extravagant descriptions of Mohammed's supposed ' excellencies ' and ' miracles,' by which Mussulman devotees have sought to sustain his pretension to the highest rank amongst God's ambassadors, can only lower him in the estimation of truth-loving men, whose sense of religious propriety and spiritual decorum is not vitiated ; and invest him, to their view, with the character of prophetic charlatanism and religious monstrosity. Reading an account of Moham- med's fictitious virtues and fantastic miracles, after perusing the Scriptural record of God's true prophets and their wondrous works of faith, is like turning from a sunny walk through life-teeming nature to the unrealities of a phantas- magoria. The author is fully conscious that this is strong language concerning a character which the many millions of Moslems throughout the world regard with religious reverence and THE MYTHICAL MOHAMMED. 245 superstitious devotion ; but he confidently anticipates that it will be fully justified and deliberately indorsed by all his Christian readers who pay due attention to the subject. It can hardly be otherwise than that every one, whose judicial faculties have matured under the influence of Christian truth, should at once discover a repulsive and truly blasphemous caricature of the Divine beauty of the Son of Man, if he carefully peruses the following pages in which Mussulman pens have so hyperbolically described, and so excessively coloured, the physiognomy of the author of Islam. The image now about to be unrolled is not that of the historical Mohammed, as he actually lived in the flesh, an Arab amongst the Arabs, but that of a mythical Moham- med, as he was portrayed by the vivid imagination of his uncritical admirers, on the ground of outlines drawn by himself. Stories which had come into circulation about the Prophet, with his ready connivance, were embellished on their passage by his admirers. What was known of the lives of previous prophets was exaggerated to suit the conception of the chief and seal of all the prophets, such as Mohammed claimed to be, and was most unscrupulously applied to him. He had to unite in himself the excellencies and virtues of all former prophets, and something more. His biographers looked at his person through this magnify- ing mirror. It is mainly this unnaturally magnified, this unhistorical, and fictitious Mohammed, who sways the hearts of the Moslems and keeps them from recognising in Jesus Christ the true Saviour of man, ' the Way, the Truth, and the Life,' in the full sense of the word. But this supernatural halo, this transcendent glory, with which he shines in the following pages, is not really his own. It is a borrowed lustre, just as the moonshine of the night is merely a dim reflection from the king of day. As the moon unconsciously bears witness to the glory of the sun, so also the so-called ' Light of Mohammed ' involuntarily testifies to the prim- eval glory of Him who said, ' I am the Light of the world ' (John ix. 5). CHAPTER I. THE BIOGRAPHIES OF MOHAMMED BY MOSLEM AUTHORS, ATTRIBUTING TO THEIR PROPHET AN EQUALITY WITH, OR EVEN A SUPERIORITY TO, THE PROPHET OF NAZARETH, APPEAR IN THE LIGHT OF A THINLY DISGUISED PLAGIARISM OF THE EVANGELICAL RECORDS, AND MOHAMMED HIM- SELF AS AN OBVIOUS PARODY OF JESUS CHRIST. REMARK : In the following numerous illustrations of the subject of this chapter, the method, uniformly observed, is : first (a) to point out the Christian Original, by the quotation of a few verses from the Bible ; and then (b) to show the Mohammedan Imitation thereof, by a literal translation of ample portions from Moslem biographical works. The reader is requested to remember that what he is reading about Mohammed, in both the chapters of this Second Book, is merely a faithful translation of Mohammedan records, and not a statement of the author's own opinion, or an indorsement of those records. Only the headings of the first chapter and the footnotes of both, conveying the requisite explanations and elucidations, are by the author. (i.) P re-existence is ascribed as first to CJirist, so afterwards to Mohammed, and each of them is represented as the Cause or Medium of the existence of all other creatures. a. In the New Testament we are taught that Jesus Christ had pre-existed, before He came to live the life of man upon this earth ; and that all things received their being through Him. St. John opens his Gospel thus, ' In the beginning bk. II. ch. l] THE FIRST OF CREATION. 247 was the Word ( = Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made' (John i. 1-3). St. Paul, in writing to the Colossians, refers to the same subject, Jesus Christ, in these words : ' Who is the firstborn of every creature : for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were created by him, and for him ; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist ' (Col. i. 15-17)- b. In Mohammed's biography, ' Rawzat id Ahbabl we read as follows : ' The learned doctors of religion differ as to which thing was the first of the creatures. Some regard Reason ( = Logos), others the Pen (=kalam, with which destiny was written), and, again, others the Light of Moham- med's prophetship, as the first created thing. Each of these views is supported by tradition. If all three views are true, they can best be thus reconciled, that absolutely the first creature is the Light of our Prophet ; and that the priority of Reason and the Pen is only qualitative, i.e. Reason is the first created power, and the Pen the first created substance. But there are men of deep research who hold that these three expressions mean one and the same thing, which, being considered from different points of view, is called by different names ; that is to say, this one and self-same thing is called Reason, because it knows itself and its origin, and compre- hends all other things ; Pen, because by its instrumentality the impresses of knowledge upon the Preserved Tablet and other works, were made ; and Light of Mohammed,1 because all perfections possible are but rays of this Light. In some books of history it is recorded that Ibn Abbas said : The first creature which God made was a Pen, whose length was 500 years, and its thickness 40 years. When God said to it, 1 ' The Light of Mohammed ' is apparently a counterfeit of the 56£a rod GeoO which, according to John xii. 41, is identical with the do^a 'I-qaov Xpia-rov, or the manifestation of the pre-existing \6yos (see John i. 14). This opinion also derives confirmation from the tradition that Mohammed said, in referring to the time when heavenly messengers purified his heart and body, ' They filled my heart with the Shechina.' 248 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. " Write ! " it asked, " What shall I write, O my Lord ? " The Most High answered, " Write those things which I have pre-determined for all creatures, till the day of the resurrec- tion." The Pen at once carried out this Divine behest, writing first of all these words on the Preserved Tablet : " In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate : I am God, beside whom there is no God, except myself; and Mohammed is my Apostle. Whoever yields himself up to my decrees, submits patiently to my adversities, is thankful for my favours, and agrees with my judgment, him I write down as a just one, and him will I raise up, on the day of the resurrection, amongst the just." According to another account, the Pen, on being commanded to write down all the things that are, and are to be, first wrote on the foot of the Throne : " There is no God but Allah : Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah " — and then wrote down the drops that were to descend from the sky, the leaves that were to fall from the trees, the pieces of stone on the face of the earth, all the plants that were ever to grow, and all the nourishment that was to be obtained by every creature. ' There are several different accounts of the creation of the Light of Mohammed. The sum and substance of them, as God knows best, amounts to this : Many thousands of years before the Lord Most High created heaven and earth, the upper and the lower Throne, the Tablet and the Pen, Paradise and Hell, the Angels, Men, and Genii, and the other creatures, He created the Light of that Excellency's prophetship, and trained it in the arena of the world of holiness, sometimes commanding it to prostrate itself in adoration, at other times employing it in praising and ascribing holiness. In the abode of this Light God created curtains, in each of which He kept it for a long space of time, and caused it to offer a special hymn of praise. When, after the lapse of a very long time, it came forth from these curtains, it breathed out after the manner of a lover, and from its blessed breath God created the spirits of the Prophets and Saints, and the spirits of the Righteous, the Martyrs, and the other Believers, and the spirits of the Angels. God also divided that blessed breath into several parts, creating out of one of them the upper and the lower ch. i. i.] THE LIGHT OF MOHAMMED. 249 Throne, the Tablet, the Pen, Paradise, Heaven and Earth, Sunlight and Moonlight, the Stars, the Vapours, the Winds and the Mountains. After this, He spread out the earth, and divided heaven and earth into seven stories, appointing each of them as the abode of one class of creatures ; and caused day and night to appear. Then he commanded Gabriel to go and fetch a handful of pure earth from the burying-place of his Excellency the Prophet, and to mix it with that Light. Gabriel did as he was commanded, by mixing up that Light with the pure earth, and made it into a dough, with water from the highest fountain, giving that dough the shape of a white pearl. This white pearl he flung into the rivers of Paradise, and presented it to the earths and to the skies, to the seas and to the mountains, so that they should know and understand who he (the Prophet) was, before he was created. ' It is recorded that Meiseret ul Fejr narrated as follows : I asked his Excellency the Prophet, " When didst thou become a Prophet ? " and he replied to me thus, " When God created the great Throne, and expanded the heavens and the earths, and placed the great Throne upon the shoulders of the angels who are the bearers of the throne, He, by means of the Pen, wrote on the foot of the Throne, ' There is no God but Allah : Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah, and the seal of the prophets ; ' and He wrote and impressed my name upon the gates of Paradise, upon the leaves of the trees of Paradise, and upon its cupolas and tents, though at that time Adam was still between body and spirit, that is to say, no spirit was as yet dwelling in his body. After that, the Almighty created Adam, the pure, fully ; and placed that Light on his forehead, saying, " O Adam, this Light which I have placed on thy forehead is the Light of the noblest and best of thy offspring, and of the Prince of the Prophets who are to be sent." ' It is also recorded that, in order to preserve and honour that Light, a formal promise was taken from Adam, that his children should not convey that Light to pure wives, without previous purification ; and that the angels became witnesses to this covenant ; and that it was arranged that from every one of Adam's children, on whom that Light 250 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. may be placed, promise should be taken that he also was to preserve and honour that Light, and not to transfer and communicate it to any woman except to one duly married, and who is the fittest and best of her time. Then Adam had many children, until that Light was communicated to Eve and she bore Seth. Whenever Eve gave birth, she brought forth twins, a boy and a girl, till the turn came for Seth to be born, whom she brought forth alone, without a twin-sister, because of the honourable distinction of the Light of Mohammed. Though this is the more generally received account, there is also another, according to which Seth likewise was born with a twin-sister ; but, according to both accounts, the Light of Mohammed was only transferred upon Seth. Afterwards that pure Light was conveyed, by proper covenants, pacts, and marriage, from the best of men to the purest of women, till it reached Abd Allah Ibn Mottaleb (Mohammed's father), and from him was conveyed to Amina Bent Wahb Ibn Abd Menaf (his mother), accord- ing to the generally received tradition, " I was conveyed from the best of fathers to the purest of mothers. But God knows best what is true." ' In the Kitabi Ahwal el Kiamat we read the following singular account : ' It is recorded by tradition that God first created a Tree, with 4000 branches, and called it the Tree of Life. Then He created the Light of Mohammed, in a veil of white pearl, of the shape of a Peacock, and placed it upon that Tree, where it praised Him for 70,000 years. Then God created the Mirror of Shame and placed it before it ; and when the Peacock looked into it, it beheld its own form most beautiful, and its figure most elegant, wherefore it blushed before God with a true shame, and prostrated itself five times in worship. This is the reason why God has imposed prostrations and five daily prayers upon Mohammed and his people. When God looked upon that Light it per- spired, from a sense of shame, because of Him. Then God created from the perspiration of its head the angels ; from the perspiration of its face the upper and the lower Throne, the Tablet, the Pen, Paradise, Hell, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Veil, and all that is in heaven ; and of the per- spiration of its breast He created the Prophets, the Apostles, CH. I. i.] RANK DERIVED FROM THE PRE-EXISTENT. 251 the Ulemas, the Martyrs, and the Righteous ; from the per- spiration of its back He created the Flourishing House and the Kaaba, the temple of Jerusalem, and the places of the houses of worship in the world ; of the perspiration of its eyebrows He created the people of believing men and women, the Mussulmans of both sexes ; of the perspiration of its ears He created the spirits of the Jews, the Christians, the Magi, and what is like them ; of the perspiration of its legs He created the Earth, from the west to the east, and what is in it. After this, when the Light of Mohammed had praised God for 70,000 years, God created the Light of the prophets, out of the Light of Mohammed, and looked upon that Light and created their spirits ; and they said, " There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the apostle of Allah." Then God created a Lamp of transparent red car- nelian, and the figure of Mohammed, just as he afterwards was in this world, and put it on that Lamp, exactly in the form he had when he was saying his prayers.1 Then the spirits went round the Light of Mohammed, praising and worshipping, for the space of 100,000 years. Then God commanded the spirits to look upon the form of Mohammed, and they all obeyed : and whoso saw his head became a Calif and a Sultan amongst men ; whoso saw his forehead became a just commander ; whoso saw his eyes became one who knows the Word of God by heart ; whoso saw his eye- brows became a painter ; whoso saw his ears became a listener and forward-comer ; whoso saw his cheeks became virtuous and intelligent ; whoso saw his nose became a doctor, physician, and apothecary ; whoso saw his lips be- came a minister of state ; whoso saw his mouth became one who keeps the fast ; whoso saw his teeth became one of a beautiful countenance ; whoso saw his tongue became an ambassador amongst men ; whoso saw his throat became a preacher, a crier who calls to prayer, and a councillor ; 1 This notion of a fully-formed pre-existing Mohammed appears to be an imitation both of the Logos of the Gospel and the Kabbalistic Adam kadmon, who is represented in the Kabbala as the first Divine manifestation, the source of all other forms and ideas. Altogether these Mussulman speculations have a remarkable affinity with the teaching of the Talmud, where we read : ' Seven things existed before the creation of the world, viz., the Law, the Temple, the Messiah, Paradise, Hell, Repentance, and the Throne of Glory.' 252 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. whoso saw his beard became a combatant for the religion of God ; whoso saw his neck became a merchant ; whoso saw both his arms became a spear-maker and a sword-manu- facturer ; whoso saw his right arm became a surgeon ; whoso saw his left arm became an ignoramus ; whoso saw the hollow of his right hand became a banker and an em- broiderer ; whoso saw the hollow of his left hand became a corn-measurer ; whoso saw both his hands became liberal ; whoso saw the back of his hollow hands became a miser ; whoso saw the back of his right hand became a dyer ; whoso saw the tips of his fingers became a writer ; whoso saw the back of the fingers of his right hand became a tailor ; whoso saw the back of the fingers of his left hand became a blacksmith ; whoso saw his chest became learned, generous, and diligent ; whoso saw his back became humble and obedient to the ordinances of the law ; whoso saw his sides became a warrior ; whoso saw his stomach became content and frugal ; whoso saw his knees became a kneeler and worshipper ; whoso saw his legs became a hunter ; whoso saw the soles of his feet became a walker ; whoso saw his shadow became a singer and player ; whoso saw nothing became a Jew, a Christian, an infidel, and magician ; and whoso not even looked at him became an infidel arrogating to himself divinity, such as Pharaoh and other similar infidels. ' Be it also known that God has created man after the form of the name of Mohammed (s*=^s*), namely, the head round like the first M (.*), the arms like the h (pS), the stomach like the medial m (.*), and the legs like the d (j). Of the infidels, however, He creates none after this form, but changes them after the form of swine.' (2.) Mohammed's Genealogy is traced tlirongJi Abraham to Adam, just as that of Jesus Christ. a. See Matt. i. 1-16, and Luke iii. 23-38. b. The oldest extant biography of Mohammed, compiled by Mohammed Ibn Ishak, and edited by Abu Mohammed Abd el Malik Ibn Hisham, opens thus: — 'This book con- tains the life of the Apostle of God : Mohammed was the CH. I. 1-3..] GENEALOGY TRACED TO ADAM. 253 son of Abd Allah, son of Abdu-1-Mottaleb, son of Hashim, son of Abd Menaf, son of Kussei, son of Kilab, son of Murra, son of Kaab, son of Luei, son of Ghalib, son of Fihr, son of Malik, son of Nadhr, son of Kinana, son of Khuzeima, son of Mudrika, son of Alya, son of Mudhar, son of Nizar, son of Maad, son of Adnan, son of Udd, son of Mukawwam, son of Nahor, son of Teira, son of Yarub, son of Yashyub, son of Nabit, son of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the Friend of God,1 son of Tara, son of Nahor, son of Sarukh, son of Rau, son of Falih, son of Eiber, son of Shalih, son of Arphakhsad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamek, son of Metushalakh, son of Khanukh, — who, as is believed, was the prophet Idris, the first prophet, and the first who wrote with the reed, — son of Yared, son of Mahaleel, son of Kainanan, son of Yanish, son of Sheth, son of Adam, to whom may God be Gracious ! ' (3.) As the angel Gabriel announced the Conception of Jesus by the Virgin Mary, so lie also announced that of Mohammed, and the latter to ' every place on the face of the earth! a. ' The angel Gabriel was sent from God ... to a virgin, . . . and said unto her, Fear not, Mary ; for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt con- ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son,' etc. (Luke i. 26-38.) b. In the Rawzat we read : ' The biographers have re- corded that the Light of Mohammed was transferred from Abd Allah to Amina in the days of the pilgrimage, in the middle of the three days following the feast of sacrifices, which by one account was a Friday night. In that night God commanded the treasurer of Paradise to open the gates of Paradise, in honour of the Light of Mohammed, which then took its abode in Amina's body. The angels of heaven also rejoiced and were glad ; and the angel Gabriel descended to the earth, bringing Mohammed's green standard with him, 1 It will be observed that the genealogy from Abraham, Ishmael's father, up to Adam is identical with Luke iii. 34-38, with the only exception that the Cainan of ver. 36 is omitted, evidently from the reason that there is another Cainan in ver. 37. 254 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. and planting it upon the roof of the Kaaba ; and he gave the glad tidings to every place on the face of the earth that the Light of Mohammed had taken up its abode in Amina, in order that the foremost of the creatures should come forth from her, and receive a mission to the foremost one of the nations.' (4.) As before the birth of fesns, so also before that of Mohammed, an Angel annotinced THE NAME he was to receive. a. In Matt. i. 21, it is written : ' The angel of the Lord said unto Joseph, She (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins.' b. Ibn Hisham narrates : ' When Amina was pregnant with the Apostle of God, a spirit appeared to her, saying, Thou art bearing the Lord of this people ; say at his birth : " I place him under the protection of the One that He may protect him against the envious ; " and call his name " Mohammed." ' (5.) The birth of both zvas distinguished by the glory of a heavenly Light, the appearance of Angels, and by signs on the earth and in the starry sphere. a. 'And Mary brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them ; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you ; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men' (Luke ii. 7-14). 'When Jesus was born in Beth- CH. I. 5.] HE A VENLY GLORY ATTENDS THE BIRTH 255 lehem of Judaea, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him' (Matt. ii. 1, 2). b. ' Abd ur Rahman Ibn Awf narrates that his mother, Shefa, declared as follows : I was Amina's midwife : in the night when labour-pains seized her, and Mohammed Mus- tapha fell into my hands, at his birth, a voice reached my ears from the unseen world, saying, " Thy Lord shew mercy unto thee!" and the face of the earth became so illuminated, from the east to the west, that I could see some of the palaces of Damascus by that light. Soon after that, darkness, fear, and trembling came upon me ; and then there appeared a light on my right hand, and in that state I heard some one from the invisible world say, " Whither didst thou take him ? " Another answered, " I have taken him westward to all the blessed and holy places,and I have presented him to Abraham, the Friend of God, who pressed him to his bosom, purified, and blessed him." It is also recorded that in the same night the Most High sent down a host of angels upon the earth, in order that they should guard Amina, and keep her from the eyes of the demons. Again, it is reported that Amina said: " In that night a flight of birds turned into my house, in such numbers as to fill the whole house. Their beaks were of emerald and their wings of ruby. The Most High took off the veil from my eyes, so that I saw the entire east and west of the earth ; and I beheld how they planted three standards, one in the east, one in the west, and one on the flat roof of the Kaaba." ' Abdu-1-Mottaleb, after narrating marvellous things which he saw and heard in the Kaaba, continues thus : ' I was astonished and knew not what to say, and, putting my hand to my eyes, I said to myself, " Am I asleep or awake ? " and I saw that I was awake. The same moment I arose and turned towards Amina's dwelling ; and, when I came near her door, I found that house adorned with sundry lights and sweet-smelling scents. Knocking at the door, Amina answered with a feeble voice. I said, " Open the door quickly, or else my gall-bladder will burst." Amina opened the door with haste. I looked in her face ; and when I did 256 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. not see a trace left of the Light of Mohammed, my strength left me, and I said, " O Amina, what has become of that Light?" She answered, "I have given birth to a son." ' ' Sheikh Zarandi says, in his Book of Signs, that in the night of Mohammed's birth the courts of Chosroes parted asunder, and remained so till now, i.e. till A.H. 746 ( = A.D. 1368). Their remaining so is one of the greatest facts ; and the great and adorable God alone knows how long they will still be left.' ' It is reported that, in the night of the birth of that prince, the sea of Sawa overflowed the land ; and that the Wady of Samawa, whose water had been stopped for a thousand years, began to be flooded with the waters of a great river, and the courts of Chosroes became shaking and trembling, and their fourteen towers fell to the earth. Chosroes seeing this, lamented and feared exceedingly; for he knew that these occurrences portended a national calamity. But, assuming an air of fortitude and courage, he kept his distress and trouble of mind concealed, for a while, from his people ; and then made up his mind not to hide those occurrences any longer from his ministers of state and intimate friends. So he put on his crown, sat upon his throne, called a council, and when the elite of the people and his friends were assembled, there arrived a letter from his Persian empire. In this letter it was stated that the fires of the fire-temples of Persia, which for a thousand years had not been extin- guished, but were continually burning, had gone out in a certain night, namely, in that in which also the towers of Chosroes' palaces had fallen down. This circumstance, there- fore, still further increased Chosroes' grief and sorrow. A wise philosopher, also, the chief Judge, called the chief Fire- priest, said, " O Shah, I also have seen in a dream, on that night, that swift and indomitable camels were drawing Arab horses from the Tigris and were spreading over town and country." On hearing this from his chief Fire-priest, Chosroes said to him, " O chief Fire-priest, what is the interpretation of this dream ? and what is to happen in the world ? " The chief Fire-priest answered, ' A great event is to happen in the direction of Arabia." ' Ibn Ishak reports, ' Hassan Ibn Thabit said, " I was a CH. I. 5, 6.] HE WAS BORN CIRCUMCISED. 257 lad of seven or eight years, understanding quite well what I heard, when a Jew, on one of the buildings of Yathreb, called together an assembly of his fellow-Jews and said to them, To-night the star has arisen under which Mohammed is to be born. I asked Said, Hassan's grandson, how old his grandfather was when Mohammed came to Medina, and he answered, Sixty years. Now, as Mohammed was then fifty- three years of age, Hassan must have been seven years old when he heard those words." ' (I. I. and I. H.) Othman Ibn Abu-l-As narrates that Fatima, Abd Allah's daughter, said, ' I was with Amina, when the symptoms of her approaching confinement set in ; and, on looking up to heaven, I saw the stars to such an extent incline towards the earth, that I thought they must fall down ; or, according to another account, the stars were so near the earth that I thought they would fall upon my head.' (Rawzat.) (6. Though both were subjected to the rite of circumcision :, yet there was a difference in favour of Mohammed. a. ' When eight days were accomplished for the circum- cision of the child, his name was called Jesus ' (Luke ii. 21). b. ' The majority of the biographers and historians agree in this, that Mohammed was born circumcised and with his navel-string cut. The Ulemas say that the reason why he was born in this state is, that no creature should have any- thing to do with his perfect natural frame, by depriving his foreskin and navel of strength. Another reason is this, that he might not remain dishonoured, by uncircumcision, till he could be circumcised ; and still another reason is, that not any man might see his natural parts. It is recorded, on the authority of Uns Ibn Malik, that the Prophet said, " I was born circumcised, and none has seen my nakedness." But some of the later historians have objected to this tradition, and declared that any traditionist who mentions it, without also making known its weakness, will have to answer for it on the day of the Resurrection. And some of the later biographers have affirmed that Gabriel circumcised him, at the same time when he purified his blessed heart in his child- hood ; and yet another saying is, that Abdu-1-Mottaleb cir- cumcised him on the seventh day after his birth.' (Rawzat.) R 258 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. (7.) A Benediction is uttered on the breasts that gave them suck, but in the one case it came from the visible, and in the other, from the invisible, world. a. ' As Jesus spake those things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked ' (Luke xi. 27). b. ' Ibn Abbas states, all creatures, even birds, air, clouds, and winds contended for and contested the privilege of suck- ling the prophet ; for, when some one from the unseen world had taken that Excellency away from his mother's sight and carried him about to all the places of the east and of the west, a Caller from the Compassionate was calling out thus, " O, all ye creatures, this infant is Mohammed Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Abdu-1-Mottaleb : blessed are the breasts that give him milk, and blessed are the hands that bring him up, and blessed are the places where he dwells." Then all the creatures which heard this call, were seized with the desire of suckling him, and all of them, birds, clouds, winds, and others, claimed a prerogative and priority in the matter. Thereupon another call came from the unseen world, to this effect, " Stand ye back from this matter : in the beginning of eternity this blessed writing has been drawn up in the name of Halima Saadia, the daughter of Abu Zuweib." It is recorded that Halima narrated as follows : When the women of my people went to Mecca in search of a living, I joined them, with the same object. On arriving in the neighbourhood of Mecca, we heard a voice (hatif) from the unseen world, calling out thus, " Know and understand that the Most High has this year rendered it unlawful for the women to take girls, on account of that male child which has been born amongst the Koreish. That child is the sunshine of the day, and the moonshine of the night ; and blessed are the paps that shall give it milk. O ye women of the Beni Saad tribe, walk- quickly, make haste, that ye may obtain that child." ' (R.) ch. I. 8. HE IS NAMED THE ' DESTRO FEE.' 259 (8.) Not long after their birth, their Nature and Destiny are made known by special Revelation. a. ' The angel said unto the shepherds, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord' (Luke ii. 10, n). — ' Simeon took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, accord- ing to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ;' etc. (Luke ii. 28-32). — ' And Anna the prophetess coming that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem ' (Luke ii. 38). b. ' Shefa Bint Awf says, After that, the person speaking from the unseen world called, " O Mohammed, the honour and glory of the world are promised to thee. Verily thou art he who holds firmly under the strongest protection every one that lays hold on the branches of the tree of thy religion, and peculiar people, and acts according to thy words, and will be known to belong to thy people, on the day of the Resurrec- tion."— Amina heard another Caller call thus, " Verily in the seas his name is the Destroyer ; 1 for he will destroy all idolatry, so as not to leave a particle of it on the face of the earth." — It is recorded that Abdu-1-Mottaleb said, I was that night in the Kaaba. At midnight I saw that the four side-walls of the Kaaba inclined toward the place of Abraham, and worshipped before it. Then they rose again and returned to their former places ; and I heard a wonderful thing in them, namely, a voice calling out, " God is great ! God is great ! The Lord Mohammed, the chosen, has now cleansed me, my Lord, from the pollution of idols and from the 1 The word in the Arabic original is El Mahi. This is an appellative specially applied as a proper name to Mohammed. It signifies 'the Destroyer, the Annihilator,' derived from the verb mak-iv, ' to wipe out, to cause to disappear, to annihilate, to destroy.' It is rather singular, and perhaps significant, that also in Rev. ix. 1 1 we read of a remarkable personage whose name is stated to be in the Hebrew tongue Abaddon and in the Greek Apollyon, both which words likewise signify ' The Destroyer.' The opposite to this is : ' The Preserver, the Saviour.' 26o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. uncleanness of the idolaters." And the idols which were about the Kaaba were broken in pieces, as an old rag is torn up ; and the largest idol, named Hobal, lay prostrate, with his face upon the stones ; and I heard a Caller call, " Mohammed is born of Amina." — Irvet Ibn Zobeir narrates, that a company of the Koreish had an idol in the idol-house, which they visited once a year, on a certain day, which they regarded as a festival, and on which they sacrificed camels and drank wine in their assemblies. When they arrived on one such occasion, they saw that the idol was undeniably fallen down upon his face. They lifted him up and replaced him, but in a moment they saw him fallen down again, head foremost. This happened twice ; and when they had again strongly posted him in his place, they heard a voice proceeding from the hollow part of the idol, reciting these verses : " Rejoicing because of the child, And radiant with his light, Are all the mountain-passes of the earth, Both in the east and in the west ; And bowing down to him are all the idols, And trembling are the hearts of all the kings, Throughout the world, from fear." This occurrence happened on the night of that Excellency's birth. ' Halima, Mohammed's wet-nurse, relates : When we were returning from Mecca, with our nurslings, to the tribe of the Beni Saad, all the women of the tribe wondered at the change that had come over my donkey, saying, " O Halima, is not the donkey on which thou ridest the same as that on which thou earnest to Mecca ? How strange, that the donkey which then could not walk straight, now cannot be overtaken by any other donkey. There must be something uncommon and mysterious in this donkey." Upon this I heard my donkey say, " Yes, for God's sake, there is something uncommon and mysterious in me whom God, the Nourisher, has quickened, and, when emaciated, has fattened. O ye tawny Beni Saad women, ye are ignorant of my state. Do ye know that he who is riding on me is the seal of the prophets, the Lord of the apostles, superior in nature to the former and the latter, and the loved one of both worlds ? " ch. 1.8, 9.] PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 261 When I met a flock of sheep, on that journey, the sheep would come near me and say, " O Halima, knowestthou who thy nursling is ? He is Mohammed, the Lord of heaven and earth, and the first of the sons of men." — The nursing being over and Halima about to take the child back to Mecca, she heard in the night an invisible Caller call, " The fountain of blessing and safety is departing from the Beni Saad tribe : O valley of Mecca, thy time is propitious, thy light, ray, life, beauty, paradise, and ornament is to come back to thee ; and thou art always to remain preserved and protected by his blessing." ' (R.) (9.) Like Jesus, Mohammed also was presented, in his early infancy, to the Deity of the national Sanctuary. a. ' When the days of Mary's purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord [in the temple] " (Luke ii. 22, 27). b. Ibn Ishak narrates : ' When Mohammed was born, his mother sent for Abdu-1-Mottaleb, begging him to come and see the child. When he came, she told him what she had seen during the time of her pregnancy, what she had been told concerning him, and what name she was to give him. It is believed that Abdu-1-Mottaleb then took him, carried him to the Kaaba, thanked God for the gift, and then took him back again to his mother, and went to find a wet-nurse for him.' (10.) They both developed in their childhood under the special favour of God, and showed marks of an uncommon measure of Divine Grace. a. 'The child Jesus grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ; and the grace of God was upon him ' (Luke ii. 40). b. ' Amina said, When Mohammed was born, he put his hands upon the earth, lifted up his face heavenwards, knelt upon his knees and moved his fingers, as if using the rosary. He also sucked his thumb, whereupon milk flowed from it. Afterwards he took a handful of earth, turned towards the 262 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. Kaaba and began to worship. And together with him a light came forth from me, by which I could see the houses of Bosra in Syria. ' Halima thus describes her first interviewwith hernursling: Abdu-1-Mottaleb took me to the house in which Amina, Mohammed's mother, was. I saw a beautiful and strong lady, from whose forehead, as it were, the new moon shone forth, and from whose visage brilliant stars were glittering. When Abdu-1-Mottaleb made known my state and name to Amina, she said, " Well and good, O Halima." Then she took me by the hand and brought me to the house in which Mohammed was. I saw Mohammed wrapt in white wool, which yielded a sweet fragrance, like musk ; and he was sleeping, covered with green silk. When I uncovered his face and saw his fairness and beauty, I became enamoured. I put my hand upon his breast to awaken him. Then he smiled, and, on opening his eyes, a light beamed forth from them, reaching up to heaven. I took him up in my arms and pressed him to my bosom, to give him suck. When I put my right breast into his mouth, he sucked, but when I wanted to give him the left, he did not. Ibn Abbas remarks, " In this matter God inspired him with equity ; for Halima's son was his partner, therefore, having regard to justice, he halved his wet-nurse's breasts with his foster-brother." Halima adds, After this I always nourished him from my right breast, and the left I gave to his foster-brother ; and my own son did not wish for milk, except Mohammed had enough. When we returned to our tribe, the high and adorable God counted our beasts and flocks and possessions worthy of such countless blessings and unlimited favour that, in the same year, all our sheep had lambs and in their udders was abundance of milk ; and the sheep of no one else in that tribe were blest like our own. Thereupon most other shepherds led their sheep to pasture with ours, and God bestowed a blessing on them also, so that as long as Mohammed remained with our tribe, there were not wanting to it prosperity and blessings. ' Halima further said : God imparted to the hearts of those who saw Mohammed such a love towards him that they could not contain themselves. That Excellency also did not CH. I. 10.] HIS WONDERFUL INFANCY. 263 wet or soil his bed-linen like other infants. Every time I wanted to wash and clean his blessed mouth from the milk, I found it already washed and cleaned by some one from the unseen world. When he was uncovered he became angry, and did not cease crying till he was covered again. When that noble one had begun to walk, and saw other children playing, he moved away from them, and, forbidding them their play, would say, " We have not been created in order to play." — There are some accounts to the effect that Mohammed grew in a day as much as other children in a month ; and in a month as much as other children in a year ; so that when he was in his second year, he had already the strength of a young man. — Halima says, He did not cry, nor was naughty like other children ; and never took up a thing with his left hand, but whatever he ate, he seized with his right hand ; and when he had begun to speak, he always said " In the name of God," as often as he stretched out his hand after anything ; and for fear of him I did not let my husband come near me for two full years. One day that noble one was on my lap, whilst some sheep were walking about ; and one of them approached this noble one, made a low bow before him, kissed his hand and then walked away again ; and every day a light, like the sun, came down, enveloped him, and then let him come forth from it again ; and every day two white birds or two men in white clothes went in by his collar and disappeared. ' Halima's account of the angelic purification of his heart is as follows : One day Mohammed expressed a wish to accompany his foster-brothers, who were tending the sheep, so that he might likewise be usefully employed. I, therefore, next morning combed his blessed hair, put oint- ment to his eyes, dressed him and hung a necklace of Yemen beads round his neck to prevent the effects of the evil eye. According to one account, that Excellency at once tore this necklace from his neck, and threw it away, saying, " My guardian and keeper is with me." Then Mohammed took a stick in his hand and joyfully went away with his foster-brothers ; and they were engaged in tending the sheep somewhere near our dwelling. About mid-day I saw my son running in, dripping with perspiration, and calling out, 264 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. " O mother, O father, help Mohammed !" I asked, "What has happened to him ? " He answered, " When we were sitting together with Mohammed, we suddenly saw some one come, take him from the midst of us, carry him to the top of the mountain, throw him down and split open his body : what happened to him afterwards I do not know ; but I do not expect him to be still alive." Then I and my husband ran thither, stupefied. When we reached him, we found him sitting on the mountain-top and looking up to heaven. Seeing us, he smiled. I kissed his head and his eyes, saying, " My soul be a sacrifice for thine. What has happened to thee ? " He answered, " O mother, I was sitting with my brothers, when suddenly I saw three men appearing to me, and according to another account they were two men, dressed in white raiment, and they said that they were Gabriel and Michael, on both of whom be peace ! In the hand of one of them there was a silver ewer, and in the other's hand a washing-basin of green emerald, filled with snow. They came, took me from the midst of my brothers, and carried me to the top of the mountain. One of them drew me kindly and gently to himself and split me open from my chest to my navel ; and I saw him, but there was not any pain. Then he plunged his hand into my body, took out my intestines, and, after having washed them with snow-water in that washing-basin, put them back again to their place. Then the other said to him, ' Thou hast now done what thou hast been commanded : stand back, that I also may carry out what has been enjoined upon me.' Then he thrust his hand into my body, took out my heart, split it in half, removed the blood with which the dot of desire was polluted. and threw it away, saying, 'This is the portion of Satan from thee, O thou loved one of God.' Then there was something in his hand which he had brought with him, and with which he filled my heart, after which he put it back to its place, and sealed it with a seal of light, whose charm and ease now remains in my limbs and joints. Then again another rose up and said, ' Stand back, both of you who have done what you have been commanded.' When they had stood back, he came, put his hand on the place where my chest was split, passing it on to the navel ; and CH. i. 10, ii.] HIS HEART SPLIT AND PURIFIED. 265 that instant my wound closed and healed, whilst I was stand- ing and looking on. After this they kissed me on my forehead, and said, ' 0 loved one, fear not : if thou knewest what good things are ready prepared for thee, thine eyes would brighten up.' Then they left me in this state, flew away, and entered mid-heaven. I saw them entering heaven, and if thou wishest, I will show thee where they entered." When I had brought him back to my dwelling, my husband, relatives, and acquaintances said, " Take him to a seer, that he may ascertain what is the matter with him." The true and honest of the tribe and people said, " Surely he is possessed : it is proper to take him to a seer." ' As regards this subject of the splitting of the heart, there is a difference in the accounts : according to one, it happened either during his first or second stay amongst the Beni Saad ; according to another, it took place in his sixth year ; and according to yet another, in his tenth year; and by trust- worthy traditions it is affirmed that the splitting of his chest came to pass in the night of his ascension. If it please God, the truth resulting from these different accounts is this, that the splitting of the chest took place several times.' (R.) (11.) Both zv ere lost in their childhood, but found again : the one by his mother s diligent search, the other by a super- natural revelation. a. ' When they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions ' (Luke ii. 45, 46). b. ' Halima, in narrating how she took back Mohammed to his mother, relates as follows : When I reached Mecca, I set Mohammed down at the chief city gate, to go a little aside, as there was a crowd of people in the place. On my return directly after, I did not find him. I therefore asked the people where the boy was whom I had just put down there, and swore by the God of Abraham that I would cast myself down a mountain and kill myself, if I did not find him again. 266 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. Seeing no trace of him, I became disconsolate, and, putting my hands to my head, called out, "O Mohammed, O my boy ! " A crowd of people gathered round me, men, women, and children, who also cried because of my grief. Suddenly I saw an old man approach me, saying, " Weep not and o-rieve not : I will lead thee to one who can let thee find him, if he please." Then that old man took me to the idol- house, walked seven times round the idol, kissed his head, and, after having lauded and praised him according to rule and precept, said, " 0 exalted Hobal, wilt thou be pleased to bring back Mohammed Ibn Abd Allah whose wet-nurse this woman is ?" When the old man had uttered these words, I saw that Hobal and the other idols fell prostrate upon their faces, and out of their hollow part a voice proceeded, saying, " O old man, remain thou far from us, and do not mention Mohammed's name before us : the destruction of ourselves and the other idols and the idolaters is to be in his hand ; and his God does not lose him, but keeps him by any means. Tell the idol-worshippers that our greatest sacrificer is to be Mohammed, that is, he is to kill us all, whilst they that follow him shall be safe." Halima then went and told Abdu-1-Mottaleb what had happened. He at once called the Koreish together ; and with them, on horse- back, searched the high and low parts of Mecca, but without success. He therefore also went to the temple, and inquiring of the idols, heard in reply this Voice from the invisible world, " O ye men, grieve not ; for Mohammed has a God who does not lose him." Abdu-1-Mottaleb again asked, " O Voice, where is Mohammed ? " The Voice replied, " He is sitting under a tree in the Wady of Teham." U^on this, Abdu-1-Mottaleb started and found Mohammed in that valley, sitting under a tree and gathering leaves. Asking him who he was, the child answered, " I am Mohammed Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Abdu-1-Mottaleb." Abdu-1-Mottaleb rejoined, " My soul be a sacrifice for thee. I am thy grandfather ; " and taking him up on horseback, carried him home. Ibn Abbas observes that, in recognition of having found Moham- med, Abdu-1-Mottaleb gave away much gold and silver money, camels, and sheep, as alms, and also enriched and rejoiced Halima with a variety of gifts and favours.' (R.) CH. i. 12.] TWELVE YEARS OLD, VISITS BAHIRA. 267 (12.) Twelve years old, their special relation to God and uncommon destiny ivas made known during a journey ; and then they were taken azvay from the place where their presence might prematurely have roused the hostility of the fezvs. a. * When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. . . . And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us ? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me ? wist ye not that / must be about my Father's business ? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them [away from the dangerous city], and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them : but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart' (Luke ii. 42-51). b. ' The biographers and historians of Mohammed record, that when that noble one was twelve years, two months, and ten days old, he expressed the desire of accompanying Abu Talib on a mercantile journey to Bosra in Syria. Abu Talib had already laden his beasts, and was ready for the journey, without intending to take Mohammed with him, when that noble one addressed him thus, " O uncle, I have neither father nor mother: with whom wilt thou leave me ? I will go with thee." Abu Talib willingly consenting, said, " By Allah, I shall go together with thee, and not separate from thee." Then, journeying in company with the Lord of the world, they reached a village called Kefer, six miles from Bosra. In that village the monk Bahira, who was a Christian scholar and divine of great asceticism and piety, had his monastery. He had acquired a knowledge of the nature and attributes of the Prophet from the Gospel and other heavenly books, and had long been expecting to see that prince in his monas- tery ; for he had found in the heavenly books that he was to come at such a time, and in such a place, and that he was to alight under the shadow of a certain tree in a particular monas- tery. When the Koreishite caravan came with that noble one and encamped by the side of Bahira's monastery, he went 268 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. upon the roof, and saw a cloud overshadowing that caravan, moving when it moved, and resting when it rested. When Bahira observed this, he wondered, saying, " This can only be, if the Prophet is in this caravan ; to all appearance he whom I have so long desired and expected is now there." Another account informs us that when the caravan came to a hilly and stony spot, Bahira heard the trees and stones of the monastery calling with a loud voice, " Peace be unto thee, O Apostle of God ; " and, when the Prophet and his uncle alighted under a tree, the said cloud overshadowed it, and its branches multiplied, became green, young, and fresh, and bore fruit. When the monk saw these things, he knew for certain that the Prophet of the latter time was there ; and he ordered his disciples and servants to prepare a dinner and lay the table for that caravan. The people of the caravan accepted his invitation ; but after they had come, he still saw the cloud in its former place. He therefore inquired which of their number had been left behind ; and, hearing it was the lad Mohammed, he at once caused him to be sent for; and when he came, the overshadowing cloud came with him. ' Another account is this, that when the caravan had en- camped near the monastery, Bahira came and searched it, till he arrived where Abu Talib sat, and there saw the blessed beauty of Mohammed, the chosen one, whose blessed hand he took, saying, " This the Lord of both worlds. God has sent him out of compassion for both worlds." The old men of the Koreish said, " O Bahira, whence knowest thou that this one will be a prophet ? " Bahira answered, that it was from those signs and tokens which he had witnessed ; and he declared unto them all, that the noble form and proportioned figure of that prince had become known to him from the heavenly books, adding, " I know the prophetic seal to his being the prophet of the latter days ; it is between his shoulder-blades, and is of the size of an apple." Then he returned to his convent, and prepared the dinner, as narrated before. After dinner, when the other chief men had left, Bahira said to Abu Talib, " What relationship is there between thee and this youth ?" Abu Talib answered, " He is my son." Bahira, " It is impos- sible that his parents are still living." According to Ibn Ishak's account Bahira said, " He is not thy son : this boy ch. I. 12.] BAHIRA MAKES KNOWN THE PROPHET. 269 no longer needs a father." Abu Talib replied, " Thou hast rightly spoken ; he is my nephew, but is to me like a son." After this, Bahira, for the purpose of trying that prince and making known his true state, turned to Mohammed, saying, " I adjure thee by Lat and Ozza ! " to which the Prophet replied, " O Bahira, do not adjure me by Lat and Ozza, to whom I am a greater enemy than to anything else in the world." Bahira continued, " Then I adjure thee, by the Most High God, to tell me whether there is not a certain sign and mark of such a form and nature between thy shoulder- blades." That Excellency answered, " Yes, there is." Then Bahira jumped up, kissed that prince" between his eyes, and said, " I testify that he is the Apostle of God in truth ; " and it is said that he also kissed the feet of the Lord of the world. Another account adds that, on Bahira's entreaty, that prince took off his mantle from his blessed shoulders, so that Bahira could see the seal of prophetship between his two shoulder- blades, and he found it to be such as he had ascertained it from the heavenly books ; and he kissed that place. ' It is recorded that some Jews, or, according to another account, some Greeks, amongst whom were three distin- guished priests, came to kill that prince. They entered Bahira's convent that day, saying, " O Bahira, we have learned from the heavenly books that to-day Mohammed is to come with a caravan of the Koreish and to encamp near this monastery ; we have come in order to kill him." But Bahira, instead of assisting them in their purpose, demonstrated to them by clear proofs that this youth was the Prophet of the latter time, and thus induced them to desist from their design. It is recorded that Bahira said to Abu Talib, "This youth is to- be the Prophet of the latter days, and his law is to spread over the whole world, and his religion is to abrogate all other religions ; if thou lovest this youth, beware, do not take him to Syria, for the Jews are his enemies ; God forbid that they, recognising him, should do him any harm." Upon this, Abu Talib sold his merchandise with a good profit in Bosra, and returned to Mecca. But there is also another account, according to which Abu Talib sent the Prophet back to Mecca with another company, whilst he himself went to Syria, and there completed his mercantile transactions.' (R.) 270 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. (13.) The appearance both of Jesus Christ and of Mohammed was expected amongst the Jews and others, having been Joretold by prophets. a. 'When John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ? ' (Matt, xi. 2, 3.) ' Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph' (John i. 45). b. 'The Jewish Rabbis and the Christian Priests, as well as the Diviners amongst the Arabs, had already been speaking of Mohammed before his public mission, when its time had drawn near: the former, in accordance with the testimony of their prophets, which they found in their books, concerning him and his time ; and the latter, in accordance with the information, which evil spirits had brought them, of what they had overheard of the celestial conversations, before they were prevented from listening, by stars being hurled at them. Assim Ibn Amr narrated that men of his tribe assured him that, next to God's grace and guidance, they had been led to adopt Islam by what they had heard from the Jews, saying, " We were polytheists and idolaters, but they possessed a book and knowledge which we were without. We often had war with them and when we did them any harm, they would say, " The time is at hand when a prophet will be sent with whose help we shall destroy you, like Ad and Irem." Generally we paid no attention to this threat ; but when God sent Moham- med, and he preached to us, we followed him ; for then we understood that with which they had been threatening us ; but we anticipated them, by believing in him, whilst they them- selves remained unbelieving." — Salama Ibn Wakash, one of the warriors of Bedr, related, " Once, when I was still very young, a Jew who enjoyed their protection, came to the Beni Abd el Ashhal and spoke of the Resurrection, the Account, the Balance, Paradise, and Hell. When the idolaters asked him what sign he had in proof of this, he answered, A prophet is to arise from that land, pointing to Yemen and Mecca ; ch. I. 13, 14.] THE PROPHETS COMING FORETOLD. 271 and on their inquiring further, When will this happen? he replied whilst pointing at me, the youngest among them, If this lad reaches his proper age, he may live to see it. And in fact, continued Salama, a day and a night did not pass, before God sent Mohammed into our midst and we believed in him, whereas he, from envy and stubbornness, remained unbelieving. When we said to him, Woe unto thee ; didst not thou say so and so of him ? he replied, Yes, I did, but this is not the right one." A sheikh of the Beni Koreiza gave this report : Some years before Islam, a certain Jew from Syria, Ibn el Haggaban by name, settled amongst us, who certainly was the most excellent non-Moslem I ever knew. Whenever there was a drought, he, at our request, went out with us to the field and offered up prayers for rain ; and scarcely had he risen, before a cloud passed by and drenched us, a thing which happened very often. When his dying hour approached, he said, " O ye Jews, the reason why I have left a land of wine and corn, and come into a land of want and hunger, is this, that I have expected the appearance of a prophet whose time is at hand, and who is to emigrate to this country. I have been waiting for him, in order to follow him. Do not let others anticipate you by their believing in him, for, in accordance with his mission, the blood of his adversaries will be shed, their children made captives, and nothing can protect you against him." Afterwards, when God sent Mohammed, and he besieged the Beni Koreiza, those men, who then were still young, said, " O ye sons of Koreiza, by God, this is the pro- phet promised by Ibn el Haggaban." But they said, " No, he is not." Those men, however, took God for a witness that he was exactly such as he had been described ; and they embraced Islam, and thus their blood, their goods, and their families were saved.' (Ibn Ishak.) (14.) Whilst they were honouring a Penitentiary Institution, by accommodating themselves to it, a Supernatural Occur- rence and Voice inaugurated their own Public Mission. a. 'John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ' (Mark i. 4). ' Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, 272 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk.ii. went up straightway out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God * descending like a dove, and lighting upon him : and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. iii. 13-17). b. Ibn Ishak narrates: 'The Prophet used annually to spend a month on Mount Hira, for it was a custom amongst the Koreishites in their heathen state to look upon this as Tahannuth, i.e. ' penance.' During that time he fed the poor who visited him, and, when the month was over, he first went seven times round the Kaaba and then returned to his own house. In the year of his public mission he went there, as usual, in the month of Rhamadan, and, whilst there, Gabriel brought to him God's behest, in the night, in which God, from compassion to His servants, honoured him with his mission,' etc. (see pp. 58, 59). The Rawzat refers to the same event in these words : ' When that Excellency was sitting in the cave of Hira, bending forward, Gabriel came behind him, and once more roused that Excellency's attention, saying, " Rise, O Mo- hammed : I am Gabriel." Rising up, that Excellency saw some one walking before him and the Lord of the world followed him. When that person went between the mountains of Safa and Merva, his feet were on the earth and his head was in the sky, and when he opened his wings, he took in the space between the east and the west. His feet were yellow, his wings green. He wore two necklaces of red ruby. His forehead was radiant and bright, his cheeks light-like, his teeth white, his hair had the colour of red coral, and between his two eyes were the words written, " There is no God but Allah : Mohammed is the apostle of Allah." When the Prophet saw that form and figure, he, afraid of his greatness and rank, said, " Who art thou ? God have mercy on thee : verily I have never seen any one greater and more beautiful than thee." Gabriel replied, " I am the 1 It is worthy of special notice that, according to Mohammedan theology, the word 'Holy Spirit,' which also occurs in the Koran, e.g. Sura ii. Si (87), is only another name for ' the angel Gabriel. ' According to Ibn Ishak, Moham- med himself answered the question put to him by the Jews, ' Who is the Spirit ? ' by saying, ' It is Gabriel who visits me.' This makes the imitation still more striking. CH. i. 14, 15.] GABRIEL TEACHES HIM TO READ. 273 faithful Spirit1 to all the prophets and sent ones: Read, O Mohammed." That prince answered, " What can I read who have never read ? " 2 Then Gabriel took from under his wings a book, made of the silk of paradise, and embossed with pearls and rubies, held it to that prince's face, and said, "Read!" Mohammed replied, and was treated as before. Then Gabriel stamped with his foot on the earth, so that water gushed forth from it, in which he made an ablution, by rinsing his mouth, snuffing up water with his nostrils, and washing his face and feet. Having done this three times, and once rubbed his head, he also commanded that prince to make the ablution exactly in the same manner. When he had finished, Gabriel took a handful of water, and splashed it in that Excellency's face, and then placing himself before him, performed two prostrations of prayer, that Excellency following him. After this, Gabriel said to him, " O Mohammed, behold, thus are the prayers performed." Then Gabriel disappeared, and that Excellency returned home, trembling in mind, and calling out, " Cover me ! cover me ! " And they covered him, till his fear and terror had pass'ed off.' (15.) Witness is borne to them, and their Divine Mission is made knozvn to men, by another distinguished Servant of the true God, who soon afterwards is removed from this zvorld? a. 'John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me : for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the 1 See the previous foot-note. 2 One is here reminded of the word, ' How knoweth this man letters, having never learned ? ' (John vii. 15.) 3 This parallelism between the two precursors, John the Baptist and Waraka, is further sustained by the circumstance of kinship, for, as the mothers of John and Jesus were 'cousins' (Luke i. 36), so also Waraka was the 'cousin' of Mohammed's wife Khadija, and by the fact that as John's disciples, through their master's testimony, became the first believers in Jesus (John i. 35-42), so also Waraka's testimony convinced Khadija, who, as Ibn Hisham tells us, was ' the first who believed in God, and His apostle, and His revelation.' S 274 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. 11. Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. . . . Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! . . . That he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. ... I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him' (John i. 15-34 ; Matt. xiv. 1-12). b. Waraka's connection with Mohammed is thus referred to in the Rawzat : 1 ' After Gabriel's first appearance to Mohammed on Mount Hira, that Excellency returned home, trembling in mind, and afterwards said to Khadija, "Verily, I fear for my life." Khadija replied, "Fear not; for God will not bring trouble upon thee ; " and, after having thus comforted that Excellency, Khadija continued, " If thou wishest it, I will lay thy state before my cousin Waraka Ibn Nawfal, that we may see what he will say about it." This Waraka was a person who, even in the time of ignorance, had turned away from the religion of the Koreish, had become a Christian and professor of the Unity, know- ing the Gospel well, which he had copied in Arabic, or, according to another account, in Hebrew, and at this time he had become very aged and blind. When she had received that prince's permission, Khadija went to Waraka, saying, " O my cousin, give me information about Gabriel." Waraka exclaimed, " Holy ! holy ! " or, according to another account, " Praiseworthy ! praiseworthy ! " and then went on saying, " O Khadija, who amongst the idolatrous people of this land knows anything about Gabriel, that faithful one between God and His prophets? and who mentions his name ? " Khadija declared to him how that Excellency had said, " Gabriel has come down to me," and what state and condition he was in. Waraka replied, " If Gabriel has descended to this place, then God is to send to this land many favours and countless blessings. O Khadija, if thou hast spoken this word in truth, then know that the same excellent Law which came down to Moses and Jesus has also come down to Mohammed. When that person who came to him comes again, it is right that thou shouldest be present in that place, and when he has come, then uncover thy head and let thy hair be seen : if that person is from God 1 Refer to p. 60. ch. i. 13.] WARAKA DECLARES HEM A PROPHET. 275 he will not be able to see thy hair." Khadija says, I returned and told that Excellency Waraka's words, adding, " If that person comes again, let me know." Then, on Gabriel again appearing to that Excellency, he informed me of it. I set that prince on my right thigh, and said, " Dost thou see that person ? " He answered, " I do." Then I uncovered my head, dishevelled my hair, and again asked, " Dost thou see that person ? " He replied, " No, I do not : he is gone." Then I said, " Good news to thee : that person coming to thee, comes down from God, and is a good angel." When I went again to Waraka and told him the story, he said, "In truth, an excellent Law has come down to the earth." Waraka also composed some poetry on the subject, and said to Khadija, " Send Moham- med to me, that he may make known unto me his own state." The Prophet went to Waraka, whereupon Waraka said, " Rejoice, O Mohammed, again and again rejoice : I bear witness in truth that thou art that prophet whom Jesus has announced in the words : " After me an apostle is to be sent whose name is Ahmed,1 and I testify that thou art Ahmed and God's apostle ; and verily that Law which came down to Jesus has also come down to thee, and it will soon come to pass that thou shalt be commissioned to war and battle with the unbelievers.2 If I shall be alive in those days I shall certainly assist thee ; " and bending his head forward, he kissed that prince's forehead. Another account adds that Waraka said to that prince, " Would that I were still young and alive in those days, when thy people will drive thee out of this city." His Excellency asked, " O Waraka, will they then indeed drive me out ? " Waraka answered, " Yes, they will do it : for no one ever has brought such a thing as thou, without his people having 1 This is another of the prophet's proper names. Whilst ' Mohammed ' means simply 'praised,' 'Ahmed' signifies 'most praised, or most praise- worthy.' It is an intensive form expressing an eminent or superlative degree of the radical verb hamada, 'to praise.' The words put into Waraka's mouth refer to the well-known passages in St. John's Gospel about the promised Spirit, the Comforter, and give the notorious Mohammedan mistranslation of the Greek Paraclete. - This is very unlike John's ' Lamb of God,' and reminds one rather of ' the wrath of the Lamb ' in Apoc. vi. 16. 276 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. been hostile to him, injuring, and persecuting him." x Not long after this, Waraka died, without reaching the time of the gathering of disciples.' 2 (16.) They and their public mission are the Object and End of all previous Prophecy, as ushering in the grand era of Fulfilment. a. ' Jesus began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears' (Luke iv. 16-21). ' This that is written must yet be accomplished in me, . . . for the things concerning me have an end ' (Luke xxii. 37). ' All this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled' (Matt. xxvi. 56). ' And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke xxiv. 27). ' God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.' (Heb. i. 1, 2). b. Ibn Ishak says, ' When Mohammed was forty years old, God sent him as a prophet, from compassion towards the world and all mankind. He had already before rendered it obligatory on every prophet whom He sent, to believe in Him, to declare Him to be true, to assist Him against His enemies, and also to announce this to all those who were going to believe in Him. Therefore it is written in the Koran : " When God made a firm covenant with the prophets, saying, I have brought you a Scripture and instruction, then also there comes an apostle to you, confirming what you had already : verily, ye are to believe in him and to assist him. Do you acknowledge this and do you recognise the burden of my covenant ? They answered, We acknow- ledge it. Then God said, Bear witness, and I myself shall bear witness with you." In this way God took a promise 1 Waraka here speaks from his own experience as a Hanifite and a Christian, and with the recollection of a Zeid and an Othman fresh in his mind. These words sound like a faint echo of the Baptist's ' Behold, the Lamb of God.' 2 Here we may be reminded of the Baptist's word, ' He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. ... He must increase, but I must decrease' (John iii. 29, 3°)- CH. I. 16.] SATIH, THE EXTRAORDINARY DIVINER. 277 from all the prophets, to declare Mohammed to be true, and to assist him against his enemies : and they proclaimed this to those who believed in them ; and many of the professors of both the sacred books believed it' In the Rawzat we read: 'Sundry portentous events, which took place in the night of Mohammed's birth, having been brought to the knowledge of Chosroes, the king of Persia, he wrote a letter to Naeman Ibn Munzir, saying, " Send us a man who is able to answer questions which we may put to him." Then Naeman sent Abdu-1-Massiah, to whom Chosroes narrated what had taken place, and then asked him what was portended thereby. Abdu-1-Massiah replied, " The answer to this question is not with me, but with my friend Satih, who is now living in Syria." It is said that Satih was a diviner, of the tribe of the Beni Zeeb, who had no joints in his body, so that he could neither stand up nor sit down, but only, on being angered, he became swollen up, bloated, and sitting. In his limbs there were no bones at all, except that he had a skull and bones in the top of his fingers: he was, as it were, a fiat surface ( = sath) of flesh. When he had to be taken anywhere, he was rolled up and folded together like a cloth. His face was on his chest, and he had no neck. The historians say that Satih lived in a district of Syria, called Gabie. He was born in the days of Seil the Syrian, and, after quitting the country Marab, with the tribe of Azad, and wandering over the world, he had come with them to Gabie. Living till the birth of the Prophet, he must have been about 600 years old : but God knows it best. And it is said that when they wanted him to prophesy and to announce something unknown, they shook him, as the buttering-skin is shaken in making butter, and thus they caused him to move ; then he spake and made unknown things known. It is recorded, on the authority of Heb Ibn Munhib, that they asked Satih, "Whence didst thou obtain the knowledge of prophecy ? " Satih answered, " I have a friend amongst the demons (jin), who hears the news of heaven, and who told me many of the things which God had told Moses on Mount Sinai, and which I tell the people." ' Abdu-1-Massiah was ordered to resort to his friend in 278 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. Gabie and to fetch the answer to that question. Then Abdu-1-Massiah went to Satih ; and on reaching him, found him in the agonies of death. When he saluted Satih and gave him the salutations and felicitations of Chosroes, there came no reply. Then Abdu-1-Massiah recited to him some verses which Chosroes had sent to Satih, and in which he had expressed the hope of receiving a favourable reply to his query. When Satih heard those verses, he raised his head, and said, " Abdu-1-Massiah has come to Satih upon a laggard camel, when Satih had already received the honour of entering the grave. O Abdu-1-Massiah, the king of the Assanides, i.e. Nushirvan, has sent thee to me, because his palaces have been distressed and shaken, and their towers fallen to the earth, and the fire-altars of the Persians have been extinguished, and the chief fire-priest has seen in his dream unruly camels, drawing after them Arab horses beyond the Tigris, to be spread over the land of Persia : in the time when the reading of the Koran is to come to pass, and when the Lord of the stick,1 i.e. Mohammed, is to appear, and the Wady of Semawa shall flow with water, and the sea of Sawa shall overflow the land, and the fire of the fire-worshippers shall be extinguished, — in that time shall Babylon be no longer Persian, and Syria shall no longer belong to Satih, i.e. the Persians shall be driven out of the empire of Babylon, and Satih shall quit the world, so that the science of prophecy shall no longer remain in Syria ; and according to the fourteen dilapidated towers of the palace of Chosroes there shall still be fourteen rulers from amongst his males and females, after which mighty and great things will come to pass and all that is to be will be." ' Satih had no sooner given utterance to these words than he collapsed, and expired. But Abdu-1-Massiah re- turned to Chosroes, and told him all he had heard from Satih. Chosroes was somewhat comforted, and said, " It will take a long time before the reigns of fourteen of our descendants can have passed away." But Chosroes had no knowledge of the Divine decrees. It is reported that ten of 1 Mohammed is here called ' the Lord of the stick ' to represent him as making free use of the stick, that is, as destined to administer severe chastisement and to execute unsparing judgment upon the evil-doers. ch. I. 1 6.] HE IS THE END OF PROPHECY. 279 their kings passed away in four years ; and the reigns of the four other kings were completed under Omar ; and God granted the overthrow of Yezdejerd, who was the last king of Persia, by the hand of Saad Ibn Abi Wakaz. Yezdejerd escaped, and many times collected soldiers to war against the Mussulmans, till A.H. 31, under the Califate of Osman, he fled from the battle of Nehavend to Khorassan, where a miller killed him. But God knows best. ' The masters of biographical and historical science have stated that when Satih died, prophecy was taken away from the world. x This statement indicates that the original object of the existence of prophets and diviners was, as it were, to make known in Arabia the mission of Mohammed ; and the expression in the traditions, "There is no more prophecy after the mission of the prophet," confirms this meaning. And the import of the word "prophet" in the tradition, " They believed in what came to the prophets and diviners, but they rejected in unbelief what was sent down upon Mohammed," shows, that whoever claims the gift of prophecy, after the prophetic mission of Mohammed, is a mere diviner, whereas he who disclaims it, has the reality of prophetic gift and is not a diviner. For whoever dis- claims prophetic gifts after Mohammed's prophetic mission, is a true prophet, like Satih and Suwad, and to testify to what is true is not unbelief: but whoever lays claim to being a prophet, after God had taken away the prophetic gift from amongst men, when He made known the prophetic mission of Mohammed the chosen, — he is a liar and makes the prophet a liar ; and whoever bears testimony in favour of such a liar, must certainly be counted an infidel.'"2 (R.) 1 This statement is a complete parallel to the Lord's word : ' All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John ' (Matt. xi. 13). As John passed away with Christ's coming, so Satih with the appearance of Mohammed. Each was the last of the prophets, to make way for the era of fulfilment. 2 The thoughtful reader cannot help seeing that the very same method of reasoning here employed by these learned ' masters of biographical and historical science ' must lead the Christian thinker, from the standpoint of Christianity, to come to the inevitable conclusion that Mohammed, who claimed a prophetic mission after revelation had reached its climax and goal in the Son, who was the end of the Law and the prophets (Heb. i. 2 ; Luke xvi. 16), cannot have been a true prophet, sent by God, but must belong to the category referred to in Christ's word : ' Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many' (Matt. xxiv. 11). 28o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. (17.) After the commencement of their public ministry, both of them had to pass through the ordeal of a remarkable Satanic Temptation, tuhich aimed at seducing them into a most important change of their mission, but without success.1 a. In Matt. iv. i-n we read concerning Jesus Christ that ' He was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil,' and that He victoriously passed through the ordeal, without the least wavering in His resistance to the tempter, by meeting the first temptation with the word, ' It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God ; ' the second, with the declaration, ' It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God ; ' and the third, with the rebuke, ' Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' 1 Let the reader be expressly reminded that this heading (as are also other similar ones) is not in the least intended to convey the notion as if there was a real parallelism between the two cases. The parallelism results only from the Mohammedan invention of a story in excuse of an unethical action of Mohammed. In Christ's case we stand before a real, though unsuccessful, Satanic temptation, to lead Him astray from the Messianic course marked out for Him ; in Mohammed's case, before an unprincipled compromise which he formally accepted, and from which he afterwards cunningly tried to extricate himself, by throwing the whole blame on the devil, and by representing himself as merely the innocent sufferer of his unsuccessful temptation. Sir W. Muir expressly asserts the possibility of a true and real parallel between the two cases, by saying, in his Life of Mahomet, vol. ii. p. 95, 'If we admit that our Saviour was at the commencement of His mission the subject of a direct and special tempta- tion by the Evil One, we may safely assume that a similar combat possibly was waged, though with far other results, in the case of Mahomet.' This assertion not only needs the apology from which he boldly dispenses himself; but it is so gravely objectionable that no apology could make amends for it. From a Christian standpoint it is altogether inadmissible. For it presupposes the belief that, as Jesus had the Divine mission to be the prophet of Israel, so Mohammed had equally a Divine mission to become the prophet of the Arabs ; and that the Evil One naturally felt the same interest in spoiling the one and the other of these Divine missions. Sir W. Muir, in several places of his work, speaks of Mohammed as if he had fairly begun to be a true prophet, a kind of Messiah for Arabia ; and that this Divine purpose was only frustrated by the moral delinquencies to which he yielded. But if Christ was sent by God as the true prophet and only Saviour of all mankind (which Sir William undoubtedly believes), how can Mohammed, as the founder of a non-Christian and anti-Christian religion, by any possibility CH. I. 17.] TEMPTED BY SATAN. 281 b. The Rawzat narrates Mohammed's notorious tempta- tion and its result in the following manner : ' It is recorded that that Excellency's anxiety for the conversion of the Koreish to the faith was so great, that he desired the Most High might send a spirit to subdue the people's mind, and to incline their hearts to the Faith, and that he read to the polytheists revelations which from time to time came down from the One, in order that thus their hearts might be softened and themselves turned into Mussulmans. When the Sura " By the Star" {i.e. the 53d) came down, the Lord of the world went to the holy house of prayer and read that Sura in the assembly of the Koreish. In reading it out, he paused between the verses, to enable the people to take them in and remember them entirely. When he had reached the noble verse, " Do you see Lat, Ozza, and Manat, the third, besides ? " then Satan found it possible to cause the stupefied ears of the polytheists to hear these words, " These have likewise had a Divine mission from which it required a special Satanic temptation to turn him aside ? Theoretical Monotheism is of itself not so certain a token of the presence of God's kingdom as to be intolerable to Satan. The Jews were strict monotheists, and yet they were so completely under the influence of the devil that Jesus could affirm, he was their father (John viii. 44). In fact, the devils themselves, as St. James teaches us (James ii. 19), are pro- fessed monotheists ; but to no good, except to make them 'tremble.' Accord- ingly, Mohammed's iconoclastic advocacy of Monotheism cannot by any means be relied upon as a proof that even during the best period of his prophetic career, when some regard him as a true prophet, with a special Divine mission for the Arabs, he was anything but an instrument in the hand of the Powers of Darkness for raising up one of the most formidable obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom of God and the spreading of the Faith in Christ, as the Divine and only Saviour of man. The theological views, plainly underlying Sir W. Muir's valuable work on Mohammed, demand, if consistently carried to their logical conclusion, a rectification of the manner in which he has hitherto represented the outwardly purer period in the life of a fictitious prophet whose claims to replace Christ as a Divine Ambassador, from the very time they were first put forth, could not be anything but the outcome of deception. Not his immoralities constitute Mohammed a false prophet, but his claimed prophetship itself, his gratuitous assertion of a Divine mission to supersede Christ, as th last and greatest of all God's messengers. Therefore whatever appears to prove Mohammed a prophet, can, in the face of Christ, only prove him a false prophet. The kingdom of Darkness had obviously a far greater interest in upholding Mohammed's anti-Christian prophetship, than in demolishing it by an extraor- dinary Satanic temptation. The whole ' parallel,' discovered by Sir W. Muir, therefore reduces itself to this : that Christ's temptation was a fact and Mo- hammed's a fiction. 