:>^^ 
 
 gSSi OF pfi//v^ 
 
 ^^ Z9 1957 
 
 .1 2fe> 
 
 v^ 
 
:np 
 
 pi OF must; 
 
 AUG 29 1957 
 
 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE 
 
 BY 
 
 STANLEY IaNE-POOLE, 
 
 LAUEEAT DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLAGE. 
 
 PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE. 
 
 1883. 
 
 {All rl'jlds reserved.) 
 
LONDON : 
 PRINTED EY W, H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. 
 
PEEFAGE. 
 
 A COMMON subject binds these essays together ; they all 
 treat of Islam in its manifold phases, from its birth at 
 Mekka to its apotheosis in the Persian Miracle Play ; 
 even the Sabians may be called, in a sense, a Koranic 
 sect. It is true the treatment is slight, and many im- 
 portant developments of the Mohammadan religion are 
 scarcely touched upon ; bujt the essays were written not 
 for the learned but for the general reader, and I believe 
 he will pardon the lack of elaboration. If my words 
 bring a few more workers to the great field here sketched 
 out, and induce a wider interest in the religion which 
 still keeps its hold upon so vast a number of our fellow 
 subjects, the republication of these essays will be abun- 
 dantly justified. 
 
 The chapters on the Koran, the Persian Miracle Play, 
 and the Sabians, are reprinted by permission from the 
 Edinburgh Review; that on an Eastern Keformation 
 from the Satiirdaij Revieio ; while the first three 
 appeared in my introduction to Lane's " Selections 
 from the Kur-an," and are republished with Messrs. 
 Triibner's kind consent. The chapter on the Brother- 
 hood of Purity appears for the first time. 
 
 S. L.-P. 
 
 Cairo, Feb. 1883. 
 
CONTENTS. y^ 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Isolation of Arabia. — The Hijaz. — The Bedawy character. — 
 Clan feehng. — Eaids. — Family Pride. — Hospitality. — An 
 ideal Chief.— Poetry.— The Fair of 'Okadh.— Arab Chi- 
 valry, — Condition of Women. — Trade. — Mekka. — Music. 
 — Religion. — Tribal and Household Gods. — Judaism. — 
 Christianity. — Hanifs. — The Pagan and the Muslim 
 i\rao .•••••••••X 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 MOHAMMAD. 
 
 Infancy of the Prophet. — Bringing-up. — Youth. — Marriage. — 
 Personal Appearance. — Habit of Life. — The Call. — 
 Entrance upon Mission. — First Converts. — Early 
 Preaching. — Persecution. — The Emigration to Abyssinia. 
 — A Compromise withdrawn. — The Ban. — The Year of 
 Mourning. — Visit to Taif. — Pilgrims from Yethrib. — 
 Conversions there. — The Pledges of the Akaba. — The 
 Flight to Medina. — New Phase of Mohammad's Career. 
 — State of Parties in Medina. — The Jews. — Wars with 
 Kureysh. — The Lesser Pilgrimage. — Conquest of Mekka. 
 — Submission of Arabia. — Last Speech. — Death. — 
 Character 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ISLAM. 
 
 Causes of the Triumph of Islam. — Conception of God. — Pro- 
 phetic Doctrine. — Minor Beliefs. — Practical Duties. — 
 Kindness to the Dumb Creation. — The Social System of 
 Mohammadanism. — Position of Women.— Its baneful 
 • Effects. — Possibilities of Reform. — Muslim missionary 
 Work among uncivilised peoples ... . . 80 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE KORAN. 
 
 Limited Extent. — English Versions. — Sale, Rodwell, Lane, 
 Palmer. — The First Redaction. — Orthodox Arrangement. 
 — Noldeke's Scientific Order. — Groups of Chapters. — Cha- 
 
VIU CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i-acteristics of the Mekkaii Speeches in then- three stages. 
 — Hebrew Legends. — Practical Teaching. — The Medina 
 Speeches. — Jews and Christians. — Eloquence. — Eitual. — 
 Law, Civil and Criminal. — How the Law of the Koran 
 was expanded. — Tradition, Analogy, and Commentators . 115 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AN EASTERN EEFORMATION. 
 
 El-Ash'ary's Speech in the Mosque of El-Basra. — Stages in 
 the Growth of Mohammadanism. — Influence of Greek 
 Philosophy. — El-Ash'ary's Argument. — Orthodox 
 Dialectics ......... 169 
 
 CHAPTEE VL 
 
 THE BEOTHERHOOD OF PUEITY. 
 
 Arabian Philosophy : little known. — Is it Arabian ? — Changes 
 in Islam wrought by Syrian and Persian Influences. — 
 The Mo'tezilis. — Study of Greek. — A Mohammadan 
 Club. — The Brotherhood of Purity. — Moral and Social 
 Aims. — Intellectual Eclecticism. — Their Encyclopaedia.— 
 Appositeness. — Its Authors and their Objects. — Zeyd ibn 
 Piifa'a. — Professor Dieterici's Translation. — The Scheme 
 of the Sciences. — The Brotherhood's Main Doctrine . 176 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PERSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 
 
 Scene in Moharram. — The Play of Hasan and Hoseyn. — 
 Realistic Acting. — Origin of the Shi'y Schism. — History 
 of the Family of 'Aly, and its Idealisation. — The Atone- 
 rnent of Hoseyn. — Shi'y Fervour. — The Moharram Fes- 
 tival. — Theatre and Properties. — The Drama, — Analysis 
 of the Scenes. — Last Ceremonies 207 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SABIANS AND CHEISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 Sabians and Sabteans. — History of the Controversy. — Mai- 
 monides. — Scaliger. — Stanley. — Pococke. — Ignatius a 
 Jesu. — The Harranian Sect. — Codex Nazarseus. — 
 Chwolsohn. — Petermann. — Siouffi. — Exoteric Doctrine ? 
 — Sacred Books. — Mandaean religion. — Origin. — 
 Mythology and Cosmogony. — Soul and Spirit. — Legend 
 of St. .John Baptist. — Sabian History.— Rites. — Priests. 
 — Astrology.— The whole duty of a Sabian . . . 252 
 

 I 
 
 ^^SOhOG 
 
 
 '/'*'' 
 
 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 
 
 Oh, our manhood's prime vigour ! No spirit feels waste, 
 Not a muscle is stopped in its playing nor sinew unbraced. 
 Oh, the wild joys of living ! the leaping from rock up to rock, 
 The strong rending of boughs from the fir-tree, the cool silver 
 
 shock 
 Of the plunge in the pool's living water, the hunt of the bear, 
 And the sultriness showing the lion is couched in his lair. 
 And the meal, the rich dates yellowed over with gold-dust divine, 
 And the locust flesh steeped in the pitcher, the full draught of 
 
 wine, 
 And the sleep in the dried river-channel whei-e bulrushes tell 
 That the water was wont to go warbling so softly and well. 
 How good is man's life, the mere living ! how fit to employ 
 All the heart and the soul and the senses for ever in joy ! 
 
 — Saul. 
 
 Between Egypt and Assyria, jostled by each but yield- 
 ing to neither, lay a strange country, unknown save 
 at its marches even to its neighbours, dwelt-in by a 
 people that held itself aloof from all the earth — a people 
 whom the great empires of the ancient world in vain 
 essayed to conquer, against whom the power of Persia, 
 
2 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Egypt, Rome, Byzantium was proven impotence, and 
 at whose hands even the superb Alexander, had lie 
 lived to test his dream, might for once have learnt the 
 lesson of defeat. Witnessing the struggle and fall of 
 one and another of the great tyrannies of antiquity, 
 yet never entering the arena of the fight ; — swept 
 on its northern frontier by the conflicting armies of 
 Khusru and Csesar, but lifting never a hand in either 
 cause ; — Arabia was at length to issue forth from its 
 silent mystery, and, after baffling for a tliousand years 
 the curious gaze of strangers, was at last to draw to 
 itself the fearful eyes of all men. The people of whom 
 almost nothing before could certainly be asserted but 
 its existence was finally of its own free will to throw 
 aside the veil, to come forth from its fastnesses, and 
 imperiously to bring to its feet the kingdoms of the 
 world. 
 
 It is not all Arabia of which I speak. The story to 
 tell has nothing as yet to say to the " happy " tilled 
 lands of the south, or the outlying princedoms of 
 Hira and Ghassan bordering the territories and 
 admitting the suzerainty of Persia and Rome. These 
 lands were not wrapped in mystery : the Himyerite's 
 kingdom in the Yemen, the rule of Zenobia at Palmyra, 
 were familiar to the nations around. But the cradle 
 of Islam was not here. 
 
 Along the eastern coast of the Red Sea, sometimes 
 thrusting its spurs of red sandstone and porphyry into 
 the waves, sometimes drawing away and leaving a 
 wide stretch of lowland, runs a rugged range of 
 rnountain. One above another, the hills rise from the 
 
TEE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 3 
 
 coast, leaving here and there between them a green 
 valley, where you may see an Arab settlement or a 
 group of Bedawis watering their flocks. Rivers there are 
 none; and the streams that gather from the rainfall are 
 scarcely formed but they sink into the parched earth. 
 Yet at times beneath the dried-up torrent-beds a rivulet 
 trickles through, and straightway there spreads a rich 
 oasis dearly prized by the wanderers of the desert. 
 All else is bare and desolate. Climb hill after hill, 
 and the same sight meets the eye — barren mountain- 
 side, dry gravelly plain, and the rare green valleys. 
 At length you have reached the topmost ridge ; and 
 you see, not a steep descent, no expected return to 
 the plain, but a vast desert plateau, blank, inhospitable, 
 to all but Arabs uninhabitable. You have climbed the 
 Hijaz — the "barrier" — and are come to the steppes 
 of the Nejd — the "highland." In the valleys of this 
 barrier-land are the Holy Cities, Mekka and Medina. 
 Here is the birthplace of Islam : the Arab tribes of 
 the Hijaz and the Nejd were the first disciples of 
 Mohammad. 
 
 One may tell much of a people's character from its 
 home. Truism as it seems, there is yet a meaning in 
 the saying that the Arabs are peculiarly the people of 
 Arabia. Those who have travelled in this wonderful 
 land tell us of the quickening influence of the air and 
 scene of the desert. The fresh breath of the plain, the 
 glorious sky, the stillness of the wide expanse, trod by 
 no step but your own, looked upon only by yourself 
 and perhaps yonder solitary eagle or the wild goat 
 leaping the cliffs you have left behind, — the absolute 
 
 1 * 
 
4 STUDIES IN A MOSQQE. 
 
 silence and aloneness, bring about a strange sense of 
 delight and exultation, a bounding-up of spirits held 
 in long restraint, an unknown nimbleness of wit and 
 limb. The Arabs felt all this and more in their bright 
 imaginative souls. A few would settle in villages, and 
 engage in the trade which came through from India 
 to the West ; but such were held in poor repute by 
 the true Bedawis, who preferred above all things 
 else the free life of the desert. It is a relief to turn 
 from the hurry and unrest of modern civilisation, 
 from the never-ending strife for wealth, for position, 
 for pleasure, even for knowledge, and look for a 
 moment on the careless life of the Bedawy. He 
 lived the aimless, satisfied life of some child ; he 
 sought no change ; he was supremely content with 
 the exquisite sense of simple existence ; he was 
 happy because he lived. He dreaded the dark After- 
 death ; he thrust it from his thoughts as often as 
 it would seek to force itself upon him. Utterly 
 fearless of man and fortune, he took no thought for 
 the morrow : whatever it brought forth, he felt con- 
 fidently his strength to enjoy or endure ; only let him 
 seize the happiness of to-day while it shall last, and 
 drain to the dregs the overbrimming cup of his life. 
 He was ambitious of glory and victory, but it was not 
 an ambition that clouded his joy. Throughout a life 
 that was full of energy, of passion, of strong endeavour 
 after his ideal of desert perfectness, there was yet a 
 restful sense of satisfied enjoyment, a feeling that life 
 was of a surety well worth living. 
 
 For the Arab had his ideal of life. The true son of 
 
THE AEABS BEFORE ISLAM. 5 
 
 the desert must in the old times do more than stretch 
 his limbs contentedly under the shade of the over- 
 hanging rock. He must be brave and chivalrous, 
 generous, hospitable; ready to sacrifice himself and 
 his substance for his clan ; prompt to help the needy 
 and the traveller; true to his word, and, not least, 
 eloquent in his speech. 
 
 Devotion to the clan was the strongest tie the 
 Arab possessed. Though tracing their descent from a 
 common traditional ancestor, the great northern family 
 of Bedawis was split up into numerous clans, owning 
 no central authority, but led, scarcely governed, each 
 by its own chief, who was its most valiant and best- 
 born man. The whole clan acted as one being; an 
 injury done to one member was revenged by all, and 
 even a crime committed by a clansman was upheld 
 by the whole brotherhood. Though a small spark 
 would easily light-up war between even friendly clans, 
 it was rarely that those of kin met as enemies. It is 
 told how a clan suffered long and oft-repeated injuries 
 from a kindred clan without one deed of revenge. 
 " They are our brothers," they said; "perhaps they 
 will return to better feelings ; perhaps we shall see 
 them again as they once were." To be brought to 
 poverty or even to die for the clan, the Arab deemed 
 his duty — his privilege. To add by his prowess or his 
 hospitality or his eloquence to the glory of the clan 
 was his ambition. 
 
 A mountain* we have where dwells he whom we shelter there, 
 lofty, before whose height the eye falls back blunted : 
 
 * I.e., the glory of the clan. 
 
6 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Deei:»-based is its root below ground, and overhead there soars 
 
 its peak to the stars of heaven whereto no man reaches. 
 A folk are we who deem it no shame to be slain in fight, 
 
 though that be the deeming thereof of Salul and 'Amir; 
 Our love of death brings near to us our days of doom, 
 
 but their dooms shrink from death and stand far distant. 
 There dies among us no lord a quiet death in his bed, 
 
 and never is blood of us poured forth without vengeance. 
 Our souls stream forth in a flood from the edge of the whetted 
 swords : 
 
 no otherwise than so does our spirit leave its mansion. 
 Pure is our stock, unsullied ; fair is it kept and bright 
 
 by mothers whose bed bears well, and fathers mighty. 
 To the best of the uplands we wend, and when the season comes 
 
 we travel adown to the best of fruitful valleys. 
 Like rain of the heaven are we : there is not in all our line 
 
 one blunt of heart, nor among us is counted a niggard. 
 We say nay when so we will to the Avords of other men, 
 
 but no man to us says nay when we give sentence. 
 When passes a lord of our line, in his stead there rises straight 
 
 a lord to say the say and do the deeds of the noble. 
 Our beacon is never quenched to the wanderer of the night, 
 
 nor has ever a guest blamed us where men meet together. 
 Our Days* are famous among our foemen, of fair report, 
 
 branded and blazed with glory like noble horses. 
 Our swords have swept throughout all lands both west and east 
 
 and gathered many a notch from the steel of hauberk- 
 wearers ; 
 Not used are they when drawn to be laid back in their sheaths 
 
 before that the folk they meet are spoiled and scattered. 
 If thou knowest not, ask men what they think of us and them 
 
 — not alike are he that knows and he that knows not. 
 The children of Ed-Dayyfin are the shaft of their people's mill, 
 
 — around them it turns and whirls, while they stand 
 midmost.* 
 
 * Battles. 
 
 t This and the other verses quoted in this chapter are taken 
 from the translations of old Arab poetry contributed by Mr. C. 
 J. Lyall, Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Assam, to the 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 7 
 
 The renown of the clan was closely wrapped up 
 with the Arab chieftain's personal renosvn. He was 
 very sensitive on the point of honour, and to that 
 notion lie attached a breadth of meaning which can 
 scarcely be understood in these days. Honour in- 
 cluded all the different virtues that went to make up 
 the ideal Bedawy. To be proved wanting in any of 
 these was to be dishonoured. Above all things, the 
 man who would " keep his honour and defile it not " 
 must be brave and hospitable — 
 
 A rushing rain-flood when he gave guerdons : 
 when he sprang to the onset, a mighty lion. 
 
 The Arab warrior was a mighty man of valour. 
 He would spend whole days in the saddle, burdened 
 with heavy armour, in the pursuit of a foe, seeking 
 the life of the slayer of his kin, or sweeping down 
 upon the caravan of rich merchandise which his more 
 peaceful countrymen of the towns were carrying 
 through the deserts. T^he Arab lived mainly by 
 plunder. His land did not yield him food — unless it 
 were dates, the Bedawy' s bread-^and he relied on the 
 success of his foraging expeditions for his supporl. 
 These he conducted with perfect good-breeding; he 
 used no violence when it could be avoided ; he merely 
 
 "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal " (Translations 
 from the Haniuseh and the Aghaui ; The Mo'allaqah of Zuheyr ; 
 Translations from the Hamfiseh). They imitate the metres of the 
 original Arabic verse, but are nevertheless as literal as need be. 
 The transliteration of proper names in the verses (and in other 
 quotations) has been assimilated to the system adopted in this 
 work. 
 
8 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 relieved the caravan from the trouble of carrying any 
 further the goods of which he was himself willing to 
 take charge, urging, if necessary, the unfair treatment 
 of his forefather Ishmael as an excellent reason for 
 pillaging the sons of Isaac. " When a woman is the 
 victim, no Bedouin brigand, however rude, will be 
 ill-mannered enough to lay hands upon her. He begs 
 her to take off the garment on which he has set his 
 heart, and he then retires to a distance and stands 
 with eyes averted, lest he should do violence to her 
 modesty." 
 
 The poems of the early Arabs are full of the deeds 
 of their warriors, the excitement of the pitched battle, 
 the delight of the pursuit, the raid on the sleeping 
 camp, the trial of skill between rival chiefs, and the 
 other pictures of a warrior's triumph. Here we find 
 little of the generosity of war : mercy was rarely 
 exercised and hatred was carried to its extreme 
 limits; quarter was neither asked nor given; to 
 despatch a wounded man was no disgrace ; the families 
 of the vanquished were enslaved. Notwithstanding his 
 frank genial nature, the Arab was of a dangerously 
 quick temper, derived, he boasted, from eating the 
 flesh of the camel, the surliest and most ill-conditioned 
 of beasts. If he conceived himself insulted, he was 
 bound to revenge himself to the full, or he would 
 have been deemed dishonoured for ever. And since 
 his fiery temper easily took offence, the history of the 
 early Arabs is full of the traditions of slight quarrels 
 and their horrible results — secret assassination and 
 the long-lasting blood-feud. 
 
THE AEABS BBFOEE ISLAM. 9 
 
 Many tlie warriors, noon- journeying, who, when 
 
 night fell, journeyed on and halted at dawning — 
 Keen each one of them, girt with a keen blade 
 
 that when one drew it flashed forth like the lightuiupr — 
 They were tasting of sleej) by sips, when, as 
 
 they nodded, thou didst fright them, and they were 
 scattered. 
 Vengeance we did on them : there escaped us 
 
 of the two houses none but the fewest. 
 And if Hudheyl* broke the edge of hisf sword-blade — 
 
 many the notch that Hudheyl gained from him ! 
 Many the time that he made them kneel down on 
 
 jagged rocks where the hoof is worn with running ! 
 Many the morning he fell on their shelter, 
 
 and after slaughter came plunder and spoiling ! 
 Hudheyl has been burned by me, one valiant 
 
 whom Evil tires not though they be wearied — 
 Whose spear drinks deep the first draught, and thereon 
 
 drinks deep again of the blood of foemen. 
 Forbidden was wine, but now is it lawful : 
 
 hard was the toil that made it lawful ! 
 Reach me the cup, Sawiid son of 'Amr ! 
 
 my body is spent with gaining my vengeance. 
 To Hudheyl we gave to drink Death's goblet, 
 
 whose dregs are disgrace and shame and dishonour. 
 The hyena laughs over the slain of Hudheyl, and 
 
 the wolf — see thou — grins by their corpses, 
 And the vultures flap their wings, full-bellied 
 
 treading their dead, too gorged to leave them. 
 
 The contempt which the Arab, with a few noble 
 exceptions, felt for the gentler virtues is seen in these 
 
 lines : — 
 
 Had I been a son of Mazin, there had not plundered my herds 
 the sons of the Child of the Dust, Dhuhl son of Sheybiin ! 
 
 * A tribe. 
 
 t The subject of the poem, mentioned in the second hemistich 
 of the third verse as "thou," whose death the supposed author 
 (" one valiant ") avenged. 
 
10 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 There had straightway arisen to help me a heavy-handed kin, 
 
 good smiters when help is needed, though the feeble bend to 
 the blow : 
 Men who, when Evil bares before theui his hindmost teeth, 
 
 fly gaily to meet him, in companies or alone. 
 They ask not their brother, when he lays before them his wrong 
 in his trouble, to give them proof of the truth of what 
 he says. 
 Bat as for my people, though their number be not small, 
 
 they are good for nought against evil, however light it be ; 
 They requite with forgiveness the wrong of those that do them 
 wrong, 
 and the evil deeds of the evil they meet with kindness and 
 love; 
 As though thy Lord had created among the tribes of men 
 
 themselves alone to fear Him, and never one man more ! 
 Would that I had in their stead a folk who, when they ride forth, 
 strike swiftly and hard, on horse or on camel borne ! 
 
 A point on which the temper of the Bedawy was 
 easily touched was his family pride. The Arab prized 
 good blood as much in men as in his horses and camels. 
 In these he saw the importance of breed, and in men 
 he firmly believed the same principle held good. With 
 the tenacious memory of his race, he had no difficulty 
 in recalling the whole of a complicated pedigree, and 
 he would often proudly dwell on the purity of his 
 blood and the gallant deeds of his forefathers. He 
 would challenge another chief to show a more noble 
 descent, and hot disputes and bitter rivalries often 
 came of these comparisons. 
 
 But if noble birth brought rivalry and hatred, it 
 brought withal excellent virtues. The Arab noble- 
 man was not a man who was richer, idler, and more 
 luxurious than his inferiors; his position, founded 
 upon descent, depended for its maintenance on personal 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 11 
 
 qualities. Rank brought with it onerous obligations. 
 The chief, if he would retain and carry on the repute 
 of his line, must not only be fearless and ready to 
 fight all the world ; he must be given to hospitality, 
 generous to kith and kin, and to all who cry unto 
 him. His tent must be so pitched in the camp that 
 it shall not only be the first that the enemy attacks, 
 but also the first the wayworn stranger approaches ; 
 and at night fires must be kindled hard by to guide 
 wanderers in the desert to his hospitable entertain- 
 ment. If a man came to an Arab noble's tent and 
 said, " I throw myself on yom^ honour," he was safe 
 from his enemies until they had trampled on the dead 
 body of his host. Nothing was baser than to give 
 up a guest; the treachery was rare, and brought 
 endless dishonour upon the clan in which the shame 
 had taken place. The poet extols the tents — 
 
 Where dwells a kin great of heart, whose word is enough to shield 
 
 whom they shelter when peril comes in a night of fierce strife 
 
 and storm ; 
 
 Yea, noble are they ; the seeker of vengeance gains not from them 
 
 the blood of his foe, nor is he that wrongs them left without 
 
 help. 
 
 The feeling lasted even under the debased rule of 
 
 Muslim despots; for it is related that a governor 
 
 was once ordering some prisoners to execution, when 
 
 one of them asked for a drink of water, which was 
 
 immediately given him. He then turned to the 
 
 governor and said, " Wilt thou slay thy guest ?" — and 
 
 was forthwith set free. A pledge of protection was 
 
 inferred in the giving of hospitality, and to break his 
 
 word was a thing not to be thought upon by an Arab. 
 
12 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 He did not care to give an oatli ; liis simple word 
 was enough, for it was known to be inviolable. 
 Hence the priceless worth of the Arab chief's voice of 
 welcome : it meant protection, unswerving fidelity, 
 help, and succour. 
 
 There was no bound to this hospitality. It was the 
 pride of the Arab to place everything he possessed at 
 the service of the guest. The last milch- camel must 
 be killed sooner than the duties of hospitality be 
 neglected. The story is told of Hatim, a gallant poet- 
 warrior of the tribe of Tayyi, which well illustrates 
 the Arab ideal of hostship. Hatim was at one time 
 brought to the brink of starvation by the dearth of a 
 rainless season. For a whole day he and his family 
 had eaten nothiug, and at night, after soothing the 
 children to sleep by telling them some of those stories 
 in which the Arabs have few rivals, he was trying by 
 his cheerful conversation to make his wife forget her 
 hunger. Just then they heard steps without, and a 
 corner of the tent was raised. " Who is there ? " 
 said Hatim. A woman's voice replied, " I am such a 
 one, thy neighbour. My children have nothing to eat, 
 and are howling like young wolves, and I have come 
 to beg help of thee." " Bring them here," said Hatim. 
 His wife asked him what he would do ; if he could 
 not feed his own children, how should he find food 
 for this woman's? "Do not disturb thyself," he 
 answered. Now Hatim had a horse, renowned far and 
 wide for the purity of his stock and the fleetness and 
 beauty of his paces. He would not kill his favourite 
 for himself or even for his own children ; but now he 
 
THE AEABS PEFOEE ISLAM. 13 
 
 went out and slew him, and prepared him with fire 
 for the strangers' need. And when he saw them 
 eating with his wife and children, he exclaimed, " It 
 were a shame that you alone should eat whilst all the 
 camp is perishing with hunger " ; and he went and 
 called the neighbours to the meal, and in the morning 
 there remained of the horse nothing but his bones. 
 But the master, wrapped in his mantle, sat apart in a 
 corner of the tent. 
 
 This Hatim is a type of the Arab nature at its 
 noblest. Though renowned for his courage and skill 
 in war, he never suffered his enmitj^ to overcome his 
 generosity. He had sworn an oath never to take a 
 man's life, and he strictly observed it, and always with- 
 held the fatal blow. In spite of his clemency, he was 
 ever successful in the wars of his clan, and brought 
 back from his raids many a rich spoil, only to spend 
 it at once in his princely fashion. His generosity and 
 faithful observance of his word at times placed him 
 in positions of great danger; but the alternative of 
 denying his principles seems never to have occurred 
 to his mind. For instance, he had imposed upon him- 
 self as a law never to refuse a gift to him that asked 
 it of him. Once, engaged in single combat, he had 
 disarmed and routed his opponent, who then turned 
 and said, " Hatim, give me thy spear." At once he 
 threw it to him, leaving himself defenceless ; and had 
 he not met an adversary worthy of himself, this had 
 been the last of his deeds. Happily Hatim was not 
 the only generous warrior of the Arabs, and his foe 
 did not avail himself of his advantage. When Hatim's 
 
14 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 friends remonstrated with him on the rashness of an 
 act which, in the spirit of shopkeepers, they held 
 quixotic, Hatim said, " "What would you have me to 
 do ? He asked of me a gift ! " 
 
 It was Hatim' s practice to buy the liberty of all 
 captives who sought his aid : it was but another 
 application of the Arab virtue of hospitality. Once a 
 captive called to him when he was on a journey and 
 had not with him the means of paying the ransom. 
 But he was not wont to allow any difficulties to 
 baulk him of the exercise of his duty: he had the 
 prisoner released, stepping meanwhile into his chains 
 until his own clan should send the ransom. 
 
 Brave, chivalrous, faithful, and generous beyond 
 the needful of Arab ideal — so that his niggardly 
 wife, using the privilege of high dames, divorced him 
 because he was ever ruining himself and her by his 
 open hand — Hatim filled up the measure of Arab 
 virtue by his eloquence, and such of his poems as 
 have come down to us reflect the nobility of his life. 
 As a youth he had shown a strong passion for poetry, 
 and would spare no means of doing honour to poets. 
 His grandfather, in despair of the boy's extravagance, 
 sent him away from the camp to guard the camels, 
 which were pastured at a distance. Sitting there in a 
 state of solitude little congenial to his nature, Hatim 
 lifted his eyes and saw a caravan approaching. It 
 was the caravan of three great poets who were 
 travelling to the court of the King of El-Hira. 
 Hatim begged them to alight and to accept of refresh- 
 ment after the hot and dreary journey. He killed 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE TSLAM. 15 
 
 them a camel each, though one would have more than 
 sufficed for the three ; and m return they wrote him 
 verses in praise of himself and his kindred. Overjoyed 
 at the honour, Hatira insisted on the poets each 
 accepting a hundred camels ; and they departed with 
 their gifts. When the grandfather came to the 
 pasturing and asked where the camels were gone, 
 Hatim answered, " I have exchanged them for a crown 
 of honour, which will shine for all time on the brow 
 of thy race. The lines in which great poets have 
 celebrated our house will jjass from mouth to mouth, 
 and will carry our glory over all Arabia." * 
 
 This story well illustrates the Arab's passionate 
 love of poetry. He conceived his language to be the 
 finest in the world, and he prized eloquence and 
 poetry as the goodliest gifts of the gods. There were 
 three great events in Arab life, when the clan was 
 called together and great f eastings and rejoicings 
 ensued. One was the birth of a son to a chief; 
 another the foaling of a generous mare ; the third was 
 the discovery that a great poet had risen up among 
 them. The advent of the poet meant the immortality 
 of the deeds of the clansmen and the everlasting 
 contumely of their foes ; it meant the uphfting of the 
 glory of the tribe over all the clans of Arabia, and 
 the winning of triumphs by bitterer weapons than 
 
 * For these and otlier stories about Hiltim, see Caussin de 
 Perceval's " Essai sur I'Histoire des Arabes," ii. 607-628 : a 
 treasury of Arab life, abounding in those anecdotes which reveal 
 more of the character of the people than whole volumes of 
 ethnological treatise. 
 
16 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 sword and spear — the weapons of stinging satire and 
 scurrilous squib. No man miglit dare withstand the 
 power of the poets among a people who were keenly 
 alive to the point of an epigram, and who never forgot 
 an ill-natured jibe if it were borne upon musical verse. 
 Most of the great heroes of the desert were poets as 
 well as warriors, and their poesy was deemed the 
 chief gem in their crown, and, like their courage, 
 was counted a proof of generous birth. The Khalif 
 'Omar said well, " The kings of the Arabs are their 
 orators and poets, those who practise and who cele- 
 brate all the virtues of the Bedawy." 
 
 This ancient poetry of the Arabs is the reflection 
 of the people's life. Far away from the trouble of 
 the world, barred by wild wastes from the stranger, 
 the Bedawy lived his happy child's life, enjoying 
 to the uttermost the good the gods had sent him, 
 delighting in the face that Nature showed him, inspired 
 by the glorious breath of the deserts that were his 
 home. His poetry rings of that desert life. It is 
 emotional, passionate, seldom reflective. Not the end 
 of life, the whence and the whither, but the actual 
 present joy of existence, was the subject of his song. 
 Vivid painting of nature is the characteristic of this 
 poetry : it is natural, unpolished, unlaboured. The 
 scenes of the desert — the terrors of the nightly ride 
 through the hill-girdled valley where the Ghuls and 
 the Jinn have their haunts ; the gloom of the barren 
 plain, where the wolf, "like a ruined gamester," 
 roams ululating ; the weariness of the journey under 
 the noonday sun ; the stifling sand-storm, the delu- 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 17 
 
 sive mirage ; or again, the solace of the pahn- 
 tree's shade, and the delights of the cool well ; 
 — such are the pictures of the Arab poet. The 
 people's life is another frequent theme : the daily 
 doings of the herdsman, the quiet pastoral life, on the 
 one hand ; on the other, the deeds of the chiefs — war, 
 plunder, the chase, wassail, revenge, friendship, love. 
 There were satires on rival tribes, panegyrics on 
 chiefs, laments for the dead. This poetry is wholly 
 objective, artless, childlike; it is the outcome of a 
 people still in the freshness of youth, whom the 
 mysteries and complications of life have not yet set 
 a-thinking. " Just as his language knows but the 
 present and the past, so the ancient Arab lived but 
 in to-day and yesterday. The future is nought to 
 him ; he seizes the present with too thorough abandon- 
 ment to have an emotion left for anything beyond. 
 He troubles himself not with what fate the morrow 
 may bring forth, he dreams not of a beautiful future, 
 — only he revels in the present, and his glance looks 
 backward alone. Rich in ideas and impressions, he is 
 poor in thought. He drains hastily the foaming cup 
 of life ; he feels deeply and passionately ; but it is as 
 if he were never conscious of the coming of the 
 thoughtful age which, while it surveys the past, 
 as often turns an anxious look to the unknown 
 future."* 
 
 It is very difficult for a Western mind to enter into 
 the real beauty of the old Arab poetry. The life it 
 
 * A. von Kremer, " Culturgeschichte des Orients," ii. 352. 
 
 2 
 
18 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 depicts is so unlike any we can now witness, that it is 
 almost removed beyond the pale of our sympathies. 
 The poetry is loaded with metaphors and similes, 
 which to us seem far-fetched, though they are drawn 
 from the simplest daily sights of the Bedawy. More- 
 over, it is only in fragments that we can read it ; for 
 the change in the whole character of Arab life and 
 in the current of Arab ideas that followed the con- 
 quests of Islam extinguished the old songs, which 
 were no longer suitable to the new conditions of 
 things ; and as they were seldom recorded in writing, 
 we possess but a little remnant of them.* Yet " these 
 fragments may be broken, defaced, dimmed, and 
 obscured by fanaticism, ignorance, and neglect; but 
 out of them there arises anew all the freshness, bloom, 
 and glory of desert-song, as out of Homer's epics rise 
 the glowing spring-time of humanity and the deep 
 blue heavens of Hellas. It is not a transcendental 
 poetry, rich in deep and thoughtful legend and lore, 
 or glittering in the many-coloured prisms of fancy, 
 but a poetry the chief task of which is to paint life 
 and nature as they really are ; and within its narrow 
 bounds it is magnificent. It is chiefly and character- 
 istically full of manliness, of vigour, and of a chivalrous 
 spirit, doubly striking when compared with the spirit 
 
 * The later Arabic poets were mostly incapable of the genius of 
 the old singers : the times had changed, and the ancient poetry 
 appeared almost as exotic to their ideas as it does to our own. 
 No greater mistake can be made than to judge of the old poets by 
 such a writer as Beha-ed-din Zoheyr, of whom the late Professor 
 E. H. Palmer gave us so beautiful a version. 
 
THE AUABS BEFORE ISLAM. 19 
 
 of abjectness and slavery found in some other Asiatic 
 nations. It is wild and vast and monotonous as the 
 yellow seas of its desert solitudes ; it is daring and 
 noble, tender and true." * 
 
 There was one place where, above all others, the 
 KasTdas of the ancient Arabs were recited : this was 
 'Okadh, the Olympia of Arabia, where there was held 
 a great annual Fair, to which not merely the mer- 
 chants of Mekka and the south, but the poet-heroes 
 of all the land resorted. The Fair of 'Okadh was 
 held during the sacred months, — a sort of " God's 
 Truce," when blood could not be shed without a 
 violation of the ancient customs and faiths of the 
 Bedawis. Thither went the poets of rival clans, who 
 had as often locked spears as hurled rhythmical curses. 
 There was Httle fear of a bloody ending to the poetic 
 contest, for those heroes who might meet there with 
 enemies or blood- avengers are said to have worn 
 masks or veils, and their poems were recited by a 
 public orator at their dictation. That these pre- 
 cautions and the sacredness of the time could not 
 always prevent the ill-feeling evoked by the pointed 
 personalities of rival singers leading to a fray and 
 bloodshed is proved by recorded instances ; but such 
 results were uncommon, and as a rule the customs of 
 the time and place were respected. In spite of occa- 
 sional broils on the spot, and the lasting feuds which 
 these poetic contests must have excited, the Fair of 
 
 * E. Deutsch, "Literary Eemaius," 453, 454: cp. Noldeke, 
 "Beitriige zur Keiiut. d. Poesie d. alten Araber," xxiii., xxiv. 
 
 2 * 
 
20 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 'Okadh was a magnificent institution. It served as a 
 focus for the literature of all Arabia : everyone with 
 any pretensions to poetic power came, and if he 
 could not himself gain the applause of the assembled 
 people, at least he could form one of the critical 
 audience on whose verdict rested the fame or the 
 shame of every poet. The Fair of 'Okadh was a 
 literary congress, without formal judges, but with 
 unbounded influence. It was here that the polished 
 heroes of the desert determined points of grammar 
 and prosody; here the seven Grolden Songs were 
 recited, although (alas for the charming legend !) they 
 were not afterwards " suspended " in the Kaaba ; 
 and here " a magical language, the language of the 
 Hijaz," was built out of the dialects of Arabia and 
 made ready to the skilful hand of Mohammad, that 
 he might conquer the world with his Koran. 
 
 The Fair of 'Okadh was not merely a centre of 
 emulation for Arab poets : it was also an annual 
 review of Bedawy virtues. It was there that the 
 Arab nation once a year inspected itself, so to say, 
 and brought forth and criticised its ideals of the noble 
 and the beautiful in life and in poetry. For it was in 
 poetry that the Arab — and for that matter each man 
 all the world over — expressed his highest thoughts, 
 and it was at 'Okadh that these thoughts were 
 measured by the standard of the Bedawy ideal. The 
 Fair not only maintained the highest standard of 
 poetry that the Arabic language has ever reached : it 
 also upheld the noblest ideal of life and duty that the 
 Arab nation has yet set forth and obeyed. 'Okadh 
 
THE ARABS BEFOEE ISLAM. 21 
 
 was the press, the stage, the pulpit, the Parliament, 
 and the Academic Fran(;aise of the Arab people ; and 
 when, in his fear of the infidel poets (whom Imra-el- 
 Keys was to usher to hell), Mohammad abolished the 
 Fair, he destroyed the Arab nation even whilst he 
 created his own new nation of Muslims ; — and the 
 Muslims cannot sit in the places of the old pagan 
 Arabs. 
 
 It is very difl&cult for the Western mind to dis- 
 sociate the idea of Oriental poetry from the notion of 
 amatory odes, and sonnets to the lady's eyebrow : 
 but even the few extracts that have been given in this 
 chapter show that the Arab had many other subjects 
 besides love to sing about, and though the divine 
 theme has its place in almost every poem, it seldom 
 rivals the prominence of war and nature-painting, and 
 it is treated from a much less sensual point of view 
 than that of later Arab poets. Many writers have 
 drawn a gloomy picture of the condition of women in 
 Arabia before the coming of Mohammad, and there is 
 no doubt that in many cases their lot was a degraded 
 one. There are ancient Arabic proverbs that point 
 to the contempt in which woman's judgment and 
 character were held by the Arabs of " the Time of 
 Ignorance," and Mohammad must have derived his 
 mean opinion of women from a too general impression 
 among his countrymen. The marriage tie was cer- 
 tainly very loose among the ancient Arabs. The 
 ceremony itself was often of the briefest. A man 
 said to Umm-Kharija l-hitb {i.e. I am an asker-in- 
 marriage), and she answered nikh {i.e. I am a giver- 
 
22 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 in-marriage), and the knot was thus tied, only to 
 be undone with equal facility and brevity. The 
 frequency of divorce among the Arabs does not 
 speak well for their constancy, and must have had 
 a degrading effect upon the women. Hence it is 
 argued that women were the objects of contempt 
 rather than of respect among the ancient Arabs. 
 
 Yet there is reason to believe that the evidence 
 upon which this conclusion is founded is partial and 
 one-sided. There was a wide gulf between the 
 Bedawy and the town Arab. It is not impossible 
 that the view commonly entertained as to the state of 
 women in pre'islamic times is based mainly on what 
 Mohammad saw around him in Mekka, and not on the 
 ordinary life of the desert. To such a conjecture 
 a singularly uniform support is lent by the ancient 
 poetry of the Arabs ; and though the poets were then 
 — as they always are — men of finer mould than the 
 rest, yet their example, and still more their poems 
 passing from mouth to mouth, must have created a 
 widespread belief in their principles. It is certain that 
 the roaming Bedawy, like the mediaeval knight, enter- 
 tained a chivalrous reverence for women, although, 
 like the knight, he was not always above a career 
 of promiscuous gallantry. Yet there was a certain 
 glamour of romance even about the intrigues of the 
 Bedawy. He did not regard the object of his love as 
 a chattel to be possessed, but as a divinity to be 
 assiduously worshipped. The poems are full of in- 
 stances of the courtly respect displayed by the heroes 
 of the desert towards defenceless maidens, and the 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM". 23 
 
 mere existence of so general an ideal of conduct in 
 the poems is a strong argument for Arab chivalry : 
 for with the Arabs the abyss between the ideal 
 accepted of the mind and the attaining thereof in 
 action was narrower than it is among more advanced 
 nations. 
 
 Whatever was the condition of women in the trading 
 cities and villages, it is certain that in the desert 
 woman was regarded as she has never since been 
 viewed among Muslims. The modern liarim system 
 was as yet undreamt of; the maid of the desert was 
 unfettered by the ruinous restrictions of modern life 
 in the East. She was free to choose her own husband, 
 and to bind him to have no other wife than herself. 
 She might receive male visitors, even strangers, with- 
 out suspicion : for her virtue was too dear to her and 
 too well assured to need the keeper. It was the 
 bitterest taunt of all to say to a hostile clan that their 
 men had not the heart to give nor their women to 
 deny ; for the chastity of the women of the clan was 
 reckoned only next to the valour and generosity of 
 the men. In those days bastardy was an indelible 
 stain. It was the wife who inspired the hero to 
 deeds of glory, and it was her praise that he most 
 valued when he came home triumphing. The hero of 
 desert song thought himself happy to die in guarding 
 some women from their pursuers. Wounded to the 
 death, 'Antara halted alone in a narrow pass, and 
 bade the women press on to a place of safety. 
 Planting his spear in the ground, he supported him- 
 self on his horse, so that when the pursuers came up 
 
24 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 they knew not he was dead, and dared not approach 
 within reach of his dreaded arm. At length the horse 
 moved, and the body fell to the ground, and the 
 enemies saw that it was but the corpse of the hero 
 that had held the pass. In death, as in a life, sans 
 peur et sans reproche, 'Antara was true to the 
 chivalry of his race.* 
 
 There are many instances like this of the knightly 
 courtesy of the Arab chief in "the Time of Igno- 
 rance." In the old days, as an ancient writer says, 
 the true Arab had but one love, and her he loved 
 till death. Even when polygamy became commoner, 
 especially in the towns, it was not what is meant by 
 polygamy in a modern Muslim state : it was rather 
 the patriarchal system of Abram and Sarai. 
 
 There is much in the fragments of the ancient 
 poetry which reflects this fine spirit. It is ofttimes 
 "tender and true," and even Islam could not wholly 
 root out the real Arab sentiment, which reappears in 
 Muslim times in the poems of Aboo-Firas. Especially 
 valuable is the evidence of the old poetry with regard 
 to the love of a father for his daughters. Infanticide, 
 which is commonly attributed to the whole Arab 
 nation of every age before Islam, was in reality ex- 
 ceedingly rare in the desert. It was probably adopted 
 by poor and weak clans, either from inability to sup- 
 port their children, or in order to protect themselves 
 
 * Sir F. J. Goldsmid reminds me, in the " Academy," that this 
 story is told of Eabia ibn Mukaddam in Fresnel's " Lettres sur les 
 Arabes." The point, however, lies in the deed and not in the 
 name of the doer of it. 
 
THE AEABS BEFORE ISLAM. 
 
 25 
 
 from the stain of having them dishonoured by stronger 
 tribes ; and the occasional practice of this barbarous 
 and suicidal custom affords no ground for assuming 
 an unnatural hatred and contempt for girls among 
 the ancient Arabs. These verses of a father to his 
 daughter tell a different story : — 
 
 If no Umeymeli were there, no want would trouble my soul, — • 
 
 no labour call me to toil for bread through pitchiest night ; 
 What moves my longing to live is but that well do I know 
 
 how low the fatherless lies, — how hard the kindness of kin. 
 I quake before loss of wealth lest lacking fall upon her, 
 
 and leave her shieldless and bare as flesh set forth on a 
 board. 
 My life she prays for, and I from mere love pray for her death — 
 
 yea death, the gentlest and kindest guest to visit a maid. 
 I fear an uncle's rebuke, a brother's harshness for her ; 
 
 my chiefest end was to spare her heart the grief of a word. 
 
 Once more, these touching lines breathe a spirit of 
 faithful love for a lost wife and devotion to her 
 child : — 
 
 Take thou thy way by the grave wherein thy dear one lies 
 
 — Umm-el-'Ala — and lift up thy voice : ah if she could hear ! 
 How art thou come — for very fearful wast thou — to dwell 
 
 in a land where not the most valiant goes but with quaking 
 heart ? 
 God's love be thine and His mercy, thou dear lost one ! 
 
 not meet for thee is the place of shadow and loneliness. 
 And a little one hast thou left behind— God's ruth on her ! 
 
 she knows not what to bewail thee means, yet weeps for thee. 
 For she misses those sweet ways of thine that thou hadst with her, 
 
 and the long night wails, and we strive to hush her to sleep 
 
 in vain. 
 
 When her crying smites in the night upon my sleepless ears, 
 
 straightway mine eyes brimfull are filled from the well of 
 
 tears. 
 
 Hitherto we have been looking at but one side of 
 
26 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Arab life. Bedawis were indeed the bulk of the race, 
 and furnished the swords of the Mushm conquests ; 
 but there was also a vigorous town-life in Arabia, and 
 the citizens waxed rich with the gains of their traffick- 
 For through Arabia ran the trade route between 
 
 mg. 
 
 East and West : it was the Arab traders who carried 
 the produce of the Yemen to the markets of Syria ; 
 and how ancient was their commerce one may divine 
 from the words of a poet of Judsea spoken more 
 than a thousand years before the coming of Moham- 
 mad. 
 
 Wedan and Javan from San'a paid for tliy produce : 
 
 sword-blades, cassia, and calamus were in thy trafficking. 
 Dedan was thy merchant in saddle-cloths for riding ; 
 Arabia and all the merchants of Kedar, they were the merchants 
 of thy hand : 
 in lambs and rams and goats, in these were they thy 
 merchants. 
 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants : 
 with the chief of all spices, and with every precious stone, 
 and gold, they paid for thy produce. 
 Haran, Aden, and Can»eh, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur and 
 
 Chilmad were thy merchants ; 
 They were thy merchants in excellent wares, 
 in cloth of blue and broidered work, 
 
 in chests of cloth of divers colours, bound with cords and 
 made fast among thy merchandize.* 
 
 Mekka was the centre of this trading life, the 
 typical Arab city of old times — a stirring little town, 
 
 * Ezekiel xxvii. 19-24. The identifications of the various names 
 Avith Arabian towns are partly conjectural, but the general refe- 
 rence is clearly to Ai-abia. Cf. the Speaker's Commentary, vi. 
 122 ; and the interpretations of Hitzig, Movers, Tuch, and 
 Menant. 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLA:\[. 27 
 
 with its caravans bringing the silks and woven stuffs 
 of Syria and the far-famed damask, and carrying away 
 the sweet-smelHng produce of Arabia, frankincense, 
 cinnamon, sandal-wood, aloe, and myrrh, and the 
 dates and leather and metals of the south, and the 
 goods that come to the Yemen from Africa and even 
 India ; w^ith its assemblies of merchant-princes in the 
 Council Hall near the Kaaba ; and again its young 
 poets running over with love and gallantry ; its Greek 
 and Persian slave-girls brightening the luxurious 
 banquet with their native songs, when as yet there 
 was no Arab school of music, and the monotonous 
 but not unmelodious chant of the camel-driver was the 
 national song of Arabia; and its club, where busy 
 men spent their idle hours in playing chess and 
 draughts, or in gossiping with their acquaintance. 
 It was a little republic of commerce, too much in- 
 fected with the luxuries and refinements of the states 
 it traded with, yet retaining enough of the free 
 Arab nature to redeem it from the charge of 
 effeminacy. 
 
 Mekka was a notable centre of music and poetry, 
 and this characteristic lasted into Muslim times. 
 There is a story of a certain stonemason who had a 
 wonderful gift of singing. When he was at work the 
 young men used to come and importune him, and 
 bring him gifts of money and food to induce him to 
 sing. He would then make a stipulation that they 
 should first help him in his work ; and forthwith 
 they would strip off their cloaks, and the stones 
 would gather round him rapidly. Then he would 
 
28 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 mount a rock and begin to sing, whilst the whole 
 hill was coloured red and yellow with the gar- 
 ments of his audience. Singers were then held 
 in high admiration, and the greatest chiefs used to 
 pay their court to ladies of the musical profession. 
 One of these used to give receptions, open to the 
 whole city, in which she would appear in great state, 
 surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, each dressed 
 magnificently and wearing " an elegant artificial 
 chignon." It was in this town-life that the worse 
 qualities of the Arab came out ; it was here that his 
 raging passion for dicing and his thirst for wine were 
 most prominent. In the desert there was little oppor- 
 tunity for indulging in either luxury; but in a town 
 which often welcomed a caravan bringing goods to 
 the value of twenty thousand pound, such excesses 
 were to be looked for. Excited by the song of the 
 Greek slave-girl and the fumes of mellow wine, the 
 Mekkan would throw the dice till, like the Germans 
 of Tacitus, he had staked and lost his own liberty. 
 
 But Mekka was more than a centre of trade and of 
 song. It was the focus of the religion of the Arabs. 
 Thither the tribes went up every year to kiss the 
 black stone which had fallen from heaven in the 
 primaeval days of Adam, and to make the seven 
 circuits of the Kaaba naked, — for they would not 
 approach God in the garments in which they had 
 sinned, — and to perform the other ceremonies of 
 the pilgrimage. The Kaaba, a cubical building in 
 the centre of Mekka, was the most sacred temple in 
 all Arabia, and it gave its sanctity to all the dis- 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 29 
 
 trict around. It was first built, saitli tradition, by 
 Adam from a heavenly model, and then rebuilt from 
 time to time by Seth and Abraham and Ishmael, and 
 less reverend personages, and it contained the sacred 
 things of the land. Here was the black stone, here 
 the great god of red agate, Hubal, and the three 
 hundred and sixty idols, one for each day of the year, 
 which Mohammad afterwards destroyed in one day. 
 Here was Abraham's stone, and that other which 
 marked the tomb of Ishmael; and hard by was 
 Zemzem, the god-sent spring which gushed from the 
 sand when the forefather of the Arabs was perishing 
 of thirst. 
 
 The religion of the ancient Arabs, little as we know 
 of it, is especially interesting, inasmuch as the Arabs 
 longest retained the original Semitic character, and 
 hence probably the original Semitic religion : and 
 thus in the ancient cultus of Arabia we may see the 
 religion once professed by Chaldeans, Canaanites, and 
 Phoenicians. This ancient religion '' rises little higher 
 than animistic polydaemonism. It is a collection of 
 tribal religions standing side by side, only loosely 
 united, though there are traces of a once closer con- 
 nection." * The great objects of worship were the 
 sun and the stars and the three moon-goddesses — 
 El-Lat, the bright moon ; Menah, the dark ; and El- 
 'Uzza, the union of the two : whilst a lower cultus of 
 trees, stones, and mountains, supposed to be tenanted 
 
 * C. P. Tiele, " Outlines of the History of Eeligion " : tr. J. E. 
 Carpenter, p. 63. 
 
30 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 by souls, shows that the religion had not yet quite 
 risen above simple fetishism. At the time of Moham- 
 mad the Arabs worshipped numerous images, which 
 may have been merely a development of the previous 
 stone-worship, or may have been introduced from 
 intercourse with Christians. There are traces of a 
 behef in a supreme God behind this pantheon, and 
 the moon-goddesses and other divinities were regarded 
 as daughters of the most high God (Allah ta'ala). 
 The various deities (but not the Supreme Allah) had 
 their fanes, where human sacrifices, though rare, were 
 not unknown ; and their cultus was superintended by 
 a hereditary line of seers, who were held in great 
 reverence, but never developed into a priestly caste. 
 
 Besides the tribal gods, individual households had 
 their special Penates, to whom was due the first and 
 the last salam of the returning or outgoing host. 
 But in spite of all this superstitious apparatus the 
 Arabs were never a religious people. In the old days, 
 as now, they were reckless, skeptical, materialistic. 
 They had their gods and their divining-arrows, but 
 they were ready to demolish both if the responses 
 proved contrary to their wishes. A great majority 
 believed in no future life nor in a reckoning-day of 
 good and evil. If some tied camels to the graves of 
 the dead that the corpse might ride mounted to the 
 judgment-seat, they must have been the exceptions ; 
 and if there are some doubtful traces of the doctrine 
 of metempsychosis, this again must have been the 
 creed of the very few. 
 
 Christianity and Judaism had made but small 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 31 
 
 impress upon the Arabs. There were Jewish tribes 
 in the north, and there is evidence in the Koran and 
 elsewhere that the traditions and rites of Judaism 
 were widely known in Arabia. But the creed was too 
 narrow and too exclusively national to commend 
 itself to the majority of the people. Christianity 
 fared even worse. Whether or not St. Paul journeyed 
 there, it is at least certain that very little effect was 
 produced by the preaching of Christianity in Arabia. 
 We hear of Christians on the borders, and even two 
 or three among the Mekkans, and bishops and churches 
 are spoken of at Dhafar and Nejran. But the Chris- 
 tianity that the Arabs knew was, like the Judaism of 
 the northern tribes, a very imperfect reflection of the 
 faith it professed to set forth. It had become a thing 
 of the head instead of the heart, and the refinements 
 of monophysite and m.onothelite doctrines gained no 
 hold upon the Arab mind. 
 