282 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n. are the exalted Goddesses whose intercession may be hoped for." In hearing these words, the infidels were exceedingly delighted. After having read the whole Sura, his Excellency worshipped, and the polytheists also followed his example, by doing so. When the infidels rose up from that assembly, they said, " Mohammed has mentioned our Gods in the handsomest manner ; and, although we know that the Most High God is the Lord of life and death, the Creator and Preserver, yet we also, at the same time, affirm that these our Deities are Intercessors with the highest God. In the present state of affairs, now that Mohammed has agreed with us in the matter, by declaring them to be ' those exalted Goddesses whose intercession may be hoped for,' we make peace with him and desist from persecuting him." The news of this peaceable arrangement spread abroad, and on reaching the fugitives in Abyssinia, they, on the strength of it, returned to their fatherland Mecca. ' It is recorded that Gabriel came and informed the pro- phet, upon whom be prayers and peace, of the words, " These exalted Goddesses," which Satan had suggested ; and on that Excellency becoming exceedingly pained and sad, God, in order to comfort his blessed heart, sent him this verse, " We did not send any apostle or prophet before thee, but when he desired anything, Satan cast evil suggestions into his desires. But God cancels that which Satan suggests. Then God establishes His revealed verses ; for God is knowing and wise." Then, on this verse reaching the ears of the infidels, they said, " Mohammed has repented of his declaration that there is room and a standing for our Deities, with God : therefore we also now withdraw from that peace." There- upon they resumed their persecution.' l 1 It is evident from the preceding account, that the Mohammedan narrators strove to screen Mohammed from having uttered the compromising words, and to represent the latter as a mere magical effect produced by Satan upon the ears of the listening polytheists. The design of screening Mohammed from the readiness shown by him to come to a compromise with idolaters, so damaging to his prophetic pretensions, is already apparent in the earliest biographers. For whilst Tabari in his first account of the affair says expressly, ' Satan put upon his tongue that of which his soul had been discoursing to him,' he altogether omits these words in his second version ; and though Ibn Ishak had related the story in his biography, as is known by Tabari quoting it from that source, yet Ibn Hisham, in editing Ibn Ishak's work, eliminated the entire story, so that CH. I. 1 8.] SPIRITS CONVERTED TO ISLAM. 283 (18.) As Jesus CJirist chose Twelve Apostles from amongst His disciples, so also Mohammed selected Twelve Apostles from his Moslem followers : but he not only from amongst men, hit also from amongst spirits. a. ' When it was day, Jesus called unto him his dis- ciples : and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles' (Luke vi. 13). ' These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils : freely ye have received, freely give ' (Matt. x- 5-7)- b. ' When Mohammed returned from the Arab tribes whom he had invited to accept him for a prophet, but who in return had persecuted and ridiculed him, he, at a day's journey from Mecca, made the acquaintance of a number of spirits (jin) whom he converted to Islam ; and a month now it is no longer found in Ibn Ishak's biography. Sir W. Muir treats this subject well, in his Life of Maho?net, vol. ii. pp. 149-160. He also gives the more unfavourable account, on Tabari and Wakidi's authority, of Gabriel's in- terference, in these words, 'Gabriel said, What is this that thou hast done? Thou hast repeated before the people words which I never gave unto thee. So Mohammed grieved sore and feared the Lord greatly ; and he said, I have spoken of God that which He has not said.' The same author makes the fol- lowing just remarks on the affair : ' Mohammed was not long in perceiving the inconsistency into which he had been betrayed. His only safety now lay in dis- owning the concession. The devil had deceived him. The words of compromise were no part of the Divine system received from God through His heavenly messenger. The lapse was thus remedied. The heretical verses spoken under delusion were cancelled, and others revealed in their stead denying the existence of female angels, such as Lat and Ozza, and denouncing idolatry with a sentence of irrevocable condemnation. But although Mohammed may have completely re-established his own convictions, there is little doubt that the concession to idolatry, followed by a recantation so sudden and so entire, seriously weakened his position with the people at large. They would not readily credit the excuse that words of error were cast by the devil into his mouth. Even supposing it to have been so, what faith could be placed in the revelations of a prophet liable to such influences?' But the biographers, whose great object was to represent Mohammed as in no way inferior to Christ, were fain, as soon as they found what unpleasant use could be made of the passage, to extricate themselves from a serious difficulty by resorting to the stratagem of either suppressing the story altogether, or so modifying it that the devil did not put the objectionable words on the Prophet's tongue at all, but only caused them to be heard by the un- hallowed ears of the people. 284 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk.ii. later he was visited by a vast host of spirits who likewise became Mussulmans. In that night his Excellency selected twelve from amongst the nobles of the spirits, to whom he taught the ordinances of the Law, and whom he commanded to teach the same unto others.' (R.) ' In the thirteenth year of Mohammed's prophetship, about three months before the Hegira, seventy-two of the people of Medina who had come to Mecca on the occasion of the pil- grimage, took the oath of submission and allegiance to him. Out of these he chose twelve men, whom he appointed as over- seers over the rest ; and he said on the occasion, " Let not those whom I did not choose to the office of overseer grieve or be vexed ; for it is not I who have chosen them, but Gabriel has chosen and selected them for me ; " and to those who were chosen and appointed as overseers, his Excellency said, "You are the sureties of the people over whom you are appointed as overseers, Just as the Apostles were Jesus' sureties,1 and I am the surety of my entire people." ' (R.) (19.) In the exercise of their public ministry, they gatliered Dis- ciples around tliem and zealously preached the Faith, one Sermon on a Mount being specially noted ; and they also made diligent use of the gathering of Great Multi- tudes, during the annual Festivals of the nation. a. ' From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, . . . and he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him, etc. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a 1 This express reference to a Christian institution, as the pattern for its Mohammedan imitation, is of importance, as strongly supporting the idea under- lying this whole chapter, namely, that there is in Islam an obvious tendency to represent Christianity as rendered no longer necessary, and therefore justly superseded and replaced by its own revelation and ordinances. Once the postu- late being admitted, that Islam offers benefits and blessings as great or greater than those of Christianity, it follows, as a matter of course, that it is justified in asserting a position of equality and superiority, which must turn into one of direct antagonism whenever the assumed superseded religion presumes to maintain itself against its rival. Thus Islam proved itself a«/z'-Christian in the double sense of the ' anti,' by first affecting a correspondence and equality of worth with regard to Christianity, and then assuming an attitude of open hostility. CH. I. 19.] BEGINS TO PREACH. SERMON ON A MOUNT, 285 mountain : and when he was set, his disciples came unto him : and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' etc. (Matt. iv. 17-20; v. vi. vii.) ' Now when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name' (John ii. 23). 4 After this there was a feast of the Jews ; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,' etc. (John v. 1-47). 'Now about the midst of the feast (of tabernacles), Jesus went up into the temple, and taught' (John vii. 14-53). b. ' The biographers and historians record that when that Excellency knew by clear proofs that he was a prophet, he preached Islam first of all to Khadija, and she believed in him without any hesitation. One day later, or, according to another account, at the close of that same day, Ali Ibn Abu Talib, who was being brought up by that Excellency, be- lieved in him. After him, Zeid Ibn Haritha, who was a liberated slave of Khadija, came to the faith. After him, Abu Bekr, the faithful, became ennobled with the nobility of the faith, etc. ' It is recorded that at first Mohammed invited the people to Islam in a private, secret manner, and that they embraced the faith by ones or by twos. This state lasted for three years, till Gabriel came and brought down this verse, " O Mohammed, bring thou openly forward that with which thou art commissioned, and turn away from the idolaters." Then that Excellency tied the girdle of preaching round his loins, and openly called upon the people to embrace Islam, so that men and women believed in numbers ; and Islam was much spoken of in Mecca. ' On receiving the command in the words of this verse, " Warn thy own tribe, thy relatives ; and spread thy wing over the believers who follow thee," his Excellency went up to mount Safa, and called together all the different branches of the Koreish. On hearing his voice, they said, " Moham- med has gone up to Mount Safa and calls us." So all the heads of the Koreish were gathered to him, and even those who could not come themselves sent some representative in their stead. Being gathered round him, they said, " What is the matter with thee, O Mohammed, and what dost thou 286 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. want ? " Then the Lord of the world addressed them, say- ing, " Redeem your souls from God : God is not enriched from you by anything. O ye sons of Abdu-1-Mottaleb, God is not enriched of you by anything. O Abbas, thou son of Abdu-1-Mottaleb, God is not enriched of thee by anything. O Safiya, thou aunt of the Apostle of God, God is not en- riched of thee by anything. O Fatima, thou daughter of Mohammed, ask of me what thou wilt of the things which concern me : God is not enriched of thee by anything." After that he said, " If I told you that hostile soldiers were coming from the other side of the mountain, who would suddenly pounce upon you and wish to make you prisoners, would you believe me in giving you such information, or would you not ? " They all answered, " We would believe thee : for thou art not known amongst us as a liar, and we have seen nothing in thee but what is true." His Excellency continued, " Then know and understand that I warn and threaten you with a severe punishment." That Excellency's uncle, Abu Lahab, replied, "What a pity, O Mohammed, that thou callest us together for such a purpose as this." ' (Ibn Hisham, Part IV.) ' It is recorded that that prince presented himself to the people during the seasons of pilgrimage, and invited them to embrace Islam, saying, " O ye people, call out, There is no God but the true God." ' (R.) (20.) /// order to tempt and test them, difficult questions were submitted to them by their opponents, which they were able to solve. a. ' Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. . . . But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription ? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and unto God the things that are God's. When they heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. The same day came to him the Sad- CH. I. 20.] TESTED BY DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. 287 ducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, saying,' etc. (Matt. xxii. 15-46). b. ' El Nadhr was of the Satans of the Koreish, one of those who reviled and opposed Mohammed. Having visited Hira, he had there heard the history of the Persian kings, and of Rustem and of Isfendar. So when Mohammed warned his people of the Divine punishments which had befallen former nations, he would rise after him, and say, " I know more beautiful stories than Mohammed ; " and having told them, he would ask, " Now, whereby are Moham- med's stories distinguished above mine?" He also once said, " I can reveal to you similar things to those which Allah reveals." When El Nadhr had spoken thus, the Koreish sent him with Okba Ibn Abi Mueit to the Jewish Rabbis of Medina, in order to tell them about Mohammed, and to ask them what they thought of him, because they had knowledge of the ancient books and knew more about prophets than themselves.1 Having gone to Medina and delivered their errand, the Rabbis said, "Address three questions to him, which we will communicate to you : if he answers them, he is sent as a prophet ; if not, he is a liar ;2 and you will know how to deal with him. First ask him concerning the men who went away in former times ; for marvellous things are told about them. Secondly ask him concerning the wanderer who reached the remotest east and west of the earth. And lastly ask him concerning the Spirit, what it is." On their return to Mecca, El Nadhr and Okba communicated the result of their journey to the Koreish; and then went to Mohammed and proposed to him the three questions. Mohammed replied definitely, " To-morrow I shall give you the answer." But when fifteen nights had passed, without his having received a revelation on the subject, the Meccans assembled 1 The reader will here notice the further parallelism, that not only were Jesus and Mohammed alike subjected to the test of hard questions, but also that in both cases the puzzling questions proceeded from the same Jewish source. 2 According to another account communicated in A. Sprenger's Leben und Lehre des Mohammed, vol. ii. p. 231, the Rabbis said, 'In order to test him, submit to him three questions : if he answers them all three, he is not a pro- phet ; but if he answers some and evades others, he is a prophet.' This would seem to show that Mohammed's definition of ' the Spirit ' was regarded, even by some early Mohammedans, as not a solution, but a mere evasion of the difficulty. 288 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. together and said, " Mohammed has promised to give us an answer on the following day, and now fifteen nights have passed away, without his giving an explanation." Moham- med himself was sad, because of his non-reception of a revela- tion and because of the Meccans' talk against him. At last God sent Gabriel with the Sura of the Cave {i.e. the i8th), in which he is rebuked on account of his grief, and informed about the men who had gone away, and about the wanderer, and about the Spirit.1 Mohammed said to Gabriel, " Thou hast been long in coming, so that I feared for the worst." Gabriel replied, "We can only come down to thee at the behest of God, thy Lord." In the said Sura the story of the men who had gone away is thus elucidated : " When the youths betook themselves to the cave, they said, O our Lord, grant us mercy from before thee, and order for us our affair aright. Then struck we upon their ear with deafness, in the cave, for many years. Then we awakened them that we might know which of the two parties could best reckon the space of their abiding. We will relate to thee their tale with truth. They were youths who had believed in their Lord, and we had increased them in guidance. And we had made them stout of heart, when they stood up and said, Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth : we will call on no other God but Him. . . . And thou mightest have seen the sun, when it arose, passing on the right of their cave ; and when it set, leave them on the left, while they were in its spacious chamber. . . . And thou wouldest have deemed awake, though they were sleeping : and we turned them to the right and to the left ; and at the entrance lay their dog with outstretched paws. Hadst thou come suddenly upon them, thou wouldest surely have turned thy back on them in flight, and have been filled with fear of them. . . . Some say they were three, their dog the fourth ; others say five, their dog the sixth, guessing at the secret ; others say seven, and their dog the eighth. Say, my Lord best knoweth the number : none, save a few shall know them. . . . And 1 In point of fact only the two first questions are answered in the 18th Sura (entitled ' the Cave '), whereas the third answer, concerning the Spirit, is found not in the 18th, but in the 15th Sura, so that either Ibn Hisham's account is inexact in this particular, or the verse defining ' the Spirit ' originally formed part of Sura iS. ch. I. 20.] HE SOLVES HISTORICAL DIFFICULTIES. 289 they tarried in their cave 300 years and 9 years over. Say, God best knows how long they tarried : with Him are the secrets of the heavens and of the earth." 1 The story of the wanderer who reached to the remotest east and west is thus explained : " They will ask thee about Dzu-1-Karnain.2 Say, I will recite to you an account of him. We stablished his power upon the earth, and made for him a way to every thing, and a route which he followed until he reached the setting of the sun. He found that it set in a miry fount ; and, hard by, he discovered a people. We said, O Dzu-1- Karnain, either chastise them or treat them generously. . . . Then followed he a route until he reached the rising of the sun. He found that it rose on a people to whom we had given no shelter from it. . . . Then followed he a route until he came between the two mountains between which he discovered a people who scarce understood a language. They said, " O Dzu-1-Karnain, verily Gog and Magog waste this land. Shall we then pay thee a tribute, so that thou mayest build a rampart between us and them ?" . . . He said, "Bring me blocks of iron," until, on having filled the space between the mountain-sides, he said, " Ply your bellows," until, after having made it red with heat, he said, " Bring me molten brass that I may pour it all over it." And Gog and Magog3 were not able to scale it, neither were they able to dig through it. 1 The story of the men who had gone away or disappeared from amongst their fellow-men, is the well-known legend De septem dormientibus apud urbem Ephesitm, according to which seven Christian youths, in order to escape the cruel persecution under the Emperor Dacius, entered a cave in Mount Kalion, near Ephesus, a.d. 251, and, falling asleep, remained there till the reign of Theodosius, when they were awakened by the accidental reopening of the cave, a.d. 446 ; and after having been seen by the Emperor and a' bishop, died, with a halo of glory round their head. This legend became widely spread in the East, reaching even to Abyssinia and Arabia. 2 Of Dzu-1-Karnain (lit. 'the two-horned,' from his representation by a ram's head with horns). Ibn Hisham says, that his name was Iskander (i.e. Alexander), the founder of Iskanderia (i.e. Alexandria), which city bears his name ; but he adds, that some one, well versed in Persian traditions, had told him that he was an Egyptian, called Marzulan, and descended from Jonan, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. 3 Gog and Magog are believed by the Mussulmans to be powerful nations living in the northern and eastern parts of Asia, and their future irruption upon the lands of the believers will be one of the signs of the approaching day of judgment and the end of the world. So vast will be their hosts that they will drink the Lake of Tiberias dry, on their march to Jerusalem, where they will T 290 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. 'The answer to the third question is found in Sura 17, verse 87, where we read, " They will ask thee about the Spirit. Say, The Spirit belongs to the things of my Lord (or, the Spirit is owing, as a creature, to a command of my Lord) ; x but the knowledge given to you is only a small measure." ' But when Mohammed, by answering their questions and giving an account of the unknown, had demonstrated to them that what he spoke was true and that he was a real prophet, envy prevented them from believing in him and following him, so that they remained rebellious against God, turned away from him with open eyes, and continued in unbelief (Ibn Ishak and Ibn Hisham in Part IV.) (21.) The impression made by their zvords and presence was stick as often to disarm their enemies, and frustrate the hostile designs which they had entertained against them. a. ' The Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take him. And some of them would have taken him ; but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees ; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him ? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man ' (John vii. 14-46). Compare also John viii. 3-1 1. ' As soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them greatly distress Jesus, who will have returned to this earth, and His companions. But at their request God will destroy them and send birds of prey to carry away and consume them. Their bows, arrows, and quivers will last the surviving Mussulmans as fuel for seven years ; and at length God will send a pouring rain to cleanse and fertilise the land. The idea of these innumerable hosts of Gog and Magog seems to have been suggested to the Western Asiatics by the westward incursions of hundreds of thousands of horsemen from Eastern Tartary and China, for centuries before the Christian era. (Compare Ezek. xxxix. 1-16 and Rev. xx. 7-10.) The 'Rampart' mentioned, seems to refer to the 'Chinese Wall.' 1 The word used in Arabic (emr) having the double meaning of ' command ' and 'thing,' the verse can be literally translated by either, 'The Spirit is (one) from (amongst) the things of my Lord,' or, ' The Spirit is (proceeding) from (i.e. owing to) the command of my Lord.' In either case Mohammed's pro- bable intention was, to represent the Spirit as one of the many things or creatures of God, produced by His creative fiat ; and therefore the verse conveys a latent and indirect opposition to the Christian Faith in the Spirit, as one of the Three eternal hypostases of the Holy Trinity. ch. i. 2i.] HE A WES HIS OPPONENTS. 291 again, Whom seek ye ? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way ' (John xviii. 3-9). b. ' Abd Allah Ibn Omar said, I was present one day, when the chiefs of the Koreish were assembled in the temple and thus spoke about Mohammed : "We have never endured anything like what we endure from this man : he calls us fools, dishonours our fathers, reviles our faith, divides our congregation, and blasphemes our gods. Verily, we endure hard things from him." While they were thus speaking, Mohammed arrived, embraced the pillar of the temple, and passing them in going round the temple, I observed from his face that they had been saying something offensive to him. I made the same observation, when he passed them the second and the third time. Then he stood still, and said to them, " Hearken, O ye congregation of the Koreish, by Him in Whose power Mohammed's soul is, I come to you with sacrificing." The people being struck by this word, every one felt as if a bird had alighted upon his head, so that the worst amongst them addressed him with tender words, saying, " Go home, O Abu-1-Kasim ; by Allah ! thou art not a fool," whereupon Mohammed went away. ' Otba Ibn Rabia, one of the chief men of the Koreish, said once in their assembly, whilst Mohammed was sitting alone in the temple, " Shall I not go to Mohammed and make him certain offers which, perhaps, he will accept, so that he may not any longer trouble us with his faith ? " They approved his proposal ; and he went to lay his offers before Mohammed, who in reply recited to him a Sura from the Koran. When Otba returned to his friends, after this interview, they said one to the other, " We can swear by God that Otba has returned with quite a different countenance." On having seated himself near them, they asked him, " What is the report thou bringest ? " He answered, " By Allah, I heard words such as I have never heard before : they are neither poetry, nor enchantment, nor soothsaying ; therefore trust and follow me, by leaving Mohammed in peace." Upon this they replied, " By God, he has enchanted thee with his tongue." But he said, " This is my view, do ye what you deem proper." 292 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. 'When Mohammed had left the Koreish, Abu Jahl said, "You see that Mohammed will only despise our religion, revile our fathers, call us fools, and blaspheme our gods. I therefore take God for a witness that to-morrow I will take with me a stone into the temple, as heavy as I can carry ; and when he prostrates himself in prayer, I will smash his head with it. Then you may either protect me, or give me up to be dealt with by the Beni Abd Menaf, as they please." To this the Koreish replied, We shall never give thee up : do what thou wilt." The next day Abu Jahl took a heavy stone and waited for Mohammed in the temple. In the morning the latter went to the temple to worship, as he always did in Mecca, with his face turned towards Syria, between the Black Stone and the southern pillar, so that the Kaaba lay between himself and Syria.1 The Koreish were all assembled to see what Abu Jahl was going to do. When Mohammed prostrated himself, Abu Jahl went towards him with the stone ; but on approaching him, he turned back again like a fugitive, pale and terrified, his hands sinking down with the stone, till he let it drop. The Koreish went towards him and asked what was the matter with him. He answered, " I wanted to carry out what I had told you yesterday ; but when I came near him, I saw a camel between him and me, with a head, neck, and teeth, such as I had never seen in a camel, and it showed signs as if it was going to devour me." At the close of this account Ibn Ishak adds, I have been informed that Mohammed said, "This was Gabriel who would have annihilated him, had he approached nearer." ' Abd Allah Ibn Abi Nejih reported that the Calif Omar narrated his conversion to Islam as follows : ' I was an enemy of Islam, loved wine, and drank a great deal of it. One night I went to a certain wine-seller of Mecca, in order to drink wine ; but not finding him at home, I resolved to eo to the Kaaba to circumambulate it seven or fourteen times. On my arrival there, I found Mohammed praying between the Black Stone and the southern pillar, and with his face turned towards Syria, having the Kaaba between him and Syria. 1 The drift of this observation seems to be to intimate that Mohammed did not neglect any one of the two Kiblas, but that in facing the one he at the same time also faced the other. CH. 1. 21.] OMAR'S CONVERSION TO ISLAM. 293 When I saw him, I thought I will listen to-night to what he says ; but lest I should frighten him, I went near him softly from the side of the northern wall and passed behind the curtains of the Kaaba, by which alone I was separated from him. On hearing how Mohammed prayed and read the Koran, my heart softened, I wept, and Islam gained entrance with me. I remained in my place till Mohammed had finished his prayer and went away. Going after him, I over- took him between the houses of Abbas and Ibn Azhar. Recognising me, and supposing that I had followed him, in order to harm him, he called out aloud, " What dost thou want at this hour, thou son of Khattab ? " I answered, " I come, in order to believe in God and His apostle, and that which he has brought from God." Mohammed praised God, and said, " God has guided thee aright." l 1 It is worthy of remark that immediately before this account of Omar's conversion, Ibn Ishak, on the authority of Abd-er- Rahman Ibn el Harith, gives a wholly different narrative of it with equal minuteness ; and, as both cannot by any possibility be true, the truth of the one necessarily demonstrating the false- hood of the other, we have here an undeniable proof that the most detailed circumstantiality of description and the most plausible semblance to a graphic account by eye-witnesses, in these Mussulman sources of history, cannot by any means be relied upon as of themselves safe guarantee's for the historical truth of a narrative. According to Abd-er-Rahman's account, Omar took his sword one day and went out with the intent of killing Mohammed. Being met on the way by Nueim Ibn Abd Allah, and asked what he was about, he communicated to him his intention. Nueim said, Thou hadst better righten matters in thy own family. Omar asked, Whom dost thou mean? Nueim replied, Thy brother-in-law Seid and thy sister Fatima have embraced Islam and followed Mohammed : first occupy thyself with them. Thereupon Omar went to his brother-in-law's house, where he found them engaged in reading a portion of the Koran. He smote Seid in the face, and on Fatima interfering, he also gave her a blow which wounded her. When he saw his sister bleeding, he regretted what he had done, was frightened, and said to her, Give me the manuscript from which I have just now heard you read, so that I may see what Mohammed has brought to you. After having read a little, he exclaimed, ' How beautiful, how sublime are these words ! Take me to Mohammed that I may become a Moslem in his presence.' They told him that Mohammed was in a house near Safa, together with some of his companions ; and after having gone there and confessed his faith in Islam, Mohammed exclaimed, God is great ! and all those assembled in the house knew from this, that Omar had become a Moslem. At the end of these stories Ibn Ishak, evidently feeling their mutual contradiction, observes, ' God knows which of the two traditions is the correct one ; ' and the scrutinising reader may add with equal candour, ' God knows whether any is correct, and whether both are not false, and merely invented, as so many other things, to glorify the Koran and its earliest professors.' 294 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. (22.) They were reviled and persecuted in their own home, because of their testimony and the unflinching discharge of their prophetic mission, especially when this involved opposition to the then existing state of religion and exposure of prevailing abuses. a. 'Jesus began to' say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. . . . And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. . . . And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city' (Luke iv. 21-29). Compare John v. 15-18 ; vi. 41, 42 ; Heb. xii. 3. ' The world cannot hate you ; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil ' (John vii. 7). 'And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him : x and the third day he shall rise again ' (Matt. xx. 17-19). b. ' The mission of a prophet is accompanied by troubles 1 It may here be remarked that, as regards the termination of their persecu- tions, the life of Christ and the life of Mohammed present a striking contrast. Jesus Christ deliberately went up to Jerusalem, knowing for certain that He would then and there be condemned to death by crucifixion ; but Mohammed, on seeing his life seriously threatened in Mecca, fled from his persecutors to Medina ; and, in order to secure his own escape, condescended even to deceive the Koreish who were watching his house, by causing his nephew Ali to lay himself on the Prophet's bed in the Prophet's clothes. Besides, as long as Jesus lived in this world, the eminence of His Person drew all the persecutions upon Himself, thus saving His disciples from likewise becoming the special objects of persecution (John xviii. 8, 9) ; but Mohammed's personal influence, even taken together with that of his protectors, did not suffice to screen his followers from ill-treatment; for Ibn Ishak tells us, ' The weak amongst the Moslems were imprisoned, beaten, exposed to hunger and thirst, and to the heat of the sun, so that many of them forsook their faith in order to escape the persecutions, whilst others were strengthened by God to defy and resist.' After they had endured persecution for a while, they, by the advice of Mohammed, who thus confessed his own inability to keep them, emigrated to the Christian country of Abyssinia, where they found the needed protection, till Mohammed had become the chief of a powerful party in Medina, when they, at his request, rejoined him, in order to help in rendering that party dominant. CH. 1.22.] HIS PREACHING STIRS UP PERSECUTION. 295 and burdens which only the persevering and strong amongst God's apostles can bear, with God's help ; for they have to endure much from men who contend with them concerning that which they proclaim in the name of God." (Ibn Ishak.) ' Waraka said to that prince : " Would that I were still living, and young and strong on that day, when thy people will drive thee out of this city." 1 Upon this his Excellency said, " O Waraka, are they, then, going to drive me out ? " Waraka replied, " Yes, certainly, they will drive thee out ; for no one has ever brought such a thing as thou bringest, without his people having shown him enmity and troubled and persecuted him." ' 2 (R.) ' As Mohammed continued to publish the religion of God and to invite to its adoption, the discord between him and the Koreish increased, so that they shunned him, hated him, spoke against him, and excited each other to hostilities against him. Then they went again to Abu Talib, saying, "Thou art a learned and distinguished man amongst us, and we have already requested thee to put a stop to thy nephew's doings, but thou hast not done so : therefore, by Allah, we shall no longer tolerate his reviling our fathers, misleading our youths, and blaspheming our gods; either thou restrainest him, or we shall combat you both." On their leaving, Abu Talib was very sorry for the discord and enmity of his people ; and yet he could not forsake and deliver up Mohammed. . . . ' Then the Koreish became hostile to the companions of Mohammed who had embraced Islam and lived amongst them : every clan rose against the Moslems amongst them, sought to induce them to give up their faith, and ill-treated them. But God protected Mohammed by his uncle Abu Talib, who, on seeing the conduct of the Koreish, called upon the Beni Hashim and Mottaleb to join him in pro- tecting Mohammed and taking his part. They accepted 1 i.e. the city of Mecca where Mohammed was born and had grown up, as a complete parallel to Jesus' being thrust out of the city of Nazareth, 'where He had been brought up ' (Luke iv. 16). 2 This word, put into Waraka's mouth, shows that the Moslem writers believed it to be their duty to illustrate that Mohammed's equality with the previous prophets also consisted in his having to suffer persecutions, for delivering a message purporting to come from God. 2cj6 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk.ii. this invitation and joined him, with the exception of Abu Lahab, that wicked enemy of God. When Abu Talib had the pleasure of seeing that his tribe inclined towards him and shared his zeal, he praised them, recalling the memory of their ancestors, and the excellencies of the apostle of God, and his position amongst them, in order to strengthen them in their love towards him.1 ' The Koreish became still more violent on account of the unpleasantness which they had brought upon themselves by their hostility to Mohammed, they incited the most daring ones against him ; and these called him a liar, a sorcerer, a poet, a soothsayer, a demoniac, and ill-treated him. Mo- hammed, in openly carrying out God's commands, said aloud what they did not like to hear, reviled their faith, rejected their idols, and separated himself from the unbelievers. ' Yahya Ibn Unva narrates that his father heard Abd Allah Ibn Omar say, One day the Koreish were in the temple and I with them, and I heard one of them say to the other, Do you remember what he did to you and you to him, so that he said to you what you did not like, and yet you left him alone ? While they were thus speaking, Mohammed entered. They fell upon him like one man, surrounded him, and asked, Didst thou revile our gods and our Faith in such and such a manner ? He answered, Yes, I did. Then I saw how one of them seized him just in the place where the cloak is folded over. Abu Bekr placed himself weeping before him, and said, Will you kill a man who says, God is my Lord ? Upon this, they left him and went away. This is the worst of what they did to Mohammed. Ibn Ishak says, One of the family of Om Koltum, Abu Bekr's daughter, told me that she said, When Abu Bekr came home that day, part of his head was bare, so violently had they torn him by his beard ; for he had a beautiful beard. A learned man also told me, The worst which Mohammed experi- enced from the Koreish was this, that one day, when he 1 This plainly shows that Mohammed, the grandson of the most influential man of Mecca, was, from the first, never so wholly independent of the help of man and so entirely left to the resources of his own person as Jesus Christ, the carpenter's son of Nazareth ; and that Islamism, even in its nascent state in Mecca, was supported by an arm of flesh and benefited by the sympathies and antipathies of Arab clanship. CH. I. 22, 23.] FAITH OFFERED CONDITIONALLY. 297 went out, no one, neither freeman nor slave, met him without calling him a liar and insulting him. He went home and wrapt himself up ; but God said to him, 0 thou who art wrapt up, arise and preach ! ' (Ibn Ishak and Ibn Hisham, Part IV.) (23.) Unconvinced by their ivords and acts of the Divine Mission they claimed, the people proffer them Un- acceptable Demands wliich are not granted, and only ividen the breach betzveen the prophet and the people. a. ' The Jews said unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee ? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven ; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. . . . Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is an hard saying ; who can hear it ? ' (John vi. 28-33, 60). Comp. John ii. 18-22, Matt. xii. 38-40. 1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempt- ing desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, ... A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed ' (Matt. xvi. 1-4). b. ' When Islam began to spread in Mecca amongst the men and women of the clans of the Koreish, the chief men of each clan assembled on one occasion, after sunset, at the back wall of the Kaaba and sent for Mohammed that they might dispute with him and be excused afterwards. When he had seated himself by them, they repeated their former accusations and again, as previously through Otba, offered him money, honour, and power, if that were his aim ; or to procure a physician for him, in case he was visited by a spirit of whom he could not rid himself. Mohammed answered, My state is not such as you suppose, neither do I seek money, honour, and power ; but God has sent me as 298 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. His apostle, revealed a book to me, and commanded me to bring you glad tidings and warnings. Now, if you will accept what I have brought to you, it will be for your good in this world and in the next ; but if you reject it, I wait patiently till God will decide between us. 'Then they said to Mohammed, " If thou wilt not accept these our offers, then, knowing how hard our life is, and how we lack water in this our narrow valley, pray to thy Lord who has sent thee, that He may remove the straitening mountains and widen our land, and dissect it by rivers, like Syria and Irak, and that He may cause our late fathers to rise again, especially the truthful elder, Kussei Ibn Kilab, so that we may ask them whether thou speakest true or false. If they declare thee to be true and thou dost what we ask of thee, then will we believe in thee, acknowledge thy high rank with God, and regard thee as His Apostle." Mohammed replied, " I have not been sent to you with this. I bring you that with which God has commissioned me." 'Thereupon they said, " If thou wilt not do this, care for thyself: pray God to send an angel to declare thee to be true and to refute our objections ; beg of Him to send thee gardens, palaces, and treasures of gold and silver, that thou mayest no longer have to go to market, like any one of us, to buy victuals, and we will acknowledge thy distinction and rank, if thou art an apostle of God as thou assertest." Mohammed replied, " I will not do so and not ask any thing of God for myself: I am sent as a warner and bearer of glad tidings ; 1 if you accept my message, it will be for your own happiness in this and the next world." ' They further said, " Then cause the heaven to fall down upon us in pieces, as thou affirmest God does, if it pleases Him, else we will not believe in thee." Mohammed replied, " This belongs to God : He will do it ; as soon as it pleases Him." ' Again they said, ' O Mohammed, since thy Lord knows that we are here sitting with thee and addressing certain demands to thee, why does He not come and tell thee how 1 These mild answers, which would be so natural and true in the mouth of Jesus, seem plainly framed in imitation of the spirit of the Gospel and Christian practice. ch. 23, 24.] THE PEOPLE BECOME ALIEN A TED. 299 to refute us and what He will do, if we continue not to listen to thee ? We have heard that a man of Yemama, called Rahman, is thy teacher ; but, by Allah, we shall never believe in Rahman. We have now done our duty ; and we shall no longer tolerate thee and thy doings, till either we succumb to thee or thou to us." 'Then Mohammed rose up to go home. His cousin Abd Allah Ibn Abi Omeia accompanied him and spoke to him thus, " Thy people have made offers to thee which thou hast rejected. Then they desired of thee sundry things to prove the high esteem thou art held in by God, so that they might believe in thee and follow thee ; but thou didst not comply. Then they requested thee to ask for thyself such things by which they might know that thou enjoyest more- favour with God than themselves ; but thou hast declined. Then they wished thee forthwith to carry out a portion of the punishment with which thou threatenest them ; but thou didst not accede. Therefore, by Allah, I shall not believe in thee, till thou, before my eyes, ascendest up to heaven on ladders and comest back with a writing in which four angels testify to thee ; but I think that even then I should not believe in thee." With these words he left Mohammed, who returned home, sad and cast down, because he was dis- appointed in his hope of the conversion of his tribe, and saw that they further and further separated themselves from him.' (Ibn Ishak and Ibn Hisham, Part IV.) (24.) Both of them came in contact with Spirits from the unseen zvorld, who recognised, honoured, and obeyed them, more readily than the people of this world to wlwm they addressed themselves. a. 'And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit ; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone ; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they 300 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this ? what new doctrine is this ? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him ' (Mark i. 23-27). 'And unclean spirits, when they saw Jesus, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known' (Mark iii. 11, 12). Compare Mark i. 32-34; v. 1-20. b. When Mohammed returned from his fruitless mission- ary efforts amongst the Kahtanites and Thakifites, sad at heart, and spent the last night of the journey, we are told, ' Whilst he was at his evening prayers, seven or nine spirits from Nisibin or Nineveh accidentally came that way, and seeing the Teacher of all creatures at prayer, and hearing him read the Koran, they stayed and listened, till that Excellency had finished. Then they made themselves known to him, and he invited them to the Faith. They, without any hesitation, became believers, and that Excel- lency said unto them, " When you have gone to your home, invite also your people to the Faith, and deliver unto them my message." It is said that those seven spirits were of the Jewish persuasion. Therefore, on reaching their people, they said to them, " We have heard a book which has been sent down, after Moses," and further invited them to the Faith. Thus many of them embraced the Faith, without having seen that Excellency's blessed face, and desired to be honoured with the distinction of an interview with him. When this was communicated to the Lord of Lords, he appointed a night on which they might meet him. It is said that the night fixed upon was a Wednesday night. ' About a month after this, Gabriel came and informed that Lord of men and spirits that a host of spirits were coming. Therefore he said, " I have been commanded this night to go out to the spirits, in order to invite them to embrace Islam and to recite to them the Koran ; who is there amongst my friends that will accompany me ? " But all his companions remained silent, except Ibn Masud who said, " I am ready to accompany thee." When they together had reached' the appointed place, the apostle of CH. i. 24.] SPIRITS CONVERTED TO ISLAM. 301 God drew a circle upon the ground with his blessed finger, and said to Ibn Masud, " Enter thou within this circle and then do not again step beyond this line, lest suddenly a calamity might befall thee."1 After this, his Excellency ascended a hill to perform his prayers, and while thus engaged, 12,000 or, according to another account, 600,000 spirits, or, according to still another account, 40 banners and under each banner a vast assembly of spirits, joined him. When that chosen one had finished his prayers, he invited them to embrace the Faith, and all of them became Mussulmans.' Another account adds, ' When some of those spirits asked his Excellency, "Who art thou?" he answered, "I am the apostle and prophet of God." They again said, " Who is thy witness that thou art the prophet and apostle of God ? " He replied, " My witness is this tree which stands here ; " and, addressing the tree, he continued, " O tree, come hither at the command of God." Thereupon that tree at once began to walk, and, dragging along its boughs and branches, stood over-against that Excellency, who said, " O tree, to what art thou a witness ? " The tree, acquiring an eloquent tongue, called out, " I bear witness that thou art the apostle of God." Then his Excellency said to that tree, " Return to thy place," whereupon it returned in the same way as it had come.' It is recorded that Ibn Masud said, ' In that night I saw that several black figures, resembling vultures, went near his Excellency ; and I heard great voices, so that I feared lest some grievous thing might befall that prince. So many black figures crowded upon that Excellency that he was entirely hid by them and I was no longer able either to see his person or to hear his voice. Then they became broken up and divided into parts, like a cloud and, going away, disappeared. When it had become morning, the Prophet came to me and asked, " Ibn Masud, What didst thou see ? " I answered, " O apostle of God, I saw black persons wrapt up in white." His 1 The tendency of this report plainly is, to convey the impression that Mohammed freely invited witnesses to be present at the expected strange inter- view, and that it was anything but intentional that, after all, he was by himself alone, when the interview took place. 3o2 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. Excellency said, " They were spirits from Nisibin, and as they asked provisions of me for themselves and the animals on which they rode, I decreed that bones and manure should be their provisions." I asked further, " O apostle of God, why are bones and manure sufficient for them ? " His Excellency answered, "Because on every bone God causes as much meat to grow for them as there was originally meat upon it ; and for the animals on which they ride, God causes so many grains of corns to grow in the manure as that manure con- tains old grains." ' (Ibn Ishak.) ' Sehil Ibn Beiza narrates : " One day, during the expedi- tion to Tabuk, his Excellency made me ride behind him on his camel, when we suddenly saw an enormous serpent on the road, so that the people ran away from fright. That serpent came and stood a considerable time opposite him, the people seeing it and wondering. Then it glided away and at a distance stood again on one side of the road. His Excellency now said to the people around him, ' Do you at all know what this serpent is ? ' They answered, ' God and His prophet know it best' Thereupon his Excellency con- tinued, ' This is part of those spirits who came to me in Mecca and listened to the Koran. Their abode being in these regions, they, as soon as God's apostle reached it, came to welcome and salute us, and to ask what were our difficulties ; and after having received the answer, they stood again for a while and saluted you.' The companions replied, ' With it also be peace and God's mercy and blessing.' His Excellency added, ' Salute ye the servants of God, whoever they may be." ' (Rawzat.) (25.) Both of them received Visits from Good Angels. a. ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descend- ing upon the Son of man' (John i. 51). ' Behold, angels came and ministered unto him ' (Matt. iv. 11). ' And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him ' (Luke xxii. 43). ch. 1.25.] GABRIEL APPEARS IN DIFFERENT FORMS. 303 b. ' It is recorded that his Excellency said, " I was in the cave of Hira, when suddenly some one appeared to me and said, O Mohammed, to thee be the good news that God has sent me, Gabriel, to thee, and thou art God's apostle over His people." ' ' Be it known that revelation was brought down to that Excellency by Gabriel, who sometimes came to him in the form of a beautiful man, visible now and then even to his friends ; and sometimes appeared in his own original form, without assuming that of any one else.' ' In the year a.h. 10, Gabriel came to one of the Prophet's meetings, in the form of a man whose robes were exceedingly white and his hair extremely black, his scent superlatively fragrant and his face supremely beautiful, so that those who were present in the meeting saw him and wondered at him. For there was no appearance of travelling, that one might have taken him for a traveller ; and not any one of those present knew him, so as to say, he belongs to such or such a country. On drawing near, he said, " Peace be on thee, O Mohammed," and sat himself down in such a way that his knees touched the knees of his Excellency. When his Excellency had re- turned his salutation, he put his hands upon his Excellency's thighs and asked questions about faith, surrender, doing good, the resurrection, and the signs of the resurrection ; but no sooner had his Excellency answered these questions, than he rose up again and went away. The Lord of the world said, " Go and bring this person back." His friends went out, but however much they searched, they could not find him. His Excellency said, " This was Gabriel : with this one exception, I always recognised him in whatever form he came ; but as soon as he had disappeared, I knew that it was Gabriel." Another account states that, three days afterwards, the Prophet asked Omar Ibn Khattab, " O Omar, knowest thou who that person was who asked me those questions ? " Omar answered, " God and His apostle know it better." His Excellency rejoined, " It was Gabriel : he came to teach you religion."' (Rawzat.) 304 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. (26.) The most remarkable story concerning the mythical Mohammed is that of his ' Ascension into Heaven! Whilst Jesus Christ, during his eartlily life, conversed only with tzvo of the long-departed Saints, Moses and Elijah, and did not ascend into heaven till after his death, Mohammed, honoured zvith an Ascension into heaven long before J lis natural death, had personal com- munion with all the previous prophets, and, leaving fesus far below in the second heaven, himself mounted high above the seventh, and, entering into the immediate presence of the Divine Majesty, attained to the most exalted degree of God-likeness, so that God said unto him, ' I and thou,' and he unto God, ' Thou and II a. 'As Jesus prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias ; who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem' (Luke ix. 28- 36). Compare Matt, xviii. 1-9. ' So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God ' (Mark xvi. 19). Compare Acts i. 2-1 1. 1 God raised up Christ from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come ; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church ' (Eph. i. 20-22). b. ' According to most high Ulemas, the ascension of Mohammed took place in the twelfth year of his prophetic mission ; but according to some, in the fifth ; and it is re- corded in different ways by the traditionists, commentators, and biographers. But all the different narratives are based on what twenty of his companions severally declared to have heard from his own lips.1 1 The Mohammedan authors give such long and detailed accounts of Mohammed's night-visit to the Aksa of Jerusalem and of his ascension to the seven heavens and far beyond them, that what here follows is in places somewhat ch. i. 26.] HE MOUNTS THE BORAK. 305 ' That Excellency said, " When I was in my house in Mecca, its roof opened," or, according to another account, " When I was sitting upon my place of prayer in the house of Imhani, and had gone a little to sleep, Gabriel came and said, O Mohammed, arise, and come out of thy house. Then I arose, went out, and there saw an angel and a saddle-beast standing, or, by another account, I saw Gabriel and 50,000 angels with him, all singing praises." According to another account, that Excellency began his story thus : " I was in the holy temple of Mecca, when suddenly Gabriel and Michael came, who, after splitting me open from the chest to the navel, washed my inside clean, and removed the refuse and alloy that was there ; and then bringing a ewer full of wisdom and faith, filled my heart with them and put it back to its place. Thereupon Gabriel, taking my hand, drew me forth from the temple, and I saw the Borak (or Barak l) standing between Safa and Merwa. He was smaller than a mule, larger than an ass, having a human face, elephant's ears, a horse's mane, a camel's neck, a mule's chest, a camel's tail, with the legs of an ox ; or, according to another account, with the legs of a camel and the hoofs of an ox. His breast was like red emerald, his back like a white pearl, on his sides he had two wings covering his legs, and on his back was one of the saddles of Paradise. ' Gabriel said, O Mohammed, mount thou Abraham's Borak on which he visited the Kaaba. Then Gabriel held the stirrup, and Michael took the reins, and Borak bending himself down to the ground, I mounted. Gabriel accom- panied me, with a host of angels before and behind, on my right and on my left hand. When we were on our way, epitomised, without, however, omitting anything at all characteristic or essential. The narrators wish us expressly to understand that what they communicate was derived from their prophet's own lips. 1 ' Barak ' is the usual Hebrew word for ' lightning,' and was plainly obtained from Mohammed's Jewish instructors, like several others, e.g. Ashura, Shechina, Kisse, Torah, etc. These Hebrew terms unmistakably betray the human source of many of Mohammed's pretended supernatural revelations. A vehicle of the rapidity of lightning was required to convey the prophet, in the space of a few hours, to the temple of Jerusalem, and thence far beyond the seventh heaven, and back again to Mecca. Either ignorance or design converted the natural barak, or lightning, into the grotesque creature described in the text, and dubbed it with the proper name of Borak. U 3o6 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. some one called after me from my right, wishing to ask me something, but I did not heed him. Some one likewise called to me from the left, desiring to put a question to me, neither did I heed him. After that I saw a woman who had adorned herself and was standing on my way ; and when she also called me to stop, that she might ask a ques- tion of me, I again passed onward, without heeding her in the least. Then I asked Gabriel who those had been, and he answered, The first was a Jew, and if thou hadst attended to him, all thy people would after thy time have turned Jews ; the second was a Christian, and if thou hadst attended to him, all thy people would after thy time have turned Christians ; and the third was the world, if thou hadst attended to her, all thy people would after thee have become worldlings, choosing this world rather than the next. ' Then, pursuing our journey, we arrived at the temple of Aksa, where I found a congregation of holy angels who had come from heaven to meet me. They gave me honour and good news from the Lord of Glory, and saluted me in these words, Peace be with thee, O thou who art the first and the last and the ingatherer (viz. of men, for the day of judgment). Upon this, Gabriel took me down from Borak, and tied him to the same ring of the temple to which previous prophets had tied the animals on which they rode. Then I entered the Aksa and there saw an assembly of the prophets, or, by another account, of the spirits of the prophets. They saluted and felicitated me ; and on my asking Gabriel who they were, he replied, They are thy brethren, the prophets of God. I desired that we should offer up prayers, whereupon the pro- phets and angels formed lines, and Gabriel said to me, Be thou the Imam. Then I stepped forward and acted as Imam, the prophets and angels following me. When I had finished the prayers, several of the most distinguished pro- phets gave praise to God for the special virtues and favours with which He had endowed them. The first was Abraham, the second Moses, the third David, the fourth Solomon, and the fifth Jesus. The latter said, Praise and honour be to that God who is the Nourisher of all the dwellers on the earth. He has made me His Word, and has formed me like Adam, whom He made of earth, and then said to him, ' Be ! ' ch. I. 26.] HE ASCENDS TO THE EIRST HEA VEN. 307 and he was. He has taught me the book of the Gospel, endowed me with wisdom, and enabled me to make a bird of clay, which, when I blew upon it, by His permission, became a living bird. He also has enabled me to heal the deaf and cleanse the lepers ; He has taken me up to heaven and purified me, and has so protected me and my mother from the wickedness of Satan that he never gained any power over us. ' As soon as these prophets had finished their praises of God, I also began mine, saying, Praise and honour be to that God who has made me (a means of) mercy for the dwellers on the earth, and has sent me with an apostolic mission to all men, making me their evangelist and their warner. He has sent the Furkan1 down to me, which contains the clear proofs of all things. He has made my people to be the first of all others, and given them a name for fair dealing and equity. He has made me the first and the last, has cleft open my breast and removed from it the weight (viz. of sin and guilt, or perhaps even of peccability). He has made my name exalted, and called me the Beginner and the Finisher. ' After this Gabriel took me by the hand and led me up upon the Rock.2 There appeared a ladder, reaching from the Rock up to heaven, of such beauty, as I had never before seen. Angels were ascending by it into heaven. By this ladder the angel of death also descends, when he is going to take away men's spirits. The apostle,3 mounting Borak, like- wise ascended by this ladder. But, according to another ac- count, Gabriel took him with both his wings and carried him up to the first heaven. The angelic door-keeper, Ishmael, having opened, they entered, and Adam met Mohammed with the salutation, Welcome, thou righteous prophet and son of a righteous one ! On Adam's right hand there was a door by which the righteous of his children passed into Paradise, and which yielded a sweet fragrance, so that he was delighted, as often as he looked that way ; but on his left hand there was a door by which the wicked of his 1 Another name for Koran. It signifies 'distinction,' viz. between truth and error. - Still shown in the Aksa, as the starting-point of his ascension. 3 From here, by an irregularity, the narrative is carried on in the third person, till, with the next new line, a return is made to the first person. 308 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n. offspring passed into hell, and from which a bad smell issued, so that he became sad, whenever he looked to that side. ' In the second heaven I saw the two youths John and Jesus, who were cousins, and they saluted me thus, Welcome, thou righteous prophet and righteous brother! In the third heaven I saw Joseph, who saluted me with the same words. His beauty was such as to excel the beauty of all other creatures, in the same degree, in which the light of the full moon surpasses the light of all other stars ; or, according to another account, he represented half the beauty in existence, whilst the other half is distributed amongst the rest of creation. Then Gabriel took me to the fourth heaven, where I saw Enoch, who also saluted me by saying, Welcome, thou righteous prophet and righteous brother ! Then he took me to the fifth heaven, where I saw Aaron, who welcomed me in the same words ; and afterwards to the sixth, where I saw Moses, who did the same. When I had passed by him, he wept ; and on being asked why he wept, he answered, Because a young man has been sent as an apostle after me, whose people will be more virtuous than my own, and of whom more will enter Paradise than of my people. After this he brought me to the seventh heaven, where I saw Abraham, my Father, who saluted me, saying, Welcome, thou righteous prophet and son of a righteous one ! ' Thence they took me to the remotest Tree, and I saw that its fruit was like the Medina-pitchers, and its leaves resembled an elephant's ear, and the light of God overspread the whole Tree, and angels flew round it like golden moths, in such numbers that none could count them except God. This Tree is Gabriel's abode. Under the Tree I saw four rivers, two of which flowed within, and two without. Gabriel informed me that the former watered Paradise, and the latter were the rivers Euphrates and Nile. 'Another account is to this effect : " In the highest parts of the seventh heaven he took me to a river, called the River of Abundance, on whose banks tents of emerald, pearls, and smaragd were erected, and where I saw green birds. Gabriel said, This river God has given to thee. It flows over pebbles of emerald and smaragd, and its water is whiter than milk. Filling one of the golden cups standing there, and drinking ch. i. 26.] HE ADVANCE TH TO GOD'S THRONE. 309 a little, I found the water sweeter than honey and more fragrant than musk. After this they showed me the Visited House which, situated in the seventh heaven, so closely corresponds with the Kaaba, that, if e.g. a stone were to fall from it, it would exactly hit the roof of the Kaaba. This house is daily visited by 70,000 angels, and always by fresh ones, so that those who visit it one day do not come again on another day. I was also offered three covered cups : the first I took contained honey, so I drank a very little of it ; the second was milk, of which I drank till I had enough. Gabriel said, Wilt thou not also drink of the third ? but I answered, I have enough. Upon this Gabriel said, The Lord be praised, who has guided thee aright ; hadst thou taken the cup of wine, thy people would have gone astray. ' When we left the Tree, Gabriel said to me, Do thou pass before, for thou art more highly esteemed of God than I. Then I went on first, and Gabriel followed me, till we reached a curtain of gold cloth. On Gabriel announcing who it was that had come, an angel called out from behind the curtain, There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the apostle of Allah ; and stretched forth his hand to take me in. I said to Gabriel, Why dost thou remain behind in such a place ? He answered, O Mohammed, every one of us has his place assigned him, beyond which he cannot pass. If I advance only a finger's breadth further, I shall be burnt up ; and it is only in honour of thee that I have come thus far to-night, otherwise my appointed place is the Tree. Then I myself moved on alone, and, one after another, passed through 70 curtains of light and darkness, each of which was 500 l years' march in width, and separated from the other by a space of again a 500 years' march. Then Borak ceased walking, and there appeared a green carpet, brighter than the sun. I was set upon it, and moved on till I reached the foot of God's Throne of Glory, and then was moved forward still further to the place of ' Honour.' " — Another account states that God said to Mohammed a thousand times, Come nearer 1 If this measurement is not directly taken from the Talmud, it certainly has a close resemblance to it : for, according to the Talmud, the distance from our earth to the firmament is a 500 years' journey : such also is the thickness of the firmament, and the distance between the different firmaments. 310 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. to me ! and that each time that prince was raised higher, until he reached the place of ' Nearness,' and then that of ' Intimacy,' whence he entered the innermost Sanctuary, at a distance of two bow-ranges ; and then approached still more closely.1 ■ Some cautious Ulemas thought it best not to define and publish what God revealed to His apostle in that night, but a number of others hold that we may well mention what in- formation, on this subject, is derived from the Prophet himself or from his companions, and what conclusions have been arrived at by those learned in the Faith. According to an accredited tradition, the following three were amongst those things which God revealed in the night of the ascension : i. The obligatoriness of the five daily prayers ; and the fact of their being instituted in the night of the ascension, without the intermediatory action of Gabriel, shows that they are the most meritorious occupation. 2. The injunctions con- tained in the latter part of the second Sura. 3. The declara- tion that all Mohammedans shall obtain forgiveness pfjill their sins, with the only exception of Polytheism. "' According to another tradition, Mohammed also said, " I saw my Lord in the most beautiful form, and He said unto me : O Mohammed, on what subject do the angels of the higher world contend ? I replied, O my God, thou knowest it. Upon this I was favoured with an especial manifestation : for the supreme Lord put His hand on me, between my shoulders, so that I felt its soothing and pleasurable effect between my breasts, and became cognisant of and knowing, the things in heaven and on earth. Then I was addressed thus, O Mohammed, knowest thou on what subject the highest angels contend ? I answered, Yes, O my Lord, on the subject of atonement, that is to say, on the services and degrees which are the cause of the atonement of sins. Thereupon the word was addressed to me, What is atone- ment? I answered, Atonement is the remaining in the 1 It is hardly possible not to be struck with the intention, concealed in these expressions, to transfer to Mohammed, in effect, though not exactly in the very same words, what is said in Holy Scripture respecting Jesus Christ, e.g. ' Sit thou at my right hand' (Ps. ex. i), and 'Then the Lord was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God ' (Mark xvi. 19). ch. i. 26.] HE RECEIVES THE HIGHEST DISTINCTION. 31 1 house of prayer after the service has been performed ; the going to the meetings on foot ; and the taking an ablution when trials and troubles befall : whoever does these things will live and die well, and be as pure from sin as if he had just been born of his mother.1 Then the question was addressed to me, O Mohammed, what are the degrees? I replied, To give or deliver a salutation, to provide others with food, and to rise up and perform prayers whilst people are asleep." ' According to another account, that prince, when in the Divine presence, was thus addressed, " O Mohammed, I and thou, and whatever exists besides, I have created for thy sake." His Excellency replied, " Thou and I, and whatever exists besides, I have left for Thy sake." Some also affirm that on the same occasion this word was said to him, " O Mohammed, until thou shalt have entered Paradise, all the other prophets are forbidden to enter." ' It is likewise recorded that that prince said, " When I reached the foot of the throne and saw its grandeur, fear and trembling seized on my mind, but at that moment a drop was dropping down, and I opened my mouth so that it fell on my tongue. That drop was so delicious that, by Allah ! no one can ever have tasted anything sweeter ; and by its blessing I became possessed of the knowledge of the first and of the last, and was delivered from an impediment of speech 2 which had been the result of my seeing the dreadness and majesty of the Most High." God also said to me, " I have forgiven thee and thy people ; and thou mayest ask of me whatever thou likest and I will give it thee." I replied, " O our Lord, rebuke us not if we forget and sin." Thereupon this answer came, " I have taken away sin and forgetfulness from thy 1 The reader will understand that the things here mentioned are not legal duties, binding on every Moslem, but supererogatory works, and as such are here represented to be efficacious in atoning for sin. But what a degree of spiritual blindness is presupposed by the assumption that man can do more than his duty (see Matt. xxii. 37-40), and that such paltry works of supererogation can super- sede the ' eternal atonement by the blood of Him, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God' (Heb. ix. 1-15) ! 2 Perhaps an intended parallel to Moses' slowness of tongue and the Lord's promise, ' I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say ' (Exod. iv. 10-12). 312 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. people, and I have moreover passed by what they do by com- pulsion and against their own will." After this I asked, " O our Lord, do not lay upon us a covenant such as thou didst lay on those who have been before us." To this I received the following reply, " O Mohammed, I have accepted thy re- quest, and not laid upon you the covenant of former people."1 ' It is also recorded that in that night Mohammed wit- nessed the worship of the angels of the seven heavens ; some performed it by standing erect ; others by kneeling ; others by prostrations; others by rehearsing the creed ; others by magnifying ; others by praising ; and others by lauding (i.e. singing the Hallel). When fifty daily prayers had been enjoined, this word came to Mohammed, " O Moham- med, I have made a service of prayer obligatory on thee and thy people, which consists of standing erect, kneeling, pros- tration, recitation of the creed, reading, magnifying, praising, and lauding : in order that their worship should comprise that of all the angels from the Throne to the carpet, and that they should acquire the merit of all those classes of wor- shippers who severally worship in all these different ways. ' His Excellency thus continued his narrative : " After the Prayers had been enjoined upon me and my people, I received permission to return, and accordingly I went back as I had come, till I again reached Gabriel's abode. Gabriel welcomed me back by saying, " O Mohammed, receive thou the good news that thou art the first and most chosen of creatures. To-night the Most High has advanced thee to a degree which has not been reached by any other created being, neither the most favoured angels nor the prophets that have been sent. O Mohammed, may this distinction be blessed and pleasant to thee ! After this, Gabriel led me onward to Paradise, and showed me the abodes and order of the spirits ; and I saw all its black-eyed ones, its castles, its youths, children, trees, fruits, orchards, fragrant herbs, rivers, gardens, ponds, upper rooms, and high galleries." According to another account, Mohammed also said, " When I entered Paradise I saw large tents made of pearls, 1 This emancipates the Moslems from conforming to the Christian and Jewish religion, though it is theoretically held that the Gospel and the Law were sent down from heaven, like the Koran. ch. I. 26.] HE IS SHOWN HELL AND ITS INMATES. 313 and the soil of Paradise was musk ; and I observed that most of its inhabitants were poor people and dervishes ; and I also found that most of the inhabitants of Hell were women, boasters, and oppressors." It is also established that he said, "They showed me Hell and its chains, its fetters, serpents, scorpions, the loud groaning and moaning, the cold, fetid discharges, and its black smoke." 'According to some biographies, that Excellency also narrated as follows : " In that night I also saw one of the angels whose face was altogether without cheerfulness and pleasure, and who never smiled at me, as all the other angels had done whom I met. On my asking Gabriel who this was, he answered, This angel has never smiled, and will never smile at any one ; if he did, he would have smiled at thy blessed face. This is the angel who has power over Hell. He always shows a sour face, and his anger and the fury of his wrath is always against the inhabitants of Hell, because of the wrath of God against them. At my request Gabriel asked him to show me hell-fire, whereupon he drew the curtain from its opening ; and I saw the fire flaming, black, without giving any light, and it rustled with moans and groans ; and it rose so high up that I thought it would seize me. Then I saw Hell. There are so many different torments and dishonours and indignities in it that even stones and iron have not the strength to bear them. I asked Gabriel to tell the angel to withdraw the fire, as I could no longer bear the sight of it, and he did so." In that night his Excellency also met the Taker-away-of-life ; and he begged of that high angel, " When thou takest away the souls of my people, do so easily, kindly, and gently." The angel of death replied, " O Mohammed, I give thee the joyous news that the Most High says often to me, by night and by day, Deal easily and gently with Mohammed's people." x ' It is also authentic that that Excellency said, " When I was returning from the Throne of Glory and met Moses, he asked me, How many prayers were enjoined upon thee and thy people ? I answered, Fifty for one day and night. Moses said, Verily thy people will not be able to perform prayers fifty 1 It is singular that this promise of an easy death was not fulfilled in Mo- hammed's own case, as we have been informed on pp. 232, 233. 3i4 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. times in one day ; for I knew people before thee, and have tried the children of Israel ; and thy' people is weaker than others ; return, therefore, to the Lord's Throne and solicit an alleviation for thy people. I went back and had ten taken off. On telling Moses of it, he advised me to seek a further reduction. So I went back, again and again, and had each time ten more taken off, till the fifth time, when only five were taken off, so that five remained. Moses thought them still too many, and wished to induce me to return once more. But I answered, I have already returned to my Lord so often that I am quite ashamed ; I will return no more, but be content and satisfied and walk in the way of resignation." According to another account, Mohammed said, " I returned for reduc- tions of the number of prayers, till my Lord said to me, O Mohammed, I have made five daily prayers obligatory on thee and thy people, and I accept each prayer in the stead of ten prayers, so that the five prayers shall count for fifty prayers ; and if one of thy people purposes to do a good action, but is prevented by a legal hindrance from performing it, it yet shall count in the register of his good actions ; and if he carries that purpose into execution, there shall be registered into the register ten good works, or 700, or still more, beyond counting ; and for every one of thy people who had intended to commit a sin, but for God's sake leaves it undone, one good action shall be noted down ; but if he commits the sin, only one evil deed shall be marked." ' That Excellency concluded his narrative by saying, " When I returned, Gabriel accompanied me till I entered the house of Om Hani ; and all this travelling and journeying took place in what is to you one night." It is also reported that Omar said, "The time in which that prince went and returned was three hours of a night ;" but others say that it took four hours." God knows best.' x (Rawzat.) 1 The Ulemas differ as to the nature of Mohammed's ascension. Some think that his purified body ascended with the spirit ; others, that it was only the spirit, whilst the body slept ; and again others assume that the ascension took place several times, and that thus the contradictory accounts may be reconciled. How dexterous the Ulemas are in reconciling such difficulties, may be gathered from some of them removing the contradiction that one account places the Tree in the 7th heaven and another in the 6th, by the assumption that the branches were in the former and the roots in the latter. ch. i. 27.] PREPARES FOR THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA. 315 (27.) Persecuted and threatened with death by their fellow- citizens in the town in which they had grown up, they escaped from their hands, as by a miracle, and, together with their disciples, transferred their domicile to another town, willing to receive them. a. 'And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up : and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. . . . And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. . . . And they said, Is not this Joseph's son ? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself, etc. . . . And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath-days " (Luke iv. 16-31). b. Mohammed's celebrated Flight from Mecca to Medina is itself an undoubted historical fact ; what is fictitious in it is the supernatural halo with which it has been invested, as will appear from the following narrative taken from the Rawzat 1 : ' When the covenant and allegiance between the people of Medina and his Excellency were firmly established, and the friends of that prince were no longer able to remain in Mecca, on account of the persecution by the Polytheists, then he gave them permission to flee to Medina, saying, " I have been shown the place to which you will flee ; it is a place of date-palms, between two mountains." It is recorded by the trustworthy Bokhari that when Abu Bekr, the true, was engaged with preparations for the journey, his Excellency said to him, " O Abu Bekr, have patience for a few days longer, for I have hopes that I myself also shall shortly receive the command to flee, so that I may become thy com- 1 It will be observed that this account contains sundry particulars which are not given in Ibn Ishak's narrative, pp. 111-113. 316 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. panion, and we may flee together." ' In those days Abu Bekr had a dream in which he saw the moon descending on Mecca, and illuminating that mother of cities. Then that shining moon rose again and, moving towards Medina, alighted and abode there, 2 illuminating with its brightness the whole neighbourhood of Yathreb. There the moon was joined by a multitude of stars, and, after a time, it rose with many thousands of them into the air and descended upon the temple of Mecca, whilst Medina remained as bright as before, with the exception of 360 or, according to another account, 400 houses. After a while it rose again towards heaven and re- turned to Medina, where it abode in Aisha's dwelling, and illumininated the whole land of Yathreb with its radiant light, those innumerable stars being still with it. Then the earth was divided, and a hole was formed in which that moon disappeared.3 When Abu Bekr awoke, he began to weep ; for he was renowned amongst the Arabs for his knowledge in the interpretation of dreams, and therefore knew that the moon he had seen signified the prophet ; the stars, his com- panions and relatives ; their return to Mecca, the conquest of that city ; its descent upon Aisha's dwelling, that Aisha alone should be ennobled in Medina with the nobility of that Excellency's bed ; and its disappearance in a hole, that the prince of the prophets should die in Medina. The biographers record that as soon as the companions of the apostle of God had learned that they might flee to so near a place, as the city of Medina, they went thither. The unbelievers of Mecca, knowing that his Excellency would join his companions, and that the Medinites would protect him, formed a plan to prevent this. To this end they assembled together and carefully shut the door, lest any of the Beni Hashim should be present and become aware of the plan. 1 From this it may be inferred that it had been intended Abu Bekr should fly first, but that Mohammed was reluctant to be left behind alone and without that intimate friend, by whose calm reflection and firm will he had probably been long accustomed to be helped and guided. 2 A plain intimation that the intended flight was to become an accomplished fact. 3 An unmistakable historical outline down to Mohammed's burial, in the form of a prophetic dream. If the dream was a fact, and not a mere invention, it shows how completely the thoughts of the two friends moved in the same groove. CH. i. 27.] HE ESCAPES, BY ALI LYING ON HIS BED. 317 Still, Satan, in the form of an old man, dressed in old clothes, made his appearance in their assembly, and, as on being asked who he was, he professed to be a stranger from Nejd, who sympathised with the object of their meeting, he was allowed to remain and to join in their deliberations. After the danger had been pointed out that Mohammed, finding- confederates and helpers in Medina, might one day return with them and make war against Medina, the assembly were invited to suggest means for preventing such an eventuality. To put him in fetters and cast him into a dungeon, or to expel and banish him from the city, were the measures successively proposed, but objected to by the old man from Nejd, on the ground that, in the first case, his relatives might set him at liberty again ; and, in the second, that his persuasive speech might gain adherents for him abroad. Upon this, the wicked and ill-reputed Abu Jahl Ibn Hisham said, " My proposal is this, that we choose a courageous young man from each of our clans and provide them with sharp swords, so that they may fall upon him and kill him together, in which case his family will be obliged to accept the blood-money from us, as they will not be able to fight all the other clans united." The old man from Nejd fully approving this proposal, the assembly broke up, forthwith to carry it into execution. ' But the faithful Gabriel came to the Lord of the two worlds and informed that prince of what had taken place, at the same time also delivering to him the Divine command to flee, and telling him not to sleep that night in his usual bed, but to leave next day for Medina. As soon as it was night, the infidels assembled about the door of his house, in order, after he had gone to sleep, to fall upon him as one man and kill him. The prophet being cognisant of this, said to the well-beloved Ali : " The infidels having formed an evil design against me, I leave this place : do thou rest to-night upon my bed, and cover thyself with my green cloak, and be confident they will not be able to play thee any trick." Then Ali laid himself down on the prophet's bed, and drew his cloak over him for a cover. His Excel- lency himself rehearsed the 36th Sura as far as the verse, " We have set a barrier before them, and we have set a barrier behind them, and we have enshrouded them with a 3i8 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. veil, so that they cannot see ; " and then threw a handful of earth upon them, and thus, passing through them, escaped without being perceived by those erring ones.1 ' At that time God thus addressed the angels Gabriel and Michael : " I have made you brothers by establishing a covenant of brotherhood between you, and have given to one of you a longer life than the other, which of you, then, prefers his brother's life to his own, by giving up as a present to his brother that part of his own life by which he might have survived him ? " They both answered, " O God, we do not wish to give up our life for any one, we want it for ourselves, and what could we do with the life of another ? " The Most High then spoke to them thus, " O Gabriel and Michael, why are ye not like All Ibn Abu Talib ? I have made him and Mohammed brothers by a covenant of brotherhood, by virtue of which AH has made a sacrifice of his life to Mohammed, and preferred his life to his own, therefore go ye both down to the earth and guard him against any harm from his enemies." In compliance with this command they descended to the earth and stood, Gabriel at the head and Michael at the feet of the well-be- loved Ali ; and Gabriel said to him, " O Ali, who is like unto thee, of whom the Most High boasts before His angels ?" ' The infidels looking through a crack of the door, saw some one lying on Mohammed's bed, whom they took for his Excellency himself. Saying to themselves : " By God, Mohammed lies there covered with his clothes," they rushed into the room and stretched out their hands to seize him, 1 It is hard not to recognise in this, ' and thus, passing through them, escaped without being perceived,' a direct dependence on the, 'But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way,' used in the description of Jesus Christ's remarkable escape from his imminent danger. But what a contrast here, between Mohammed, exposing his dependent nephew Ali to a possible great danger, for the purpose of securing his own escape, and Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, manfully confronting his enemies and voluntarily surrendering Himself, in order to secure the safety of his disciples, by saying to his enemies, ' I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way ' (John xviii. 1-12) ! Both behaviours are significant : Mohammed used his followers for his own protection, gratification, and aggrandisement ; Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for the protection, salvation, and glorification of His people. Hence the needed justification of Mohammed's conduct, implied in what immediately follows. ch. I. 27.] HE AND ABU BEKR HIDE IN A CA VE. 319 when, lo, that very moment, AH, the well-beloved, rose from the bed. Seeing that it was Ali, they asked him, " Where is Mohammed ? " He answered. " I know not." They, feeling perplexed and ashamed, occupied themselves with searching after Mohammed and did nothing to Ali. 'Aisha, the true, narrated that on the day following, when it was already hot, Mohammed suddenly appeared at her father's house, and, on being informed that there were no strangers there, entered and said to Abu Bekr, " Know, that God has given me permission to flee." Abu Bekr answered, " I shall be thy companion." He also offered the prophet one of two fleet camels, which the latter acgepted on the condition that he should be allowed to pay for it, and Wakidi states its price to have been 800 dirhems. During the remainder of the day they hastily prepared provisions for the journey, Aisha getting together a bag full of them, and Asma, in the absence of string, took off her girdle from her loins, tore it in half, and tied the bag with it. Abu Bekr took with him all the money that was found in the house, amounting, as Asma tells us, to 5000 dirhems. After Abu Bekr had directed his son, Abd Allah, to be amongst the Koreish during the day, and bring him news of them in the night, and ordered a liberated slave to furnish them regularly with milk, and likewise secured a guide for the journey, they left at night, through an upper window, for the cave Thaur, where the guide was to meet them, three days later, with the camels. ' It is also recorded that when they were on the way to the cave, the prophet took off his shoes and pressed them under his toes, so that his footprints might not be known, and when his blessed feet became sore, Abu Bekr took him on his shoulders, and thus brought him to the opening of the cave. That cave was known as a place where flocks took shelter, and lest anything unpleasant should meet the prophet, Abu Bekr went in first to get it ready, and stopped the little crevices with pieces torn from his clothes, and then called out : " O Apostle of God, come in." They spent the night in the cave, and in the morning, when the prophet saw Abu Bekr denuded, and asked of him the reason, he was told that it was because he had torn up his clothes to shut 32o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [BK. n. the holes, whereupon the prophet invoked a blessing on him. Abu Bekr was also troubled by serpents and scorpions, so that tears rolled down his cheeks, and when the Lord of beings saw this, he said to him : " Be not sad, for God is with us." Upon this the Glorious One sent such patience and composure into the heart of Abu Bekr that he felt quite light and at rest, and from that time those creatures could no longer hurt him. God also caused an acacia tree to grow before the opening of that cave, and inspired a pair of wild pigeons to make a nest on that tree, and to lay eggs that very night, and He commanded a spider to spin its net across the entrance of that cave. The Polytheists, knowing what faithful friendship existed between that prince and Abu Bekr, went to the latter's house-door to obtain information about the former. Asma, Abu Bekr's daughter, being asked where her father was, answered, " I do not know." For this answer the cursed Abu Jahl lifted up his hand and dealt her such a heavy blow in her face that her ear-ring fell upon the ground. The Polytheists, having brought a sorcerer with them, searched till they found the footsteps of the fugitives, and then, with sword or stick in hand, pursued their track to the vicinity of the cave of Thaur where they lost it. The sorcerer being puzzled, said : " Behold, they came as far as these footprints, but whither they went hence I do not know ; " and on having come close to the cave, he added, " The men whom you seek have not passed beyond this cave." At that moment Abu Bekr, the true, said, " O Apostle of God, if any of them were to look down underneath their feet, they would see us." The Teacher of all beings replied, " O Abu Bekr, God is as the Third amongst those who in thy opinion are but two." When they came to the door, the pigeons, being frightened, flew from their nest, and the Polytheists, on seeing the eggs and the spider's web, gave up all hope and said, " If Mohammed had entered this cave, those eggs would have been broken and those spider-webs torn." Then the Lord of the world knew that by this means God had turned away from them the harm which those men had in- tended. It is reported that the pigeons, now flying about the temple of Mecca, are descendants of- that pair upon which ch. 1.27-] HIS SAFE JOURNEY TO MEDINA. 321 the prophet had then invoked a blessing, and assigned the temple of Mecca for their abode, to roost there where they like. As for the infidels, they returned home utterly disappointed. Abu Jahl had caused it to be proclaimed, throughout the high and low parts of Mecca, that he would give 100 camels to any one who brought back Mohammed and Abu Bekr, or showed the place of their concealment. It is from this reason that the infidels continued their search for a long time. ( In the morning after the third night, the hired guide and the man with camels arrived at the entrance of the cave. The Prophet and Abu Bekr mounted one of the two camels and the two men the other, and then started for Medina. After having travelled for a day and a night, Abu Bekr looked round and, seeing no pursuers, he invited the Prophet to dismount and take some rest, whilst he procured a bowl of milk from some shepherd. On continuing their journey further, they reached some Bedouin tents where no food could be obtained, on account of a prevailing famine. But Mohammed, seeing a sheep which was so emaciated that it could not walk, rubbed her udder with his blessed hands, and then could milk from it enough to give drink to the inmates of the tents and his own companions, as well as to fill all the procurable vessels. The same sheep continued to give abundance of milk daily, both morning and evening, for eighteen years, till it died in Omar's Califate. ' Bokhari also narrates that the Koreish sent to the Beni Modlej to inform them that if they would either kill Moham- med and Abu Bekr, or make them prisoners, they should receive their price of blood, consisting of 100 camels each. Suraka started in pursuit of the fugitives, without letting any one know it ; but when he had approached them to within two spears' distance, his horse's fore-legs, or, accord- ing to another account, four legs, suddenly sunk in the ground, so that they could not be withdrawn, till Suraka begged the Prophet to pray for him, and promised that he would desist from further pursuit. — It is likewise reported that Beride Ibn el Khasib pursued Mohammed with seventy horsemen, in the hope of earning the offered prize, but on reaching the fugitives, he, instead of making them prisoners, x 322 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. embraced Islam, and presented Mohammed with his turban- cloth and a lance for a flag with which to enter Medina. ' As soon as the Moslems of Medina learned the approach of the fugitives, they went out in a body and welcomed them with demonstrations of joy. Ibn Ishak states that all the other Moslems likewise emigrated to Medina, and that none of them remained in Mecca who had not either been com- pelled to renounce his faith, or was detained there by force.' (28.) In the town of their new domicile they developed a great activity, and from it, as their headquarters, they under- took expeditions, in order to carry out their mission and to secure for it a more extensive recognition. a. ' And Jesus came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine : for his word was with power,' etc. (Luke iv. 31-44). ' And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. . . . And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. . . . And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.1 And, behold, they brought unto him a man sick of the palsy,' etc. (Matt. iv. 13-25). Com- pare Matt. v. i, 2 ; viii. 5-7, 18-20 ; ix. 1-38. b. ' God commanded Mohammed to build a mosque ; and he remained with Abu Eyub till his own dwelling and the mosque were finished. In order to encourage the believers, he himself shared the labours ; so both emigrants and assistants worked with zeal. In the first sermon which he preached in the mosque, as soon as it was finished, he 1 Is it not a singular coincidence that as the city to which Jesus transferred his headquarters, after having been expelled from Nazareth, is in Scripture called 'his own city,' so also the town of Yathreb, to which Mohammed migrated, and in which he displayed his great politico-religious activity, and from which he started on his numerous war-expeditions, is since that time called Medina, i.e. 'city,' viz., his peculiar city, or the city par excellence? ch. I. 28.] ACTIVITY IN MEDINA, HIS NEW HOME. 323 said, " O ye people, send on good works before you. Know, by Allah ! that none of you can escape death : then he will leave his flock without a shepherd, and God will say unto him, without an interpreter and without a go-between, Did not my apostle come to thee and bring thee my message ? I have granted thee goods and shown thee favours. What didst thou send on before thee for thy soul ? Then he will look to the right hand and to the left hand, but find nothing ; and he will have to look forward and there only see Hell. Whoever can guard his sight against Hell, let him do so, and if it should only be by a piece of a date ; whoso cannot find even so much, let him do it by a good word ; for in this way the action is recompensed from 10 to 700 times. Peace be on you, and God's blessing and mercy ! " ' Mohammed also drew up a contract between the emi- grants and the assistants, and between them and the Jews, whose faith and property, under certain conditions, were to be respected, beginning thus, " In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate ! This is the contract from Mohammed the Prophet between the believers of the Koreish and of Medina, and those who follow them, unite with them, and join with them in war. They form but one people, separated from all other men," etc. — He likewise established a covenant of brotherhood between the believers from Mecca and those of Medina, by joining one fugitive to one assistant, thus forming forty-five, or, according to another account, fifty, pairs of adopted brothers who, in case of death, were even to inherit each other, to the exclusion of previous relatives. 1 When Mohammed had found a secure abode in Medina, and his friends, the refugees, had joined him, and the affairs of the assistants had been arranged, Islam became firmly estab- lished, the public prayers were performed, fasting and alms- giving were made obligatory, the administration of justice was carried out, things allowed and forbidden were deter- mined, and Islam acquired strength amongst the tribe of the assistants, both as regards faith, and as regards the certain maintenance of its professors. ' During the ten years of his residence in Medina, Moham- med organised thirty-eight military expeditions and twenty- seven of these he accompanied in person, as chief commander. 324 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. for the furtherance of the cause of Islam.' (Ibn Ishak and Ibn Hisham.) ' The war-expeditions which that prince accompanied in person are stated by some biographers to have amounted to 19; by others, to 21 or 24 or 27 ; the difference of numbers probably arising from this, that either some were omitted, or several happening close together, counted as one. In 9 of these expeditions it came to a battle with the infidels, viz. in those of Bedr, Ohod, Ahzab, the Beni Koreiza, Beni el Mostalik, Khaibar, the conquest of Mecca, at Honein and Taif. — The expeditions which that Excellency despatched against enemies, under the command of lieutenants, without being himself present, amounted to 56. But it must be mentioned that some authors give the number at more, others at less than 56.' (Rawzat.) (29.) They united their followers in the closest ties ^/"brother- hood, which caused a relaxation in the stringent laics of possession and inheritance. a. ' If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth' (John xiv. 15-17). ' When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. . . . And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. . . . And all that believed were together, and had all things common ; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and single- ness of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people ' (Acts ii. 1-47). b. 'When it pleased God to make His religion victorious and to glorify his Prophet and to fulfil His promises unto him ; Mohammed, as he was wont to do during the pilgrim- ch. i. 29.] UNITES HIS FOLLOWERS LIKE BROTHERS. 325 festivals, went to the different tribes, in order to present himself to them as Prophet ; and on one of these occasions he met a number of Khazrajites from Medina who hearkened to him, believed in him, and embraced Islam. They also said to Mohammed, " We come from a people amongst whom there is much ill-will and enmity ; perhaps God will unite them through thee ; we shall invite them to the faith which we ourselves now profess, and if God unites them around thee, then no man will be more powerful than thou." After this they returned to their home, as believers. — At the festival of the following year, when the Medinan converts consisted of seventy-three men and two women, Mohammed gave them this assurance, " Your blood is my blood ; what you shed I also shed ; you belong to me and I belong to you ; I fight whomsoever ye fight, and I make peace with whomsoever ye make peace." ' Not long after his emigration to Medina, Mohammed established a formal treaty, in writing, between all his followers, whether from Mecca or Medina, in which he declared, " The believers form but one people, separated from all other men. They shall not leave any one heavily burdened amongst them, without assisting him, whether a price of blood or redemption-money may have to be paid. No believer may commit acts of hostility against the con- federates of another believer. No believer may slay another believer on account of an unbeliever, nor may he assist an unbeliever against a believer ; but the believers are to protect each other against all other men," ' etc. (Ibn Ishak.) ' Five or eight months after his arrival in Medina, that prince established a covenant of brotJierJiood, constituting the respective parties adoptive brothers of one another, between forty-five or fifty of the refugees on the one side, and of the assistants on the other. He selected the individuals him- self, and in the house of prayer joined them together, two and two as brothers. This is universally accepted amongst the historians. But Bokhari also narrates that besides this fraternity, another similar one was established, exclusively amongst the refugees, and to which the assistants were not admitted. It is reported that at that time they mutually bound themselves to assist and help each other and to inherit 326 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. from each other. According to this covenant, the friends of the Apostle of God inherited from one another, till after the battle of Bedr, when that covenant of brotherhood and the assignment of inheritance to one another was abrogated by Divine revelation.' l (Rawzat.) (30.) They introduced a mode of worship in which Jerusalem with its temple ceased to be looked upon as the seat of the Divine Presence or the Kibla, that is, the quarter to which the prayers had to be directed. a. 'Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what ; we know what we worship : for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit : and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth ' (John iv. 19-24). Compare Luke xi. 1-13. b. ' The tradition ists and biographers record that when Mohammed had emigrated to Medina, he, for sixteen or seventeen months, performed his prayers towards the Holy House of Jerusalem, wishing to draw the hearts of the possessors of the Scriptures to Islam, by showing himself in accord with them in the matter of the Kibla. The Jews of Medina used to say, " It is a strange thing that whilst Mohammed is opposed to us in religion, he yet agrees with us in the Kibla." When this reached the blessed and noble 1The reader will have noticed that as the followers of Christ became a united organised body or church, when Christ, after having ascended the throne of the Majesty on high, sent down the promised Spirit on the day of Pentecost, so also the followers of Mohammed were organised into a politico-religious com- monwealth, when Mohammed, after the Hegira to Medina, began to rule over them as lord-paramount, and gave them laws and institutions which were invested with all the sanctity and authority of Divine revelation ; and that the introduction of both systems was accompanied by a kind of temporary com- munity of goods. But this communism as to worldly possessions, and the entire organisation of the fraternity itself, was, in the one case, the natural free result of an indwelling Holy Spirit of love, and in the other, the effect of a super- imposed external law, soon after formally abrogated, and of the enforcement of a commander's absolute will. How great the difference, therefore, notwith- standing the apparent similarity ! ch.i. 30.] THE KAABA BECOMES THE NEW KIBLA. 327 ear of the Apostle of God, he knew that they would obstin- ately remain in their own objectionable way. His precious mind, therefore, set itself upon changing the Kibla from the Holy House to the Kaaba, this having been the Kibla of his father Abraham, on whom be peace ! He said to Gabriel, " I wish God would change the Kibla to the Kaaba ; " but he answered, "Thou hadst better ask God thyself; for thou art highly esteemed by Him." He therefore always looked up towards heaven, waiting for tidings to change the Kibla. 'On a Tuesday of the month Rejeb in the second year of the Hegira, Gabriel brought down the following verse, authorising the change of the Kibla : " We have seen thee turn thy face towards heaven ; we will have thee turn to a Kibla which shall please thee : turn, then, thy face towards the sacred Mosque ; and, wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that part." The biographers report that, when that prince was in the house of Beshr Ibn Bara's mother, and the time for the noon-day prayers had come, he entered the mosque of that quarter and, with a congregation of his com- panions, performed the noon-day prayers. It was whilst they were on their knees in the second genuflection, that his Excellency turned round in the direction of the Kaaba, and the companions also, at his back, turned round in the same way and completed the prayers in that position — from which circumstance that mosque was called " the mosque of the two Kiblas." ' It is recorded that when the news of the change of the Kibla reached the public, every section of the population had something to say about it. The hypocrites said, " What has happened that they gave up their Kibla and chose another ? " Some of the Jews said, " Mohammed pines after his original fatherland, and turns towards his native city." The polytheists said, " Mohammed is confused on the subject of religion, not knowing what he wants." And the chief men amongst the Jews said, " Mohammed has given up our Kibla from nothing but jealousy." Ibn Akhtab and his followers thus addressed the Mussulmans, " Tell us, whether the prayers which you hitherto offered in the direction of the Holy House were in accordance with revelation or with error : for, in the former case, it is plain that you have now 328 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. turned away from revelation ; and in the latter, that you were then in error, and that whilst in error, ye offered up prayers to the true God." To this the Mussulmans replied, " Whatever God commands, is revelation ; and whatever He forbids, is error." The Jews continued, "What do you say of those who died whilst you were praying towards our Kibla : are they blessed or condemned ? " Upon this, the Most High sent the verse, " God did not put your faith {i.e. your prayer) towards the Holy House." ' The earliest Ulemas differ as to the Kibla which Mo- hammed observed before his flight to Medina. Ibn Abbas and many others affirm that he had been praying towards the Holy House ; but that in doing so, he always took up such a position that he had the Kaaba on one side and never turned his back upon it. This is the correct view. But another account is, that he had been performing his prayers towards the Kaaba ; and that during the early part of his residence at Medina he turned towards the Holy House, in order to conciliate the Jews and predispose them in favour of Islam. Sheikh Ibn Hajr says, that this view is not well supported, and that it implies a double abrogation of a previous injunc- tion. But God knows best. ' It is recorded that at the time when the Kibla was changed, the Prophet went to the Kaba-mosque and changed its walls in such a manner that it exactly faced the Kaaba ; and that he laid its foundation with his own blessed hands ; and that his own blessed self, together with his friends, carried the stones and built them up. It is also credibly reported that his Excellency went every Saturday to that mosque, either on foot or on horseback, and that he declared its virtue to be such that any one who, after a complete ablution, performs his prayers in it, acquires the merit of a pilgrimage to Mecca.' x (R.) 1 As regards the general subject of praying in a certain local direction, it may be observed that, from passages like Dan. vi. 1 1, 12, Psalms v. 8, xxviii. 2, it is plain that the Jews made the temple of Jerusalem their Kibla in prayer, as Mohammed also at first did, with his earliest followers, in obvious imitation of the Jewish practice. But Mohammed, instead of rising altogether above the use of a local Kibla, as did Jesus Christ, stuck fast, in this as in many other matters, on the Jewish standpoint, and only transferred the Kibla from one locality to another. ch. i. 31.] ADULTERERS STONED. 329 (31.) They were called upon to decide what punishment should be inflicted on adulterers, regard being had to the punishment prescribed by the Law of Moses. a. ' The scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law com- manded us, that such should be stoned : but what sayest thou ? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. . . . Jesus said unto them, He that is with- out sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. . . . He said unto the woman, Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee : go, and sin no more' (John viii. 2-1 1). b. ' In the fourth year after the Flight, his Excellency had a man and a Jewish woman stoned. The Jews wanted to deceive his Excellency in this matter by a trick, saying, " In our Law the punishment of adultery is this, that the guilty party, be he man or woman, should have his face blackened, and being placed in a reversed position upon a camel, should be publicly paraded on the market-place." Abd Allah Ibn Selam, who had been a Jewish priest, but had been ennobled with the nobility of Islam, said to his Excellency, " O thou Prophet of God, these men tell a lie ; according to the Torah, adulterers have to be stoned." His Excellency commanded a Torah to be brought, in order to have the statement verified. Then a Jew read from the Torah, but with his hand covered the verse about stoning. Ibn Selam observing this, said, "Take thy hand away;" and when the Jew withdrew his hand, the verse about stoning was seen ; and Ibn Selam read that verse to the Prophet : whereupon they stoned that adulterer and adul- teress. In this year he also requested Zeid Ibn Thabit to learn the Torah, so as to prevent the Jews in the future from tampering with or altering any of its verses. Zeid Ibn Thabit learned the whole of the Torah in fifteen days. In the year 9 A.H. Mohammed also ordered a woman of the Ghamid tribe to be stoned, for having committed 33o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n. adultery. She had come to him three years previously, confessing her adultery, and asking him to make her pure from her sin, that is, to deal with her according to law. He asked her whether she was with child, and on her answering in the affirmative, he directed her to be kept till the child was born, exhorting her, at the same time, to repent, and ask pardon of God. When the child was born, Mohammed said, " It will not do to make the child destitute ; let her suckle it." When it was weaned, the mother took it to Mohammed, telling him that she had weaned it, and adding, " It is for thee to give further orders." Mohammed gave the child to some Mussulman, ordered the woman to be buried, up to her chest, and then stoned to death. Khalid threw the first stone on her, so that some drops of her blood soiled him, for which he reviled her. But Mohammed said to him, "O Khalid, do not revile her ; by Him in Whose mighty hand my soul is, this woman has made such repentance and penance, that if any one who has committed even a greater crime, makes a like repentance, he will surely be forgiven." After this, he ordered her to be dug out, washed, wrapt in a winding-sheet, and buried with prayers.' (R.) (32.) They publicly invited the Jews to believe in their heavenly mission and to embrace the religion they preached ; but met only with partial success. a. 'Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their syn- agogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people' (Matt. iv. 23). ' Jesus answered and said unto them [the Jews], This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent' (John vi. 29). Compare John v. 24, vii. 14-37. ' Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world : he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life' (John viii. 12). ' O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee : but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and ch. 1.32.] THE JEWS INVITED TO ISLAM, DECLINE. 331 will declare it ; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them ' (John xvii. 25, 26). b. ' Mohammed called upon the Jews, the possessors of holy books, to embrace Islam, and endeavoured to gain them for it, threatening them with the punishment and vengeance of God, in case of refusal. Rafi Ibn Kharija and Malik Ibn Awf made answer to him thus, " We remain in that in which we have found our fathers, who were better and more learned than we are." ' When God had visited the Koreish on the day of the battle of Bedr, Mohammed gathered together the Jews in the Bazaar of the Beni Keinoka, as soon as he had returned to Medina, and said to them, " O ye Jews, embrace Islam, before God visits you, as He visited the Koreish." But they answered, etc. ' Once Mohammed went into a Jewish synagogue and called upon the assembled Jews to believe in God. On being asked by them, what religion he had, he replied, " The religion of Abraham." They said, " Abraham was a Jew." But when Mohammed proposed to submit the question to the decision of the Torah, they declined. When some of them were converted to Islam, the unbelieving Rabbis said, "Only the bad amongst us follow Mohammed and believe in him ; if they belonged to the better ones amongst us, they would not forsake the faith of their fathers and embrace another. ' On one occasion, when speaking with the Rabbis of the Jews, Mohammed addressed them thus, " O ye Jews, fear God, and become Moslems : by God, ye know that my reve- lation is true." They replied, " This is exactly what we do not know ; " and they denied what they knew, and continued in unbelief. Then God revealed this, " O ye men of the Book, believe in our revelation, which confirms what you have, before we destroy their faces and turn them back- wards, or curse them, as we cursed the Sabbath-breakers, and God's behest was carried out forthwith.' (Ibn Ishak and Ibn Hisham.) 332 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. (33.) Besides their efforts amongst the Jezvs, they also com- missioned Ambassadors to distant nations and their rulers, for the purpose of inducing them to become disciples of the new Faith. a. • Jesus came and spake unto his disciples, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye there- fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world ' (Matt, xxviii. 18-20). 1 The Lord said unto Ananias, Go thy way : for he [Saul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel ; for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake' (Acts ix. 15, 16). b. Ibn Ishak records, ' Mohammed sent ambassadors from amongst his companions and gave them letters to different princes in which he called upon them to embrace Islam. A trustworthy person has told me the following, on the authority of Abu Bekr el Hudsali. One day, after Mohammed had returned from the pilgrimage, on the day of Hodeibia, he went to his companions, and said, " O ye people, God has sent me to you out of mercy, in order to avert evil from you ; do not, therefore, resist me, as the apostles resisted Jesus the son of Mary." The companions asked, " Whereby did they resist him ? and Mohammed answered, "He charged them with what I charge you ; but only those whom he sent to a near place were content and did well, whilst those whom he sent to a distance showed discontent and raised difficulties. Jesus committed the matter to God, and next morning all those who had raised difficulties, spoke the language of the nation to which they were respectively sent." Of the ambassadors whom Mo- hammed then chose amongst his companions and sent to the princes, with letters inviting them to Islam, there were: Dihye Ibn Khalifa, whom he sent to the Emperor of the Greeks ; Abd Allah Ibn Hudsafa, to Chosroes, the King of the Persians ; Amr Ibn Omeia, to Najashi, the Prince of CH. I. 33, 34.] AMBASSADORS SENT TO PRINCES. 333 Abyssinia ; Hatib Ibn Abi Balta, to Mokawkas, the Prince of Alexandria ; Amr Ibn el Aasi, to Jeifar and Iyaz, the Princes of Oman ; Selit Ibn Amr, to Thumama Ibn Uthal, and to Hawza Ibn AH, the Princes of Yemama ; Ala Ibn el Hadhrami, to Munzir Ibn Sawa, the Prince of Bahrein ; Shuja Ibn Wahb, to El Harith Ibn Abi Shamir, Prince of the border districts of Syria ; and Mohajir Ibn Omeia, to Harith Ibn Abd Kulal, the Prince of Yemen. — Yesid Ibn Abi Habib told me that he found a manuscript in which those are mentioned by name whom Mohammed sent to the Princes of the Arabs and of foreign countries ; and which also contains what Mohammed told his companions in giving them their commission. He sent that manuscript to Ibn Shihab ez Zuhri who took knowledge of it.' (34.) They opened up to men the Way of Atonement and Pardon of Sin, to find Salvation. a. ' The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many' (Matt. xx. 28 ; Mark x. 45). ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believ- eth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God ' (John iii. 14, 18). ' We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement' (Rom. v. n). ' Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us : nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others ; . . . 334 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n- but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is ap- pointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment : so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation ' (Heb. ix. 22-28). b. Remark : Above, in the account of Mohammed's ascension into heaven, there was already an incidental reference to the subject of atonement (see pp. 310, 311), which shows that, to his mind, this was so puzzling a question that he fancied even the angels in heaven contended about it, and he ascribes to a very special Divine manifestation what light he possessed on the subject, and which he embodies in the following defini- tion : ' Atonement, that is, what causes atonement for sin, are — the abiding in the places of worship, after the prescribed prayers have been performed ; the going to assemblies on foot ; and the regular and complete performance of the legal ablutions during seasons of calamities and troubles. Whoever does these thines will live and die well, and become so entirely purified from sins, as if his mother had only just given him birth.' If we may judge of the amount of light Mohammed possessed on ethical and religious ques- tions, from this definition, how truly disappointing and lamentably sad is the result : and this, six centuries after the rise of the religion of atonement and recon- ciliation between God and man ! But we may also infer from this recital that the great subject of Atone- ment, that cardinal point of the Christian religion, duly forced itself on the attention of Mohammed, though he never took it in. This ought never to have been left unnoticed by Christian writers. ' Omar Ibn Aas, after narrating how in the year 8 A.H. he went to Medina to profess his faith in Mohammed, and how, on the way, he fell in with Khalid Ibn Walid who was travelling in the same direction for the same purpose, thus continues his narrative : When we arrived at Medina, we went straight to that Excellency, who first required the con- fession of the Unity from Khalid. After him, I also went ch. i. 34.] HE POINTS OUT HIS WAY OF A TONEMENT 335 into the presence of that prince saying, " Stretch out thy hand, that I may take the oath of allegiance to thee." But when he stretched out his blessed right hand, I withdrew my own. Thereupon he asked, " What has become the matter with thee, O Omar ? " and I replied, " I wish to make a condition." On asking me again, " What is the condition thou wishest to make ? " I answered, " I take the oath of allegiance with this condition, that all my sins shall be forgiven." His Excellency rejoined, " Dost thou not know, O Omar, that Islam blots out all previous sins, and that the Hegira ( = flight, migration) from the domain of unbelief to the domain of Islam, and the religious visits to the house of the Kaaba, equally demolish the structure of former trangressions ? " ' On the war-expedition to Tabuk, a.h. 9, his Excellency rose one night, took down the provender-bag with his own hand, and gave barley to one of his horses ; and then wiped and cleaned its back and shoulder with his own mantle. When his friends said to him, " O Apostle of God, how can this be a proper use for thy blessed mantle ? " he replied, " Ye do not know that Gabriel came and ordered me to do this ; and that last night angels came and rebuked me on account of want of attention to the horses, and told me that every Mussulman who, with the intention of going to war and battle in the cause of God, ties a horse, will not do so with- out the Most High writing down for him a good action, and pardoning a sin for every grain of corn he has given to the horse." ' It is also recorded that when Adam was punished and sent into the world on account of his sin, he repented of his sins with weeping and sorrow ; but his repentance was not accepted, until at length he took Mohammed, the Apostle of God, for his mediator, saying, " O God, forgive my sins for Mohammed's sake ! " God asked him, " Whence knowest thou Mohammed?" Adam replied, "At the time when thou didst create me, the foot of the Throne was straight opposite my sight, and I beheld written upon it : There is no God but Allah : Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah. Then I knew that the dearest and noblest of beings in thy sight is Mohammed, whose name thou hast joined close to thy own name." After this, the voice came, " O Adam, know thou, that one of thy 336 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. offspring is the last of the prophets : I have created thee in order that thou shouldest be a residuary portion of him." It is said that on that same day Adam was commanded by God to assume the surname of " Abu Mohammed " {i.e. father of Mohammed).1 'Another account is this, that the glorious God asked Adam, saying, " O Adam, knowest thou who he is whom thou hast taken for a mediator and intercessor with me, in order to obtain pardon of sins ? " Adam gave this answer, " I know that he is thy chosen and loved one, and that the light which thou didst put on my forehead is his light ; and from the words written upon the foot of the Throne, upon the Preserved Tablet, and upon the gates of Paradise, I know- that this Mohammed is regarded by thee as the noblest and dearest of beings." Thereupon this glorious voice came, " O Adam, I have pardoned thee and condoned thy sins ; and (I swear) by my own glory, (that) whoever of thy offspring takes him for a mediator and presents him to me as his intercessor, him I will pardon and his wants I will supply." ' (Rawzat.) (35.) They had the mission of Overcoming the Devil and Destroying his Works. a. ' If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man ? and then he will spoil his house' (Matt. xii. 28, 29). Now is the judgment of this world : now shall the prince of this world be cast out' (John xii. 31). Compare Luke x. 17-20. ' For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil ' (1 John iii. 8). ' Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the accuser of 1 It is clear that the name ' Adam Abu Mohammed ' requires fo its cor- relative ' Mohammed Ibn Adam,' so that the appellation ' Son of Adam, or Son of Man? by which the Lord Jesus so frequently called himself, is here, by impli- cation, appropriated for Mohammed. ch. I. 35.] SATAN SADDENED BY HIS CONCEPTION. 337 our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ; and they loved not their lives unto the death ' (Rev. xii. 10-12). b. ' It is related that in the night of Mohammed's con- ception, when the light of Mohammed passed from Abd Allah (his father) to Amina (his mother), all the idols on the face of the earth were thrown down, and remained in that prostrate state for forty days and forty nights. At the end of these forty days and forty nights the angel in charge of the Devil's headquarters removed it down to the abyss of the sea. Then Satan became sad, crest-fallen, ashamed, burn- ing with indignation and grief; and thus that cursed one walked about, uttering loud lamentations, till he reached the mountain Abu Kabis. Then all the evil spirits gathered around him, and said, " O our leader, what has happened to thee that thou makest such lamentations ? " Satan answered, " You have become lost, in a manner as you have never been lost before." On their asking again, " How is this ? what has happened ? " he replied, " This woman, i.e. Amina, has con- ceived Mohammed, that glory of the visible and invisible world. Henceforth no one is to worship idols ; for that Mohammed, being sent with a sharp sword, will change the false religions, destroy Lat and Ozza, break the idols, and will make fornication, wine, and gambling unlawful ; and during his empire we shall be prevented from going up to heaven and listening ; divining will cease from amongst men ; and he will do what is just, speak what is true, and make an end of oppression ; and his people will adorn the face of the earth with mosques as the sky is adorned with stars, so that wherever we may go in the world, we shall find God's praise and Unity openly proclaimed ; and his people are to become a congregation, on whose account my Lord will have me stoned, and cursed, and driven from His court, and no part will henceforth remain to us in this world." The evil spirits answered thus, " O master, grieve not, for God has created seven categories of men, and they have riches and children ; as we had our wish gratified by the former categories, so we shall surely also not be disappointed by these, but obtain a portion." Satan asked, " How can you obtain from them a Y 338 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n. portion for yourselves, seeing that they are a people of laudable principles and praiseworthy maxims, such as the injunction of what is good, and the prohibition of what is evil, kind-heartedness, beneficence, and charity ? " They replied, " Do not grieve : for we shall excite desires in their hearts, leading to error and sin, and shall render oppression and avarice attractive to their views ; surely they will be caught by our temptations and be ruined." On hearing these words from them, the Devil rejoiced and laughed, and said to them, "Ye have now delivered my mind from vexation and grief, and made me happy." ' The commentators affirm that the Devil uttered a loud wail on four different occasions, viz. first, on being cursed ; second, on being driven from Paradise to the earth ; third, when Mohammed was born ; fourth, when the opening chapter of the Koran was sent down. ' It is reported that twenty days after the beginning of that Highness's public ministry, the Satanic spirits were forbidden to listen. It is recorded that Ibn Abbas said, " Before the Prophet's public mission, the Satanic spirits went up close to heaven and held their ears to it, so that they overheard some words concerning events, about to take place on the earth ; and after having mixed up these true words with falsehoods, they went to tell them to the people of the earth : this they did until they were entirely prevented, at the time the Prophet was charged with his public mission." ' (Rawzat.) ' The Jewish Rabbis and the Christian Priests, as also the Diviners amongst the Arabs, had already spoken of Mo- hammed, when his mission was drawing near — the former on account of what they found concerning him in their sacred books and prophetic Scriptures, the latter on account of what the evil spirits had communicated to them of those things which they overheard, before they were prevented by stars being hurled at them. The male and female Diviners dropped many things about Mohammed, but the Arabs did not heed them, till they were accomplished by the mission itself; but since that time the evil spirits could no longer listen, for they were prevented from returning to the places where they previously used to listen, by stars being hurled CH. I. 35, 36.] SHOOTING-STARS EXPLAINED. 339 down upon them. By this they knew that now had come to pass what God had decreed respecting his servant. ' Mohammed, on one occasion, asked the Ansars, " What was formerly your notion about the shooting-stars ? " They answered, "We thought they indicated the death or acces- sion of a king, or the birth or death of a child." Mohammed replied, " It was not so : rather, when God decreed anything concerning His creatures, the Bearers of the Throne praised Him, and the angels below them followed their example, and thus the praise spread down to the lowest heaven. There, one asked the other, ' Why did you praise God ? ' and the answer was, 'Because the higher ones did so ;' and then the higher ones were asked, till the question reached the Bearers of the Throne. Then when these made known God's decree, the answer by degrees came down to the lowest heaven, and here the evil spirits overheard it ; and, misunderstanding or misinterpreting some of it, they returned to the Diviners of the earth, and sometimes led these astray, sometimes told them the truth, till God kept off the evil spirits, by hurling stars at them : therefore now divining is at an end, and there are no longer any foretellers or soothsayers." ' (Ibn Ishak.) (36.) As Jesus Christ, so also MoJiammed was above all other men in xvortJi and dignity. a. ' He that cometh from above is above all ; he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth ; he that cometh from heaven is above all ' (John iii. 31). ' He is the head of the body, the church : who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence ; for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell ' (Col. i. 18, 19). b. Ibn Hisham concludes the second part of his biography of Mohammed in these words, ' He was the best of his people, as regards descent and nobility, both on the paternal and maternal side.' When Halima, Mohammed's wet-nurse, returned with her charge from Mecca to her own home, and they were met by a flock of sheep on the way, the sheep came near her and 34o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. said, ' O Halima, knovvest thou who thy nursling is ? He is Mohammed, the Apostle of the Lord of heaven and earth, and the first of the sons of men.' (R.) Ibn Ishak narrates, on the authority of Thaur Ibn Yezid, that when on one occasion some of his companions asked the Apostle of God for information concerning himself, he spoke to them in this wise, ' I am he to believe in whom men were already invited by my father Abraham, and whose coming was foretold by Isa ( = Jesus). When my mother had conceived me, she saw a light proceeding from her, which illuminated the houses of Syria. I was nursed among the Beni Saad ; and one day, when I tended the cattle behind our house, together with my brother, two men robed in white, and holding a golden laver filled with snow, came upon us, seized me, split open my body, took out my heart, split it open, and, after removing from it a black clot, washed it and my whole body quite clean with the snow, and then one of them said to the other, "Weigh him against ten of his people." He did so, and I outweighed them. Then he said, " Weigh him against a hundred of his people ; " and when I outweighed them also, he said, " Weigh him against a thousand of his people ; " and when I outweighed these likewise, he said, " Leave him now, for if thou wert to lay his entire people into the scale, he still would outweigh them all." ' (I. I.) (37.) Each of them was the greatest and best of all God's Messengers. a. ' Behold, a greater than Jonas is here. . . . Behold, a greater than Solomon is here' (Matt. xii. 41). ' Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead ? and the prophets are dead : whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, . . . Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am ' (John viii. 53-58)- 1 Last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. . . . Did ye never read in the Scriptures, CH. i. 37.] HEIR OF ALL PROPHETIC GIFTS. 341 The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner : this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?' (Matt. xxi. 37-42.) b. Amina, Mohammed's mother, told the following story about her child : ' Afterwards another little cloud appeared, brighter and greater than the former, and I heard sounds like the neighing of horses, like the clapping of the wings of birds, and like the voice of the talking of men, proceeding from it ; and a Caller called out, " Carry Mohammed about, all over the earth, and present him to all mankind, and to all the spirits ; and honour him as possessing the purity of Adam, the tender compassion of Noah, the faithful friendship of Abraham, the circumcision of Isaac, the patience of Job, the eloquence of Ishmael, the beauty of Joseph, the voice of David, the austerity of John the Baptist, and the kindness of Jesus;" and according to another account, the Caller also called, " Plunge him into the sea of the qualities of the prophets and the apostles ; " on which account it is said of him in poetry, " Thou art the heir of all prophetic gifts, Combining all the attributes of all Apostles." ' It is likewise reported that Amina said, ' When Moham- med was born, there appeared unto me three persons from the unseen world, with faces of such surpassing beauty that the sun took its rise from them. One of these, who by Ibn Abbas was declared to be the Treasurer of Paradise, after having washed the child seven times in a silver laver, and tied him up with a musk-scented band in a piece of silk, kept him for about one hour under his wings. Then he whispered many things into his ear, of which I understood nothing, and kissed him between his eyes, saying, " O Mohammed, hear thou this glad tidings, that thou hast been esteemed worthy to receive the knowledge of all the prophets, and thy knowledge and thy courage shall be more than all theirs ; and the keys of victory shall accompany thee, and all hearts shall be so impressed with thy dread and majesty that no one shall be able to hear thy name without fear and trembling, though he have never seen thee, O thou loved one of God."' (R.) 342 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [it. is (38.) Each of them is the Holder of the Keys. h a. Jesus saith, ' I am he that liveth, and was dead ; behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the Is ' of hell and of death ' (Rev. i. 18). e Jesus is 'he that hath the key of David, he t openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no n openeth' (Rev. iii. 7). Jesus said unto Peter, ' I will give unto thee the k' of the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. xvi. 19). b. In the Rawzat it is reported that when MohamL& had been taken away by the angels, immediately after birth, to be carried over the length and breadth of the me and sea, and brought back again to his mother, he wrapt — so she affirmed — in some wool, whiter than snc, ' whiter than milk. He lay on a piece of green silk, and ' holding in his hands a number of keys ; and a voice f ' the unseen world was heard calling out, ' Mohammed t n. taken the key of prophetship, the key of victory, and the ,', of the treasures of the air.' (R.) ' According to a trustworthy source of information, Hureira used to say, at the time of the great conqi during the Califate of Omar and Othman, " Conque much as you like : by Him in whose hand Abu Hun >'- soul is, you have not conquered a town, neither will y .' conquer one until the day of the resurrection, whose key God has not already given to Mohammed." ' (I. I. and I. H.) (39.) Their body is the true Temple, that is, the abode of the Divine Presence, or of the Shechina. a. ' Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. . . . But he spake of the temple of his body' (John ii. 19-21). 1 The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ' (John i. 14). b. Mohammed, in narrating the affair of the splitting of his body, says, ' When the angel had washed my inside CH. i. 40,41.] HE IS SEALED AND SEES GOD. 343 The 1 snow-water, he said to the other angel, " Bring hail- the :er." Then they agreed with each other, and washed my manrt with hail-water. After this, one of them said, " Bring /: Shechina." Then they filled my heart with the aboiechina.' (R.) brig the (40.) They are both stamped with the Divine Seal. and a. ' Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the tt meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the spirin of man shall give unto you : for him hath God the the ther sealed ' (John vi. 27). Abr b. Mohammed, after having related the splitting and eloqunmg Qf his heart by an angel, thus continues his recital : Daviien there was something in his hand which he had Jesusught with him, and with which he filled my heart ; and calleer having put it back to its place, he sealed it with a seal pror light whose charm and ease still remain in my limbs and of h its. . . . And the angel said again, " Stamp him with the i il of prophecy," whereupon they stamped my heart with : seal of prophecy.' (R.) 1. m '(4.1.) Both of them have seen God and heard him speak. th , ' tl\ a. ' No man hath seen God at any time ; the only- begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him' (John i. 18). ' Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father ' (John vi. 46). ' All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you ' (John xv. 1 5). Compare viii. 26. b. In the place where the Rawzat makes known the different modes in which Mohammed received his revelations, the seventh and last is thus mentioned : ' At the ascension, the Most High spoke to that prince without an intermediary angel, and without any other medium, from behind the Veil ; and according to one account that prince saw God with the eyes of his own head, in the night of the ascension.' (R.) 344 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. (42.) They taught their people how to pray. a. ' When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them : for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father,' etc. (Matt. vi. 5-13.) ' He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint' (Luke xviii. 1). b. ' When Gabriel had departed, Mohammed returned to Khadija, and showed her how it is necessary first to wash before prayer, as Gabriel had taught him ; then he prayed, as Gabriel had prayed before him, and she prayed after his example.' (Ibn Hisham.) Ibn Ishak narrates : ' Salih Ibn Keisan told me what he had heard of Urwa Ibn Zobeir, who had been told it by Aisha, namely, that at first, prayer with two genuflexions only, was prescribed to Mohammed, which is still the duty incumbent on travellers, but afterwards God increased it to four genuflexions, for those who are at home.' (I. I.) We have already learned from the account of the ascension, how Mohammed, by bargaining with the Most High, obtained a reduction of the fifty daily prayers at first required, to five, and how, when Moses invited him to try for a still further reduction, he answered, ' I have already returned so often to my Lord that I am ashamed to do so again ; but I am content with this and walk in the way of submission.'1 According to another account he said, 'I returned to my Lord for the purpose of obtaining a reduction in the number of prayers, till He said, " O Mohammed, I have made five prayers obligatory upon thee and thy people ; and I accept each one prayer in the stead of ten prayers, so that their five prayers shall be as good as fifty prayers." ' (R.) 1 What a contrast between prayer in a Mohammedan and prayer in a Chris- tian sense ! The former is a duty, imposed upon God's slaves, who, in discharg- ing it, regard it an indulgence to be let off with five prayers rather than ten : the latter is a privilege, enjoyed by children, for conversing with their heavenly Father, and therefore it becomes to them, as it were, a spiritual atmosphere in which they breathe freely and habitually. CH. 1.43,44-] HIS BLOOD IS DRUNK. 345 (43.) Each of them sanctioned the drinking of his blood, and ascribed to it a saving virtue. a. 'Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is . meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed ; he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him ' (John vi. 53-56). b. Abu Saad Khodri relates : ' When, at the battle of Ohod, the helmet-rings had been taken out of the Prophet's cheek, blood flowed from the radiant face of that Lord of the pure, and my father Malik Ibn Sinan sucked the wounds with his mouth, swallowing the blood. When they said to my father, " Malik, is blood to be drunk ? " my father replied, " Yes, the blood of the Prophet of God I drink like a bever- age." At that time his Excellency, the Prophet, said, " Who- ever wishes to see one who has mixed my blood with his own, let him look at Malik Ibn Sinan : any one whose blood touches mine, him the fire of hell shall not desire." ' It is narrated that when the false report of Mohammed's death in the battle of Ohod had reached Medina, fourteen Mussulman women combined to hasten to the battle-field. When they met him, Fatima clung round him, and wept, so that the Lord of the world showed great emotion. Then she cleaned the blood from that prince's blessed head and face, the well-beloved AH bringing water on his shield, and Fatima swallowing that prince's blood. She succeeded in stanching the flow of blood by burning a piece of mat she found, and applying its ashes to the wound.' (R.) (44.) Jesus speaks of stones which would cry out, under certain circumstances ; but Mohammed of stones and trees which actually did call out. a. 'The whole multitude of the disciples praised God, saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord ; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And 346 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out' (Luke xix. 37-40). b. ' The biographers narrate that when that Excellency had completed his fortieth year, the Most High gave him his apostolic mission to all people. But previously there appeared many signs and tokens to that prince, such as true dreams, and salutations from trees and stones. Jabir Ibn Simre reports that he heard the Prophet make this statement : " At the time I was about to receive my mission, I, for several days and nights, did not meet a tree or a stone which did not say to me, ' Peace be on thee, O thou Apostle of God.'" ' In the narrative of the visit of Abu Talib, with his nephew Mohammed, to the monk Bahira, it is recorded that when the caravan with the future prophet reached a certain hilly and stony spot, Bahira heard how all the trees and stones of that place called out with a loud voice, " Peace be on thee, O thou Apostle of God ! " ' (R.) (45.) Each of the tivo prophets illustrated the hopelessness of a case by referring to a camel's passing through the eye of a needle. a. 'Jesus said to his disciples, Again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God' (Matt. xix. 24). b. ' Amar narrates that Hadifa told him he heard Mohammed say, on their return from the expedition to Tabuk, A.H. 9, " There are twelve1 hypocrites amongst my companions who shall not see the face of Paradise, or smell its fragrance, until the time when a camel may pass through the eye of a needle." ' (R.) 1 These ' twelve ' hypocrites in Islam may perhaps be regarded as a sort of counterpart to the twelve apostles. It is also stated that ' twelve hypocrites ' were partners in the building of a mosque near Medina, with the view of uphold- ing Christian tendencies, which Mohammed, after his return from Tabuk, com- manded to be burnt over the heads of those who worshipped in it. ch. I. 46.] BLESSES BY THE LA YING ON OF HLS HAND. 347 (46.) Both the prophets sometimes imparted Divine benefits and blessings by the laying on of their hands. a. ' After that Jesus put his hands again upon the blind man's eyes, and made him look up : and he was restored, and saw every man clearly' (Mark viii. 22-25). Compare Mark vii. 32-35. 'And they brought young children to Jesus, that he should touch them. . . . And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them' (Mark x. 13- 16). ' Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them unto him ; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them' (Luke iv. 40). b. ' Amongst the Beni Beka, who, A.H. 9, came to Medina to profess Islam, there was Moawia Ibn Thor, a venerable old man, a hundred years of age. He begged his Excellency graciously to lay his blessed hand on his son Beshr, because he behaved so well towards him. That Excellency granted his request, and stroked Beshr's face with his blessed hand, and invoked a blessing upon him. In consequence, when- ever a famine happened in the country of the Beni Beka, it did not reach them.' 1 In the same year, A.H. 9, Zeiyad Ibn Abd Allah also embraced Islam, together with some others. He went to the house of Meimuna, one of the Prophet's wives, because he was her nephew. It happened that, soon after, his Ex- cellency also came to Meimuna's dwelling, but, on seeing Zeiyad with her, he became angry and turned away. Meim- una called after him, " O Apostle of God, this is my sister's son." Then that prince turned back, and sat down with them. At noonday prayers they went to the mosque together, and his Excellency made Zeiyad sit by his side. He also prayed for him, and with his blessed hand stroked him, bringing down his blessed hand over Zeiyad's face to the end of his nose. It is recorded that the Beni Halal said, " After this, we always saw in Zeiyad's face a light, and the traces of a blessing." 'A.H. 10, Jerir Ibn Abd Allah came to Medina with 150 34-S MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n. men from his tribe and embraced Islam. When Mohammed requested him to return home and destroy their idol forth- with, Jerir said, " O Apostle of God, the way is long ; if I ride on a camel, I shall be late, and I cannot ride on horse- back, for if I mount a horse, it throws me down." Jerir continues his narrative thus : " Then that prince laid his blessed hand on my breast, so that I saw the traces of his blessed fingers upon my breast, and said, ' O God, stablish him and make him a rightly guided guide.' Then I left that Excellency, and, by that God who sent him with truth, mounted an intractable horse, which at once became under me as gentle as a lamb, so that I speedily reached the idol- temple, demolished, and burned it. When this news reached his Excellency, he rejoiced, and prayed for a favour and blessing on Jerir's horse." ' Some one went to Moseilama, the false prophet who wished to be named Mohammed's successor, and asked him to bless his son, and to pray for him, on the ground that Mohammed did the same for the children of his companions. Moseilama then prayed for the boy, and stroked his head, when, lo, the boy's head turned bald ; and every child to whom Moseilama was called to lay his hands on its head, or to put his fingers into its mouth, became bald-headed, and received a stammering tongue.' (R.) (47.) By their mediation and benediction a small quantity of food miraculously sufficed to feed a large number of people. a. J Jesus took the loaves ; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down ; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said to his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with fragments of the five barley-loaves, which re- mained over and above unto them that had eaten ' (John vi. 5-i3> ' And he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled : and they ch. 1.47.] HIS BLESSING MULTIPLIES FOOD. 349 took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand (Mark viii. 1-9). b. Ibn Ishak narrates : ' Said Ibn Mina told me that he heard Beshir Ibn Saad's daughter relate the following story : My mother Omra called me, and put a handful of dates into my dress, saying, " Go, take this breakfast to thy father and uncle." I went away with the dates, and on pass- ing Mohammed, in seeking my father and uncle, he called me, and asked what I was carrying. I answered, " These are dates with which my mother has sent me to my father and uncle." He said, " Give them to me ; " and when I put them into his hands, they did not quite fill them. He then com- manded a cloth to be spread, and threw the dates upon it, saying to a man who was standing there, "Call the men of the ditch1 to breakfast." All the men of the ditch collected around him and ate of them, and they continued to multiply, so that when the people left, they were still falling down from the side of the cloth. ' Said Ibn Mina has also told me that Jabir Ibn Abd Allah narrated to him as follows : " When we were working together with Mohammed in digging the ditch, I had a lamb which was not very fat, and I said to myself, ' By Allah, we can prepare this lamb for the Apostle of God.' I requested my wife to prepare a little barley-flour and bake bread, whilst I killed the lamb and dressed it for Mohammed. In the evening, when he wanted to go home, I said to him, ' I have caused a lamb to be prepared for thee which we had in our house, and we have also baked barley-bread l for it. I shall be glad if thou wilt come home with me.' Mohammed consented, but caused a Caller to call out aloud, 'Follow the Apostle of God into the house of Jabir Ibn Abd Allah.' Then I thought, We are God's, and return to Him. How- ever, Mohammed soon came with the people and sat down. We brought the food to him. He pronounced a blessing upon 1 The ' men of the ditch ' were the people who, at Mohammed's command, fortified Medina by digging a ditch, in a comparatively short time, alongside its exposed part, on the occasion when an attack was expected from a Meccan army. 2 Compare the five ' barley-loaves ' in John vi. 9. 35o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. n. it 1 in the name of God and ate. Then the people all ate in turn, one company after another,2 till all the men of the ditch went away satisfied."'3 (48.) Towards the close of their earthly course, both the prophets triumphantly re-entered the capital city and national sanctuary, accompanied by a vast multitude of exultant followers, though previously they had to fee from it, their liberty and even their life being threatened by the parties in potuer ; and they authoritatively rid the sanctuary of what zvas desecrating it. a. ' Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we ? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him : and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. . . . Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews : but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples ' (John xi. 47-54)- ' Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. — And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage ... his disciples brought an ass and colt, and put on them their clothes, and set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way ; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David ! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ! Hosanna in the highest ! And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this ? And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the 1 Compare the ' giving thanks ' of Jesus in John vi. 1 1. - Compare Mark vi. 40 : ' And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by tifties. ' 3 These instances of Mohammed's many miracles must suffice here, as they will form a subject by themselves, further on. CH.i.48.] HE MAKES A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 351 prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money- changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer ; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple ; and he healed them' (John xii. 1 ; Matt. xxi. 1-14). b. What, in the biographies of Mohammed, corresponds to this triumphant entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, separ- ates into three distinct acts : an. the three days' visit, after a wholly abortive attempt ; bb. the conquest of Mecca and cleansing of the Kaaba ; cc. the grand Farewell Pilgrimage.1 aa. ' Six years after Mohammed and his followers had fled from Mecca, where their liberty and even their lives were endangered, and had been received with open arms in Medina, he resolved on a visit to the sacred city, in the character of a pilgrim. But fearing the Koreish might oppose him by force, he invited the friendly Arabs and Bedouins to accompany him. Many of these indeed slighted his invitation, but others joined the refugees and assistants. Then they put on the pilgrim's garment and carried with them animals for sacrifices, so that it might be quite obvious they were not coming for war, but merely on a religious visit to the temple. The Koreish, knowing with whom they had to do, put no confidence in Mohammed's professions, and 1 As it can be gathered from the narrative of the four Gospels that the whole course of Christ's public life tended towards Jerusalem, where He knew His ' Father's House 'to be ; where it was assigned Him to ' accomplish His min- istry ; ' and where His Church was to be founded, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit : so also it appears plain from the Mohammedan records that Mohammed, so long as he was forcibly debarred from Mecca, never ceased to keep its subjugation steadily in view, and persistently strove to obtain possession of the holy city and temple, as the centre and sanctuary of Islam. But how great a difference between the two prophets ! Christ went to Jerusalem to be crucified, and to found a spiritual kingdom, ' not of this world ; ' but Mohammed entered Mecca as a conqueror, establishing a worldly empire under the guise of religion. It is, of course, not intended to affirm that Mohammed undertook these journeys to Mecca and the Kaaba for the express purpose of establishing a parallel to Christ's visit of Jerusalem and the Temple ; but the description given by his biographers renders it not improbable that in their minds a desire existed to draw attention to Christ's royal entrance into Jerusalem, and to show how entirely it was eclipsed by Mohammed's pompous entrance into Mecca. 352 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. said, " Even if he does not come for war, the Arabs shall never be able to say that we received him because we could not help it." Mohammed was not permitted to visit the temple on this occasion, and had to content himself with a written compact containing this clause, " Mohammed is to go back this year without entering Mecca, but next year the Koreish are to vacate the city for three days, so that he and his companions may enter and remain there in the dress of pilgrims, and without any other weapon but a sheathed sword." ' In the following year Mohammed and his followers returned to Mecca, which he found vacated, and they re- mained three full days. But at the end of this term the Koreish sent a deputation to them, reminding them of their stipulation to leave. Mohammed replied, " What harm is there, if I remain a little longer among you to celebrate my marriage and to prepare a wedding feast for you ? " But they said, " We do not want your feast : depart from us." Accordingly Mohammed quitted Mecca in such a hurry that he had to leave his freedman, Abu Rafi, behind him, to follow with Meimuna, the newly engaged bride. They overtook the Prophet at Sarif, where the marriage was con- summated.' (Ibn Ishak.) bb. ' Although it had been stipulated in the pact of Hodeibia that there should be peace for ten years, yet as there happened acts of hostility between the confederates of the Koreish and the confederates of Mohammed, which led to bloodshed, the Prophet, already two years later, A.H. 8, determined to undertake an expedition of war and conquest against Mecca. According to the narratives of the biographers he started from Medina with his army in the month of Ramadan, proclaiming it optional for every one either to fast or not to fast on that occasion, and taking with him Om Salma from amongst his chaste wives. When the army encamped four parasangs from Mecca, it numbered 10,000 or 12,000 men. Abu Sofyan, through the mediation of Abbas, went out to Mohammed, and thus interceded for the city, " For God's sake, and for the sake of thy affinity with the Koreish, forgive them, and spare their blood, and show them kindness and favour ; for thou art the best of ch. I. 48.] HE TAKES MECCA AND BREAKS ITS IDOLS. 353 men, and most merciful towards relatives." That Excellency replied, " O Abu Sofyan, this is a day of mercy ; a day in which God brings glory to the Koreish ; and a day in which God's House, the Kaaba, shall be greatly exalted." After this he ordered the different commanders of his troops to advance against the city, and to enter it simultaneously, from seven different directions ; but he enjoined on them all to fight with none who did not attack them. Only the troops commanded by Khalid were attacked, so that he had to fight, and his opponents lost twenty-four men in killed, or according to another account, seventy men, this being the number Mohammed had once vowed to slay from amongst the Koreish, in revenge for his uncle Hamza, who fell in the battle of Ohod. It is recorded that the remaining Meccan soldiers, on seeing the slain, fled ignominiously, without looking back. 'When Mecca was in the possession of the Mussulman army, Mohammed washed the dust off his face and hands, took a bath, then put on again his armour and helmet, and, accompanied by his friends, rode to the holy place of the temple, between drawn-up lines of cavalry. He first saluted the Black Stone, as it was usual, with the crooked stick he had in his hand, and, together with his fellow-Moslems, raised such a loud cry of " Allahu akbar, i.e. God is great ! " that fear and trembling fell on all Mecca. Having performed his pro- cessional circumambulation of the sanctuary, he upset the 360 idols, set up around the Kaaba, by striking them with a javelin or club which he held in his hand, so that some of them lay prostrate on their faces, others on their backs. The large idols Hobal, Asaf, and Naila, were broken in pieces. A few great idols being placed so high that they could not be reached with the hand, Ali, God's favourite, said to the Prophet, " O Apostle of God, hadst thou not better stand on my shoulders and pull these idols down ? " To this Mo- hammed replied, " O Ali, thou hast not strength enough to bear the weight of the prophetship that is in me : thou hadst better stand on my shoulders, and do this act thyself." Ali obeying, cast down those idols and broke them up into fragments. Then he threw himself down upon the ground in honour of the Prophet, and smiled ; and his Excellency z 354 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. asking him why he laughed, he answered, " I laugh, because though I let myself down from so great a height, yet no harm has happened to me." The Prophet rejoined, " O All, how could any harm have come to thee, seeing that he who held thee was Mohammed, and he who let thee down, Gabriel." Mohammed also sent Omar and Othman into the Kaaba, to efface the figures of angels, prophets, etc. which the infidels had drawn on its walls. But on afterwards entering himself, with some companions, and observing that Omar had not ventured to efface the images of Abraham and Ishmael, he ordered that these should likewise be obliterated, adding these words, "Let God's curse be on that ( = any) people who make figures of those things which they cannot create." ' When he again came out of the Kaaba, and found the people of Mecca standing and waiting for a declaration from him, as to how he intended to treat them, he addressed this question to them, " What do you yourselves think and say, as to how I should deal with you ? " They answered, " We speak of thee and hope from thee nothing but what is good : thou art our kind brother and our kind brother's son, who hast now obtained power and dominion over us." With these words they referred to the story of Joseph and his brethren. His Excellency replied, " Inasmuch, then, as your thoughts concerning me are such, I also say to you what Joseph said to his brethren, ' No censure and reproof shall be on you to-day : may God forgive you, for He is the Most Merciful." ' cc. 'The biographers record that A.H. 10, that is, in the year of his death, that prince performed the pilgrimage to Mecca which is called " The Farewell Pilgrimage," on account of his taking leave of his friends in his addresses during that pilgrimage, saying, " I shall perhaps not see you again after this year." But it is affirmed, on the authority of Abbas, that his Excellency disliked that appellation and preferred to call it " The Pilgrimage of Islam." He sent news to all the sur- rounding tribes of Arabs that he had decided on making the pilgrimage, and invited them to join ; and God afflicted with measles and small-pox those who did not wish to join him in the pilgrimage. On that journey so many people ch. i. 48,49-] HE WORSHIPS AT THE KAABA. 355 came together that none but God can know their number. Another account, however, states their number at 114,000, and still another at 124,000 persons. ' His Excellency entered the sacred mosque, saluted the Black Stone, and went seven times round the Kaaba, the first three times in haste and the last three times slowly, saluting the Black Stone and touching the Yemenite pillar each time. He also went to the place of offering, in order to slay his sacrifices. The camels brought by him from Medina, and by the well-beloved Ali from Yemen, amounted to 100. Of these camels his Excellency slaughtered 63 with his own blessed hand, in correspondence with the number of the years of his age ; and the remaining 37 he ordered Ali to slay. On having his blessed head shaved, he distributed his sacred hair, giving one half of it to the Ansar Abu Talha, and the other half to his chaste wives, and also one or two hairs each to every one of his friends, according to their different rank. After that, faithful Aisha anointed that prince with an ointment in which there was musk,1 where- upon he put off his pilgrim dress, and rode into Mecca before the noonday prayers.' (R.) (49.) BotJi Jesus and Mohammed continued up to the dose of their career, and with death already at the door, in the zealous discharge of their respective life-zvork. a. ' And Jesus taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests, and the scribes, and the chief of the people, sought to destroy him, and could not find what they might do : for all the people were very attentive to hear him ' (Luke xix. 47, 48). ' And in the day-time he was teaching in the temple ; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him ' (Luke xxi. 37, 38). Compare also, in illustration of Christ's wonderful activity 1 Is this notice, perhaps, a covert reference to Mary's ' ointment of spikenard, very costly ' ? (John xii. 3.) 356 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. H. during the last few days of His life, what is written in Matt, xix. to xxvi., and in John xi. to xviii.' b. ' The biographers report that when the Apostle of God had returned from the farewell pilgrimage to Medina (a few months before his death), he was seized with some illness, before the last in which he died. When the news of that illness became known in the country, several individuals openly pretended to be prophets, such as Moseilama, Talha, Aswad, and even a woman, named Sajah. Moseilama wrote a letter to Mohammed, in which he offered to divide the world equally with the Koreish ; but Mohammed declined the offer, concluding his answer in these words, " Thou hast ruined the people of Yemama : may the Almighty ruin thee and thy followers ! " Aswad was a diviner who had two devils telling him what was going to happen amongst men. When Badzan, Mohammed's Commissioner of Sana in Yemen, had died, he, with the help of his followers, seized and sub- dued Sana, and even made Badzan's widow l his wife. As soon as Mohammed had learned this from his other Commissioners in those parts, he ordered them by letter to unite and undo that mischief " in any way they might be able." Thereupon they secured the co-operation of Aswad's new wife, and with her help — she intoxicating him for the occasion — they suc- ceeded in cutting off his head. Although the letter in which Mohammed was informed of this success reached Medina only after his death, he had received the same information by a heavenly messenger a day before he died, which he com- municated to his friends, saying, " Last night Aswad has been killed ; " and on being asked by those around him, he was able to give them even the names of the murderers. ' During his last illness, the Prophet also rose from his bed and went at night to the graveyard to pray for the dead. Ata Ibn Yesar says, " One night that Excellency was told, Arise, go to the Bekia cemetery, and pray for the pardon of those who lie in the graves. He arose and did so ; and having gone back to sleep, he received the same injunction a second time, and complied with it in the same manner. 1 Or, according to another account, the widow of Shahr, Badzan's son, who had succeeded his father for a very short time, and was slain in his struggle with El Aswad. CH. 1.49-1 LAST WAR EXPEDITION ARRANGED. 357 Having once more returned to rest, he was told, Arise and pray for the pardon of the martyrs of Ohod. His Excellency arose, went to Ohod, and prayed for them ; but when he returned from Ohod, he suffered from headache, and tied a cloth round his blessed head." Akba Ibn Amir says, "Eight years after the affair of Ohod, the Prophet of God performed prayers over the martyrs of Ohod — that is, he blessed them and prayed for pardon for them. In this way he bade fare- well, as it were, both to the living and to the dead." ' (R.) ' Abd Allah Ibn Kaab said, " On the day on which Mohammed prayed for the martyrs of Ohod, he also mounted the pulpit, and said, O ye company of the refugees, deal kindly with the assistants. Other people increase in number, but they remain the same. They were the shelter to which I turned : be kind to those who befriend them, and punish those who oppose them. Then Mohammed left the pulpit, and his illness increased so much that he fainted." 'The last war-expedition which Mohammed arranged was that of sending Osama Ibn Zeid to Syria, to the districts of Balka and Darum, belonging to Palestine. When the people were busily preparing for this expedition, and the oldest emigrants were already gathering around Ibn Zeid, that ill- ness commenced by which God in mercy was pleased to take him away. On being informed, during the illness, that the people hesitated with the mission of Osama Ibn Zeid, and that some objected to his placing a young man over the honourable refugees and assistants, he came forth from his chamber, and, with his head tied up, mounted the pulpit, and, after praising God, thus addressed the people : " O ye people, carry out Osama's mission. By my life, if ye object to his leadership, ye also object to that of his father before him ; but he is as worthy of it as his father has been." When Mohammed quitted the pulpit, and the people expedited their preparations, his illness became aggravated. Osama left the city with his army and encamped at Jorf, three miles from the city ; but, as Mohammed was very ill, Osama remained with his men in the camp, waiting to see what God had decreed concerning His Apostle.' (I. I. and I. H.) 