 Thus Judaism and Christianity, though they were 
 well known, and furnished many ideas and ceremonies 
 to Islam, were never able to effect any general settle- 
 ment in Arabia. The common Arabs did not care 
 much about any religion, and the finer spirits found 
 the wrangling dogmatism of the Christian and the 
 narrow isolation of the Jew little to their mind. For 
 there were before the time of Mohammad men who 
 were dissatisfied with the low fetishism in which their 
 countrymen were plunged, and who protested empha- 
 tically against the idle and even cruel superstitions of 
 the Arabs. Not to refer to the prophets, who, as the 
 Koran relates, were sent in old time to the tribes of 
 
32 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Ad and Thamood to convert them, there was, immedi- 
 ately before the preaching of Mohammad, a general 
 feeling that a change was at hand ; a prophet was 
 expected, and women were anxiously hoping for male 
 children if so be they might mother the Apostle of 
 Grod; and the more thoughtful minds, tinged with 
 traditions of Judaism, were seeking for what they 
 called *' the religion of Abraham." These men were 
 called " Eamfs" or skeptics, and their religion 
 seems to have consisted chiefly in a negative position, 
 — in denying the superstition of the Arabs, and only 
 asserting the existence of one sole-ruling Grod whose 
 absolute slaves are all mankind, without being able 
 to decide on any minor doctrines, or to determine in 
 what manner this one Grod was to be worshipped. So 
 long as the Hanifs could give their countrymen no 
 more definite creed than this, their influence was 
 limited to a few inquiring and doubting minds. It 
 was reserved for Mohammad to formulate the faith 
 of the Hanifs in the dogmas of Islam. For the 
 leader of these few " skeptics " was Zeyd ibn 'Amr, 
 to whom Mohammad often resorted, and another was 
 the cousin of the Prophet and his near neighbour. 
 Thus the Hanifs were the forerunners of the man 
 who was to change the destinies of the Arabs. 
 
 We can no longer see the true Arab as he was in 
 " the Time of Ignorance," and we cannot but regret 
 our loss ; for the Pagan Arab is a noble type of man, 
 thoug-h there be nobler. There is much that is 
 admirable in his high mettle, his fine sense of honour, 
 his knightlinesSj his " open-handed, both-handed " 
 
THE ARABS BEFORE ISLAM. 33 
 
 generosity, his frank friendship, and his manly inde- 
 pendent spirit; and the faults of this wild reckless 
 nature are not to be weighed against its many excel- 
 lencies. When Mohammad turned abroad the current 
 of Arab life, be changed the character of the people. 
 The mixture with foreign nations, and the quiet town- 
 life that succeeded to the tumult of conquest, gradually 
 effaced many of the leading ideas of the old Arab 
 nature, and the remnant that still dwell in the land 
 of their fathers have lost much of that nobleness of 
 character which in their ancestors covered a multitude 
 of sins. Mohammad in part destroyed the Arab when 
 he created the Muslim. The last is no amends for the 
 first. The modern Bedawy is neither the one nor the 
 other; he has lost the greatness of the old type with- 
 out gaining that of the new. As far as the Arabs 
 alone are concerned, Mohammad effected a temporary 
 good and a lasting harm. As to the world at large, 
 that is matter for another chapter. 
 
34 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MOHAMMAD. 
 
 A PROPHET for the Arabs must fulfil two conditions 
 if lie will bring with his good tidings the power of 
 making them accepted : he must spring from the 
 traditional centre of Arabian religion, and he must 
 come of a noble family of pure Arab blood. Moham- 
 mad fulfilled both. His family was that branch of 
 the Kureysh which had raised Mekka to the dignity 
 of the undisputed metropolis of Arabia, and which, 
 though impoverished, still held the chief ofiices of 
 the sacred territory. Mohammad's grandfather was 
 the virtual chief of Mekka ; for to him belonged the 
 guardianship of the Kaaba, and he it was who used 
 the generous privilege of giving food and water to the 
 pilgrims who resorted to the "House of God." His 
 youngest son, after marrying a kinswoman belonging 
 to a branch of the Kureysh settled at Yethrib 
 (Medina), died before the birth of his son (571), and 
 this son, Mohammad, lost his mother when he was 
 only six years old. The orphan was adopted by his 
 grandfather, 'Abd-El-Muttalib, and a tender affection 
 sprang up between the chief of eighty years and his 
 
MOHAMMAD. 35 
 
 little grandson. Many a day the old man might be 
 seen sitting at his wonted place near the Kaaba, and 
 sharing his mat with his favourite. He lived but two 
 years more ; and at his dying request, his son Abil- 
 Talib took charge of Mohammad, for whom he too 
 ever showed a love as of father and mother. 
 
 Such is the bare outline of Mohammad's childhood ; 
 and of his youth we know about as little, though the 
 Arabian biographies abound in legends, of which some 
 may be true and most are certainly false. There are 
 stories of his journeyings to Syria with his uncle, and 
 his encounter with a mysterious monk of obscure 
 faith ; but there is nothing to show for this tale, and 
 much to be brought against it. All we can say is, 
 that Mohammad probably assisted his family in the 
 war of the Fijar, and that he must many a time have 
 frequented the annual Fair of 'Okadh, hearing the 
 songs of the desert chiefs and the praise of Arab life, 
 and listening to the earnest words of the Jews and 
 Christians and others who came to the Fair. He was 
 obliged at an early age to earn his own living ; for 
 the noble family of the Hashimis, to which he belonged, 
 was fast losing its commanding position, whilst another 
 branch of the Kureysh was succeeding to its dignities. 
 The princely munificence of Hashim and 'Abd-El- 
 Muttalib was followed by the poverty and decline of 
 their heirs. The duty of providing the pilgrims with 
 food was transferred to the rival branch of Umeyya, 
 whilst the Hashimis retained only the lighter office 
 of serving water to the worshippers. Mohammad 
 must take his share in the labour of the family, 
 
 3 * 
 
36 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 and he was sent to pasture tlie sheep of the Kureysh 
 on the hills and valleys round Mekka ; and though the 
 people despised the shepherd's calling, he himself was 
 wont to look back with pleasure to these early days, 
 saying that God called never a prophet save from 
 among the sheep-folds. And doubtless it was then 
 that he developed that reflective disposition of mind 
 which at length led him to seek the reform of his 
 people, whilst in his solitary wanderings with the 
 sheep he gained that marvellous eye for the beauty 
 and wonder of the earth and sky which resulted in 
 the gorgeous nature-painting of the Koran. Yet he 
 was glad to change this humble work for the more 
 lucrative and adventurous post of camel-driver to the 
 caravans of his wealthy kinswoman Khadija ; and he 
 seems to have taken so kindly to the duty, which 
 involved responsibilities, and to have acquitted him- 
 self so worthily, that he attracted the notice of his 
 employer, who straightway fell in love with him, and 
 presented him with her hand. The marriage was a 
 singularly happy one, though Mohammad was scarcely 
 twenty-five and his wife nearly forty, and it brought 
 him that repose and exemption from daily toil which 
 he needed in order to prepare his mind for his great 
 work. But beyond that, it gave him a loving woman's 
 heart, that was the first to believe in his mission, 
 that was ever ready to console him in his despair 
 and to keep alive within him the thin flickering 
 flame of hope when no man believed in him — not 
 even himself — and the world was black before his 
 eyes. 
 
MOHAMMAD. 37 
 
 We know very little of the next fifteen years. 
 Khadija bore him sons and daughters, but only the 
 daughters lived. We hear of his joining a league for 
 the protection of the weak and oppressed, and there 
 is a legend of his having acted with wise tact and 
 judgment as arbitrator in a dispute among the great 
 families of Mekka on the occasion of the rebuilding of 
 the Kaaba. During this time, moreover, he reheved 
 his still impoverished uncle of the charge of his son 
 'Aly — afterwards the Bayard of Islam — and he freed 
 and adopted a certain captive, Zeyd ; and these two 
 became his most devoted friends and disciples. Such 
 is the short but characteristic record of these fifteen 
 years of manhood. We know very little about what 
 Mohammad did, but we hear only one voice as to 
 what he was. Up to the age of forty his unpretending- 
 modest way of life had attracted but little notice 
 from his townspeople. He was only known as a 
 simple, upright man, whose life was severely pure and 
 refined, and whose true desert sense of honour and 
 faith-keeping had won him the high title of El-Amin, 
 " the Trusty." 
 
 Let us see what fashion of man this was, who was 
 about to work a revolution among his countrymen, 
 and change the conditions of social life in a great part 
 of the world. The picture * is drawn from an older 
 man than we have yet seen ; but Mohammad at forty 
 and Mohammad at fifty or more were probably very 
 little different. " He was of the middle height, 
 
 * E. Deutscli, " Literary Eeiuains," pp. 70-72. 
 
38 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 rather tliin, but broad of shoulders, wide of chest, 
 strong of bone and muscle. His head was massive, 
 strongly developed. Dark hair, shghtly curled, flowed 
 in a dense mass down almost to his shoulders. Even 
 in advanced age it was sprinkled by only about 
 twenty grey hairs — produced by the agonies of his 
 * Revelations.' His face was oval-shaped, slightly 
 tawny of colour. Fine, long, arched eyebrows were 
 divided by a vein which throbbed visibly in moments 
 of passion. Great black restless eyes shone out from 
 under long, heavy eyelashes. His nose was large, 
 slightly aquiline. His teeth, upon which he bestowed 
 great care, were well set, dazzling white. A full 
 beard framed his manly face. His skin was clear 
 and soft, his complexion ' red and white,' his hands 
 were as * silk and satin,' even as those of a woman. 
 His step was quick and elastic, yet firm, and as 
 that of one ' who steps from a high to a low 
 place.' In turning his face he would also turn 
 his full body. His whole gait and presence were 
 dignified and imposing. His countenance was mild 
 and pensive. His laugh was rarely more than a 
 smile. 
 
 " In his habits he was extremely simple, though 
 he bestowed great care on his person. His eating 
 and drinking, his dress and his furniture, retained, 
 even when he had reached the fulness of power, their 
 almost primitive nature. The only luxuries he 
 indulged in were, besides arms, which he highly 
 prized, a pair of yellow boots, a present from the 
 Negus of Abyssinia. Perfumes, however, he loved 
 
MOHAMMAD. 39 
 
 passionately, bein^ most sensitive of smell. Strong- 
 drinks he abhorred. 
 
 " His constitution was extremely delicate. He was 
 nervously afraid of bodily pain; he would sob and 
 roar under it. Eminently unpractical in all common 
 things of life, he was gifted with mighty powers of 
 imagination, elevation of mind, delicacy and refine- 
 ment of feeling. ^ He is more modest than a virgin 
 behind her curtain,' it was said of him. He was 
 ( most indulgent to his inferiors, and would never 
 allow his awkward little page to be scolded, whatever 
 he did. ' Ten years,' said Anas, his servant, ' was I 
 about the Prophet, and he never said as much as 
 ''uff " to me.' He was very affectionate towards his 
 family. One of his boys died on his breast in the 
 smoky house of the nurse, a blacksmith's wife. He 
 was very fond of children. He would stop them in 
 the streets and pat their little cheeks. He never 
 struck any one in his life. The worst expression he 
 ever made use of in conversation was ' What has 
 come to him ? — may his forehead be darkened with 
 mud ! ' When asked to curse some one, he replied, 
 ' I have not been sent to curse, but to be a mercy 
 to mankind.' ' He visited the sick, followed any 
 bier he met, accepted the invitation of a slave to 
 dinner, mended his own clothes, milked his goats, 
 and waited upon himself,' relates summarily another 
 tradition. He never first withdrew his hand out of 
 another man's palm, and turned not before the other 
 had turned. ... He was the most faithful protector 
 of those he protected, the sweetest and most agreeable 
 
40 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 in conversation ; those who saw him were suddenly 
 filled with reverence ; those who came near him loved 
 him ; they who described him would say, ' I have 
 never seen his like either before or after.' He was 
 of great taciturnity ; but when he spoke it was with 
 emphasis and deliberation, and no one could ever 
 forget what he said. He was, however, very nervous 
 and restless withal, often low-spirited, downcast as 
 to heart and eyes. Yet he would at times suddenly 
 break through these broodings, become gay, talkative, 
 jocular, chiefly among his own. He would then 
 delight in telling little stories, fairy tales, and the 
 like. He would romp with the children and play with 
 their toys." 
 
 " He lived with his wives in a row of humble 
 cottages, separated from one another by palm-branches, 
 cemented together with mud. He would kindle the 
 fire, sweep the floor, and milk the goats himself. 
 'Aisha tells us that he slept upon a leathern mat, and 
 that he mended his clothes, and even clouted his shoes, 
 with his own hand. For months together ... he 
 did not get a sufficient meal. The little food that he 
 had was always shared with those who dropped in to 
 partake of it. Indeed, outside the Prophet's house 
 was a bench or gallery, on which were always to be 
 found a number of the poor, who lived entirely on his 
 generosity, and were hence called the ' people of the 
 bench.' His ordinary food was dates and water 
 or barley-bread ; milk and honey were luxuries of 
 which he was fond, but which he rarely allowed 
 himself. The fare of the desert seemed most con- 
 
MOHAMMAD. 41 
 
 genial to him, even when he was sovereign of 
 Arabia." * 
 
 Mohammad was fully forty before he felt himself 
 called to be an apostle to his people. If he did not 
 actually worship the local deities of the place, at 
 least he made no public protest against the fetish 
 worship of the Kureysh. Yet in the several phases 
 of his life, in his contact with traders, in his associa- 
 tion with Zeyd and other men, he had gained an 
 insiofht into better thino^s than idols and human 
 sacrifices, divining-arrows, fetish mountains and stars. 
 He had heard a dim echo of some " religion of 
 Abraham " ; he had listened to the stories of the 
 Haggadah; he knew a very little about Jesus of 
 Nazareth. He seems to have suffered long under the 
 burden of doubt and self-distrust. He used to 
 wonder about the hills alone, brooding over these 
 things ; he shunned the society of men, and " solitude 
 became a passion to him." 
 
 At length came the crisis. He was spending the 
 sacred months on Mount Hira, " a huge barren rock, 
 torn by cleft and hollow ravine, standing out solitary 
 in the full white glare of the desert sun, shadowless, 
 flowerless, without well or rill." Here, in a cave, 
 Mohammad gave himself up to prayer and fasting. 
 Long months or even years of doubt had increased 
 his nervous excitable disposition. He had, they 
 say, cataleptic fits during his childhood, and was 
 
 * E. Bosworth Smith, " Moliamuied and Moliammedanism," 
 2nd ed. p. 131. 
 
42 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 evidently more delicately and finely constituted than 
 those around him. Griven this nervous nature, and 
 the grim solitude of the hill where he had wandered 
 for long weary months, blindly feeling after some 
 truth upon which to rest his soul, it is not difficult 
 to believe the tradition of the cave, that Mohammad 
 heard a voice say, "Cry!" "What shall I cry?" 
 he answers — the question that has been burning his 
 heart during all his mental struggles — 
 
 Cry* ! in the name of thy Lord, who created — 
 
 Created man from blood. 
 
 Cry ! for thy Lord is the Bountif ullest, 
 
 Who taught the pen, 
 
 Taught man what he knew not. 
 
 Mohammad arose trembling, and went to Khadija, 
 and told her what he had seen; and she did her 
 woman's part, and believed in him and soothed his 
 terror, and bade him hope for the future. Yet he 
 could not believe in himself. Was he not perhaps 
 mad, possessed by a devil? Were these indeed 
 voices from Grod ? And so he went again on his 
 solitary wanderings, hearing strange sounds, and 
 thinking them at one time the testimony of Heaven, 
 at another the temptings of Satan or the ravings of 
 madness. Doubting, wondering, hoping, he had fain 
 put an end to a life which had become intolerable in 
 its changings from the heaven of hope to the hell of 
 despair, when again he heard the voice, " Thou art 
 the messenger of God, and I am Grabriel." Conviction 
 
 * Or " read," "recite." These lines are the beginning of Siira 
 xcvi. of the Koran. Those on the opposite page are from Ixxiv. 
 
MOHAMMAD. 43 
 
 at length seized hold on him ; he was indeed to 
 
 bring a message of good tidings to the Arabs, the 
 
 message of God through His angel Gabriel. He 
 
 went back to Khadija exhausted in mind and body. 
 
 " Wrap me, wrap me," he said ; and the word came 
 
 unto him — 
 
 O tliou who art wrapped, arise up and warn ! 
 
 And thy Lord magnify, 
 
 And thy raiment purify. 
 
 And shun ahomination ! 
 
 And grant not favours to gain increase ! 
 
 And wait for thy Lord. 
 
 There are those who see imposture in all this ; for 
 such I have no answer. Nor does it matter whether 
 in a hysterical fit or under any physical disease 
 soever Mohammad saw these visions and heard these 
 voices. We are not concerned to draw the lines of 
 demarcation between enthusiasm and ecstasy and 
 inspiration. It is sufficient that Mohammad did see 
 these things — the subjective creations, if you will, of 
 a tormented mind. It is sufficient that he believed 
 them* to be a message from on high, and that for 
 years of neglect and persecution, and for years of 
 triumph and conquest, he acted upon his belief. 
 
 Mohammad now (a.d. 612) came forward as the 
 Apostle of the One God to the people of Arabia : he 
 was at last well assured that his God was of a truth 
 the God, and that He had indeed sent him with a 
 message to his people, that they too might turn from 
 their idols and serve the living God. He was almost 
 alone, but he was no longer afraid ; he had learnt 
 that self-trust which is the condition of all true work. 
 
44 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 At first he spoke to his near kinsmen and friends ; 
 and it is impossible to overrate the importance of the 
 fact that his closest relations and those who lived 
 under his roof were the first to beheve and the 
 staunchest of faith. The prophet who is with honour 
 in his own home need appeal to no stronger proof of 
 his sincerity, and that Mohammad was " a hero to his 
 own valet " is an invincible argument for his earnest- 
 ness. The motherly Khadija had at once, with a 
 woman's instinct, divined her husband's heart and 
 confirmed his fainting hope by her firm faith in him. 
 His dearest friends, Zeyd and 'Aly, were the next 
 converts; and though, to his grief, he could never 
 induce his lifelong protector, Abu-Talib, to abandon 
 the gods of his fathers, yet the old man loved him 
 none the less, and said, when he heard of 'Aly's con- 
 version, " Well, my son, he will not call thee to 
 aught save what is good ; wherefore thou art free to 
 cleave unto him." A priceless aid was gained in the 
 accession of Abii-Bekr, who was destined to succeed 
 Mohammad as the first Khalif of Islam, and whose 
 calm judgment and quick sagacity, joined to a gentle 
 and compassionate heart, were of incalculable service 
 to the faith. Abu-Bekr was one of the wealthiest 
 merchants of Mekka, and exercised no small influence 
 among his fellow-citizens, as much by his character 
 as his position. Like Mohammad, he had a nick- 
 name, Es-Siddik, "The True": The True and The 
 Trusty, — auspicious names for the future of the 
 religion ! 
 
 Five converts followed in Abii-Bekr's steps ; among 
 
MOHAMMAD. 4o 
 
 them 'Othman, the third Khalif, and Talha, the man 
 of war. The ranks of the faithful were swelled from 
 humbler sources. There were many negro slaves in 
 Mekka, and of them not a few had been predisposed 
 by earlier teaching to join in the worship of the One 
 God ; and of those who were first converted was the 
 Abyssinian Bilrd, the original Mueddin of Islam, and 
 ever a devoted disciple of the Prophet. These and 
 others from the Kureysh raised the number of Mus- 
 lims to more than thirty souls by the fourth year of 
 Mohammad's mission — thirty in three long years, and 
 few of them men of influence ! 
 
 This small success had been achieved with very 
 little opposition from the idolaters. Mohammad had 
 not spoken much in public ; and when he did speak 
 to strangers, he refrained from directly attacking' 
 their worship, and only enjoined them to worship the 
 One God who had created all things. The people 
 were rather interested, and wondered whether he 
 were a soothsayer or madman, or if indeed there were 
 truth in his words. But now (a.d. 615) Mohammad 
 entered upon a more public career. He summoned 
 the Kureysh to a conference at the hill of Es-Safa, 
 and said, " I am come to you as a warner, and as the 
 forerunner of a fearful punishment. ... I cannot 
 protect you in this world, nor can I promise you aught 
 in the next life, unless ye say, There is no God but 
 Allah." He was laughed to scorn, and the assembly 
 broke up ; but from this time he ceased not to preach 
 to the people of a punishment that would come upon 
 the unbelieving city. He told them, in the fiery 
 
46 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 language of the early suras, how Grod had punished 
 the old tribes of the Arabs who would not believe in 
 His messengers, how the Flood had swallowed up the 
 people who would not hearken to Noah. He swore 
 unto them, by the wonderful sights of nature, by the 
 noonday brightness, by the night when she spreadeth 
 her veil, by the day when it appeareth in glory, that a 
 like destruction would assuredly come upon them if 
 they did not turn away from their idols and serve 
 God alone. He enforced his message with every 
 resource of language and metaphor, till he made it 
 burn in the ears of the people. And then he told 
 them of the Last Day, when a just reckoning should 
 be taken of the deeds they had done ; and he spoke 
 of Paradise and Hell with all the glow of Eastern 
 imagery. The people were moved, terrified; con- 
 versions increased. It was time the Kureysh should 
 take some step. If the idols were destroyed, what 
 would come to them, the keepers of the idols, and 
 their renown throughout the land ? How should they 
 retain the allegiance of the neighbouring tribes who 
 came to worship their several divinities at the Kaaba ? 
 That a few should follow the ravings of a madman or 
 magician who preferred one god above the beautiful 
 deities of Mekka was little matter; but that the 
 leading men of the city should join the sect, and that 
 the magician should terrify the people in open day 
 with his denunciations of the worship which they 
 superintended, was intolerable. The chiefs were 
 seriously alarmed, and resolved on a more active 
 policy. Hitherto they had merely ridiculed the 
 
MOHAMMAD. 47 
 
 professors of tliis new faith; they would now take 
 stronger measures. Mohammad himself they dared 
 not touch ; for he belonged to a noble family, which, 
 though it was reduced and impoverished, had deserved 
 well of the city, and which, moreover, was now headed 
 by a man who was reverenced throughout Mekka, 
 and was none other than the adoptive father and pro- 
 tector of Mohammad himself. Nor was it safe to 
 attack the other chief men among the Muslims, for 
 the blood-revenge was no light risk. They were thus 
 compelled to content themselves with the sorry satis- 
 faction of torturing the black slaves who had joined 
 the obnoxious faction. They exposed them on the 
 scorching sand, and withheld water till they recanted 
 — which they did, only to profess the faith once more 
 when they were let go. The first Mueddin alone 
 remained steadfast : as he lay half-stifled he would 
 only answer " Ahad ! Ahad ! "— " One [God] ! One ! " 
 — till Abii-Bekr came and bought his freedom, as he 
 was wont to do for many of the miserable victims. 
 Mohammad was very gentle with these forced rene- 
 gades : he knew what stuff men are made of, and he 
 bade them be of good cheer for their lips, so that 
 their hearts were sound. 
 
 At last, moved by the sufferings of his lowly fol- 
 lowers, he advised them to seek a refuge in Abyssinia 
 — " a land of righteousness, wherein no man is 
 wronged " ; and in the fifth year of his mission (616) 
 eleven men and four women left Mekka secretly, and 
 were received in Abyssinia with welcome and peace. 
 These first emigrants were followed by more the next 
 
48 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 year, till the number reached one hundred. The 
 Kureysh were very wroth at the escape of their 
 victims, and sent ambassadors to the Nejashy, the 
 Christian king of Abyssinia, to demand that the re- 
 fugees should be given up to them. But the Nejashy 
 assembled his bishops, and sent for the Muslims and 
 asked them why they had fled ; and one of them 
 answered and said — 
 
 " king ! we lived in ignorance, idolatry, and 
 unchastity ; the strong oppressed the weak ; we spoke 
 untruth ; we violated the duties of hospitality. Then 
 a prophet arose, one whom we knew from our youth, 
 with whose descent and conduct and good faith and 
 morality we are all well acquainted. He told us to 
 worship one God, to speak truth, to keep good faith, 
 to assist our relations, to fulfil the rights of hospitality, 
 and to abstain from all things impure, ungodly, un- 
 righteous. And he ordered us to say prayers, give 
 alms, and to fast. We believed in him ; we followed 
 him. But our countrymen persecuted us, tortured 
 us, and tried to cause us to forsake our religion ; and 
 now we throw ourselves upon thy protection. "Wilt 
 thou not protect us ? " And he recited a chapter of 
 the Koran, which spoke of Christ ; and the king 
 and the bishops wept upon their beards. And the 
 king dismissed the messengers, and would not give 
 up the men. 
 
 The Kureysh, foiled in their attempt to recapture 
 the slaves, vented their malice on those believers who 
 remained. Insults were heaped upon the Muslims, 
 and persecution grew hotter each day. For a moment 
 
MOHAMMAD. 49 
 
 Mohammad faltered in his work. Could he not spare 
 his people these sufferings? Was it impossible to 
 reconcile the religion of the city with the belief in one 
 supreme God ? After all, was the worship of those 
 idols so false a thing ? did it not hold the germ 
 of a ffreat truth ? And so Mohammad made his 
 first and last concession. He recited a revelation to 
 the Kureysh, in which he spoke respectfully of the 
 three moon-goddesses, and asserted that their inter- 
 cession with God might be hoped for : " Wherefore 
 bow down before God and serve Him " ; and the 
 whole audience, overjoyed at the compromise, bowed 
 down and worshipped at the name of the God of 
 Mohammad — the whole city was reconciled to the 
 double religion. But this Dreamer of the Desert was 
 not the man to rest upon a lie. At the price of the 
 whole city of Mekka he would not remain untrue to 
 himself. He came forward and said he had done 
 wrong — the devil had tempted him. He openly and 
 frankly retracted what he had said : and " As for 
 their idols, they were but empty names which they 
 and their fathers had invented." 
 
 Western biographers have rejoiced greatl}^ over 
 "Mohammad's fall." Yet it was a tempting com- 
 promise, and few would have withstood it. And the 
 life of Mohammad is not the life of a god, but of a 
 man : from first to last it is intensely human. But 
 if for once he was not superior to the temptation of 
 gaining over the whole city and obtaining peace where 
 before there was only bitter persecution, what can we 
 say of his manfully thrusting baok the rich prize he 
 
 4 
 
50 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 had gained, freely confessing his fault, and resolutely 
 giving himself over again to the old indignities and 
 insults? If he was once insincere — and who is not? 
 — how intrepid was his after-sincerity ! He was 
 untrue to himself for a while, and he is ever refer- 
 ring to it in his public preaching with shame and 
 remorse ; but the false step was more than atoned 
 for by his magnificent recantation. 
 