'On Monday some of the Mussulmans who were to accompany Osama, came to bid farewell to the Prophet, and 358 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. then returned to the soldiers' camp. They found him very ill, yet he urged them, saying, " Send Osama's soldiers on- ward !" Osama also came again that day, and his Excellency, on taking leave of him, said, " Fight, with the blessing of God !" As soon as Osama returned to the soldiers' camp, he gave orders to be mounted and start ; but at that moment his mother sent him word, " The Apostle of God is in his death-struggle." On hearing this, he returned with the leading men of the companions, and had the great banner planted before the door of his Excellency's room.' (R.) (50.) The Death of both these propJiets was no less wonderful than their birth and life. a. The approaching death was foreknown and foretold by them. aa. ' From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day' (Matt. xvi. 21). Compare Luke xviii. 31-33. ' Now, before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end' (John xiii. 1). 1 It is enough, the hour is come ; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go : lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand ' (Mark xiv. 41, 42). bb. ' The biographers record that his Excellency was made aware, towards the close of his life, that this year he was to migrate from this transitory world to the vicinity of the Lord of Glory. He undoubtedly alluded to this subject in his Farewell Pilgrimage, when he said, " Learn ye the ceremonies of the pilgrimage well of me ; perhaps after this year I shall not make any more pilgrimage ; " and again, " They have, as it were, invited me to the abiding world ; and I also have accepted the invitation, and have become one who is going to the eternal world." 'It is narrated that Abd Allah Ibn Masud said, " Our loved one and our prophet, that is, Mohammed, the chosen, CH. I. 50, a, b.] HE ANNOUNCES HIS NEAR END. 359 apprised us of his approaching death a month before he died. He invited us, his special friends, to the house of Aisha, the faithful, that mother of the believers ; and when we came into his presence, so that his blessed eyes saw us, he began to weep. This weeping in all probability proceeded from his most tender feelings, and affection, for his friends, and from his picturing to himself his separation from them. On my asking, O Apostle of God, when will thy appointed time be completed ? his Excellency replied, The time of separation has drawn nigh ; and the hour of the return to the Most High, and to the remotest Sidra, and to the abode of Paradise, and to the upper companions, is at hand." ' (R.) b. Their death was not unavoidable, but freely accepted by them. aa. 'Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again ' (John x. 17, 18). * But that the world may know that I love the Father ; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence' (John xiv. 31). ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ' (Heb. ii. 14). bb. ' It is a well-accredited tradition that Aisha gave the following narrative : " I heard the Prophet say in his healthy days, No prophet leaves this world for the next, without the option being given him whether he will choose the present world or the world to come.1 When his last illness befell him and he was seized with a cough, his Excellency said, 'With the higher companions,' or, according to another ac- count, ' With the higher and most blessed companions, with Gabriel, Michael, and Asrafel.' Then I knew that the option had been given him, and that his Excellency had chosen the next world." It is also reported that in all his former 1 It requires little acuteness to perceive that the following story, with all its extraordinary details, owes its origin to the desire of illustrating and verifying this declaration of the Prophet by his own personal experience. 360 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk.ii. illnesses the Prophet had asked God for recovery and health, but that in this last illness he never prayed for restoration. ' According to tradition, Gabriel came three days before his Excellency's death, and said to him, " Thy Lord salutes thee, and has sent me to thee, as a special mark of honour and distinction, to ask of thee what He knows before, namely, how thou art." His Excellency replied, " O thou faithful messenger of God, I am sad, sorrowful, and distressed." Gabriel came also on the second and third day to ask the same question and received the same answer. On the third day there further came the angel of death, and another angel called Ishmael, who is the ruler of 70,000, or, according to another account, of 100,000 angels, each of whom, in his turn, is again the ruler of 70,000 or 100,000 other angels ; and all these thousands of thousands of angels accompanied Ishmael. When Gabriel made his usual inquiry after the Prophet's health, that same day, he added, " O Mohammed, he that has now come, is the angel of death : he stands at the door and desires permission from thee to enter. Hitherto he has never asked and henceforth he will never ask such permission of any one." His Excellency replied, "O Gabriel, give him per- mission and let him come in." As soon as the angel of death had received permission, he entered, saluted that Excellency, and said, " O Mohammed, the Most High has sent me to thee and commanded me to obey thy behest : if thou commandest it, I am to take thy spirit and convey it to the higher world ; but, if not, I am to go back." That prince looked towards Gabriel, that is to say, he made a sign to Gabriel to hear from him what he was to say. Gabriel replied, " O Ahmed, the truth is, that thy Lord longs to see thy noble face." Upon this that Excellency said to the angel of death, " Accomplish the work with which thou art commissioned." Gabriel further said, " O Ahmed, peace be with thee, I am now no more to descend to the earth to bring revelations : thou alone hast been my object and desire from amongst the people of this world.' ' It is reported that Ibn Abbas said : On the day of that Excellency's death God commanded the angel of death, " Go down to the earth, to Mohammed my beloved, but take heed not to enter and not to take his spirit, without permis- CH. I. 50, c, d.] THE ANGEL OF DEA TH. 361 sion. Then the angel of death, with many hundreds of thousands from amongst his angelic assistants, mounted pie- bald horses, put on robes woven with pearls and rubies, and came to his Excellency's door, bringing in their hands a letter from the Lord of the Universe. The angel of death stood before the door in the form of an Arab, saying, " Peace be with you, O ye inmates of the Prophet's house and of the Apostle's residence ! will you grant me permission to enter ? " Fatima, the chaste, who was standing at his Excellency's head, made answer thus, " The Prophet is just now engaged with himself, so that an interview is not quite convenient." The angel of death asked permission a second time, and received the same reply. On the third occasion he asked so loud that all the inmates of the house trembled, from the awfulness of his voice. When his Excellency came to himself, he opened his eyes, and inquired what it was. On being told, that prince said to Fatima, " Knowest thou with whom thou hast been holding converse?" She answered, "God and His Prophet know it best." Then his Excellency said, " The person who came to the door is the angel of death, the spoiler of pleasures, the crosser of wishes, the separator of friends, the converter of wives into widows, and of sons and daughters into orphans." ' (R.) c. Angels would have been ready to prevent their death, had they desired it. aa. ' Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?' (Matt. xxvi. 53, 54.) bb. ' It is recorded that Gabriel came from God, during the Prophet's last illness, and said, " O Mohammed, of a truth thy Lord sends thee greeting ; and He has ordered that if thou wishest it, I am to cure thee and to deliver thee from this illness ; and also that, if thou desirest it, I am to let thee die and to pardon thee." His Excellency answered thus: " O Gabriel, I have committed my affairs to my Lord. Let Him do whatsoever He pleases." ' (R.) d. They died a martyr's death. aa. ' To this end was I born, and for this cause came I 362 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth ' (John xviii. 37). ' But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God ' (John viii. 40). ' The Jews answered, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. . . . They cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him ! Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but. Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away ' (John xix. 7-19). bb. Ibn Hisham, in narrating the attempt made by a Jewess in Khaibar to poison Mohammed, transcribes the following passage from Ibn Ishak, ' Merwan Ibn Othman related to me that when Om Bishr visited Mohammed in his last illness, he said to her, " I feel now how my heart-artery is bursting in consequence of the bit I ate with thy son (or brother) Bishr at Khaibar." From this, let the Moslems infer that God, after having honoured Mohammed with the prophetic mission, also permitted him to die a martyr.' (I. I. and I. H.) ' According to a sound tradition, Aisha, the faithful, said, The Prophet used to utter the following magic sentence as a charm over the sick : Move far away this ill ! O Lord of men, do heal ! Thou art the healer sure : No cure, except thy cure ! God, with thy healing heal, That we relieved may feel. Whenever his Excellency was taken ill, he charmed himself with this spell, whilst passing his blessed hand over his noble body. During his last illness, when it had become very severe, I pronounced this prayer, and wanted to pass his blessed hand over his body ; but he drew his hand away from me and said, " May the Lord pardon me and join me with the higher companions " ' (R.) e. As the sufferings in their death were greater than other men's, so also is their reward. CH. I. 50, £>,/.] HE SHEWS GREAT DISTRESS. 363 aa. ' And, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground ' (Luke xxii. 44). 1 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst,' etc. (John xix. 28-30.) ' Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name ' (Phil. ii. 8, 9). 1 He, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God ' (Heb. xii. 2). bb. 'It is recorded that Aisha, the faithful, related what follows : The Apostle of God showed much restlessness in his last illness ; unable to remain in his bed, he turned from one side to the other. We said to him, " O Apostle of God, if one of us, when ill, had shown such restlessness and wish for change, thou surely wouldst have been angry with us." To this his Excellency replied thus, " O Aisha, my illness is extremely painful : the truth is, that the Most High sends exceedingly painful and severe afflictions to the j,ust and to the believers ; but that no affliction or trouble befalls the believer, without God, in return, raising him a degree higher and blotting out one of his sins." Aisha also said, " I have never seen in any man a more painful and violent illness than the Prophet's." ' Abu Sayid narrated, ' When we went to the Prophet, he was covered with velvet, and we felt his fever-heat through that velvet ; and on account of that violent heat, we could not endure laying our hands on his blessed body ; and we, being astonished, said, " Great God, what fever is this ! " His Excellency answered, " There is no one more afflicted than a prophet : but just as their afflictions are multiplied, so also is their reward." The mother of Bishr Ibn Bara said, " I went to the apostle of God in his last illness, and finding him in an exceedingly hot fever, I said to him, ' O Apostle of God, thou hast a fever such as I have never seen in any one else.' His Excellency replied, On this account our reward also will be double that of other men." ' (R.) 364 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. f. Their sufferings and death are meritorious, taking away •sin and helping all their people into Paradise or Heaven. aa. ' We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ' (2 Cor. v. 14). ' Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteous- ness : by whose stripes ye were healed ' (1 Pet. ii. 24). 1 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him ' (Heb. v. 8, 9). bb. ' It is an accredited tradition that Abd Allah Ibn Masud said, I went to the Apostle of God, when the fever had seized him ; and, on laying my hand upon his face, it was so burning hot that my hand could not bear it. I said, " O Apostle of God, thou hast a wonderfully hot fever." His Excellency responded, " Yes, and the truth is, that the violence of my fever is as great as that of any two of you, suffering from fever, put together." I said again, " O Apostle of God, then thou acquirest also a double merit and reward." His Excellency rejoined, "Yes, so it is ; and by that God in whose mighty hand my soul is, no one suffers pain or affliction from illness or anything else, without casting off his sins, like a tree in autumn casts off its leaves." ' When Bilal, soon after Mohammed's death, sounded the call for prayer and thereby caused a universal weeping in Medina, he added, " O friends, for you are these glad tidings that every eye which weeps for his Excellency, the apostle, shall never see hell-fire." It is known that this virtue is not confined to his Excellency's contemporaries, but we have the hope that it extends to all believing people, until the day of the resurrection, if, touched and moved by that prince's death, they weep over his trouble and departure, they all reap the same benefit, for it is established that his death is the calamity of the entire people.1 Ibn Abbas declares, I heard the Prophet say, " Every one of my people who loses two children by death will, at God's behest, be taken to Paradise, when he dies, by those two precursors." Aisha said, " But if only one child 1 Compare with this the word of Jesus : ' Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children " (Luke xxiii. 28). CH. I. 50, £•,//.] IN HIS DISTRESS HE CALLS UPON GOD. 365 has died, what then ? " The Prophet answered, " Then the one precursor shall be reckoned for two." Aisha asked again, " But if any one has had no precursor at all, what then ? " The Prophet answered, " Then I am in the stead of the precursor, that is, I am my entire people's precursor (taking them to Paradise), so that no such calamity is to befall them, as the calamity of my own death." ' (R.) g. In their suffering of death Satan had no power over them. aa. ' Hereafter I will not talk much with you : for the prince of this world cometh,1 and hath nothing in me ' (John xiv. 30). bb. ' When Om Bishr visited Mohammed in his last illness, he asked her, " O Om Bishr, what do the people say about my illness ? " She replied, " They say that thou hast the pleurisy." Upon this, his Excellency said, " It is not consistent with the goodness and kindness of the Most High to let that illness seize on His Prophet. The illness thou hast mentioned arises from Satanic influences ; but Satan has no power over me. My illness is the effect of the poisoned meat I ate in Khaibar, together with thy son." ' (R.) h. Their death-agonies were so extreme, that in their distress they called out aloud after God. aa. ' Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour ; and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli ! Eli ! lama sabach- thani ? that is to say, My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me? ... . Jesus, when he had cried out with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost ' (Matt, xxvii. 45-50). bb. ' It is reported that the death-struggle of that Excel- lency was so painful and violent, that he at times turned red ; at times, pale ; sometimes pulled away his right hand, sometimes his left ; and that his illustrious face streamed with the sweat of death ; and he dipped his blessed hand into a cup of water standing there, to moisten his face, and 1 It is undoubted that the ' prince of the world,' here, means Satan. Never- theless, the Mohammedans sometimes quote this verse as one of the passages in which the coming of Mohammed, as both a prophet and a worldly ruler, has been foretold. 366 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. called out, " 0 God, help me against the death-struggle ! O God, help me against the death-struggle ! " or, according to another account, " There is no God but Allah : but there is struggle in death." Aisha, the faithful, said, " After having seen his Excellency yielding up his soul with so much violence, I never longed again to be of those who yield up the soul with ease ; for if it were best to yield up the soul easily, the Almighty would have chosen such an easy death for His Prophet." ' (R.) i. The fact of their death was indubitably established by the state of their body. aa. ' Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs : but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true ; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe' (John xix. 32-35). bb. ' It is recorded that some of the hypocrites of Medina said, " If Mohammed had been a prophet, he would not have died." Omar Ibn Khattab drew his sword, placed himself before the door of the mosque, and said, " I shall cut in two any one who says that his Excellency the Prophet has died." On account of this word of Omar, the people doubted whether that Excellency was really dead. Thereupon Asma, the daughter of Amish, examined that Excellency's back between his shoulders with her hand, but no longer found the seal of prophetship in its place, so she said, " Of a truth, that prince has migrated from this present world ; for the seal of prophetship has disappeared from its place." With this word Asma convinced a number of the companions of the fact of that Excellency's real death.' (R.) j. Their death was accompanied by extraordinary pheno- mena, and its effects reached even to the invisible world of spirits. aa. ' Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom ; and the ch. I. so,/] CONVERSE WITH 'ANGEL OF DEATH: 367 earth did quake, and the rocks rent ; and the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now, when the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God ' (Matt, xxvii. 50-54). bb. ' When the angel of death was admitted into Moham- med's chamber, he said, " Peace be with thee, O Prophet : the Most High sends thee greeting, and has commanded me not to take thy spirit, except with thy permission." That prince answered, " O angel of death, I have something to ask of thee ; " and, on being requested to say what it was, his Excellency continued, " It is this : that thou shouldest not take my spirit until Gabriel has first come again to me." Then God addressed the angel who has the power over hell, saying, " Extinguish hell-fire ; for they are now going to bring the pure spirit of Mohammed my beloved to heaven." He also said to the black-eyed houris, "Adorn yourselves ; for Mohammed's spirit is coming." An order was issued to the angels of the Kingdom and to the dwellers in the strong places of the highest Ruler to this effect, " Arise and stand in lines ; Mohammed's spirit is coming." And to Gabriel this behest was given, "Go down to the earth, to Mohammed my beloved, and take to him a handkerchief of Sindis-silk." Then Gabriel went his way weeping, and on his arrival, that prince said to him, " O my friend, thou hast left me so long alone." Gabriel answered, " O Mohammed, I bring thee the glad tidings that the flames have been extinguished, the spirits have dressed, and the black-eyed houris have adorned themselves, and the angels have formed lines, to meet thy spirit." His Excellency said, " All these are good things : but tell me something wherewith to cheer up my soul." Gabriel responded thus, " The truth is, that until thou and thy people have entered Paradise, Paradise will be forbidden to all other prophets and their people." Mohammed said, " Give me yet more of these glad tidings.' Gabriel continued in these words, " O Mohammed, God has counted thee worthy of several things which He has not 368 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. ii. given to any other prophet, namely, the pond of nectar, the lauded place, the intercession on the day of the resurrection ; and then He will also give thee so many of thy people that thou shalt be content and pleased." His Excellency replied, " Lo, now I am pleased and rejoiced, and my eyes are full of light." Then he turned to the angel of death and said, " Come now and perform the service with which thou art commissioned." ' Aisha related : " When his spirit quitted the body, there was observed such a sweet fragrance as had never before been perceived by any of the Meccan travellers." Ali is reported to have said : I heard a voice from heaven saying, " O Mohammed ! " It is also narrated that when the awful event had happened, the males and females of the Prophet's household heard a voice from the corner of the house, saying, " Peace be with you, ye inmates of the house, and the mercy and blessing of God ! Know and understand that with God there is a comfort for every affliction, and a successor for every one dead : therefore trust in the highest Lord and turn to Him, but do not wail and lament ; for in truth, the unfortunate person is he who has not yet been rewarded by the Almighty." On Ali, the well-beloved, asking them, " Do you know at all whose the voice is that you have just heard ? " the companions answered " No." Then Ali con- tinued, " It is the voice of a messenger from the unseen world who has come to comfort us." ' (R.) k. They were expected not to succumb to the power of death or remain in its grasp. aa. ' We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever : and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up ? " (John xii. 34.) ' Now the next day, that followed the day of the prepara- tion, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said ch. i. 50, k.] OMAR ADMITS HIS DEA TH. 369 unto them, Ye have a watch : go your way, make it as sure as ye can ' (Matt, xxvii. 62-65). ' Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day ' (Luke xxiv. 44-46). bb. Ibn Ishak states on the authority of Zuhri and Said that Abu Horeira narrated as follows : ' When Mohammed had died, Omar rose up and said, " Some hypocrites affirm that Mohammed has died : but, by God, Mohammed has not died, but has gone to his Lord like Moses, Amram's son, who remained away from his people for forty days and then returned, after he had already been announced dead. By Allah, the Apostle of God will also come back again like Moses, and cut off the hands and feet of those who pro- nounced him dead." Then Abu Bekr, on having received tidings, came to the door of the mosque, whilst Omar was speaking to the people. He looked at no one, but went straight into Aisha's room, where Mohammed lay in a corner, covered with a striped cloak. He approached him, uncovered his face, kissed it, and said, " Thou art dearer to me than father and mother : thou hast now tasted death, as God decreed ; but after this death, thou wilt be immortal." Then he again covered his face with the cloak, went out, and said to Omar, who was still speaking, " Gently, Omar, listen to me ! " Omar refused, and continued speaking. Abu Bekr seeing this, turned himself to the people, and they, as soon as they heard his voice, left Omar, and listened to him. Abu Bekr, after praising God, said, "O ye people, whoever adored Mohammed, let him know that he is dead : but whoever adores God, knows that He still lives and will never die." Then he read out this verse, " Mohammed is only an apostle, other apostles have passed away before him : will ye turn on your heels, when he dies or is slain ? " And, by Allah, it was as if the people had known nothing of the revelation of this verse, till Abu Bekr read it out on that day. The people then accepted it of Abu Bekr, and still quote it.' Abu Horeira also stated that Omar said, ' By Allah, as soon as I heard Abu Bekr read out this verse, I was quite overcome, so that my legs would no longer carry me, and I fell down : then I knew that the Apostle of God had died.' (I. I.) 2 A 37o MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. /. They each received an honourable burial, their friends preparing their body, wrapping it in fine linen, and, with an ample use of costly spices, depositing it in a new sepulchre. aa. ' In that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial ' (Matt. xxvi. 12). ' There came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden ; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid : there laid they Jesus ' (John xix. 39-42). ' The women returned, and prepared spices and ointments ; and rested the sabbath-day, according to the commandment. Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them : and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre ' (Luke xxiii. 55 — xxiv. 2). bb. ' Abd Allah Ibn Masud narrated : We asked Moham- med in his last illness, who was to wash him after death, and he replied, " Those males of my household who are nearest to me ; " and our question, how he was to be shrouded, he answered thus, " If you like, you can shroud me in the linen I now wear, or in Egyptian linen, or in Yemen-vestment, or in white linen." When we asked him who was to say the prayers over him, we began to weep, and he also wept. Then he said, " After having washed and shrouded me, and laid me on one side of my grave in this room,1 then go out and leave me for a while alone : the person who will say the prayers over me is to be my friend Gabriel, next him Michael, next him Asrafel, and next him Azrael, together with a vast host of angels." When we asked him again, " Who is to lower thy blessed body into the grave ? " he replied, " A great congregation 1 That this reference to Aisha's room is a bare invention can almost with certainty be inferred from Ibn Ishak's narrative, according to which there was a dispute as to whether he was to be interred in the common burying-place, or in the mosque : for such a dispute could not have arisen, had he himself, during his illness, designated the chamber in which he was lying as the place where his grave was to be. ch. I. 50, /.] HE IS BURIED WHERE HE DIED. 371 of angels, together with the people of my house, are to lower me : and those angels will see you, but you will not see them."' (R.) ' On Tuesday, after the oath of allegiance to Abu Bekr had been taken, preparations were made for Mohammed's funeral. Ali washed him, leaning him against his own breast ; Abbas and his sons helped to turn him over, Osama and Shokran poured water upon him. Mohammed had his under-clothing on, and Ali rubbed him over it, without his hand touching the body, saying, " How fair art thou, both living and dead ! " Nothing was observed in Mohammed that is seen in other dead bodies. Yahya narrated on the authority of his father Abbad, that Aisha said, " When Mohammed was to be washed, they were not agreed as to whether he was to be undressed like other corpses, or to be washed with his clothes on. Then God let them all fall asleep, so that their chins sank down on their breasts ; and then some unknown voice from the side of the house said, " Wash the Prophet in his robes." Then they washed him in his under-clothes, pouring the water upon them, and rubbing him, so that the clothes were between him and their hands. After being washed, he was wrapt in three cloths, two of white Sohar and a striped cloak, and laid upon his bed in his dwelling. When there was a dispute as to where he was to be buried, some wishing it to be in the mosque, others, with his companions ; Abu Bekr said, I have heard Mohammed say, " Every prophet is to be buried on the spot where he dies." Then they lifted up the carpet on which Mohammed had died, and dug his grave underneath. Mo- hammed was buried in the middle of the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.' (I. I.) ' It is also narrated that, after the washing, a few drops of water remained in the corner of that Excellency's eye and in the hollow of his navel, which Ali the well-beloved drank, and these drops of water, drunk by him, caused his extraordinary knowledge and memory. After that, they shrouded the Lord of the world in three white cotton cloths, none of which was either a shirt or turban-cloth. According to another account, that prince's winding-sheets were two white linen cloths and a striped piece of Yemen- 372 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. cloth. They also scattered musk and spices on his winding- sheet and on his prayer-place. And it is said that Gabriel brought the spices for that prince from Paradise.' (R.) m. Their sacred tomb had been the subject of a previous Divine revelation. aa. ' For he was cut off from the land of the living, on account of the transgression of my people : stricken for them. And they appointed his grave with the wicked, but [he was] with the rich in his death ; because he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth ' (Isa. liii. 8, 9, according to the original). 'When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple : he went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock : and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed ' (Matt, xxvii. 57-60). bb. ' It is recorded of Aisha, the faithful, that she narrated as follows : I once saw in a dream, during the Prophet's lifetime, that three moons came down from heaven into my room. I communicated this to my father, Abu Bekr, and he said, " Please God, it will prove an omen for good." Then he asked me, " My daughter, how dost thou interpret it ? " I answered, " I interpret it as signifying that I shall have three sons by the Prophet." To this Abu Bekr did not make any observation. Afterwards, when they had interred his Excellency in my room, Abu Bekr said to me, " O Aisha, this is one of the three moons which thou sawest in thy dream, and the best of them." ' (R.) n. Devoted friends visited their tomb, and there received supernatural revelations, showing that even after death they were still living. aa. 'In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake : for the angel of the Lord descended CH. i. 50, //.] VOICES PROCEED FROM HIS TOMB. 373 from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow : and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye ; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here ; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay ; and go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead ; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye see him : lo, I have told you' (Matt, xxviii. 1-7). bb. ' Many of Mohammed's companions, after his death, chose to remain in Medina, in order to derive comfort from visiting his grave. When they had any difficulty, they used to come and stand over-against his sepulchre, and then were caused to hear an answer from that Excellency, solving their difficulties : to some of them it was given to hear it with the ears of their body ; to others with the ears of their soul. That prince's sepulchre was exceedingly bright and extremely light and shining. Those who did not see his Excellency openly, but merely his illumined tomb, used to bear witness that he who lies in that tomb must be a prophet. So it is narrated that once an Arab came upon that prince's tomb, and seeing it illumined, he called out on the spot, " I testify that there is no God but Allah ; and I testify that Mohammed is His servant and His apostle." On being asked how he had known that this was a prophet's tomb, that Arab swore, " I had never seen this grave, and did not know whose it was, but a Divine inspiration reached my heart, and I anon knew it beyond a doubt." ' It is recorded of Ali, the Emir of the believers, that he gave this account : Three days after his Excellency's funeral there came an Arab, who threw himself down upon that prince's grave, and took a handful of earth from it, casting it on his own head, and then called out, " O Apostle of God, thou hast spoken it, from thee we have heard it, thou hast received it from God, and we have received it from thee, and it is derived from those who came down to thee, that noble verse, ' And if they have darkened their souls, let them come unto thee ! ' I have brought darkness on my soul : but I 374 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [bk. II. am come to thee as a confounded, bewildered sinner, that thou mayest ask pardon for me of the Most High." Then there came forth a voice from that Excellency's tomb, saying three times, " Thou hast been pardoned, thou hast been pardoned." ' All the Ulemas are agreed that to visit the tomb of the Apostle of God is a solemn duty and an acceptable virtue ; and that it is very meritorious. It is recorded that his Excellency said, " Whoever visits my tomb, to him my intercession is due on the day of the resurrection ; " or, according to another account, " Whoever visits my tomb, his advocate and witness I shall be on the day of the resurrection." He also said, " Whoever visits my tomb after my death, it shall be all the same to him as if he had visited me in my lifetime." ' ! (Rawzat.) 1 The attentive reader will probably have found the apparent parallels between the lives of Christ and Mohammed, which this chapter has brought before his eyes, far too close and numerous to be considered accidental. It seems really difficult to avoid arriving at the conviction that, where there appears a sameness or rivalry between both these extraordinary characters of history, and seeing that the antecedent cannot imitate the subsequent : the later biography can only be a designed, though more or less disguised, copy of the earlier. Such a conclusion must appear all the more justified, by the traces we have discovered of Mohammed expressly referring to Christian precedents, as the cause and model for his own institutions, see e.g. p. 332. Now if this fact is duly pondered, that Mohammed is represented as having dared, directly or indirectly, to usurp to himself the known position of Jesus Christ, the God-man Saviour, the avowed Mediator between God and man : then he appears in the full light of an Anti- christ. It can also no longer surprise us, but must appear quite natural, if we find that Islam, the system he initiated, ruthlessly destroyed every vestige of Christianity in Arabia, and that, in the course of its foreign conquests, it speedily invaded Palestine, the land of its birth ; Asia Minor, the field of St. Paul's labours ; Egypt, the early seat of Christian anchorites and learned divines ; North Africa, where St. Augustin had long been a burning and a shining light ; and even Constantinople, the capital of the first Christian monarch, and the locality of the earliest Councils of the Church. As Mohammed tried to usurp the place of Christ, in a religious sense, so the Mohammedan world has laboured, during successive centuries, to displace Christendom, as a dominant Factor of History. CHAPTER II. SUNDRY SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED, UNDER VARIOUS ASPECTS, DRAWN BY MOSLEM HANDS. Remark : If the place assigned to these sketches suggests their strong mythical colouring by Tradition, this is not meant to affirm that they may not comprise much which is really historical. Free scope is left to the reader's own tact and taste to discriminate between the historical and the mythical. All the sketches and their headings are translated from the popular Biography, Rawzat-ul-Ahbab (i.e. the Flower-garden of Friends), which is an elaborate collection of the records and tradi- tions concerning the Life of Mohammed, for the edification and enjoyment of the Mussulman believers. The reader will bear in mind, that, as in the preceding Chapter, so also in this, he reads the statements of Moslem writers. I. — Physical Qualities and Moral Virtues of the Lord of the World, (i.) Mohammed's Bodily or Physical Qualities. Respecting that prince's stature, appearance, and limbs, the biographers and traditionists communicate that his body, like the bodies of his successors, was of a middle size, whose perfect limbs and members were indications of the complete moderation of his dispositions. Although his blessed stature was of middle height, yet, whenever he was walking with tall people, he appeared taller than they ; and whenever he sat in an assembly, he was the greatest of those present. That blessed prince's head was large, and yet was he not big-headed. His head-hair was black, yet it was not very frizzled or very dangling, but just right ; and his musk- scented curls were hanging down sometimes to the middle 376 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. or end of his ear, and sometimes to his shoulders. At times also his hair was parted into four parts and then left to itself. His blessed forehead was open. His eyebrows ap- peared to be joined to each other, but were not really so. There were two veins between his eyebrows, which filled and became visible when he was angry. His bright eyes were the essence of lustre and beauty. Their black part was exceedingly black and their white part exceedingly white ; and there appeared red veins in the white and in the black of his blessed eyes. He was almond-eyed. His power of sight was such that he could see as well in the dark as in the light His blessed cheeks were not higher than his cheek- bones. His blessed nose was not longer than is usual, and a light encircled it ; but if any one looked at it without reflec- tion, he might regard his nasal bone as exceedingly long, though in reality it was not so. His blessed month was open, but exceedingly graceful ; and his good teeth were white and shining, with thin, sharp ends. The space between his teeth was open, so that when he spoke, it appeared as if light was flowing forth from between them. His blessed face was radiant and round, shining like the moon when it is a fort- night old. His complexion was not excessively white, but inclined a little to redness ; but his body was so super- latively white and luminous that it looked as if it had been newly cast of silver. His blessed beard was thick, and his neck high and exceedingly clear, as if it were of silver, or a gazelle's neck. The space between his blessed shoulders was grand ; his hateless bosom broad, his abdomen and chest were uniform and even ; and from his chest, full of rest, down to his navel there was drawn a thin line of hair, while the other parts of the chest and stomach were hairless, although there was hair on his blessed arms and shoulders and the upper part of his chest. The ends of the bones of his limbs were large. His blessed body was firm, and not flabby. His wrists were long, his hands open and softer than silk. His thighs were not without fineness ; and his fingers and toes were long and strong. On his heels there was not much flesh. The sole of his feet was bent up and not equal with the ground. The back of his foot was even and soft. There was on him nothing broken or cleft, so that no water ch. ii. sec. i. i, 2.] HIS 'SEAU MENTAL QUALITIES. 377 could stand upon him. In short, all the limbs and members of that Excellency were regular and perfect ; and those who described that prince said, that they had never seen his equal either before or after him. Ibn Abbas said that the Prophet never sat opposite the sun or a light, without outshining them by his own light.1 The seal of prophetsJup was between his two shoulder- blades, or, according to another account, upon the left shoulder-blade. It consisted of a lump of flesh, about one handful in quantity, around which there appeared moles of the size of peas. According to another account, the words ' Mohammed the Apostle of God,' were written upon it.2 The perspiration from that seal was superlatively fragrant. Uns Ibn Malik narrates that when the Prophet of God had passed through one of the streets of Medina, the people knew it, from the scent of musk he left behind. (2.) Mohammed's Mental Qualities. As Mohammed the chosen was commanded in the Koran to follow the other prophets, he united in himself all their several virtues by which they had each been distinguished,3 namely, the gratitude of Noah, the meekness of Abraham, the sincerity of Moses, the trustworthiness of Ishmael, the patience of Jacob and Job, the penitence of David, the humility of Solomon, and the abstinence of Jesus. When Aisha the faithful was once asked what had been the Pro- phet's practice, she replied, ' The Koran ; that is, he carried out those commands and prohibitions, those good qualities and manners which are known from the Koran.' The good 1 Who is not here reminded of passages like Ps. xlv. 2, and Cant. v. 10? 2 Even admitting the existence of some such physical peculiarity, there plainly was no connection between it and the proofs of his prophetship, except the genuineness of its superscription be granted, which, however, the Moslems themselves allow to rest upon ' weak ' tradition. This last-mentioned tradition only proves the activity of the Mohammedan imagination to discover or invent tokens in support of their Prophet's claims. 3 This sentence furnishes a key for the explanation of much of the marvellous which enters into the constitution of the Prophet's mythical character. Once admitting that he was a real prophet, nay, the last and best of the prophets, he had also to resemble or surpass them in word and deed. This necessity must have been felt both by Mohammed himself and his adherents. Thus the door became widely open for the play of fancy and the flow of fiction. 378 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. manners of that prince were such, that he never grieved any one of his friends and servants. Uns Ibn Malik says, ' I served that prince for ten years, both at home and on journeys, and he never said to me, " Why didst thou do this ? or why didst thou not do that ? " that is to say, whenever I was at fault in my service, he never slapped my face, saying, " Why didst thou do this ? or why didst thou not do that? " ' Aisha the faithful declared, ' No one had better manners than the Prophet of God : to any one calling him by his name, he would answer, " Here am I." He always accom- modated himself to his friends : when they spoke of the the world, he did the same ; and if they mentioned the next world, he joined them in that ; and if they laughed at what had been done in the days of ignorance, he would likewise smile.' Once when Aisha the faithful was asked how the Prophet had lived in his family, she replied, ' Like other men : he would help in sweeping the house, he would sew his clothes, mend his sandals, give water to the camels, milk the sheep, assist the servants in their work, take his meals together with them, and himself fetch the necessary things from the market' Hasan Ibn Ali narrates : ' When I asked my father how the Prophet spent his time in his own house, he answered, " He divided his time into three parts : one he devoted to the service of God, the other to inquiring after the members of his household, and the third to his own private wants ; and sometimes he also employed a portion of the latter part by improving the state of the people, and instructing the leading men amongst them." ' Hosein Ibn Ali narrates : ' When I asked my father how the Prophet lived in public, he answered, " He kept his tongue from what is unprofitable, conciliated and pleased his companions, and did not offend them. He treated the honourable men of the people with distinction, and gave to the people their due. He never neglected good manners, duly saluted his companions, and inquired after their state. He approved of what was good, and condemned what was bad. Those nearest to him were the best of the people ; and the most honoured those who were most benevolent to the Mussulmans." ' In reply to my question after his CH. ii. sec. i. 2.] HIS MENTAL QUALITIES. 379 Excellency's conduct in assemblies, my father said, ' He never sat down or rose in an assembly, without mentioning the name of God ; and in going to an assembly, he always sat down in any place which he found vacant, and enjoined also upon his friends to do the same. He gave to every one present what was due to him, and treated all with respect and honour. When any one had an interview and conversation with him, he had patience till it was over, without occupying himself with his own concerns. Whoever asked help of him was sure to be relieved, or, at least comforted with kind words. He showed such kindness to the people, as if he was the father of them all. In the administration of justice he was no respecter of persons : his council-chamber was a place of knowledge, modesty, patience, and faithfulness. No one was allowed to raise his voice high in his council ; and if any of those present was guilty of a fault, he would not expose but conceal it. These councils were all virtue and piety, where the great were honoured, the small had mercy shown them, and the absent and needy were protected.' It is recorded that the abstinence of that prince was such that if the entire world had been offered unto him, he would not have looked at it ; and when he departed from this world, his armour had been pawned to a Jew ; and for three successive days his stomach did not taste bread. It is likewise recorded that, for two days in succession, he could not satisfy himself with barley-bread. It might happen in the Prophet's family that no fire was lit for a whole month, but that they lived upon dates and water. So also it could happen that his Excellency laid himself down at night hungry, when on the following day he was going to fast ; and yet, if he had asked for it, God would have given him more than could enter any one's imagination.1 It is recorded that Gabriel once came to that apostle and said, 'Verily, the Most High sends thee greeting, and lets thee know that if thou desirest it, I am to convert these mountains of Mecca into gold and silver, 1 In this whole account of the Prophet's abstinence and poverty, it must not be forgotten that, as the climax and sum -total of all the previous prophets, Mohammed had necessarily to be represented as participating in the privations of previous messengers of God, all the more so, as this was not quite a matter of course in the husband of a wealthy merchant lady or the ruling chief of a commonwealth. 380 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. for thy sake ; and that they should accompany thee wherever thou mayest go.' When that prince heard these words from Gabriel, he lowered his head and reflected for a while. Then he raised his blessed head, and said, ' O Gabriel, this world is the house of those who have no house (viz. in heaven) ; the wealth of those who have no wealth (viz. of a spiritual, eternal kind) : the foolish only make it their portion. ' x That Excellency's Jmniility was so great that, when he was sitting in an assembly, he would not extend his blessed knees beyond the knees of those who sat by him ; that he greeted those he met and was first in shaking hands ; and that he never stretched out his legs before his companions, or made the place narrow for any one. He showed regard and honour to those coming to the assemblies ; and some- times would let them sit upon his own cushion. He would mention his companions by their patronymics and call them by the names they liked best. He never interrupted another in speaking ; and if any one in need came to him, whilst he was at prayer, he would shorten his prayers, help the person, and afterwards complete his prayers. Ibn Malik narrates that once, when that Excellency was accosted by a woman in one of the streets of Medina, he said, ' In what- ever street of Medina thou likest, thou mayest sit down, and I also will sit down and attend to thy affair.' At another time, a little slave-girl of Medina took that Excellency's hand and put it wherever she liked. On account of his exceeding great humility and unceremoniousness, he would sit down, lie, and sleep on the dry earth, would accept an invitation from a slave, even to dry barley-bread. His kindness, liberality, and generosity, were such that he never sent any beggar empty away from his door. Once a Bedouin begged something from that Excellency, and he gave him so many sheep that they filled the space between two mountains ; and when the said Bedouin returned to his people, he addressed them thus, ' O my friends, turn ye 1 Observe the tendency in this story of outshining the self-denying abstinence of Christ. Whilst He only declines an offer of Satan, and rejects the wealth of the world, already in the hands of others, Mohammed declines an offer of the Almighty, made to him through the angel Gabriel, and refuses mountains of gold and silver, which he could have had without dispossessing others of what they claimed as their own. ch. II. sec. I. 2.] HIS MENTAL QUALITIES. 381 Mussulmans ; for Mohammed gives such gifts as will put an end to poverty and fear.' It is related that, on the day of Honein, he gave away so much wealth to the people that they were astounded, and that it became the cause of several leading men from amongst the Koreish embracing Islam ; for they said to themselves, ' He gives so many presents that a person can no longer dread poverty, but must feel confident that God will never let him want, but provide for his sustenance.'1 It is creditably narrated that once some one came to his Excellency to ask for something, and that he gave this reply, ' At the present moment nothing remains in my hand : but buy whatever thou desirest and put it to my account ; and as soon as anything comes to my hand I will defray the debt' On another occasion, when 100,000 dirhems were brought to that Excellency, he had them all forthwith poured out on a mat and divided amongst the people, so that, on rising up, not a single dirhem remained in his hand. The meekness of that prince was such that he endured all the persecution from relatives and strangers without a thought of revenge, but rather blessing them for it. 2 Abd er Rahman said, ' The Apostle of God was the meekest and most patient of the people, and could better suppress his anger than any of them.' Uns Ibn Malik narrates that when he was once sitting in the mosque with a number of his companions, and had wrapped himself in a mantle of Nej ran, there suddenly came a Bedouin, seized that cloak, and so pulled at it that that prince's blessed shoulder touched the Bedouin's breast, and the edge of the cloak left a mark on that Excellency's blessed bosom. His Excellency looked at the Bedouin, and said, ' What wilt thou ? ' The Bedouin answered, 'Command that some part of the wealth thou possessest may be given to me.' His Excellency then ordered that something should be given him. Men of research have remarked that the persecutions did not affect that Excellency, because his mind and eye were looking towards God and regarding His favour. 1 Thus one of the main causes is pointed out of the rapid and wide spread of early Mohammedanism. Here the motto was not ' Forsake all, and follow me,' but ' Follow me, and you shall share in the riches of the world.' 2 The eulogist is here strangely oblivious of a very different conduct with which the First Book of this work has acquainted us, see e.g. p. 98. 382 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. That Excellency counted it incumbent on himself to fulfil engagements, and he never broke a promise. It is related that once, before his mission, he sold something to some one, and that this person, not having the whole price with him, said to his Excellency, ' Stop here, till I go and fetch the remainder of what I have to pay.' Then that person went away, but forgot all about his promise, till after three days, when it came back to his mind, and he at once took what he was owing and still found his Excellency in his former place, only saying to him, 'Young man, thou hast put me to inconvenience : for on account of thy promise I have been waiting here ever since.' In courage and bravery no one could equal that prince. Uns Ibn Malik affirmed, ' The Apostle of God is the best of men, the bravest of men, and the most generous of men.' AH Ibn Abu Talib said, ' In the day of battle we put our trust in that Excellency, and he was nearer the enemy than all of us.' Omran Ibn Hasin states, ' Each time when, in battle, we came upon hostile troops, the first who went amongst the enemies and laid hands on them, was that prince.' In the battle of Honein, as is reported, that Excellency went alone and single-handed against 4000 enemies and charged them. It is also established that, one night, the report reached Medina that a well-armed body of enemies were approaching the town with the intent of plundering it, so that the people became much frightened and distressed ; but that Excellency girded on his sword, mounted a horse with- out saddle, and went out before all the rest of the people ; and, after having ascertained the causelessness of the alarm, he returned, saying to his friends who went out after him, 1 Fear not ; for that report is unfounded.' Of that Excellency's basJifulness and modesty the recorder records, ' The Apostle of God was more bashful than a virgin in her veil' Owing to his great modesty, a change would come over his face, when he saw anything loathsome in a person, though without remarking upon it to that person. In the enumeration of the Prophet's qualities it is declared that his heart was kind to creatures, his bosom joyous, and yet always weeping from the fear of God ; that he was high in sadness and great in hope, remembering favours always, CH. II. SEC. II. I.] HIS DRESS. 383 and wrongs only a short while ; he was of a kindly disposi- tion and noble acts, keeping secrets hid, and yet the confidant of heaven ; he was amicable, meek, affectionate, and tender, a lover of hospitality, benevolent, wise, assiduous in the cause of God, a fulfiller of promises, a diligent servant of God, and one seeking after Divine approval. : II. — Habits of the Prince of Princes. ( 1 .) His Habits in regard to Dress. Be it known that his Excellency's mode of dressing was not rigid and fashionable, but that he only wore a shirt, drawers, a kerchief, a jacket, a marked and plain cloth, a tunic, a fur, leather socks, and a pair of easy sandals. His cloth was generally of cotton material, and his noble com- panions adopted the same material. Sometimes they also wore wool, or linen. That Excellency valued and liked the striped cloth of Herat above any other. Of all the articles of clothing that prince loved the shirt best. Of colours he generally preferred the white, saying, ' Wear ye white clothes : they are the most blessed and pure ; and wrap also your dead in white winding-sheets.' He forbade the men to wear purely red or purely yellow clothes. But he himself wore red-spotted, green-spotted, and black-spotted clothes, and approved and admired the green. He desired that every one, in putting on a new article of dress, should recite this prayer, ' Praise be to God who has clothed me with this dress, and has provided it for me, with- out my efforts and strength ; ' and he affirmed that, by using this prayer, every one shall have all his past and future sins forgiven. On Fridays he mostly wore a new dress. In putting on a new dress, he began on the right side ; and in putting it off, on the left side ; and when he had taken a new dress into use, he gave the old one to some poor man. Round his blessed head he wound a white cloth in the 1 The candid student of Mohammed's historical character can hardly fail to be immediately struck with the gross exaggeration in these fulsome eulogies. They suggest the idea that the eulogists laboured under the apprehension that, if they did not expressly ascribe certain virtues to their hero, there might be reason to suspect him of the correlative vices, e.g. in lauding his bashfulness and continence. 384 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. 11. form of a turban, of which he sometimes let the end dangle down between his blessed shoulders. He wore the turban either over a white cap, or without it ; and at times contented himself with the white cap only. Occasionally he also wore a black turban, e.g., as some say, on the day of the conquest of Mecca. The biographers indeed do not state the exact length of his turban-cloth, but a number of Hanifa Imams affirm that, for every day, it was seven ells, and for Fridays and feast-days, twelve ells long. When he anointed his blessed head, he covered it with a towel, lest any of the uneuent should soil his other clothes. Uns Ibn Malik narrates that that prince often only wore a shirt and a cloth over it. The shirt-sleeves reached to his wrists or to the top of his fingers, and were rather wide. The shirts were either with or without buttons. That prince's mantle was four ells long, or, according to another account, two ells ; or two ells and a handbreadth ; or, according to later traditionists, six ells, with a width of three ells and a handbreadth. On certain occasions, such as feasts, or at the reception of ambassadors, he wore most costly robes ; and once a grandee presented him with a cloak for which he had paid 30 camels. Once a silk robe, bordered with bells, was sent him for a present ; but when that prince came to prayers in it, Gabriel intimated to him that it was unlawful, whereupon that prince quickly took it off, and cast it aside with disdain. He wore a seal on the little finger of his right hand ; but it is also recorded that he wore it on the little finger of his left hand. Either is lawful ; but according to the Hanifa Imams, it is better to wear it on the left ; and according to the Shafi Imams it is more correct to wear it on the right hand. He wore the seal with its flat part inside the hand ; and sometimes went out with a thread tied to it, to help him in remembering some important matter. After the Prophet, that seal was taken possession of by Abu Bekr ; and after him by Omar ; and after him by Othman ; from whose hand, after being worn for six years, it dropped into a well whence it could never be recovered. It is said, that this circumstance turned away people's hearts from Othman, and opened the door of sedition. CH. II. SEC. II. i, 2.] HIS SANDALS.— HOW HE A TE. 385 That prince also wore sandals, made of tanned ox-hide and provided with two leather straps ; but sometimes he walked barefoot. The author of the Rawzat ul Ahbab states in his work that he possessed an exact copy on paper of his apostolic Excellency's sandals, with the places of his five toes severally marked. The renowned Khoja Abu Nasr, that cream of traditionists, that model of men of re- search, and proof of law, piety, and religion, had written upon it, in his own noble handwriting, that it represented the exact size of the sandals of the Apostle of God, according to an uninterrupted chain of traditional testimony, and that the following are amongst the tried blessings of the copy of those exalted sandals : ' If any one always carries it with him, he will become loved, and appreciated amongst men, and will certainly visit the Prophet, or see him in a dream, which is of the same virtue as if he had seen him actually ; and if a soldier wears that copy, he will never be routed ; and if a caravan wears it, it will never be plundered ; and if a merchant wears it, he will meet with fortune and success ; and whosoever wears it, he will never be drowned ; and whosoever puts himself under the protection of one who wears it, he will surely be accepted and remain exempt from trouble and distress, and only find pleasure.'1 (2.) His Habits as regards Eating and Drinking. The Prophet observed no ceremony in eating, but partook of any good food that had been prepared ; and sometimes he would get up and fetch himself what was to be eaten or drunk. Before eating he said, ' In the name of God,' and requested his friends to do the same ; and if they happened to forget it, before a meal, they were to say at its conclusion, ' In the name of God, for the first and for the last' He ate with the three fingers of his right hand. He always took what lay just before him, except when there were fresh and dried dates, or a certain soup, in which case he would take from any part of the dish that which he liked. Sometimes he made use of his four fingers in eating. But he never ate with only two fingers, saying that Satan was eating thus. 1 A drawing of those sandals, with Abu Nasr's writing upon it, is given in the Rawzat-ul-Ahbab. 2 B 386 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED, [bk. II. He never ate proudly, leaning on anything, or sitting down square, but resting upon his knees, saying, ' I am one of God's servants, and eat as servants eat and sit as servants sit.' Sometimes, however, he would sit on his left leg, posting up the right ; and if he was very hungry, he would sit down altogether and post up both legs. He liked best not to eat alone, but with a goodly number at the table, saying, ' The worst of men is he who eats alone.' When he ate in com- pany with other people, no one ever took anything which lay just in front of that Excellency. He generally ate at a table, but at times also on the ground. After a meal he would thank God for it. It is said that whoever, on eating, recites the words, ' Praise be to Him who has fed us with this food, and provided us with it, without our own efforts and strength,' he will have his sins forgiven. When he ate with other people, as their guest, he prayed for them. He used to wash his pure hands, both before and after meals, and then stroked his blessed face and arms, saying, 'The blessing of a meal consists in the washing of the hands before and after it.' He forbade eating and drinking with the left hand, saying, ' Satan eats and drinks with the left hand.1 After he had finished eating, he licked his blessed fingers : first the middle one, then the prayer-finger, and last the thumb. He never wiped his fingers before having licked them. He also commanded his friends to lick their fingers and to scrape the basin, saying, ' You do not know in which particular part of the food the blessing is contained ; besides, the basin which ye scrape after eating will ask pardon of God for you.' He used to converse during the meal, and repeatedly offered food to the guests, saying, ' Eat ! ' He never ate from a table with legs, nor drank from a cup with a broken rim. Very flat bread, bread with air-dried meat, lizards, the milt, kidneys, onions, garlic, and leek he did not eat, and said, ' Let every one remain far from me who eats these ill-smelling vegetables.' If the tradition derived from Aisha the faithful is correct, that at a later period the Prophet ate onions, it must have been either as a medicine, or to show that it is lawful to eat them. That Excellency never combined fish or sour things with milk ; or grilled meat with boiled meat ; or CH. II. SEC. ii. 2.] WHA T HE A TE. 387 dried meat with fresh meat ; or meat with milk or milk with meat ; or two binding and two relaxing dishes ; or two heavy and two light ones. Nor did he eat very hot food, but let it stand for a moment, till the greatest heat had passed. He never rejected any lawful food, but ate of it, if he had an appetite, and if he had not, he did not taste it. Once, when they brought lizards to his table, and he did not taste them, his friends said, ' O Apostle of God, thou didst not eat of these : is it because they are not lawful ? ' He answered, ' I do not declare them unlawful, but as they are not found in our own country, I do not relish them.' On another occasion, when they again served lizards to him, he said, ' Once, in ancient times, these were a people, but were transformed into lizards.' That prince ate exceedingly little. He said, ' When you have eaten, spend the strength of the food in prayer and praise, and do not sleep directly after a meal, lest your hearts should be oppressed.' He used to eat barley-bread, made of unsifted barley-flour, retaining all the bran. He ate the meat of sheep, camels, wild asses, hares, bustards, and fish, and sometimes also dried meat. Meat was the food he liked best, and he used to say, ' Meat strengthens the power of hearing,' yet was he not very greedy for it, nor ate too much of it. He habitually preferred the meat of the fore-leg and shoulder, but also praised the meat of the back. He also ate fried sheep-liver. He cut the meat with his teeth, not with a knife, and used to say, ' To cut the meat with a knife is the work of the Persians : ye had better cut it with the teeth, for then it is more digestible and wholesome.' The Ulemas say that this prohibition of the use of the knife refers only to such meat as does not require being cut with a knife ; or that its import is, ■ Do not form the habit of cutting the meat with a knife.' For it is an established fact that his Excellency himself cut up roast shoulder or baked loin with a knife. What that prince ate most frequently were dates, so that if he ate twojneals a day, one of them was sure to be dates. He also liked Helwa, honey and fresh butter ; and ate dates mixed with milk. When he ate fresh or dried dates, he took the stones out of his blessed mouth, and laying 388 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [BK. II. them on the nail of his prayer and middle ringers, threw them away. Sometimes also he collected the stones in his left hand ; and it is narrated that once when he was eating fresh dates, and had gathered the stones in his left hand, he showed them to a sheep, which at once came and ate them out of his left hand, whilst that prince continued eating fresh dates with his right hand. The Prophet also liked pumpkins, saying, ' The pumpkins are from the tree of my brother Jonas.' It is also narrated on the authority of Aisha that he said, ' When you set up a stone jar, it is proper to put many pumpkins into it, for this is useful for a sad heart.' It is narrated that when once Othman brought a jelly to that prince he pronounced it to be excellent, and inquired how it was made. One of his favourite dishes was made of cheese and melted butter. Sometimes also he ate bread with olive-oil. On the ex- pedition to Tabuk they brought him dry cheese, which he cut with a knife, and ate. He also ate fresh dates with cucumbers or melons. According to some books, that prince liked melons and fresh grapes better than any other green fruit. In eating grapes, he put the berries into his blessed mouth, squeezed them with his teeth, and then threw out the husks. It is reported that he ate the cucumbers with salt. There is a tradition that when a first-fruit was brought him, he would give it to a little child to eat, if one happened to be present. That prince loved milk exceedingly, and to any one giving him milk to drink he would say, ' God bless us with it, and grant us more of it.' He also said, ' I know nothing that takes the place of food and drink like milk, and is equally useful.' Sometimes when he drank milk, he would press it between his lips, and say, ' It has something buttery.' When that prince drank water, he would do so in three draughts, saying before each, ' In the name of God,' and after the last, ' Praise be to God.' So long as the water-cup was at his mouth, he stopped breathing. Every day he drank a glass of honey-sherbet. Sometimes he drank toast- water, prepared with roasted barley or wheat ; and, as the water of Medina was a little bitter, he put in dates to sweeten it. Generally he drank sitting, but sometimes standing. CH. II. SEC. II. 2, 3.] TRA VELLING HABITS. 389 When he had company who had to be served with water or sherbet, he gave them first, himself drinking after them, and it is established that he said, ' He who gives drink to the people, drinks after them.' But sometimes also he himself drank first, and then gave the cup to the person sitting on his right hand. On one occasion, after having drunk of a cup, filled with milk and water, he handed it to an Arab, sitting on his right side, when Omar called out, ' O Apostle of God, hand it to Abu Bekr,' who sat on his left. But he replied, ' The right-hand man is the right-hand man.' On another occasion a youth was sitting on his right hand, the youngest of the company, whilst the elders and magnates were sitting on his left. After having drunk him- self, he asked the youth's permission to hand the cup first to the elders on his left. But on that youth refusing consent, he let him have the cup first. He loved cold sweet water best. Such water was brought for him from a place two days' journey from Medina. That Excellency also said, ' When night sets in, say, " In the name of God," and cover the vessels in which you keep your eatables and drinkables, if it should only be with a chip of wood.' l (3.) His noble Travelling Habits. His day for starting on a journey was Thursday ; and sometimes he also chose Monday, or Sunday, or Wednesday. When he had risen up to start, he would say a short prayer, and after having mounted, he would repeat three times, ' God is most great' During the journey he used to say a Magnificat, whilst going up an ascent, and a Doxology, whilst going down a descent. That prince said, ' If you travel in a year of plenty, do not let your beasts remain hungry ; and if you travel in a year of scarcity, travel quickly, that you may reach your destination before your beasts become lean and weak ; and if you wish during the journey to dismount at night for sleep and rest, do so in a place off the road, for the places on the road itself are dangerous.' He forbade 1 The limitation shows that the object of the advice was not so much to keep any foreign matter from falling into the vessel, as rather to avert from it the evil influences of the powers of night and darkness. 390 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. going alone on a journey, saying, ' If people knew what it is to travel alone on the roads at night, no one would enter any road alone at night.' 1 The women he wholly prohibited from travelling, except under the protection of a man or near relative. He also declared that the good angels do not accompany those who have a dog with them, or a bell, which, he said, belongs to the devil's music. On warlike expeditions and journeys he would sometimes leave his companions to bring on the weak and others, lagging behind, whom he might even take on his own beast and pray with them. He began and concluded a journey by uttering pious ejaculations. As he was coming back, his friends would go out to meet him, taking their children and wives with them. When returning from a journey, he never entered the city at night and also forbade his friends from doing so. He would have a camel or a bullock slain, to regale those who came to welcome him back. On his return, he first entered the mosque and said two genuflexions of prayers. To travellers he would say, ' Start at night ; for to those who do so the road is shortened.' He also advised, ' It is proper that no less than three companions should set out together, so that they may appoint one of their number for a commander.' If any one came to bid him farewell before starting on a journey, he would say, ' I commend to God thy religion and the result of thy labours ; ' or sometimes also, ' May God increase thy piety, pardon thy sins, and prosper thee wherever thou turnest ! ' (4.) His Habits in the Intercourse ivith his pure Wives. Be it known that his apostolic Excellency was the best amongst the people, as regards the beauty of intercourse and kindness of companionship with his wives. That prince was exceedingly demonstrative of affection towards his wives ; and when they came to solicit a command from him, and there was no obstacle in the way, he granted their 1 This hint also has reference to the dangers threatening from the invisible world of spirits and spectres, and not to the ordinary dangers of a night-journey. ch. II. SEC. II. 4-] HIS PARTIALITY FOR AISHA. 391 request liberally. It is firmly established that sometimes, when Aisha the faithful drank water from her cup, that Excellency would take the cup out of her hand, and drink exactly from that place from which she had been drinking, and when she was eating meat from a bone, he would take the bone out of her hand and would put his blessed mouth exactly on the spot where Aisha had put hers, in order to eat the meat. When it was with Aisha as it is with women, that prince would lay his blessed head upon her bosom, or lean over her and read the Koran to her. Amongst other things, the Prophet once raced with Aisha the faithful, and in the first race she outstripped him, but in the second, after she had become corpulent, he passed her, and then said to her, ' This is for that,' i.e. this triumph makes up for my former defeat. At another time they pulled each other about till they came outside the door of Aisha's chamber. Aisha also narrates : ' When once there had been words between that prince and myself, he said to me, " O Aisha, whom wishest thou me to bring as umpire to judge between us? wishest thou for Abu Obeid Ibn Jarrah?" I answered, " No, he is not of a tender nature, and leans towards thee." Then he asked, "Wilt thou be satisfied with Omar?" I replied : " No, I am not, for I am afraid of Omar." His Excellency rejoined, " Even Satan is afraid of Omar ; " and then asked again, " Wouldest thou accept Abu Bekr ? " On my answering in the affirmative, he sent for my father, Abu Bekr, and said to him, " O Abu Bekr, judge thou between me and this one, and decide our affair." Then, on his Excellency opening his mouth to state his case, I called out, " O Apostle of God, be just ! " As soon as my father heard this word, he raised his hand and gave me such a slap in the face that blood streamed down from both my nostrils, and he said, " Thou shalt have no mother : who will be just, if the Prophet is not?" His Excellency rejoined, "O Abu Bekr, we did not wish for more from thee than to judge between us." Then that prince rose up, and with his own blessed hand washed the blood off my face and clothes.' It is recorded that when Aisha became angry, that prince would lay his blessed hand upon her shoulder, and say, * May God forgive her sins, subdue the wrath of her 392 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. heart, and free her from excitement ! ' Sometimes it happened that when he was in the midst of the entire company of his pure wives, he would stretch out his blessed hand after one of them and make some fun and jest. Every day, after finishing the afternoon prayers, he made the entire round of the private apartments of his wives, to inquire how they were ; and when it had become evening, he went to spend the night with her whose turn it was. As regards sustenance and portions and all things within his ..' power, he observed a careful equality ; and he used to say, ' O God, this is my portion in that which I possess : do thou not blame me in that which I do not possess,' that is, do thou not blame me (sc. for my want of continence) in the matter of love and conjugal intercourse. \_N.B. — Then follows a passage in the text which is calcu- lated to offend feelings of propriety, though of interest as characterising the Arabian prophet. The Mussulmans indeed read it with devout admiration ; but we omit it from its place and put it as a footnote at the bottom of the page, so that it may be easily passed over by any reader who prefers leaving it unread.1] (5.) His Habits in the Intercourse and Conversation with his Friends and Companions. Amongst his friends and companions the Prophet sat down and rose up humbly. It often happened that he 1 Passage omitted from the text: ' Sometimes it happened that his Excellency would have the intercourse at the beginning of the night, then take a bath, and go to sleep ; sometimes, that he would only take an ablution after the intercourse, then sleep, and take the bath at the close of the night. It frequently happened that in one night or one day that prince made the round with all his nine wives,/ contenting himself with only one bath ; or sometimes, in visiting them all, take1 a bath after every intercourse. When they asked him, " O Apostle of God, why dost thou not content thyself with only one bath?" he answered, "Because this is purer, cleaner, and better." It is firmly established that in the matter of coha- bitation that Excellency had the power of thirty strong men given him. There- fore it was lawful for that prince to take as many wives as he pleased, be they nine or more. ' Could anything more strikingly illustrate the wide divergence in the ethical character of Islam and Christianity than the fact that Moslem writers unblush- ingly mention such things as proofs of their Prophet's divinely conferred pre- eminence, whilst Christian authors dare not even historically reproduce their words without an apology and warning to the reading public ? ch. ii. sec. ii. 5.] HIS CONDUCT IN SOCIETY. 393 assumed a vaulted posture, by stiffening his knees and embracing his feet with his blessed hands. Sometimes he sat down leaning against something, or he lay on his blessed back ; and in this latter position put one foot upon the other. He spoke considerately and slowly, so that it would have been possible for any one so minded to count his words and sounds. But mostly he chose to be silent, and only spoke when necessary. Avoiding redundancy, prolixity, weari- someness and confusion, he spoke to his friends concise, useful words, — all wisdom and prudence. Sometimes he would repeat the same words thrice, so that those present might well remember and understand them. Whilst speak- ing, he used to gesticulate, and sometimes put the palm of his right hand upon the thick part of his left thumb ; and when he wondered at a thing, he used to turn the palms of his blessed hands towards it ; but when he was angry, he turned away. He could be exceedingly angry ; and as a sign of his anger his blessed countenance would change and he would finger his beard. When that Excellency spoke in an assembly, those present would keep silence, and lean forwards with their heads. What his companions admired, he also admired ; and when they laughed, he either was silent or smiled. He would laugh so that his teeth could be seen. That prince's weeping also was most moderate : his tears flowed ; and from his bosom, void of rancour, a sound was heard like the seething of a pot. His weeping was either on account of a dead person, or from tender affection for his people, or from the fear of God. He sometimes swore, in important matters. His most frequent oath was, 'By Him in whose hands my soul is,' or, 'By Allah.' When he arose from an assembly, he would say, by way of atonement for the assembly, ' Praise be to God, and for Thy honour I testify that there is no God but Thou : I ask pardon of Thee, and repent towards Thee.' From whatever tribe men came to follow him, he would speak- to them in their own language. He would take counsel with his friends about things ; and Aisha the faithful declared, ' I have not seen any one amongst the people who so readily asked advice as that Excellency.' Some Persian words became current from that Excellency's blessed language. 394 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. In the Prophet's assemblies poems also were recited, sometimes as many as a hundred verses. He himself did not compose poetry, except sometimes in a metre to which he was accustomed. Once, when in reciting a poem, he changed some expressions, and Abu Bekr corrected him, he said, ' I am not a poet.' In those assemblies they also told stories and kept wakes. Sometimes he told stories to his com- panions and his wives about what had happened in ancient times. That prince made also fun and jests with his friends. Abd Allah Ibn Harith relates : ' I never saw a man who made more fun and jests than the Apostle of God ; but his jests were always just and true.' When once his companions said to him, ' O Apostle of God, thou tellest us jokes and jests, which does not become thy position,' he replied, ' I say nothing but what is true ; ' and Aisha the faithful declared, ' The Prophet made many jests, and said that God does not punish just jokes made in fun.' Khawat Ibn Jabir narrates as follows : ' Being once on a journey with the Apostle of God, we alighted at a halting-place. After a while I went out of my tent, but, seeing a number of beautiful ladies standing there, and talking with each other, I went back to my tent, dressed myself, and then went towards those ladies, and sat down by them. All at once the Apostle of God came forth from his tent and, seeing me, said, ' O Abu Abd Allah, why sittest thou by them ? ' I, fearing the Prophet, answered, ' O Apostle of God, I have an intoxicated bad camel, and am come to these that they may twist a rope for me to tie it with.' The Prophet passed on a little, but came back again saying, ' O Abu Abd Allah, what did that intoxicated camel do ? ' After we had left that halting-place, the Prophet, whenever he saw me, would, after saluting, ask me again, ' What did that intoxicated camel do ? ' So when we had returned to Medina, I absented myself from the mosque, fearing that his Excellency might put me to shame by asking me that question there. Then I waited my opportunity to meet the Prophet alone in the mosque ; and as I went there and said my prayer, that prince came out of his private chamber and performed a short prayer of two genuflexions, and then sat down near me. I ch. ii. sec. ii. 5.] HE ENJOYS JOKES. 395 lengthened my prayers, hoping that Excellency, having finished before me, would return to his chamber, without saying that word to me again. But on his observing this, that Excellency said, ' O Abu Abd Allah, make thy prayer as long as thou wilt, but I shall not go away till thou hast finished.' I thought with myself I now must find an excuse to appease that Excellency. So I finished and saluted him ; and when he returned my salutation, and asked again, ' What did that intoxicated camel do ? ' I answered, ' O Apostle of God, by that God who has made thee a cause of pros- perity, that camel has given up its habit of intoxication since I have become a Mussulman.' Upon this that Excellency said three times, ' God has had mercy on thee ;' and thence- forth ceased asking me that question. That Excellency used to laugh when they made jokes in their assemblies. It is recorded that, one day, Dhahak Ibn Sofyan, who was exceedingly plain, made a contract with the Prophet ; and, as at that time the verse enjoining the veiling of women had not yet been sent down (from heaven), Aisha was sitting by his Excellency's side. Dhahak said, ' O Apostle of God, I have two ladies, both of whom are more beautiful than this fair one, i.e. Aisha : I will divorce one of them that thy Excellency may marry her.' Aisha, on hearing this word, said at once, ' Who is more beautiful, the lady or thyself?' Dhahak replied, 'Of course I am the more beautiful of the two.' His Excellency laughed heartily at this question of Aisha's. There was one of the assistants, named Naamiyan, who was much addicted to jokes and to drinking, and therefore was frequently brought before the Prophet to be beaten with his blessed sandals for his intoxication. But as he did not mend, one of the Prophet's companions said to him, ' May God curse thee ! ' Hearing this, that prince said, ' Do not say so : for he takes God and His Apostle for his friend.' This happened during the Khaibar expedition. Then as often as caravans brought beautiful things to Medina, this Naamiyan would buy them on credit, and take them to the Prophet, saying, ' O Apostle of God, I have brought thee this for a present.' On payment being demanded of him, he took the creditor to the Prophet, saying, ' O Apostle of God, give the 396 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. 