 Mohammad's influence with the people at large 
 was certainly weakened by this temporary change of 
 front, and the opposition of the leaders of the 
 Kureysh, checked for the moment by the Prophet's 
 concession, now that he had repudiated it, broke 
 forth into fiercer flame. They heaped insults upon 
 him, and he could not traverse ' the city without 
 encountering a curse. They threw unclean things at 
 him, and vexed him in his every doing. The pro- 
 tection of Abu-Talib alone saved him from personal 
 danger. This refuge the Kureysh determined to 
 remove. They had attempted before, but had been 
 turned back with a soft answer. They now went to 
 the aged chief, bowed with the weight of fourscore 
 years, and demanded that he should either compel 
 his nephew to hold his peace, or else that he should 
 withdraw his protection. Having thus spoken they 
 departed. The old man sent for Mohammad, and 
 told him what they had said. " Now therefore save 
 thyself and me also, and cast not upon me a burden 
 heavier than I can bear " ; for he was grieved at the 
 strife among his kindred, and would fain have seen 
 Mohammad temporize with the Kureysh. But though 
 
MOHAMMAD. 61 
 
 the Prophet believed that at length his uncle was 
 indeed about to abandon him, his courage and high 
 resolve never faltered. " Though they should set the 
 sun on my right hand and the moon on my left to 
 persuade me, yet while God commands me I will not 
 renounce my purpose." But to lose his uncle's love ! 
 — he burst into tears, and turned to go. But Abu- 
 Talib called aloud, " Son of my brother, come back." 
 So he came. And he said, " Depart in peace, my 
 nephew, and say whatsoever thou desirest; for, by 
 the Lord, I will never deliver thee up." 
 
 The faithfulness of Abu-Talib was soon to be tried. 
 At first, indeed, things looked brighter. The old 
 chief's firm bearing overawed the Kureysh, and they 
 were still more cowed by two great additions that 
 were now joined to the Muslim ranks. One was 
 Mohammad's uncle, Hamza, " the Lion of God," a 
 mighty hunter and warrior of the true Arab mettle, 
 whose sword was worth twenty of weaker men to the 
 cause of Islam. The other was 'Omar, afterwards 
 Khalif, whose fierce impulsive nature had hitherto 
 marked him as a violent opponent of the new faith, 
 but who presently proved himself one of the main- 
 stays of Islam. The gain of two such men first 
 frightened, then maddened the Kureysh. The leaders 
 met together and consulted what they should do. It 
 was no longer a case of an enthusiast followed by a 
 crowd of slaves and a few worthy merchants ; it 
 was a faction led by stout warriors, such as Hamza, 
 Talha, 'Omar — half a dozen picked swordsmen; and 
 the Muslims, emboldened by their new allies, were 
 
 4 * 
 
62 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 boldly surrounding' the Kaaba, and performing the 
 rites of their religion in the face of all the people. 
 The Kureysh resolved 6n extreme measures. They 
 determined to shut off the obnoxious family of the 
 Hashimis from the rest of their kindred. The chiefs 
 drew up a document, in which they vowed that 
 they would not marry with the Hashimis, nor buy 
 and sell with them, nor hold with them any com- 
 munication soever ; and this they hung up in the 
 Kaaba. 
 
 The Hashimis were not many enough to fight the 
 whole city, so they went, every man of them, save 
 one, to the shi-b (or quarter) of Abii-Talib, — a long, 
 narrow mountain defile on the eastern skirts of Mekka, 
 cut off by rocks or walls from the city, except for one 
 narrow gateway, — and there they shut themselves up. 
 For though the ban did not forbid them to go about 
 as heretofore, they knew that no soul would speak 
 with them, and that they would be subject to 
 the maltreatment of the common crowd. So they 
 collected their stores and waited. Every man of 
 the family, Muslim or Pagan, cast in his lot with 
 his kinsman, Mohammad, saving only his own 
 uncle, Abfi-Lahab, a determined enemy to Islam, 
 to whom a special denunciation is justly consecrated 
 in the Koran. 
 
 For two long years the Hashimis remained shut 
 up in their quarter. Only at the pilgrimage-time — 
 when the blessed institution of the sacred months 
 made violence sacrilege — could Mohammad come forth 
 and speak unto the people of the things that were in 
 
MOHAMMAD. 53 
 
 his heart to say. Scarcely any converts were made 
 during this weary time; and most of those who had 
 previously been converted, and did not belong to the 
 doomed clan, took refuge in Abyssinia ; so that in the 
 seventh year of Mohammad's mission there were 
 probably not more than twelve Muslims of any weight 
 who remained by him. Still the Hashimis remained 
 in their quarter. It seemed as if they must all perish : 
 their stores were almost gone, and the cries of starving 
 children could be heard outside. Kind-hearted neigh- 
 bours would sometimes smuggle-in a camel's load of 
 food, but it availed little. The Kureysh themselves 
 were growing ashamed of their work, and were wishing 
 for an excuse for releasing their kinsmen. The 
 excuse came in time. It was discovered that the 
 deed of ban was eaten up by worms, and Abu-Talib 
 turned the discovery to his advantage. The vener- 
 able chief went out and met the Kureysh at the 
 Kaaba, and pointing to the crumbling leaf he 
 bitterly reproached them with their hardness of heart 
 towards their brethren : then he departed. And 
 straightway there rose up live chiefs, heads of great 
 families, and, amid the murmurs of the fiercer spirits 
 who were still for no quarter, they put on their 
 armour, and going to the shi-b of Abu-Talib, bade 
 the Hashimis come forth in peace. And they came 
 forth. 
 
 It was now the eighth year of Mohammad's mission ; 
 and for the last two years, wasted in excommunica- 
 tion, Islam had almost stood still, at least externally. 
 For though Mohammad's patient bearing under the 
 
54 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 ban had gained over a few of his imprisoned clan to 
 his side, he had made no converts beyond the walls 
 of his quarter. During the sacred months he had 
 gone forth to speak to the people, — to the caravans 
 of strangers and the folk at the fairs, — but he had 
 no success ; for hard behind him followed Abii-Lahab, 
 the squinter, who mocked at him, and told the people 
 he was only "a liar and a sabean." And the people 
 answered that his own kindred must best know what 
 he was, and they would hear nothing from him. The 
 bold conduct of the five chiefs had indeed secured 
 for Mohammad a temporary respite from persecution ; 
 but this relief was utterly outweighed by the troubles 
 that now fell upon him and fitly gave that year the 
 name of " The Year of Mourning." For soon after 
 the revoking of the ban Abu-Talib died, and five 
 weeks later Kliadija. In the first Mohammad lost 
 his ancient protector, who, though he would never 
 give up his old belief, had yet faithfully guarded the 
 Prophet from his childhood upwards, and, with the 
 true Arab sentiment of kinship, had subjected himself 
 and his clan to years of persecution and poverty in 
 order to defend his brother's son from his enemies. 
 The death of Khadija was even a heavier calamity 
 to Mohammad. She first had believed in him, and 
 she had ever been his angel of hope and consolation. 
 To his death he cherished a tender regret for her ; 
 and when his young bride 'Aisha, the favourite of 
 his declining years, jealously abused " that toothless 
 old woman," he answered with indignation, ".When 
 I was poor, she enriched me ; when they called me a 
 
MOHAMMAD. 55 
 
 liar, she alone believed in me ; when all the world was 
 against me, she alone remained true." 
 
 Mohammad might well feel himself alone in the 
 world. Most of his followers were in Abyssinia ; only 
 a few tried friends remained at Mekka. All the city 
 was against him; his protector was dead, and his 
 faithful wife. Dejected, almost hopeless, he would 
 try a new field. If Mekka rejected him, might not 
 Et-TcTif give- him welcome ? He set out on his journey 
 of seventy miles on foot, taking only Zeyd with 
 him; and he told the people of Et-Taif his simple 
 message. They stoned him out of the city for three 
 miles. Bleeding and fainting, he paused to rest in 
 an orchard, to recover strength before he went back 
 to the insults of his own people. The owners of the 
 place sent him some grapes; and he gathered up his 
 strength once more, and bent his weary feet towards 
 Mekka. On the way, as he slept, his fancy called 
 up a strange dream : men had rejected him, and now 
 he thought he saw the Jinn, the spirits of the air, 
 falling down and worshipping the One Grod, and bearing 
 witness to the truth of Islam. Heartened by the 
 vision, he pushed on : and when Zeyd asked him if 
 he did not fear to throw himself again into the hands 
 of the Kureysh, he answered, " God will protect His 
 religion and help His prophet." 
 
 So this lonely man came back to dwell among his 
 enemies. Though a brave Arab gentleman, compas- 
 sionating his isolation, gave him the Bedawy pledge 
 of protection, yet he well knew that the power of his 
 foes made such protection almost useless, and at any 
 
56 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 time he might be assassinated. But the Kureysh had 
 not yet come to think of this last resource, and mean- 
 while a new prospect was opening out for Mohammad. 
 The same year, as he was visiting the caravans of 
 the pilgrims who had come from all parts of Arabia 
 to worship at the Kaaba, he found a group of men 
 of Yethrib who were willing to listen to his words. 
 He expounded to them the faith he was sent to preach, 
 and he told them how his people had rejected him, 
 and asked them whether Yethrib would receive him. 
 The men were impressed with his words and professed 
 Islam, and promised to bring news the next year ; 
 then they returned home and talked of this matter 
 to their brethren. Now at Yethrib, besides two pagan 
 tribes that had migrated upwards from the south, there 
 were three clans of Jewish Arabs. Between the 
 pagans and Jews, and then between the two pagan 
 clans, there had been deadly wars ; and now there were 
 many parties in the city, and no one was master. 
 The Jews, on the one hand, were expecting their 
 Messiah ; the pagans looked for a prophet. If Mo- 
 hammad were not the Messiah, the Jews thought that 
 he might at least be their tool to subdue their pagan 
 rivals. " Whether he is a prophet or not," said the 
 pagans, " he is our kinsman by his mother, and will 
 help us to overawe the Jews ; and if he is the coming 
 prophet, it is our policy to recognise him before 
 those Jews who are always threatening us with their 
 Messiah." The teaching of Mohammad was so nearly 
 Jewish, that a union of the two creeds might be hoped 
 for ; whilst to the pagan Arabs of Yethrib monotheism 
 
MOHAMMAD. 67 
 
 was no strange doctrine. All parties were therefore 
 willing to receive Mohammad and at least try the 
 experiment of his influence. As a peace-maker, 
 prophet, or messiah, he would be equally welcome in 
 a city torn asunder by party jealousies. 
 
 When the time of pilgrimage again came round, 
 Mohammad waited at the appointed place m a secluded 
 glen, and there met him men from the two pagan 
 tribes of Yethrib — the clans of Khazraj and Aws — 
 ten from one and two from the other. They told him 
 of the willingness of their people to embrace Islam, 
 and their hope to make read}^ the city for his welcome. 
 They plighted their faith with him in these words : 
 " We will not worship save oue God ; we will not 
 steal, nor commit adultery, nor kill our children ; we 
 will in no wise slander, nor will we disobey the 
 prophet in anything that is right." This is the first 
 pledge of the 'Akaba. 
 
 The twelve men of Yethrib went back and preached 
 Islam to their people. " So prepared was the ground, 
 so zealous the propagation, and so apt the method, 
 that the new faith spread rapidly from house to house 
 and from tribe to tribe. Tbe Jews looked on in 
 amazement at the people, whom they had in vain 
 endeavoured for generations to convince of the errors 
 of polytheism and dissuade from the abominations of 
 idolatry, suddenly and of their own accord casting 
 away their idols and professing belief in God alone." 
 They asked Mohammad to send them a teacher versed 
 in the Koran, so anxious were they to know Islam 
 truly ; and Mus'ab was sent, and taught them and 
 
58 STUDIES IN A MOSQUD. 
 
 conducted their worship ; so that Islam took deep root 
 at Yethrib. 
 
 Meanwhile Mohammad was still among the Kureysh 
 at Mekka. His is now an attitude of waiting ; he is 
 listening for news from his distant converts. Resting 
 his hopes upon them, and despairing of influencing the 
 Mekkans, he does not preach so much as heretofore. 
 He holds his peace mainly, and bides his time. One 
 hears little of this interval of quietude. Islam seems 
 stationary at Mekka, and its followers are silent and 
 reserved. The Kureysh are joyful at the ceasing of 
 those denunciations which terrified whilst they angered 
 them, yet they are not quite satisfied. The Muslims 
 have a waiting look, as though there were something 
 at hand. 
 
 It was during this year of expectation that the 
 Prophet's celebrated " Night Journey " took place. 
 This Mi'raj has been the subject of extravagant 
 embellishments on the part of the traditionists and 
 commentators, and the cause of much obloquy to the 
 Prophet from his religious opponents. Mohammad 
 dreamed a dream, and' referred to it briefly and 
 obscurely in the Koran. His followers persisted in 
 believing it to have been a reality — an ascent to 
 heaven in the body — till Mohammad was weary of 
 repeating his simple assertion that it was a dream. 
 The traditional form of this wonderful vision may be 
 read in any life of Mohammad, and though it is 
 doubtless very different from the story the Prophet 
 himself gave, it is still a grand vision, full of glorious 
 imagery, fraught with deep meaning. 
 
MOHAMMAD. 59 
 
 Again the time of pilgrimage came round, and 
 again Mohammad repaired to the glen of the mountain- 
 road. Mus'ab had told him the good tidings of the 
 spread of the faith at Yethrib, and he was met at the 
 rendezvous by more than seventy men. They came 
 by twos and threes secretly for fear of the Kureysh, 
 "waking not the sleeper, nor tarrying for the absent." 
 Then Mohammad recited to them verses from the 
 Koran, and in answer to their invitation that he 
 should come to them, and their profession that their 
 lives were at his service, he asked them to pledge 
 themselves to defend him as they would their own 
 wives and children. And a murmur of eager assent 
 rolled round about from the seventy, and an old 
 man, one of their chiefs, stood forth and said, 
 "Stretch out thy hand, Mohammad." And the 
 chief struck his own hand into Mohammad's palm in 
 the frank Bedawy fashion, and thus pledged his fealty. 
 Man after man the others followed, and struck their 
 palms upon Mohammad's. Then he chose twelve of 
 them as leaders over the rest, saying, " Moses chose 
 from among his people twelve leaders. Ye shall be 
 the sureties for the rest, even as the apostles of Jesus 
 were ; and I am the surety for my people." The voice 
 of some stranger was heard near by, and the assembly 
 hastily dispersed and stole back to their camp. This 
 is the second pledge of the 'Akaba. 
 
 The Kureysh knew that some meeting had taken 
 place, and though they could not bring home the 
 offence to any of the Yethrib pilgrims, they kept a 
 stricter watch on the movements of Mohammad and 
 
60 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 his friends after the pilgrims had returned homeward. 
 It was clear that Mekka was no longer a safe place 
 for the Muslims, and a few days after the second 
 pledge Mohammad told his followers to betake them- 
 selves secretly to Yethrib. For two months at the 
 beginning of the eleventh year of the mission (622) 
 the Muslims were leaving Mekka in small companies 
 to make the journey of 250 miles to Yethrib. One 
 hundred families had gone, and whole quarters of the 
 city were deserted, left with empty houses and locked 
 doors, " a prey to woe and wind." There were but 
 three believers now remaining in Mekka — these were 
 Mohammad, Abu-Bekr, and 'Aly. Like the captain 
 of a sinking ship, the Prophet would not leave till all 
 the crew were safe. But now they were all gone 
 save his two early friends, and everything was ready 
 for the journey ; still the Prophet did not go. 
 The Kureysh, who had been too much taken by 
 surprise to prevent the emigration, now prepared 
 measures for a summary vengeance on the disturber 
 of their peace and the emptier of their city. They 
 set a watch on his house, and, it is said, commissioned 
 a band of armed youths of different families to assas- 
 sinate him, that the blood recompense might not 
 fall on one household alone. But Mohammad had 
 warning of his danger, and leaving 'Aly to deceive 
 the enemy, he was concealed with Abu-Bekr in a 
 narrow-mouthed cave on Mount Thor, an hour-and- 
 a-half's journey from Mekka, before the Kureysh 
 knew of his escape. For three days they remained 
 hidden there, while their enemies were searching the 
 
MOHAMMAD. 61 
 
 country for them. Once they were very near, and 
 Abu-Bekr trembled : — " We are but two." " Nay," 
 answered Mohammad, " we are three, for God is with 
 us." And a spider, they say, wove its web over the 
 entrance of the cave, so that the Kureysh passed on, 
 thinking that no man had entered there. 
 
 On the tliird night the pursuit had been ahnost 
 given over, and the two fugitives took up their 
 journey again. Mounted on camels they journeyed 
 to Yethrib. In eight days they reached the outskirts 
 of the city (September, a.d. 622). Mohammad was 
 received with acclamation, and took up his residence 
 among his kindred. The seat of Ishlm.was trans- 
 ferred from Mekka to Yethrib, henceforward to be 
 known as Medina, — Medlnet-en-Nehij^ " the city of 
 the Prophet." 
 
 This is the Hijveh, or Flight of Mohammad, from 
 which the Muslims date their history. Their first 
 year began on the 16th day of June of the Year of 
 Grace 622. 
 
 A great change now comes over the Prophet's life. 
 He is still the same man, but his surroundings are 
 totally different ; the work to be done is on a wider, 
 rougher stage. Thus far we have seen a gentle, 
 thoughtful boy tending the sheep round Mekka ; — 
 a young man of little note, of whom the people only 
 knew that he was pure and upright and true ; — then 
 a man of forty whose solitary communion with his 
 soul has pressed him to the last terrible questions 
 that each man, if he will think at all, must some time 
 
62 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 ask himself— What is life? What does this world 
 
 mean? What is reality, what is truth? Long 
 
 months, years perhaps, we know not how long and 
 
 weary, filled with the tortures of doubt and the 
 
 despair of ever attaining to the truth, filled with the 
 
 dreary thought of his aloneness in the relentless 
 
 universe, and the longing to end it all, brought at last 
 
 their fruits — sure conviction of the great secret of 
 
 life, a firm belief in the Creator in whom all things 
 
 live and move and have their being, whom to serve 
 
 is man's highest duty and privilege, the one thing 
 
 to be done. And then ten years of struggling with 
 
 careless, unthinking idolaters ; ten years of slow 
 
 results, the gaining over of a few close friends, the 
 
 devoted attachment of some slaves and men of the 
 
 meaner rank ; finally, the conversion of half-a-dozen 
 
 great citizen chiefs, ending in the flight of the whole 
 
 brotherhood of believers from their native city and 
 
 their welcome to a town of strangers, where the faith 
 
 had forced itself home to the hearts of perhaps two 
 
 hundred citizens. It was but little that was done ; 
 
 so many years of toil, of indomitable courage and 
 
 perseverance and long-suffering, and only a few 
 
 hundred converts at the end ! But it was the seed of 
 
 a great harvest. Mohammad had shown men what 
 
 he was ; the nobility of his character, his stroug 
 
 friendship, his endurance and courage, above all, his 
 
 earnestness and fiery enthusiasm for the truth he 
 
 came to preach, — these things had revealed the hero, 
 
 the master whom it was alike impossible to disobey 
 
 and impossible not to love. Henceforward it is only 
 
MOHAMMAD. 63 
 
 a question of time. As the men of Medina come to 
 know Mohammad, they too will devote themselves 
 to him body and soul ; and the enthusiasm will catch 
 fire and spread among the tribes till all Arabia is at 
 the feet of the Prophet of the One God. " No em- 
 peror with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a 
 cloak of His own clouting." He had the gift of 
 influencing men, and he had the nobility only to 
 influence them for good. 
 
 We have now to see Mohammad as king. Though 
 he came as a fugitive, rejected as an impostor by his 
 own citizens, yet it was not long before his word was 
 supreme in his adopted city. He had to rule over a 
 mixed and divided people, and this must have helped 
 him to the supreme voice. There were four distinct 
 parties at Medina. First, the " Refugees " (Muhaji- 
 run), who had fled from Mekka ; on these Mohammad 
 could always rely with implicit faith. But he attached 
 equal importance to the early converts of Medina, 
 who had invited him among them and given him a 
 home when the future seemed very hopeless before 
 him, and who were thenceforward known by the 
 honourable title of the "Helpers" (Ansar). How 
 devoted was the affection of these men is shown by 
 the well-known scene at El- Ji'raneh, when the Helpers 
 were discontented with their share of the spoils, and 
 Mohammad answered, " Why are ye disturbed in mind 
 because of the things of this life wherewith I have 
 sought to incline the hearts of these men of Mekka 
 into Islam, whereas ye are already steadfast in the 
 faith ? Are ye not satisfied that others should obtain 
 
64 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 the flocks and the camels, while ye carry back the 
 Prophet of the Lord unto your homes ? Nay, I will 
 not leave you for ever. If all mankind went one 
 way, and the men of Medina went another way, verily 
 I would go the way of the men of Medina. The 
 Lord be favourable unto them, and bless them, and 
 their sons, and their sons' sons, for ever ! " And the 
 " Helpers " wept upon their beards, and cried with 
 one voice, " Yea, we are well satisfied, Prophet, 
 with our lot." To retain the allegiance of the Refu- 
 gees and the Helpers was never a trouble to Moham- 
 mad ; the only difficulty was to rein in their zeal 
 and hold them back from doing things of blood and 
 vengeance on the enemies of Islam. To prevent the 
 danger of jealousy between the Refugees and the 
 Helpers, Mohammad assigned each Refugee to one of 
 the Ansar to be his brother ; and this tie of gossipry 
 superseded all nearer ties, till Mohammad saw the 
 time of its usefulness was over. The third party 
 in Medina was that of the " Disaffected," or in the 
 language of Islam the "Hypocrites" (Munafikim). 
 This was composed of the large body of men who 
 gave in their nominal allegiance to Mohammad and 
 his religion when they saw they could not safely 
 withstand his power, but who were always ready to 
 turn about if they thought there was a chance of his 
 overthrow. Mohammad treated these men and their 
 leader 'Abdallah ibn Ubayy (who himself aspired to 
 the sovranty of Meduia) with patient courtesy and 
 friendliness, and, though they actually deserted him 
 more than once at vitally critical moments, he never 
 
MOHAMMAD. 65 
 
 retaliated, even when he. was sti'ong enougli to crush 
 them, but rather souglit to win tliem over heartily to 
 his cause hy treating them as though they were what 
 he would have them be. The result was that this 
 party gradually diminished and became absorbed in 
 the general mass of earnest Muslims, and though up 
 to its leader's death it constantly called forth Moham- 
 mad's powers of conciliation, it finally vanished from 
 the history of parties. 
 
 The fourth party was the real thorn in the Pro- 
 phet's side. It consisted of the Jews, of whom three 
 tribes were settled in the suburbs of Medina. They 
 had at first been well disposed to Mohammad's 
 coming. He could not indeed be the Messiah, because 
 he was not of the lineage of David; but he wouhl do 
 very well to pass off upon their neighbours, the pagan 
 Arabs, as, if not the Messiah, at least a great prophet ; 
 and by his influence the Jews might regain their old 
 supremacy in Medina. Mohammad's teaching was 
 very nearly Jewish — they had taught him the fables 
 of their Haggadah, and he believed in their prophets 
 — why should he not be one of them and help them 
 to the dominion ? When Mohammad came, they 
 found out their mistake ; instead of a tool they had 
 a master. He told the people, indeed, the stories of 
 the Midrash, and he professed to revive the religion 
 of Abraham : but he added to this several damning 
 articles ; he taught that Jesus was the Messiah, and 
 that no other Messiah was to be looked for ; and, 
 moreover, whilst reverencing and inculcating the 
 , doctrine of the Hebrew prophets and of Christ, as he 
 
 i5 
 
66 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 knew it, he yet insisted on liis own mission as in 
 nowise inferior to theirs — as, in fact, the seal of pro- 
 phecy by which all that went before was confirmed or 
 abrogated. The illusion was over ; the Jews would 
 have nothing to say to Islam : they set themselves 
 instead to oppose it, ridicule it, and vex its Preacher 
 in every way that their notorious ingenuity could 
 devise. 
 
 The step was false : the Jews missed their game, 
 and they had to pay for it. Whether it was possible 
 to form a coalition, — whether the Jews might have 
 induced Mohammad to waive certain minor points if 
 they recognised his prophetic mission, — it is difficult 
 to say. It seems most probable that Mohammad 
 would not have yielded a jot to their demands, and 
 would have accepted nothing short of unconditional 
 surrender to his religion. And it is at least doubtful 
 whether Islam would have gained anything by a 
 further infusion of Judaism. It already contained 
 all that it could assimilate of the Hebrew faith ; the 
 rest was too narrow for the universal scope of Ishlm. 
 The religion of Mohammad lost little, we may be sure, 
 by the standing aloof of the Arabian Jews ; but the 
 Jews themselves lost much. Mohammad, indeed, 
 treated them kindly so long as kindness was possible. 
 He made a treaty with them, whereby the rights of 
 the Muslims and the Jews were defined. They were 
 to practise their respective religions unmolested ; pro- 
 tection and security were promised to all the parties 
 to the treaty, without distinction of creed ; each was to 
 help the other if attacked ; no alliance was to be made 
 
MOHAMMAD. 67 
 
 witli the Kureysh ; war was to be made in common, 
 and no war could be made without the consent of 
 Mohammad : crime alone could do away with the 
 protection of this treaty. 
 
 But the Jews could not content themselves with 
 standing aloof ; they must needs act on the offensive. 
 They beijan by asking Mohammad hard questions 
 out of their law, and his answers they easily refuted 
 from their books. They denied all knowledge of the 
 Jewish stories in the Koran — though they knew that 
 they came from their own Haggadah, which was ever 
 in their mouths in their own quarter, — and they 
 showed him their Bible, where, of course, the Hagga- 
 distic legends were not to be found. Mohammad 
 had but one course open to him — to say they had 
 suppressed or changed their books ; and he de- 
 nounced them accordingly, and said that his was the 
 true account of the patriarchs and prophets, revealed 
 from heaven. Not satisfied with tormenting Moham- 
 mad with questions on that Torah which they were 
 always wrangHng about themselves, they took hold 
 of the everyday formulas of Islam, the daily prayers 
 and ejaculations, and, "twisting their tongues," mis- 
 pronounced them so that they meant something absurd 
 or blasphemous. When asked which they preferred, 
 Islam or idolatry, they frankly avowed that they pre- 
 ferred idolatry. To lie about their own re^ligion and 
 to ridicule another rehgion that was doing a great 
 and good work around them was not enough for these 
 Jews ; they must set their poets to work to lampoon 
 the women of the believers in obscene verse, and such 
 
 5 * 
 
68 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 outrages upon common decency, not to say upon the 
 code of Arab honour and chivahy, became a favourite 
 occupation among the poets of the Jewish clans. 
 
 These were offences against the religion and the 
 persons of the Muslims. They also conspired against 
 the state. Mohammad was not only the preacher of 
 Islam, he was also the king of Medina, and was 
 responsible for the safety and peace of the city. As 
 a prophet, he could afford to ignore the jibes of the 
 Jews, though they maddened him to fury ; but as 
 the chief of the city, the general in a time of almost 
 continual warfare, when Medina Avas kept in a state 
 of military defence and under a sort of military 
 discipline, he could not overlook treachery. He was 
 bound by his duty to his subjects to suppress a 
 party that might (and nearly did) lead to the sack 
 of the city by investing armies. The measures he 
 took for this object have furnished his Europeau 
 biographers with a handle for attack. It is, I believe, 
 solely on the ground of his treatment of the Jews 
 that Mohammad has been called " a bloodthirsty 
 tyrant " : it would certainly be difficult to support the 
 epithet on other grounds. 
 