11. price of that beautiful thing to this man.' When the Pro- phet asked, ' Didst thou not bring, it to me as a present ? ' Naamiyan would reply, ' O Apostle of God, the price of that present was not within my power ; but I wished that thou shouldest have it and no one else : so pay for it now and the object is accomplished.' Then that Excellency laughed and paid the value of the present. (6.) His Habits in using Ornaments and Ointments. Amongst all the habits of the Prophet there was also this, that he combed his hair and beard, but not every day, like the rich ; and that he anointed his blessed head and beard. His moustache he clipped, and commanded also his com- panions to do the same. Every Friday, before going to mosque, he attended to his moustache and cut his nails. He made use of his right hand for making ablutions, for eating, combing his hair and beard, for cleaning his teeth, snuffing up water and the like ; but his left for removing what is un- pleasant and for cleaning impurities. When he had to take anything from any one or to give something, he did so with his right hand. Every night he applied three spoons-full of collyrium to his eyes, or sometimes three to his right and two to his left eye. Whenever he went on a journey, he took with him a looking-glass, a comb, an ointment-bottle, a box of aromatic substances, a pair of scissors, and an oil-bottle ; and when he was in the house, he took the said things with him to the room of whichever wife he spent the night with, so that they were at hand, in case he liked to make use of any of them. He prohibited the rounding of the face, the plucking out of the hairs from the face, or the white hairs from the beard or the head. According to some sound traditions, that prince coloured his blessed hairs with collyrium, or, according to another account, with collyrium and indigo-leaves, or, according to still another account, with waras and saffron. Some accounts state that the Prophet was not so grey as to need dyeing, and that, according to a sound tradition, the grey hairs in his beard and head did not amount to twenty. In reconciliation of these traditions we suggest that that prince sometimes CH. n. sec. ii. 6, 7.] HE BELIEVES IN A UGURIES. 397 applied collyrium to his blessed hair in order to cure head- ache, but that some people, who saw the colour, thought it was for dyeing the hair ; or that he used so much aromatic ointment that sometimes the colour of his hair was changed thereby, so that it looked like dye. But a number of Imams regard the traditions concerning his using dyes for his hair as the stronger ones. That prince made use of a depilatory unguent, and his pure wives also applied it to him. But there is also an account that he did not apply depilatory unguents, but used the scissors. All the traditionists and biographers agree that that prince never entered a public bath ; ] and that he only once bathed in the place in Medina which is still re- nowned as the Prophet's bath, a structure having afterwards been erected over the place where he had bathed, so as to secure the blessing and luck resulting therefrom. But some Hanafi Ulemas state in their works that the Prophet did enter public baths. (7.) His Habits in regard to Auguries. One of all the habits of that Excellency was that of drawing auguries from fine names or beautiful words, saying, ' Auguring is a good thing.' But he condemned bad augur- ing. When they asked him, ' O Apostle of God, what is an augury ? ' he answered, ' A good word which one of you hears.' He rejoiced to hear such good words as ' correct,' ' sound,' etc., when he was going forth in a matter of import- ance or necessity. He liked good names, and used to say, ' The names most loved by God are, Abd Allah (= Servant of God), Abd ur Rahman ( = Servant of the Merciful); and the name most disliked by God is, Shah-i-Shahin ' ( = king of kings). He used to change bad names into good ones, eg. Berre (properly, a wound) into Zeinab (properly, a certain beautiful, fragrant tree). In case he wished to send an agent 1 Another striking instance of his scrupulous and somewhat suspicious care to prevent any one from seeing his body. Even after his death a ' voice ' had to direct his friends not to wash him like any other dead body, but over his clothes in which he died. Is this perhaps connected with what Gibbon says in his Latin footnote? 398 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii- to a district, he would ask what his name was : if his name was good and pleasant, he was glad ; but if it was the reverse, signs of displeasure arose in his blessed countenance. He said, ' If any of you sees something bad, let him say this prayer, " O God, no one brings good except Thou ; and no one keeps off evil besides Thee ; and there is no power and strength except in God." ' (8.) His Habits as regards the Akika Offerings. That prince ordained the Akika offering, saying, ' When a boy is born to you,, offer two sheep ; and if a girl is born to you, then offer one sheep ; and it is proper that the sacrifice should be slain on the seventh day ; and that the new-born child should likewise receive its name on that day.' When the commanders of the faithful, Hasan and Hosein, were born, he offered for each of them one sheep, or, according to another account, two sheep ; and when those infants were born, they were taken to that Excellency that he should open their mouths with his blessed hand, and cause them to taste a little date, and invoke a blessing upon them. (9.) His Habits in asking Permission and in Saluting. Of all the habits of that prince one was, that when he went to any one's house, he did not place himself opposite the door, but stood either on the right or on the left hand side of it, asking permission to enter in these words, ' Peace be upon you ! Peace be upon you ! ' He also directed his friends, saying, ' If ye go to any one's house, first give the peace ; and do not admit any one into your house, who, in coming, does not first give you the peace.' He also said, ' Greeting is before asking : if any one begins by asking any- thing of you, without first giving you the peace, then do not answer him.' It is reported that once some one came to that prince's house asking, ' Shall I enter ? ' But he sent some one out to him, saying, ' Teach that person the way of asking permission, and let him first say, " Peace be upon you ! " and afterwards, " May I come in ? " ' And not till this order had been complied with did that Excellency give the permission ch. ii. sec. ii. 9.] HIS SALUTA TION. 399 to enter. He likewise said, ' If any one sends you a messenger to invite you, and ye go with that messenger, he is your permission, and ye need not ask permission a second time, on arriving at the house of the host.' It is also established that he declared, ' When God had created Adam, He said to him, " Go to that company of angels, sitting there, and see in what way they will welcome thee : and the mode of their greeting shall be yours and your children's." Then Adam went to them, saying, " Peace be upon you ! " They replied, " Peace be on thee and the mercy of God ! " ' That Excellency also said, ' Peace be upon you ! ' or, ' Peace be upon thee ! ' but did not at first like to say, ' Upon thee be peace!' He also said, 'Ye cannot enter Paradise, except ye believe ; and ye cannot believe, except ye make friendship with each other. Mark therefore the means I indicate to you for securing mutual friendship, namely, the open declaration of peace both to the known and to the unknown.' He also said, ' Give peace to the little and to the great ; to the few and to the many ; to the standing and to the sitting ! ' It is also recorded that that prince once entered into a company of boys, and another time into a company of women, and on both occasions he saluted by giving the peace. He also gave the peace when he met a mixed company consisting of Mussulmans and polytheists.1 Most times it was impossible to anticipate that Excellency in saluting ; but if any one saluted him first, he would return the salutation in the same or in a still better way. He returned the salutation anon, without any delay, except for some special reason. He saluted in an audible voice, and did not content himself with a mere sign with his finger. In returning a salutation, he said, 'And upon thee be peace!' When he went to a house at night, he saluted in a manner that those who were awake could hear him, but that those asleep were not awakened. He also enjoined not to give the salutation of peace to Jews and Christians. 1 From this we are left to infer that he would not have given the salutation of peace to a company of polytheists only. With them he was not at peace, but at war. To this day the pious Mussulmans do not salute Christians and other non-Moslems with the usual Selam (=peace) which they employ amongst them- selves. A few lines further on the reader will find that Mohammed expressly forbade his followers doing so. 4oo MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. (io.) His Habits as to Sneezing and Yaivning. It was one of the Prophet's habits that when he made ' Atsa,' that is, when he sneezed, he made a moderate noise, covering his blessed face with his robe-sleeve and putting his blessed hand before his nostrils. He used to say, ' God loves sneezing, but detests yawning: let every one who sneezes say, " Praise be to God ! " and let him who hears him rejoin, " God have mercy on him ! " ' Once two persons sneezed in that Excellency's presence, and one of them who said, ' Praise be to God ! ' heard from his Excellency the reply, ' God have mercy on thee ! ' but the other, who had omitted to say, ' Praise be to God ! ' did not hear any reply from that prince. The Prophet also said, ' To any one sneezing, reply up to three times, " God have mercy on thee ! " and never think it a mere cold, even if it be more than three times.' (i i.) His Habits as to Walking and Riding. The walking of that prince was a perfect motion, that is, he was not exceedingly slow, dragging his legs, like the proud and affected ; nor did he show excessive haste and anxiety, like the light-minded and foolish. That prince's walk appeared so measured and grave as if he was descend- ing from a height. Sometimes he walked as if his blessed feet did not touch the earth, or as if the ground turned from under his feet. When walking with his friends, they some- times walked in front, he following behind. At one time he walked in sandals, at another time he dispensed with them and walked barefooted. On some war expedition that prince knocked his blessed toe against a stone so that blood flowed from it. At home and on journeys that prince would ride with and without a saddle, on horses, camels, mules, and donkeys. He was mostly mounted alone, but occasionally he had some one mounted behind him as his Redif ( = reserve), or even before him. Sometimes he had one of his pure wives mounted behind him. Most generally he rode on horses and camels. CH. II. SEC. II. 12.] HOW HE SLEPT. 401 (12.) His Habits as to Waking and Sleeping. That prince and his noble companions did not manifest too much concern about their habitations and dwellings, but contented themselves with structures sufficient to keep out heat and cold, sheep and cattle, and the gaze of the eyes of men. When night set in, that prince took an ablution, put off the clothes he had worn by day, and put on his night- robes. Then he blew on the palms of his blessed hands, and, after repeating a verse from the Koran, rubbed his limbs with them. He lay on his right side, putting the palm of his right hand under his right cheek, and saying, ' O God, in Thy name I die and live,' or, according to another account, ' In Thy name, O Lord, I lie down and rise again.' He sometimes lay on his night-clothes, sometimes on a carpet, sometimes on a mat, sometimes on sacking, and even on the dry earth. When he slept, he had under his head a leather cushion, filled with date-palm fibres. To that prince dreams were shown in his sleep which he narrated and interpreted to his friends. Sometimes also his friends told him their dreams, and requested him to interpret them. That prince also said, ' When one of you has a dream which appears to him bad, then let him spit three times to his left side, and ask protection from God against the evil of that dream and Satan ; and let him turn himself to lie on the other side, and not tell his dreams to. any one, so that the evil it portended may not come to pass. But if he sees a good dream, let him tell it to a friend or to a man of understanding.' When that prince rose from sleep, he used to say, 'Praise be to God, who has made us alive after we were dead : to Him we move and wake.' In no condition did he omit the mention of God. (13.) His Habits in administering Medicines to the Sick. Amongst all his other habits, that prince also was wont to administer medicines to the sick. Intermittent fever he medicinally treated with cold water. It is narrated that when intermittent fever seized that Excellency, he caused a skin of water to be brought and poured over his blessed head 2 c 402 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. for a bath ; and he used to say, ' If intermittent fever seizes any of you, then sprinkle him with water for three nights at early dawn.' He also said, ' Fever comes from the heat of hell, but it is cooled with water.' The Ulemas remark that the use of this remedy was peculiar to the people of the Hejaz ; because most of their intermittent fevers were the effect of the heat of the sun ; and the fever lasted only a day. He ordered the treatment with cold water, by letting the patient go into it and drink it. When that prince happened to suffer from headache, he used to apply collyrium to his blessed head, saying, ' Verily collyrium is good for headache, by the permission of God.' When any one complained of headache to that Excellency, he would say, ' Apply collyrium to thy head.' The Ulemas affirm that this remedy suits the kind of headache which does not arise from matter, but is caused by the heat of the sun ; and most of their headaches and fevers were of the latter description. In the medical treatment of eye-ache he recommended quiet and rest : and when Ali suffered from pain in his eyes, he forbade him to eat fresh dates ; and as often as one of ' the mothers of the believers ' 1 suffered from pain in her eyes, he did not approach her till she was well again. The swollen throat of infants, in which blood appeared from their throat, he cured with the Indian Kostus, and forbade the practice of midwives, who tried to cure it by pressing the children's throat to make them bleed. On one occasion, when that Excellency went to Aisha's room, he saw there a boy bleeding from his nostrils, because they had been pressing his throat in order to cure him of the swollen throat. He asked, • ' What is this ? ' They replied, ' On account of his swollen throat, or his pain in the head.' His Excellency answered, ' Woe unto you ; do not kill your children. Every woman whose child suffers from a swollen throat or from pain in the head is to dissolve the Indian Kostus in water, and drop it into the child's nose.' They did as that prince had bidden them, and the child recovered. The stomach-ache arising from the superabundance of matter, that Excellency cured by aperient medicines. It is 1 A designation of the Prophet's married wives. CH. ii. sec. II. 13.] HIS PRESCRIPTIONS. 403 proved that once some one came to him, saying-, ' O Apostle of God, what dost thou recommend for my brother's stomach- ache?' His Excellency replied, 'Let him drink honey- sherbet' The person did so two or three times, but after each time came back, saying that it had produced no effect. On the third or fourth occasion his Excellency said to the person, ' God has spoken true, but thy brother's stomach has acted falsely.' The Ulemas observe that the meaning of 'acting falsely' is here, that on account of the abundance of bad matter, the honey-sherbet did not effect a cure. But that person gave his brother one more draught of honey-sherbet and it produced the desired effect. The Ulemas say that the reason why his Excellency told that person to give his brother another dose, was to show that a dose of medicine must have respect to the nature of the complaint : if the dose is too small for the complaint, it does not operate ; and if it is too large, it proves weakening. When the last dose was given to that person's brother, it was equal to the complaint, and caused the cure. Dropsy was treated by that prince with milk and camel's urine ; and a dry constitution with opening medicine. As opening medicine he chose senna : and he used to say, ' If there had been any remedy against death, that remedy would have been senna.' The pleurisy he treated with red Kostus and olive-oil ; and for the itch and louse-disease he ordered the wearing of a silk shirt. For wounds he ordered complete restraint and for heartache Medina dates. The pustules and eruptions of the body he cured with Indian calamus aromaticus ; and the sweat of 'women with the tail of the Arab sheep, by dividing a tail into three parts and causing one of them to be drunk fasting, on three successive mornings. That prince cupped frequently, and said, ' One of the best things with which cures are effected is cupping : in the night of the ascension the angels told me to recommend to un- people the use of cupping.' As a remedy for the poison which he had eaten at Khaibar, he twice had himself cupped between his shoulders, and also on his blessed head. He pro- duced vomiting as a remedy for the stomach ; and he used to say, ' Do not force the sick to take food or drink against their 4o4 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. will : for God is giving them food and drink.' The Ulemas explain this latter expression to mean, that the nature of the sick has to cook and eject the noxious substances, and to gain strength thereby. That prince also recommended abstinence to the sick, and beverage prepared with unsifted barley- flour and honey, resembling milk in substance and appearance. He also said, ' Cheer up the sick with pleasant words, and free their minds from grief and sadness.' He forbade the use of unlawful things as remedies, saying, ' God will not cure you by what He has made unlawful unto you.' When once some one had asked that prince for permission to make wine, but had been refused, he rejoined, ' But, O Apostle of God, I want to make the wine as a medicine.' To this rejoinder his Excellency replied, ' It is not a receipt, but a deceit' He forbade intercourse with those who had an infectious disease, such as lepers. Abu Horeira narrates that his Excellency said, ' Flee from a leper as ye flee from a lion ; ' and again, ' Speak with a leper in such a manner that there be the distance of one or two javelins between you.' In the later traditions it is creditably affirmed that that prince opposed infection, saying, ' There is no infection : one man's illness does not reach another man.' We explain this differ- ence thus : He who is of a strong faith suffers no harm from contact with infectious disease, because the power of faith repels the power of infection ; but he who is of a weak faith must avoid contact : on these accounts that prince was charged by God with both these lines of conduct, i.e. he both came in contact with lepers, and also ordained to keep aloof from them, so that the strong in faith might follow him in the way of trust, and the weak in faith in the path of self- preservation. The traditions concerning plague and pesti- lence are also of this nature. That prince has authorised the use of charms against the evil-eye. It is recorded that once whilst Sehl Ibn Hanif was bathing, Amir Ibn Rabia, seeing him naked, was so struck with the beauty of his body, that he exclaimed, ' By Allah ! I have never seen so beautiful a body, neither among men, nor among the veiled girls.' As Amir was saying this, Sehl dropped down unconscious. When this report was brought to that prince, he became angry with Amir, saying, ' Why CH. II. SEC. II. 13.] PECULIARITY OF HIS CURES. 405 dost thou not rather offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to God in seeing another's beautiful body, instead of killing him ? ' He ordered Amir forthwith to take a full ablution and to pour the water of it over Sehl ; and lo, that same hour Sehl's consciousness returned. It is likewise recorded that when that Excellency observed in the face of a slave-girl in Om Salma's room the appearance of a spirit, he said, ' Make incantations for that slave-girl, for in her face are the marks of the appearance of a spirit.' It is also reported that when, on one occasion, that Excellency performed his prayers in a place and was stung by a scorpion, he, after having finished his prayers, said, ' God's curse be upon the scorpions for not leaving alone God's prophet and others,' i.e. for stinging them. Then he applied a poultice of salt and bread, and repeated some verses from the Koran till the pain ceased. It is estab- lished by sound traditions that that prince made incantation with the first Sura, the verse of the Throne, and a number of other Koranic verses, and that he used sundry other en- chanting formulas, on which we cannot enlarge in this book. It is to be observed that a number of sound .traditionists have declared that there is no connection between the cures performed by that prince and those performed by other doctors ; for his were absolute cures, really effecting restora- tion and health, inasmuch as he acted by Divine revelation and inspiration ; but the cures of others are mostly based on conjecture, opinion, and trial. Whoever is not benefited by the prophetic remedy, must know for certain that the cause of this is his want of faith ; and whoever applies it in sincere dependence and pure faith, will surely be benefited by it. Just as the noble Koran is a remedy for the hearts and minds, but whosoever does not receive it with gladness and sincerity, to him it only causes an aggravation of his spiri- tual maladies. It is admitted that any medicine benefits the patient only on the condition of his receiving it with faith, so that nature may meet and assist it in expelling the dis- temper. Thus a number of distinguished men have used honey for all diseases, because in the glorious Koran it is written concerning the virtue of honey, 'In it there is healing for men ; ' and by the blessing of their faith those diseases were removed. 4o6 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. III. — The Religious Services of that Prince. Be it known that the Ulemas differ as to what kind of service the Prophet performed before he was commissioned with his prophetic office. Some say it was meditation, others, it was commemoration (viz. of God's perfections). So they also differ as to the Law he previously practised : whether it was that of Jesus, or that of Moses ; or whether he practised the religion of Abraham, or of Noah, or of Adam ; or whether he practised the religion of all the previous pro- phets together. But after having been commissioned as a prophet, he, according to one view, chose from every Law what was most difficult and painful ; and according to another view, based on the Koran, he practised the religion of Abraham ; but according to a still more preferable view, he practised his own Law. In the service of God the efforts and power of that Excellency attained perfection ; and in- asmuch as the best service, next to faith, is prayer, prayer also was established on purification. It is therefore most becoming here to begin with the ablution, as a prefatory and introductory step to prayer. It is established that when the Prophet wanted to enter into a place for certain purposes, he took off the ring from his blessed finger, and then stepped in, with his left foot first, saying, ' O God, I take refuge with thee from all impurity.' When he left that place, he did so with his right foot first, saying, ' Thy pardon ! ' Mostly he took an ablution before every performance of prayer, sometimes only one ablution before several perform- ances of prayer ; and before the ablution he made use of the wooden tooth-brush. On this matter he insisted most strongly both by word and deed. He also would rinse his mouth and sniff up water ; and he never omitted this in his ablution, using either one, two, or three handfuls of water. The sniffing up of water he performed with his right hand, the blowing of his nose with his left. In taking the ablu- tion, he would wash his limbs twice or thrice ; and would rub his head once or oftener, finishing up with smoothing his turban. The inside of his ear he would rub with his ch. ii. SEC. ill.] HOW HE PERFORMED HIS PR A YER. 407 prayer-finger, and the outside with his thumb. Respecting his washing of the neck there exists no trustworthy tradition. He would clean his beard, and also his fingers, taking off the ring, if he wore any. At the beginning of the ablution he would say, 'In the name of God;' and at the end, 'I testify that there is no God, but Allah alone, who has no com- panion ; and I testify that Mohammed is His servant and His apostle. Make me penitent, pure, and Thy faithful servant. I ask Thy forgiveness, and repent towards Thee ; ' or sometimes, ' Forgive me my sins, relieve me in my straits, and bless me in my substance.' He would never dry his limbs after the ablution, even if a towel was at hand for the purpose. He forbade the wasting of water at ablutions and baths. In washing he poured the water with his right hand upon the left, washing both hands. . . . Then he rinsed his mouth, sniffed up water, and washed his hands again. Then he poured water over his head, and washed the remainder of his blessed body, after which he moved to another place and washed his feet. He decided on wiping his leather socks once every day when at home ; and once every three days when on a journey. Where there was no water the practice of Teyemmuni was lawful, in accordance with which he first struck his flat hands upon the earth, and then rubbed his face and hands with them ; or he struck his flat hands twice upon the earth, and then rubbed his arms up to the elbows. He also paid the utmost attention to the observance of the Kibla, to the decent covering of the body, and to the other requisites of legal prayer. At the time of public prayers he would come to the mosque and act as Imam for his companions. In lengthening or shortening the service, he would have regard to the state of the congregation. In entering the mosque, he always stepped in with his right foot first, saying, ' I take refuge with the great God, His presence and power, from Satan the stoned.' When he stood erect in prayer, he raised his blessed hands to a level with his shoulders and with his ears, spread- ing out his fingers and saying, ' God is the greatest.' After this opening exaltation of God, he would place his right hand upon the left, and then say the opening prayer. The Bismillah 4o8 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. he sometimes said aloud, sometimes in silence. After repeat- ing the first chapter of the Koran, he said, ' Amen,' which the congregation repeated after him. In two places of the prayers he would leave room for silence. He opposed and forbade the protracting of the services ; and when he was once told that an Imam had read out the long second Sura in the evening service, he became exceed- ingly angry, and said, ' Verily some of you cause the con- gregation to loathe the services : every one who acts as Imam must make the service short ; for in the assembly there are many sickly, weak, and needy ones.' When he read from the Koran, he did so with distinct- ness, modulation, and expression, stopping at the end of every verse, and prolonging his voice. When he made the pro- strations, he did not raise his hand, but first put his knees upon the ground, then his hands, and after that his forehead and nose. His arms he held far away from his chest, and put them on the ground, level with his shoulders, and his fingers he kept joined together. In sitting up for the confession of faith, he laid down his left foot and sat upon it ; and planting his right foot, he put his right hand upon his right thigh, and his left hand upon his left thigh. But in the last of these sittings for confession, he put his left foot under the right, and sat on the ground. It is narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas that during prayers the Prophet was looking from the corners of his eyes to the right and to the left. When he had finished the prayers following the confession, he said, ' Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God,' turning first to his right side, so that they who sat there could see his blessed cheek ; and then to the left, saluting in the same way. And after the peace {i.e. at the close), he said three times, ' I ask pardon of the great God, besides whom there is no other God, the living, the eternal One ; and I repent towards Him.' Be it known that that Excellency read daily a certain portion from the Koran, besides the services, elucidating and explaining what he was reading. He read the Koran at all times, standing or sitting, after an ablution or without one ; and nothing whatever prevented his reading, except cohabita- tion. He never finished the Koran in less than three days ch. II. SEC. in.] FRIDA Y AND FESTIVAL SERVICES. 409 and three nights.1 When he heard the Koran read out by- others, tears flowed from his blessed eyes. On journeys his custom was to shorten the services. That prince observed Friday, on which day he performed a great many services, cleaned his clothes, and recommended the Friday-bath. When the people were assembled for prayers, on Friday, that prince went to mosque alone, with- out a chamberlain or servant ; and on arriving, he first greeted those present ; then he ascended the pulpit, and saluted again before sitting down. As soon as Bilal had finished his call to prayers, he rose up and delivered an address in which he praised God ; confessed the Faith ; exhorted and commanded the believers to fear and obey God, to loathe and despise the world, and to desire eternity ; read a verse from the Koran, and prayed for the male and female believers. When he had finished the address, he leaned upon a bow or a staff, never upon a sword or a spear. But afterwards, when the pulpit was properly fitted up, this leaning upon a bow or a staff, was not continued. In his address he would also com- mand the people to be near the Imam, and to keep silence during the address. If, after the Friday service, he returned to his house, he said four more genuflexions of prayers ; if he prayed in the mosque, never more than two. He used to say, ' There is one short space of time on Friday : if any one knew that time and prayed in it, God would grant him all he asks for. That hour is not confined to the lifetime of the prophet, but recurs until the day of the resurrection.' The Ulemas entertain eleven different views as to which is that hour for acceptable prayer, of which the following two are the most probable : first, the time from the Imam's entering the desk to the conclusion of the service ; secondly, the time between the afternoon prayers and sunset. The festival service he performed outside Medina, in a place for prayer, except once, when the rain prevented their going outside the town, and the service had to be held in the mosque. On the day of the feast he put on his best garments, 1 This statement seems to presuppose that the Koran existed as a collected whole in the Prophet's lifetime, which, as is well known, was not the case. True, the original term for reading is also applicable to a recital from memory, but it is very questionable whether the whole Koran, as we have it now, was so impressed upon the tablet of his memory that he might read it from that. 410 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. sometimes one with red or with green stripes. On the fes- tival of breaking the fast, he, before going to the outside place of prayer, broke the fast by eating some dates, but always an uneven number ; and besides these dates he ate nothing till his return from the house of prayer. On the feast of sacrifices he patiently abstained from breaking the fast till he returned from the place of prayer, after having slain the sacrifices. On the occasion of the feast he took a whole ablution, and went out to the place of prayer on foot, having a short spear carried before him. On the way he loudly recited praises ', and when they arrived at the prayer-place, that short spear was stuck in the ground as a mark for his Excellency whither to turn in prayer ; for in those days the prayer-place was in the open field, and not yet surrounded by walls. After the service was over, he stood before the people, and gave them an ad- dress, which he began with praise to God, and then exhorted and commanded the people to give alms ; and also gave notice of any war-expedition which he might have in contemplation. The women of Medina also used to be present in the place of prayer ; and his Excellency went to them, exhorting them with great vehemence, and saying, ' Give alms \n It is also established that after the prayer of the festival he sacrificed two rams, which were to have horns, black fore-legs and hind-legs, and black rings round the eyes ; and before he slaughtered them he turned their faces towards the Kibla and recited a prayer. He also commanded the people, saying, ' Take the fattest and best of the sheep for sacrifices, those free from defects, whose ears are not cut off or pierced through, those not very lean or sick.' He likewise ordained that from amongst the sheep one, a year old, and from amongst others one, two years old, should be proper for sacrifice ; and that it should be lawful for seven persons to- gether to sacrifice one bullock. In returning to Medina from the place of prayer, he always went by a different way from that by which he came. The Ulemas state that the reason of this was, that many places might witness his good works, and that the hypocrites might be cowed by seeing the splendour of the true Mussulmans ; and that the people on both roads might salute him ; and that the earth of both roads might be benefited by his blessed footsteps. 1 No wonder, considering their use : see p. 414. ch. ii. sec. in.] HE DREADS THUNDERSTORMS. 411 That Excellency also offered up prayer for rain. Some- times he first ascended the pulpit and delivered an address, and sometimes, without doing so, he recited the prayer for rain in the place where he was sitting. It is also established that during that prayer he held up the back-side of his hands towards heaven. When a storm was blowing, and clouds vvere seen, the visage of that Excellency showed signs of dis- tress ; and he would go inside and not come out again as long as this lasted ; but as soon as rain began to come down, that state passed off, and he cheered up. Aisha the faithful narrates that on her asking the Prophet for an explanation of this, he replied, ' O Aisha, lest what happened to the people of Ad should happen again ; for when they saw clouds of punishment in the sky, they said, " These clouds come to bring us rain," whereas that was a storm and clouds bringing them a grievous punishment.' His Excellency also said, ' The wind is from the Spirit of God (in Arabic, the riah is from the ruaJt) : it brings gracious rain to His friends, and sore punishment to His enemies.' When once some one was cursing the storm in that prince's presence, he said, ' Do not curse the storm, for it is a commissioned officer, and, verily, whoever curses what is undeserving of curse, on him will that curse return.' Ibn Abbas narrates, that there never was a storm or thundering without that prince kneeling down to pray. During an eclipse that prince used to say two genu- flexions of the eclipse-service. Ibn Abbas relates that he was present once when the Prophet recited that prayer, and that on that occasion he prolonged the standing up to an unusual extent, about as long as it would take to read the second Sura, and that as soon as the prayer was over, the sun reappeared. The Prophet also said, ' Truly, sun and moon are signs of God ; but although their eclipse does not portend any one's life or death, yet, if you see any, remember God.' His friends said to him, ' O Apostle of God, we saw that whilst thou wast saying the prayer, thou didst grasp at something, and then let it go again.' His Excellency replied, 'Verily, I have seen Paradise, and I wanted to seize one of the branches of its vines ; if I had taken it, you could have been eating therefrom till eternity sets in. I have also seen hell ; but I 412 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. have never witnessed anything to equal its terrible and awful aspect ; and most of the inhabitants of hell were women.' When his companions asked, ' O Apostle of God, why are most of the people of hell women ? ' he answered, ' Because they are ungrateful respecting the kindness and rights of their husbands.' Be it known that his apostolic Excellency also paid visits to the sick, and commanded his friends to do the same. When he went to see a sick person, he used to say, ' Please God, no misfortune, but purification/ or ' Atonement and purifi- cation.' He seated himself on the sick person's cushion, and inquired, ' How art thou ? what is thy condition ? hast thou a fancy for anything ? ' If the person fancied a thing that was not hurtful, he ordered it to be given. He would lay his right hand on the sick person's body, and say, ' Remove the ban, Thou Lord of man ! O Healer, heal, relieve ! There is no cure Besides Thy cure : Help, Helper, we believe.' If any one had a wound or an ulcer, he would first press his prayer-finger upon the earth, and then lifting it up, say, ' In the name of God ! Dust of our earth and milk mixed with olive-oil shall heal our distempers with the permission of our Lord.' He had no fixed day or hour for visiting the sick, but did so at any time, by day or by night. He used to say, ' If any one pays a sick-visit to a Moslem brother, he is walking in the garden of Paradise as long as he is going to him, and whilst he is sitting by the side of the sick, the grace of God is descending upon him till he is quite immersed in it. If he visits in the morning, 70,000 angels are interceding for him till evening, and if in the evening, 70,000 angels are interceding for him until morning.' When he observed the premonitory symptoms of approaching death in a person, he would bring eternity to his mind, and enjoin repentance and the making of a testament. Of the customs which prevailed during the time of ignorance, he altogether forbade the lamentations for the dead, the tearing of the collar, the beating of the face, and the like, and he enjoined upon the ch. ii. sec. in.] HIS DIRECTIONS FOR BURIALS. 413 people to be grateful and patient, and to say, ' We belong to God, and to Him we return,' and willingly to submit to the decrees of the Almighty. He insisted on promptly washing, dressing, perfuming, and burying the dead, requiring the corpse to be washed three or five times, or oftener, according as those who wash may find it necessary, and with the last washing to use some camphor. Do not wash a chief,1 but only divest him of his breastplate and arms ; and a pilgrim bury without drawing his pilgrim- dress over his head, so that on the day of the resurrection he may stand up and say, ' Here am I.' He directed that in case the winding-sheet is too short for a corpse, the head was at all events to be covered with it, and some hay put on the feet. He commanded that the dead be buried wrapt in a white sheet. Over the dead, — male or female, infant or adult, present or absent, — he performed a service of four, five, or six Magnificats, in each of which he lifted up his hands. The service over, he quitted the place, with one Selam, or with two. If anything prevented his saying the prayers over the corpse, he said them afterwards over the grave. When the prayers were ended, he walked on foot before the corpse to the grave, and did not sit down till it was deposited in the earth. Whilst they were bringing the body, he used to say, ' Make haste : for if the dead is one of the blessed, he is quickly to enter into Paradise ; and if he is one of the wicked, he is a burden to be cast off the sooner the better.' His Excellency also said, 'Whoever follows a corpse, let him carry it three times, verily, he will receive his reward.' In ordaining the legal and other alms, that prince had regard both to the wishes of the poor and to the mental pleasures of the rich. He enacted the legal almsgiving from four kinds of property, most common and most used amongst the people, viz. first, from camels, cattle, and sheep ; second, from gold and silver ; third, from corn and fruit ; and, fourth, from all kinds of merchandise. It is not established that the giving of alms from property, as a legal duty, was incumbent on the Prophet himself;2 but according to the enactments of 1 Was this exception enjoined with a view to Mohammed's own case ? 2 From this it is seen that the exceptional privileges of the Prophet were not confined to the number of wives allowed, but extended also to other matters. 4i4 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. the Law, he took the alms from the rich, and gave them to those who were worthy. He would tie the alms-camels with his own hand, and mark them generally on the shoulder ; and if any one was bringing the legal alms from his possessions to that Excellency, he would invoke a blessing upon him. To the neighbouring tribes he sent agents who collected the property-alms ; and after spending on those who were worthy in that place, brought the rest to Medina, for his Excellency to expend. He exceedingly loved a surplus of the alms, and also required the people to have a strong desire for it. The Prophet had a great zeal for the manumission of slaves, and pointed out its meritoriousness. He gave liberty to a number of male and female slaves ; but to more of the former than of the latter.1 Be it known that his Excellency never began to fast, till he, or some reliable witness, had seen the new moon of Ramadan, or thirty days were passed of Shaaban. At the end of Shaaban he made an oration in which he said, ' O ye men, an exceedingly great moon has now overshadowed you. It is a blessed month in which there is one night which is better than a thousand other nights. The Most High has appointed the fast during its days as an indispensable rite for you, and the staying up during its nights as a custom. Whoever does a supererogatory work this month, will be rewarded as much as if he does a legally enjoined work in another month ; and whoever performs a legally prescribed work this month, will be rewarded the same as if he had performed seventy such works in any other month. This is the month of patience ; and the reward for the patience of this month is Paradise. This is a month of bravery and kindness. This is a month in which the believer's means of living shall increase ; and whoever this month gives food to a faster to break the fast with, becomes the cause of the forgiveness of that man's sins and of his deliverance from hell-fire, and becomes partaker of a portion of the reward of that faster, without this latter losing anything by it' 1 Mohammed had evidently a personal reason for making this difference ; and as long as Islam renders a female slave as lawful for her master as his own wife, the abrogation of slavery is likely to be opposed from the secret motives of those personal prerogatives of masters. CH. ii. SEC. in.] HIS PRACTICE AS TO FASTING. 415 In reply to the observation of his companions that, perhaps, one of them might not have enough to spare for another faster wherewith to break his fast, his Excellency declared, ' If any one gives to a faster only a spoonful of milk, or a date, or a draught of water, yet will the Most High give him that reward ; and if any one fully satisfies the faster, the Most High will give him a beverage from my own pond, so that he will thirst no more till he enter Paradise.' ' This month is a month whose beginning is mercy, its middle pardon, and its end freeness from hell-fire ; and whoever will this month lighten the service of his slave, him will God pardon and deliver from the fire of hell.' According to authentic traditions the gates of heaven ; or, according to another account, the gates of mercy ; or, according to still another account, the gates of Paradise, are opened with the beginning of the month of Ramadan, and the gates of hell closed, and the devils dragged in chains. Before saying the evening prayers, the Prophet used to break the fast by eating a few fresh dates ; or, if there were no fresh ones, other dates ; or, if there were not any dates, by taking one or two draughts of water ; and he made his friends do the same. That Excellency persevered in taking the early meal before sunrise, enjoining the same upon his people ; and he used to say, ' The taking a meal early before sunrise distinguishes our fast from the fast of the people of the book.' During his fast he would kiss his ladies, let blood by cupping, and use aperients ; and if he needed an entire ablution by night, he would take it just before dawn. That prince also fasted voluntarily, as a work of super- erogation. Aisha the faithful narrates : ' That prince fasted so much that we thought he would never take breakfast ; and he took so much breakfast that we thought he would never fast. I never saw him fast for a whole month, except in Ramadan.' In the month of Shaaban he fasted more than in other months, sometimes two days in succession ; and on the day of Ashur he fasted as a matter of course. On Mondays and Thursdays he frequently fasted ; for he said, 'Because on these two days the works are presented (to God), I wish to be fasting on them.' Sometimes he also fasted on Saturday and Sunday. Each month he fasted 416 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. three days ; and on Friday he rarely broke the fast. When- ever he fasted on Friday, he also added either Thursday or Saturday as a fast-day ; for he forbade fasting on Friday only. Sometimes he would enter the abode of bliss {i.e. his harem), and ask, 'Is there anything to eat?' and if the answer was, 'No;' he would say, 'Then I fast to-day.' Sometimes also he would decide upon a supererogatory fast, without completely carrying it out. In the third decade of Ramadan he retired to a retreat, showing much zeal in acts of devotion, services, and vigils. He would have little to do with the people, but recite the Koran. He also would retire into a retreat in the first and middle decade. When he knew that ' the Night of Destiny ' would happen in the last decade, he would insist on holding the retreat in the last decade. On the day in which he retired to his retreat, he would first perform morning prayers, and then go to the place he had chosen for the retreat. That Excellency's place of retreat was a tent within the mosque. Whilst in the retreat, he would sometimes stretch his blessed head from the mosque into Aisha's apartment, so that she might comb it ; and whichsoever of his pure wives that prince desired, she came to be with him during the night in the mosque. IV. — Peculiarities of the Prophet. Be it known that it is the custom of the Shafii section of the orthodox Ulemas to mention that Excellency's peculiar- ities at the beginning of the marriage-book, because most of his peculiarities have a connection with marriage. Some of their doctors indeed hold that the things which were peculiar to that prince ought not now to be discussed, because they are things of the past, having no present utility ; but by far the greatest majority of the doctors teach that such discussion is lawful, and that it is no error to affirm that it is even desirable and a duty : because one ignorant of the fact that certain things were peculiar to the Prophet, might wish, in finding them amongst the sound traditions, to imitate them as examples. Be it known, therefore, that the Most High has conferred special distinc- ch. ii. sec. IV. i.] HIS ESPEC1AI RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 417 tions upon that Excellency, which are divided into four classes, viz. first, religious duties ; second, things forbidden and illicit to him ; third, things lawful and permitted to him ; fourth, excellencies and miracles. But as the latter are so many, they have been treated in a special chapter by them- selves, and in the present, only the first three will be concisely stated. (1.) Religious Duties peculiar to the Prophet. The cause of such peculiar duties is the greater measure and higher degree of the Divine presence vouchsafed to this prince ; or, according to some Imams, the circumstance that the merit of the performance of a religious duty is seventyfold that of the performance of a work of super- erogation. His peculiar duties were : — 1. Prayers in addition to those legally enjoined. 2. Prayer in the early part of the day, after the first legal prayer. 3. The slaying of sacrifices. — It has here to be observed, that the Imams of the Shafii section declare the voluntary and early prayers to be duties peculiar to the Prophet ; but that the followers of the Imam Abu Hanifa hold, that volun- tary prayers and sacrifices are incumbent on the people also ; but the fact is, that the Shafiites here use the term ' duty ' in the sense of an absolute duty, and the Hanifites in the sense of less than an absolute duty. 4. Vigils or night-watches. — The Shafiite Imams hold, that at first this was one of his Excellency's peculiar duties, but that afterwards it was abrogated, which view is also supported by a tradition derived from Aisha. 5. The use of a tooth-brush.— This is supported by a tradition from Aisha, but opposed by others. 6. Consultation with relatives, in important matters. 7. To pay the debts of those who at their death leave no property behind them.— There is a difference of opinion amongst the Ulemas as to whether Mohammed paid those debts out of his own private treasure, or from the property of the State ; and also as to whether or not the same duty is likewise incumbent upon the sovereigns who succeeded him. 2 D 4i8 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. n. 8. To persevere against the enemy in war. — This persever- ance was incumbent on him, even if the enemy was more than twice as numerous as himself; but it is not incumbent upon the people, if their enemy is more than twice as numerous as themselves. 9. To repair every reverse that he suffered, though in doing so there should be fear and danger, because God had promised to keep him ; but if the people are afraid to repair a reverse, their duty of doing so ceases. 10. God Himself choosing for him his pure wives, caus- ing them to decide between selecting the fashion of the world and separating from that Excellency, on the one hand, and selecting the eternal things, with being found under the shadow of that prince's innocence, on the other. In compensation for their choosing eternity it was made unlawful for that prince to marry another wife in addition to them, or in the stead of any one of them. But the verse of the Koran enjoining this was afterwards abrogated, and another sent down in its stead, freeing him from that restraint. (2.) Things unlawful and forbidden to the Prophet. The reason why some things have been specially made unlawful to him is this, that the reward attached to refrain- ing from things unlawful is greater than that attached to abstaining from things disliked and detested. 1. One of the things unlawful to that Excellency was the taking of canonical alms. This unlawfulness extends also to his family and children. For, according to a sound tradition, canonical alms have been called man's filthiest thing, and the rank of that prince's family is far above accepting men's filthiest things. Another of those things is, that the taking of the vile legal alms means their spending them again in acts of mercy to the poor and others. In compensation for this, God gave them a portion of the spoil taken in war. But because at present they are deprived of the fifth of the spoil, some Ulemas have pronounced it lawful for them to take the canonical alms. The Ulemas disagree as to whether or not other prophets shared this restriction, and as to whether the Prophet and his family may lawfully take voluntary alms ch. II. sec. iv. 2.] THINGS FORBIDDEN TO HIM. 419 or not. The Shafiite Ulemas hold that to take voluntary alms was unlawful to the Prophet himself, but is lawful to his family. 2. Not to eat onions, garlic, leek, and other similar things of an unpleasant smell. There is conclusive proof that he did not partake of these things. When they were offered, where he was present, he used to say to his com- panions, ' Do ye eat them : I therefore do not eat them, that persons unable to talk secretly with you, may do so with me/ The Shafiite Ulemas affirm that these things were not ' unlawful ' to his Excellency, but disliked by him. 3. Not to eat in the same place where he slept. The Shafiite Ulemas again affirm that this was not 'unlawful ' to him, but only disliked by him, as by others. There is no positive proof on the subject ; and his abstaining from a thing does not imply its being unlawful. 4. Not to write. 5. Not to poetise. 6. After having put on his armour to fight with an enemy, not to take it off again without having been engaged in combat. 7. Not to look and aim at the pomp of the world used by the people. 8. Not to have a treacherous eye. The meaning of this is, not to give a sign with the hand, head, or eye that any one was to be smitten or killed, whilst the surrounding circumstances pointed to no such fate. 9. Not to give anything to any one with the object of obtaining in return more than its value. 10. Not to consummate marriage with any woman who solemnly protests against it. The Ulemas establish this by a tradition from Aisha, who said, 'When the Prophet married the daughter of a man called Gon, and was about to sit close to her in her bridal chamber, that girl said, " I take refuge from thee with God." Upon this, that prince said, "Verily thou hast taken refuge with a Great One, go and return to thy father's house." ' n. Not to marry a free woman from 'the people of the book,' i.e. from the Jews and Christians. It is recorded that his Excellency said, ' I begged of my Lord that I might not 42o MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. have to marry any woman but one who can be with me in Paradise ; and my Lord accepted this my request' It is also reported by tradition that once there was a dispute between Aisha and Fatima, in which Fatima said to Aisha, ' I am nobler than thou, because I am a morsel from the Prophet of God.' Aisha replied, ' In an earthly point of view it is so ; but mine is the eternal glory that I am to be together with the Prophet in Paradise, and thou shalt only have Ali's rank in Paradise : consider, therefore, what differ- ence there is between these two ranks.' On Fatima bursting out weeping because of this word, Aisha arose, kissed her blessed head, and said, ' Would that I were but a hair of thy head ! ' Now when it is declared that that Excellency's ladies shall be with him in Paradise, it must be unlawful for him to marry a free woman from the people of the book, because no unbeliever can enter Paradise, and he must naturally also be averse to marrying such a woman. 12. Not to marry a Mussulman slave-woman ; for the legality of her marriage depends on these two conditions, viz. first, the fear of adultery ; and, secondly, the inability to marry a free woman. But the Prophet was innocent of the fear of adultery. Nor could the second reason operate with him, because he was not bound to bestow either an initial or a final dowry. (3.) Tilings permitted to liim, i.e. things whose legality was peculiar to that Prince. The object in legalising these things to his Excellency was his comfort and convenience. The term ' legalised or lawful things ' is here employed to designate things respect- ing which that Excellency was free from guilt, whether he did them, or left them undone. They were : — 1. Enjoyment during a fast, as stated in the chapter of ' Religious Services.' 2. To select and take away whatever he liked from the spoil of war, before the regular distribution is made. 3. To enter the sanctuary of Mecca, without being robed in the sacred vestment of pilgrims. 4. To kill within the sanctuary of Mecca. This is proved CH. II. sec. iv. 3.] THINGS PERMITTED TO HIM. 42 1 by the fact that at the conquest of Mecca that Prince commanded Ibn Khadl to be killed, though he had wrapt himself up in the curtains of the Kaaba. 5. To pass a judgment merely by his own knowledge ; whereas it is not lawful for other judges to do this. 6. To give a judgment concerning himself and his chil- dren, because that prince was innocent of partiality. 7. To accept the testimony of a man testifying of him- self. This is based on the following tradition : The Prophet had bought a horse from a Bedouin. The Bedouin denying the sale, demanded a witness. The Ansar Khazinat Ibn Zabit came and bore witness. The Prophet said, ' O Khazinat, how canst thou witness to an affair at which thou hast not been present ? ' Khazimat replied, ' O Apostle of God, if we believe thee in the matter of the messages from heaven, why should we not believe thee in things of this world ? ' 1 Upon this the Apostle of God surnamed him 'the witness-bearer.' 8. To keep for himself anything forbidden. But this privilege he did not always exercise. 9. In time of need to take eatables and drinkables from any one who has, whilst it is the duty of the latter to yield up to him whatever food he possess, in order to keep the Apostle of God alive, though he may apprehend that by so doing he may perish himself. Of this privilege likewise he did not always avail himself. 10. Sleep on his part does not invalidate his ablution as it does that of others ; for even when the eyes of that prince- slept, his mind was awake, as he himself once said, ' My eyes sleep, but my heart does not sleep.' In this particular the other prophets were his partners. For Bokhari has a tradition to the effect that his Excellency said, ' And of the other prophets also the eyes only slept, but not the heart' But some Imams, overlooking this tradition, classed this particular amongst his peculiarities. 11. To remain in a place of worship in a state of canoni- cal uncleanness. • 1 This mode of reasoning by Moslems plainly shows how naturally the acknowledgment of Mohammed as a prophet engendered other errors and false- hoods ; and how impossible it is to give implicit credence to even the most positive assurances of his believers and partisans. 422 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. 12. To curse a believer, though he may not have been guilty of anything meriting a curse ; because that Excel- lency's curse is an act of mercy. This is supported by a tradition derived from Abu Harira to this effect: 'That Excellency addressed a petition to the Almighty, saying, " O God, I am nothing but a man, if therefore I hurt, or revile, or curse, any one of the believers, turn it all into an act of mercy to him, and into a means of approach, so that on the day of the resurrection he may thereby approach to thee." ' 13. To unite to himself in marriage more than four ladies. The proof of this is based on the unanimous opinion of the doctors of the Law and on the practice of the Prophet. In this particular privilege also other prophets were that prince's partners. For it is established that Solomon had taken 100 ladies at once, and David 99 ladies. 14. That he could contract a marriage on the strength of the word ' gift.' This is proved by the noble verse of the Koran : ' And if a believing woman gives herself to the Prophet, and the Prophet be so minded, he can marry her. She has acted with purity of mind towards him, above the believers.' 15. That his marriage was valid, even if contracted without any relative or any witness being present. This is natural, because that prince is above any sureties or witnesses, and would never deny a marriage he had entered ; but if the woman were to deny it, and thus contradict the Prophet's affirmation, her word could not be accepted against his ; and some Imams have declared that she would have become an unbeliever by that very contradiction. His com- panions were in doubt as to whether he had taken Safia by way of marriage or by way of concubinage. The marriage of Zeinab also proves this particular privilege. V. — Mohammed's Excellencies and Miracles. (1.) His Excellencies. In point of purity and goodness God has created the souls as three different classes : highest, lowest, and middle. The souls of the prophets are the purest and best ; and ch. ii.sec. v. i.] HIS EXCELLENCIES. 423 Mohammed is the purest, best, and noblest amongst them. To enumerate and detail all his excellencies would require a book, so they are here given in an abridged form. 1. His spirit was created first, and the spirits of all other beings were derived from his. Mohammed said, ' I am the first of the prophets as to creation, and the last as to mission.' 2. God took a covenant and promise from all the other prophets, that if they attained to the time of Mohammed's mission, they would believe in him, and aid him. The prophets are, therefore, placed in the position of followers with regard to Mohammed. 3. Whilst God, in the Koran, addresses every prophet simply by his name — e.g. 'O Adam, dwell thou with thy wife in Paradise;' 'O Jesus, son of Mary, remember my grace towards thee and towards thy mother,' — He addresses our own Prophet by honouring attributes and epithets, e.g. O thou Apostle, O thou Prophet, O Mohammed the Apostle. 4. To the former nations it was lawful to address their prophets simply by their names, but to the people of this prince, this is not lawful. They have to say, O Apostle of God, or O Prophet of God. 5. In the glorious Koran God swears by Mohammed's life, his city, his apostolic mission, and his religion {lit. guid- ance), whereas, according to Ibn Abbas' statement, God has never sworn by the life of any other prophet. 6. God gave to Mohammed 'concentration of speech {lit. collection of words), i.e. such speech whose expressions are short and their meaning comprehensive. 7. Mohammed was granted victory in such a degree that his enemies at a month's distance feared on account of the dreadness of that prince. 8. The possession of booty was made lawful for him and his people, whereas when the former people made booty, they had to bring it before their prophet, to be con- sumed by fire from heaven. 9. The whole face of the earth was given him and his people for a place of worship, and for purification, so that they can perform their services where they like ; and if they find no water, they can use earth instead, whilst the former 424 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. IL people could only perform their services in the place ap- pointed, and were not allowed to use earth instead of water. 10. That prince was sent unto all creatures. Noah's mission after the deluge was indeed also a general one to all men, but as regards its previous character, the Ulemas are divided in opinion, whether it extended to all men, or was restricted to a single nation. Even admitting that Noah's mission was one to all men, we have still to affirm that the mission of our own Prophet was both to men and spirits. 11. His appearance was the end of prophecy (or of the prophetic office). The second coming of Christ, at the end of time, is not opposed to this, because He is not to bring an abrogating Law, but to preach the Law of Mohammed, and to conform to it. 12. In his wars with unbelievers he was helped and strengthened, more than any other prophet before him, by hosts of angels. 13. God has made Mohammed a means of mercy for the inhabitants of the whole world.1 Some commentators explain that he is such by guiding the believers, by securing immunity for the insincere from being killed, and by delaying the punishment of the unbelievers. 14. Since the time of his mission the evil spirits (or Satans) have been kept away from heaven by shooting stars, which previously had not been the case. 15. The angel Asraphel several times came down to him which he had not done to any other prophet. 16. God, in His book, mentions the repentance and pardon of many prophets, and also their fall into what was unworthy of their character, e.g. of Adam, Noah, Jonas, David, and Moses, but respecting our own prophet God said, ' God will surely forgive thy sins, both the past and the future,' thus veiling what the sin itself was. 17. Whatever God gave to the previous prophets, He gave on account of their having asked for and desired it, but whatever He gave to that Excellency, He gave without being asked and solicited. 1 Mohammed is here invested with the character both of the ' mercy-seat ' in Israel (Exod. xxv. 17-22) and of Jesus Christ, 'whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood ' (Rom. iii. 25). ch. II. SEC. v. i.] HIS EXCELLENCIES. 425 18. God said concerning him, 'We have made thy men- tion exalted,' what the commentators explain to mean, that Mohammed is to be mentioned wherever God is mentioned, e.g. in the Creed, the Praises, etc. 19. In order to exalt his Excellency, God made his pure wives the mothers of the believers ; i.e. He appointed them to be honoured and revered by the believers as their own mothers, so that it should be unlawful for them to marry them. It is said that this was done because Talha Ibn Abd Allah had said, 'When the Prophet has left the world, I shall marry Aisha.' 20. God declared the supererogatory prayers of Mo- hammed, performed sitting, to be of the same merit as those performed standing : whereas the supererogatory prayers performed by any one else in a sitting posture, have only half the merit of those performed standing. 21. That prince could see behind him, just as well as he could see before him. Some of the Ulemas affirm that this vision was a mental one ; others, that it was ocular. The latter say, that Mohammed had two eyes between his shoulders, similar to the eyes of a needle, with which he could see behind, and that the clothes he wore did not prevent these eyes from seeing. 22. His Law has abrogated all other Laws, but will itself remain established till the day of the resurrection. 23. That prince's blessed body was so light-like that, when he walked against the sun, or the moon, it produced no shadow. 24. The glorious God made Mohammed His own dearly beloved friend. According to Ibn Abbas, Mohammed once said to his companions, ' You truly said, that Abraham was the friend, Moses the confidant, Jesus the spirit, and Adam the pure one, of God : but know, that I am the dearly beloved friend of God.' 25. That prince had revealed to himself the world and those that are in the world, from the time of Adam to the first blast of the last trumpet, so that he knew it all, and at times communicated some of the information to his friends. 26. God ennobled him in this world with PI is beauteous grace, as He had not done to any other creature. 426 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. h. 27. God commissioned him in the best of ages. 28. God raised him up from the best of tribes. 29. God declared his people, or his religious community, to be the best of the religious communities. 30. The assembling together of his people is an absolute duty, but that of other people is not so. 31. His people do not agree on error or falsehood. 32. In the resurrection his people are to be witnesses to all the other peoples, or religious communities. 33. On the day of the resurrection the favourable answers to his people shall be more numerous than those to the people of any other prophet. 34. His people are to constitute the third part of the inhabitants of Paradise. 35. His people are not to perish from famine. 36. No other people is to rule over his people.1 Mo- hammed said, he had prayed for this and God had accepted his prayer ; but that when he also prayed that there should never be war or conflict between themselves, God refused. 37. The painful duties which had been enjoined upon former peoples, were not imposed upon his. 38. God made the hosts of his people like hosts of angels. 39. It was not lawful for any person to raise his own voice above his. 40. When Mohammed called anyone who was saying his prayers, it was obligatory to him to respond to the call ; and in so doing he did not invalidate his prayers. 41. To accept presents implied no blame, but was perfectly lawful for that Excellency, but not for any other judges or governors. 42. Intentionally to speak a lie against that Excellency is not like intentionally lying against any one else, but is the most infamous of infamies. 43. Whoever sees that Excellency in his dream, has seen him really and truly, according to the tradition that Mohammed once said, ' Whoever sees me in a dream, has seen me really : for Satan cannot imitate me.' 1 From this it may be gathered how far the sincere loyalty of the Mo- hammedans can be relied upon by any non-Mussulman government through- out the world. ch. II. SEC. v. i.] HIS EXCELLENCIES. 4=7 45.1 The dignity has been conferred on that prince of acting as Intercessor on the day of the resurrection. The parties on whose behalf he will intercede are classified as follows : — 1. The great intercession will be for those about to be judged, namely for those who, despairing of all the other prophets, flee for refuge to Mohammed. 2. For those who find their way into Paradise, without an account. 3. For those deserving punishment. 4. For those of the believers who go to hell, but will by his intercession be taken out again and translated into Paradise. 5. Some who have entered Paradise will by his interces- sion obtain a higher place in it. 6. Some unbelievers will have their punishment made lighter through his intercession, such as, e.g., Abu Talib. 7. For all those who die in Medina ; for according to a tradition Mohammed said, ' Let those who can, die in Medina; because I shall intercede for every one dying there. 46. The intercession of that Excellency will be the first to-be received. 47. On the day of the resurrection the banner of praise will be in his hands. 48. In the estimation of the Most High he is the noblest and worthiest of all creatures ; and will be their leader on the day of the resurrection. 49. All the prophets and apostles are to be under the shadow of that prince's glorious standard, on the day of the resurrection. 50. That prince will be the first to enter Paradise. Accord- ing to tradition Mohammed said, ' When I shall knock at the gate of Paradise on the day of the resurrection, and the Treasurer of Paradise shall ask, "Who art thou?" I shall answer, " I am Mohammed." Then the Treasurer of Paradise 1 It is the Rawzat ul Ahbab itself which passes from Nos. 43 to 45. Whether this is an omission of No. 44 in the Turkish Edition of which I made use, or merely a mistake in numbering, I cannot say ; probably the former, because in the latter case, the ' excellencies ' would only amount to 59, instead of the round number 60. 428 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. shall say, " I have never been commanded to open the gate to any one before thee." ' So likewise his people shall enter Paradise before every other people. 51. On the day of the resurrection the celebrated Pond shall pass into his possession. 52. The praiseworthy Place {makam-i-mahmud) shall be his. 53. That prince will have the rank of Mediation which is the highest rank of Paradise. Abu Horeira narrates that Mohammed once said, ' Only a single person can reach that highest rank, and my hope is that I may be that person.' His Excellency employed the optative form because of his good manners and caution, although it is eternally decreed that he shall have that highest rank. 54. As that prince could see in the light, so he could also see in darkness. But this rests on a weak tradition, derived from Aisha. 55. Yawning, which is one of the works of Satan, never happened to that prince, as stated by Iman Bokhari in his great history. 56. No fly alighted on that prince's blessed body. 57. The character and disposition of that prince was supe- rior to the character and disposition of every other creature. 58. That prince was the noblest of creatures respecting the form of his body and the symmetry of its members. 59. In the pages of the writings of the previous prophets mention is made of his description (or attributes) and renown, and of his being the prophet of the latter time ; and their authors foretold the glad tidings of his coming. So likewise the doctors and wise men of the possessors of the Scriptures foretold the coming of that prince ; as did also the diviners, the theosophers, and those who had dealings with spirits, testifying to the truth of that prophecy. The great and dis- tinguished of every age, have also had dreams pointing to the beneficent coming of that prince. The biographers term these men Beshair, i.e. bearers of good news. It is proper here to introduce some of them. God sent a revelation to Adam, the import of some of whose pages was to this effect, ' I am the Lord of Mecca whose inhabitants are my neighbours, and those who visit ch. it. sec. v. i.] PROPHECIES CONCERNING HIM. 429 that House are my guests, under the wings of my protection, and under the shadow of my keeping. I will people that House with heavenly and earthly beings ; and they shall come to it in troops, dusty, and with disordered hair, saluting and praising it with a loud voice, and shedding tears. And whoever visits that House with no other object in view but me, in effect visits me, becomes my guest, and is worthy of my favour ; I will confer the nobility and high honour of that House upon a prophet from amongst thy children, named Abraham ; and I will let him finish its building, and I will show him the Zemzem well in it, and give him the right of opening and closing it for an inheritance. After him the people of every age shall keep that House in repair, until the time of a prophet from among thy children, called Mo- hammed, and him I will make one of its inhabitants and governors and chamberlains and water-distributors. Every one who seeks me and desires to ask anything of me, must know that I am with that company whose hair is mingled up with their beard, who are covered with dust and earth, but who fulfil their vows, and turn to their Lord.' In the Rolls of Abraham, that prophet was addressed thus, ' I have heard thy prayer for thy son Ishmael, and have blessed him and his seed, and have made him great and honoured. An illustrious son shall come from him, Mohammed by name, who shall be an elect and chosen one. I will send him a revelation to be communicated to his people ; and his people shall be better than any other people.' In the Torah God refers to the truth of Mohammed in a passage which being interpreted reads thus, 'O thou renowned prophet, verily we have sent thee to be a witness and a bearer of good news to the good, a warner to the bad, and a refuge to the unlettered. Thou art my servant and my apostle. I have named thee the trusting one.' Then God continues, but changing from the second to the third person, ' He is not a man of vulgar speech or bad habits, or a stony heart, or one who cries in the market-places. He does not requite evil with evil, but pardons and yields. The Most High will not raise him up until the time when a peculiar people shall be born who shall say, "There is no God but God." With this word he shall open blind eyes and deaf ears, 43o MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. and set minds at liberty.' In another place of the Torah it is also stated that Mohammed was to be the son of Abd Allah, that the place of his birth was to be Mecca and that of his flight Medina ; and that his power should extend over Syria; that his people should give thanks, and say, 'God is great,' whenever they ascend up high, and render praise whenever they descend low ; that they should bind their loins with a girdle and take ablutions ; and that their Moezzins should call out from high places, and that their line of battle and their line of prayer should be straight ; and that at night their voices should be like the humming of bees. It is further affirmed that Moses in his Torah was acquainted with seventy attributes of the people of the latter time ; and that as often as he had considered one of them, he asked of God that that congregation might be his own people. But the answer came to him, ' They are to be Mohammed's people.' At last, when he saw that Mohammed's people were to have so many excellencies, he said, ' O God, let me also be amongst Mohammed's people.' In the book of the prophet Habakkitk, the contemporary of Daniel, the following prophecy occurs, ' God came from Teman, and the Holy One from the mountain Paran ; and the earth was filled with the praise of Ahmed and his holiness ; and he possessed the earth, and subdued the nations.' And in another place of the same book it is written, ' Heaven was illumined with the dignity of Mohammed, and the earth filled with his grandeur.' Wahab Ibn Minbeh said, that the Most High sent the following revelation to the prophet Isaiah : ' I will send a prophet who is to be unlettered, and by his name I will open the ears of the deaf, and the minds of the listless ; and I will clothe him with gravity, and I will make goodness his out- ward mark, and godliness and temperance his inward mind ; and wisdom his understanding ; and truth and purity his nature, and propriety his disposition ; and equity his practice ; and truth his law ; and right guidance his leader ; and Islam his people ; and his name Ahmed. And through him I will show to his people the right way out of error, and the way of knowledge after ignorance ; and by his name I will make the few many and the divided united ; and will bring amongst ch.ii. SEC. v. i.] PROPHECIES CONCERNING HIM. 431 the separated hearts and the antagonistic nations harmony and intimacy; and his people shall be superior to every other; and they shall pay respect to the light of the sun, i.e. they shall look to the sun to know the right time for prayer.' In the Gospel the Most High gave the following revela- tion to Jesus, ' Declare Mohammed to be true, and believe in him ; and tell also thy people that those of them who reach his time should believe in him. O thou son of the Virgin, i.e. O thou Jesus, know thou, that if it had not been for Mohammed, I should not have created Adam and Paradise and Hell ; and the truth is, that when I made the Throne, it shook and would not stand firm till I wrote upon it, " There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah," whereupon it steadied itself and became quiet.' 1 The prophecies by sundry learned Christians and others are very many ; e.g. Seif Ibn Yazan, a king of Yemen, to whom a deputation was sent from Mecca, to congratulate him on having reconquered his land from the Abyssinians, said to Abdu-1-Mottaleb who was one of the deputation, - A pro- phet shall arise from thy seed, Mohammed and Ahmed by name. The time of his birth has now come. His parents will die, and he will be under the care of his grandfather and uncle. God will make him known, and suddenly give him assistants and helpers, so that with their aid he wilt make his friends glorious and his enemies despised. At his birth shall the fire of the fire-temples be extinguished ; the people shall worship the one incomparable God ; infidelity and sin shall disappear from the world ; Lat, Ozza, and the other idols shall be broken ; his word shall be decision and his judgment justice; and he shall make his commands respected.' It is recorded that when that Excellency was seven years old, a number of Christians came to Mecca from Syria for purposes of trade, and one of them recognised that prince 1 If the Mohammedans fabricated prophecies such as these, and ventured to ascribe them to sundry Biblical books, mentioned by name, for the purpose of extolling their Prophet, of how many other frauds, with the same pious object, may they not have been guilty, where it is far less easy for us than in these instances clearly to distinguish between fact and fiction ! If their pretended prophecies have obviously not any foundation in truth, may it not justly be suspected that the applicability thereof to the historical Mohammed is equally supposititious and unjustified ? 432 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii from the signs and tokens he had read in their own books. On their asking Mohammed who he was, he replied, ' I am Mohammed Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Abdu-1-Mottaleb.' Then that Christian made a sign towards heaven, towards the earth, and towards the mountains, and asked again, ' Who is thy nourisher?' Upon this Mohammed answered, ' God, who is without a partner and without an opponent' Hear- ing this, the Christian exclaimed, ' O ye people of Syria, know ye that this is the prophet of the latter day.' The prophecies of the Soothsayers and Diviners concerning the coming of that prince are also so many that we only give one as a specimen : — Nazr Ibn Babia, one of the kings of Yemen, who is said to have been the builder of Samarkand and Herat, had a dream which frightened him. He gathered his soothsayers and astrologers to tell him the dream, as a guarantee for the correctness of their interpretation. They confessed that they themselves were not able to do so, but recommended Satih and Sak to be sent for, which was accordingly done. Satih stated that Nazr had seen in a dream a black-burnt substance, proceeding out of darkness, or out of a black cloud, and falling upon the land of Yemen, burning up everything in it. When Nazr had declared that such had really been his dream, Satih interpreted it thus : ' Sixty or seventy years after Nazr's death, the Abyssinians will conquer Yemen. Then Seif Ibn Yazan will rise up and retake it from them. Then a pure prophet who receives revelations from the Lord of both worlds, will conquer it from the Yazanites ; and in the hands of his people Yemen will remain till the day of the resurrection.' The spirits (jins) also gave many prophecies of that prince's appearance. Abu Amir narrates that he went to Syria to inquire of diviners about the future, and says in his account, ' One moonlight night I fell asleep on my camel, which then went astray ; and on awaking I found myself in an unknown wilderness, so that I was in great fear. Seeing several fires before me, I went towards them, when I per- ceived people around them who did not the least resemble men. They were warming themselves, and talking with each other in a loud voice, so that the hairs of my body stood up, and the camel on which I rode, stopped and began to tremble. CH. II. sec. v. i.] HIS RISE MADE KNOWN B Y SPIRITS. 433 When I dismounted, those people disappeared from my sight. I called out aloud after them, " I put my trust in the chief of this people." Thereupon four of them became visible to me, saluting me, and sitting down opposite me. Their form was exceedingly ugly and awful. One of them asked me, " Whence art thou ? " and I answered, " I am from Ghazan, and am going to Syria, there to inquire concerning the future of the Diviners ; and my name is Abu Amir." Then they made a sign to one of their number, saying, " Now is the opportunity." I turned towards him, and laid my request before him, remembering that the Diviners receive their information from the spirits (jins). That spirit said to me, " I swear by the rain that pours down from the clouds, and by those who people the waterless deserts, that thin-bodied, quickly-marching camels shall be brought to one who is the best of heroes, of covenant-keepers, of exhorters and com- manders, and to whom word also shall be brought down from heaven. Surely the time is near, that one shall be called and raised up who will be a subduer of Caesars and Chosroeses." Then he described the form and beauty of that Excellency, and the seal of his prophetship, adding, " He shall be unlettered, and whosoever follows him shall find happiness. O Abu Amir, these things I have heard from the good angels with my own ears." ' Of the true dreams, pointing to the coming of that prince, we will only mention one of Abdu-1-Mottaleb's, thus related by himself: ' I once slept in the Kaaba, and saw in my dream a tree growing forth from my loins, whose top reached up to heaven, and its boughs and branches took in the east and the west. There was light in it equalling that of seventy suns, to which both the Arabs and the Persians bowed down in worship, and that light was still increasing from moment to moment. And I saw a number of the Koreish clinging to the boughs and branches of that tree, and another number ready to cut it down. But when they approached the tree, I saw a youth of matchless beauty keep them back and pluck out their eyes. I myself stretched out my hand to seize one ray of that light, when the same youth said to me, " Those may seize it who cling to the boughs and branches of the tree." Then I was frightened and awoke. When I told this 2 E 434 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. h. dream to a soothsayer, his colour changed, and he said to me, " One will come from thy loins who will rule over the people of the east and the west, and to whom the people of the whole earth shall become subjected." ' 60. Mohammed's sixtieth excellency consists of the evi- dent miracles and wonders which he was enabled to perform, and which will now be specially treated of. (2.) His Miracles. The Divines affirm that the miracles of all the previous pro- phets were given to Mohammed, and that he surpassed them all, so that, e.g., if Noah received the miracle of the Ark which floated upon the waters of the deluge, our own prophet could command stones to float on the water : and it is certainly more wonderful to cause stones to move upon the waters than a vessel. It is reported that when he invited Abu Jahl to embrace the Faith, Akrima requested him, first to show a miracle, and then he also would believe. Now, as they just happened to be near a lake which was full of water and surrounded with stones, Mohammed said to him, ' Go to that stone and say to it, " Mohammed calls thee." ' Akrima did as he was bidden, and, lo, instantly that stone began to move and to swim on the water, till it stood opposite his Excellency. But every one knows that it is more wonderful for a stone to swim on the water than, e.g., for a tree or a board. Likewise, if fire was made obedient to Abraham, so that it could not burn or singe him, Mohammed the chosen was so eminently endowed with miraculous power that fire would not even singe the pocket-handkerchief which he held in his hand. It is recorded that Uns Ibn Malik visited that Excellency, who, after dinner, sent for a soiled handkerchief which he threw into an oven where a fire had been kindled, and then took it out again, when the fire had not had any other effect except that of thoroughly cleaning it. It is stated that, on the day of the resurrection, the Most High will command the fire of hell to obey Mohammed, so as to burn any one of whom he will say, ' Burn him ; ' and not to touch any one of whom he will say, ' Do not burn him.' If Moses was endowed with the miraculous power of ch. ii. sec. v. 2.] HIS MIRACLES MOST MIRACULOUS. 435 causing water to flow from the rock, our own prophet was counted worthy of the power of causing water to flow from his fingers. For it is creditably affirmed by his companions, Abd Allah Ibn Masud and Jabir Ibn Abd Allah, that during the war of Hodeibia the people complained of thirst, when that Excellency said, ' Look, whether any one has still some water.' His friends searched, and having found a small quantity, brought it to him. That Excellency asked for a cup, into which he poured that water, and then also put his blessed hand into it, whereupon water began to bubble forth from between his fingers, as it bubbles forth from a well ; and all the people came, drank to their full, and performed their ablutions. When Jabir was afterwards asked how many they were on that occasion, he replied, ' We were 5500 : but if we had been 10,000, that water would have been enoueh for us.' But it is an established fact that it is much more wonderful for water to proceed from flesh and skin than from stones and earth. If the prophet Salih was given the miraculous power of bringing forth she-camels from the hard rock, our own prophet was counted worthy that by his prayer he could cause a date-tree to grow forth from a camel's hump and instantaneously to bear fruit, so that all who were present in the assembly could eat of the fruit, and that the dates of that tree were exceedingly sweet to the palate of those having an established faith in theology, but became stones in the mouths of all who were unbelievers. So likewise Salih's she-camels never spoke to him, whereas our own prophet had camels speaking to him again and again. One of these many cases is the following. 'That Excellency was on a journey, when suddenly a camel approached him, saying, " O Apostle of God, I have no master : hitherto he has been using me, but now that I am become old, he wants to slaughter me ; therefore I am come to take refuge with thee that thou mayest save me." The Apostle of God sent for its master, and requested of him to let him have that camel. The master acceding to the request, his Excellency liber- ated it.' Likewise, if the wind was made subject to Solomon, so as, morning and evening, to carry his throne a month's dis- 436 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. tance, that prince was counted worthy of a Borak which, in one portion of the night, carried him to the seventh heaven and back again. So likewise, if it was given to Jesus to raise the dead and to cleanse the lepers : for our own prophet, even the side of a poisoned kid was endued with life, so that it said to that Excellency, ' Eat not of me, for I am poisoned.' It is related that Maath Ibn Afra had taken a wife who refused to live with him, because she had been told that he had leprosy on his chest, whereupon he laid the case before the Prophet, as a clever physician. The prophet requested him to uncover his chest ; and then taking up a club, rubbed with it that part of the chest which was leprous, and the leprosy dis- appeared instantly. It is also told that once a woman brought a present to his Excellency, begging him to cure the eyes of her girl, who had been blind from her birth. His Excellency turned up her eyes with his blessed hands, and she could see at once. Some Ulemas affirm that that prince had performed iooo miracles ; others 3000. Besides those signs and wonders already mentioned, as connected with his birth, mission, and flight, we have still to record some miracles of that Lord of Lords. 1. His first and greatest miracle is the Koran. For as the miracles of Moses, such as his dividing the sea, turning the water of the Kopts into blood, and his staff into a serpent, corresponded to a prevailing tendency of his age, viz., magic ; and as the miracles of Jesus, such as the raising of the dead, the cleansing of lepers, etc., bore on the healing art which was a pre-eminent science of his age ; — so in the age of our own prophet, eloquence, poetry, and beautiful composition, were more particularly in vogue, and therefore he brought to the world a word of consummate perspicuity and eloquence, of perfect grandeur of expression and solidity of meaning, and yet free from prolixity and circumlocution, as well as exempt from confusing breviloquence and abridgment, com- prising a truthful and just account of former nations and other prophets and apostles, as also of future events ; and including marvels of wise sentences and gems of beautiful sayings ; having in its order and arrangement not the least CH. II. SEC. v. 2.] THE MOON SPLIT IN TWO, ETC. 437 resemblance to other men's words, and being preserved from changes, alterations, and contradictions ; and will have to remain in this state till the time of the resurrection. 2. The splitting of the moon into two parts. AH, the commander of the faithful, affirmed to have heard the account from several persons, that once a number of polytheists came to Mohammed, and said, ' If thou claimest to be a prophet, split the moon which is now in the sky into two parts.' Mohammed asked them, ' If I do so, will you then believe ? ' and on their answering in the affirmative, he stretched out his hands in prayer, or, according to another account, he made a sign to the moon with his fore-finger, when instantly the moon became divided in two, one part remaining where it was and the other descending behind the mountain and disappearing ; or, according to another account, one half was seen over one mountain and the other half over another mountain ; or, according to still another account, the moon was divided in such a manner that the mount Hira could be seen between the two halves. But the Koreish said, ' Mohammed has used magic before us.' 3. On the Farewell-pilgrimage they brought an infant to the Prophet of God which was only born that very day, and when his Excellency asked, 'Who am I?' the infant answered, ' Thou art the Apostle of God.' After this the infant did not speak again till the time had arrived when it could naturally do so. 4. Om Salma and others narrated : ' Once the Prophet was walking in the field, when he suddenly heard a person's voice saying, " O Apostle of God!" When his Excellency first looked round he saw nothing ; but on looking carefully, he observed a hind tied in a tent which said in a clear voice, "O thou Apostle of God, come to me;" and when his Ex- cellency went and asked, "What dost thou want?" the hind replied " I have two kids on this mountain : loose me that I may go and suckle them, after which I will return to thee. His Excellency said, " Wilt thou come back again? lhe hind replied, " God shall punish me, if I do not return. Upon this his Excellency let it go ; and when it had suckled its young, it returned ; but Mohammed requested its owner to let it go.' 438 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. 5. Ibn Abbas and Abd Allah Ibn Omar narrated that there was a Bedouin hunter who once returned with a lizard which he had caught and which he intended to slay and roast for his family, when he met a crowd who, on being asked, told him that they had gathered, because Mohammed was claim- ing to be a prophet. The Bedouin pressed through the crowd and said, ' O Mohammed, by Lat and Ozza, I shall never believe in thee, till this lizard does the same ; ' and with these words threw the lizard down before Mohammed. The lizard wanted to run away ; but Mohammed called it back. It then said in plain Arabic, understood by all present, 'Here am I: what is thy behest?' Mohammed asked, ' Whom dost thou worship ? ' The lizard answered, ' I worship that God whose throne is in the heaven, His dominion on the earth, His path in the sea, His mercy in Paradise, and His punishment in Hell.' His Excellency further asked, ' Who am I ? ' to which the lizard thus made answer, ' Thou art the apostle of both worlds, the seal of the prophets : those who acknowledge thee find luck and pros- perity, and those who reject thee shall suffer loss and harm.' When the Bedouin heard these words from the lizard, he was astounded, and said, ' I shall not desire any further sign after what I have now witnessed : I testify that there is no God but One, who has no companion, and I testify that thou art His servant and apostle. By Allah, I love thee more than my eye and my ear, my mother and my father, my wife and my children.' 6. Akil Ibn Abu Talib related, ' I once accompanied that prince on a journey, and, after travelling about two parasangs, I saw several miracles from him. The first was this, that when I complained to his Excellency that I was very thirsty, and he sent me to a mountain close by, to ask water of it, that mountain began to speak, saying, " Go to the Prophet and say to him that since the Most High has made known in the Koran the verse ' Kindle the fire which will burn up men and rocks,' I have wept so much from the fear of God that no water has remained within me." The second was this, that, once, when that prince wished to go aside privately and there was no sheltered spot near, he saw some trees at a distance, in the field, whom he addressed, saying, " Cover CH. II. SEC. v. 2.] A CAMEL AND STAG OBEY HIM. 439 me ; " whereupon those trees at once gathered in one place and formed a kind of vault which that Excellency entered. The third was this, that we reached a place where we found a camel lying which as soon as it saw his Excellency, rose up, went near him, and bowed before him, as humbly as children bow before their parents. On his Excellency asking, " What dost thou want ? " that camel answered, " O Prophet of God, my people lie down and sleep without saying their evening prayers, so that I fear God will punish them." Then his Excellency had those people brought to him, and for- bade them to be so negligent' 7. Once a stag fled before a wolf and entered the holy place for protection, the wolf remaining outside. Abu Sofyan Ibn Harb and Mahzama Ibn Nowfal saw this and wondered, when the wolf spoke to them thus : ' Do ye wonder at this ? I tell you that your own case is still more to be wondered at ; for Mohammed is inviting you to the profession of the Unity and to the Faith, but ye do not believe him ; and, by Allah, none of you has ever seen one like him, nor has any ear heard of attributes like his.' They wondered at this : but on account of their exceedingly great envy they did not tell it to any person, until they embraced Islam. 8. Seid Ibn Zeid relates that once the Apostle of God, together with Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othman, was on Mount Hira. Then that mount began to move and tremble, but his Excellency addressed it thus, ' O thou Mount Hira, be still and quiet : for the persons on thee are no other than the Prophet, the faithful one, and the martyr.' 9. Abu Dhirr narrates that once the Prophet sat some- where with Abu Bekr, Omar, Otham, and, according to another account, also with Ali, when he took up seven pebbles from the earth; and they, in his blessed hand, praised God with a loud voice, like the buzz of bees. He then put them down, and they became silent. After this he placed them into the hands of his companions in turn, and they again praised God ; but on putting them into my hand, they remained silent ; and on my asking the Prophet the reason of this, he replied, ' O Abu Dhirr, wishest thou to be equal to the orthodox Califs? ' 10. Once a Bedouin came to the Prophet, saying, ' I have 44Q MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. embraced Islam, and am come to ask of thee to show me a sign, in order to increase the certainty of my faith.' Mo- hammed sent him to a tree to request it, in his name, to come to him. As soon as he delivered the message, the tree began to turn from one side to the other, tearing up its roots, and then walked to that Excellency, saying, ' Peace be to thee, O thou Apostle of God!' Then the Bedouin said, 'It is enough, it is enough ! ' and the Prophet commanded the tree to return to its former place. 1 1. Ibn Abbas avers that when once some person came and said to that Excellency, ' Whence can I know that thou art a prophet come from God?' he replied, 'Wilt thou believe, if at my request a branch of this date-tree comes down ? ' The Bedouin having answered in the affirmative, Mohammed called the branch, and lo, it at once fell down on the ground and then stood up erect and walked to his Excellency, who then sent it back to its former place. 12. It is narrated that once, during the Taif expedition, that prince mounted his camel during a very dark night and rode onward, till he stood before a lotus-tree, which then, of itself, split in two, so that his Excellency could safely pass through it. 13. Jabir Ibn Abd Allah narrated that when they were digging the ditch, he had been preparing a supper with a fat- tened kid, for the Prophet, and a few friends. On inviting the Prophet, the latter asked him to tell his wife, not to take the pot, with the kid, from the hearth, nor to put the dough into the oven, before they came ; and then the Prophet asked all the people employed in the ditch to accompany them. Jabir went and said to his wife, ' Woe to thee : his Excellency has invited all the people.' His wife replied, ' Grieve not : for God and His apostle know best' When we arrived, that Excellency pronounced a blessing on the pot of kid and on the dough, and then caused the people to enter and sit down by tens. After they had all eaten and were satisfied, that Excellency ordered the pot to be kept covered and the oven closed, and then called in the rest of the people, amounting in all to nearly 1000 who likewise ate, till they had enough. His Excellency also told them to take some of the food to their neighbours, because of the prevailing famine. We all CH. II. sec. v. 2.] MIRACLES ON CORN, SHEEP, ETC. 44 r ate and sent to our neighbours, and the supply was not finished till that prince left our house. 14. Jabir again narrates that, after his father's death, the creditors came, demanding payment ; and on offering them the entire produce of the field, they refused to accept it, deeming it too little. He then went to the Prophet to ask help of him ; and he ordered him to gather all the produce in different heaps. This being done, the Prophet walked three times round the first heap, and then measured from it the whole amount due to the creditors, without apparently diminishing it, whilst all the other heaps remained for Jabir. 15. It is recorded that the Apostle of God once stroked the back of a barren sheep with his blessed hand, when the udder of that sheep instantaneously filled with milk, so that he could milk it, drink of the milk himself, and also let Abu Bekr drink of it. 16. Abu Horeira narrates : ' I once went to the Apostle of God with a few dates, asking him to bless them for me. After he had taken them into his own hand and blessed them, he told me to put them into a sack, which I was never to empty upon the ground, but from which I was to take as often as I might want. I did as I was bidden, and, by Allah, I ate of those dates, giving also to my guests and people, as long as that Excellency lived and even during the Califates of Abu Bekr, Omar, and Otham, till, at the martyrdom of the latter, my house was pillaged, together with that sack.' 17. Omar Ibn el Khattab related: 'During the Tabuk expedition the companions asked permission of the Apostle of God to slaughter camels, because of the scarcity of pro- visions. But he refused, requesting them to bring all the remaining provisions and to pour them upon a mat. This done, he invoked a blessing, and then all those present ate of the provisions till they were satisfied, and what remained over, they put into sacks.' 18. Abu Horeira averred : ' Once they brought a cup of delicious food to the Prophet, and he invited also those present to partake of it, with him. When they had all eaten, his Excellency, with his blessed finger, stroked together what was sticking to the basin, amounting to a mouthful, 442 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. II. which he asked me to eat : and, by Allah, I ate of it till I became quite satisfied.' 19. The same related: 'Once when I was very hungry, his Excellency asked me to his house, and on arriving I found that he had prepared a cup of milk. After all had drunk of it and only a little remained, this was given to me to drink. I then drank of it, and went on drinking, till there remained no more room in my stomach ; and what I left that Excellency drank himself.' 20. Uns Ibn Malik related : ' Once that Excellency put a few loaves of bread into my arm, with which he satisfied the appetite of seventy men: and yet these loaves were still remaining in my arms.' 21. It is reported that once the Prophet requested Omar Ibn Khattab to prepare dates as provision for 400 soldiers, mounted on camels. Then those 400 soldiers provisioned themselves from those few dates, and when they had done so, the dates remained just as before, as if none had been taken. 22. Jabir Ibn Simre stated, that once his Excellency said, ' You ought to conquer the lands of Chosroes and the Caesar, and divide their riches and treasures.' Eventually matters turned out as that Excellency had predicted. 23. Ibn Horeira narrated: 'On one of the expeditions I was with his Excellency and there was also a certain Kazman of whom he said, ' He will surely go to Hell.' When they told the Prophet that Kazman had fought better than all the rest, he repeated, ' He surely will go to Hell' This was so strange, that one of the companions went after the man to learn his state ; and then saw him draw an arrow from his quiver to kill himself, he being reluctant to bear the pains from a spear-wound which he had received. When Mohammed heard this, he told Bilal to call out aloud, ' No one who is not a Mussulman can enter Paradise.' 24. Abu Musa narrated : ' I once sat with his Excellency in one of the gardens of Medina, when some one came and knocked at the door. That Excellency asked me to open the door for the coming person and to salute him with the promise of Paradise. I did as I was bidden, and that person was Abu Bekr. Then some one else knocked, and his Excellency spoke as before. This was Omar. After CH. II. SEC. v. 2.] HE UNVEILS SECRETS. 443 a while again some one knocked, and Mohammed, who was reclining, said, " Go, open the door, and salute him with the promise of Paradise, on the condition that he is to suffer a great calamity." I went and found that it was Othman.' 25. Ibn Horeira said: 'The Prophet stated that the resurrection is not to take place till the time when you will have made war with a people whose sandals are of leather, and with the people of the Turks whose eyes are narrow, their faces red, their noses extended, and whose visage is, as it were, a shield covered over with leather.' l 26. Ibn Abbas reported : ' The Prophet one day went round the Kaaba, when he met Abu Sofyan, and said to him, " O Abu Sofyan, thou hast spoken such and such words to thy wife Hind." Abu Sofyan said to himself, " My wife has betrayed my secrets : I will go home and do so and so to her." After that Excellency had finished his circumambula- tion, he went again to Abu Sofyan, and said to him, " O Abu Sofyan, do thou no harm to thy wife ; for she has not be- trayed thy secrets." Upon this Abu Sofyan said, " I testify that thou art the Prophet of the Most High God, and knowest my mind and my secrets.'" 27. Aisha the faithful stated : ' Once the Prophet sent me to see a lady whom he desired to marry. On my return I said, " O Apostle of God, I did not see anything that would answer." His Excellency replied, "The truth is, that thou hast seen in her face such a charm of beauty as raised thy jealousy." On hearing this, I became just, and said, "O Prophet, who is there that can conceal anything from thee ? " ' 28. Abu Nawfal narrated : ' When Hajaj killed Abd Allah, he sent his head to his mother Asma, and she returned to him this answer: "The Apostle of God says that a liar and a shedder of blood is to arise from the Thakifite tribe ; and although thou hast seen the liar, thou dost not think that there is a spiller of blood besides thyself.'" The Ulemas declare that the liar here referred to was Mukhtar Ibn Abu Abid. 29. Once, when the Apostle of God left Medina on a 1 This description applies to the genuine Turks as being originally a branch of the sreat Tartar stock in Central Asia. 444 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. military expedition, a woman, Om Waraka, begged him to let her accompany the expedition, to attend on the sick and wounded, and, if God should appoint it for her, to obtain martyrdom. But Mohammed told her to remain in Medina, and there to attain to the rank of a martyr. Now in Omar's Califate her two slaves murdered her, so as to obtain their liberty the sooner. Omar, on hearing it, pronounced it to be the fulfilment of the Prophet's word. Still, he commanded the two slaves to be hanged. 30. Abu Horeira stated that he heard the Prophet say : ' A number of the strong men of the Koreish will destroy some of my people.' Abu Horeira adds, ' If I wished, I could designate them by name.' The Ulemas affirm, that the Beni Harb and Beni Omeia were meant. 31. It is recorded that when the Sura in which it is said, ' Do not you raise your voice above that of the Prophet,' was sent down, Thabit Ibn Kis did not come to the mosque for some days, knowing that the verse referred to him. Moham- med inquiring what was the matter with him, whether, perhaps, he was ill, some one went to see him, and reported to the Prophet that he had found him very sad and melan- choly because of the verse, whereupon the Prophet sent the man back to Thabit with this message, ' Art thou not ready to live happy, to die a martyr, and to enter Paradise prais- ing?' It is a fact that Thabit became a martyr in the battle of Yemama, after the time of his Excellency. 32. Abu Dhirr narrated that the Prophet said, 'Be quick to conquer Egypt ; and, O Abu Dhirr, when thou seest that two men quarrel with each other, on account of a piece of land, the size of a brick, then leave that country. Abu Dhirr adds, ' After the conquest of Egypt I saw Abd ur Rahman quarrel with his brother for so much land as his Excellency had intimated ; and I at once left that place.' 33. Uns Ibn Malik related that once the Prophet took breakfast in the house of Om Harani, his pure wet-nurse, after which he fell asleep. On awakening he smiled ; and Om Haram asking him for the reason, he replied, ' Because I have been shown part of my people embarking in ships to make war with the infidels.' When Om Haram said, ' O thou Apostle of God, pray that I also may be amongst CH. II. SEC. v. 2.] HE IS MARVELLOUSLY PROTECTED. 445 them,' he rejoined, ' Thou shalt be of their number.' In the reign of Omeia, when they made war with the Greek infidels, the soldiers embarked in ships, and Om Haram went with them ; but on the way to the ship she fell from her camel and died. 34. Hazim Ibn Aws averred that he heard the Prophet say, it had been revealed to him that his people was to conquer Herat, and that a fair Amazon, riding on a white mule, should be taken captive. Hazim begged that she might become his ; and Mohammed consented. The pre- diction was fulfilled under Khalid Ibn Walid. 35. When the Sura Tebbet {i.e. Sura in.) came down, concerning Abu Lahab, his wife, Om Jamila, went to abuse the Prophet of God. Abu Bekr, who just happened to be with him, seeing her come, said to Mohammed, ' O thou Apostle of God, this woman has an exceedingly bad tongue : go out of her way that she may not see thee.' So when she had departed, without having seen him, the Prophet said, ' The Almighty has sent an angel who covered me with his wings.' 36. Abu Horeira narrated, that one day Abu Jahl wished to put his unclean foot on Mohammed's pure neck and to rub his face upon the ground, as the latter was performing his prayers ; but when he approached him with that intention, he was seen suddenly to withdraw and to make motions with his hand, as if he was turning something away. On being asked the reason of his having done so, he replied, 'A ditch of fire appeared between him and me ; and I saw a multitude who drove me away with their wings, wherefore I was over- whelmed by an exceedingly great fear.' His Excellency said to his companions, ' If Abu Jahl had come near me, the angels would have torn off his limbs one by one.' 37. Abu Imama stated, that the Apostle of God was once about to put on his boots, and had already put on one, when a raven came and carried off the other to some distance, where a serpent was seen to creep out of it. 38. Hitham Ibn Adi narrated that in the battle of Ohod Katada Ibn Naaman was hit in his eyes with a spear, so that the eye came out and he held it in his hand. In this condition he went to seek help of Mohammed, who said to 446 MOSLEM SKETCHES OF MOHAMMED. [bk. ii. him, ' If thou desirest it, I will ask God to give thee patience and Paradise ; and if thou desirest it, I will ask Him to restore thine eye.' Katada replied, ' Paradise is indeed a great reward ; but I am one who is wrapt up in the love of women, and if they saw me thus, they would say, " He is one-eyed : " therefore I beg of thee to restore my eye.' Thereupon that Excellency took Katada's eye in his own blessed hand, put some saliva upon it, 1 and restored it to its proper place. Katada could at once see with it as before, nay, it was his best eye and never ached the least, till he died. 39. Ibn Abbas stated that once a woman brought her child to the Prophet of God, saying, ' In truth this child has a sort of spirit which seizes it when we eat, so that we are in great distress.' That Excellency rubbed his blessed hand over the child's chest and prayed over it. Then the child retched, and there came forth an animal from its stomach like a puppy, and ran away. But the child was cured. 40. It is reported that once Abu Talib was ill and was visited by the Prophet of God, to whom he said, ' O nephew, pray to the God whom thou worshippest, that He may heal me.' Mohammed complying with the request, Abu Talib was cured instantaneously, and said to his nephew, ' O Mo- hammed, verily thy God obeys thee.' Mohammed replied, ' O uncle, if thou worshippest Him, He will also obey thee.' 41. Abu Nehik narrated that he heard Omar Ibn Akhtab say, ' Once the Apostle of God asked me for a draught of water. On reaching him a cupful, I observed a hair, in it, which I first picked out, and then gave him the water. His Excellency drank it, and then said, ' O God, the Creator, keep thou Omar Ibn Akhtab beautiful and fresh.' Abu Nehik adds, ' When I saw him, he was ninety-one years old, and yet not a hair of his beard had turned white.' But God knows best. 1 This trait seems borrowed from the instances recorded in the Gospels where Jesus Christ employed his own saliva in restoring their sight to blind persons, e.g. Mark viii. 23 ; John ix. 6. BOOK III. ^ofiammeHam'jSm lifetweti in it$ historical position, especially as cegacos its delation to Christianity and Cljcistenootm AFTER having taken a full view of the historical figure of Mohammed, as it impressed itself upon his time and nation ; and after having contemplated the mythical form, with its exaggerated proportions, which the Prophet assumed in the fond recollection of his devoted admirers, it may be opportune briefly to direct our attention to the grave and important problem of the real nature of the position occupied by Mohammedanism, as an historical power in the world, sur- viving down to our own days. In doing so, we must not be guided by mere subjective impressions, but judge by an objective canon of unquestion- able authority. Accordingly we take our stand on the frank profession, in which all will join us whose belief in Christianity, as the highest stage of Revealed Religion, rests on personal conviction, that the Religion of Christ presents the Standard by which all other religions have to be judged. Christianity being the religion of the God-man, in whom the true ideal of religion was fully and perfectly realised, any person can only be genuinely religious in proportion as he resembles Christ, and any system of religion can only sustain its claim to truth so far as it harmonises with the plan of salvation laid down in the Gospel. Christ is the perfect man, the 'teacher come from God.' He solemnly declared, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me' (John xiv. 6). Christianity is the true religion, the right way that leads to communion with God. In this we have the test, 448 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk.iii. the only decisive test, by which the real character of Mohammed can be correctly ascertained, and the oft- repeated question, whether Islam is a true or a false religion, authoritatively settled. Only if a critic is still doubtful in his own mind, as to whether Divine Revelation has reached its climax in the God-man Christ Jesus, and whether this Sun of the realm of mind is powerful enough to penetrate all human spheres and illuminate all mental paths, can he think of deciding the great question about Mohammed and Mohammedanism by any other standard. In any sphere it is only by the light of the higher stage that the lower can be fully understood. Only on the standpoint of the animal kingdom can we rightly estimate the vegetable and mineral kingdoms ; and only rational man forms the key for the understanding of all the rest of terrestrial creation. So like- wise in Christianity alone have we the right criterion by which to judge all other religions. I. — Mohammedanism, by its historical hostility to Christianity, has proved itself a Weapon of the Kingdom of Dark- ness against the Kingdom of Light, thus taking rank, side by side, with anti-Christian fudaism and anti- Christian Paganism. The sudden rise and rapid spread of Mohammedanism in the world has something enigmatical and startling for the student of history. When the historian has successfully sailed down the misty and difficult stream of remote antiquity, wafted onward by side winds from the right and the left, through rapid currents and intricate channels, till he has arrived at that grand epoch marked by the Second Adam, the God-man Saviour, towards which the whole ancient world tends as to its goal, — then he feels like a mariner who has reached a harbour of rest and safety, after a tedious and dangerous voyage. The Central Sun of Divine Revelation which has risen for him in the wonderful Person of the Prophet of Nazareth, now sheds its illuminat- ing rays over all the apparently pathless regions, the wide expanse of highlands and plains, of cultured fields and arid deserts, through which he has been steering ; and SEC. I.] CHRISTIAN EXPANSION BARRED BY ISLAM. 449 relieves the darkness of their ' Why ? and Wherefore ? ' by- its radiant light. He has discovered a goal for the march of nations, a living centre for human history. From under the Temple of God, ' broken down, and after three days raised up again' (John ii. 19-21), a stream issues forth (Ezek. xlvii. 1-12), destined to flow onwards to the ends of the earth, and to restore freshness and healthi- ness to all the national waters with which, in its course of universality," it comes in contact. This stream of Christian light and life is the motive power of all real progress and healthful development in the spiritual condition of the world. As every other stream, this also had its small beginning, then widened its bed, and is still continuing its onward flow, till at last it will issue into the boundless ocean of eternity. From its narrow dimension at the source, where it was wholly spanned by personal individualities, it speedily spread to a congregational or ecclesiastical width, and after a flow of three centuries, had already acquired a full national breadth. The mightiest nationality then extant, the Roman, had itself been subjected by it to a process of permeation and absorption. Thus the wonderful stream had risen to fill with its swelling volume the entire channel of its course, up to the brink. In such majestic fulness it rolled onward the renovating waters of its personal, ecclesiastical, and national influences, diffusing fertility right and left along its shores. Nothing else could apparently be expected than that it should un- interruptedly continue its mighty, though quiet, onflow— till it had accomplished its circuit through the world, and enriched, with its bountiful blessings, all the nations of the But scarcely had Christianity been at work for three centuries longer, in the gigantic task of renovating and re- forming the heathen character of the Roman empire, and Christianising the other nations within its reach when suddenly we find a formidable bar drawn across its hitherto steady course of progress ; and Islam is in arms, threatening not merely to stop its onward march, but to repress and crush it altogether. Thus Mohammedanism presents itself to the student of history as a surprise, an enigma, a crux. It 2F 450 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. III. had not been expected, like a season in its turn, or a child at its birth : it came suddenly, like the disastrous overthrow of an earthquake. How must we interpret this startling phenomenon ? how account for this fiery meteor? In point of time, Islam was the direct successor of Christianity, which was then already practically affirming its claim to finality and universality amongst different nations, the Arabian not excepted ; and addressing itself generally to the moral nature of man, as a free agent. Hence it would have been natural and easy for the new religious movement in Arabia, to fit itself into the organic growth of history, by resting content with a subordinate position and becoming the handmaid of the Christian Cause. Had Islam been willing to minister to the Divine energies of the religion of Christ, and to smooth the way for its wider propagation, it might have claimed the rank of a perfectly natural and truly beneficial evolution of history./ Even now there are not wanting thoughtful men who attribute to it this very character, and believe in its having a mission from Providence to minister to the Cause of Christ, — notwithstanding its own outspoken profession to the con- trary and the undeniably hostile policy towards Christianity and Christendom, of which its entire history is one continuous illustration. What these men have affirmed about a Provi- dential character of Mohammedanism, is this : that God raised it to be intrusted with the double mission of chastising Eastern Christendom or ' the Eastern Church,' for many grievous errors, by conquering the finest Christian lands ; and also of preparing the heathen nations for the reception of the Gospel, or at least benefiting them, by imposing on them the discipline of its strict Monotheism and rigid law.1 1 Even the theologian Dorner, in his great work System der Christlichen Glaubenslelire, apparently ascribes to Mohammedanism an essentially pro- vidential character, by declaring that ' on the whole it can only be regarded as a preparation of the masses of heathen populations for Christianity, by means of its law and monotheism ' (vol. i. p. 713). But at the same time, and in virtual contradiction to this, he also says, that it ' occupies a hostile position against Christianity, and, being inferior to it, can only be looked upon as ordained to serve Christianity in its historical course, contra?y to its own iviW (p. 7l&)- Now what Islam is made to do ' contrary to its own will,' does not constitute its proper essence and true nature. Professor Dorner being constrained to admit that it is in itself hostile to Christianity, or anti-Christian, and, as such, not SEC. I.] IS ISLAM A PROVIDENTIAL INSTITUTION? 451 Now it is quite true, that in a certain sense everything which is or happens can be called Providential. The omniscient Creator naturally foreknows all the possible outcomes of the faculties with which He has endowed His personal creatures. As the Supreme Ruler He also controls whatever exists or happens. Even what is done contrary to His command and in opposition to His will, by those whom He has made free agents, is yet under His laws and shaped by the nature which He has bestowed on them. Whatever exists, sin not excepted, is, in this manner, subject to the laws of God and embraced by the unlimited sphere of His Providence. But examining Islam as to its character of a Divinely revealed religion, which it claims for itself, it cannot be admitted that it was raised up to fulfil a mission in harmony with Christianity, by seconding its efforts to advance the highest interests of mankind, nor, in fact, that its origin and rise was caused by the spontaneous action of that Holy God who sent Jesus Christ into the world. Unfortunately it is but too true that the spread and enforcement of Islam did bring an untold amount of suf- ferings, degradation, and misery upon a vast portion of Christendom ; and that the visible Church of Christ, on this earth, has never at any period been so entirely free from imperfections and blemishes that those calamities might not more or less have had the appearance and the intent of Divine judgments. But this as little suffices to account for the rise and progress of Mohammedanism, as our Lord Jesus permitted the inference that Pilate's slaughter of certain Galileans in the temple, or the fall of a tower in Siloam killing eighteen persons, were special acts of Divine providental, but anti-providential, he ought not to have characterised it as < on the whole a preparation of the masses of the heathen populations for Chris- tianity,' as if God had raised it for this purpose ; but he ought to have qualified it according to its own nature and design, as an anti-Christian power, which, however, has to submit, like everything else, to being controlled and overruled by Divine Providence. If Dorner, in speaking of the divisions and schisms of the Christian Church, says (vol. ii. p. 912), 'As all obscurations, so these also, must be derived from error and sin,' i.e. from the kingdom of darkness, how can he avoid tracing Mohammedanism to the same source, seeing it not only obscures, but flatly denies, the Christian truth ? In the interest of consistency with the whole, the heading of § 69 of the admirable System der Chnsthchen Glanbenslehre ought to be differently worded. 452 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. III. vengeance for sins of an unusually provoking character (Luke xiii. 1-5). It would certainly require an unwarrant- able amount of hardihood to affirm that there was such a difference between Eastern and Western Christendom, in their religious faithfulness and faultiness, as to account for the fact that in the seventh century Palestine and Egypt and Syria were trampled under foot by Islam, and in the eighth the sturdy sons of Gaul and Germany, by their glorious victory near Tours, rolled back for ever the surging tide of Mussulman invasion. It is not very rational to suppose that God subjected the Eastern Christians to Mohammedan oppression, because they were not so faithful to the Gospel as they ought to have been ; and that He raised up and prospered the Mohammedan oppressors, though they sought with all their might to degrade and repress the evangelical religion whichit was His special aim to preserve and to protect. Nor is it a more fortunate idea, in seeking to fasten on Providence the paternity of Islam, to credit the latter with a Divine destiny to prepare the Pagan nations for the adop- tion of Christianity. For this is opposed by the hard fact that, throughout the thirteen centuries of its existence, it not only has never favoured, but actually prohibited and prevented, as far as it could, all its votaries from embracing the Faith of the Gospel ; and that as a system for the special purpose of preparing the way for Christianity, it would at any rate have made its appearance 600 years too late. All these attempts to discover in the existence of Islam a Divine teleology, and to represent it as a necessary link in the chain of Providential actions and institutions, for the good of mankind, are opposed by the decidedly anti-Chris- tian character both of its essential nature and its historical manifestation.1 1 A view entirely opposed to the one here propounded is expressed in a work which only came into my hands when my manuscript was already fully pre- pared for the press. I refer to the published Lectures on Mohammed and Mohammedanism , by R. Bosworth Smith, 1874. Mr. Smith tells us that his object in writing the work was ' to render some measure of that justice to Mo- hammed and to his religion which has been all too long denied to them ' (p. 206). Accordingly he has to be looked upon not so much in the light of a judge, as rather in that of an advocate. This role he keeps up throughout his book. The Koran is to him ' a miracle indeed ' (182) ; Mohammed ' the greatest of all Re- SEC. i.] THE PROVIDENTIAL THEORY INVITING. 453 It can indeed hardly surprise us that a theory which would eliminate so jarring an element, so perplexing an enigma from history, should have found favour with many. The thoughtful mind finds it more gratifying to discover in history what is harmonious, than what is discordant. To the devout believer, in particular, it may seem more God- honouring to recognise in so important an historical factor as Islamism rather a work of God than an institution opposed to His will, rather an ally and helper to Christianity, than formers ' (60) ; ' too great to be designated merely as "The Great " ' (233) ; ' half a Christian and half a Pagan, ' but the better half, ' uniting in a marvellous degree the peculiar excellencies of them both' (235); in short, 'a very Prophet of God' (238). Whilst thus extolling Mohammed in terms which no sober judge can indorse, ' the author of these Lectures has thought it right mainly to dwell on that aspect of the character of Christ, which is admitted by Mussulmans as well as Christians, by foes as well as friends ' (Preface x). But does not the question suggest itself to every reader: Is the character of Christ admitted by Mussulmans, His true character, or do not these Lectures rather place before us, as a ficti- tious Mohammed, so also a fictitious Christ ? It is a mere illusion of the con- fident author to suppose that, by this method, he has discovered ' a basis for an ultimate agreement ' between real Mohammedanism and real Christianity. Under the spell of this illusion, and evidently knowing Islamism mainly from books and from hearsay, Mr. Bosworth Smith indulges the visionary hope that these two religions will one day agree in brotherly harmony, ' each rejoicing in the success of the other, and each supplying the other's wants, in a generous rivalry for the common good of humanity.' To realise this vision, they will have to keep within ' their respective spheres : the one the religion of the best parts of Asia and Africa, the other of Europe and America ' (232). He does not say, what is to become of the worst parts of Asia and Africa. Apparently they are to content themselves indefinitely with Paganism. But what must we think of the Christianity of a writer who thus wishes to restrict the 'all power in heaven and on earth,' claimed by Christ, and who indirectly stultifies his Master's solemn command, ' Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all the nations ' ? (Mark xvi. 15, Matt, xxviii. 18, 19); what of his philanthropy, when, after professing that 'Christianity is immeasurably superior to Mohammedanism' (106), he yet composedly resigns himself to the perpetual domination of Islam- ism and Heathenism over Asia and Africa, and even expects the Christian to 'rejoice ' in such a future? It is truly surprising that a scholar, such as this author, did not perceive the many self-contradictions in which his hazardous assumption that Mohammed was ' a very Prophet of God,' could not fail to involve him. He flatters himself with the discovery that Islam is ' not an anti-Christian, but merely a non-Chris- tian faith ' (51). But how does this discovery tally with Christ's positive declar- ation, ' He that is not with me is against me ' ? (Matt. xii. 30.) The learned author found it convenient to omit all reference to this passage, whilst laying an exclusive and one-sided stress on Mark ix. 40. Can a ^-Christian religion springing up in the face of Christianity, and with the undeniable intention of displacing it, be anything but ^-Christian ? Mr. Smith lays great stress on 454 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. its hinderer and irreconcilable foe. But, with all our just desire to discern plan and harmony in a world created and ruled by God, we are forced to admit, if we judge soberly, that not everything which is or comes to pass, is good. Sin and evil are a terrible reality in this present world ; and no one who reads history with open eyes can fail to trace it there, throughout its course. Yet whatever is not good cannot, as such, claim God for its author. As ethically constituted creatures of a Holy Mohammed's morality and sincerity. In fact, these are the main pillars which sustain his belief in Mohammed as 'a very Prophet of God.' As if what con- stitutes a man a prophet was his morality and sincerity, and not rather the message he bears ! If Mohammed had been the most moral man in the world, his false teaching would alone suffice to stamp him as a 'false' prophet. Mo- hammed's morality and sincerity are rather delicate subjects for boasting. So warm an advocate as Mr. Smith feels constrained to admit that ' he had faults, and great ones ; ' still, as ' he was always the first himself to confess and deplore them,' they did not undo ' the noble sincerity of his character' (238). But is it really true that Mohammed was so ready to confess his faults? Let us put the assertion to the test of facts. David committed adultery. Mohammed also committed adultery. For his favourite wife Aisha boldly accused him thus, 'O Apostle of God, thou hast paid Zeinab a (conjugal) visit, without asking her in marriage, and without witnesses.' The 'penitential Psalms' still witness to the profound and poignant repentance with which David confessed and condemned his sin, and thus mentally separated himself from it. But Mohammed, far from confessing and condemning, rather tried to palliate and justify his adultery, by pretending ' the giver in marriage was God, and the witness Gabriel. ' The theory of men like Messrs. Smith and Carlyle respecting Mohammed as 'a very prophet of God' or ' a hero-prophet,' and respecting Islamism as a genuine twin-sister of Christianity, remains very far indeed from being proved by the self-contradictory statements, the half-truths and unhistorical assertions with which these Lectures abound. But even if it rested on a better foundation, what would be its practical utility, seeing that it could only tend to prolong the domi- nation over Asia and Africa of religions which these authors themselves cannot help admitting to be vastly inferior to Christianity. If ' the poor have the gospel preached to them ' (Matt. xi. 5), neither the best nor the worst parts of Asia and Africa can be beyond the limit of its applicability. Mr. Bosworth Smith, in an article published in the December number 1887 of The Nineteenth Century, still affirms (p. 807) that he has ' as yet seen no good reason to depart from the spirit and object ' with which he discussed the 'great kindred religion ' in the afore-mentioned Lectures. At the same time, he also avows (p. 792) that he would now think certain ' modifications and explanations ' of his earlier views ' essential ; ' and he does not disguise that he has made great progress in his estimation of the relative position of the two religions, by concluding his article in these far more judicious words, ' If we are able to believe in God at all, we must also believe that the ultimate triumph of Christianity is not problematical but certain, and in His good time, across the lapse of ages, will prove to be not local but universal, not partial but complete, not evanescent but eternal.' SEC. I.] GOD NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN AND EVIL. 455 God, we must admit that sin is not the free product of His will, nor enjoys His loving approbation. There is a sense in which it must be fearlessly affirmed that all sin and its consequent evil exist in spite of God and contrary to His will. Ethically opposite forces flow from ethically opposite sources. Much seed is scattered on God's field, to spring up and yield a bitter, baneful fruit, respecting which it must be sorrowfully confessed, ' An enemy hath done this ' (Matt, xiii. 28). The harvest is not benefited by confounding weeds with wheat. Harmony is not enhanced by a premature recourse to synthesis, before due scope has been given to discriminating analysis. God is not honoured by attributing to His causation what He only overrules, in working out His sovereign designs. God is greater in permitting the exercise of free action, even if opposed to His own will, and in yet finally accomplishing His purpose, than if He were to exercise His sovereignty to the extent of rendering every counter-current impossible, and monopolising the whole channel of history by the unchecked flow of His own voli- tion. Man could not have been the crown and masterpiece of God's workmanship, if he had not been made a free agent, able to determine himself for good. But the capacity of becoming voluntarily good, necessitates the possibility of becoming what is not good. Had it been physically impossible for man to become evil, his goodness could never have been really voluntary, i.e. no ethical goodness at all. Now if ethically constituted man, instead of realis- ing- the srood on whose account he has been created a free o o agent, realises the evil which had only been made possible for him in order that he might be able to become good by his own free will, he abuses his liberty and acts contrary to the intention of his Creator. By means of a God-given faculty he actually offends God and contravenes His will. So little can the moral responsibility for the actuality of sin and evil rest with God. It must be traced to a being; opposed to God and hostile to man, as the Bible traces it. No great acuteness is required to perceive that antagonistic forces are at work throughout the world. As everywhere around us our eyes are met by the opposites of life and death, light and darkness, good and evil, so likewise the 456 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. stream of past history by no means presents itself to us as one of crystalline limpidity, but as a turbid mixture of good and evil, love and hate, bright sunlight and deep night shadows. These contradictory forces cannot have sprung from one and the selfsame original source, but must have emanated from very opposite fountain-heads. Mohammedanism also occupies a place in the current of history, and contributes a quota to its composition and movement. This could not be, if God had not permitted it. But this fact of itself as little proves a Divine initiation and approbation, as the impurities by which many a river is allowed to be polluted, can be looked upon as natural and necessary ingredients of its original water. Mohammedan- ism, though controlled by the universal government of God, yet cannot have been called into existence by His holy, good, and perfect will, to which we owe the coming of Christ ; nor did its actual pretensions ever include a supposed mission to promote the high interests of Christianity and Christen- dom/The essential nature and true character of Islam, with regard to Christianity, is not that of harmony and willing- helpfulness, but that of a conscious and undisguised anta- gonism. This is abundantly apparent from the first two Books of the present work. The Mohammedan world, as general history clearly demonstrates, never has been and never wished to be/w-Christian. It always has been and, so long as it remains what it is, always will be, anti- Christian.1 But if Christianity is derived from heaven ; if it bears the stamp of true religion by having for its central idea that of God-manhood, the union of God and man ; if it brings God to man and man to God, then a religious system diametri- cally opposing it, and claiming a destiny to supersede it, cannot likewise be from God, or share in its Providential 1 It is with satisfaction I find that the views here expressed are borne out by the sound judgment and vast learning of the author of a note-worthy work originally published in Danish and entitled : ' Humanity and Christianity in their historical Development, or, Philosophy of History from a Christian stand- point,' by C. H. Scharling, Professor of Theology in Copenhagen. On p. 174, vol. i. of the German Translation of that work we read : ' It surely is altogether false, if some, in modern time, assert that Islam has a mission in this world, namely, of serving as a preparation of idolatrous nations for the faith in the one true God. History most positively contradicts this assertion. Islam has never operated to prepare the way for Christianity, and least does so to-day.' SEC. I.] DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. 457 mission. The nature of their relationship cannot possibly be that of a common descent and natural affinity, but must be that of heterogeneity and essential antagonism. In fact, Islamism and Christianity are as far apart by the respective spirit that animates them, as the Crescent and the Cross are dissimilar in form. If the religion of Christ is the light of truth, come down from heaven, the religion of Mohammed, the false prophet, must have darkness for its element, and derive its origin from below. God does not annul His own work. His Kingdom is not divided against itself. What opposes the reign of Light can only be a power of Dark- ness. Accordingly we have to look upon Mohammedanism as, in its deepest nature, a reaction and aggression of the Kingdom of Darkness against the Kingdom of Light. The innate antagonism and historical warfare of Islam against Christianity and Christendom are, in reality, only a revival, under a new form, of the dark opposition and Satanic con- flict which had previously proceeded from anti-Christian Judaism and anti-Christian Paganism. Christianity, in entering this world and taking its place amongst the religions of mankind, made three successive steps, or evolved its intrinsic potentiality in three ever-widenj ing concentric circles : the personal, the ecclesiastical, and the national. The early history of the Christian religion exhibits an advance by these three stages, in three clearly marked periods. First, a solid foundation was laid in the land of its birth, by the preparation and spiritual conversion of individuals. Then congregations or Churches were formed throughout the Roman empire. At last the Emperor him- self bowed to Christ, and the faith in a crucified Saviour became the acknowledged religion of the State. The very same stages have still to be passed through, when at present the religion of Christ is being spread in foreign lands by the great Missionary organisations which form so important a feature of our age. There always is first the conversion and baptism of individuals. Then follows the ' gathering of Native Christians into organised Communities, for Church and religious purposes.'1 This ultimately leads to 1 See Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. ix. pp. 193, 194- 458 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. the Christianisation of the nation, or to a renewed national- isation of Christianity. Upon each one of these three stages of its primitive de- velopment and organic progress Christianity was opposed, in succession, by the fierce onslaught and obstinate resistance of one of the following mortal enemies : the Jews, the Romans, and the Mussulmans. Jewish fanaticism sought to strangle Christianity at its birth, by shedding the blood of Christ and His apostles. Roman heathenism and despotism persecuted the youthful Churches with imprisonment, tortures, and death. Asiatic Islamism, that mysterious compound of a fanatical faith and an iron tyranny, strove, with all its might, to cast Christianity from its political pinnacle and to rule the nations in its stead. These three historic adversaries of the Kingdom of God, widely as they differ amongst themselves, are yet inwardly united against Christianity by the same malicious spirit they breathe and the one impious aim they pursue. But Jesus Christ being the sole Monarch, who is immor- tal, and whose kingdom is ' an everlasting kingdom,' every attempt to dethrone Him and to overthrow His kingdom cannot but fail, and eventually recoil with overwhelming force upon the guilty heads of the enemies themselves. The fanaticism of the Jews was unable to exterminate the Christian believers, and to prevent them from uniting into Churches : but their own commonwealth has ceased to exist for the last 1800 years. The sanguinary and pro- tracted persecutions of the humble Christian communities, by the Heathenism of the Roman Empire, only gave rise to the remarkable saying, ' The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church ; ' and Pagan Rome herself became for centuries the capital of Christendom. Islamism so palpably failed in its gigantic attempts to dethrone and denationalise Christi- anity in the world and to supplant the Cross by the Crescent, that now the remaining Mussulman Governments exist only through the forbearance of the rulers and nations of Chris- tendom. Past history teaches that, through the action of an overruling Providence, the ultimately winning Cause in the world is the Cause of Christ, and the inevitably losing Cause, that of all who fight against Him. SEC. II.] EARLY GREAT PERSONALITIES. 459 II. — Unbelieving Judaism diabolically opposed Christianity in its Personal Manifestation. The age when Christianity first made its appearance in the world was one of grand and powerful Personalities. John the Baptist, who pointed to ' the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,' had none greater than himself among all them that were born of women before him (Matt, xi. n). St. Paul's master-mind directly reached and pro- foundly stirred the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin worlds. Each one of the twelve Apostles was a strongly marked represen- tative character, whose type will still be seen impressed upon the Church in her future state of perfection and glory (Rev. xxi. 14). The great central figure of that age and, in fact, of all ages, at once the archetype of humanity and the historical realisation of the perfect man, Immanuel, the God-man, — stands out so boldly in unique excellence, that the very best of mankind can but distantly approach, never surpass or equal Him. In this wonderful Person, primarily, and in the strong Personalities attracted and ennobled by Him, secondarily, Christianity first took human form and earthly subsistence. The Kingdom of God had at last ' come nigh,' inviting men to enlist under its banner, and to acquire citizenship in it. The long-expected Saviour of man had become an historical reality, and discerning eyes could behold 'the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil' (1 John iii. 8). Jesus testified to the Jews, ' If I, by the finger of God, cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you' (Luke xi. 20). But the Kingdom of God is spiritual in its nature ; and therefore spiritual faculties are required for its perception and apprehension. As the acutest intellect can, of itself, only imagine but not see a colour ; and in order actually to see it, has needs to employ the physical organs of sight, so also the sharpest material eye cannot pierce through to the sphere of mind or see the Kingdom of God. To perceive and find it, kindred organs, appropriate spiritual faculties, are needed. The unenlightened Jewish spectators had no such faculties. For them the Kingdom of God had no visibility. The great Architect of God's Temple, who was actually standing be- 460 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. fore their faces, appeared to them only as the common 'carpenter's son of Nazareth' (Matt. xiii. 55). As a matter of course, eyes which could not discern the Kingdom of Heaven in its coming, nor the King, greater than Solomon, who brought it nigh, were as little capacitated to perceive the Kingdom of Darkness which surrounded them, and that fully armed Strong One upon its throne, who was now about to be overcome, stript, and spoiled by One still stronger (Luke xi. 21,22). The Jews did not understand Jesus, when He offered them true freedom from the worst of slaveries, and bluntly answered Him, ' We be Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any one : how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free ? ' (John viii. 32, 33.) To the God-man's penetrating eye, however, the intimate connection between the Seen and the Unseen, the Natural ancj the Supernatural, lay fully open. He saw that the Jews, in their fanatical resistance to His Kingdom of Truth, and in their deadly hatred to His holy Person, were plainly influ- enced by the loveless, hateful power of Darkness. They were in reality only the willing visible instruments of a crafty invisible Instigator. In spite of their vaunted Monotheism, their ancient privileges as the 'chosen people,' their daily services and sacrifices, their sanctimonious scrupulousness in legal observances, — they had to hear the judicial denuncia- tion : ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him' (John viii. 44). We read that it was ' the devil ' who put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him (John xiii. 2) ; and when the chief priests and captains of the temple and elders went out to seize Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He told them, ' This is your hour, and the power of darkness' (Luke xxii. 53). Surely we need search for no stronger proof of the reality of Satanic influences amongst men than the fact that Jesus Christ, the Sinless, the Holy, was hated, condemned, and crucified by the Jews, and that the claim of the Christian religion to universal acceptation is still so persistently and so exten- sively resisted in the world. St. Paul lays bare the naked truth when he says, concerning the unbelievers, that the SEC. II.] JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 461 Gospel is ' veiled ' to them, and that ' the god of this world has blinded the eyes of their minds, so that the light of the glory of Christ cannot dawn upon them ' (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4). Thus, an authority which cannot be questioned by any believing Christian, and which must be decisive for us, in judging historical phenomena, leads us to acknowledge in the hostile acts of tangible men against Christ and His Cause the intangible agency of mysterious powers of Darkness. It was the Jews who crucified Jesus, and afterwards persecuted and killed His disciples, and His death is even declared to have been foreordained by Divine counsel (Acts iv. 28), yet notwithstanding all this, the Jews, in what they did to Jesus and His disciples, were not acting as the seed of Abraham, or as God's people, but as ' children of the devil,' and as tools of the Murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies (John viii. 44).1 Therefore also their triumph could only be apparent and their success temporary. God's purpose yet prospered. The Crucified became the centre of a Church, the rejected Prophet the crowned Monarch of a universal and everlasting kingdom. St. Peter could say to the Jewish Council, ' The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour' (Acts v. 30, 31); and St. Paul could write to the Philippians, 'God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name ; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 1 As, therefore, the profession of a monotheistic religion did not protect the Jews from being entirely out of the right way, so also it is quite possible, as is sometimes done, to over-estimate the religious standing of the Mohammedans by excessively emphasizing their profession of Monotheism. But even Hegel, the Philosopher, has intimated that what we need is not so much the knowledge of the existence of one God, as rather the knowledge of what that God is to us, or in what relation we stand to Him ; and he has pronounced the Deistic con- ception of God to be of a most elementary character in a religious point of view, by saying in his Logic, p. 141, ' W the really necessary thing, now, would only be to effect this much that the faith in the existence of God should be preserved, or even that such a faith should be produced, then what would have to be wondered at most would be the poverty of a time which presents this most elementary of religious knowledge as a gain ; for the pretended advance would really consist in a return to the ancient altar of Athens, which was dedicated to the unknown God.' 462 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil. ii. 9-1 1). III. — The HeatJienism of Rome diabolically opposed Christi- anity in its Congregational or Ecclesiastical Manifes- tation. The second form in which Christianity manifested and established itself in the world was the congregational or ecclesiastical. It naturally developed from the personal stage and retained it within itself. The individual Christians, attracted and moulded as they all are by Christ, are related to each other like the radii of a common centre. They all trace their new life to Him as its source, and recognise in Him the type and regulating law of its development and manifestation. The same bond of union which connects them with their spiritual Head also joins them to one another, as living members of one spiritual body. ' Who- soever loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him' (1 John v. 1). Christianity is essentially a uniting, communion-forming principle : its natural out- come are religious communities, CJiurdies. During the lifetime of Christ, and for a number of years after His death, His disciples were only united by the inward tie of faith and love, but outwardly continued members of the Jewish community. In Antioch they were first recognised as a distinct denomination, that of 'Christians' (Acts xi. 26). At the close of the first century from the birth of Christ, whole portions of the Roman empire were dotted with con- gregations of Christians ; and St. John, in his old age, was directed to write letters to the seven most celebrated and representative Churches of Asia Minor (Rev. i. 11). It is notorious how these youthful and rapidly multiplying Christian communities were persecuted for nearly 300 years ; and how long the Roman empire, so tolerant in matters of religion generally, treated Christianity as a ' religio illicitae and sought to prevent its propagation and profession by all the rigour of its laws and the whole weight of its secular force. Lactantius, a Christian historian of that time, thus refers to sec. in.] PAGAN ROME AND CHRISTIANITY. 463 the sad drama : ' Had I the power of language a hundredfold, still I could not relate all the crimes that were committed, nor recount all the torments which the ingenuity of rulers devised against unnumbered multitudes of innocent Chris- tians.' Eusebius, another historian of the same period, in recording the effects of the persecution by the Emperor Diocletian in the single Province of Egypt, where churches had greatly multiplied, declares that 70,000 Christians had to suffer imprisonment, slavery, and banishment, that 140,000 died the death of martyrs, and that sometimes so many were beheaded in a single day, that the executioners became weary of their butcheries, and their instruments were blunted. By such inhuman means Heathenism, the State- religion of Rome, strove to rid itself of what it felt to be a formidable rival, full of youthful ardour and energy. No crimes could be carried home to the Christians in their religious assemblies, as their heathen adversaries had so often attempted to do ; but the real cause of all this hatred and enmity is already referred to in Pliny's cele- brated letter to the Emperor Trajan, where he informed his Imperial master that all over the Province of Bithynia, of which he was the Procurator, the public temples and altars were deserted, and there remained but few who brought offerings to the idols and their priests. Now if St. Paul speaks truly 'that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God' (1 Cor. x. 20), then the interests of Idolatry and the interests of the spiritual powers of Darkness, which formed the background of Idolatry, were virtually identical. The cause threatened and the cause to be defended were a common cause. Demoniacal inspirations and impulses can therefore hardly have been wanting in the cruel persecutions against the rising Christian Church, by which the Idolaters of the Roman empire so pertinaciously tried to uphold their ances- tral religion. The ancient Fathers, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and others, were quite consistent in tracing the origin of these atrocious persecutions back to that source. But, as every one can easily understand, it does not follow 'from this, that the powers of Darkness must have equally regarded it as their interest, some centuries later, to 464 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. uphold and defend Idolatry in Arabia. In the Roman empire the Heathen religion was threatened by the Kingdom of God, under the form of Christianity ; in Arabia only by the dominion of Islam. It is notorious that Islam, under the form of a rigid Monotheism, has retained and legalised the essentials of Heathenism, such as : a self-chosen earthly sanctuary, or House of God {beit-Ullah) ; ritual ceremonies, in the stead of a worship in spirit and in truth ; fictitious revelations ; a false Prophet and unqualified Mediator ; and dispensation from the necessity of a spiritual regeneration in heart and life. Christianity called the Heathens out of their religious night into the bright daylight of the Sun of righteousness and truth. Islam transferred them from the starlight night into the moonlight night. In the latter case their change was a comparatively slight one, and only dis- posed them still more fatally to confound night with day, and to prefer darkness to light. The same Satanic influence, which had moved the Jewish priests and elders to crucify the Master and to persecute the Disciples, also stirred up the whole Roman empire to scatter and destroy the rising Church. For by the truth they taught, and by the holy love they practised, the Christians were a standing rebuke to the errors and vices, so largely prevalent everywhere around them, and so genial an element for the sinister influence of the powers of Darkness. In the Apoca- lyptic epistle to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna it is expressly written, ' Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten days' (Rev. ii. 10). The visible persecutors and actual imprisoners, of course, were the Roman magis- trates and soldiers : but Holy Scripture, which looks through the outward appearance to the inward essence of things, makes the startling announcement, ' The devil will cast some of you into prison.' So certain it is, that the sanguinary persecutions of the Christian Church by the Pagan empire of Rome had their deepest spring in the infernal spheres of Darkness. But Light is destined to triumph over Darkness, and Good to prevail against Evil. Therefore, as the heavenly faith and love of the Christians survived the persecution of a Jewish sec. iv.] CHRISTIANITY CHRISTIANISES NATIONS. 465 fanaticism, so they also gained the victory over the Roman prison, fire, and sword. The ' religio illicitae the perse- cuted Church, became a privileged institution, a protected Church-Establishment. New Rome came forth from Old Rome. Christianity superseded Paganism as the ' Religion of the State.' The laws of the Empire were gradually reformed in a Christian direction, and its public institu- tions increasingly harmonised with the word of God. The Pontifex maximus of a bygone superstition was replaced by the Christian Emperor of a new and higher order of things. The mighty people of Rome became the first Christian Nation. IV. — Islam ism, a compound of Jewish fanaticism and Roman despotism, likewise opposed Christianity, but more especially in its National and Political Manifestation. In the way described, Christianity had now advanced to the third of the ever-widening circles of its healthful life and influence : from the personal, through the ecclesiastical, to the national. Its progress from one of these stages to the other was a perfectly natural and necessary one, being nothing more than the organic unfolding of its inward life and the fuller realisation of its destiny. Christ's parting injunction to His Apostles was, ' Go ye, and make disciples of all the nations' (Matt, xxviii. 19)- He claims the whole man, and all men. His rich storehouse of blessings is intended for the Individual, the Church, and the Nation. As soon as a nation accepts Christianity for its religion, it, in a sense, becomes a Christian nation. From that moment it is no less incumbent upon it to Christianise its institutions, laws, habits, and entire national life, than an individual Christian is bound to lead a Christian life. But as in this present world of development everything is imper- fect, and the true ideal is only pursued, never completely overtaken, we neither find the Christian individuals perfect, nor the Christian churches immaculate. If, therefore, we see Christian life and influence, in its widest, its national, circle even still more extenuated and marred —this must not make us blind to what is actually Christian, or induce us 2 G 466 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM. [bk.HI. to give up faith in the power and destiny of our religion to bring forth Christian nations. The Christian individual progresses from infancy to maturity, and a nation may be called Christian, when its Christianisation is but really begun and still far from perfect. The national Christianity or Christian nationality, result- ing in the Roman empire from the elevation of the Church of Christ into the religion of the State, and from its consequent effects upon the nation at large, was no doubt far behind the standard of its aspiration and vocation, and it is not difficult to point out its serious failings and faults ; but nevertheless it marked a progress compared with the previous state of things. Christianity really made a long stride towards actualising its nature and destiny, it accomplished a decided advance in unfolding an unquestionable latent potentiality, when it passed from the obscurity of secret conventicles and the ignominy of a rcligio illicita into the broad daylight of a recognised chief power in the State, for securing the highest interests of the entire nation. A spiritual potency so mighty, intense, and salutary, as Christianity, demands and deserves the widest scope for its energy and action. It will bring its benefits not only to the individual believer in his private closet, or to the devout assembly in their public temple, but also to the nation at large as a first-rate public power. Some, indeed, have doubted whether it was right for Christianity ever to have assumed a national garb ; and whether it ought not to have confined itself to the ecclesi- astical robe, or to the still more tightly fitting individual dress ; but at the time it was first raised to national emi- nence, the universal feeling produced amongst the Christians was that of intense relief and gratitude. Every one recog- nised in its new character the hand of Providence and the seal of Divine approval. If it be remembered how long and how cruelly the Church had been persecuted by the Heathen State, and that at the first General Council of Nice, there were Bishops present, as its members, with maimed limbs and blinded eyes, the result of tortures suffered for their faith : then who can wonder that the magnificent appearance of the first Christian Emperor in that memorable assembly seemed to sec. IV.] HEREDITARY ENEMY OF CHRISTENDOM. 