 The bloodthirstiness consists in this : some Iialf- 
 dozen Jews, who had distinguished themselves by 
 their virulence against the Muslims, or by their cus- 
 tom of carrying information to the comnion enemy of 
 Medina, were executed ; two of the three Jewish 
 clans were sent into exile, (just as they had previously 
 come into exile,) and the third was exterminated — the 
 men killed, and the women and children made slaves. 
 
MOHAMMAD. 69 
 
 The execntion of the half-dozen marked Jews is gene- 
 rally called assassination, because a Muslim Avas sent 
 secretly to kill each of the criminals. The reason is 
 almost too obvious to need explanation. There were 
 no police or law-courts or even courts-martial at 
 Medina ; some one of the followers of Mohammad 
 must therefore be the executor of the sentence of 
 death, and it was better it should be done quietly, as 
 the executing of a man openly before his clan would 
 have caused a brawl and more bloodshed and retalia- 
 tion, till the whole city had become mixed up in the 
 quarrel. If secret assassination is the word for such 
 deeds, secret assassination was a necessary part of the 
 internal government of Medina. The men must be 
 killed, and best in that Avay. In saying this I assume 
 that Mohammad was cognisant of the deed, and that 
 it was not merely a case of private vengeance ; but in 
 several instances the evidence that traces these execu- 
 tions to Mohammad's order is either entirely wanting 
 or is too doubtful to claim our credence. 
 
 Of the sentences upon the three whole clans, that 
 of exile, passed upon two of them, was clement 
 enough. They were a turbulent set, always setting 
 the people of Medina by the ears ; and finally a brawl 
 followed by an insurrection resulted in the expulsion 
 of one tribe ; and insubordination, alliance with 
 enemies, and a suspicion of conspiracy against the 
 Prophet's life, ended similarly for the second. Both 
 tribes had violated the original treaty, and had en- 
 deavoured in every way to bring Mohammad and his 
 religion to ridicule and destruction. The only ques- 
 
70 STUDIES [N A MOSQUE. 
 
 tion is whether then" punishment was not too light. 
 Of the third clan a fearful example was made, not by 
 Mohammad, but by an arbiter appointed by them- 
 selves. When the Kureysh and their allies were 
 besieging Medina^ and had well-nigh stormed the 
 defences, this Jewish tribe entered into negotiations 
 with the enemy, which were only circumvented by the 
 diplomacy of the Prophet. When the besiegers had 
 retired, Mohammad naturally demanded an explanation 
 of the Jews. They resisted in their dogged way, and 
 were themselves besieged and compelled to surrender 
 at discretion. Mohammad, however, consented to the 
 appointing of a chief of a tribe allied to the Jews as 
 the judge who should pronounce sentence upon them. 
 The man in question was a fierce soldier, who had 
 been wounded in the attack on the Jews, and indeed 
 died from his wound the same day. This chief gave 
 sentence that the men, in number some six hundred, 
 should be killed, and the women and children enslaved ; 
 and the sentence was carried out. It was a harsh, 
 bloody sentence, worthy of the episcopal generals of 
 the army against the Albigenses, or of the deeds of 
 the Augustan age of Puritanism; bat it must be 
 remembered that the crime of these men was high 
 treason against the State, during time of siege ; and 
 those who have read how Wellington's march could 
 be traced by the bodies of deserters and pillagers 
 hanging from the trees, need not be surprized at the 
 summary execution of a traitorous clan. 
 
 Whilst Mohammad's supremacy was being esta- 
 blished and maintained among the mixed population 
 
MOHAMMAD. 71 
 
 of Medina, a vigorous warfare was being carried on 
 outside with his old persecutors, the Kureysh. On 
 the history of this war, consisting as it did mainly of 
 small raids and attacks upon caravans, I need not 
 dwell ; its leading features were the two battles of 
 Bedr and Ohud, in the first of which three hundred 
 MusHms, though outnumbered at the odds of three 
 to one, were completely victorious (a.d. 624, a.h. 2) ; 
 whilst at Ohud, being outnumbered in the like pro- 
 portion and deserted by the " DisaflFected " party, they 
 were almost as decisively defeated (a.h. 3). Two 
 years later the Kureysh, gathering together their 
 allies, advanced upon Medina and besieged it for 
 fifteen days ; but the foresight of Mohammad in 
 digging a trench, and the enthusiasm of the Muslims 
 in defending it, resisted all assaults, and the coming 
 of the heavy storms for which the climate of Medina 
 is noted drove the enemy back to Mekka. The next 
 year (a.h. 6) a ten years' truce was concluded with 
 the Kureysh, in pursuance of which a strange scene 
 took place in the following spring. It was agreed 
 that Mohammad and his people should perform the 
 Lesser Pilgrimage, and that the Kureysh should for 
 that purpose vacate Mekka for three days. Accord- 
 ingly, in March 629, about two thousand Muslims, 
 with Mohammad at their head on his famous camel 
 El-Kaswa — the same on which he had fled from Mekka 
 — trooped, down the valley and performed the rites 
 which every Muslim to this day observes. 
 
 " It was surely a strange sight which at this time 
 presented itself in the vale of Mekka, — a sight unique 
 
72 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 in the history of the world. The aDcient city is for 
 three days evacuated by all its inhabitants, high and 
 low, every house deserted ; and, as they retire, the 
 exiled converts, many years banished from their birth- 
 place, approach in a great body, accompanied by their 
 allies, revisit the empty homes of their childhood, and 
 within the short allotted space fulfil the rites of 
 pilgrimage. The ousted inhabitants, climbing the 
 heights around, take refuge under tents or other 
 shelter among the hills and glens ; and, clustering on 
 the overhanging peak of Abii-Kubeys, thence watch 
 the movements of the visitors beneath, as with the 
 Prophet at their head they make the circuit of the 
 Kaaba and the rapid procession between Es-Safa and 
 Marwa ; and anxiously scan every figure if per- 
 chance they may recognise among the worshippers 
 some long-lost Iriend or relative. It was a scene 
 rendered possible only by the throes which gave birth 
 to Islam." * • 
 
 When the three days were over, Mohammad and 
 his party peaceably returned to Medina; and the 
 Mekkans re-entered their homes. But this pilgrimage, 
 and the self-restraint of the Muslims thereiu, advanced 
 the cause of Islam among its enemies. Converts 
 increased daily, and some leading men of the Kureysh 
 now went over to Mohammad. The clans around 
 were sending in their deputations of homage. But 
 the final keystone was set in the eighth year of the 
 Flight (a.d. 630), when a body of Kureysh broke the 
 
 * Sir W. Muir, "Life of Mahomet," (one vol. ed.) 402. 
 
MOHAMMAD. 73 
 
 truce by attackintr an ally of the Muslims ; and Mo- 
 hammad forthwith marched upon Mekka with ten 
 thousand men, and the city, despairing of defence, 
 surrendered. Now was the time for the Prophet 
 to show his bloodthirsty nature. His old persecutors 
 are at his feet. Will he not trample on them, torture 
 them, revenge himself after his own cruel manner? 
 Now the man will come forward in his true colours : 
 we may prepare our horror, and cry shame before- 
 hand. 
 
 But what is this ? Is there no blood in the streets ? 
 Where are the bodies of the thousands that have been 
 butchered ? Facts are hard things ; and it is a fact 
 that the day of Mohammad's greatest triumph over 
 his enemies was also the day of his grandest victory 
 over himself. He freely forgave the Kureysh all the 
 years of sorrow and cruel scorn they had inflicted on 
 him : he gave an amnesty to the whole population 
 of Mekka. Four criminals, whom justice condemned, 
 made up Mohammad's proscription list when he 
 entered as a conqueror the city of his bitterest 
 enemies. The army followed his example, and en- 
 tered quietly and peaceably; no house was robbed, 
 no woman insulted. One thing alone suffered de- 
 struction. Groing to the Kaaba, ^Mohammad stood 
 before each of the three hundred and sixty idols 
 and pointed to it with his staff, saying, " Truth is 
 come and falsehood is fled away," and at these words 
 his attendants hewed it down ; and all the idols and 
 household gods of Mekka and round about were 
 destroyed. 
 
74 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 It was thus that Mohammad entered again his 
 native cit3^ Through all the annals of conquest, 
 there is no triumphal entry like this. 
 
 The taking of Mekka was soon followed by the 
 adhesion of all Arabia. Every reader knows the 
 story of the spread of Islam. The tribes of every 
 part of the peninsula sent embassies to do homage to 
 the Prophet. Arabia was not enough : the Prophet 
 had written in his bold uncompromising way to the 
 great Kings of the East, to the Persian Khusrii, and 
 the Greek Emperor ; and these little knew how soon 
 his invitation to the faith would be repeated, and how 
 quickly Islam would be knocking at their doors with 
 no faltering hand. 
 
 The Prophet's career was near its end. In the 
 tenth year of the Flight, twenty years after he had 
 first felt the Spirit move him to preach to his people, 
 he resolved once more to leave his adopted city and 
 go to Mekka to perform a farewell pilgrimage. And 
 when the rites were done in the valley of Mina, the 
 Prophet spoke unto the multitude — the forty thousand 
 pilgrims — with solemn last words.* 
 
 " Ye People ! Hearken to my words ; for I know 
 not whether after this year I shall ever be amongst 
 you here again. 
 
 "Your Lives and your Property are sacred and 
 inviolable amongst one another until the end of time. 
 
 " The Lord hath ordained to every man the share 
 
 * The following is an abridgment : cp. Muir 485, and the 
 " Siret-er-Easiil," tr. Weil, ii. 316, 317. 
 
MOHAMMAD. 75 
 
 of bis inheritance : a Testament is not lawful to the 
 prejudice of heirs. 
 
 " The child belongetli to the Parent : and the 
 violator of Wedlock shall be stoned. 
 
 " Ye people ! Ye have rights demandable of your 
 Wives, and they have rights demandable of you. 
 Treat your women well. 
 
 " And your Slaves, see that you feed them with such 
 food as ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the 
 stuff ye wear. And if they commit a fault which ye are 
 not willing to forgive, then sell them, for they are the 
 servants of the Lord, and are not to be tormented. 
 
 " Ye people ! Hearken unto my speech and com- 
 prehend it. Know that every Muslim is the brother 
 of every other Muslim. All of you are on the same 
 equality : ye are one Brotherhood." 
 
 Then, looking up to heaven, he cried, " Lord ! 
 I have delivered my message and fulfilled my mission." 
 And all the multitude answered, " Yea, verily hast 
 thou ! "— " Lord ! I beseech Thee, bear Thou 
 witness to it ! " and, like Moses, he lifted up his 
 hands and blessed the people. 
 
 Three months more and Mohammad was dead. 
 A.H. 11. June 632. 
 
 It is a hard thing to form a calm estimate of the 
 Dreamer of the Desert. There is something so tender 
 and womanly, and withal so heroic, about the man, 
 that one is in peril of finding the judgment uncon- 
 sciously blinded by the feeling of reverence and 
 well-nigh love that such a nature inspires. He who, 
 
76 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 standing alone, braved for years the hatred of his 
 people, is the same who was never the first to with- 
 draw his hand from another's clasp, the beloved of 
 children, who never passed a group of little ones 
 without a smile from his wonderful eyes and a kind 
 word for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet- 
 toned voice. The frank friendship, the noble gene- 
 rosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all 
 tend to melt criticism in admiration. 
 
 In telling in brief outline the story of Mohammad's 
 life, I have endeavoured to avoid controversial points. 
 I have tried to convey in the simplest manner the 
 view of that life which a study of the authorities must 
 force upon every unbiassed mind. Many of the events 
 of Mohammad's life have been distorted and credited 
 with ignoble motives by European biographers ; but 
 on the facts they mainly agree, and these I have 
 narrated, without encumbering them with the inge- 
 nious adumbrations of their learned recorders. But 
 there are some things in the Prophet's life which have 
 given rise to charges too weighty to be dismissed 
 without discussion. He has been accused of cruelty, 
 sensuality, and insincerity ; he has been called a 
 bloodthirsty tyrant, a voluptuary, and an impostor. 
 
 The charge of cruelty scarcely deserves considera- 
 tion. I have already spoken of the punishment of 
 the Jews, which forms the ground of the accusation. 
 One has but to refer to Mohammad's conduct to the 
 prisoners after the battle of Bedr, to his patient 
 tolerance towards his enemies at Medina, his gentle- 
 ness to his people, his love of children and the dumb 
 
MOHAMMAD. *11 
 
 creation, and above all, his bloodless entry into 
 Mekka, and the complete amnesty he gave to those 
 who had been his bitter enemies during eighteen years 
 of insult and persecution and finally open war, to 
 show that cruelty was no part of Mohammad's 
 nature. 
 
 To sa}^ that Mohammad, or any other Arab, was 
 sensual in a higher degree than an ordinary European 
 is simply to enounce a well-worn axiom : the passions 
 of the men of the sunland are not as those of the chill 
 north. But to say that Mohammad was a voluptuary 
 is false. The simple austerity of his daily life, to the 
 very last, his hard mat for sleeping on, his plain food, 
 his self-imposed menial work, point him out as an 
 ascetic rather than a voluptuary in most senses of the 
 word. Two things he loved, perfume and women ; 
 the first was harmless enough, and the special case of 
 his wives has its special answer. A great deal too 
 much has been said about these wives. It is a melan- 
 choly spectacle to see professedly Christian biogra- 
 phers gloating over the stories and fables of Moliam- 
 mad's domestic relations like the writers and readers 
 of " society " journals. It is, of course, a fact that 
 whilst the Prophet allowed his followers only four 
 wives he took more than a dozen himself; but be it 
 remembered that, with his unlimited power, he need 
 not have restricted himself to a number insignificant 
 compared with the harlms of some of his successors, 
 that he never divorced one of his wives, that all of 
 them save one were widows, and that one of these 
 widows was endowed with so terrific a temper 
 
78 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 that Abu-Bekr and 'Othmun had ah^eady politely 
 declined the honour of her alliance before the Prophet 
 married her. Several of these marriages must 
 have been entered into from the feeling that those 
 women whose husbands had fallen in battle for the 
 faith, and who had thus been left unprotected, had a 
 claim upon the generosity of him who prompted the 
 fio-ht. Other marrias^es were contracted from motives 
 of policy, in order to conciliate the heads of rival fac- 
 tions. It was not a high motive, but one does not 
 look for very romantic ideas about love-matches from 
 a man who regarded women as " crooked ribs," and 
 whose system certainly does its best to make marriage 
 from love impossible; yet, on the other hand, it was 
 not a sensual motive. Perhaps the strongest reason 
 — one of which it is impossible to over-estimate the 
 foi-ce — that impelled Mohammad to take wife after 
 wife was his desire for male offspring. It was a 
 natural wish that he should have a son who should 
 follow in his steps and carry on his work ; but the wish 
 was never gratified, Mohammad's sons died young. 
 
 After all, the overwhelming argument is his 
 fidelity to his first wife. When he was little more 
 than a boy he married Khadija, who was fifteen years 
 older than himself, with all the added age that women 
 gain so quickly in the East. For five-and-twenty 
 years Mohammad remained faithful to his elderly wife, 
 and when she was sixty-five, and they might have 
 celebrated their "silver wedding," he was as devoted 
 to her as when first he married her. During all those 
 years there was never a breath of scandal. Thus far 
 
MOHAMMAD. 79 
 
 Mohammad's life will bear microscopic scrutiny. 
 Then Khadija died ; and though he married many 
 women afterwards, some of them rich in youth and 
 beauty, he never forgot his old wife, and loved her 
 best to the end : " when I was poor she enriched me, 
 when they called me a liar she alone believed in me, 
 when all the world was against me she alone remained 
 true." This Joving, tender memory of an old wife 
 laid in the grave belongs only to a noble nature ; it is 
 not to be looked for in a voluptuary.* 
 
 When, however, all has been said, wdien it has been 
 
 * An attempt has been made to explain away Mohammad's 
 fidelity to Khadija, by adducing the motive of pecuniary prudence. 
 Mohammad, they say, was a poor man, Khadija i-ich and power- 
 fully connected ; any affaire de coeur on the husband's part would 
 have been followed by a divorce and the simultaneous loss of 
 property and position. It is hardly necessary to point out that the 
 fear of poverty — a matter of little consequence in Arabia and at 
 that time — would not restrain a really sensual man for five-and- 
 twenty years ; especially when it is by no means certain that 
 Khadija, who loved him with all her heart in a motherly sort of 
 way, would have sought a divorce for any cause soever. And 
 this explanation leaves Mohammad's loving remembrance of his 
 old wife unaccounted for. If her money alone had curbed him for 
 twenty-five years, one would expect him at her death to throw off 
 the cloak, thank Heaven for the deliverance, and enter at once 
 upon the rake's progress. He does none of those things. The 
 story of Zeyneb, the divorced wife of Zeyd, is a favourite weapon 
 with Mohammad's accusers. It is not one to enter upon here ; but 
 I may say that the lady's own share in the transaction has never 
 been sufficiently considtu-cd. In all probability Zeyd, the freed 
 slave, was glad enough to get rid of his too well-born wife, and 
 certainly he bore no rancour against Mohammad. The real point 
 of the story is the question of forged revelations, which is discussed 
 below, 
 
80 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 shown that Mohammad was not the rapacious volup- 
 tuary some have taken him for, and that his violation 
 of his own marriage-law may be due to motives 
 reasonable and just from his point of view rather than 
 to common sensuality, there remains the fact that 
 some of the suras of the Koran bear unmistakable 
 marks of self-accommodation and personal conve- 
 nience ; that Mohammad justified his domestic ex- 
 cesses by words which he gave as from Grod. And 
 hence the third and gravest charge, the charge of 
 imposture. We must clearly understand what is 
 meant by this accusation. It is meant that the Pro- 
 phet consciously fabricated speeches, and palmed them 
 off upon the people as the very word of Grod. The 
 question, it will at once be perceived, has nothing 
 whatever to do with the truth or untruth of the 
 revelations. Many an earnest enthusiast has uttered 
 prophecies and exhortations which he firmly believed 
 to be the promptings of the Spirit, and no man 
 can charge such with imposture. He thoroughly 
 believes what he says, and the fault is in the judg- 
 ment, not the conscience. The question is clearly 
 narrowed to this : Did Moliammad believe he was 
 speaking the words of God equally when he declared 
 tliat permission was given him to take more wives, 
 as when he proclaimed, " There is no god but 
 God " ? It is a question that concerns the conscience 
 of man ; and each must answer it for himself. How 
 far a man may be deluded into believing everythino- 
 he says is inspired it is impossible to define. There 
 are men to-day who would seem to claim infallibility ; 
 
MOHAMMAD. 81 
 
 and in Mohammad's time ifc was raucli easier to 
 believe in one's self. N"ow, one never lacks a friend 
 to remind him of his weakness; then, there wore 
 hundreds who wouhl fain have made the man think 
 himself God. It is wonderful, with his temptations, 
 how great a humiHty was ever his, how little he 
 assumed of all the god-like attributes men forced 
 npon him. His whole life is one long argument for 
 his loyalty to truth. He had but one answer for his 
 worshippers, " I am no more than a man, I am only 
 human." " Do none enter Paradise save by the mercy 
 of God ? " asked Aisha. " None, none, none," he 
 answered. "Not even thou by thy own merits?" 
 " Neither shall I enter Paradise unless God cover me 
 with His mercy." He was a man like unto his brethren 
 in all things save one, and that one difference served 
 only to increase his humbleness, and render him the 
 more sensitive to his shortcomings. He was sub- 
 limely confident of this single attribute, that he was 
 the messenger of the Lord of the Worlds, and that 
 the words he spake came verily from Him. He was 
 fully persuaded — and no man dare dispute his right to 
 the belief — that God had sent him to do a great work 
 among his people in Arabia. Nervous to the verge of 
 madness, subject to hysteria, given to wild dreamings 
 in solitary places, his was a temperament that easily 
 lends itself to religious enthusiasm. He felt a subtle 
 influence within him which he believed to be the 
 movings of the Spirit : he thought he heard a voice ; 
 it became real and audible to him, awed and terrified 
 him, so that he fell into frantic fits. Then he would 
 
 6 
 
82 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 arise and utter some noble saying ; and what wonder 
 if he thought it came straight from highest heaven ? 
 It was not without a sore struggle that he convinced 
 himself of his own inspiration ; but once admitted, the 
 conviction grew with his years and his widening 
 influence for good, and nothing then could shake his 
 belief that he was the literal mouth-piece of the All- 
 Merciful. When a man has come to this point, he 
 cannot be expected to discriminate between this saying 
 and that. As the instrument of Grod he has lost his 
 individuality ; he believes God is ever speaking through 
 his lips ; he dare not question the inspiration of the 
 speech lest he should seem to doubt the Giver. 
 
 Yet there must surely be a limit to this delusion. 
 There are some passages in the Koran which it is 
 difficult to think Mohammad truly beheved to be the 
 voice of the Lord of the Worlds. Mohammad's was a 
 sensitive conscience in the early years of his teaching, 
 and it is hard to think that it could have been so 
 obscured in later times that he could really beHeve in 
 the inspired source of some of his revelations. He 
 may have thought the commands they conveyed neces- 
 sary, but he could hardly have deemed them divine. 
 In some cases he could scarcely fail to be aware that 
 the object of the " revelation " was his own comfort 
 or pleasure or reputation, and not the major Dei gloria, 
 nor the good of the people. 
 
 The truth would seem to be that in the latter part 
 of his life Mohammad was forced to enlarge the limits 
 of his revelations as the sphere of his influence in- 
 creased. From a private citizen of Mekka he had 
 
MOHAjnrAD. 83 
 
 become the Eralr, the chief of the Arabs, the ruler of 
 a factious, jealous, turbulent people ; and the change 
 must have had its effect upon his character. The 
 man who from addressing a few devout followers in a 
 tent in the desert finds himself the head of a nation 
 of many tribes, king of a country twice the size of 
 France, will find many things difficult that before 
 seemed easy. As a statesman Mohammad was as 
 great as he was as a preacher of righteousness ; but 
 when his field of work enlarged, his mind had to accom- 
 modate itself to the needs of commoner minds. He 
 learnt to see the expedient where before he knew only 
 the right. His revelations now deal with the things 
 of earth, when before they looked only towards the 
 things of heaven ; and petty social rules, " general 
 orders," selfish permissions, are promulgated with the 
 same authority and as from the same divine source 
 as the command to worship one God alone. He 
 governed the nation as a prophet and not as a king, 
 and as a prophet his ordinances must be endorsed with 
 the divine afflatus. He found he must regulate the 
 meanest details of the people's life, and he believed 
 he could only do this by using God's name for his 
 decrees. He doubtless argued himself into the belief 
 that even these petty, and to us sometimes immoral, 
 regulations, being for the good of the people, as he 
 conceived the good, were really God's ordinances ; but 
 even thus he had lowered the standard of his teaching, 
 and alloyed with base metal the pure gold of his early 
 ideal. It was a temptation that few men have with- 
 stood, but it was, nevertheless, a falling-off from the 
 
 t) ^ 
 
84 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Mohammad we loved at Mekka, the simple truth- 
 loving bearer of good tidings to the Arabs. 
 
 Yet behind this engrafted character, formed by the 
 difficulties of his position, by the invincible jealousy 
 and treachery of the tribes he governed, the old 
 nature still lived, and ever and anon broke forth in 
 fervid words of faith and hope in the cause and the 
 promises that had been the light and support of his 
 early years of trial. In the later chapters of the Koran, 
 among complicated directions for the Muslim's 
 guidance in all the circumstances of life, we suddenly 
 hear an echo of the old fiery eloquence and the expres- 
 sion of the strong faith which never deserted him. 
 
 Surely the character of Mohammad has been mis- 
 judged. He was not the ambitious schemer some 
 would have him, still less the hypocrite and sham 
 prophet others have imagined. He was an enthusiast 
 in that noblest sense when enthusiasm becomes the 
 salt of the earth, the one thing that keeps men from 
 rotting whilst they live. Enthusiasm is often used 
 despitefully, because it is joined to an unworthy cause, 
 or falls upon barren ground and bears no fruit. So was 
 it not with Mohammad. He was an enthusiast when 
 enthusiasm was the one thing needed to set the world 
 aflame, and his enthusiasm was noble for a noble 
 cause. He was one of those happy few who have 
 attained the supreme joy of making one great truth 
 their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the 
 One God, and never to his life's end did he forget 
 who he was, or the message which was the marrow of 
 his being. He brought his tidings to his people with 
 
MOHAMMAD. 85 
 
 a grand dignity, sprung from the consciousness of his 
 high office, together with a most sweet humiUty, whose 
 roots lay in the knowledge of his own weakness. Well 
 did Carlyle choose him for his prophet-hero ! There 
 have been purer lives and higher aspirations than 
 Mohammad's ; but no man was ever more thoroughly 
 filled with the sense of his mission or carried out that 
 mission more heroically. 
 
86 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ISLAM. 
 
 When it was noised abroad that the Prophet was dead, 
 'Omar, the fiery-hearted, the Simon Peter of Islam, 
 rushed among the people, and fiercely told them they 
 lied, it could not be true, Mohammad was not dead. 
 And Abu-Bekr came and said, " Ye people ! he that 
 hath worshipped Mohammad, let him know that 
 Mohammad is dead; but he that hath Avorshipped 
 God, — that the Lord liveth, and doth not die." 
 
 Many have sought to answer the questions — Why 
 was the triumph of Islfim so speedy and so complete ? 
 Why have so many millions embraced the religion of 
 Mohammad, and scarcely a hundred ever recanted ? 
 Why do a thousand Christians becjjtmeTiiu slims to one 
 Muslim who adopts Christianity? Why do a hundred 
 and fifty millions of human beings still cling to the 
 faith of Islam ? Some have attempted to explain 
 the first overwhelming success of the Mohammadan 
 religion by the argument of the sword. They forget 
 Carlyle's laconic reply, " First get your sword." You 
 must win men's hearts before you can induce them to 
 
ISLAM. 87 
 
 peril their lives for you, and the first conquerors of 
 Islam must have been made Muslims before they were 
 made " fighters on the path of God." Others allege 
 the low morality of the religion and the sensual para- 
 dise it promises as a sufficient cause for the zeal of its 
 followers ; but even were these admitted to the full, 
 to say that such reasons could win the hearts of 
 millions of men, who have the same hopes and long- 
 ings after the right and the noble as we, is to libel 
 mankind. No religion has ever gained a lasting hold 
 upon the souls of men by the force of its sensual 
 permissions and fleshly promises. It is urged, again, 
 that Islam met no fair foe, that the worn-out forms of 
 Christianity and Judaism it encountered were no test 
 of its power as a quickening faith, and that it pre- 
 vailed simply because there was nothing to prevent 
 it ; and this was undoubtedly a help to the progress 
 of the new creed, but could not have been the cause 
 of its victory. 
 