467 many like the visit of a heavenly messenger; and the sump- tuous banquet in the Imperial palace, to which they were invited at its close, as something like an anticipation of millennial enjoyment? Surely the national character and political aspect which Christianity assumed in the course of providentially ordered history, was nothing but its natural development, the legiti- mate outcome of its destiny for the whole world. Chris- tianity national and political, is Christianity still, though in a wider circle and with a fuller scope than Christianity personal and ecclesiastical. Now if, as we have seen, Christianity has been violently opposed in its infancy, when its sole exponents were Christian individuals, and cruelly persecuted in its youth, when it established itself in the form of numerous congregations or Churches, we must be prepared to find that, when, in its manhood, it sought to pervade with its vigorous life the entire national organism, and to assert itself as a new national force amidst the peoples of mankind, its onward course was again obstructed by all the might of its ancient adversary, and this more particularly with the intent of annihilating it as a national force and a dominating political power. The spiritual kingdom of evil, whose main policy is to prevent or spoil what is good, and which therefore has to accept its temporary shape from the development and mani- festation of the kingdom of God, took good care that such an expectation should not be disappointed. The consciously anti-Christian policy of Julian the Apostate overshot the mark and mistook the time in trying to revive and re-establish effete Heathenism ; hence it was but short-lived, and Julian had to cede the victory to the great ' Galilean.' Two still more serious, because much more lasting, movements were soon after let loose against the Christianly remodelled Roman empire. The one consisted in the irruption of those northern nations— the Goths, Alani, Suevi, Vandals, Huns, and the like, who, impelled by a mysterious impulse, con- vulsed the whole Western empire and gave an entirely new face to the population of Europe and North Africa. The other, springing from the fire-worshipping power of Persia, extremely imperilled the Eastern empire. Both these 468 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk.iii. hostile movements lasted for several centuries. But in the one case, the earth, as it were, opened her mouth and helped in absorbing the foaming waters of the inundation, which might have engulfed the newly Christian State ; and in the other, the fires of Persia were quenched by the opening of the flood-gates from Arabia. Decidedly the greatest, and, from its long duration, no less than the vastness of its power, by far the most formidable adversary of Christianity, as a national institution and dom- inant political force in the world, is the politico-religious system ushered in by Mohammed. Mohammedanism stands forth in history as the great anti- Christian Power, the heredi- tary enemy of Christendom. This, its historical character, at once precludes us from attributing its origination to Divine will and Providential purpose, and stamps it as essentially the outcome of that spiritual kingdom whose element is the reverse of truth and light, of love and life. Islamism is misjudged, if represented as a Providential Dispensation, needed for the enlightenment, progress, and happiness of, the world, or by supposing its design to have been the helping forward and benefiting Christ's Cause and Kingdom. Its proper nature is of a directly opposite kind, though subject — be it repeated — like everything else, to the all- controlling Government of God, and having in the end to subserve the plan of His all-wise Providence. V. — Mohammed, the Prophet and Propagator of Islam, laid the Foundation of the anti- Christian and permanently hostile Policy of the Mussulman world against Chris- tianity and CJiristendom. The anti-Christian character of the religion and policy of the Islamic world derives its origin from the Founder of Islam. Mohammed was diametrically opposed to Christ, both in his religious teaching and in his practical aims. It is simply preposterous to attribute to him a mission to benefit, develop, and complete, the great Cause introduced into the world by Jesus Christ : instead of helping it on, his aim was rather to hinder, humble, and undo it. The devas- tating wars of conquest, carried on by the Mohammedan nations against Christendom, for so many centuries, are sec. v.] CHRIST'S AIM A CONTRAST TO HIS RIVAL'S. 469 nothing but the direct and natural outcome of Mohammed's own hostile position towards Christ and Christianity, ren- dered patent by his acts, though attempted to be disguised by his words. Islam historically proved itself anti-Chris- tian, because Mohammed personally was an Antichrist. Mohammed's character and work differ essentially and totally from that of the Founder of our own religion. Christ Jesus, the God-man, was in His own Person a new beginning, a spiritual centre, for mankind. His unflinching and compre- hensive demand was, ' Ye must be born anew ' (John iii. 7). He laboured for the regeneration of man and of mankind. As a wise master-builder He laid His foundation deep in the inmost personal life of man. His work is a vital organism by which the regenerate Christian individual expands into the Christian Church, and the Christian Church leads to the Christian State ; all of. which retain their separate existence and legitimate independence within their respective spheres. Mohammed, on the other hand, was not a new or a regenerate man, but a natural individual like all the rest, with a strong predominance of the sensual in him. He did not even rise above the narrow shackles of the Arabian nationality. His great aim was not the regeneration, but the subjugation, of individuals and nations, not a spiritual kingdom of God, but a secular empire in a religious guise. His main efforts were not devoted to the spiritual elevation of the character and personal life of his followers, but to their organisation into a compact body with which he might operate after the manner of worldly despots. Therefore the structure he erected became, so to speak, top-heavy, lacking the organic cohesion of life, and had to be artifici- ally held together either by the allurements of worldly gain and carnal pleasure, or by the iron clasps of compulsion and rude force. Two systems so widely different as to their nature and object could not possibly co-exist in harmony ; and the author of the rival system could not but oppose the work of his great Predecessor, however liberal he might be in verbal protestations of esteem for His Person and His Gospel. Mohammed, as we have seen in the First Book, formed the plan of politically uniting the entire Arabic nation on the basis of a more national religion, after which many of 470 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. his countrymen were already feeling, likewise not without political aspirations. Accordingly he made his start as a Reformer of the prevailing religion. Retaining the national sanctuary, with its religious veneration of a black stone, he accepted from the Monotheistic religions the Faith in One God and the repudiation of idols. He borrowed, particularly from Jewish sources, much historic and religious information which, with other enactments, he sought to palm off on the people as direct revelations from heaven to himself, through the angel Gabriel. In this sinister enterprise he was materially aided by the hysterical, visionary con- stitution of his nature, an inheritance from weakly parents, and an open channel for impure and deceiving influences from the realm of Darkness. Once presenting himself to the people as a Prophet and religious Reformer, he had necessarily to talk much about God and religion. But it must not be forgotten that pious phraseology, which has deceived so many, is not by itself a proof of sincere spiri- tual piety, and that the language of Canaan has often been heard from the lips of Philistines. That Mohammed was not a spiritually quickened or re- generate man, breathing the pure atmosphere of a ' worship in spirit and in truth,' must inevitably be gathered from his religion with its mechanical formalism of worship, its wearisome repetition of prayers, its conception of God as mainly the sovereign Lord and omnipotent Master,1 and 1 Even the philosopher Hegel clearly discerned and declared the decided inferiority of the Mohammedan conception of God, as compared with the Christian. He says, ' If we regard God merely as the Absolute Being, and nothing more, we know Him only as the general, irresistible Force, or, in other words, as the Lord. Now it is true that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but it is likewise true that it is only its beginning. It is in the Jewish, and further, in the Mohammedan, religion that God is conceived as the Lord, and, in fact, only as the Lord. Now although this conception of God is an important and necessary step in the development of religious consciousness, it yet by no means exhausts the depth of the Christian idea of God.' And again, ' The definition of God in Deism is the conception of God by the mere understanding, whereas the Christian religion, which knows God as the Triune, contains the conception of God by the reason.' (See G. W. F. Hegel's Werke, vol. vi. pp. 226 and 348. ) Therefore, according to the judgment of Hegel's vigorous and penetrative mind, Mohammed not only did not advance the knowledge of God, but sunk back, in his conception of the Deity, below the Christian level, to the long-superseded standpoint of Judaism and Deism. sec. v.] ISLAM NECESSAR1L Y ANTI-CHRISTIAN. 47 1 with its perfunctory practice of dead works. The religion concocted by Mohammed is properly that of the unre- generate, natural man. It remains at an immeasurable distance behind the lofty spirituality of the Gospel and the loving communion with the ' Father in heaven ' to which it shows the way. The word which Jesus addressed to the Jews becomes fully applicable here : ' Ye are from below, I am from above' (John viii. 23). Mohammed, from his low, earthly standing-point, could neither apprehend the unique excellence of the character of Christ, nor the real nature of His all-sufficient and all-comprehending salvation. Not want of opportunity, but want of sympathy and compatibility, kept him aloof from the religion of Christ. His first wife introduced him to her Christian cousin ; one of his later wives had embraced Christianity in Abyssinia ; and the most favoured of his concubines was a Christian damsel from the Copts of Egypt. He was acquainted with ascetic monks, and had dealings with learned Bishops of the Orthodox Church. In those days the reading of the Holy Scriptures in the public services of the Catholic Church was already authoritatively enjoined and universally practised ; if he had wished thoroughly to acquaint himself with them he could easily have done so. But having no adequate conception of the nature of sin and man's fallen state, he also lacked the faculty of truly appreciating the remedy for it, which was offered in the Gospel. Unable and unwilling to recognise in Christ the Saviour of man, and in Christianity the right way to God, Moham- med dared to set himself up against Christ, as the last and greatest of all God's Messengers, and to claim the right for his new religion of replacing Christianity. So it came to pass that Islamism, the only religion starting up in broad Christian daylight, and in the face of Christ, was essentially and from its birth not a sort of imperfect or half-Christianity, a younger brother and helpful ally, but a determined rival and implacable foe. The Koran is a book not merely different from the Gospel, but hostile and contradictory to it. It is notorious that it categorically denies the great truths upon which all Christianity reposes as its immov- able foundation, to wit, the Divine nature and Sonship ol 472 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. Christ, His atoning Death, and the final character of the Gospel as God's highest and fullest revelation. The very essence, therefore, of the character of Mohammed, as the author of Islam, must have implied an uncompromising hostility to Christianity and its advocates. Besides, Mohammed must submit, like every one else, to being judged, not by his words and teaching only, but especially also by his acts and living. We have already seen how overbearingly he acted towards the Christians with whom he came in contact, and how he inflicted on them and their religion the stigma of inferiority and contempt (p. 138). As everything about Christ testified to the truth of His declaration, ' My kingdom is not of this world' (John xviii. 36), so Mohammed's whole life and conduct showed him to be earthly-minded, and to aim at worldly power. By some of his acts he shocked the moral sense even of his heathen countrymen. The first armed expedition which he under- took with his followers was to rob and plunder. So eagerly bent was he on the acquisition and exercise of secular domination, that he can hardly be said to have waited till he had sufficiently established himself as Prophet, before he turned warrior and conqueror. He had not secured more than a few hundred adherents, and was, as it were, still offer- ing his pretended revelations to an unsympathetic nation with one hand, when he took up the sword of violence with the other, and thus put a sudden sinister life into his move- ment. Both, this haste with which he seized the sword of conquest, and the unscrupulous harshness with which he wielded it, show unmistakably what kind of ideal floated, with more or less distinctness, in his mind from the first. The clank of arms and bustle of war were so incessant with this fighting prophet, that they must have absorbed most of his time and attention, leaving very little for the care of religion. During the ten years between his Flight to Medina and his death he organised no less than thirty-eight mili- tary expeditions, twenty-seven of which he accompanied in person ; and it is easy to conjecture how all-absorbing they must have been in their preparation, execution, and results, to the time, labour, and thoughts, of the Prophet-Emir, with whom rested the responsibility for them all. With feverish sec. v.] ATTACK ON ROMAN EMPIRE EXPLAINED. 473 restlessness he was pushed on, as if by an unseen hand, from one enterprise to another ; and the same precipitate haste, with which he rushed from the pulpit and the mosque to the sword and the sceptre, in his adopted home, he also betrayed in seeking to extend his power beyond its borders. Scarcely had the majority of the Arab tribes been sub- jugated to his rule by the force of arms, the enticement of worldly advantages, and the promise of a sensual Paradise, when he took the notorious step of despatching formal embassies to the surrounding rulers, summoning them to accept Islam. Five of these letters were addressed to Chris- tian potentates, including the Roman Emperor. These arrogant, though harmless, missives failing to accomplish their object, as previously his preaching had remained ineffi- cacious to convince and convert his Arab countrymen, he was not long in resorting to the more effectual argument of the sword. After several more or less successful incursions into the border districts of the Roman empire, a large and well- appointed army was collected to invade Syria. Mohammed instructed the commander to make the utmost haste, so as to fall upon the inhabitants before the tidings of his approach could reach them, and to set fire to their dwellings, fields, and palm-plantations. This characteristically turned out the last public act in which the whole policy of the warrior-prophet, as it were, culminated. The hand of death was already upon him ; and before the army could start on its sanguinary mission, he had breathed his last. But Abu Bekr, his like-minded successor, carried out the plan be- queathed to him, and opened his Califate by the despatch of the still-assembled host. Thus it is unmistakable that the deeds of war and conquest, which filled up the lives of the Califs, were nothing but the continuation and further expan- sion of the work begun by Mohammed himself. Nor can it be less undoubted that the man who arrogated to himself secular authority and military command, as soon as his altered circumstances in Medina offered him the slightest chance, would have done the very same thing in Mecca, had he found it equally practicable there. If he did not persecute and fight in Mecca, this was not because he was morally elevated above doing so, but because he lacked 474 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. the power. He naturally could not show himself intolerant so long as his own existence depended upon the toleration of others ; or insult and fight the Christians, whilst his followers enjoyed the protection of Christian Abyssinia. If a man steals as soon as he is let out of prison, his abstaining from theft whilst shut up between four walls, cannot prove him to be an honest character. The difference between the preach- ing prophet of Mecca and the fighting prophet of Medina is not owing to a change of principles, to a spiritual lapse — as some wrongly regard it — but simply to the removal of restrictions whereby his real character obtained scope for manifestation. In the light of impartial history, Mohammed appears equally anti-Christian by the religion he taught and by the policy he practised ; and Islamism has ever since retained the anti-Christian stamp impressed upon it by its author. 1 1 That the Islamic system is not at all intended to co-exist in loving harmony with Christianity as a sister of equal rank, but that it rather regards it with disdain and hostility, appears particularly also from its notorious law, decreeing capital punishment on every Mussulman who secedes from the Mohammedan to the Christian religion. How deeply this odious law is ingrained in Islam, and how it is still regarded as forming an integral part of it, became glaringly mani- fest by its application to a Christian convert from Mohammedanism in Turkey, as recently as the middle of the present century. The case formed the subject of an official correspondence between the English and the Ottoman Govern- ments, and is recorded in Part xviii. of the printed papers presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, A.D. 1856. It appears from those documents that in the latter portion of the year 1853, when the English and French fleets were assembled in Turkish waters for the protection of Turkey, a young man was judicially condemned to death and publicly executed in Adrianople, by the Ottoman authorities, for the crime of having apostatised from Islam to Christianity. He had openly declared that Christ was the true Prophet, and that having Him, we had no need of Mohammed, who therefore was a false Prophet. He was cast into prison and cruelly tortured to induce him to recant, but in vain. On being beheaded, he exclaimed with his last breath, ' I profess Jesus Christ, and for Him I die.' On September 17th, 1855, the Earl of Clarendon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, ' The Christian Powers, who are making gigantic efforts and submitting to enormous sacrifices, to save the Turkish Empire from ruin and destruction, cannot permit the continuance of a law in Turkey, which is not only a standing insult to them, but a source of cruel persecution to their co-religionists, which they never can consent to perpetuate by the successes of their fleets and armies. They are entitled to demand, and Her Majesty's Government do distinctly demand, that no punishment whatever shall attach to the Mahometan who becomes a Christian.' The same noble language of Christian patriotism had also been held earlier by the Earl of Aberdeen, who wrote to Sir sec. vi.] CONVERTS PUNISHED WITH DEATH. 475 VI. — The Mohammedan World, under the direction of the ARABS, and acting in the spirit of its Prophet, pursues an interior and exterior Policy decidedly anti-Christian. The 1300 years of the existence of Islamism in the world can be divided into two not very unequal periods, in the first of which the Arabs, and in the second the Turks, were the chief exponents of its power and the directors of its policy. They have proved of one and the same mind in their hostile attitude towards Christianity and its professors ; because they were equally animated by the anti-Christian spirit of their religion. As it was by Mohammed's own inspiration and instiga- tion that the army of Mussulman Arabs, in first crossing the borders of their country, attacked the Christian world, so, during the subsequent ages of war and conquest, it was by virtue of their Faith, and in full accord with the innate tendencies of Islam, that the Mohammedan Powers kept the one aim constantly in view, namely, the overthrow of the Christian Governments and the subjugation of the Christians throughout the world. In carrying out this policy they were Stratford Canning on January 16th, 1844, 'The Christian Powers will not endure that the Porte should insult and trample on their faith, by treating as a criminal any person who embraces it.' The intention was, to induce the Porte to renounce and abrogate the law in question. But the spirited correspondence with the Turkish Government, even under those exceptionally favourable circumstances, led to no greater result than that, early in the year 1856, a Memorandum was agreed upon containing these words : ' As all forms of religion are and shall be freely professed in the Ottoman dominions, no subject of His Majesty the Sultan shall be hindered in the exercise of the religion that he professes, nor shall be in any way annoyed on this account. None shall be compelled to change their religion. The discovery had been made that the objectionable law, being regarded as invested with a Divine character, could not be annulled or abrogated by any human authority whatsoever. Therefore the British Ambassador considered it best to advise his Government to be content with the afore-mentioned clause, saying in his despatch to the Earl of Clarendon, dated February 12th, 1856, 'The law of the Koran is not abolished, it is true, respecting renegades, and the Sultan's Ministers affirm that such a stretch of authority would exceed even His Majesty's legal powers. But, however that may be, the practi- cal application of it is renounced by means of a public document, and Her Majesty's Government would at any time be justified in complaining of a breach of engagement if the Porte were to authorise or to permit any exception to its own official declaration.' 476 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. m. indeed guided by what appeared feasible and profitable, but the policy itself was never relinquished. With what vigour the champions of Islam pursued their anti-Christian designs from the first, is made apparent by what Moslem historians record in honour of Mohammed's second successor, Omar, namely, that during his brief Califate of only ten years' dura- tion, 1036 towns were conquered, 4000 Christian churches destroyed, and 4000 mosques erected in their stead. With the Mussulmans all wars of conquest are at the same time also religious wars, intended to promote the interests, and to effect the propagation, of Islam. Hence every Moslem warrior who falls in such a foreign war is held to be a martyr for the Faith. As in Mohammed's own case, religion was a stepping-stone to worldly dominion, so in the case of his followers, the secular power they possessed and extended was used as a means for spreading their religion, which, in turn, had to support their power. In any war against Christians, the Moslems were bound first to invite them to embrace Islam ; and they seconded their invitation by the offer of all the privileges of the conquerors. Then, in case of refusal, they indeed might permit them to retain their religion, but at the cost of a full surrender, without fighting, and the payment of a perpetual capitation tax in token of their political dependence and subjugation. But if the decision was left to the sword, they were to seize all the women and children as slaves, and to slay the men, or other- wise dispose of them. It is self-evident that the first and third of these military canons were calculated directly to effect a reduction in the number of Christians, and an increase of Moslems at their expense ; whereas the second annihilated the political independence and social liberty of those to whom it was applied, and further tended indirectly to a gradual diminution of the Christians and a corresponding increase of the Mohammedans. The subjugated Christians in the Mussulman State were placed under the most humiliating and irksome disabilities. They had to submit to Mohammedan courts of law, where their testimony was not received against a Moslem, and the judge considered it a religious duty to favour the party belonging to his own Faith. In social life they had to defer sec. vi.] ANTI-CHRISTIAN HOME-POLICY. 477 to the meanest Mussulman as their superior in rank. In their mode of travelling-, in their dress, in their dwellings, and even in their graves, they were to be marked by a badge of inferiority. For the maintenance of their religious insti- tutions, and the instruction' of their children, they received no help whatever from a Government whose revenues they had to swell. Many of their churches were demolished or converted into mosques, and those permitted them were not allowed to be increased in number by the building of new ones. The exercise of their religion was deprived of its publicity, and of everything which might have appeared as a recognition or sanction of Christianity by Government. Hence all religious processions had to be discontinued, the church-bells were to be destroyed or silenced, and all the crosses removed from the top of ecclesiastical edifices, or any other place where they might have offended the Moslem eye. In short, the Christian communities could not become organic parts of a Mohammedan State, and were not even counted worthy to bear arms and to defend the common country on an equal footing with the Moslems. The Christians were treated as if they formed a mere colony of helots within the State, tolerated and protected by the ruling class and for their benefit, on about the same principle on which .domestic animals are kept and fostered by their masters. Accordingly, the poll-tax, collected from every male adult of the Christians, was designated by a word (jizyeh) properly signifying ' ransom, satisfaction,' because it was, as it were, generously accepted in lieu of their lives, which in the eyes of Islam had legally been forfeited. The land-tax they had to pay was called by a word {kharaj) which had originally been employed as a designation of that portion of a slave's earning which he had to pay to his master for being allowed to exercise a trade on his own account. So, likewise, the term Raya, ordinarily applied to the Christian section of the population under a Mo- hammedan Government, has its meaning thus rendered in Lane's well-known Arabic-English Lexicon, ' Cattle pastur- ing, cattle kept, tended, or pastured ; especially cattle kept or pastured for the Sultan, and upon which are his brands and marks.' 478 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. III. Therefore, though the Mohammedan State did not directly interfere with the private profession and exercise of Christianity, but rather tolerated, and in a manner protected, it, yet it most effectually deprived its Christian subjects of all political and military power, and reduced them to a state of civil inferiority and helpless dependence on the armed and ruling class. Thus it could not fail to damage the Christian cause itself, though indirectly and covertly. But the anti-Christian character of Islamism lies especially patent in its exterior policy, which it stamped upon the pages of history by its most pertinacious and stupendous efforts to bring the entire Christian world under its crushing rule. The Arab Mussulmans first pressed northward, wresting Palestine, the cradle of the Christian Faith, all Syria and Armenia, from the hands of the Christians. They indeed also subjugated fire-worshipping Persia, and pushed their conquests towards India, as also, by way of Khorassan, Bokhara, and Samarkand, deep into Central Asia, where Christianity disappeared from the Tartar tribes to which it had already found its way ; but the chief object of their warlike ambition remained Western Christendom and its powerful capital on the Bosporus. This was so clearly marked a plan of the Mussulmans, that scarcely had they established their power in Northern Syria, when they began to overrun Asia Minor, and, in less than thirty years from the death of Mohammed, besieged Constantinople by land and by water for six successive years. Fortunately they could not prevail against the valour and art — especially the so-called ' Greek fire ' — by which the city was defended. Being baffled again and again in their direct attempts to dethrone Christianity in its political capital, they started on a long detour in order, if possible, to reach their goal from the west, instead of from the east. Agricultural Egypt had fallen an easy prey into the hands of the hardy Arab warriors ; and the Coptic Patriarch had obtained for it com- paratively easy terms from the conquerors. This rich land, so conveniently near to the Arab home of Islam, was made the starting-point for extending the Mohammedan conquests westward over the whole of North Africa. Here the fanatical sec. vi.] EUROPE SAVED BY BATTLE OF TOURS. 479 Arabs pursued their anti-Christian policy with such deadly effect that soon the remnant of the once flourishing Church of which a Tertullian, a Cyprian, and an Augustine, had been ornaments became entirely effaced, and the sound of church- bells was silenced for ages by the call of the Moezzin. Mohammedanised Africa became the stepping-stone for invading Christian Europe from the west. Before Islam had completed the first century of its existence, it sent its daunt- less propagators, in the form of numerous troops of armed horsemen, across the straits into Spain ; and in the short space of two years the rule of the Peninsula had passed from Christian into Mussulman hands. But Spain was only the first stage of the intended march of conquest through the heart of Europe to the crowning goal of Constantinople, the then capital of Christendom. Not many years were allowed to pass before an army of hundreds of thousands of horsemen sallied forth from Spain, to make France the second stage on the expedition for the conquest of Christian Europe. The whole south of France was fearfully devastated, houses ruined, churches burnt, women ravished, children enslaved, till in the neigh- bourhood of Poitiers and Tours the barbarous Mussulman hosts encountered Charles Martel at the head of a powerful Franco-Germanic army, and fought with such desperate obstinacy that most of them fell under the crushing blows of these hammering arms, before the small remnant confessed themselves vanquished by seeking safety in a precipitate flight. Reinforced by fresh Arab hordes, they renewed their sanguinary onslaughts for several years, but with no better result, so that they had to retire for ever behind the Pyrenees, and to give up their attempted march, through Central Europe to the Bosporus, as impracticable. The national independence of Christendom survived these desperate attacks, and the religion of Christ had time to confer its blessings, in a fuller measure and to a wider extent, upon the nations of Europe. Islamism, as represented by the Arabs, had clearly manifested alike its determined resolve and its utter inability, to overthrow and replace Christianity as a political force and a national power in the world. 4So HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. VII. — The Mohammedan world, tinder the direction of the TURKS, retains and carries out the anti-Christian Policy started by the Arabs, as long as its power of doing so lasts. Whilst, during this welcome respite, Christianity was deepening its roots and spreading its branches in Europe, Islam was slowly and surely preparing in Asia tougher and rougher instruments, than even the Arabs, for making another supreme effort to carry out its old plan of altogether supplanting Christian supremacy by its own. The loose morality and unscrupulous violence which had distinguished the Mohammedan system from its birth, soon, like an evil seed, produced its corrupt and poisonous fruit in ever-widen- ing circles of the Mussulman world. During the Abasside dynasty, when Bagdad was the seat of the Califate, so de- generate, untrustworthy, disunited, and factious had Arab society become, that the Califs found themselves compelled to look to the hardier and more reliable race of the recently Mohammedanised Tartar tribes from the deserts and high- lands of Central Asia, as the fittest recruiting ground for an army on which they could rely. These Tartars and Turkomans — all born horsemen and inured to the hardships and simplicity of nomadism from time immemorial — enlisted with alacrity under the Calif's banner, as offering so much more favourable a prospect to their daring and greed, Finding the gates of Central Asia so widely open to the riches and luxuries of the south and the west, these nomad hordes issued forth in ever-increasing numbers, pushed on, at times, by the teeming population of the remotest east. They — either as mercenaries of the Calif over whom they gradually gained a commanding influence, or, independently of him, as isolated bands of freebooters — helped to extend Mussulman domination at the expense of Christendom, and infused a new element of strength into the disunited and decaying world of Islam. One of these Tartar tribes, the Seldjuks, established them- selves in different parts of Western Asia, sometimes in direct opposition to the Califs authority ; and soon turning its victorious arms westward, conquered vast portions of Asia SEC. vil] TURKISH CONQUESTS. 481 Minor, which, till then, had remained in the hand of the Christians. Another such horde of Mohammedanised Tartars were the Turks} a number of whom, under their leader Ertogrul, joined their Seldjuk brethren in the province of Angora. They speedily developed such military prowess and strength, in the conflict with the Greek empire, that under their next leader, Othman, they could supplant their Seldjuk confederates, and, joined by fresh bands of countrymen from the east, overrun and subjugate all that the Christians still held of Asia Minor. These Turks, or Ottomans, as they generally call them- selves, after their distinguished chief, Othman, extended their power, in course of time, over the greater part of the Moham- medan world, became the heirs of the Califate, and vigorously took up the Mussulman policy of universal domination, which the Arabs were no longer able to carry out. We have seen that this policy implied, as its highest and most difficult aim, the subjugation of Christendom, and particularly the conquest of Constantinople, its strongest remaining citadel eastward. To this object the Ottoman Turks, on becoming the leading nation of Islam, directed their most persevering and gigantic efforts : this forms the open secret of their devastating wars and their ambitious policy of conquests. Othman terminated his victorious career with the seizure of Broussa, A.D. 1326, which at once became the Turkish capital, almost within sight of Constantinople. From Broussa as his starting-point, Othman's first successor attacked the Romano-Greek Empire in Europe, making himself master of Gallipoli and Rodosto ; and his second successor extended his European conquest beyond Adrianople, which he raised to the rank of second capital ; and his third successor devas- tated Albania and Bosnia and incorporated the Christian kingdoms of Servia and Bulgaria with his own dominion, which now bordered on the Danube as far as Belgrade. Later Sultans enlarged and consolidated their conquests on the Balkan Peninsula and elsewhere, till nothing remained to the Greek Emperor but his capital Constantinople. 1 On the etymology of the words ' Tartar ' and ' Turk ' may be compared an article by the author in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xi. Part ii. p. 148. 2 H 482 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. hi. At length for this also the fatal hour arrived. A Turkish army of more than 200,000 warriors and a powerful fleet surrounded the doomed city. This was the twelfth and final Mussulman siege it had to suffer, namely, seven from the Arabs and five from the Turks. It was stormed after a desperate resistance by the inadequate number of its defenders, and delivered for three days to the pillage and brutality of its conquerors. The luckless year 1453 thus had to witness the last Romano-Greek Emperor, Constan- tine IX., falling sword in hand in his fruitless resistance to the Turks, the ardent Mohammed II. occupying his ancient throne as Sultan, the first Christian capital converted into a new centre of Mussulman conquests, and its finest churches turned into mosques. What had remained a constant but vain object of Moslem ambition for eight centuries, was now accomplished by Turkish pertinacity and valour, and the youthful victor of Constantinople had earned for himself to all posterity the proud title of El-Fatih> the Conqueror. This constituted the crowning victory both of Ottomanism and Mohammedanism. From the height of this vantage-ground it is easy to foresee that, when once will have come to pass what already appears so decidedly within the range of possibilities, viz., the expulsion of the Turks from Constantinople, and the restoration of the still remaining church- mosques, about twenty in number, to their original destination for Christian worship, then also the anti-Christian system of Islamism will have made a long stride in the process of its inevitable dissolution. Fortunately the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks had been delayed till it no longer involved the fall of Christendom itself. In the interval between the Arab failure and the Ottoman success in their Mussulman assaults of the Imperial stronghold on the Bosporus, a number of more or less powerful Christian capitals had dotted the European west. One of the most eastern of them was Vienna, and not even this could be taken by the Turks, notwithstanding their utmost efforts during the culminating period of their power. It is a matter of history compara- tively recent and well known, with what brutality, cruelty, SEC. vii.] TURKISH DESIGNS AGAINST EUROPE. 483 and treachery, the Turks pushed their conquests in the lands of the Mediterranean, as the terror of Christendom by sea and land ; how persistently they invaded and devastated the countries on the left bank of the Danube ; how recklessly they employed sword, fire, impaling-, and torture ; how their whole system of keeping down the distant peoples whom they had subjugated, was one of unsparing oppression and heartless terrorism ; how many tens of thousands of virgins and women they captured in Christian lands, sometimes fastening them together, in large gangs, by their hair, to be afterwards distributed in the harems of voluptuous Mussulmans ; and how they crowned their anti-Christian measures by the insti- tution of the Janissaries, whereby annually thousands of the most promising Christian boys were forcibly taken from their homes and brought up as Mohammedans, to form a standing army for the further conquest of Christian lands and the keeping in subjection of those already conquered. It is equally patent how steadily the Ottomans kept the great Moslem idea in view of a victorious march through the heart of Europe for the entire overthrow of Christian dominion, and how repeatedly they attempted to achieve from the east what the Arabs in Spain had failed to accom- plish from the west. They considered as Dar el harb, or ' domain of war,' not only this or that Christian country, but every Christian land within their reach. No wonder, then, that at the time when the Turkish hosts overran Malta and Hungary, their ultimate aim was so well understood all over Europe, that even in its remotest west the Church of insular England was anxiously reminded by its Archbishop, under Queen Elizabeth,1 that the Isle of Malta was ' invaded with a great army and navy of Turks, Infidels and sworn enemies of the Christian religion, and that if they should prevail against that Isle, it is uncertain what further peril might follow to the rest of Christendom ; ' and as regards Hungary, that ' if the Infidels should prevail wholly against that most goodly and strong kingdom, all the rest of Christendom would lie open to the incursion of the said savage and most cruel enemies the Turks, to the most dreadful danger of whole Christendom.' So deep was the interest in the 1 See the Book of Common Prayer of that time. 484 HISTORIC POSITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM, [bk. III. common Christian cause that public prayers were offered up in the churches of England on behalf of 'the Emperor's excellent Majesty as God's principal minister, and all the Christian army assembled with him against the Turks ; ' and it was openly acknowledged here that 'our own danger or safety doth follow upon success of them.' The plan and policy to subjugate all Christendom was genuinely Mohammedan. It was Islam which inspired it first in the Arabs and then in the Turks. The Arabs and the Turks adhered to it as long as they could, to the utmost of their power. If the desolating march upon Vienna, and the siege of that city by the Ottoman hosts two hundred years ago (A.D. 1683), was the last of its kind, it was so, only because experience had taught them that the enterprise they had taken in hand was beyond their power, that the national vitality of the Christian religion could not be crushed out by all the massive weight and fierce onslaught of the Mussul- man world. These hazardous and fanatical attacks upon Christendom, whose success would only have extended the reign of spiritual desolation and death over mankind, proved injurious to Islam itself, by the habits they fostered and the resources they squandered ; and their final complete failure could not but accelerate that utter collapse and prostration of the Ottoman, and, in fact, of the whole Mohammedan, world, which is now bringing the rottenness of its foundation and the cancer in its vitals more and more to light. The entire Dar el Islam, or Islamic community, disunited and dismembered for gen- erations, has now sunk into such a state of spiritual torpor and political impotence that, apart from fitful outbursts of fanaticism and spasmodic paroxysms of savagery, any serious aggressions against Christian nations are out of the question, and the signs of its approaching complete disintegration are rapidly multiplying. If, in some far-off places, such as the continent of Africa, Islam has of late been spreading to some, extent, this has been effected by the notorious means of its propagandism, and can only remind one of those sparse green twigs sometimes still appearing at the extreme ends of half-dried-up boughs in trees whose core has for long been decaying from old age. sec. vii.] OUTLOOK. 485 The Christian world, on the other hand, far from being stifled, was only stimulated, by the Mohammedan pressure of bygone ages, and has now reached such a commanding height of political power and general influence, that the Christian Governments of the day virtually exercise their sway over the whole earth. Thus far, then, the verdict of history has been clearly pronounced in favour of Christianity, on each stage of its past development, and against all those who strove to deprive the world of this salutary ferment and saving force. The Christian policy of Europe has already effected much in resuscitating and liberating the Christian nationalities which were so long kept in base subjection by Islam, and unpityingly trampled upon by its iron hoof. This Christian work of justice and mercy will, no doubt, be ultimately crowned with complete success, whilst the re- maining Mussulman States are themselves hastening on the process of their final dissolution. The external obstructions being thus providentially removed out of the way, one by one, Christianity can, in the future, more freely advance towards a still higher and wider sphere of its historical realisation, by assuming a predominantly universal or cosmopolitan character, and by effecting its final evolution as the one Church of Mankind, the Kingdom of God for all Nations. Should the road to this great ulterior goal again be obstructed, perhaps from the midst of an apostate Christen- dom, and with all the fierceness of a desperate last effort, by an Adversary whose concentrated hostility to all that is Christian will merit for him the black distinction of ' the Antichrist,' then the past entitles us to hope that this severest combat between the kingdom of Light and the kingdom of Darkness on our earth will but prove the decisive birth-throe ushering in the crowning victory and everlasting peace. We read in the Word of God that at the most momentous final crisis, the King of kings shall descend in Person with the armies of heaven (Rev. xix. 11- 16) and shall consume that Wicked One with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. ii. 8), and, all conflict over, Himself shall reign as Prince of Peace for ever and ever (Rev. xi. 15 ; Heb. vii. 2, 3). APPENDIX I. MOHAMMED'S WIVES AND CONCUBINES. Remark. — What follows are again mere translations, which present the reader with an interesting account of the several persons mentioned. The account consists of sundry biographical notices from Moslem authors, as collected and introduced by the Rawzat ul Ahbab. It is recorded that the Prophet said, ' I have not taken any wife, nor given away a daughter to any one, without Gabriel having first brought me an order from my Lord ; and I only acted according to that order.'1 The biographers record that his Excellency had twelve married wives with whom he consummated marriage. They are all agreed respecting eleven of them ; but in regard to the twelfth, their opinion differs as to whether she was a married wife or a slave concubine. i. Khadija was the first of those pure wives. As she had a common lineage of descent with the Prophet, she was of all his chaste wives nearest to him. From the children of Kassy that Excellency married Khadija and Om Habiba. Khadija had been twice married before, in each of which marriages she had born two children. Hind, one of her sons, was brought up by the Prophet of God, after he had married her. It is recorded that Hind used to say, ' I am the most noble through father, mother, brother, and sister ; for my father is the Apostle of God, my mother Khadija, my brother Kasim, and my sister Fatima.' Khadija was a virtuous, wise, and determined lady, whom even in the time of ignorance they called 'the pure.' She had an exalted lineage and an ample fortune. 1 This assertion was evidently made for the purpose of shielding Mohammed against a charge of sensuality and carnal passion in the matter of taking wives. It was felt that his notorious conduct lay open to censure, and this had to be forestalled, as in many similar cases, by the fabrication of a story conveying a justification. 488 KHADIJA. [app. Although the chiefs and nobles of the Koreish asked her in marriage, after Abu Hala's death, she refused them, because in a dream she had seen the sun come down to her house from the sky, and diffuse such light, that there remained not a house in Mecca without being illuminated by it. On waking from her sleep, she went to her cousin Waraka Ibn Nawfal and told him her dream, because he was exceedingly expert in the science of interpretation. He said to her, ' O Khadija, the prophet of the latter time is to be thy husband.' She asked, ' From which country is that prophet to appear?' Waraka answered, 'From Mecca.' Khadija in- quired, 'From which tribe?' Waraka replied, 'From the Koreish.' Khadija asked again, 'From which family?' Waraka answered, 'From the Beni Hashim.' Khadija inquired, 'What is his name? ' Waraka replied, 'Mohammed.' Khadija thus knowing whence that sun was to arise, at once began to wait for it. So it happened that one day, when that Excellency was dining at Abu Talib's table, Atika, the sister of the latter, was also present, and both observed his propriety and good manners. When he had left, after dinner, Abu Talib said to Atika, ' Mohammed is a grown-up youth, and the time has come for him to marry, but he never speaks to us on the subject. O Atika, what is to be done in the matter?' Atika replied, ' Khadija is an exceedingly blessed lady of noble birth and station who is about sending a caravan to Syria ; we can do nothing better than take some merchandise from Khadija for Mohammed, to trade with at their joint profit.' After having consulted with Mohammed, who approved the plan, Atika went to Khadija and communicated to her the state of affairs. Khadija, reflecting for a while, said, ' Is this perhaps the interpretation of my dream? This person is an Arab of Mecca, a Hashimite of the Koreish ; his name is Mohammed, he is of a beautiful counten- ance and pleasant manners, a truth-speaking, faithful man : is this, perhaps, the promised prophet ? ' Then she accepted the proposal, and became ennobled with the nobility of the bed of the Lord of the apostles. She was the first lady whom that Excellency married, she being 40 and he 25 years of age. All that Excellency's male and female children were by her, with the only exception of Ibrahim, who was born by Mary the Copt. As the Lord of the world paid much respect to Khadija's wishes, he did not take another wife in addition to her. The good qualities and virtues of Khadija were many. All agree that she was the first person who was ennobled with the nobility of Islam, believing in his Excellency, and spending property I.] KHADIJA. 489 for his pleasure. According to sound tradition, his Excellency declared that Mary, the daughter of Amram, and Khadija, were the two noblest women of Paradise ; and he also said that the mistresses of the ladies of Paradise were, Mary, Fatima, Khadija, and Asia, Pharaoh's wife. According to a tradition derived from Abu Horeira, Gabriel once came to his Excellency and said, ' O Apostle of God, Khadija is coming to bring thee a basin full of savoury food ; when she has come, give her a salutation from her Preserver and from me, and announce to her the good news that she has a house in Paradise, made of a hollowed-out pearl, in which there is not any adversity or affliction.' When that Excellency delivered the salutation from the Most High and from Gabriel, Khadija said in reply, ' Truly, God is peace, and from Him comes peace ; and peace be upon Gabriel and upon the Apostle of God, and upon every one who hears the salutation, except Satan.' It is recorded that Aisha the faithful said, 'I felt no jealousy with regard to any one of the Prophet's wives, except Khadija, though she was no longer living when I was ennobled with the nobility of that Excellency's bed. He so much remembered her, that sometimes he would slay a sheep and divide it amongst her friends. So I said to his Excellency, " It seems there is no woman in the world except Khadija." His Excellency replied, "Khadija had many fine points, and my children came from her." On another occasion Khadija's sister Hala knocked at the door, in a way which reminded the Prophet of Khadija's knocking. He became sad and sorrowful, according to one account, or bright and cheerful, according to another, and said, " The person knock- ing must be Hala." This word of his Excellency so roused my jealousy that I called out, " How much thou rememberest an old woman from amongst the old females of the Koreish, who had no tooth left in her mouth, and had already spent her life, and yet the Most High has given thee something better in her stead ! " This observation made his Excellency so angry that the hairs stood up on his forehead, and he said, " By Allah ! the Most High has not given me a better one than she was ; she had believed in me at a time when all the people were still unbelievers, and testified in my favour when all the world was denying me ; and she assisted me with her fortune when all other people were shunning me ; and by her the Most High gave me children.'" Aisha adds, 'After this I made up my mind never again to say anything derogatory of Khadija.' The biographers are not agreed as to the time of Khadija's death, 490 SEVDA. [app. but most probably she died in the month of Ramadan of the ninth year of the prophetic mission. His Excellency went in person to her grave to pray for her, and was exceedingly sad and cast down by her death. On the day of her death Khadija was sixty-five years old. 2. Sevda, a Koreishite, surnamed Om Eswad. She had become a believer in Mecca at the beginning of the prophetic mission, and was first married to Sakran Ibn Omar, by whom she had a son named Abd ur Rahman. Sakran is reckoned amongst the Ansar. She had emigrated with him to Abyssinia, and after sojourning there for a time, they returned to Mecca. Sevda had seen in a dream that the Prophet came and put his foot upon her neck. When she narrated this dream to Sakran, he said, ' If thou hast really had this dream, I am to die, and Mohammed will marry thee.' After this, Sevda had another dream, in which she saw the moon come down from heaven upon her. On telling this dream also to her husband, he replied, ' If thou hast really dreamed thus, I am to die shortly, and thou wilt marry another husband.' Sakran fell ill that very day, and died a few days later, leaving Sevda a widow. Then in the tenth year of the prophetic mission, after Khadija's death, and before the marriage with Aisha, that Excellency married Sevda, according to sound tradition, settling a dowry upon her of 400 dirhems. On becoming aware of her great age, he, a.h. 8, divorced her, or, according to a more correct tradition, intended to divorce her. Then, one night, when that Excellency was going to Aisha's house, Sevda stood in his way, and said to him, ' O Apostle of God, do not divorce me, neither return to me, for I have no wish for any one besides thee, and there is no sensual desire remaining in me, only I wish to rise amongst thy wives on the day of the resurrection, and I freely surrender my turn to Aisha, thy loved one.' Upon this, his Excellency desisted from divorcing her, or re-accepted her. It is recorded that Sevda, from time to time, said some words to that prince which made him laugh. Five traditions are derived from Sevda. Her death took place in the latter part of Omar's Califate, but Wakidi credits a tradition, according to which she left this world in Moawia's reign. She was exceedingly tall and corpulent. 3. Aisha the faithful, the daughter of Abu Bekr, was the Prophet's third wife. She belonged to the jurists and lawyers, and I.] AISHA. 49i the learned, and virtuous, and eloquent, of his companions. Some of the ancients affirm that one-fourth of the legal ordinances be- came known through her, and it is notorious that the Prophet of God said, in reference to her, ' Take ye a third of your Faith from this fair one.' It is recorded that Arwa Ibn Zobeir said, ' I know of no one more learned in the meaning of the Koran, and in the laws concerning what is permitted and forbidden, and in the other ordinances, and in the sciences of poetry and genealogy, than Aisha.' Aisha herself is recorded to have declared that she possessed the following distinctive excellencies above all other wives of the Prophet : — 1. That Excellency married no other virgin except myself. 2. The parents of not any other of his wives emigrated for the cause of God. 3. A verse was sent down from heaven in behalf of my justi- fication and innocence. 4. Before that Excellency married me, Gabriel showed him my image upon a piece of silk, saying, ' Marry this one,' and upon this he married me. 5. I bathed with his Excellency under one cover, a dignity not shared by any other. 6. I was reclining and lying opposite the prayer-place where he performed his prayers. 7. A revelation came to him in my bedroom only, and not in that of any of his other wives. 8. His spirit was taken from him when he was lying between my bosom and my liver. 9. He died on the day when it was my turn to spend the night with him. 10. He was buried in my apartment. These points show that he had more inclination and love for Aisha the faithful than for any other of his wives. It is also established that when the Apostle of God was asked, ' Who is most loved by thee amongst all the people ? ' he replied ' Aisha.' And when he was asked again, 'Who is it amongst the males?' he answered, 'Her father, Abu Bekr.' It is also a correct statement that when the people wished to give the Prophet a present, they watched for an opportunity of pre- senting it to him on the day when it was Aisha's turn to be with him. Their object in doing so was to gain that Excellency's goodwill. When some of his other wives sent Ora Selma to him, requesting him 492 AISHA. [app. to tell the people not to wait for Aisha's day with their gifts, but to bring them on the day of any of his other wives, he said to her, ' O Ora Selma, do not trouble me about Aisha.' She replied, ' O Apostle of God, I repent towards God for having given thee trouble.' So, despairing of Om Selma, they sent Fatima on the same errand. To her the Prophet said, ' O sweet daughter, dost thou not love whomsoever I love?' and when she replied, ' Yes, O Apostle of God, I do,' he added 'Then love Aisha.' It is established that Aisha narrated as follows : ' When once I asked the Prophet, " O Apostle of God, how much lovest thou me ? " he answered, " As the knot of the cord." Thereafter I would ask him from time to time, "O Apostle of God, how is the knot of the cord ?" and he would answer, "As before," i.e. I love thee as much as at first; my love to thee has not changed.' When the Calif Omar assigned a pension to Mohammed's widows, he gave each 10,000 dirhems ; but to Aisha he gave 20,000, on the ground of her having been the Prophet's best beloved. It is recorded that Aisha stated : ' When the Apostle of God married me, I was in my sixth year, and when he consummated the marriage with me, I was in my ninth year, and was still playing with other little girls. These girls would run away when that prince came near me, being ashamed ; but he would go after them and bring them back to continue our play.1 One day he visited me, when I had been playing with my dolls, whom I had laid on a cushion, and drawn a curtain over them. After a while the wind blew the curtain aside, and the Prophet seeing them, asked, " What is that ? " I answered, " These are my dolls." Then seeing something like a horse with wings on both sides, he inquired again, " And what is that other thing I see amongst them ? " I replied, " A horse." 1 Dr. Ludolf Krehl, who, in his Leben des Muhammed, shows a decided dis- position to take the most favourable view of Mohammed the prophet, yet unhesitatingly calls his marriage with Abu Bekr's youthful daughter 'open to objection, and offensive beyond a doubt ' (p. 104). He also, on the same occasion, makes the following just remarks : ' Mohammed, obviously, was not capable of clearly recognising, and fully estimating woman's true worth. He, in effect, saw nothing more in woman than a ministering slave ; and this entire view has been adopted into Islam, to its great disadvantage. Amongst the nations professing Islam, the refining element which lies in the intercourse with ladies, and in the influence of educated mothers on the early training of their children, has never been duly recognised, and this is a fatal cancer from which Islam will always suffer.' The reader who wishes to see more on the inferiority of woman's position in Islam, is referred to Part II. Chapter v. section 6 of the pamphlet — Food for Reflection : a Comparison between the three Monotheistic Religions, Church Missionary House, London. i.] AISHA. 493 He, " And what is that on both its sides ? " I, " Those are its wings." He, " Have horses wings, then ? " I, " Hast thou not heard that Solomon had winged horses ? " Upon this his Excellency laughed so heartily that the whole row of his teeth was seen.' It is also recorded that Aisha narrated, ' When, on one occasion, the Apostle of God said to me, " I know when thou art pleased with me, and when thou art angry with me ; " I asked, " O Apostle of God, whereby dost thou know it ? " He replied, " When thou art pleased with me and swearest, thou sayest, By the Lord of Moham- med ! but when thou art angry with me and swearest, thou sayest, By the Lord of Abraham ! " I then said, " O Apostle of God, it is exactly as thou hast stated ; but, O Apostle of God, it is not, that I wish thee away from me or to leave thee ; I only omit thy name, but my love for thee is unalterable.'" It is further recorded of Aisha: 'The Apostle of God said to me, " O Aisha, if thou wishest to reach my state, and to remain united with me, then so live in this world that the provisions of a rider may suffice for thee, and never call a dress old as long as it has not been patched ; also, be very careful in having to do with riches." ' According to another account, Aisha also narrated : ' When one day I begged of the Prophet, saying, " O Apostle of God, pray for me, that the Most High may also make me one of thy wives in Paradise," that Excellency replied, " If thou aspirest after that dignity, thou must never store up food for the next day, or put off a dress before it is patched ; and thy provision from this world must be no more than a horseman takes with him for a journey." ' It was by the blessing of this advice that Aisha so much preferred poverty to wealth, that she never stored any provisions ; and Arwa Ibn Zobeir states, 'I saw Aisha give away 70,000 dirhems in the cause of God, and yet a corner of her own chemise was patched.' On another occasion, when 100,000 dirhems were sent her, she forthwith distributed them all amongst her relatives and the poor, though she herself was fasting. Her fast being over when she had finished the distribution, she ordered a slave to bring her breakfast, which was then seen to consist only of a bit of bread and some dry dates. It is said that her marriage portion from his Excellency amounted only to 50 dirhems, or, according to another account, to 500 dirhems, which he had borrowed for the purpose. The honoured books record 2210 traditions from her, 174 of which are generally received. It is recorded that when Aisha was near her death, Ibn Abbas visiting her, said, ' Be glad that thou hast been the wife of the 494 HAFZA. [app. Apostle of God, and that thou hast been the only wife he married as a virgin, and that a verse came down from heaven in thy justi- fication.' After he had left, Abd Allah Ibn Zobeir entered, to whom she said, ' Ibn Abbas has been here and praised me, although to-day I do not take pleasure in any one's coming and praising me. What would it have mattered, if I had been a sun- dried brick ? Would, I had been some such thing, so that no one had taken my name in his mouth ; and would, I had never been created ! ' She died, a.h. 58, more than 66 years of age. 4. Hafza, the daughter of Omar Ibn Khattab. Before she became the Prophet's wife, she had been married to Khanis, who was one of the fugitives to Abyssinia, and afterwards one of the combatants of Bedr. After his death, a.h. 2 or 3, the Prophet married her, as soon as her legal time of waiting was over. It is reported that when Hafza's first husband was dead, her father, Omar, offered her to Oth man, whose wife Rokaia, daughter of Mohammed, had just died. Othman asked for time to consider, and then declined the offer. Omar went to Mohammed to complain of Othman's conduct, and the Prophet settled the affair by saying, 1 May God give to Othman a better woman than thy daughter, and to thy daughter a better husband than Othman ! ' This wish was speedily fulfilled ; for Mohammed himself married Hafza, and gave his own daughter Om Koltum to Othman. It is also reported that Omar had offered Hafza to Abu Bekr, who gave him no answer whatever, so that he felt greatly incensed. But one day, after Mohammed's marriage with Hafza, when Abu Bekr met Omar, he accosted him thus, ' Perhaps thou art offended with me for having left thee without an answer, when thou hadst offered me thy daughter Hafza.' Omar replying, 'Yes, I was very much offended,' Abu Bekr continued, ' The truth is, that nothing prevented me, from accepting her, except my knowing that the Apostle of God had set his heart on having her, and it was in order not to betray that Excellency's secret, that I did not give thee an answer then.' It is recorded that later on the prince of the world divorced Hafza. Omar, as soon as this news reached him, cast earth upon his head and became very disconsolate. On the next day Gabriel descended., saying ' O Mohammed, in order to show mercy to Omar, God requests of thee to return to Hafza.' Hafza was born five years before the prophetic mission, and died in the reign of Moawia, a.h. 45 or 48 or 50, about sixty years old. The current i.] ZEINAB. OM SELMA. 495 books derive sixty traditions from her, of which six are generally received. 5. Zeinab, Bint Khazima, had been married to three successive husbands before Mohammed, the first of whom divorced her, and the second and third were killed respectively in the battles of Bedr and Ohod. His Excellency married her a.h. 9. She had only been eight months in his house when she died, or, according to another account, three months. She was called 'the Mother of the Poor,' because of her compassion for them, and the abundant alms which she bestowed upon them. 6. Om Selma or Hind, Bint Abu Omia, was first married to Abu Selma, Mohammed's cousin, to whom she bore four children. Of these, two emigrated with their parents to Abyssinia, and afterwards to Medina. Abu Selma was wounded in the battle of Ohod, and his wound closed. When Mohammed sent him on an ex- pedition, it reopened and became the cause of his death. Their love for each other was so great that they made a covenant to the effect that whoever should survive the other, should not marry again. But before his death, Abu Selma said to his wife, ' When I die, do not thou suffer trouble, but marry again, and may God give thee a husband better than myself, who will never pain or grieve thee.' Om Selma says, ' When Abu Selma was dead, I thought of these words, but said to myself, Who can be a better husband to me than he was ? I had no idea of marrying again. I went to his Excellency, saying to him, " Thou knowest that Abu Selma is dead, what prayer shall I offer in my loneliness ? " He replied, " Say, O God, forgive me and him, and give me something better in his stead." Then I persevered in offering up this prayer, and God gave me something better than Abu Selma ; he gave me in wedlock to the Apostle of God.' According to another account, his Excellency went to Om Selma's house, after her husband's death, to condole with her, and prayed, ' O God, assuage her grief, remove her trouble, and compensate her by some one better than Abu Selma.' After- wards, events turned out in accordance with this prayer. It is recorded that when Om Selma's time of mourning was over, both Abu Bekr and Omar desired to marry her, but she declined them both. On his Excellency proposing to her, she replied, ' Welcome, O Apostle of God ; but I am a lady of a certain age, with orphans, and also am very jealous, unable to endure having 4g6 OM SELMA. ZEINAB. [app. only a share with thy many other wives ; and, moreover, my guardians are not here now, whose consent is requisite.' To these objections the Prophet replied thus : ' Thou sayest, " I am old," but I am still older, and it is no shame for women to be the wives of husbands older than themselves. Thou sayest, " I have orphans," but the guardianship and education of thy orphans belongs to God and His Apostle. Thou sayest, " I am jealous, and cannot endure partnership," but I will pray for thee, that God may take away those feelings from thee. Thou sayest, " My guardians are not here," but all thy guardians, whoever they may be, and whether present or absent, will not object to my marrying thee, but be quite agreeable.' Thereupon Ora Selma said to her son Omar, ' Arise and marry me to the Apostle of God.' He arose and gave her to the Prophet, though at that time he was not yet of age. This happened in the fourth year after the Flight. Her dowry consisted of furniture worth about 10 dirhems. As at that time Zeinab had just died, and her room was still unoccupied, the Prophet assigned it to Om Selma. On taking possession of the room, she found there a small jar containing a quantity of barley, an earthen pot, and a handmill. She ground a little barley in this mill and boiled it into a porridge, adding some grape-bulama, and pouring melted suet over it. This she took to the Prophet, and it formed their wedding repast. It is recorded that the Apostle of God remained three days with Om Selma and then wished to leave, in order to pay the portion of honour due to his other ladies, but Om Selma seized him by his skirt and wanted to keep him back. Om Selma died, 84 years old, a.h. 59 or 60, in the reign of Yezid Ibn Moawia. It is said that when she heard of the murder of Hosein, she cursed the people of Irak. The current books contain 378 traditions attributed to her, of which thirteen are generally acknowledged as genuine. 7. Zeinab, Bint Jahsh, whose name Berre ( = a wound) his Excellency changed into Zeinab. Before the Prophet married her she was the wife of Zeid Ibn Haritha. When Zeid had divorced her, his Excellency married her, in the year 5 a.h. It is recorded that when, in the first instance, that prince asked Zeinab in marriage for Zeid, she, supposing he had asked her for himself, at once consented. But on understanding afterwards that he had been asking her for Zeid, she refused, for she was a lady of beauty, the Prophet's first cousin, and of a determined aristocratic i.] ZE1NAB MARRIED, DIVORCED, WOOED. 497 nature. She said to his Excellency, ' 0 Apostle of God, I do not want Zeid, for he is a liberated slave.' Her brother also, agreeing with her, did not accept him, although that prince had bought, liberated, and adopted him before the appearance of the prophetic mission. When the Prophet said to her, ' Thy refusal is useless : thou must accept him,' she replied, ' O Apostle of God, give me some time to think the matter over.' Then a verse was sent down, enjoining compliance with the will of God and His apostle ; and Zeinab said, ' O Apostle of God, if it is really thy will that Zeid should be my husband, I will make no more objections, but accept him.' Thereupon his Excellency gave her to his adopted son Zeid, and also added a dowry. Upwards of a year after their marriage the Most High made known to His Prophet that in His foreknowledge it had been decreed that Zeinab should be one of the Prophet's own wives. Then a coldness arose between Zeid and Zeinab, as it sometimes happens between husband and wife. This went so far that Zeid, in anger, repaired to the Prophet to complain of Zeinab, saying, ' O Apostle of God, I wish to divorce Zeinab, because she is so violent and reproachful towards me.' His Excellency replied, ' Keep thy lady, and fear God.' When afterwards God made known to him that Zeinab was to become his own wife, that Excellency's blessed mind desired Zeid to divorce Zeinab. But he was ashamed to command him to do so, fearing the tongues of the people, lest they should say, ' He has taken his adopted son's wife.' For in the time of ignorance they regarded the marriage with an adopted son's wife as illegal as that with the wife of a natural son. But Zeid came again before his Excellency, and said, ' O Apostle of God, I have divorced Zeinab.' A verse also was sent down rebuking Mohammed for having concealed in his mind that which God wished to have manifested, and for having been afraid of the tongues of men, when he said to Zeid, ' Keep thy lady, and fear God.' It is reported that Aisha the faithful remarked, ' If Mohammed had wished to conceal anything of the Koran, he would surely have concealed this verse.' As soon as Zeinab's legal time of waiting was over, the Prophet said to Zeid, ' Go thou and ask Zeinab in marriage for me.' The reason why he selected Zeid for this service was, lest the people should think the affair had been brought about by compulsion, without Zeid's free consent ; and also that he himself might have a proof of Zeid's agreement and of his not retaining any more love for Zeinab. When Zeid, in the discharge of this commission, reached Zeinab's house, he found her engaged in making the dough 2 I 498 ZEINAB BINT JAHSH. [app. for baking bread. He narrates : ' She appeared to me so great and dread, that I was unable to look at her, and first turned back in- voluntarily. Then I came a second time, and said, " Good news for thee, O Zeinab : the Apostle of God has sent me to thee to ask thee in marriage for him." Zeinab replied, " I cannot give an answer in this matter before having consulted with my brother." ' Then she arose, went to the place of prayer, performing two genu- flexions of service, at the close of which she offered up this petition : ' O God, Thy Apostle seeks me in marriage : if I am worthy of him, give me to him in wedlock !' The petition was at once answered by the coming down of this noble verse : ' When Zeid had decided to divorce her, we married her to thee, so that it might not be reckoned a guilt for the believers to marry the wives of their adopted sons.' It happened whilst the Prophet had a conversation with Aisha in her own apartment, that suddenly symptoms appeared in him of the coming down of a revelation, which was made known in an instant. For his Excellency began to smile, and said, ' Who will go and take the joyous news to Zeinab that God has given her to me for a wife?' and saying so, he recited the above verse. His servant Selmi instantly ran to take the good news to Zeinab. She rewarded him with the present of one of her own gold orna- ments ; and vowing that she would fast for two months, she prostrated herself, and gave thanks to God. Aisha the faithful said to herself, ' Zeinab is a beautiful lady, and was wedded to his Excellency in heaven : surely she will boast of a superiority over us on both these accounts.' So without asking permission of the Apostle of God, she went to Zeinab's apartment ; and finding Zeinab's head uncovered, she said to the Prophet, ' O Apostle of God, thou hast paid a visit, without asking in mar- riage, and without witnesses.' His Excellency replied, ' The Giver in marriage was God, and the witness Gabriel.' The Prophet had a wedding-feast prepared, in which he regaled the people with meat and bread. It is recorded that Uns Ibn Malik narrated : ' My mother, Om Selim, cooked a dish for Zeinab's wedding-feast, consisting of dates, butter, and bread, just enough to suffice for the Prophet and his household. She put it into a basin and requested me to take it to the Prophet, with her saluta- tion ; and to apologise for the smallness of the quantity, there being a famine in Medina in those days. When I had discharged this errand, his Excellency said to me, "Go now and invite such and such people," mentioning a great many by name ; " and call also any whom thou mayest meet on the way." I did as I was bidden, I.] ZEINAB'S WEDDING FEAST. 499 without raising the least objection, though wondering how he could invite so many people to so little food. Such a number of guests came, that the house and the hall and the private room became brimful. — There were altogether 300, or, according to another account, 71 or 72 persons. — Then his Excellency ordered the food to be brought forward, and having put his blessed hand upon it, invoked a blessing, and told the people to form themselves into circles of tens and to begin eating, saying first, " In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate ! " I observed, that the dates in the basin were multiplying as fast as the people ate them ; and from the bottom of the basin butter was bubbling up, like water in a spring. All the people ate till they were satisfied, and there remained none who had not eaten. Then, on being told by that prince to take up the basin, I looked, but could not tell whether it was fuller at that moment, or when I had brought it. I handed the basin to Zeinab, who likewise ate of it ; afterwards I took it back to my mother and told her what had taken place. She replied, " My son, do not wonder : if the Most High had so willed it, the whole population of Medina might have eaten of this food till they were satisfied."'1 It is recorded that when the people had eaten the food, they occupied themselves with conversation, whilst Zeinab sat in a corner of the house, with her head turned towards the wall. His Excel- lency wished in his heart that the people might disperse and leave the house private ; but he was ashamed to tell them to go away. Then he rose up and made himself ready to go out, hoping the people might understand that he wished them to leave. But they were so much engaged in conversation, that they did not take the hint. This was most annoying to that prince. At last he went out; and when the people saw this, they also left, except three men who remained sitting and talking. That prince, through exceeding modesty, refrained from telling them to their faces, • Go away ! ' Then he went to the door of the dwelling of the mothers of the faithful and saluted them. They, after having returned his saluta- tion, inquired of him, ' O Apostle of God, how didst thou find thy spouse ?' Whilst this was taking place, one of the three persons left ; and when his Excellency returned to Zeinab's apartment, he found the other two still sitting. So he turned back and occupied himself with something else. Not till after all this, did the two others take the hint and likewise go away. As soon as he was told that they had left, he returned to Zeinab's room. Uns says, ' I wished 1 Plainly an intended parallel to the ' marriage of Cana in Galilee.' 500 ZEINAB BINT JAHSH. [app. to speak to that prince once more ; but seeing the curtain already drawn, I turned away and went home. When I told these things to my brother-in-law, Abu Talha, he replied, " If things are as you say, then a writing will come down on the subject." It really came to pass as Abu Talha had surmised ; for shortly after " the verse of the curtain" was sent down.' It is said that when that prince had married Zeinab, the hypo- crites of Medina made great use of their slanderous tongues, saying, ' Mohammed has taken his own son's wife.' Thereupon the follow- ing verses came down : ' Mohammed has not been the father of any one of you ;' and, 'Name them after their own fathers ; this will be more proper with God.' In connection with Zeinab's virtues it is mentioned that on one occasion, when the Prophet was sitting amongst the emigrants, dis- tributing booty to them, one of his pure wives sent to him, asking for one of the articles. He complied with the request, and likewise apportioned presents to all his other wives, except Zeinab. Upon this, Zeinab said to him, ' O Apostle of God, there is none amongst thy ladies to whom thou gavest no present except myself. To one thou gavest in consideration of her father ; to others, in considera- tion of their brothers or relatives. It was, therefore, proper for thee to remember me also with a present, in consideration of Him who married and gave me to thee.' This word very much touched the Prophet, so that Omar rebuked Zeinab, saying, ' Why dost thou give pain to that prince ? ' She answered, ' Leave me alone, Omar : if this thing had happened to thy daughter Hafza, wouldest thou have been content then ? ' His Excellency also said, ' O Omar, leave her alone : for verily she is compassionate.' It is also narrated that Zeinab once said to the Prophet, ' I possess several excellencies of which none of thy other wives can boast : we two have one grandfather, my wedlock took place in heaven, and in this our affair the agent and witness was Gabriel.' Abd Allah Ibn Omar narrates : ' The Apostle of God once said to his ladies, "That one of you who has the longest arm shall speedily reach me." ' Upon this, the mothers of the believers took a reed and measured their arms. It was found that Sevda's arm was the longest. Afterwards, when Zeinab was the first to succeed the Prophet in death, it became manifest that by length of arm was meant liberality in almsgiving : for Zeinab gave away as alms all the produce from the sale of her handiwork. She died 53 years old, a.h. 20. In the current books ten traditions are derived from her, of which two are generally received. I.] ZEINAES AFFAIR JUSTIFIED. 501 Remark. — The preceding account of Zeinab's marriage with Mo- hammed is in itself both sad and droll, even without making allowance for expurgations to which it appears to have been subjected, in favour of the Prophet. But the following explana- tory remarks which the Mohammedan compiler of the Rawzat ul Ahbab appends to his narrative show that he studiously discarded from his reports what he considered prejudicial to the character of his hero. The reasons which he assigns for his benevolent discrimination also fully confirm the view, expressed in the present work, of the great need there exists for using the Mussulman sources of history, respecting Mohammed, with great caution. The singular logic adopted by the Mohammedan authors in screening their prophet's life and conduct, can leave little doubt that, had our information been derived from im- partial sources, Mohammed would appear before us in a far more unfavourable light. The instructive remarks with which the compiler of the Rawzat feels it his duty to favour his readers, and which plainly set forth the principles generally acted upon by the biographers, are as follows : — ' Be it known that some of the Commentators, Traditionists, Biographers, Jurists, and Historians narrate this story about Zeid and Zeinab in a different way, which a perfect Mussulman cannot follow, as regards his Excellency the Prophet. In the preceding narrative we have only written down what we found in the writings of the most approved Traditionists, Biographers, and cautious authors. Mussulmans, therefore, must not be staggered, if they find in other books what we have omitted, though the authors of those books may have been great men and belonged to the orthodox community. For it is best to follow truth. Sheikh Shihab ud Din says in some of his works that one has to take refuge with God {i.e. indignantly to turn) from what some believe concerning the Apostle of God in the matter of Zeinab, because the Most High always kept that prince, so that every one of his words and actions was true and pure. That prince never perfidiously looked at the illicit, his look being preserved pure not only from what is treacherous in itself, but even from what has the mere appearance of treachery. This is proved by the fact that at the conquest of Mecca, when Othman brought Abd Allah Ibn Saad, whose death had been decided upon, into the presence of the Prophet, soliciting an amnesty for him, the Prophet returned no answer, and did not give the amnesty, until Othman had repeatedly importuned him for it ; and, after Othman and Abd Allah had left, said to those present, ' Why did ye not cut off the head of 502 ZEINAB. JOWAIRIA. [app. that person ? ' Ibad Ibn Bishr answering, ' O Apostle of God, we were looking to the corner of thine eye for a sign, and if there had been one, we should have cut off his head at once,' the Prophet rejoined, ' It does not become any prophet that his look should convey treachery.' If, then, Mohammed regarded it treachery to give a sign with his eye, which would only have had the appearance of treachery, as the matter had been approved by him from religious motives, how can it be fit for Mussulmans to suppose that he allowed himself to look upon another man's wife ? On the contrary, it is proper to believe that the desires of that prince remained within the bounds of what was right, and that lust had no power over him. His companion from amongst the Genii was subject and obedient to him, and did not impel him to any but good things. But as in the time of ignorance Zeid was called ' Zeid Ibn Mo- hammed,' because Mohammed had adopted him for a son ; and as it was considered unlawful to marry the divorced wife of an adopted, no less than a natural, son, it behoved Divine Wisdom to forbid those views, and to overthrow those rules and customs in a more efficacious manner. It was for this purpose that, when Zeinab had been separated from Zeid, God married her in heaven to that Excellency and gave her to him. For if the early Mussulmans had not seen that prince marry the divorced wife of his adopted son, they would have been left in doubt and perplexity respecting such marriages.' 8. Jo7oairia was married by Mohammed a.h. 5, during his return from the Moreisi expedition, her husband having fallen in a fight against the Moslems. Her name was changed from Bere (=a wound), which was disliked by the Prophet. One morning he left her room whilst she was saying her prayers ; and on coming back in the course of the forenoon, he still found her engaged in prayer. He asked her, whether she had been praying ever since he left, and on her answering in the affirmative, he said, ' Since I left, I have only spoken three times four words, but if they were put into a balance, they would outweigh all that thou hast been saying to-day.' Another time the Prophet went to her on a Friday, and finding her fasting, he asked her whether she had also fasted the day before, and in- tended to do so the next day. On her answering in the negative, he said to her, 'Then break fast at once.' From this the Ulemas infer, that it is not good to fast on Fridays only. She died in Medina, a.h. 50 or 56, being 65 years old. The honoured books contain seven traditions from her, of which four are genuine. I.] OM HABIBA. SAFIA. 503 9. Om Habiba (also called Ramla and Hind) was first married to Obeid Allah, with whom she embraced Islam at an early period, and emigrated to Abyssinia, where she bore him the daughter Habiba. She narrates : ' Whilst in Abyssinia, I one night saw Obeid Allah, in a dream, exceedingly ill-favoured and unsightly. In the morning he said to me, ' O Om Habiba, I have examined all religions and not found a better one than Christianity. I also formerly held that religion, though afterwards chose Mohammed's; and now I wish to return to the religion of the Christians.' I replied, ' O Abd Allah, do not say so, for I saw a strange dream concerning thee to-night.' I told him the dream, but he gave no heed, and became a renegade to Christianity, took to drinking wine, and died in that state. Afterwards I had again a dream in which I saw some one who addressed me, ' O mother of the believers.' On waking I interpreted it to myself as an intimation that the Prophet was going to marry me. When my legal time of mourning was over, a female domestic was one day sent to me from the Abyssinian king, with the message ' I have received a letter from the Apostle of God in which he asks thee in marriage.' On hearing this, I was exceedingly delighted, and took off ornaments from my hands and feet to reward the mes- senger. Then I appointed Khalid Ibn Said for my Vakil, and was married to the Prophet by the Abyssinian king, receiving as my dowry 400 gold pieces (or, according to another account, 1000 dirhems)'. When Om Habiba reached Medina, she became ennobled with the nobility of that Excellency's bed. She was at that time thirty odd years of age. It is reported that when her end approached, she asked pardon of Aisha and of Om Selma, saying, ' Amongst a man's wives discord will naturally arise : forgive all that happened to you through me.' They answered, ' May God reconcile us to each other ! We have forgiven all that has happened.' Om Habiba re- joined, ' May God gladden you, as you have gladdened me ! ' She died a.h. 42 or 44, in Medina. The books of authority contain sixty-six traditions from her, of which two are generally received. 