 In all these reasons the religion itself is left out of 
 the question. Decidedly Islam itself was the main 
 cause of its triumph. By some strange intuition 
 Mohammad succeeded in finding the one form of 
 monotheism that has ever commended itself to any wide 
 section of the Eastern world. It was only a remnant 
 of the Jews that learned to worship the one God of 
 the prophets after the hard lessons of the Captivity. 
 Christianity has never gained a firm hold upon the 
 East. Islam not only was at once accepted (partly 
 in earnest, partly in name, but accepted) by Arabia, 
 Syria, Persia, Egypt, Northern Africa, and Spain at 
 
88 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 its first outburst, but, with the exception of Spain, it 
 has never lost its vantage-ground ; it has seen no 
 country that has once embraced its doctrine turn to 
 another faith ; it has added great multitudes in India 
 and China and Turkestan to its subjects ; and in quite 
 recent times it has been spreading in wide and swiftly- 
 following waves over Africa, and has left but a small 
 part of that vast continent unconverted to its creed. 
 Admitting the mixed causes that contributed to the 
 rapidity of the first torrent of Mohammadan conquest, 
 they do not account for the duration of Islam. There 
 must be something in the religion itself to explain its 
 persistence and increase, and to account for its present 
 hold over so large a proportion of the dwellers on the 
 earth. 
 
 Men trained in European ideas of religion have 
 always found a difficulty in understanding the fascina- 
 tion which the Muslim faith has for so many minds in 
 the East. " There is no god but God, and Moham- 
 mad is His Prophet." There is nothing in this, they 
 say, to move the heart. Yet this creed has stirred an 
 enthusiasm that has never been surpassed. Islam 
 has had its martyrs, its self-tormentors, its recluses, 
 who have renounced all that life offered and have 
 accepted death with a smile for the sake of the faith 
 that was in them. It is idle to say that the eternity 
 of happiness will explain this. The truest martyrs 
 of Islam, as of Christianity, did not die to gain 
 paradise. And if they did, the belief in the promises 
 of the creed must follow the hearty acceptance of 
 the religion. Islam must have possessed a power of 
 
ISLAM. 89 
 
 seizing men's belief before it could have inspired them 
 with such a love of its paradise. 
 
 Mohammad's conception of God has, I think, been 
 misunderstood, and its effect upon the people conse- 
 quently under-estimated. The God of Islam is com- 
 monly represented as a pitiless tyrant, who plays with 
 humanity as on a chessboard, and works out his game 
 without regard to the sacrifice of the pieces ; and 
 there is a certain truth in the figure. There is more 
 in Islam of the potter who shapes the clay than of 
 the father pitying his children. Mohammad conceived 
 of God as the Semitic mind has always preferred to 
 think of Him : his God is the All-Mighty, the All- 
 Knowing, the All- Just. Irresistible Power is the first 
 attribute he thinks of : the Lord of the Worlds, the 
 Author of the Heavens and the Earth, who hath 
 created Life and Death, in whose hand is Dominion, 
 who maketli the Dawn to appear and causeth the 
 Night to cover the Day, the Great, All-Powerful Lord 
 of the glorious Throne ; the Thunder proclaimeth His 
 perfection, the whole earth is His handful, and the 
 Heavens shall be folded together in His right hand. 
 And with the Power He conceives the Knowledge 
 that directs it to right ends. God is the Wise, the 
 Just, the True, the Swift in Reckoning, who knoweth 
 every ant's weight of good and of ill that each man 
 hath done, and who suffereth not the reward of the 
 faithful to perish. 
 
 God ! There is no God but He, tlie Living, the Steadfast ! 
 Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep. Whatsoever is in the 
 Heavens, and whatsoever is in the Earth, is His. Who is there 
 
90 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 that shall plead with Him, save by His leave ? He kuoweth 
 what was before and what shall come after, and they compass not 
 aught of His knowledge, but what He willeth. His Throne over- 
 spreadeth the Heavens and the Earth, and the keeping of both is 
 no burden to Him : and He is the High, the Great. — Koran, 
 ii. 256. 
 
 But witli this power there is also the gentleness 
 that belongs only to great strength. God is the 
 Guardian over His servants, the Shelterer of the 
 orphan, the Guider of the erring, the Deliverer from 
 every affliction ; in His hand is Good, and He is the 
 Generous Lord, the Gracious, the Hearer, the Near- 
 at-Hand. Each sura of the Koran begins with the 
 words, " In the name of God, the Compassionate, the 
 Merciful," and Mohammad was never tired of telling 
 the people how God was Very-Forgiving, that his 
 love for man was more tender than the mother-bird's 
 for her young. 
 
 It is too often forgotten how much there is in 
 the Koran of the loving-kindness of God, but it 
 must be allowed that this is not the main thought 
 in Mohammad's teaching. The doctrine of the 
 Mig-ht of God most held his imao-ination, and im- 
 pressed itself most strongly upon Muslims of all 
 ages. The fear rather than the love of God is the 
 spur of Islam. Hiere can be no question which is 
 the higher incentive to good ; but it is nearly certain 
 that the love of God is an idea foreign to most of 
 the races that have accepted Islam, and to preach 
 such a doctrine would have been to mistake the 
 character of the Semitic mind. 
 
 The leading doctrine of Mohammad, then, is the 
 
ISLAM. 91 
 
 belief in One All- Powerful God. Islam is the " self- 
 surrender" of every man to the will of God. Its 
 danger lies ui the stress laid on the power of God, 
 which has brought about the stifling effects of fatalism. 
 Mohammad taught the foreknowledge of God, but he 
 did not lay down precisely the doctrine of Predestina- 
 tion. He found it, as all have found it, a stumbling- 
 block in the way of man's progress. It perplexed him, 
 and he spoke of it, but often contradicted himself; 
 and he Avould become angry if the subject were mooted 
 in his presence : " Sit not with a disputer about 
 fate," he said, " nor begin a conversation with him." 
 Mohammad vaguely recognised that little margin of 
 Free Will which makes life not wholly mechanical. 
 
 This doctrine of one Supreme God, to whose will 
 it is the duty of every man to surrender himself, is 
 the kernel of Islam, the truth for which Mohammad 
 lived and suffered and triumphed. But it was no new 
 teaching, as he himself was constantly saying. His 
 was only the last of revelations. Many prophets — 
 Abraham, Moses, and Christ — had taught the same 
 faith before ; but people had hearkened little to their 
 words. So Mohammad was sent, not different from 
 them, a simple messenger, yet the last and greatest of 
 them, the " seal of prophecy," the " most excellent 
 of the creation of God." This is the second dogma of 
 Islam : "Mohammad is the apostle of God." It is well 
 worthy of notice that it is not said, " Mohammad is 
 the only apostle of God." Islam is more tolerant in 
 this matter than other religions. Its prophet is not 
 the sole commissioner of the Most High, nor is his 
 
92 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 teaching the only true teaching the world has ever 
 received. Many other messengers had been sent by 
 God to guide men to the right, and these taught the 
 same religion that was in the mouth of the preacher 
 of Islam. Hence Muslims reverence Moses and Christ 
 only next to Mohammad. All they claim for their 
 founder is that he was the last and best of the 
 messengers of the one God.* 
 
 After the belief in God and His prophets and scrip- 
 tures, the Muslim must believe in angels, good and 
 evil genii, in the resurrection and the judgment, and 
 in future rewards and punishments. These doctrines 
 form a very common weapon of attack on the ground 
 of their superstition, their anthropomorphism, and their 
 sensuality. Yet similar minor beliefs have their place 
 in all religions, and they are conceived in scarcely more 
 absurdly realistic a manner in Islam than in any other 
 creed. Every religion seems to need an improbable, 
 almost a ludicrous, side, in order to provide material 
 for the faith of the foolish. Mohammad himself was 
 what is called a superstitious man, and the improbable 
 side thus found its way easily into his creed. With all 
 the fancies floating in Arabia in his time, it would 
 have been strange if he had introduced nothing of 
 
 * " The Projihet said : Whosoever shall bear witness that thei'o 
 is one God ; and that Mohammad is His servant and messenger ; 
 and that Jesus Christ is His servant and messenger, and that he is 
 the son of the handmaid of God, and that he is the Word of God, 
 the word which was sent to Mary, and Spirit from God ; and [shall 
 bear witness] that there is truth in Heaven and Hell, will enter 
 into paradise, whatever sins he may be chargeable with." — 
 " Mishkat-el-Masabih," i. 11. 
 
ISLAM. 93 
 
 the superstitious into Islam. The Jinn, the Afrits, 
 and the other beings of the air and water, have not 
 done much harm to the Mohammadan mind ; and they 
 have given so many a delightful fable to the West, 
 that we must feel a certain grateful respect for them. 
 The realistic pictures of paradise and hell have exer- 
 cised an influence more serious. The minute details 
 of these celestial and infernal pictures must move 
 alternately the disgust and the contemptuous amuse- 
 ment of a Western reader ; yet these same things 
 were very real facts to Mohammad, and have been of 
 the utmost importance to generation after generation 
 of Muslims. In the present day there are cultured 
 men who receive these descriptions in the same alle- 
 gorical sense as some Christians accept the Revela- 
 tion of S. John — which, indeed, in some respects 
 offers a close parallel to the pictorial parts of the 
 Koran ; but the vast majority of believers (like many 
 Christians in the parallel case) take the descriptions 
 literally, and there can be no doubt that the belief 
 founded on such pictures, accepted literally, must 
 work an evil effect on the professors of the faith of 
 which these doctrines form a minor, but a too pro- 
 minent, part ; and it is the aim of rational Muslims 
 to sweep away such cobwebs from their sky. 
 
 Islam lies more in doing than in believing. That 
 " faith without works is dead " is a doctrine which 
 every day's routine must bring home to the mind 
 of the devout Muslim. The practical duties of the 
 Mohammadan religion, beyond the actual profession 
 of faith, are the performance of prayer, giving 
 
94 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 alms, keeping the fast, and accomplishing the 
 pilgrimage. Mr. Lane has so minutely described 
 the regular prayers used over all the Mohammadan 
 East, that it is only necessary here to refer to his 
 account of them in the " Modern Egyptians." There 
 it will be seen that they form no light part of the 
 religious duties of the Muslim, especially since they 
 involve careful preparatory ablutions ; for Mohammad 
 impressed upon his followers the salutary doctrine that 
 cleanliness is an essential part of godliness, and the 
 scrupulous cleanliness of the Mohammadan, which 
 contrasts so favourably with the unsavoury state of 
 Easterns of other creeds, is an excellent feature in the 
 practical influence of Islam. The charge which mis- 
 sionaries and the like are fond of bringing against 
 the Muslim prayers, that they are merely lifeless 
 forms and vain repetitions, is an exaggeration. There 
 is a vast deal of repetition in the Mohammadan ritual, 
 just as the paternoster is repeated again and again in 
 the principal Christian liturgies ; but iteration does 
 not necessarily kill devotion. There is plenty of real 
 fervour in the prayers of the Mosque, and they are 
 joined-in by the worshippers with an earnest attention 
 which shames the listless sleepy bearing of most con- 
 gregations in England. It is true the greater part 
 of the prayers are laid down in prescribed forms ; but 
 there is an interval set apart for private supplication, 
 and the original congregations in the mosques availed 
 themselves of this permission more generally than is 
 now the case, when the old fervour has become 
 comparatively cool. Mohammad frequently enjoins 
 
ISLAM. 95 
 
 private prayer at home, and specially praises him who 
 " passes his night worshipping Grocl." 
 
 Almsgiving was originally compulsory, and the tax 
 was collected by the officers of the Khalif ; but now 
 the Muslim is merely expected to give voluntarily 
 about a fortieth part of his income in charity each 
 year. The great fast of Ramadan is too well known 
 to need more than a passing mention here ; but it is 
 not so well known that Mohammad, ascetic as he was 
 himself in this as in many other matters, whilst he 
 ordained the month of fasting for the chastening of 
 his able-bodied followers, was a determined enemy to 
 useless mortification of the flesh, and boldly affirmed 
 that God took no pleasure in a man's wantonly injur- 
 ing himself; hence if one that was weakly and sick 
 could not keep the fast without bodily detriment he 
 was to omit it. And the same wise leniency was 
 shown by the Arab prophet in respect of prayer, — 
 which may be curtailed or omitted in certain cases, — 
 and with regard to the pilgrimage, which no one was 
 to perform to his hurt. This same pilgrimage is 
 often urged as a sign of Mohammad's tendency to 
 superstition and even idolatry. It is asked how the 
 destroyer of idols could have reconciled his conscience 
 to the circuits of the Kaaba and the veneration of 
 the black stone covered with adoring kisses. The 
 rites of the pilgrimage cannot certainly be defended 
 against the charge of superstition ; but it is easy to 
 see why Mohammad enjoined them. They were 
 hallowed to him by the memories of his ancestors, 
 who had been the guardians of the sacred temple. 
 
96 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 and by the traditional reverence of all his people ; 
 and besides this tie of association, which in itself was 
 enough to make it impossible for him to do away with 
 the rites, Mohammad perceived that the worship in 
 the Kaaba would prove of real value to his religion. 
 He swept away the more idolatrous and immoral part 
 of the ceremonies, but he retained the pilgrimage to 
 Mekka and the old veneration of the temple for 
 reasons of which it is impossible to dispute the 
 wisdom. He well knew the consolidating effect of a 
 centre to which his followers could gather; and 
 hence he reasserted the sanctity of the black stone 
 that " came down from Heaven " ; he ordained 
 that everywhere throughout the world, the Muslim 
 should pray looking towards the Kaaba, and he 
 enjoined him to make the pilgrimage thither. Mekka 
 is to the Muslim what Jerusalem is to the Jew. It 
 bears with it all the influence of centuries of associa- 
 tions. It carries the Muslim back to the cradle of 
 his faith, the childhood of his prophet; it reminds 
 him of the struggle between the old faith and the new, 
 of the overthrow of the idols, and the establishment 
 of the worship of the One God. And, most of all, it 
 bids him remember that all his brother Muslims are 
 worshipping towards the same sacred spot ; that he 
 is one of a great company of believers, united by one 
 faith, filled with the same hopes, reverencing the 
 same things, worshipping the same Grod. Mohammad 
 showed his knowledge of the religious emotions in 
 man when he preserved the sanctity of the temple 
 of Mekka. 
 
ISLAM. 97 
 
 It would take too much space to look closely into 
 the lesser duties of Islam, many of which suggest 
 exceedingly wholesome lessons to Western civilisation. 
 But we must not pass over one of these minor duties, 
 for it reflects the highest credit upon the founder 
 and the professors of Mohammadanism — I mean the 
 humane treatment of animals. 
 
 " There is no religion which has taken a higher 
 view in its authoritative documents of animal life, 
 and none wherein the precept has been so much 
 honoured by its practical observance. ' There is no 
 beast on earth,' says the Koran, ' nor bird which 
 flieth with its wings, but the same is a people like 
 unto you — unto the Lord shall they return ' ; and it 
 is the current belief that animals will share with men 
 the general resurrection, and be judged according to 
 their works. At the slaughter of an animal, the 
 Prophet ordered that the name of Grod should always 
 be named ; but the words, ' the Compassionate, the 
 Merciful,' were to be omitted ; for, on the one hand, 
 such an expression seemed a mockery to the sufferer, 
 and, on the other, he could not bring himself to 
 believe that the destruction of any life, however neces- 
 sary, could be altogether pleasing to the All-Merciful. 
 ' In the Name of God,' says a pious Musalman before 
 he strikes the fatal blow ; ' Grod is most great ; God 
 give thee patience to endure the affliction which He 
 hath allotted thee ! ' In the East there has been no 
 moralist like Bentham to insist in noble words on 
 the extension of the sphere of morality to all sen- 
 tient beings, and to be ridiculed for it by people who 
 
 7 
 
98 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 call themselves religions ; there has been no naturalist 
 like Darwin, to demonstrate by his marvellous powers 
 of observation how large a part of the mental and 
 moral faculties which we usually claim for ourselves 
 alone we share with other beings; there has been no 
 Oriental ' Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
 Animals.' But one reason of this is not far to seek. 
 What the legislation of the last few years has at 
 length attempted to do, and, from the mere fact that 
 it is legislation, must do ineffectually, has been long 
 effected in the East by the moral and religious senti- 
 ment which, like almost everything that is good in 
 that part of the world, can be traced back, in part at 
 least, to the great Prophet of Arabia. In the East, 
 so far as it has not been hardened by the West, 
 there is a real sympathy between man and the 
 domestic animals ; they understand one another ; and 
 the cruelties which the most humane of our countrj^- 
 men unconsciously effect in the habitual use, for 
 instance, of the muzzle or the bearing-rein on the 
 most docile, the most patient, the most faithful, and 
 the most intelligent of their companions, are im- 
 possible in the East. An Arab cannot ill-treat his 
 horse ; and Mr. Lane bears emphatic testimony to the 
 fact that in his long residence in Egypt he never saw 
 an ass or a dog (though the latter is there looked 
 upon as an unclean animal) treated with cruelty, 
 except in those cities wdiich were overrun by Euro- 
 peans." * 
 
 * R. Bosworth Smith ; " Mohammed and Mohammedanism/' 
 2nd ed., 255-257. 
 
ISLAM. 99 
 
 There are some very beautiful traditions of the 
 Prophet, showing the tenderness with which he always 
 treated animals and which he ever enjoined on his 
 people. A man once came to him with a carpet and 
 said, " Prophet, I passed through a wood and heard 
 the voices of the young of birds, and I took and put 
 them into my carpet, and their mother came fluttering 
 round my head." And the Prophet said, " Put them 
 down " ; and when he had put them down the mother 
 joined the young. And the Prophet said, *' Do you 
 wonder at the affection of the mother towards her 
 young? I swear by Him who has sent me, Yerily 
 God is more loving to his servants than the mother to 
 these young birds. Return them to the place from 
 which ye took them, and let their mother be with 
 them." " Fear God with regard to animals," said 
 Mohammad ; " ride them when they are fit to be 
 ridden, and get off when they are tired. Verily there 
 are rewards for our doing good to dumb animals, and 
 giving them water to drink." 
 
 ^Such, in brief outline, is the religion of Mohammad. 
 It is a form of pure theism, simpler and more austere 
 than the theism of most forms of modern Christianity, 
 lofty in its conception of the relation of man to God, 
 and noble in its doctrine of the duty of man to man, 
 and of man to the lower creation. There is little in 
 it of superstition, less of complexity of dogmas ; it is 
 an exacting religion, without the repulsiveness of 
 asceticism ; severe, but not merciless. On the other 
 hand, it is over-rigid and formal ; it leaves too little 
 to the believer and too much to his ritual ; it places a 
 
 7 * 
 
100 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 prophet and a book between man and God, and prac- 
 tically discourages the desire for a direct relation 
 between the Deity and his servant; it draws the 
 picture of that Grod in over-harsh outlines, and leaves 
 out too much of the tenderness and loving-kindness of 
 the God of Christ's teaching, and hence it has been 
 the source of more intolerance and fanatical hatred 
 than most creeds. 
 
 This religion is Islam as understood and taught by 
 its Prophet, so far as we can gather it from the Koran, 
 aided by those traditions which seem to have the 
 stamp of authenticity. It need hardly be said that it 
 is not identical with the Islam with which the philo- 
 sophers of Baghdad amused themselves, nor with the 
 fantastic creed which the Fatimi Khalifs of Egypt repre- 
 sented, and brought in the person of El-Hakim to its 
 limit of extravagance ; nor is it the Islam with which 
 as much as with their ferocity the Karmatis aroused 
 the fear and abhorrence of all good Muslims. Neither 
 the Siifism of Persia nor the sensational religion of 
 the dervishes of Turkey conforms to this ancient 
 Islam, to which perhaps a modification of Wahhaby 
 puritanism would be the nearest approach. The 
 original faith of Mohammad has not gained by its 
 development in foreign lands and alien minds, and 
 perhaps the best we can hope for modern Islam is that 
 it may try the experiment of retrogression, and seek 
 to regain the simplicity of the old form without losing 
 the advantages (if there be any) which it has acquired 
 from contact with Western civilisation, 
 
ISLAM. 101 
 
 Islam is unfortunately a social system as well as a 
 religion ; and herein lies the great difficulty of fairly 
 estimating its good and its bad influence on the world. 
 It is but in the nature of things that the teacher who 
 lays down the law of the relation of man to God 
 should also endeavour to appoint the proper relation 
 between man and his neighbour. Christianity was un- 
 doubtedly a social even more than a religious reform, 
 but the social regulations were too indefinite, or at 
 all events too impracticable, for any wide acceptance 
 among the professors of the religion. Islam was less 
 fortunate. Mohammad not only promulgated a re- 
 ligion ; he laid down the elements of a social system, 
 containing minute regulations for a man's conduct in 
 various circumstances of life, with due rewards or penal- 
 ties according to his fulfilment of these rules. As a 
 religion Islam is great ; it has taught men to worship 
 one God with a pure worship who formerly worshipped 
 many gods impurely. As a social system Islam is a 
 complete faihire : it has misunderstood the relation of 
 the sexes, upon which the whole character of a nation's 
 life hangs, and, by degrading women, has degraded 
 each successive generation of their children down an 
 increasing scale of infamy and corruption, until it 
 seems almost impossible to reach a lower level of 
 vice. 
 
 The fatal spot in Islam is the degradation of women. 
 The true test of a nation's place in the ranks of civili- 
 sation is the position of its women. When they are 
 held in reverence, when it is considered the most 
 infamous of crimes to subject a woman to dishonour, 
 
102 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 and the highest distinction to protect her from wrong ; 
 when the family life is real and strong, of which the 
 mother- wife is the heart ; when each man's pulse beats 
 loyal to womanhood, then is a nation great. When 
 women are treated as playthings, toys, drudges, worth 
 anything only if they have beauty to be enjoyed or 
 strength to labour ; when sex is considered the chief 
 thing in a woman, and heart and mind are forgotten ; 
 when a man buys women for his pleasure and dis- 
 misses them when his appetite is glutted, then is a 
 nation despicable. 
 
 And so is it in the East. Yet it would be hard to lay 
 the blame altogether on Mohammad. The real roots 
 of the degradation of women lie much deeper. When 
 Islam was instituted, polygamy was almost necessi- 
 tated by the number of women and their need of 
 support ; and facility of divorce was required by the 
 separation of the sexes, and the consequence that 
 a man could not know or even see the woman he 
 was about to marry before the marriage ceremony 
 was accomplished. It is not Mohammad whom we 
 must blame for these great evils, polygamy and 
 divorce ; it is the state of society which demanded 
 the separation of the sexes, and in which it was not 
 safe to allow men and women freely to associate ; in 
 other words, it was the sensual constitution of the 
 Arab that lay at the root of the matter. Mohammad 
 might have done better. He might boldly have swept 
 away the traditions of Arab town-life, unveiled the 
 women, intermingled the sexes, and punished by the 
 most severe measures any license which such asso- 
 
ISLAM. 103 
 
 ciation might at first encourage. With his boundless 
 influence, it is possible that he might have clone this, 
 and, the new system once fairly settled and the people 
 accustomed to it, the good effects of the change 
 would show themselves. But such an idea could 
 never have occurred to him. We must always re- 
 member that we are dealing with a social system of 
 the seventh century, not of the nineteenth. Mo- 
 hammad's ideas about women were like those of the 
 rest of his contemporaries. He looked upon them as 
 charming snares to the believer, ornamental articles 
 of furniture difficult to keep in order, pretty play- 
 things : but that a woman should be the counsellor 
 and companion of a man does not seem to have 
 occurred to him. It is to be wondered that the feel- 
 ing of respect he always entertained for his first wife, 
 Khadija, (which, however, is partly accounted for by 
 the fact that she was old enough to have been his 
 mother,) found no counterpart in his general opinion 
 of womankind : " Woman was made from a crooked 
 rib, and if you try to bend it straight, it will break ; 
 therefore treat your wives kindly." Mohammad was 
 not the man to make a social reform affecting women, 
 nor was Arabia the country in which such a change 
 should be made, nor Arab ladies perhaps the best 
 subjects for the experiment. Still he did some- 
 thing towards bettering the condition of women : he 
 limited the number of wives to four; laid his hand 
 with the utmost severity on the incestuous marriages 
 that were then rife in Arabia ; compelled husbands to 
 support their divorced wives during their four months 
 
104 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 of probation; made hasty divorce less common by 
 adding the rough, but deterring, condition that a 
 woman triply divorced could not return to her hus- 
 band without first being married to some one else; 
 and required four witnesses to prove a charge of 
 adultery against a wife — a merciful provision, difficult 
 of fulfilment. 
 
 The evil permitted by Mohammad in leaving the 
 number of wives four instead of insisting on mono- 
 gamy was not great. Without considering the 
 sacrifice of family peace which the possession of 
 a large harim entails, the expense of keeping 
 several wives, each of whom must have a separate 
 suite of apartments or a separate house, is so great 
 that not more than one in twenty can afford it. 
 It is not so much in the matter of wives as in that 
 of concubines that Mohammad made an irretrievable 
 mistake. The condition of the female slave in the 
 East is indeed deplorable. She is at the entire mercy 
 of her master, who can do what he pleases with her 
 and her numerous companions : for the Muslim is not 
 restricted in the number of his concubines, as he is in 
 that of his wives. The female white slave is kept 
 solely for the master's sensual pleasure, and is sold 
 when he is tired of her, and so she passes from master 
 to master, a very wreck of womanhood. Her condition 
 is a little improved if she bear a son to her tyrant ; 
 but even then he is at liberty to refuse to acknowledge 
 the child as his own, though it must be owned he 
 seldom does this. Kind as the Prophet was himself 
 towards bondswomen, one cannot forget the unutter- 
 
ISLAM. 105 
 
 able brutalities wliicli his followers inflicted upon 
 conquered nations in the taking of slaves. The 
 Muslim soldier was allowed to do as he pleased 
 with any " infidel " woman he might meet on his 
 victorious march. When one thinks of the thou- 
 sands of women, mothers and daughters, who must 
 have suffered untold shame and dishonour by this 
 license, he cannot find words to express his horror. 
 And this cruel indulgence has left its mark on the 
 Muslim character, nay, on the whole character of 
 Eastern life. Now, as at the first, young girls are 
 dragged away from their homes and given over to 
 the unhallowed lusts of a Turkish voluptuary ; and 
 not only to Turks, but to Englishmen; for the con- 
 tagion has spread, and Englishmen, even those who 
 by their sacred order should know better, instead of 
 uttering their protest, as men of honour and Christians, 
 against the degradation, have followed the example 
 of the Turk, and helped in the ruin of women. 
 Concubinage is the black stain in Islam. With 
 Mohammad's views of women, we could hardly expect 
 him to do better ; but, on the other hand, he could 
 scarcely have done worse. There are, however, one 
 or two alleviating circumstances. One is the fact that 
 the canker has not eaten into the whole of Eastern 
 society ; it is chiefly among the rich that the evil 
 effects of the system are felt. And another fact which 
 shows that the Mohammadan system, bad as it is, is 
 free from a defect which social systems better in 
 other respects than Mohammad's are subject to is the 
 extreme rarity of prostitution in Muslim towns. The 
 
106 STUDIES IN A MOSQITE. 
 
 courtesan forms a very small item in the census of a 
 Mohammadan city, and is retained more for strangers 
 from Europe than for the Muslim inhabitants. In- 
 stances are frequently occurring in the Indian law 
 courts which show the strong feeling that exists on 
 the subject among the Mohammadans of India. They 
 consider it quite inconceivable that a Muslim should 
 have illicit intercourse with a free Muslima woman, 
 and this inconceivableness of the action is urged as 
 evidence in trials of the legitimacy of children. But 
 whilst admitting the importance of this remarkable 
 feature in Islam, it must not be forgotten that the 
 liberty allowed by their law to Muslims in the matter 
 of concubines does not very materially differ from 
 prostitution, and whilst the latter is directly forbidden 
 by the dominant religion of Europe, concubinage is 
 as directly permitted by Islam. 
 
 One would think that long intercourse with Euro- 
 peans might have somewhat raised the estimation of 
 women in the East ; but either because travellers in 
 the East are not always the best specimens of Western 
 morality, or because the Eastern mind has an un- 
 equalled aptitude for assimilating the bad and reject- 
 ing the good in any system it meets, it is certain that 
 women are no better off now than they were, in the 
 East. A well-known correspondent of a leading daily 
 print writes thus of Turkish home-life : 
 
 It is obvious that the home-life of any people will depend 
 almost entirely on the position which is assigned to women. It is 
 not necessai'y to inquire what this position is according to the 
 teaching of the sacred books of a race. Between Christianity and 
 
ISLAM. 107 
 
 Islam it is enough to notice that there is apparently no country 
 where the first is the prevailing religion in which woman is 
 hindered by religion from obtaining a position almost, if not 
 quite, on an equality with man, and similarly, no country where 
 the second prevails where woman is not in a degraded position. 
 . . . Under Christianity she is everywhere free. Under Islam 
 she is everywhere a slave. The pious Mohammadan, like the pious 
 Jew, thanks God that he has not been made a woman. The pious 
 Mohammadan woman, like the pious Jewess, thanks God that she 
 has been made according to the Creator's will. Man and woman 
 alike recognise that to be a woman is to be in an inferior condition. 
 This feeling of the degradation of woman so pervades Turkey that 
 the poorer classes of Christians have even become infected by it. 
 When a son is born there is nothing but congratulations. When 
 a daughter, nothing but condolences. A polite Turk, if he has 
 occasion to mention his wife, will do so with an apology. He 
 regards it as a piece of rudeness to mention the fact to you, 
 and it would be equally rude for him to inquire after your wife, 
 or to hint that he knew you were guilty of anything so unmen- 
 tionable as to have one. Charles the Twelfth told his queen that 
 she had been chosen to give children, and not advice. The Turk 
 regards woman as destined solely for the same purpose and for his 
 pleasure. Probably polygamy is of itself sufficient to account for 
 the way in which Mohammadans regard woman. But whether 
 this is so or not, there is one influence which polygamy asserts 
 which accounts for the low ideal of woman prevalent in all Muslim 
 countries. When a man has a number of wives it is impossible 
 that they can all become his companions and his confidantes, or 
 that one of them can become his companion or confidante to the 
 same extent as if the man had only one wife. Hence a man who 
 is limited to one will not be contented with beauty alone. He 
 must have a certain amount of intelligence and education. The 
 Turk, on the other hand, has no reason whatever to think of 
 anything except beauty. A.s he never means to see much of his 
 wife, intelligence or education is a matter of small account. If he 
 can afford it he will have a Circassian wife, a woman who has 
 been reared with the intention of being sold, who has not an idea 
 in her head, who has seen nothing, and knows nothing. Such a 
 woman would be as objectionable as a wife to the great majority 
 of Europeans as a South Sea Island beauty. But she satisfies 
 
108 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 the ideal of the Turk. She is beautiful, and beauty is all that he 
 requires. 
 
 It is this sensual and degraded view of woman that 
 
 destroys to so great an extent the good influence 
 
 which the better part of the teaching of Islam might 
 
 exert in the East. So long as women are held in so 
 
 light an esteem, they will remain vapid, bigoted, 
 
 and sensual ; and so long as mothers are what most 
 
 Muslim mothers are now, their children will be 
 
 ignorant, fanatical, and vicious. In Turkey there 
 
 are other influences at work besides the Mohammadan 
 
 social system ; but Turkish women may serve as an 
 
 instance of the state of things which that system 
 
 encourages. " In those early years spent at home, 
 
 when the child ought to have instilled into him some 
 
 germ of those principles of conduct by which men 
 
 must walk in the world if they are to hold up their 
 
 heads among civilised nations, the Turkish child is 
 
 only taught the first steps towards those vicious habits 
 
 of mind and body which have made his race what it 
 
 is. The root of the evil is partly found in the harim 
 
 system. So long as that system keeps Turkish women 
 
 in their present depressed state, so long will Turkish 
 
 boys and girls be vicious and ignorant." As I have 
 
 said elsewhere,* " It is quite certain that there is no 
 
 hope for the Turks so long as Turkish women remain 
 
 what they are, and home-training is the initiation of 
 
 vice." If the mother is ignorant and vicious, the son 
 
 cannot form a high ideal of womanhood, and thus is 
 
 * " The People of Turkey," preface, xxii. 
 
ISLAM. 109 
 
 barred off from the chivalrous spirit wherewith alone 
 a man may reach to the highest love : — that 
 
 subtle master under heaven, 
 Not only to keep down the base in man, 
 But teach high thought, and amiable words, 
 And courtliness, and the desire of fame, 
 And love of truth, and all that makes a man. 
 
 The Muslim has no ideal of chivalry like this to 
 make his life pure and honourable : his religion 
 encourages an opposite view, and the women among 
 whom he is brought up only confirm it. 
 
 If Islam is to be a power for good in the future, it 
 is imperatively necessary to cut off the social system 
 from the religion. At the beginning, among a people 
 who had advanced but a little way on the road of 
 civilisation, the defects of the social system were not 
 so apparent ; but now, when Easterns are endeavour- 
 ing to mix on equal terms with Europeans, and are 
 trying to adopt the manners and customs of the West, 
 it is clear that the condition of their women must 
 be radically changed if any good is to come o£ the 
 Europeanising tendency. The difficulty hes in the 
 close connection between the religious and social 
 ordinances in the Koran ; the two are so intermingled 
 that it is hard to see how they can be disentangled 
 without destroying both. The theory of revelation 
 would have to be modified. Muslims would have to 
 give up their doctrine of the syllabic inspiration of the 
 Koran and exercise their moral sense in distinguishing 
 between the particular and the general, the temporary 
 and the permanent; they would have to recognise 
 that there was much in Mohammad's teaching which, 
 
110 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 though useful at the time, is inapplicable to the 
 present conditions of life ; that his knowledge was 
 often partial, and his judgment sometimes at fault ; 
 that the moral sense is capable of education as 
 much as the intellect, and, therefore, that what was 
 apparently moral and wise in the seventh century may 
 quite possibly be immoral and suicidal in a society of 
 the nineteenth century. Mohammad himself said, 
 according to tradition, " I am no more than a man ; 
 when I order you anything respecting religion, receive 
 it : and when I order you about the affairs of the 
 world, then I am nothing more than man." And he 
 seemed to foresee that the time would come when his 
 minor ordinances would call for revision ; " Ye are in 
 an age," he said, " in which, if ye abandon one-tenth of 
 what is ordered, ye will be ruined. After this, a time 
 will come when he who shall observe one-tenth of 
 what is now ordered will be redeemed."* 
 
 If Muslims would take these warnings of their 
 prophet to heart, there would be some hope for Islam. 
 Some few of the hio-her intellects amono^ them huve 
 already admitted the principle of moral criticism 
 applied to the Koran ; but it is very doubtful whether 
 " rational Islam " will ever gain a wide following, any 
 more than " rational Christianity." People in general 
 do not care to think for themselves in matters religious. 
 They like their creed served up to them as cooked 
 meat, not raw flesh. They must have definite texts 
 and hard-and-fast commandments to appeal to. They 
 
 * "Mishkat-el-Masabih," i. 46, 51. 
 
ISLAM. Ill 
 
 will not believe in the spirit, but prefer the letter. 
 They will have nothing to say to tendencies, but must 
 have facts. It is of no avail to speak to them of the 
 spirit of a life or of a whole book ; they must hang 
 their doctrine on a solitary sentence. They will 
 either believe every letter of their scripture, or they 
 will believe nothing. 
 
 Such people make up tlie majority of the professors 
 of Islam ; and with them no reform, within Islam, 
 seems possible. Among the upper (I will not call 
 them the higher) classes, they are either fanatics or 
 concealed infidels ; and their lives are a proof of the 
 incompatibility of ordinary Mohammadanism, real or 
 nominal, with a high social and national life. Among 
 the poorer classes, the social system has a more 
 restricted field of operation, for the poor are naturally 
 less able to avail themselves of the permissions of their 
 Prophet. In a poor community Islam exerts an 
 eminently salutary influence, as the condition of the 
 Mohammadan converts in Western Africa conclusively 
 proves. An able observer,* whose African birth and 
 training qualify him in a high degree for properly 
 understanding the true state of his countrymen, whilst 
 his Christian profession serves as a guarantee against 
 excessive prejudice in favour of Islam, has recorded 
 his experience of the work of Mohammadan mission- 
 aries in Liberia and the neighbouring parts of Africa. 
 "All careful and candid observers," he remarks, 
 " agree that the influence of Islam in Central and West 
 
 Dr. E. Blyden, " The People of Africa." (New York, 1871.) 
 
112 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Africa has been, upon the whole, of a most salutary 
 character. ... As an elirainatory and subversive 
 agency, it has displaced or unsettled nothing as good 
 as itself." It has inculcated habits of moderation and 
 temperance over the whole of the vast region covered 
 by its emissaries ; and so great is the influence of its 
 teaching, that where there are Muslim inhabitants, 
 even in pagan towns, it is a very rare thing to see a 
 person intoxicated. The Mohammadan converts drink 
 nothing but water. " From Senegal to Lagos, over 
 two thousand miles, there is scarcely an important 
 town on the seaboard where there is not at least one 
 mosque and active representatives of Islam, side by 
 side with the Christian teacher. And as soon as a 
 pagan, however obscure or degraded, embraces the 
 Muslim faith, he is at once admitted as an equal to 
 the society. . . . The pagan village possessing a 
 Muslim teacher is always found to be in advance of its 
 neis'hbours in all the elements of civilisation. . . . The 
 introduction of Islam into Central and West Africa 
 has been the most important, if not the sole, pre- 
 servative against the desolations of the slave trade. 
 Mohammadanism furnished a protection to the 
 tribes who embraced it, by effectually binding them 
 together in one strong religious fraternity, and 
 enabling them by their united efforts to baffle the 
 attempts of powerful slave-hunters. Enjoying this 
 comparative immunity from sudden hostile incursion, 
 industry was stimulated among them ; industry 
 diminished their poverty; and as they increased 
 in worldly substance, they also increased in desire 
 
ISLAM. 113 
 
 for knowledge. Receiving a desire of letters by a 
 study of the Arabic language, they acquired loftier 
 views, wider tastes, and those energetic habits which 
 so pleasingly distinguish them from their pagan 
 neighbours." Students often travel on foot from 
 the west coast right across Africa to study at the 
 great mosque of the Azhar in Cairo. It must be 
 remembered that these results were observed in the 
 very centre of African Christianity, in Sierra Leone 
 and other coast settlements. It is said that in Sierra 
 Leone three-fourths of the Muslim population were 
 not born Muslims, but were converted from Chris- 
 tianity or paganism ; and this, although " all liberated 
 Africans are always handed over to Christian mis- 
 sionaries for instruction, and their children are bap- 
 tized and brought up at the public expense in 
 Christian schools, and are thus, in a sense, ready-made 
 Christians." 
 
 These facts show that, even in the present day, and 
 with the competition of Christian missionary societies, 
 Islam may be a power for good in poor communities 
 — that it can not only give them a pure instead of a 
 degraded faith, but can raise them socially and intel- 
 lectually. The effects of a simple form of Islam on 
 these African converts may give one some notion of 
 its influence on its hearers in the early days, before 
 the theologians had corrupted it. 
 
 But this good influence is very partial and limited, 
 even among the poorer classes. In communities 
 where all are poor, Islam is an excellent agent for 
 improvement ; but in countries where there are many 
 
^ 
 
 114 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 grades of wealth and rank, the poor only ape in a 
 humble manner the vices of those whom they are 
 taught to regard as their " betters." In all civilised 
 and wealthy countries the social system of Islam exerts 
 a ruinous influence on every class, and if there is to 
 be any great future for the Mohammadan world, that 
 system of society must be done away. 
 
 The woman's cause is man's ; they bise or sink 
 togethek, dwarfed or godlike, bond ob free. 
 
115 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE KOEAN. 
 
 There is probably no book that is more talked about 
 and less read than the Koran. As one of the great 
 classics of the world, the Mohammadan Bible com- 
 mands the same superficial acquaintance as " Paradise 
 Lost," and, like the English epic, is the subject of 
 those commonplaces of conversation which people 
 think are due to standard books which they have not 
 read. There are very few educated persons who have 
 not an opinion about the Koran, but not one of a 
 thousand who cheerfully criticise it has ever given it 
 an hour of ordinary study. It is not unusual to hear 
 the rare beings who have actually read the Koran 
 through take to themselves considerable credit for 
 their perseverance ; but the difficulty of the task hardly 
 justifies this self-gratulation. The whole Koran, 
 estimated by the number of verses, is only two-thirds 
 the length of the New Testament, and, if we omit the 
 numerous stories of the Jewish patriarchs, we have no 
 more to read than the Gospels and Acts together. 
 On the score of length there is no excuse for 
 
 8 * 
 
116 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 not reading the Koran : it is rather the style and 
 character of the contents that deter ordinary readers. 
 The Koran has suffered, just as the Bible has 
 gained, by an authorised version. Sale's translation 
 has hitherto been practically the sole source of our 
 knowledge, or ignorance, of the Koran in England. 
 It had the advantage of a century of priority over 
 all other English translations, and even when others 
 appeared, it still held its place as the accepted 
 version for general reading. It is not a bad trans- 
 lation, but it is an insufferably dull one. The ren- 
 derings are, as a rule, fairly accurate ; but Sale's 
 want of literary skill, his inability to reproduce in the 
 smallest degree the effect of the Arabic, and his dreary 
 manner of arranging the verses and paragraphs — 
 wherein the tired eye searches vainly for a pause or 
 resting-place, the well-prized white hne which shows 
 that the writer took fresh breath now and then, and 
 gives the reader leave to do likewise — make his trans- 
 lation one of the most wearisome of all books, even 
 among those " Avhich every gentleman's library should 
 possess." It is diflficult to read, and impossible to 
 understand. Sale's Koran, if to understand is to grasp 
 the drift and character of a book ; and on Sale's well- 
 meaning but prosaic work must be laid much of the 
 responsibility for the prevailing distaste for the Koran. 
 This cause, however, ought not to continue still in 
 effect. There are now versions of the Koran which 
 are not only easy to read, but replete with poetic 
 inspiration. Mr. Rodwell's translation is full of 
 beauty, and ought to be much wider known than it is. 
 
THE KORAN. 117 
 
 In this for the first time the results of German criti- 
 cism are utiUsed for the arrangement of the various 
 chapters of the Koran in an approximately chronolo- 
 gical order. One of the chief drawbacks to Sale's ver- 
 sion is the order of the chapters, in which he retained 
 the arrangement, universal among Mohammadans, 
 which the most superficial student perceives at once 
 to be unscientific and destructive to the proper com- 
 prehension of the Sacred Book. The Mohammadan 
 arrangement is regulated by the simple principle of 
 putting the long chapters first, and gradually fining 
 down to the shortest chapters. In other words, the 
 Mohammadan arrangement inverts the true order of 
 the chapters, for the shortest are almost universally 
 the oldest, and the longest the latest. But as this 
 general rule does not hold good in every instance, 
 chapters of the most diverse dates are placed side by 
 side, to the ruin of all sequence in style or thought. 
 It was this preposterous arrangement that made 
 Carlyle think the Koran " a wearisome, confused 
 jumble, crude, incondite ; endless iterations, long- 
 windedness, entanglement ; most crude, incondite ; — 
 insupportable stupidity, in short ! " As soon as the 
 mechanical arrangement is set aside, and a fairly 
 chronological order substituted, the chaotic impres- 
 sion disappears. For ourselves we do not think the 
 Koran at all an incomprehensible jumble, but believe 
 we can trace a clearly progressive development in 
 thought and language. But we admit that this could 
 not be traced in Sale's version, and at present Mr. 
 Rodwell's alone presents the approximately true 
 
118 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 order. One might have thought that this decided 
 advance in translation would have made the Koran 
 more generally known, and that readers would have 
 been attracted by the bold imagery and fine bursts 
 of real poetry which Mr. Rodwell's version brings into 
 prominence. Such, however, has not been the case. 
 
 Another attempt was made, in a different direction, 
 to induce those who had been deterred from the study 
 of Sale's Koran by its length and confusion to acquire 
 some knowledge of the sacred book in a less trouble- 
 some manner. Lane's " Selections " were arranged 
 under subjects ; all that was objectionable in general 
 reading was excised ; and the interminable histories of 
 the Israelite patriarchs were reduced to a connected 
 narrative. Many who had been foiled in their laudable 
 efforts to master Sale were able to learn something of 
 the Koran and its author from these " Selections " ; 
 but it may be doubted whether the loss which is 
 entailed by the neglect of the chronological order is 
 quite repaid by the convenience in reference and 
 analysis which undoubtedly belongs to the arrangement 
 according to subjects. Lane's " Selections " are the best 
 means of learning the ordinary contents of the Koran 
 that the general reader possesses : but he cannot gain 
 from them that insight into the development of Mo- 
 hammad's thought and the growth of Islam which a 
 chronologically arranged book of extracts or typical 
 chapters would have afforded. 
 
 Finally, Professor B. H. Palmer, who had a rare 
 gift of language, and understood the art of repro- 
 ducing Arabian effects in English words as no other 
 
THE KORAN. 119 
 
 Englishman does, translated the Koran for Professor 
 Max Miiller's series of " Sacred Books of the East." 
 Palmer's version is undoubtedly the best that has yet 
 appeared. His intimate acquaintance with the modes 
 of thought and expression of the modern Bedawls — 
 an acquaintance which, alas, did not avert his tragic 
 and lamentable fate — enabled him to give a peculiar life 
 and reality to his translation. His Koran reads like the 
 words of a living Arab — words which we might hear 
 ourselves any day in the desert — not dead utterances of 
 the past. There is a stiffness about the earlier versions 
 which mars their effect. One feels that they are the 
 result of laborious study of a difficult language, which 
 no longer lives in men's lips, but is as dead as the 
 tongue of the Yedas. It is quite different with Palmer's 
 work. He almost knew the people to whom the Koran 
 was spoken, for the modern Arab still represents to a 
 great degree his forefather of Mohammad's day. He 
 knew the language of the Koran as a medium of 
 common everyday intercourse, for an Arab now will 
 speak in moments of excitement and enthusiasm the 
 same burning words that came red-hot from Moham- 
 mad's lips. Palmer realised the fact that, though all 
 language changes — and Arabic has undergone many 
 corruptions since the first promulgation of Islam — 
 the continuity is not broken, and the Arabic of the 
 Koran still exists in its essential characteristics in 
 the present day. It is this which gives his transla- 
 tion a freshness and buoyancy which we may seek in 
 vain elsewhere. For the first time we feel that the 
 words we read in the Koran came straight from a 
 
120 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 man's heart, and begin to understand the power of 
 Mohammad's influence, and the fascination of his 
 voice. It is no longer a standard classic that we 
 study, but a living revelation that we hear.* 
 
 Apart from the Eastern glow which is for the first 
 time retained in a translation, Palmer's unrivalled 
 
 * Palmer's principle of translating the Koran as if it were the 
 speech of a modern Bedawy has its drawbacks. Although it has 
 always been held up as the model of Arabic style, the Koran 
 contains many expressions which it is difficult to regard as any- 
 thing else than vulgarisms. Mohammad, as an unlettered man, 
 naturally addressed his countrymen in their common everyday 
 speech, and it is not surprising to find a certain proportion of 
 what is called "slang" in his language. Palmer's mistake was 
 not in admitting this, but in trying to reproduce it. The im- 
 pression produced upon an audience in Mekka by certain vulgar 
 expressions which were in everyday use is quite different from that 
 produced upon the educated readers for whom Palmer's trans- 
 lation is intended by corresponding vulgarisms in English. To 
 us the occurrence of such phrases as Palmer intentionally intro- 
 duces has something of the effect that the insertion of a music- 
 hall melody in a svmphony of Beethoven's would produce. To 
 the original audience the " slang " expressions were part of their 
 own speech and excited no remark. We, however, do not use 
 " slang " expressions, and when we meet with them in books, 
 especially sacred books, they jar upon our literary sense. Palmer 
 attempted the task — an impossible one we admit — of pi'oducing 
 the same impression upon English readers as was produced upon 
 the original audience by Mohammad's own rhetoric ; and he failed 
 in the attempt because he forgot that the audiences are wholly 
 dissimilar, and that what would strike a rude Arab in a given 
 manner would have a totally different effect upon a cultivated 
 reader. Palmer's theory would only ajDply if the readers of his 
 translation were entirely of the lowest classes ; as they are ob- 
 viously almost wholly restricted to the educated classes, the theory 
 breaks down and offers an impediment, instead of an aid, to the 
 due appreciation of the Koran. 
 
THE KOEAN. 121 
 
 instinct for the thoughts and ideas of the Arab has 
 led him often to a new and luminous rendering of a 
 passage which his predecessors had failed to bring out. 
 Scholars will not invariably accept his innovations, but 
 as a rule they impress us with their clear common sense 
 and reasonableness. Without throwing off entirely the 
 influence of traditional interpretation, the translator 
 releases himself from the narrow bonds of commenta- 
 tors' intelligence, and lets his own clear sense and his 
 knowledge of the speech and thought of modern Arabs 
 throw their practical light upon the subject. And as 
 a result he has produced a translation of the Koran 
 which, with not a few faults, and in our opinion 
 certain radically erroneous principles, is yet the first 
 successful reproduction in tone and spirit of the 
 sacred book of the Muslims that has been done in 
 English. We see the Arabian Prophet and his 
 preaching, it is true, " in a mirror, darkly " ; but, in 
 spite of a badly polished surface and many specks and 
 dints, it is still a mirror, and reflects the Koran in its 
 due proportions. Previous translations, excellent in 
 many ways, and in some superior to this one, have been 
 rather copies or adaptations than true reflections. 
 
 We have read several important treatises on what 
 the Koran borrowed from earlier sources and like 
 subjects of theologico-antiquarian interest, but we do 
 not remember to have seen anywhere a clear reckon- 
 ing of the net result of Mohammad's teaching in the 
 Koran, which is practically the main point for the 
 world at large. How much of the present Moham- 
 madan religion is clearly laid down in the Koran ; 
 
122 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 how far modern Mohammadan law is definitely enacted 
 in the Koran ; did Mohammad in the Koran recognise 
 the necessity of the adaptation of his religion to 
 changed circumstances ? — these are among the ques- 
 tions that most deeply concern us, and these can be 
 answered by a moderately industrious study of the 
 book. To understand, however, the drift of Moham- 
 mad's teaching, and avoid the danger of falling into 
 the pernicious habit of taking isolated "texts" for 
 doctrine, which has been the destruction of too many 
 Muslim as well as Christian divines, it is essential to 
 view the Koran as far as possible as a connected 
 whole, and judge each sentence by its context, and 
 each chapter by its neighbours. This, however, can- 
 not be done in the unreasonable and confusing order 
 in common use among Muslims, and retained in Sale's 
 and Palmer's versions. 
 
 The Arabic text was collected in a purely haphazard 
 fashion, in which the only discoverable merit is fidelity. 
 We may safely assert that the present text contains 
 nothing but the words of Mohammad; but we can 
 assert nothing else in its favour. The original editors 
 deserve all credit for their honesty and scrupulous 
 care in gathering all that could be surely proved to 
 have been spoken by Mohammad, and adding nothing 
 of their own; but beyond this it is impossible to 
 congratulate them. Their task was undoubtedly a 
 difficult one. Mohammad's revelations were spoken 
 during a long period, and often in short fragments. 
 Sometimes the whole of a chapter (as we now have it) 
 was spoken at one time, but very often only a few 
 
THE KORAN. 123 
 
 verses were uttered, and other fragments were after- 
 wards added, occasionally with instructions from the 
 Prophet himself that they were to be inserted in such 
 or such a chapter, but frequently without any such 
 instructions. These verses and chapters were not 
 arranged, or even in many cases written down, at the 
 time of the Prophet's death, and it was not till war 
 begran to diminish the number of those who had com- 
 mitted portions of the Koran to memory that the 
 Muslims perceived on how perishable a foundation 
 their sacred book was built. It was then, after much 
 misgiving at so serious an innovation, that they 
 determined to collect the fragments of the Koran 
 "from palm-leaves, skins, blade-bones, and the hearts 
 of men." The Prophet's amanuensis, Zeyd ibn Thabit, 
 undertook this important task under the rule of Abu- 
 Bekr, the first Khalif. He gathered together all that 
 could be remembered, or found in written form, of 
 Mohammad's words, and determined (on what prin- 
 ciples it is now impossible to ascertain) what verses 
 belonged to any given chapter. The date at which 
 most of the chapters were spoken was apparently 
 forgotten ; at all events, Zeyd could think of no 
 better arrangement than that of length, and he 
 accordingly placed the longest chapters first and the 
 shortest last, prefixing the short prayer known as the 
 Fatiha, as Chapter I. It may be doubted whether 
 Zeyd would have adopted a chronological order even 
 if the precise date of every chapter had been known 
 to him; for he did know that certain chapters were 
 spoken at Mekka and others at Medina — that is to 
 
124 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 say, in the first and the second half of Mohammad's 
 career — jet he mixed them indiscriminately together, 
 and generally placed the Medina or later chapters in 
 the earlier part of the book. Zeyd's edition is prac- 
 tically the Koran as we have it now. A second 
 redaction was indeed made some twenty years later, 
 in which Zeyd himself took part, but this was rather 
 to settle some disputed points of pronunciation and 
 dialectal differences than to amend the substance of 
 the text; and no subsequent alterations have been 
 made. We may therefore take it for granted that the 
 present Arabic Koran is practically identical with the 
 edition which was drawn up a few years after Moham- 
 mad's death, and which commended itself to the 
 majority of his companions and disciples. 
 