10. Safia ( = Sophia) Bent Hoyyai, a Jewess of the tribe of Aaron. She belonged to the Nadhir kabile ; and after having been separ- ated from her first husband, Sallam Ibn Mishkam, she became the wife of Kinana Ibn er Rabbi, who was slain at the conquest of Khaibar. From amongst all the other captives the Prophet chose her for himself. As soon as she was brought before him, he ordered her to be taken to his tent. He soon went there himself to see her ; and on saying to her, ' Thy father has always been hostile to me, 504 SAFIA. [app. now God has slain him,' she replied, ' God does not upbraid any one for the sins of others.' Then he left her free to choose between going back to her people and turning Mussulman, to become one of his pure wives. She being a gentle and intelligent lady, answered, ' O Apostle of God, verily, I have a desire to become a Mussulman. I believe in thee, and in this state am I come to thee. I have no longer any connection with Judaism ; I have no longer either father or brother amongst the Jews. By Allah ! God and His Apostle are preferable to me to being set at liberty and rejoining my people.' These words pleased the Prophet so much, that he at once put her aside for himself and gave her her liberty for a dowry. When they quitted Khaibar, she was brought to ride on the same camel with the Prophet. He offered her his thigh, to assist her in mounting ; but she had such regard to good manners, that, instead of stepping on his thigh, she mounted by only putting her knee against him. He covered her with his own cloth, and sat in front of her, so that all the people knew she was to be one of his pure wives. At the first halting-place, six miles from Khaibar, he wished to consummate the marriage with her ; but as she was unwilling, and refused, he became very angry with her. At the next station he told Ora Selim his wish, requesting her to make the necessary pre- paration. Accordingly she brought Sana into the tent, combed her hair, perfumed her, and gave her instruction what to do when the Prophet came near her. Safia acting as she was instructed, the marriage was consummated that night. It is recorded that Abu Eyub, one of the Ansars, watched that whole night with a drawn sword before the tent ; and when the Prophet, on seeing him in the morning, asked him for the reason, he replied, ' O Apostle of God, Safia is still a young lady ; her father and husband have been slain : I therefore thought within myself, that it was best to remain near, so as to be ready for any eventuality.' The Prophet smiled, and blessed him for his care. On being asked by Om Selim, how she had found the Prophet, Safia said, ' I found him pleasant. He was gay with me, and kept talking with me all night, till this morning. When he asked me, why I refused him in the previous station, and I answered, I was afraid some harm might happen to him, as the place was so near the Jews, he was pleased with the answer, and loved me all the more for it.' The same morning Mohammed also asked all his friends to bring forward all the eatables they could spare, and thus he had a wedding-feast prepared in honour of Safia. It is recorded that, on arriving at Medina, Mohammed lodged i.] SAFIA. 5°5 Safia in a room of Haritha Ibn Noaman's house. The renown of her great beauty spreading about, the wives of the Ansars went to see her. Aisha the faithful, likewise, disguising herself by putting a sheet around her and covering her face with a veil, went amongst other women to get a look at her. The Prophet, seeing her, recognised her at once ; so, taking hold of her sheet, he said to her, 'O Anemone, how didst thou find Safia?' Aisha replied, 'I found a Jewish girl, sitting among Jewish women.' It is recorded on the authority of Om Selim, that four of the Prophet's pure wives went disguised amongst the wives of the Ansars to see Safia, viz., Aisha, Zeinab, Hafza, and Jowairia. She heard Zeinab say to Jowairia, 'What I have seen is this, that before long this one will have superseded us all.' But Jowairia replied, ' It will not be so ; for she belongs to a people whose women are not more fortunate than its men.' Aisha the faithful narrated : 'Once that prince took us with him on a journey; and when Safia's camel was taken ill, so as to be unable to proceed further, he said to Zeinab, " How would it be, if thou wert to lend thy spare camel to Safia, till the next station ? " But she replied, " I shall give nothing to that Jewess." This so offended his Excellency that for two or three months he forsook Zeinab, and never went near her.' It is recorded that during that prince's last illness, when the mothers of the believers were gathered around him, Safia said, ' O Apostle of God, I wish I could have this illness in thy stead.' When the other wives heard this word, they winked to each other with their eyes ; and on the Prophet observing it, he was very much displeased, and said, 'By Allah ! Safia has been sincere in what she said.' On one occasion, when the Apostle of God went to the apartment of Safia, he found her weeping. Asking her why she wept, she said, ' Because Aisha and Hafza trouble me, saying, We are better than Safia, being both his relatives and his married wives.' That prince said, ' O Safia, didst thou not say to them, In what way are you better than I, who have Aaron for a father, Moses for an uncle, and Mohammed Mustafa for a husband?' On another occasion Aisha the faithful said reproachingly to Mohammed, ' Is it not enough for thee to acknowledge the defects of Safia, seeing she is such and such, that is, very short ? ' His Excellency replied, 'O Aisha, verily thou hast spoken a word which, if it had a colour and were thrown into the sea, would colour the entire ocean.' Safia died, a.h. 36 or 50 or 52, or, according to another account, 506 MEIMUNA. [app. during Omar's Califate. Ten traditions are derived from her, of which one is generally recognised. n. Meimiina Bint el Harith, whose previous name was Bere, had in the time of ignorance been the wife of Masud Ibn Omar, and after their separation was married by Abu Dehm, or by Khuwaitab, or by Furuwet, or by Sibret, or by Abd Yalil. After her second husband's death, the Prophet desired her ; and he married her, a.h. 7, during his return from the Omra expedition, in the station of Serf, not far from Mecca. It is a strange incident that Meimuna afterwards died in the same place, and was buried on the spot where her nuptial bed had been. The account con- cerning her, deserving preference to the rest, is this, that at the time the Prophet married her, there was no legal impediment in the way, but according to other accounts she was not lawful to him. It is said that Meimuna was that lady who made a present of herself to the Prophet. When the news reached her that the Prophet desired her in marriage, she was mounted on a camel, and at once said, ' I and the camel I am riding upon are God's and His Prophet's.' Then the verse came down, ' And a believing woman has made a present of herself to the Prophet.' But, according to another account, the lady who gave herself as a present to the Prophet was Zeinab Bint Jahsh, or Zeinab Bint Khazima, or a lady from amongst the Beni Amir. Meimuna narrated as follows : ' One night, when it was my turn, the Apostle of God rose up from my side and went out. Then I rose up and locked the door. After a while his Excellency returned and knocked, but I did not open. When he swore at me, to open, I said, " O Apostle of God, thou goest to thy other wives in the night of my turn." His Excellency answered : " I did not go to them, but went somewhere else.'" According to some accounts Meimuna died a.h. 51, and accord- ing to others, a.h. 61 or 63 or 60. According to these latter it was Meimuna who died last of all Mohammed's wives, and not Om Selma. The traditions derived from her amount to seventy- six, of which seven are generally agreed upon. The wives above mentioned are the eleven favoured ladies with whom the Prophet consummated marriage ; and not one of the Biographers dissents from this statement. Only two of them, viz., Khadija and Zeinab Bint Khazima, departed this world during the Prophet's life, and after them that prince went to eternity, whilst the remaining nine were still living. I.] FATIMA. SENA. MELIKA. ASM A. 507 Besides these, there are thirty other ladies, with some of whom that Excellency contracted a marriage, without consummating it, whilst others he asked in marriage, without the engagement being carried out. One of them was Fatima Bint Dhahak, to whom the Prophet left the choice, after having married her, and who there- upon left him, preferring the world. She at last became so desti- tute that she had to gather camel-dung in the street for fuel. She used to say, ' Take a warning from my misfortune, because I pre- ferred this world to God and His Apostle.' Another was Sena, or Saba, or Asma Bint Zalat. Soon after she had been informed of the glad news that the Prophet had accepted her in marriage, she also received the sad tidings that the object of her joy had died. Another was Melika Bint Kaab, on whose thigh the Lord of the world observed something white, when he was alone with her. This gave him a loathing, and he said to her, ' Dress again, and return to thy people.' Another was Asma Bint Noaman. Her father, the chief of his tribe, on coming to the Prophet and professing belief in him, said : ' O Apostle of God, I have a daughter, the most beautiful of the women of Arabia. She is as yet without a husband, and has a strong desire to be ennobled with the nobility of thy bed.' The Prophet accepted her, and gave her father Noaman 12^ pounds of money for her dower. Noaman asked for a higher dowry ; but on the Prophet assuring him, that he had not given more to any of his wives, nor asked more for his own daughters, he consented ; and his daughter was sent for by one of the Prophet's confidential men. As soon as the fame of her beauty had spread in Medina, the ladies of the city came to see her. The mothers of the believers in- structed one of the women to convey this message to her : ' Thou art the daughter of a chief : if therefore thou wishest to find more luck here, thou hadst better say to him, as soon as he is alone with thee, " I take refuge with God from thee ! " for this will multiply his inclination and love towards thee.' According to another account, the Prophet's pure wives were very jealous of Asma from the moment she had arrived ; and, feigning affection for her, sought to mislead her. Aisha said to Hafza, ' Do thou burn henna on her hands, and I will dress her hair.' So when her head was being dressed, one of them said to that unfortunate one, ' The Prophet exceedingly loves any woman, who, as soon as they are alone, turns her back upon him, and says, " I take refuge with God from thee !'" So when that prince was alone with Asma, and wished to kiss her, 508 LEILI. OM HANI. JUMRA. [app. that simpleton said, ' I take refuge with God from thee.' As soon as that Excellency heard her say this word, he rose up from her side, saying, ' Thou hast taken refuge in a safe place : arise and go back to thy father.' Then the Prophet sent her back to her tribe by the same man who had fetched her. When the Apostle of God afterwards became aware of the trick his wives had played to Asma, he said, ' They are like Joseph, and their cunning is great.' Another was Leili Bint Khatim. Once when the Prophet was sunning his back, she went behind him, giving him a blow with her fist. On his turning round and asking for an explanation, she said, ' I am come to thee, in order to give myself up to thee, and that thou mayest marry me.' His Excellency replied, ' I accept thee for a wife.' But when she returned to her people and told them what had happened, they said to her, ' Thou hast not acted well ; for thou art a jealous lady ; but that Excellency has many wives, so thou wilt be sure to say to them what will make him angry and will lead him to curse thee. It will therefore be the best thing for thee to go to that prince and ask him to annul the marriage.' This was accordingly done, and Leili married some one else, by whom she had children. But one day, when she was taking a bath in one of the gardens of Medina, a wolf came and tore her in pieces. Of those whom the Prophet asked in marriage, but did not obtain, •was Om Hani or Fakhta Bint Abu Talib. He had asked for her already in the time of ignorance ; but her father, his uncle, gave her to Habira, on the plea that he himself had taken a wife from their family. Afterwards she embraced Islam and became sepa- rated from Habira. Then his Excellency asked again for her, but she answered, ' O Apostle of God, by Allah, I loved thee even in the time of ignorance, and now since I am a Mussulman, why should I not love thee still ? By Allah ! I love thee more than my eyes and my ears ; but I am a lady with orphan children. I fear that when I look after them, I cannot properly attend to thy service. If thou wert to come to my bed, thou wouldst find one child by my side and another on my bosom.' Another -w&sjumra Bint Harith, whom the Prophet asked of her father. The latter replied, ' O Apostle of God, she has a disease,' although this was not the case. But when her father came home, he found her covered with leprosy. That prince had also Female Slaves. The first of these was Mary Bint Simeon, a Copt, whom the King of Alexandria sent to I.] MARY THE COPT. RAIHANA. 509 him for a present. She was a beautiful, fair lady, and, having em- braced Islam, the Prophet kept her for concubinage. He fondly loved her, and his son Ibrahim was by her. She died, a.h. 16, during Omar's Califate. The second is Raihana Bint Zeid, one of the captives of the Beni Nadhir, a Jewish tribe. The Prophet selected her for himself from amongst the other captives. He left her the choice between her own religion and Islam, and she chose the latter. He possessed her by the right of his right hand {i.e. by conquest). According to another account, adopted by Wakidi, he liberated and married her in Ramadan, a.h. 6. The third was a beautiful female slave falling to his share of the war-booty. The fourth was a slave whom Zeinab Bint Jahsh gave him for a present. APPENDIX II. MOHAMMEHS CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. Be it known that all his Excellency's children were by Khadija, except Ibrahim, who came from Mary. Kasim was the eldest son of that prince, who, on this account, was surnamed ' Abu-1-Kasim,' i.e. the father of Kasim. Kasim was born in Mecca during the time of ignorance, and also died in the time of ignorance, after having entered upon the second year of his age. Abd Allah likewise was born in Mecca, and died in his infancy. At that time the idolaters of Mecca boasted, saying, ' We have sons by whom our name and fame will be perpetuated in this world ; but Mohammed has no son left, and therefore his name and fame will perish.' Ibrahim (Abraham) was born, a.h. 5, in Medina. The midwife on the occasion was the Apostle's liberated slave Selmi. She sent the good news of the birth by her husband, Abu Ran, to Mohammed, who rewarded him by the present of a slave. The Prophet, that same night, also gave the child the name of Ibrahim. Gabriel came down and saluted that prince by saying, ' Peace be to thee, O thou father of Ibrahim !' which pleased him very much. On the seventh day after the birth, when the ceremony of the cutting of the hair with which he came into the world took place (Akiha), the Prophet sacrificed a sheep, had Ibrahim's head shaved, and gave the equal weight of the hair, in silver, as alms to the poor, and then ordered the hair to be buried. It is reported that the ladies of the Ansar eyed each other from a desire of becoming Ibrahim's wet-nurse. Their object in this was, to take all care from his mother, so that she might give herself up wholly to the service of the Prophet ; for they knew that his Excellency loved her exceedingly. The wet- nurse is stated to have been Om Berde, and according to another account, Om Seif. Ibrahim lived about a year, dying a.h. 10. His death caused ii.] IBRAHIM'S DEATH AND BURIAL. ZEINAB. 511 the Prophet great sadness and many tears. When they brought the news to him that the child was in the agonies of death, he took the hand of Abd ur Rahman Ibn Awf, who happened to be with him, and went to Abu Seif's house, where he found the child lying in its mother's lap. He took it up in his arms ; and as he thus looked upon it, tears flowed from his blessed eyes. Abd ur Rahman said, ' O Apostle of God, thou also weepest ; didst thou not forbid us to bewail our dead?' He replied, 'O Ibn Awf, what thou now seest in me is compassion and tenderness for the dead, arising from the thought of what is befalling him.' Asama Ibn Zeid, on being told not to wail, answered, ' O Apostle of God, I wept, because I saw thee weep;' to which his Excellency remarked, 'Weeping is from compassion, wailing from Satan.' According to one account, Ibrahim was washed by the wet-nurse ; according to another, by Fazl Ibn Abbas, Abd ur Rahman pouring on the water. The Prophet was present during the washing, and performed the funeral service ; after which he had the grave levelled and water poured over it. Ibrahim's was the first grave in Islam on which water was poured. It is reported that Mohammed said on the day of Ibrahim's death, ' If Ibrahim had remained alive, I would have made all his mother's relatives free, and would have exempted all the Kopts from tribute.' It is also established that he said, 'As my son Ibrahim quitted this world before his nursing was over, he will have a nurse, or, according to another account, two nurses, in Paradise, till the time of nursing is completed.' Of Mohammed's DAUGHTERS. Zeinab was the oldest, born in the time of ignorance, and after- wards married by her father to his nephew Abu-1-Aas. The latter was amongst the captives taken by the Mussulmans at the battle of Bedr. Zeinab being then in Mecca, gave up the necklace which she had received from her mother Khadija on her wedding-day, to be sent to the Mussulmans for the redemption of her husband. As soon as his Excellency saw the necklace, he became greatly moved, because it reminded him of Khadija ; and he said to his com- panions, ' If you wish, you may give up Zeinab's captive and send her back the necklace.' Accordingly, this was done. Before Abu- 1-Aas left, Mohammed addressed him thus, 'When thou hast reached Mecca, send me back my daughter Zeinab : for her Islam and thy unbelief have separated you from each other.' In com- 512 ZEINAB. RAKAIA. app. pliance with this stipulation, Abu-1-Aas sent Zeinab to Medina. She remained there separated from him, till later on he fell into the hands of Mohammed's soldiers, whilst he was returning from a mercantile journey. He begged Zeinab's and her father's pardon, had his goods restored to him, and embraced Islam. His wife rejoined him, by virtue of the first marriage, or, according to another account, by a fresh marriage. Zeinab had two children by Abu-1-Aas : a boy called Ali, who died when he was nearly grown up ; and a girl called Imama, whom the Prophet loved so much that once he kept her on his shoulder whilst performing his prayers, putting her on the ground at the prostration and taking her up again, when he raised his blessed head from the ground. She was afterwards married to Ali Ibn Abu Talib, after Fatima's death, who had counselled the marriage. Zeinab died a.h. 8. The Prophet ordered that she should be washed three or five or seven times, the last time with camphor ; and that his own bathing-towel should be tied on to her winding- sheets. Rakaia, Mohammed's second daughter, was born during the time of ignorance, in the thirty-third year of the Elephant, and was married by her father to Atiba Ibn Abu Lahab. But before the marriage was consummated, a verse was revealed against Abu Lahab, wherefore he insisted on his son divorcing Rakaia. It is also recorded that after Mohammed had received his apostolic mission, the Koreish, from their enmity to him, said to his sons-in- law Abu-1-Aas and Atiba, 'You have taken Mohammed's daughters and freed him from this care : if you desire our goodwill, you must divorce them, so that he may be occupied with his daughters and not with other matters ; and we will give you instead any one of our daughters whom you may choose.' Abu-1-Aas declined ; but Atiba said, ' If you give me Saad's daughter, I will divorce Rakaia.' Accordingly, Atiba, about to start on a mercantile journey to Syria, with his father, first went to Mohammed, speaking against his God, and then called out, 'I have divorced Rakaia.' The Prophet replied, ' O God, set thou one of thy dogs at him.' When they had reached the Zarka station on their journey to Syria, a monk came from a neighbouring monastery and told them, ' This station is an abode of wild beasts : be on your guard ! ' Therefore Abu Lahab went round to all the people of the caravan, saying, ' Help us this night ; for I fear for my son on account of Mohammed's curse.' So they brought all their merchandise together on a heap, and pre- II.] RAKAIA, OM KOL THUM, FA TIMA . 513 pared a place on its top for Atiba to sleep in. But in the night God sent a heavy sleep upon them. A lion came, first smelled at each one of them, without doing them any harm, and then, flinging itself upon the heap of merchandise, gave Atiba a blow with its paw which tore asunder his body and killed him. Afterwards the Prophet gave Rakaia to Othman Ibn Afan, and they twice emigrated to Abyssinia. Rakaia being with child during the first emigration, suffered a miscarriage. Then she bore Othman a son, named Abd Allah, who died two years old, from the effects of his eye being picked out by a cock. Rakaia died a.h. 2, during the absence of her father at the battle of Bedr. When the ladies wept for her, Omar Ibn Khattab came and struck them with his fist, saying, ' Why do you weep ? ' The Apostle of God, seizing his hand, said to him, ' Beat them not, let them weep : but they must refrain from wailing and beating themselves.' When Fatima sat on her grave, by the side of the Prophet, and wept, he dried her tears with the end of his sleeve. As most narrators agree that the Prophet was from home when Rakaia died, the last-mentioned circumstance must either have happened at the death of another of his daughters, or else during one of his visits to the tomb, after his return from Bedr. But God knows best. Om Kolthum or Amino, was Mohammed's third daughter. She was at first married to Otba, Atiba's brother, who soon divorced her at the instigation of his father Abu Lahab. A year after Rakaia's death, the Prophet gave her to Othman Ibn Afan. According to some historians she bore him no children ; and according to others, the children she bore died in infancy. She herself died a.h. 9. When her body had been brought to the grave, the Prophet asked, ' Which of you men did not approach last night ? ' and on Abu Talha answering, he did not, he commanded him to descend into the grave and bury her. He also ordered the grave to be smoothed down, but said, ' Know, that the dead derives no benefit from this ; only it is more gratifying to the living.' Fatima the brilliant, surnamed Om Mohammed, and also called the blessed, the pure, the intelligent, the content, the contenting, and the virgin, was Mohammed's fourth daughter. She was born in the thirty-fifth or the forty-first year of the Elephant, and is generally regarded as the Prophet's youngest daughter, though some say that Rakaia or Om Kolthum was the youngest. Ali Ibn Abu Talib married her a.h. 2, on his return from the battle of Bedr. At 2 K 514 FA TIM A. [app. the time of her marriage Fatima was fifteen or eighteen years old, or, according to other historical statements, twenty or twenty-four years. She gave birth to three sons and three daughters, namely, Hasan, Hosein, and Mohsan ; Zeinab, Om Kolthum, and Rakaia, — of whom the third and the sixth died in their infancy. Zeinab was given in marriage to Abd Allah Ibn Jafar, and Om Kolthum to Omar Ibn Khattab ; but they left no children. The only child of the Prophet whose issue survived, was Fatima. Once, when Aisha the faithful was asked who had been the best beloved of the Apostle of God, she answered, 'Amongst women, Fatima, and amongst men, her husband.' Hadhifa el Yeman narrated : ' One day my mother scolded me on account of not having seen the Prophet for so long. I therefore went that morning to perform the prayers with him. After prayers he went to his room, and as I went after him, I observed some one walking before that Excellency and saying a few words into his ears, in a low voice. Mohammed asked me what I wanted; and on my answering, " O Apostle of God, I am come to crave pardon for my mother and myself," he said, " God has forgiven both thee and thy mother." Then he further questioned me, " Didst thou see that person who was walking before me ? " and on my giving an affirma- tive answer, he continued, " This was an angel who had never before descended anywhere, but who now received permission from my Lord to come down : he, after saluting, told me that Fatima was to be the mistress of the ladies of Paradise," and Hasan and Hosein the Lords of the youths of Paradise." ' Uns Ibn Malik narrated that the Prophet once said, ' Of all the women of this world, the following are equal in rank : Mary, the daughter of Omran ; Khadija, the daughter of Khuilid ; Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed ; and Pharaoh's wife Asia, the daughter of Mezahin.' It is also established that the Prophet said, 'Fatima is a piece of myself : whoever pains her, pains me ; and whoever is angry with her, is angry with me.' According to another account he said, ' God is wroth with any one who bears anger to Fatima ; and he is pleased with any one who takes pleasure in Fatima.' One day the Lord of the world put the following question in an assembly of his companions, ' Tell me, what is the most proper thing for ladies to do ? ' But not one of those present could answer it. When Ali Ibn Abu Talib, on returning home, told this to his wife Fatima, she said, ' Why didst thou not answer, The best thing for ladies to do is, that neither they should see the faces of gentle- men, nor gentlemen their faces.' Then Ali returned to the Prophet II.] FATIMA. 515 and gave him the answer which he had been taught by Fatima. Thereupon his Excellency remarked, ' Truly, Fatima is a piece of myself.' On another day the Prophet, coming to Fatima's house, found her wearing a coarse garment of camel's hair, which brought tears to his eyes, and led him to say, ' O Fatima, patiently bear to-day this world's trouble and distress : for on the morrow of the resur- rection the favours of Paradise shall be thine.' Sheikh Nejm narrates in his commentary on the first Sura, that once the Prophet, in visiting Fatima, found her grieving and sad. On asking her the reason of this, she answered, ' O Apostle of God, I say it not by way of complaint, but as a mere statement of facts, that we have now been three days without any food in our house. Hasan and Hosein having exhausted their patience, cry out with hunger ; and seeing them weep, tears come to my own eyes, and Ali likewise has wept. To-day, when I heard Hasan and Hosein say, " Are there any other children who have to suffer hunger as we have ? " my strength failed me, and the world turned dark before my eyes. O dear father, what sayest thou? Is it a shame if any one prays to the Most High with boldness?' His Excellency answered, ' No, my daughter • the Most High loves the boldness of His servants.' Fatima arose, took an ablution, said the legal prayers, and then sighed, and supplicated thus, ' O God, thou knowest that women have not the strength of a prophet. If there is a secret between thee and my father, I have no strength for it : either give strength for these troubles, or remove them from me ! ' After having said this, she fainted. Then came Gabriel, saying, 'O Apostle of God, arise, and look after Fatima.' When the teacher of the world came, he found his daughter lying in a fainting fit. He raised her head up, and on recovering consciousness she sat up, with her head bashfully inclined. He exhorted her to remember that God is the dispenser of favours ; and laying his blessed hand on her bosom, added, ' O God, keep her safe from hunger ! : Fatima said, 'After that prayer I never felt the pangs of hunger again.' Fatima the illustrious died on the third of Ramadan, 6 or 3 months, or 40 or 29, or 35 or 24 days, after the death of the Prophet, being 28 years of age. She was buried the same day, Ali, or, according to another account, Abbas, conducting the funeral service. It is reported that on the following day, Abu Bekr and Omar, and all the other noble companions, blamed Ali, saying, ' Why didst thou not inform us, so that we also might have been ennobled 516 FATIMA, HASAN. [app. with the nobility of her funeral service ? ' Ali the favoured excused himself by saying that he had acted in accordance with a special request. It is reported that Fatima the illustrious had called Ali the favoured to her bedside, and laid this injunction upon him, ' When I am dead, bury me at night, so that no eye by which I cannot legally be seen, may see my corpse.' Eighteen traditions are derived from her of which one is generally accredited. Fatima's two sons, Hasan and Hosein, are the two most renowned of Mohammed's grandchildren. Hasan was in all his parts, from the chest upwards to the pate of his head, most like the Apostle of God. The learned biographers narrate that one day the Calif Abu Bekr observed Hasan at play with other boys, when he took hold of him, placed him on his shoulders, and said to him, ' O Hasan, thou exceedingly resemblest the seal of the prophets, but art unlike Ali.' Ali, hearing this, smiled, and said that Abu Bekr was right. Hasan died in Ramadan, a.h. 53. The Hamadan Hafiz Abu-1-Ala narrated that when Ali, the Com- mander of the faithful, reached the land of the mercy of God (i.e. died), Hasan, the Commander of the faithful, ascended the pulpit and said, ' O ye people, to-night some one has departed from amongst you, whose like those who have been before you have never seen, and those who come after you will never see. A person who, when ordered by the Apostle of God to exterminate the rebels and enemies, was accompanied and assisted by Gabriel on his right side, and by Michael on his left, and who never turned back until victory was achieved ; that person died in the same night in which likewise Moses, the son of Amran died, and in which Jesus, the son of Mary, ascended into heaven.' According to some books, the people took the oath of allegiance to that Excellency immediately after this address, and according to others, just before. The prince who had the luck and blessedness of first laying hold on the skirt of that Excellency's allegiance, was Kais Ibn Saad of the Ansars. He said, ' I take the oath of allegiance to thee, O Commander of the faithful, on the Book of God, and on the Law of the best of created beings, and on the religious war against the enemies.' Hasan replied, 'Religious war against all sorts of opponents is enjoined in the Book of God and the Law of Mohammed the chosen ; there is no need of proving this by special quotations.' From this expression the people inferred that that Light of the eye of the virgin (viz. Fatima) and that Lamp of the ii.] HASAN. 517 assembly of the accepted ones, had no inclination to enter upon a struggle and murderous war against adversaries. When Moawia, the son of Abu Sofyan, had received the tidings of his Excellency Ali's death, and of the people's oath of allegiance to his son Imam Hasan, he left a locum tenetis at Damascus, and set out with 60,000 men for Persia, marching in the direction of Kufa. As soon as Hasan heard of this, he departed from Kufa with 40,000 men, and on the way ordered Kais Ibn Saad to join him with 12,000 horsemen. Having reached Madain, the Com- mander of the faithful ordered a halt, to rest his troops. Here he held a council, in which he said, ' O ye people, you have taken an oath of allegiance to me, to follow me in the case of war or peace. By that God whose power is supreme, I declare that I have no hatred or enmity against any man in this world.' From this word the people understood that his Excellency was going to make peace with Moawia and resign the Califate. A number of rebels said amongst themselves, 'He has turned infidel.' All the people became so enraged that they attacked Hasan, tore his clothes, and pulled away the carpet on which he was sitting. Most of the soldiers repented of the oath of allegiance which they had taken. His Highness mounted a horse and called out, ' Where are the people of Rebia and Hamadan?' They at once came forward to protect him, and conducted him back to Madain. Still, a rebel succeeded on the way in dealing him a blow and wounding his thigh, but was immediately cut down for the deed. The Com- mander of the faithful was taken to the white tower of Madain, wounded, and groaning with pain. But under the care of his surgeons he soon recovered. Meanwhile Moawia had overtaken Kais, Hasan's commander-in- chief, at Ambar, and surrounded him. Abd Allah Ibn Amir, with a troop of warriors, came upon the soldiers of Imam Hasan, and called out aloud, ' O ye people of Irak, I am the advance-guard ot Moawia's army; I am not come with the intention of fighting you, for at this very moment a great fight is going on at Ambar, and Moawia has surrounded Kais Ibn Saad. Give my salutation to Imam Hasan, and tell him that I swear by God to suspend hosti- lities, and not to shed the blood of himself and those who are with him.' When Imam Hasan's soldiers heard this word of Abd Allah, fear and terror seized their mind, so that no strength remained in their arms for fighting. The Commander of the faithful re-entered Madain, and Abd Allah went after him, surrounding the city. Hasan, on witnessing the fear and weakness of his companions, 5i8 HASAN. [app. sent word to Abd Allah that he was ready to relinquish the Califate upon certain conditions, and to deliver over the bridle of decision into Moawia's hands. The conditions were, that the Persians and Arabs who had adhered to Hasan should not be punished, but amnestied; that Hasan should receive the tribute of the province of Ahwaz ; that, annually, 200,000 dirhems should be paid him from the public treasury ; and that his Excellency the Imam should be distinguished above his family, as regards the privileges enjoyed by the Beni Hashim. As a further condition it is added by some, that Hasan's father, Ali, was thenceforth no more to be reviled ; but this was only conceded in reference to assemblies in which Hasan himself was present. Abd Allah Ibn Amir sent an account of this peaceable arrange- ment to Moawia, who conceded all Imam Hasan's requests. Moawia had a formal treaty of peace drawn up, in which he pledged himself with a strong oath, to carry out those requests inviolate ; and after having it likewise signed and sealed by the chief men in Damascus, he sent it to Ibn Amir, to deliver it to Imam Hasan. The Imam gladly accepted the peace, and wrote to Kais Ibn Saad, ' Peace is concluded between myself and Moawia, therefore thou hast to give up all thought of fighting, and to relinquish the government to him.' As soon as this letter had reached Kais, he made its contents known to the chief men of his army, and added, ' You must now choose between two things : either you must fight Moawia, without the Imam, or you must bend your heads in obedience to Moawia. They choosing the latter alternative, Kais left them and returned to Hamadan. Some also narrate, that Hasan especially insisted on the condition that Moawia should never appoint a successor, but leave it to the Mussulmans to choose after his death any one whom they might consider best fitted to become Calif. Likewise, that the family of Ali should never in any way be molested, and that Kais should expressly be included in the amnesty. When Moawia had accepted all these conditions, he entered Kufa with his Damascene army, and Imam Hasan took the oath of allegiance to him there. Moawia also desired Hosein to come and take the oath of allegiance, but he declined ; and Hasan advised Moawai not to compel him to do so, because he knew that he would rather die than take the oath of allegiance. Another account, according to which Hasan forced his brother Hosein to take the oath, is not credited by the Shiites. Kais had to be pressed by Hasan to take the oath : and when he thus came at last, Moawia said to him, ' O II.] HASAN. 519 Kais, I did not wish to become Sultan and thou be alive.' Kais replied, 'Nor did I wish to be alive and thou bear rule.' Those present prevented an open rupture, till the heat had cooled down on both sides. Hasan being supposed to be wanting in eloquence, Moawia requested him to mount the pulpit and give an address, in the hope that thus his unfitness for the Califate might be made obvious to the public. But he spoke so well, that his speech began to make an impression on the people, whereupon Moawia called out, ' It is enough now ; come down from the pulpit.' After these things Hasan with his followers departed for Medina, and Moawia returned to Damascus. According to one account, the Califate of Hasan lasted 6 months, and that of the previous four Califs, 29 J years, which explains the tradition, 'The duration of the Califate is 30 years.' It is reported that his Excellency the Imam was reproached for having made peace with Moawia, and that he was exhorted to re- assert his claims to the Califate by force of arms. But he stead- fastly resisted, on the ground that the general opinion was opposed to a war, and that he himself wished to spare the blood of his partisans. Imam Hosein also agreed with this decision, saying, 'As long as Moawia lives, every one must remain at home, and draw his cloak over his head.' When, a.h. 41, about 600 rebels assembled at Nakhla, regarding it as a duty to fight against Moawia, the latter, on hearing it, requested Hasan to attack and destroy them. Ac- cordingly he sent word to them, ' No one must rise in rebellion and shed blood on my account. All people know that I have re- signed the Califate. If I had inclined towards war, I should have made war with Moawia at the first, but in order not to fight against Moslems and to preserve my followers from destruction, I have chosen the corner of private life, and turned the carpet of enmity.' There is an account that one of the conditions of peace was this, that after Moawia's death, the appointment of a Calif should be dependent on Hasan's consent. Some considerable time after the conclusion of peace, Moawia determined to appoint his son Yezid as his successor, and to invite the people to take the oath of alle- giance to him. But well knowing that he could not carry out this intention so long as Hasan was living, he spent whole nights in devising means for getting him out of the way. So he sent a messenger to Medina to promise to Hasan's wife, Jaada, a reward of 50,000 dirhems, and the hand of his son Yezid, if she would make use of her intercourse with Hasan for rubbing his limbs and 52o HASAN. [app. body with a poisoned handkerchief, forwarded to her for this purpose, and thus send him into eternity. The treacherous woman, closing with the offer, received the stipulated 50,000 dirhems, after Hasan's death ; but Yezid, on being asked to marry her, replied, ' Jaada has not done her duty to the Prophet's grandson, how can she act well towards me ? and how could any one now desire her for a wife ? ' There are also a class of people who say, the cause of that Excellency's death was poisoned drink ; and others, that he had an illness, for forty days, of which he died. It is also reported that Hasan said during his illness, ' Twice before, they have given me poison to drink, and this is the third time.' It is likewise said, that poison had been given him six times, but that five times it did not kill him, and only the sixth time did its work. When his brother Hosein visited Hasan in his last illness, and asked him to tell him by whom he had been poisoned, so that he might avenge him after his death, Hasan answered, ' O brother, neither our father Ali, nor our mother Fatima, nor our grandfather Mohammed the chosen, nor our grandmother Khadija the great, made denunciation ; therefore, neither shall denunciation come from us, nor from any member of our family. When God pardons me, on the day of the resurrection, and does not also, for my sake, forgive the sin of the person who gave me poison, I shall not enter Paradise.' It is also recorded that Hasan, when visited on his deathbed by Hosein, said to him, 'O brother, when I am dead, bury me near the Apostle of God, if doing so does not cause bloodshed; but if it should, then bury me in the graveyard.' Hosein wished to bury him near the Prophet, but, finding the people opposed to this, had him interred in the graveyard. According to some account, a grave had already been dug near the Prophet's, when Aisha heard of it. She at once mounted a mule and rode to the spot, to prevent the interment. Ali's partisans said to her, ' O Aisha, before this, thou didst mount a camel and make war against his father Ali ; to-day thou mountest a mule and pre- ventest the grandson of the Apostle of God from being buried by his side.' But they could not prevail, because the people were divided into two parties ; and even arrows were shot, some of which hit Hasan's dead body. Some also affirm that Aisha herself was willing, but that the governor of the town and Othman's partisans prevented the burial near the Prophet. It is recorded that his Excellency Imam Hasan had the habit of ?narrying ladies and divorcing them again. Therefore the Commander of the faithful, Ali the favoured, said to the people, II.] HASAN. 521 ' Do not marry your daughters to my son Hasan, for he is a taster and a divorcer,' i.e. when a lady whom he has married has gratified his taste for a few days, he is in the habit of divorcing her ; but notwithstanding this, virgins and matrons much desired to be married to him, because they had heard that his Excellency the Prophet had frequently kissed the navel of that eye of the lamp of the family of Abd Menaf, in his infancy ; and therefore they wished, with all their heart and soul, to bring their own body in contact with the spot which the blessed lips of the Prophet of God had touched, so that, by this means, they might be protected against the power of Hell-fire. The Mirat ul Kaitiat (vol. i. p. 697) says, 'In all histories it is mentioned that his Excellency Imam Hasan was such an excessive marrier and divorcer that, during his father's lifetime, he successively married 90 or no ladies, and, notwithstanding his extreme good nature, divorced again, for a trifling reason, every one he had taken.1 But his form and fashion being as "beautiful" as his name,2 . every lady separated herself for him with love and fondness. On the occasion of his Excellency Ali saying, "O ye people of Kufa, do not give your ladies in marriage to Hasan, for he is a divorcer," one of those present replied, "Yes, we will surely let him marry, for he takes no pleasure in continence, and has no aversion to divorce." Soon after this, he married another of their ladies, who showed her 1 It must be specially remembered that this hero in the marrying and divorcing line was Mohammed's own cherished grandson. No better illustration than this can be required of the baneful fruits speedily borne by the Prophet's evil example and false teaching on the subject of matrimony. He encouraged a deviation from the Creator's primitive institution, by authorising his followers to have four married wives at one and the same time ; and to make room, by means of divorce, for fresh marriages, as often as they might please, whilst he himself left at his death nine living widows, besides his concubines. Such carnal doctrine and practice could not but find a ready acceptance amongst his more^sensually inclined admirers, and degrade the holy estate of matrimony into an instrument of immorality and lawlessness. If Hasan died A.H. 53, he can at most have been 50 years old, seeing that his parents only married A.H. 2, and yet he is reported to have successively married and divorced no less than 90 or no wives, so that, if he began to marry even at the unusually early age of 10, he must, for the space of 40 years, have married and divorced at the rate of two or three wives annually, but if, as the Mirat affirms, these 90 or 1 IO marriages and divorces took place before his father's death, their frequency was still more appalling. Yet this debauchee was declared by his Grandfather, the Prophet, as has been reported (p. 514), to be one of the Lords of the youths of Paradise ! Such a life as his was matrimony only in appearance, but gioss sensuality and abominable fornication in fact. Surely, both the doctrine and practice of Islam must alike fail to convince honest inquirers that it is an improvement on Chris- tianity, or possesses a legitimate claim to supersede it. 2 Hasan, in Arabic, signifies ' beautiful. ' 522 HOSEIN. [app. gratitude to that outspoken person, by sending him the present of a hundred female slaves, each provided with a thousand pieces of silver.' Hosein was born in Medina, a.h. 4, as a six months' child, and no other child was born with six months, except he and John, the son of Zacharias. From his chest to his feet he resembled the blessed body of the Apostle of God. It is said that the interval between Hasan's birth and Hosein's conception by Fatima the brilliant, was 50 days. The Apostle of God named him Hosein, and offered for him the Akika sacrifice. It is narrated of Asma Bint Amis that when Hosein was born, a year after Hasan, she took him to the Apostle of God, who embraced him in his arms, muttered a prayer into his right ear, and then another into his left, and, pressing him to himself, began to weep. On asking him for the reason of this, he told her, that Gabriel had just informed him that the child would soon be killed by the Prophet's own people, but he cautioned her, not to let Fatima know this, lest her feelings should be wounded, because she had only recently been confined. According to a story narrated by Om Salma, the Prophet one night disappeared from her chamber, and, after a long absence, returned bewildered and sad. Asking him for the reason, he said, ' To-night they took me to a place in Persia called Kerbela, and showed me Hosein killed by a party of my people. I took up a piece of earth into my hand, looking like blood ; preserve it well, and when thou findest that it turns into fresh blood, then know thou that they have made Hosein a martyr.' She did as she was bidden. When, afterwards, Hosein went to Kufa on the morning of the 10th of Moharram, she found it as before ; but looking again in the evening, she saw it had turned into fresh blood. She lamented a little, but soon refrained, lest the enemies of the family should exult. A little later the news arrived that Hosein and his family had attained to the glory of martyrdom. It is narrated that one day the Apostle of God had Hosein sitting on his right thigh and his own son Ibrahim on his left, when Gabriel came and told him that God wished to take away one of the two, allowing him to choose which one to retain. His Excel- lency reasoned thus : If Hosein dies, myself, Ali, and Fatima will grieve; but if Ibrahim is taken, I alone shall suffer excessive grief; therefore I prefer Ibrahim's death. Three days later Ibrahim died, and whenever afterwards Hosein visited the Prophet, he saluted him thus, ' Welcome thou, for whose sake I have sacrificed my son Ibrahim.' Be it also known that, besides being equal to his ready- tongued brother in knowledge, meekness, perfection, virtue, and liberality, Hosein daily repeated a thousand genuflexions of prayers, II.] HOSEIN'S 'MARTYRDOM: 523 and was a friend of the great and the learned, and, like his brother, made 25 pilgrimages. Hosein's martyrdom, by reason of which the world became dark, and angels, men, and genii mourned and wailed, is thus narrated : At the beginning of Rejeb, in the year 60 a.h., Moawia died at Damascus. Thereupon Damascus, Egypt, Haleb, with the greater part of Persia and Arabia, took the oath of allegiance to his son Yezid. But when Yezid sent a message to Medina for the same purpose, their Excellencies Hosein and Ibn Zobeir were not willing, and went to Mecca at the end of Rejeb. While there, Hosein received a writing from the leading men of Kufa, in which they invited him to come to them, so as to be made Calif over them. In order to test their sincerity he first sent his nephew Moslem to Kufa, and on hearing that 30,000 men were ready to receive him, he resolved to proceed thither and join them. Some of the great companions indeed tried to dissuade him from going ; but he replied that he had received a command from the Prophet, who had appeared to him in a dream. He started with eighteen men of his own household and sixty of his other followers, including thirty-two noble companions. As soon as Yezid had learnt that Kufa was going to oppose him, he sent thither Obeid Ullah as governor. When he arrived, he and the thirty horsemen with him were at first surrounded by the Kufites ; but he succeeded by some stratagem in dispersing the besiegers. He now had Moslem brought before him and immediately executed, whereupon all the people submitted themselves to his authority. When Hosein heard this, on the way, he became troubled ; but, being ready for his fate, he proceeded as far as the plain of Kerbela. Yezid had despatched a large body of troops to force Hosein into submission, by surrounding him and his party, and preventing them from taking water out of the river Euphrates. In case of his show- ing fight, he was to be slain. The soldiers boldly surrounded him in the plain for seven or eight days, till, according to the general report, on a Friday, which happened to be the Ashura fast, a severe fight and desperate conflict ensued, in a succession of single com- bats, from early morning until noon. Thirty-two combatants on horse- back and forty on foot became martyrs, amongst whom there were two of Hosein's own sons, four were his brothers, five his nephews, and five his cousins ; or, according to another account, twenty-three relatives, including his sons. After all these had fallen, Hosein himself mounted a horse, rushed upon his enemies, and fought desperately, till he succumbed to thirst and to seventy-two wounds, 524 HOSEINS ' MARTYRDOM? [app. ii. thirty-three of which were inflicted by the sword, and the rest by arrows and javelins. Hosein was fifty-six years old when he died, and his only two sons spared, were an infant in arms and a lad who was lying in bed with an illness. The latter afterwards became such a devotee that he is reported to have usually repeated a thousand genuflexions of prayers during the night, and to have been surnamed 'the ornament of worshippers.' But the Califate remained in the hands of Yezid, the son of Omaia, son of Abu Sofyan, and had its seat, for some time, in the city of Damascus. INDEX. The Numbers refer to the pages. Aaron, 122, 308, 503, 505. Abbas, 80, 107, 108, 109, 185, 201, 202, 204, 286, 293, 354, 370. Abd Allah Ibn Abi Nejih, 292. Omeia, 299. ■ Amir, 517, 518. Abu Bekr, 1 13, 319. Harith, 394. Hudsafa, 332. Jafar, 514. Jahsh, 143. Kaab, 357. Masud, 358, 364, 370, 435- Mohammed, 30, 34, 36, 250-253, 337, 510. • Obei, 127, 156, 157, 162-165, 17l> 208. Omar, 291, 296, 438, 500. Rawaha, 200. Selam or Salam, 130, 329- Thamir, 8. Zobeir, 494. Menaf, 29, 250-253, 521. Shems, 29. Abdu-1-Massiah, 277, 278. Abdu-1-Mottaleb, 30-35, 101, 255, 261, 266, 431, 433. Abd-ur-Rahman Ibn Awf, 255, 381, 444, 5IQ- Abd ur (er) Rahman Ibn el Harith, 85, 293- Aberdeen, Earl of, 474, 475. Ablution, 66, 220, 273, 311, 328, 396, 401, 405-407, 4io, 415, 42i, 5!5- Abraha, 8, 9, 31-33. Abraham, 18, 21, 22, 133, 255, 265, 306, 308, 327, 331, 340, 341, 354, 377, 434, 493- Faith or religion of, 24, 27, 52, 126, 129, 133, 137, 139, 331, 406. Abrogate, Abrogation (annul), 212, 269, 326, 328, 418, 424, 425. Abstinence, 379, 380. Abu Abd Allah [see Khawat), 394, 395. Afak, 169. Amir, 25, 126, 135, 157, 432, 433- Bekr, 83-85, 87, 98, in, 113, 114, 190, 196, 232-240, 269, 315, 316, 319-321, 369372, 391, 439, 442, 445, 473, 494, 5l6- Bekr el Hudsali, 332. Dhirr, 439, 444. Eyub, 117, 183, 322, 504. Hala, 488. Hanifa, 417. Haritha, 135. Horeira or Huraira, 342, 368, 369, 404, 422, 428, 441, 444, 445, 489. — — ■ Imama, 445. Jahl Ibn Hisham, 94, 98, 112, 142, 148, 292,317,320,321.445. Kabis, 22, 337. Karib, 4. Lahab, 98, 99, 100, 101, 286, 296, 445, 511, 513. Abu-1-Aas or As, 187, 511, 512. Abu-1-Kasim, 291, 510. Mohammed, 336. — - Murra Seif, 10. 526 INDEX. Abu Musa, 442. Nasr (Khoja), 385. Nawfal, 443. Nehik, 446. Obeida, 137, 143, 391. Rafi, 352, 510. Saad Khodri, 345. Salma or Selma, 160, 495. Sayid, 363. Seif, 51 1. Sofyan Ibn Harb, 141, 145-148, 153, 156, 158, 161, 162, 164-168, 188, 192, 202, 205, 252, 439, 443. - Talha, 355, 500, 513. Talib, 35, 43, 44, 74, 81, 86-88, 99-101, 267-269, 295, 427, 466, 488. Thumama, 217. Umama, 123. Zama, 6. Zuweib, 258. Abyssinia, 6-9, 16, 88, 89, 98, 192, 195. 294, 333- Abwa, 34, 141. Acacia, 320. Ad, 106, 270, 411. Adam, 20, 21, 249, 250, 306, 307, 335> 336, 341, 399, 428. kadmon, 251. Aden, 11, 16. Adi, 214, 215, 224. Adrianople, 481. Adulterer, Adultery', I33> 329, 33°, 420. Aelius Gallus, 4. Afrika, 63, 374, 453, 454, 47§; 479, 484. Abmed, 275, 360, 430, 431. Ahwaz, 518. Aim. See Plan. Aisha Bint Abu Bekr, 79, 80, 81, 117, 162-164, 222, 229, 232, 233, 237, 238, 316, 319, 358, 362-367,371, 372, 377, 378, 39i, 395, 415, 417, 420, 443, 489-494, 498, 503. 505, 507, 5H, 520. Aisha Bint Mohammed, 513- Akaba, Ail a, 210. Akika, 398, 510, 522. Akil Ibn Abu Talib, 438. Akrima, 434. Aksa, 304, 306. Ala Ibn el Hadhrami, 224, 333. Albania, 481. Alexander, 133. Alexandria, 194, 195, 289, 333. Ali Ibn Abu Talib, 80, 81, m-113, 149, 163, 166, 175, 181, 208, 213, 221, 224, 225, 235, 294, 317, 318, 353-355, 367, 368, 370, 37i, 373, 382, 402, 439, 512-518, 520, 521. Ali Ibn Abu-1-Aas, 512. Allahu akbar, 353. Allegiance, 104, 147, 236. See Oath of allegiance. Alms, 213, 216, 224, 266, 323, 410, 413, 414, 418, 495, 500, 510. Amalekite, 22. Amarr, 154. Amazon, 445. Ambar, 517. Ambassador, 16, 48, 64, 67, 71, 127, 133, 178, 192-195, 2l6- 2l8, 244, 251, 332, 3S4- Amen, 408. Amina Bint Wahb Ibn Abd Menaf, 36-43, 250, 253-256, 337, 341. Amir Ibn Foheira, 113. Rabia, 404, 405. Amnesty, 202. Amr Ibn Aas or As, 6, 166, 198, 200, 333- El Hadhrami. 144. Omeia, 332. Anemone, 505. Angel, 18, 150, 232, 248, 298, 299, 305-308, 310, 312, 313, 335, 337, 360, 361, 366, 367, 370, 390, 412, 424, 433, 445, 514. Angora, 481. Ansar (see also Helper), 106, 339, 5°4, 5°5- Antichrist, Antichristian, 54, 68, 70, 135-138, 193, 219,220, 284, 374, 452, 456, 457, 467, 468, 471, 474, 482, 484, 485. Apostle of God (see also Prophet), 194, 217, 218, 248, 249, 252, 269, 272, 296, 301-303, 340, 423, etc. Apostles, the Twelve, 193, 194, 284, 332, 346. Apostasy, apostatise, 134, 144, 217. INDEX. 527 Arab, Arab tribes, 13-16, 19, 74, 103, 104, 126-129, HO-143, 185, 188, 1S9, 211, 213, 214, 235, 239, 240, 354, 373, 433, 474-479- Arabia, 3-16, 17, 18, 182, 193, 196, 227, 238, 256, 463. Arim dzu Yezen, 16. Armistice, 1S8-191. Arrow, 33, 34, 142, 144, 149, 157, 166, 290, 442, 520, 523. Arwa Ibn Zobeir, 491, 493. Aryat, 8. Asad Ibn Zorara, 1 17, 123. Asaf, 353. Asama Ibn Zeid, 511. Ashur, 415. Ashura, 130, 523. Asia Bint Mezahin, 489, 514. Asia (Asia Minor), 374, 478, 480, 481. Aslamite, 208. Asma Bint Abu Bekr, 113, 169, 319, 320, 366, 443. Amis, 522. Noaman, 5°7- Zalat, 507. Asrafel, 359, 370, 424. Assanide, 278. Assassin (Assassinate), 12, 160, 172, 173, 179, l88> 2I9, 226, 233. Assim Ibn Amr, 276. Assistant (see also Ansars and Helper), 105, 106, in, 322,323,325,339, 351, 357, 431- Aswad. See El Aswad. Ata Ibn Vesar, 356. Atiba Ibn Abu Lahab, 512, 513. Atika, 488. Atonement, 34, 112, 130, 310, 333- 336, 393, 412. Attab, 237, 238. Augury, 397. Augustus, Emperor, 4. Awf, 149. Awsite, 116-118, 170, 176, 179. Ayhala Ibn Kab, 218. Azad, 277. Az Ibn Wail, 96. Azrael, 370. Azruh, 210. Babylon, 215, 278. Badzan, 11, 12, 224, 356. Bagdad, 480. Bahira, 44, 267-269, 346. Bahran, 154. Bahrein, 194, 214, 3^. Balka, 357. Ban, 97-99, 210. Banner, 142, 198, 200, 218, 301, 358, 427. Barley-bread, barley-loaves, 349, 379, 380, 387- Bashfulness of Mohammed, 382. Bashir, 196, 198. Bath (Bathe), 397. Bedouin (see also Arab), 102-104, 151, 154, 156, 159, 160, 161, 164- 168, 185, 189, 199, 207, 380, 381, 438, 440. Bedr, 141, 146-153, 160, 162, 164, 170, 326, 331. Beihara, 103, 104. Beit Ullah, 19. Bekia, 356. Belgrade, 48 1. Bell, 125, 384, 390, 477, 479. Beni Abd Eddar, 112. el Ashhal, 270. Menaf, 292. - Adhl, 160. Adi, 42, 116. Amir, 199. Amr, 103, 160. Asad, 159, 165, 187. Ashja, 165. — Beka, 347. Bekr, 12, 201. Dhamra, 141. Fezara, 162, 165, 187. ■ Ghatafan, 154, i6r, 165, 167, 180, 187. Halal, 347. Hanifa, 103, 217, 218, 240. Harb, 444. Harith, 216, 224. Haritha, 157. Hashim, 80, 295, 316, 5 iS Ilurak, 146. Johaina, 142. Kalb, or Kalbites, 103. KeinSka, 118, 170-172. Kinda, 103. 528 INDEX. Beni Khoza, 190, 192, 201. Koreiza, 118, 167, 168, 174-178, 271. Leith, 198. Lihyan, 160, 186. Modlij, 141, 321. Morra, 165, 199. Mostalik, 162, 163. Nadhir, 118, 153, 164, 172-174, 5°9- Najjar, 116-118, 123. Nar, 146. Omeia, 444. Saad, 38, 40, 215, 258, 260. 261, 340- Saida, 235. Salama, 157. Salem, 116. Sohaim, 220. Soleim, 154, 160, 165, 187, 198. Taghlib, 220. Talab, 187. Zeeb, 277. Zuhra, 36. Bequest of Mohammed, 231. Bere, 496, 502, 506. Beride Ibn el Khasib, 321. Beshir Bint Ibn Saad, 349. Beshr Ibn Moawia, 347. Bilal, 125, 364, 442. Bird, 37, 136, 255, 258, 263, 291, 307, 308, 341. Bishr, or Beshr, Ibn Bara, 184, 230, 327, 362. Black Stone, 18, 21, 22, 197, 202, 292, 353, 355- Blaspheme (Blasphemous), 87, 98, 245, 291, 292, 295, 296. Blood, 86, 108, 112, 140, 145, 159, 203, 271, 321, 325, 330, 345, 352, 391, 522. Bokhari, 315, 321, 325, 421, 428. Book, 129, 130, 138, 237, 267-270, 273, 287, 298, 300, 331, 338, 415, 419, 420, 516. Booty (see also Spoil), 145, 146, 155, 174, 177, 182, 186, 199, 423, 5°o, 509. Boiak, 305-309, 436. Bosnia, 481. Bosra, 37, 41, 267, 269. Bowat, 141. Brotherhood, 119, 120, 223, 318, 324- 326. Broussa, 481. Buath, 118. Bulgaria, 481. Burial (Bury), 237, 330, 413, 510, 513, 515, 516, 520. Caesar, 433, 442. Calamus, 403. Calif (Califate), 143, 231, 236, 238-240, 251, 439, 473, 480, 481, 517-519. 523, 524- Call, Caller (see also Hatif), 38, 258, 259> 261, 341, 349. Call to Prayer, 125. Camel, 31, 32, 34, 35, 46, 66, 113, 116, 117, 148, 149, 160, 167, 168, 179, 186-190, 216, 235, 292, 319, 346, 355, 378, 432, 433, 435, 439- Camphor, 413, 512. Capitation-tax, 210, 213, 219, 224, 476. Captive (see also Prisoner), 145, 150, 151, 162, 177, 183, 187, 205, 208, 271, 5°9, 5"- Caravan, 43, 44, 97, 107, 140- 148, 154, 155, 187, 213, 222, 268, 385. Carnal disposition of Mohammed, 79, 80, 162, 183. Carnelian, 251. Carlyle, 454- Carpet, 309, 312, 517, 519. Cataleptic fits of Mohammed, 40, 41, 47, 56> 66> 67- Cave, 59, 61, 65, 113, 237, 272, 288, 3°3, 3I9-32I. Charm (see also Incantation), 362, 404. Chosroes, 10-13, 194, 256, 277, 278, 332, 433> 442. Christ. See Jesus Christ. Christian, 124, 126, 128, T33-139, 219, 220, 251, 252, 306, 399, 431, 432, 465, 471-477- Christianity, 24, 55, 68, 70, 116, 124, 126, 128, 133-139, 219, 220, 238, 449-458, 465, 471, 484, 485- Church, 135, 136, 220, 351, 450, 451, 457, 462, 465, 469, 475, 484. INDEX. 529 Church, Mosque, 482. Circumcision of Mohammed, 257, 341. Clarendon, Earl of, 474, 475. Clot, 340. Collector, 224-226. Collyrium, 396, 397, 402. Companion, 86, III, 123, 145, 193, 197, 216, 217, 237, 295, 300, 304, 310, 316, 319, 327, 332, 340, 346, 348, 352, 354> 358, 359, 366, 373, 378, 392-395, 49i, 502, 514, 523- Compromise of Mohammed with idol- atry, 90-92, 94. Conception of Mohammed, 337. Confession of faith, 40S. Concubine (slave), 487, 508, 509. Constantine ix., 481. Constantinople, 374, 478, 479, 481, 482. Conversion, 80, 93, 104, 106, 107, 192, 198, 202, 205, 209, 212, 213, 215-219, 299. Convert, 77-86, 89, 124, 160,204, 205, 474- Cornelius Palma, 4. Council of Nice, 466. Courage and bravery of Mohammed, 382, 418. Cucumber, 388. Cup (Cupping), 403, 415. Cure, 405, 412. Curse, 98, 100, 137, 331, 337, 338, 354, 405, 411, 422, 496, 5°8, 512, 513- Curtain, 248, 309, 313, 499, 5°°- Dacius, 289. Damascus, 255, 5i7"519» 523, 524- Danube, 481, 483. Dar el Harb, 483. Islam, 4S4. Darum, 357. Date (Date-tree, Palm-tree), 114, 153, 167, 174, 175, 179. 235, 244, 315. 349, 379, 387, 388, 415, 435, 440-442, 499- Dead Sea, 199, 200. Death-struggle, 232, 233, 365, 370, 372, 374, 412. Degree, 310-312, 363. Deism (see also Monotheism), 62, 67, 84, 89, 109, 189. Demon (see also Spirit), 60, 102, 183, 255, 277- Deputation, 75, 87, 135, 181, 206, 211-215, 220, 352, 431. Dervish, 313. Destroyer. See El Mahi. Devil (see also Satan and Demon), 92, in, 112, 184, 222, 283,336-338, 356, 390, 464. Dhahak Ibn Sofyan, 395. Dhimam Ibn Thalaba, 215, 216. Dihye Ibn Khalifa, 332. Ditch (Dyke), 157, 165-167, 177, 349- Diviner, 270, 277, 279, 338, 339, 432, 433- Divorce, 82, 83, 163, 490, 494-498, 512, 5*3, 520, 521- Doalu Bu-kere, 63. Dods, Dr. Marcus, 61. Donkey, 39, 40, 260. Dorner, Dr. J. A., 450. Dower, Dowry, 420, 490, 493, 496, 497, 5°3, 5°4, 507- Dream (sre also Sleep), 15, 31, 5°, 57, 63, 183, 191, 219, 256, 278, 316, 346, 372, 385, 401, 426, 428, 432, 433, 488, 490, 503, 523. Dress of Mohammed, 383, 384. Dropsy, 403. Duma, 161, 2IO. Duties peculiar to Mohammed, 417, 418. Dzu-1-Karain, 289. Eastern Church (Eastern Chris- tendom), 450-452. Eclipse, 411. Egypt, 374, 444, 462, 478- El Aswad (General), 31. (rival of Mohammed), 218, 219, 225, 226, 356. Ibn Abd Vaghut, 100. ! — Ibn el Mottaleb, 100. Az, 100. Bara, 108. Elephant, 9, 34, 38, 190, 512, 513. Elephantiasis, 216. El Fatih, 482. 2 L 53o INDEX. El Harith Ibn 194, 333- Abi Shamir, 100, Elizabeth, Queen of England, 483. EI Kadr, 154. ■ Khattab, 25. Mahi (the Annihilator), 38, 259. Mottaleb, 30. - Nadhr, 98, 287. Welid, 100. Zobeir, or Zobair, 27. Emerald, 255, 264, 305, 308. Emigrant, Immigrant (see also Refu- gee), 89, in, 119, 142, I43> 323- Emir el Mumenin (Commander of the Faithful), 143, 517, 520. Enchant (Enchantment), 291. England, 483, 484. Enoch, 308. Euphrates, 35, 308, 523. Europe, 453, 479, 483. Eusebius, 462. Eve, 250. Excellencies of Mohammed, 422-446. Expedition, warlike, 323, 324. Eye, 188 (put out) ; 263, 404 (evil) ; 419 (treacherous) ; 425 (on shoul- der) ; 343, 346, 364, 376, 421, 425, 436> 445, 446, 5°2> 5°5. 5i3> 52i. Factors of Mohammed's prophet- ship, 3-48. Fadak, 181, 182. Faid, 159. Fair (see Market), 161. Faith, 404, 405, 409. Fakhta Bint Abu Talib, 508. Famine, 426. Farewell (Farewell pilgrimage), 223, 226, 354, 357, 358, 437. Fast, 124, 130, 216, 352, 379, 410, 414, 415, 420. Fatima Bint Abd Allah, 257. Amr Ibn Aid, 35. Dhahak, 507. Khattab, 293. Mohammed, 286, 345, 361, 420, 489, 492, 513-516, 520, 522. Fazl Ibn Abbas, 511. Feast (Festival), 23, 103, 1 19, 148, 188, 221, 324, 325, 352, 409, 410. Fever, 120, 141, 227-231, 363, 364, 401, 402. Fifth, 144, 150, 155, 177, 182, 205, 418. Fihri, 141. Fire (of Fire-worship and Hell), 256, 278, 313, 379, 434, 445- First-fruit, 388. Five daily prayers, 250, 314, 344. Flight. See Hegira. Forgiveness. See Pardon. France, 479. Friday, observance of, 409-416. Funeral Service, 511, 515, 516. Furkan, 307. Gabie, 277, 278. Gabriel, 21, 22, 58-60, 63-67, 92, 100, 134, 159, i75> 232, 249, 253> 264, 272-275, 282, 283, 288, 292, 300, 3°3> 305-309, 312-314, 317, 318, 327, 335, 344, 354, 359"36i, 367, 37o, 379, 380, 384, 487, 489, 491, 494, 498, 5°o, 5io, 515, 516, 522. Genealogy, 83, 252, 253, 491. Genii, 248, 502. Genuflexion, 327, 344, 409, 498, 522, 524. Germany, 14, 452. Ghalib, 196. Ghamid, 329. Gharanik, 91, 92. Ghassan (Ghassanide), 4, 5, 199. Ghatafan (Ghatafanite). See Beni Ghatafan. Gift, 65, 422. See also Present. Goddess, 282. Gog and Magog, 289, 290. Gon, 419. Gospel, 138, 139, 193, 274, 307, 312, 431- Grape, 388. Grave, 105, 237, 370, 371, 373, 413, 490, 511,513,520. Greek, 194, 269, 332, 445, 481. Greeting, 398, 399. Habakkuk, 430. Habira, 508. Habits of Mohammed, 383-405. Hadhifa el Yeman, 514. INDEX. 53i Hadramaut, 215. Hafiz Abu-1-Ala, 516. Hair, 222, 355, 375, 376. Hajaj Ibn Hat, 184, 185, 443. Hakim, 81. Hala, 489. Halima, 39-41, 1S7, 258, 260-266. Hallel, 312. Hallucinations of Mohammed, 56,57, 64, 65, 67. Hamadan, 517, 518. Hamra, 158. Hamza, 46, 93, 94, 142, 149, 158, 159, 353- Hanif (Hanifite, Hanifism), 23-27, 38, 47, 50-55. 62, 78, 91, 96, 137. Hanifa, 384. Haram, 19-21. Harem, 178, 183, 195, 416, 483. Harith Ibn Abd Kulal, 194, 333. Dhirar, 162. Haritha Abu Zeid, 81, 82. Ibn Noaman, 504. Hasan Ibn Ali, 122, 378, 514-521. Hashim, 29, 30. Hassan Ibn Thabit, 256, 257. Hatib Ibn Balta, 333. Hatif (see also Voice), 258. Haudsa Ibn Ali, 333. Hawazin, 185, 199, 204, 205. Hazim Ibn Aws, 445. Headquarters of the Devil, 337. Healing art, 436. Heart (split and cleansed), 40, 41, 3°5> 340. Heathenism (see also Paganism), 1 10, 128, 221, 458, 463, 467. Heb Ibn Munhib, 277. Hegel, Doctor and Professor of Philo- sophy, 178, 461, 470. Hegira, 71, 111-115, 315, 335. Hejaz, 5, 17, 142, 160, 183, 184, 186, 194, 402. Hell (Hell-fire), 101, 151, 232, 248, 25°> 308, 313, 323, 367, 402, 411, 414, 415, 442, 521. Helper (see also Assistant), 105, 106, in, 124, 142, 162, 228, 232.235, 236, 323, 357- Heraclius, Emperor, 5, 6, 194-196, 199, 206, 207. Herat, 383, 432, 445. Himyar, kings of, 7, 8. Hind (female stag), 437. Bint Abu Omia (i.q. Om Selma), 495- Otba (Abu Sofyan's wife), 443- Ibn Abu Hala, 487. Hira, the kingdom of, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 16, 287. mount, 25, 26, 58, 60-62, 102, 272, 303>439- Hitham Ibn Adi, 445. Hobal, 18, 33, 260, 266, 353. Hodeibia, 180, 190, 193, 332. Holy Spirit (see also Spirit), 1 1 5, 272, 287, 288, 290. Honein, 204, 205, 381, 382. Honey, 309, 387, 403, 405. Horse, 335 (cared for) ; 348 (prayed for), 341, 361, 382, 492, 493. Horseman, 177, 178, 186-188, 199, 210, 212, 216, 321, 493. Hosein Ibn Ali, 122, 378, 496, 514, 515, 518, 520, 522, 523. Houri, 232, 367. House, Holy House, 19-22, 251, 281, 309, 326-328, 353, 429, 463. Huleil, 28. Humility of Mohammed, 380. Hunata, 31, 32. Hungary, 483. Hunger (Hungry), 379, 515. Hyacinth, 21. Hypocrite, 122, 123, 127, 132, 207 210, 234, 238, 327, 346, 366, 368, 410, 500. Hysteria (Hysterical), 40, 42, 52, 56, 470. Ibad Ibn Bishr, 501. Ibn Abbas, 21, 150, 247, 258, 266, 328, 338, 341, 360, 364, 376, 408, 411, 423, 425, 438, 440, 443. 446, 493- Akhtab, 327. Azhar, 293. el Haggaban, 270. Hajir (Sheikh), 328. Hisham, 6, 28, 252, etc. Horeira, 442, 443. 53= INDEX. Ibn Ishak, 6, 15, 56, 65, etc. Khadl, 421. Malik, 380. ■ Maslama, 185, 187. Masud, 300, 301. Selam, 329. Shihab ez Zuhri, 333. Zobeir, 523. Ibrahim Ibn Mohammed, 195, 48S, 509-511, 522. Idol, 18, 91, 92, 128, 197, 203, 204, 214, 216, 222, 260, 266, 337, 353, 431, 463. Idolater, Idolatry, 17, 23, 28, 52, 53, 67, 75, 78, 107, 127, 141, 204, 212, 260, 266, 270, 510. Illness, 356, 357, 359, 363. Imam, 232, 306, 384, 397, 407-409. 417, 422, 5I7-5I9- Imama Bint Zeinab, 512. Imhani, 305. Impale, 188. Impediment of speech, 311. Incantation (see also Charm), 230, 231, 405. Infidel (Unbeliever), 227, 252, 279, 282, 317, 318, 321, 325, 354, 444, 483, 517. Inspiration, 373, 405. Intercession (Intercessor), 282, 336, 368, 374, 427. Irak, 298, 496, 517. Iram, 106, 270. Irvet Ibn Zobeir, 260. Isa (see also Jesus), 340. Isaac, 341. Isaf, 18, 34. Isaiah, 430. Ishmael Ibn Abraham, 18, 22, 212, 341, 354, 377- Ishmael or Ismael (an Angel), 232, 307, 360. Iss, 187. lyads, 333. Italy, 14. JAADA, 519, 520. Jabir Ibn Abd Allah, 349, 435, 440, 441. Simre, 346, 442. Jacob, 377. [afar, 200. Janissary, 483. Jarba, 210. Jealous (Jealousy), 127, 131, 179, 327, 443, 489, 495, 496, 507> 508. Jeifar, 194, 333. Jemil, 96, 97. Jerir Ibn Abd Allah, 347, 348. Jerusalem, 20, 130, 195, 289. Jests and Jokes of Mohammed, 392, 394, 395- Jesus Christ, 55, 68, 124, 193, 233, 237, 243, 274, 306, 308, 332, 34i, 377, 43°, 436> 447, 44^, 458, 459, 468, 469, 5i6- Jew, 7, 8, 54, 106, 115, 121, 122, 125, 128-134, 153, 157, 164, 167- 185, 251, 252, 269, 306, 323, 327, 331, 399- Job, 341, 377. John Ibn Zakharia (the Baptist), 273, 308, 341, 522. Jonas (the Prophet), 388. Jorf, 228, 357. Jorhamide, 22, 31. Joseph, 308, 341, 354, 50S. Journey, 389, 390, 396. Jowairia, 162, 163, 502. Julian the Apostate, 467. Jumra Bint Harith, 50S. Justinian, Emperor, 4. Justin Martyr, 463. Kaab, 107, no. Kaaba, 17-23, 51, 96, 97, 99, 188, 197, 202-204, 2II> 251, 255, 261, 272, 292, 293, 297, 309, 327 328, 353, 354, 421. Kabbala, 251. Kab Ibn Ashraf, 172, 173, 179. Kabile, 103, 104, 106. Kadesia, 215. Kais (of the Beni Kinda), 4. Ibn Saad, 516-518. Kalion, 289. Karada, 155. Kasim Ibn Mohammed, 510. Katada Ibn Noaman, 445. Kazman, 442. Kefer, 267. Kerbela, 522, 523. INDEX. 533 Key, 341, 342. Khadija Bint Khuilid, 45-47, 50, 59- 61, 64, 77-80, 99, 274, 275, 487- 489, 511, 514, 520. Khaibar, 34, 153, 174, 179-185. i95> 230, 504. Khalid Ibn Walid, 157, 198, 200, 202, 204, 210, 212, 216, 222, 224, 240, 330, 334, 353, 445. Khanis, 494. Kharrar, 142, 143. Khazinat Ibn Zabit, 421. Khazraj (Khazrajite), 108, 109, 11S, 170, 171, 176, 179. Khawat Ibn Jabir, 394. Khawla, 79. Khoza (Khozaite). See Beni Khoza. Khuweiled Ibn Asad, 46. Kibla, 20, 130, 133, 203, 326-328, 407, 410. . Kid, 440. Kinana, 28, 29, 128, 503. Kinda, 4. Kingdom of God, 459, 460. Kilabite, 196. Kitabi Ahwal el Kiamat, 250. Knife, 387. Kopt, 436, 511. Koran, 98, 106, 137, 164, 193, 217, 278, 293, 300, 302, 338, 377, 391, 405, 408, 409, 423, 436, 471, 491. Koreish (Koreishite), 22, 28, 29, 35, 97, 98, 101, 105, 108-114, 150, 153, 212, 231, 235, 2S1. Korta, 185. Kostus, 403. Krehl, Dr. L., 17, 69, 12S, 492. Kufa, 517, 518, 52I-523- Kussei Ibn Kilab, 28, 298. Kurz Ibn Jabir, 141. Lactantius, 462. Ladder (to heaven), 307. Lamb, 349. Lamp, 251, 516, 521. Land-tax, 477. Lat, 18, 91, 92, 100, 216, 269, 281, 337,431- Laugh of Mohammed, 393, 395. Law, 138, 139, 274, 275, 284, 406, 424, 425, 516. Legacy, 231. Leila, Bint Khatim, 508. Leper, Leprosy, 216, 307, 404, 436, 508. Letter, 193-196, 199, 217, 218, 256, 332, 361, 462, 472. Liar, 87, 218, 219, 296, 297, 443. Liberality of Mohammed, 380, 3S1. Lie, 426. Light of Mohammed, 245, 247, 253- 256, 262, 336, 337, 377. Lion, 513. Lizard, 386, 387, 438. Logos, 247, 251. Lotus-tree, 440. Maath, Ibn Afra, 436. Madain, 517. Magi, 251. Magic, 436, 437. Magician, 252. Mahra, 214. Mahzama Ibn Nawfal, 439. Majanna, 161. Makna, 210. Malik, Commander, 205, 224. Ibn Sinan, 345. Malta, 483. Mamun, 33. Manah, 18, 91, 92, 281. Mantle, 183, 335, 381, 384- Marab, 277. Market (Marketplace), 92, 148, 177, 298, 329, 378, 429- Marr ez Zahran, 201. Martel, Charles, 479. Martyr (Martyrdom), 76, 78, 184, 230, 248, 251, 357, 361, 362, 439, 444, 458, 463, 476, 522, 523- Marry, marriage, 45, 46, 50, 79, 80, 82, 97, 185, 197, 250, 352, 416, 419, 420, 422, 488, 490, 491, 494- 498, 500, 502-504, 506-508, 512- 514, 520, 521. Mary Bint Omran (the Virgin), 254, 489, 514- the Kopt, 195, 488, 508. Massacre, 151, 169, 172, 177, 179. Masud Ibn Omar, 506. 534 INDEX. Mauna, 160. Measles, 354. Meat, 387. Mecca, 5-9, 13, 17-20,35,43,49, io5> 152, 184, 191, 196, 200-203, 238, 353, 354- Mediator (Mediation), 18, 68, 139, 335, 336, 374, 428, 463. Medicine, 231, 401-405. Medina, 43, 104-116, 153, 156, 165- 168, 178, 235, 236, 316, 322, 427. Meekness of Mohammed, 381. Meimuna, 197, 229, 231, 347, 352, 506. Meisara, 45, 46. Meisered ul Fejr, 249. Mejdi, 142. Melika Bint Kaali, 507. Melon, 388. Mental qualities of Mohammed, 377- 3S3. Merit, Meritorious (reward), 230, 310, 312, 323, 328, 363, 364, 374, 417, 425- Merwa (Mount), 272, 305. Merwan Ibn Othman, 362. Messiah (promised Prophet), 1 15, 122, 129-132, 139, 168. Micaiah, 69. Michael, 264, 305, 318, 359, 370, 516. Milk, 39, 40, 261, 263, 309, 321, 388, 442. Mina, 221, 222. Miracle, 243, 244, 434-446. Mirat el Kainat, 122, 521. Mirror, 250. Moadz, 226. Moawia Ibn Abu Sofyan, 205, 517- 519, 523- Moawia Ibn Thor, 347. Mohajir Ibn Omaia, 224, 333. Mohammed, 1, 252, 254. See list of Contents at the beginning of the volume. Mohammedanism, an historical power, 447-485. Mohsan Ibn Ali, 514. Mokawkas, 194, 333. Monotheism, 25, 28, 53, 75, 105, 126, 281, 460, 461, 463. Moon, 183, 262, 316, 372, 376, 437. Moreisi, 162, 502. Morrite, 196. Moseilama, 217-219, 239, 240, 348, 356. Moses Ibn Amran, 234, 274, 277, 300, 306, 308, 311, 313, 314, 368, 377, 430, 434, 436, 505, 516. Moslem, 137, 148, 197, 202. Moslem, proper name, 523. Mosque, 1 17, 123, 132, 164, 176, 2IO, 214-217, 220, 232, 234-237, 322, 327, 328, 337, 354, 355, 371, 390, 407, 475, 481. Motim Ibn Adi, 102. Mountain (speaks), 438. Muir, Sir William, 5, 12, 61, 68, 72, 280-282. Mukheirik, 130. Mukhtar Ibn Abu Abjd, 443. Muleih, 103. Mundsir Ibn Sawa, 333. Munzir (of Hira), 4, 194. Musk, 159, 222, 262, 309, 313, 355, 371, 377- Muta, 200, 207, 239. Mythical, 245, 375, 377. Nabathea, 4. Nadhir. See Beni Nadhir. Naeman or Noaman Ibn Munzir, 277. Naila, 18, 34, 353. Najashi, 8, 194, 332. Najran (Najranite), 8, 23, 135, 137, 138, 221, 224, 225. Nakhla, 102, 143, 144, 190, 519. Name, 249-252, 254, 335, 341, 430. Namus, 59. National (Nationality), 449, 457, 465- 467, 485. Nazr Ibn Babia, 432. Needle, 346. Nehavend, 279. Nejashi. See Najashi. Nejd, 112, 159, 160, 317. Nejm (Sheikh), 515. Nile, 308. Nisibin or Nineveh, 300, 302. Noah, 21, 341, 377, 424, 434. Noaman (a Chief), 507. INDEX. 535 Noamiyan, 395, 396. Nushirvan, 278. Oath (oath of allegiance), 107, 108, 212, 235-237, 284, 335, 393, 516- 518, 523. Obada, 171, 172. Obeid Ibn Omair, 5S. Obeida Ibn el Harith, 142, 149. Obeid Allah (or Ullah) Ibn Jahsh, 23, 24, 52, 503, 523. Ohod, Battle of, 157-159, 356, 357- Ointment, 222, 355, 396, 397. Okaidir, 210. Okasha, 187. Okba Ibn Abi Mueit, 287. Okla, 187. Om (properly Omm) Berde, 510. Bishr or Beshr, 230, 362, 365. Eswad, 490. Habiba, 195, 201, 502, 503. Hani, 314, 508. Haram, 444, 445. Jamila, 445. Koltum, 269, 494, 513. Seif, 510. Selim, 498, 504, 505. Selma, or Salma, 160, 352, 405, 437, 49i, 492, 495, 496, 5°3> 522. Omaia Ibn Zalt, 25-27. Oman, 194, 214, y^. Omar Ibn Aas, 334, 335. Akhtab, 446. ■ Khattab, 74, 84, 95-97, 125, 150, 182, 191, 196, 232, 234- 237, 292, 293, 303, 314, 354, 366, 368, 369, 384, 391, 439, 441, 442, 475, 494, 500,513, 514- Om Selma, 496. Omeima, 23. Omeir, 149. Omra, 349, 506. Omran Ibn Hasin, 382. Onion, 386. Orain, 187. Osama Ibn Zeid, 227, 228, 239, 357, 358, 37o. Osfan, 186, 189. Osheira, 141. Otba Ibn Abu Lahab, 513. Otba Ibn Rabia, 90, 145, 291. Othman Ibn Abu-l-As, 257. Afan (son-in-law of Mo- hammed), 85, 150, 192, 204, 208, 354, 384, 439, 443, 494, 5°i, 5X3» 520. el Huweireth (Hanif and Christian), 5, 6, 23, 24, 50, 52, 192. (Ottoman), 481. Owalite, 196. Oyeina, 162, 167, 186. Ozza, 18, 91, 92, 216, 269, 281, 337, 431. Pagan, Paganism (see also Heath- enism), 128, 450, 452, 464. Palestine, 357, 374. Palm, Palm-plantation (see also Date), 7, 172, 174, 179. Paraclete, 139, 275. Paradise, 149, 248-253, 270, 307, 30S, 311, 312, 336, 338, 359, 364, 367, 399, 4ii, 413, 420, 426, 427, 442, 446, 493, 511, 514, 515, 520. Paran, 430. Pardon (forgive), 310, 330, 335, 336, 357, 361, 362, 374, 383, 386, 406, 40S, 414, 415, 424, 5H> 520. Peace, 408. Peacock, 250. Pearl, 7, 80, 163, 249, 250, 273, 308, 312, 361, 489. Pebbles praise God aloud, 439. Pen, 247-250. Persecution of Mohammed, 85-88, 92, 94, 97, 98, 381, 462-464. Persia (Persian), 10-13, 74, J95> 211, 240, 256, 387, 393, 433, 467. Personal (Personality), 457-459. Pharaoh, 252. Physical qualities of Mohammed, 375-377- Pigeon, 320, 321. Pilgrim (Pilgrimage), 8, 19, 21, 22, 144, 179, 180, 188, 191, 196-198, 211, 216, 220-223, 286, 328, 332, 35". 352, 354, 356, 413, 522. 536 INDEX. Pillar, 18, 197, 291, 292, 355. Plan of Mohammed, 14-16, 48-52, 74- 76, 90, 104, 109, 116, 119, 145, 146, 153, 156, 173, 178, 181, 186, 193, 207, 209, 215, 220, 225, 226, 234, 238, 240, 469, 472-479. Pleurisy, 230, 231, 365, 403. Pliny, 463. Plunder (see also Spoil), 140, 145, 157, 161, 1S6, 240. Poet, Poetry, 26, 31, 87, 169, 291, 296, 394, 419, 491. Poison, 183, 184, 230, 362, 365, 436, 520. Policy, Politics, 13, 14, 75, 152, 153, 162, 170, 189, 190, 236, 450, 467, 473. 475-479. 481-485- Political, 5, 15, 16, 35, 4S-51, 74. 75, 105, 108, no, 115, 189, 190, 212, 466, 467. Poll-tax (see also Capitation), 477. Pond of Nectar, 368, 415, 428. Poor-rates, 124. Possession, Possessed (Demoniac), 41, 64, 87, 90, 265, 296-297. Prayer, 124, 250 ; (five) 271 ; (for rain) 273. 310. 3I2"3I4. 328> 344, 356 ; (for the dead) 406-411, 417, 426. Precursor, 273, 364, 365. Pre-existence, 246-252. Present (Bribe), 205, 206, 214, 231, 238, 318, 381, 395, 396, 426, 491, 500, 506, 509, 521. Prey (see also Plunder, Spoil), 145, 172. Prisoner (see also Captive), 145, 150. I5L 153- Prophecy, 15, 16, 46, 215, 277, 424, 428-433- Prophet (Prophetship), 2, 3, 11, 12, 16, 27, 46, 72, 181, 188, 189, 201, 207, 214, 226, 227, 233, 241, 243, 245, 249-251, 269, 276, 279, 281, 287, 301, 306, 353, 359, 373. 377. 378, 423, 424, 429. Protestants within Islam, 26, 27 note. Providence (Providential), 16, 39, 450- 456, 468. Pulpit, 228, 357, 409, 411, 516, 519. Pumpkin, 388. Purification of heart, 40, 41, 257, 263- 265, 3°5, 3°7, 340-343- Rabbi, 130-132, 270, 2S7, 331, 338. Rabia Ibn Nazr, 15, 16. Rafi Ibn Kharija, 331. Rahman, 93, 299. Raihana Bint Zeid, 509. Raji, 160. Rakaia Bint Ali, 514. Mohammed, 512, 513. Ramadan, Ramazan, 58, 352, 414- 416, 515, 516. Ransom (of Captives), 151, 153. Raven, 445. Rawzat ul Ahbab, 20, 22, 57, 247, 375, 427, etc. Raya, 477. Reason (Logos), 247. Rebia, 517. Redcliffe (Lord Stratford de), 474, 475- Redeem, Redemption (see also Ran- som), 145. Redif, 400. Refugee, 119, 120, 124, 141, 146, 152, 158, 162, 174, 228, 231, 235, 236, 323, 325, 35i, 357- Rejeb, 143, 144, 327, 523- Religion, 18, 124, 125, 165, 182, 189, 190, 206, 211, 215, 221, 223, 295, 303, 324 406, 447, 448 327, 456, 231, 269, 33i, 337, 464, 47o. Remedy, 405. Renegade, 475. Resident (Collector), 224-226. Resurrection, 24, 52, 112, 127, 159, 203, 219, 237, 248, 259, 270, 303, 374, 426, 427, 437, 443, 515- Retreat, 416. Revelation, 19, 65-67, 98, 100, 11S, 125, 145, 164, 175, 234, 287, 288, 326-328, 331, 405, 448, 463, 469, 491, 498, 47o. Reward (see also Merit), 414, 415. Riding of Mohammed, 400, 401. Rika, 161. INDEX. 537 Rival (Rival-prophet), 68, 70, 104, in, 165, 178, 217-219, 225, 226, 239, 240. River of Paradise, 308. Rock, 307. Rolls of Abraham, 429. Rome (Roman empire), 4-6, 195, 199, 206, 209, 211, 226, 229, 240, 449, 45s, 462, 464. Ruby, 255, 272, 273, 361. Saad Ibn Moadz, 176, 177. Ubada, 235, 236. Abu Wakkas, 85, 86, 142, H5> 279. Sabi, 96. Sabur, 16. Sacrifice, 7, 18, 24, ^, 34, 130, 180, 187, 189, 222, 253, 260, 266, 3i8, 351, 355, 398, 410, 417, 522. Saddle of Paradise, 305. Safa, 88, 272, 285, 293, 305. Sana, 182, 183, 422, 503-505. Safra, 146. Safwan, 141, 163. Said Ibn Mina, 257, 349, 368. Sajah, 356. Sak, 432. See also Shik. Sakran Ibn Omar, 490. Salama Ibn Wakash, 270, 271. Salih (the Prophet), 435. Ibn Keisan, 344. Sallam Ibn Mishkam, 179, 503. Salma, 29, 30, 116. Salman, 165, 166. Salutation, 398, 399. Samawa (Wady), 256, 27S. Samarkand, 432. Sana, 8, 10, 219, 356. Sanctuary, 7, 17-19, 28, 32, 35, 47, 48, 50, 62, 87, 190, 197, 202, 204, 211, 213, 223, 310, 353, 420, 469. Sandal, no, 378, 385, 395, 400, 443. Sarif, 352. Satan [see also Devil), 184, 230, 264, 281, 282, 307, 317, 337, 365, 385, 386,426, 511. Satih, 15, 16, 277-279, 432. Sawa, 256, 278. Sawik, 154. Scharling, Prof. Dr. C. H., 45S. Scorpion, 313, 320, 405. Seal, 143, 193, 384. Seal of Prophetship, 44, 143, 249, 260, 264, 268, 269, 343, 366, 377, 3S4, 433- Sehil Ibn Beiza, 302. Sehl Ibn Hanif, 404, 405. Seid Ibn Zeid, 95, 293, 439. Seif, Ibn Yazan, 431. Seil, 277. Selam, 413. Seldjuk, 480, 481. Selit Ibn Amr, 333. Selmi, 49S, 510. Senna, 403. Sepulchre {see Grave, Tomb), 373. Serf, 506. Sermon, 284-286, 322, 323. Serpent, 113, 302, 313, 320, 445. Servia, 481. Service, 406-416, service of danger, 161. Seth or Sheth, 21, 250, 253. Seven classes of men, 337. Seven Sleepers, 2S8, 289. Sewda or Sevda, 79, 117, 490, 500. Shaaban, 414, 415. Shafii (Shafiite), 384, 416, 417, 419. Shahr, 224, 356. Shechina, 21, 22, 343. Shefa Bint Awf, 255, 259. Sheep (speaking, etc.), 261, 263, 321, 339, 378, 380, 387, 3S8, 441. Sheiba, 30. Shihab ud Din, 501. Shik (soothsayer), 15, 16. Ship, 444, 445. Shiruvveih, 11, 12. Shokran, 370. Shooting-star. See Star. Shuja Ibn Wahb, 333. Sick-visits of Mohammed, 412. Sidra, 359. Siege, 166, 167, 173-176, 185, 205, 482, 483. Silk-robe (Silk), 273, 342, 384. Sin, 70, 83, i£5_, 230, 310, 311, 314, 335, 336, 338, 383. 3S6, 424, 431, 451, 454, 455. 538 INDEX. Sincerity of Mohammed, 69, 70. Sindis-silk, 367. Slave (Slavery), 82, 138, 177, 178, 205, 380, 414, 415. 420, 444, 476, 508-510, 521. Sleep ( = dream), 147, 186, 421. Small-pox, 9, 354. Smith, R. Bosworth, 452-454. Sneezing, 400. Sohar, 371. Soheil Ibn Amr, 238. Soleim (Soleimite). »SV 367, 368, 37i, 373, 374, 379, 408, 426, 437, 439, 444- Vow, 33, 34, 107, 153, 186, 187, 353, 368, 371, 429, 498. Waddan, 141. Wadiel Kora, 172, 181, 182, 187. War (War-expedition), 4, 6, 109, in, 121, 140-152, 157, 158, 167, 170- 178, 189, 195, 201, 207,208, 226, 227, 239, 317, 323, 324, 335, 352, 357, 418, 424, 444, 468, 472, 475, 476, 516. Wahab Ibn Minbeh, 430. Wahb, 36, 250. Wakidi or Wakidy, 52, 142, 319, 490, 509- Walk of Mohammed, 400. Waraka Ibn Nawfal, 23, 24, 46, 47, 52, 59, 273-276, 295, 488. Warner, 298, 429. Wash {see Ablution), 386. Wedding-feast, 197, 352, 496, 498, 499, 504- Weep, 35, 99, 151, 293, 308, 316, 345, 359, 364, 367, 37o, 382, 393, 438, 505, 5", 513, 515, 522. Wehrez, 11. Weigh, 40, 340. Will, last, 231. Wine, 148, 271, 292, 309, 337, 339, 404. Witness (Witness-bearer), 374, 421, 422, 426, 429. Wives of Mohammed, 95, 117, 160, 192, 221, 229, 230, 231, 233, 390, 392, 416, 418, 425, 487-506, 508. Wolf, 439 ; (speaks) 508. Woman, 39, 95, 107, 157, 176, 177, 183, 202, 204, 205, 207, 215, 216, 250, 258, 260, 306, 313, 329,330, 337, 412, 422, 483, 514, 515. Wonder (see Miracle), 243. World (in an ethical sense), 306, 507. Worship (see Service), 312. Yahya Ibn Abbad, 370. Urwa, 296. Yakub Ibn Otba, 9. Yathreb [see also Medina), 104, 257. Yawning, 400, 428. Yazid, 205. Yemama, 93, 194, 217-219, 240, 299, 333, 356. Yembo, 141. 54° INDEX. Yemen, 8, 9, II, 13, 23, 194, 209, 214, 225, 333, 432. Yesid Ibn Abi Habib, 333. Yezdejerd, 279. Yezid Ibn Moawia, 519, 520, 523, 524. Yohanna, 210. Yusuf dzu Nowaz, 8. Zafiran, 146, 147. Zarandi, 256. Zarka, 512. Zat Atlah, 199. Zeid, IbnAmr, 23-25, 28, 52-54, 62. Ibn Haritha, 53, 81-83, 95, 102, 155, 164, 187, 199, 206, 209, 228, 496-498, 501. Zeid, Ibn Thabit, 329. Zeinab (a Jewess of Khaibar), 183, 184. Bint Ali, 514. Jahsh, 82, 164, 422, 496- 502, 505, 506, 509. Kazima, 495, 506. Mohammed, 511, 512. Zeiyad Ibn Abd Allah, 347. Zemzem, 31, 33, 429. Ziyad, 224. Zobeir, 85. Zohaib, 96. Zuhri, 368. Zu (or dzu) Karad, 186. Kassa, 1S7. / Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty, at the Edinburgh University Press. / Date Due DEIO'52 «i— —M«i