 These disciples and friends, however, had various 
 advantages over modern readers. They knew the 
 Prophet personally, and did not require to be told 
 how his teaching developed and his style changed. 
 Indeed they would have repudiated any theory of 
 development. Their Prophet was always infallible to 
 them, and they would allow neither progress nor dete- 
 rioration in his revelations. All equally came down 
 from Grod, copied from the great "Mother of the Book " 
 which lies open before the Throne and was written 
 before all ages. To them there was no importance 
 in determining the age of the various portions of the 
 revelation. It all came from the same divine source, 
 and what did a few years earlier or later signify ? The 
 same opinion would be expressed by almost every 
 Muslim in the present day. With the exception of a 
 
THE KOKAN. 125 
 
 few commentators, whose business is to find matter 
 to comrpent on, Moliammadans care no more for the 
 date of a chapter in the Koran than a good Evangelical 
 Christian does for the age of Deuteronomy or the 
 Canticles. But because the faithful decline to pry 
 into the constitution and growth of their sacred 
 books, is it necessary that students who are not 
 believers in the particular revelation should be com- 
 pelled to bewilder themselves with the unscientific 
 and chaotic an^angement which satisfies the believer ? 
 To us the interest of the Koran is many-sided, and 
 not the least important side is the light it throws on 
 the character of Mohammad. In the common arrange- 
 ment, however, it is almost impossible to glean any 
 impressions on the Prophet's character and mental 
 changes ; it is even difficult to conceive of the strange 
 medley as the work of one man. 
 
 That a scientific order is possible has been conclu- 
 sively shown by a Grerman professor, who possesses in 
 a peculiar degree the instinct of language, and may 
 without flattery be acknowledged the most remarkable 
 genius among Arabic scholars that Germany has pro- 
 duced. Noldeke's " Geschichte des Qorans " settled 
 practically for ever the question of the chronological 
 order of the Koran ; it is not probable that any very 
 marked advance will be made beyond his profound and 
 well-considered work. To detail the evidences upon 
 which his conclusions are based would carry us too 
 far ; but it may be stated that they consist chiefly of 
 indications derived from a minute study of the style 
 and vocabulary of the Koran. External evidence is 
 
126 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 almost wholly wanting except in respect of the later 
 or Medina chapters ; nor are the apparent references 
 within the work to passing events sufficiently explicit 
 to prove of much service. The language is the only 
 test which may be trusted thoroughly and throughout. 
 A very cursory reading of the Koran will show anyone 
 that there is a marked difference of style between 
 some chapters and others. It is this difference that 
 Prof. Noldeke laid hold of and examined until a 
 definite progression of style became visible. An 
 aid in this investigation is found in the rhyme. 
 Mohammad did not speak in poetry, nor precisely in 
 prose. Poetry indeed he detested, and the only verse 
 he ever uttered, and that involuntarily, is a very bad 
 one. No part of the Koran conforms to the exigencies 
 of Arabian prosody. Yet it is not plain prose, but 
 rather a rhetorical form of prose which has much of 
 the character of poetry without its metrical restraints. 
 The words fall into short clauses (in the earlier 
 chapters) which balance one another more or less 
 musically, and the last words generally rhyme 
 together. As time went on these clauses became 
 longer and longer, and the rhyme underwent various 
 modifications, till the latest chapters become almost 
 plain prose. It is easy to understand how valuable a 
 guide the variations in the rhyme and the length of 
 the verses must be in an investigation into the dates 
 of the component parts of the Koran. From these 
 evidences Prof. Noldeke has not only been able to 
 determine the chronological position of most of the 
 chapters, but even to decide when verses have been 
 
THE KORAN. 127 
 
 interpolated (by the original editor) in a chapter of a 
 different date. In very few cases, however, is it 
 possible to fix the precise sequence of the chapters, 
 or the exact year in which they were first spoken. All 
 that can be done is to arrange them in certain groups, 
 each of which belongs to a limited period ; but we 
 cannot as a rule state the position each chapter should 
 occupy within its proper group. The four groups, 
 hoAvever, into which Nuldeke divides the 114 chapters 
 enable the student to gain nearly as coherent an 
 impression of the gradual development of the doctrine 
 and style of Mohammad as if the order were more 
 minutely detailed.* 
 
 During the years of struggle and persecution at 
 Mekka, which have been briefly described in Chapter 
 II., ninety out of the 114 chapters of the Koran were 
 revealed, amounting to about two-thirds of the whole 
 book. All these chapters are inspired with but one 
 great design, and are in strong contrast with the 
 complicated character of the later chapters issued at 
 Medina. In the Mekka chapters Mohammad appears 
 in the unalloyed character of a prophet ; he has not 
 yet assumed the functions of a statesman and law- 
 giver. His object is not to give men a code or a 
 constitution, but to call them to the worship of the 
 One God. This is the only aim of the Mekkan 
 
 * This order is preserved in the selected chapters from the 
 Koran published in my " Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet 
 Mohammad " (Macmillan, 1882), where I have endeavoured to 
 present all thai was permanent in the teaching of Mohammad in 
 the smallest possible compass. 
 
128 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 speeches. There is hardly a word of other doctrines, 
 scarcely anything of ritual, or social or penal regula- 
 tions. Every chapter is directed simply to the grand 
 design of the Prophet's life, to convince men of the 
 unutterable majesty of the One God, who brooks no 
 rivals. Mohammad appeals to the people to credit 
 the evidence of their own eyes ; he calls to witness 
 the wonders of nature, the stars in their courses, the 
 sun and the moon, the dawn cleaving asunder the 
 dark veil of night, the life-giving rain, the fruits of 
 the earth, life and death, change and decay, beginning 
 and ending — all are " signs of Grod's power, if only ye 
 would understand." Or he tells the people how it 
 happened to older generations, when prophets came to 
 them and exhorted them to believe in One Grod and 
 do righteousness, and they rejected them, and there 
 fell upon the unbelieving nation grievous woe. How 
 was it with the people of Noah ? he asks — they were 
 drowned in the flood because they would not hearken 
 to his words. And the people of the Cities of the 
 Plain? And Pharaoh and his host? And the old 
 tribes of the Arabs would not hear the warnings of 
 their prophets ? One answer follows each — there 
 came upon them a great calamity : " These are the 
 true stories," he cries, " and there is only One God ! 
 and yet ye turn aside ! " Eloquent appeals to the signs 
 of nature, threats of a day of reckoning to come, warn- 
 ings drawn from the legends of the prophets, argu- 
 ments for the truth and reality of the revelation, make 
 up the substance of this first division of the Koran. 
 The whole series of Mekkan chapters, however, is 
 
THE KOEAN. 129 
 
 by no means uniform. Niildeke has traced three 
 successive stages in the speeches before the Flight, 
 gradually approximating the style of the chapters 
 which were published at Medina, or rather during the 
 Medina period, for the names Mekkan and Medinite 
 chapters must be understood merely in the sense of 
 belonging to the periods before and after the Flight 
 respectively, and do not imply the precise locality of 
 their utterance. The first of tlie three stages contains 
 the forty-eight chapters which Noldeke, on various 
 grounds, already briefly indicated, refers to the first 
 four years of Mohammad's mission — from his first 
 sermon to the date of the Abyssinian emigration. 
 The second consists of the speeches of the fifth and 
 sixth years, twenty-one in number ; and the third 
 includes the remaining twenty-one which were spoken 
 between the sixth year of the Prophet's mission and 
 his flight to Medina. 
 
 The chapters — or speeches as we prefer to call 
 them, for at this period every chapter is a masterpiece 
 of rhetoric — of the first group are the most striking 
 in the whole Koran. It is in them that the poetry of 
 the man comes out most articulately. Mohammad 
 had not lived among the sheepfolds in vain, and spent 
 long solitary nights gazing at the silent heaven and 
 watching the dawn break over the mountains. This 
 earliest portion of the Koran is one long blazonry of 
 nature's beauty. How can you believe in aught but 
 the one omnipotent God when you see this glorious 
 world around you and this wondrous tent of heaven 
 above you ? is Mohammad's frequent question to his 
 
 9 
 
130 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 countrymen. " Lift up thine eyes to the heavens : 
 dost thou see any flaw therein ? Nay, lift up thine 
 eyes again : thy sight return eth dim and dazed." We 
 find little else than this appeal to the witness of 
 nature in the first group of Mekkan orations. The 
 Prophet was in too exalted a state during these early 
 years to stoop to argument ; he rather seeks to dazzle 
 the sense with brilliant images of Grod's workings in 
 creation : " Verily in the creation of the heavens and 
 the earth are signs to you if ye would understand." 
 His sentences have a rhythmical ring, though they 
 are not in true metre. The lines are very short, yet 
 with a musical fall ; and the meaning is often but 
 half expressed. The Prophet seems impatiently to 
 stop, as if he despaired of explaining himself : one 
 feels the speaker has essayed a thing beyond vfords, 
 and has suddenly discovered the impotence of lan- 
 guage, and broken off with the sentence unfinished. 
 The style is throughout fiery and impassioned. The 
 words are those of a man whose whole heart is bent 
 on convincing, and they carry with them even now the 
 impression of the burning vehemence with which they 
 were originally hurled forth. These earliest speeches 
 are generally short. They are pitched too high to be 
 long maintained at their original level. We feel we 
 have here to do with a poet, as well as a preacher, and 
 that his poetry costs him too much to be spun out. 
 
 The simple creed of this early stage of Islam is set 
 forth in many of these short speeches. Comphcated 
 dogma is nowhere to be found in the Koran, but its 
 teaching is never more plain and simple than in such 
 
THE KOliAN. 131 
 
 a chapter as that of " The Territory " {i.e. of Mekka) 
 (ch. xc). 
 
 In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,* 
 
 I swear l)y this country — 
 
 And thou art a dweller in this country — 
 
 And by father and child ! 
 
 Verily We have created man amid trouble : — 
 
 Doth he think that no one shall prevail against him ? 
 
 He saith — " I have squandered riches in abundance." 
 
 Doth he think that no one seeth him ? 
 
 Have We not made him two eyes ? 
 
 And a tongue and two lips ? 
 
 And pointed him out the two highways ? 
 
 Yet doth he not attempt the steep one. 
 
 And what shall teach thee what the steep one is ? 
 
 The ransoming of captives, 
 
 Or feeding on the day of famine 
 
 The orphan of thy kindred 
 
 Or the poor that lieth in the dust ; 
 
 Finally to be of those who believe, and enjoin steadfastness on 
 
 each other, and enjoin mercy on each other : — 
 These are the people of the right hand. 
 While they who disbelieve our signs, they are the people of the 
 
 left: 
 Over them a Fire closeth ! 
 
 In exhorting to good deeds and the fear of God, 
 Mohammad's great weapon is the certainty of a day 
 of retribution, and his great inducement to believers 
 is the promise of reward in Paradise. The happiness 
 of those who shall have the books of the records of 
 their deeds given them in their right hands, and the 
 baleful misery of those who shall receive their books 
 
 * This formula precedes every chapter of the Koran save one. 
 The translations, unless otherwise specified, are my own as pub- 
 lished in my " Speeches and Tabletalk of the Prophet Mohammad " 
 (Macmillan's "Golden Treasury Series"). 
 
 9 * 
 
132 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 in the left hand, are continually held before the eyes 
 of the people. The judgment day is an ever-present 
 reality to Mohammad. He is never weary of describ- 
 ing it in words of terror and abasement. He cannot 
 find names enough to define it. It is the Hour, the 
 mighty Day, the Inevitable, the great Calamity, 
 the Smiting, the Overwhelming, the Difficult Day, the 
 True Promised Day, the Day of Decision. Images 
 fail him when he tries to describe its awfulness : — 
 
 In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 
 
 The Smiting ! What is the Smiting ? 
 
 And what shall teach thee what is the Smiting ? 
 
 The Day when men shall be like moths adrift 
 
 And the hills shall be like woolflocks rift ! 
 
 Then as for him whose scales are heavy, — his shall be a life of 
 
 bliss. 
 And as for him whose scales ai'e light, a place in the Pit is his ! 
 And what shall teach thee what that place is ? — 
 " A Fire that blazes ! " (ci.)* 
 
 And again : — 
 
 hi the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 
 When the heaven is rent asunder. 
 And when the stars are scattered, 
 
 * I have attempted in this instance to preserve the system of 
 rhymes of the original, which are shown in the following 
 transliteration of the Arabic : — 
 Bismi-Uahi-r-rahmani-r-rahim 
 El-kari'atu ma-1-kari'ah 
 Wa-ma adraka ma-l-kfiri'ah 
 Yawma yekiinu-n-nasu ke-l-farasi-l-mabthuth 
 Wa-tekiinu-l-jibalu ke-l-ihni-l-manfCish 
 
 Fe-amma men thekulet mawazinuhu fe-huwa fee 'ishetin nidiyeh 
 Wa-amma men khaffet mawazinuhu fe-ummuhu hawiyeh 
 Wa-mii adraka ma liiyeh 
 Narun hamiyeh. 
 
THE KOEAN. 133 
 
 And when the seas are let loose, 
 
 And when the tombs are turned upside-down, 
 
 The soul shall know what it hath done and left undone. 
 
 man ! what hath deceived thee respecting thy Lord, the 
 
 Generous ; 
 Who created thee, and fashioned thee, and moulded thee aright ? 
 It what form it pleased him He builded thee. 
 Nay, but ye take the Judt^ment for a lie ! 
 But verily there are Watchers over you — 
 Worthy reporters 
 Knowing what ye do ! 
 Verily the righteous shall be in delight, 
 And the wicked in Hell-Fire : 
 They shall be burnt at it on the day of doom, 
 And they shall not be hidden from it. 
 What shall teach thee what is the Day of Judgment ? 
 Again, what shall teach thee what is the Day of Judgment ? 
 A day when no soul can avail aught for another soul; for the 
 
 ordering on that day is with God. (Ixxxii.) 
 
 Few finer examples of Mohammad's appeal to the 
 testimony of nature can be cited than the " Chapter 
 of the Merciful " (Iv.), in which he recounts the every- 
 day sights of the earth and sky, and in a refrain 
 demands of men and genii which of the bounties of 
 their Lord will they two deny ? It is the Benedicite 
 of Islam. 
 
 In the name of God, the Coinjmssionate, the Merciftd. 
 
 The Merciful hath taught the Koran, 
 
 He created man. 
 
 Taught him clear speech. 
 
 The sun and the moon in their courses, 
 
 And the plants and the trees do homage. 
 
 And the Heaven, He raised it, and appointed the balance 
 
 (That ye should not transgress in the balance : — 
 
 But weigh ye justly and stint not the balance). 
 
 And the Earth, Ho prepared it for living things, 
 
 Therein is fruit, and the palm with sheaths, 
 
134 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 And grain with its husk and the fragrant herb : 
 
 Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny / 
 
 He created man of clay like a pot, 
 
 And He created the Jinn of clear fire : 
 
 Then ivhich of the hotmties of your Lord unll ye twain deny / 
 
 Lord of the two easts 
 
 And Lord of the two wests : 
 
 Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny ? 
 
 He hath let loose the two seas that meet together, 
 
 Yet between them is a barrier they cannot pass : 
 
 Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye tvmin deny I 
 
 He bringeth up therefrom pearls great and small : 
 
 Then which of the bounties of your Lord tvill ye twain deny ? 
 
 And His are the ships towering on the sea like mountains : 
 
 Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny f 
 
 All on the earth passeth away, 
 
 But the face of thy Lord abideth endued with majesty and honour : 
 
 Then which of the bounties of your Lord will ye twain deny ? 
 
 All things in Heaven and Earth supplicate Him : every day is He 
 
 at work : 
 Theti lohich of the bounties of your Lord ivill ye twaiii deny ? . . . 
 Blessed be the name of thy Lord, endued with majesty and 
 
 honour ! (Iv.) 
 
 Warnings of a judgment to come, threats of hell 
 and promises of heaven, with eloquent descriptions of 
 God's works, form the chief themes of the first group 
 of Mekkan speeches ; hut there are also many passages 
 devoted to a personal defence of the Prophet himself. 
 The sixty-eighth chapter begins : " By the pen and 
 what they write, verily thou art not, by God's grace, 
 mad ! " It must be remembered that throughout the 
 Koran it is God who is supposed to speak in propria 
 persona, and Mohammad is only the mouthpiece of 
 the revelation. It is natural, therefore, that the 
 Deity who sent the Prophet should sometimes put 
 words of self-defence into his lips. The Mekkans 
 
THE KORAN. 135 
 
 commonly regarded Mohammad as a madman or one 
 possessed with a devil (jinny) ; and the words in the 
 sixty-eighth chapter are intended to refute this 
 calumny. It goes on, " But thou shalt see and they 
 shall see which of you is the infatuated. ' Wait awhile, 
 I too am waiting,' saith the Lord ; ' let me alone 
 with him who calls this new discourse a lie ! — I will 
 let them have their way, for my device is sure ! ' " 
 Sometimes these personal chapters show the pathetic 
 side of the Prophet's lonely struggle ; it must have 
 been at a time of deep depression that the " Splendour 
 of Morning " (xciii.) was spoken : — 
 
 In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 
 
 By the splendour of morning, 
 
 And the still of night ! 
 
 Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee nor hated thee ! 
 
 Aiid the future will surely be better for thee than the present, 
 
 And thy Lord will surely give to thee and thou wilt be well 
 
 pleased. 
 Did He not find thee an orphan and sheltered thee, 
 And found thee erring and guided thee, 
 And found thee poor and enriched thee ? 
 Then as for the orphan, oppress him not, 
 And as for him who asketh of thee, chide him not away, 
 And as for the bounty of thy Lord, tell of it. 
 
 Other chapters evince a very different spirit. Mo- 
 hammad could be vehement in cursing individual 
 scoffers as well as in threatening unbelief in the 
 abstract. This is how he curses his uncle Abil-Lahab 
 ('Father of flame,' a name which his nephew grimly 
 plays upon), who was the most bitter of his enemies: — 
 
 In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. 
 Abil-Lahab' s two hands shall perish, and he shall perish ! 
 His wealth shall not avail him, nor what he has earned ! 
 
136 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 He shall broil in a fire that flames, and his wife carrying faggots ! 
 —On her neck a cord of palm fibres, (cxi. Palmer.) 
 
 Again cowardly slanders whispered behind the back 
 stir up in Mohammad a wrath that approaches the 
 sacred indignation of " Woe to you, Scribes and 
 Pharisees, hypocrites ! Ye shall receive the greater 
 damnation ! " After the usual invocation of the 
 merciful God, which sounds strangely as a prelude 
 to a curse, he bursts forth : — 
 
 Woe to every Backbiter, slanderer ! 
 
 Who hath heaped up riches and counted them over ! 
 
 He thinketh that his riches have made him everlasting : 
 
 Nay ! he shall surely be cast into Blasting Hell ! 
 
 And what shall teach thee what Blasting Hell is ? 
 
 The fire of God kindled : 
 
 Which reaches over the hearts ; 
 
 Verily, it is closed over them [like a tent] 
 
 With stays well- stretched, (civ.) 
 
 To the first group of Mekkan chapters belongs the 
 famous credo : — 
 
 Say : He is One God ; 
 
 God the Eternal. 
 
 He begetteth not, nor is begotten ; 
 
 Nor is there one like unto Him. (cxii.) 
 
 — and also some invocations against charms and spells, 
 and, omitting less important utterances, the prayer, 
 called the Fatiha, which is prefixed to the Koran in 
 the usual arrangement, and which forms a prominent 
 feature in the everyday devotions as well as the public 
 ritual of all Mohammadans : — 
 
 In the name of God, the Compassiofiate, the Merciful, 
 Praise to God, the Lord of the Worlds, 
 The Compassionate, the Merciful, 
 
THE KOKAN. l37 
 
 King of the day of judgment ! 
 
 Thee we worship, and Thee we ask for help. 
 
 Guide us in the right way, 
 
 The way of those to whom Thou art gracious ; 
 
 Not of those upon whom is Thy wrath, nor of the erring, (i.) 
 
 The second group of Mekkan speeches is markedly 
 different from the first. Poetic fire is not always 
 long-lived ; " whether there be prophecies, they shall 
 fail ; whether there be tongues they shall cease " ; 
 and in the second period we find that much of 
 the poetry of the Koran is gone out. The verses 
 and the chapters become longer and more diffuse. 
 The Prophet wanders from his point more frequently, 
 and has lost the power of effective peroration which 
 characterised the earlier speeches. The wonderful 
 oaths of the first group, where Mohammad swears by 
 everything that is in heaven and earth — 
 
 By the sun and its noonday brightness ! 
 And the moon when it follows him ! 
 And the day when it displays him ! 
 And the night when it covers him ! 
 And the heaven and what built it ! 
 And the earth and what spread it ! — 
 
 have now almost disappeared, and the mild asseveration 
 " By the Koran " takes their place. A certain for- 
 mality is noticeable in the custom now introduced of 
 beginning a speech with the statement " this is the 
 revelation of God," and emphasising the words of the 
 Deity, as it were by inverted commas, by the initial 
 verb " say," which never appears in the earlier chapters 
 except in certain formulas. The signs of nature still 
 hold a prominent place in Mohammad's argument, but 
 the evidence he most frequently appeals to is the 
 
138 STUDIES IN A MOSQUfi. 
 
 history of former prophets. These legends, derived 
 from the Jewish Haggadah, but considerably cor- 
 rupted, constitute a very important, but also an 
 uninteresting part of the Koran. More than fifteen 
 hundred verses, forming a quarter of the whole work, 
 are occupied with endless repetitions of the same 
 wearisome tales. They may be found arranged me- 
 thodically in the second part of Lane's " Selections," 
 where the repetitions are omitted and the main inci- 
 dents prominently brought out. From the story of 
 the Creation, the rebellion of Iblis, or the devil, and 
 the expulsion from Paradise, these legends extend 
 to the miraculous birth of the Messiah. Adam and 
 Eve, Cain and Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, 
 Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brethren. Job, Jethro, 
 Moses, Saul, David, Solomon, Jonah, Ezra, and 
 Christ, are the chief characters who figure in. the 
 Koranic Lives of the Saints, and the events recorded 
 are often as puerile and absurd as any related in 
 medigeval hagiology. To Mohammad, however, they 
 possessed a high value. " God has sent down the 
 best of legends, a book uniform, repeating, whereat 
 the skins of those that fear their Lord do creep ! ' ' 
 His doctrine of the continuity of revelation required 
 the support of such legends. He held that all these 
 preceding prophets were true messengers of God. 
 Each brought his message to his people, and each was 
 rejected and disbelieved. He puts words into the 
 mouths of the patriarchs which are almost identical 
 with his own speeches ; and the family hkeness 
 between Abraham, and Moses, and other Hebrew 
 
The KORAN. 189 
 
 teachers, and Mohammad, as depicted in the Koran, 
 cannot escape the most superficial reader. Moham- 
 mad beUeved that all these early prophets were sent 
 by God to bring precisely the same message as was 
 contained in the Koran ; he believed in a species of 
 apostolic succession; and the only ground of pre- 
 eminence he claimed for himself was that of finality. 
 Abraham and Moses, and David and Christ, had all 
 come with a portion of God's truth ; but Mohammad 
 came with the final revelation, which superseded, 
 whilst it confirmed, all that went before. He is the 
 "seal of prophecy," the last apostle whom God sends 
 before the day of retribution. Beyond this he differs 
 no whit from his predecessors ; and he is ever striving 
 to impress upon his audience that his doctrine is 
 nothing new, but simply the teaching of all good 
 men who have gone before him. No doubt there 
 were times when his frequent recitals of the revela- 
 tions which he attributed to Moses and Christ had 
 the special motive of converting Jews and Christians : 
 but many of these stories were told before he came 
 into any intimate contact with either, and can only be 
 attributed to his theory of the unity of prophecy. 
 
 To enter into the details of these curious legends 
 would carry us beyond reasonable limits. Their 
 interest is mainly antiquarian, and beyond the evi- 
 dence they give of the view held by Mohammad with 
 respect to revelation in general, they have little 
 bearing on our subject — the practical gist of the 
 Koran. They form indeed an obstacle to the student, 
 who, if he is amused now and then by a good story — 
 
140 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 like tliat of the Seven Sleepers of Bphesus, or of 
 Abraham and the Idols — grows weary of reading the 
 same dreary anecdotes of the same venerated patri- 
 archs over and over again. It was in the nature of 
 Mohammad's unsystematic preaching that he should 
 constantly repeat himself. The practice is not con- 
 fined to the legends of the prophets, for almost every 
 simile and every threat and every doctrine occurs 
 again and again in the Koran. It is, of course, 
 possible, and indeed probable, when we consider the 
 time that elapsed before the Koran was collected 
 as a whole, that many of these repetitions are due to 
 different oral reports of the same speech, and that 
 Mohammad's hearers sometimes confused one oration 
 with another and inserted the words belonging to the 
 one in the wrong chapter, whilst other traditionists 
 placed them in the right one. Whatever the source 
 of the repetition, it forms a serious obstacle to the 
 progress of the reader. 
 
 The manner in which the legends of former prophets 
 are used may be seen from a single extract. Mo- 
 hammad's argument is very simple : Formerly apostles 
 were sent to other nations ; they preached what I am 
 preaching to you now, — extorted the people to wor- 
 ship but one God, and to work righteousness; but 
 their people rejected them and turned to idols; so 
 God sent down upon them a terrible punishment : — 
 even so will it be with you, if ye reject my words. 
 " Ye walk in tbe very steps of those who were de- 
 stroyed for unbelief," says Mohammad; "how many 
 a generation before them have We destroyed! 
 
THE KOEAN. 141 
 
 Canst thou find any one of them, or hear a whisper 
 of them?" 
 
 The Chapter of " the Moon" (liv.) contains a short 
 summary of prophetic antecedents, which will serve to 
 show briefly how Mohammad introduced his " tales 
 of the elders," without the prolixity of the more de- 
 tailed legends. After reproaching the people for their 
 disbelief and hardness of heart, he exclaims : — 
 
 The people of Noah before them, called it a lie ; and they called 
 
 our servant a liar, and said " Mad ! " and he was rejected. 
 Then he besought his Lord, " Verily, I am overpowered : defend 
 
 me ! 
 
 So we opened the gates of heaven with water pouring forth, 
 
 And we made the earth break out in springs, and the waters met 
 
 by an order foreordained ; 
 And we carried him on a vessel of planks and nails. 
 Which sailed on beneath our eyes, — a reward for him who had 
 
 been disbelieved. 
 And we left it as a sign : but doth anyone mind ? 
 And what was my torment and coaming f 
 And we have made the Koran easy for reminding, hut doth anyone 
 
 mind ? 
 And called it a lie ; and ivhat ivas my torment and learning ? 
 Lo, we sent against them a biting wind on a day of settled 
 
 ill-luck. 
 It tore men away as though they were trunks of palm-trees 
 
 torn up. 
 But wJiat was my torment and ivarning ? 
 We have made the Koran easy for reminding, but doth anyone mind ? 
 
 Nay, but the Hour is their threatened time, and the Hour shall be 
 
 most grievous and bitter, 
 Verilv the sinners are in error and madness ! 
 One day they shall be dragged into the fire on their faces * Taste 
 
 ye the touch of Hell ! " 
 Verily, all things have we created by a deci'ee. 
 And our command is but one moment, like the twinkling of an eye. 
 
142 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 And we have destroyed the like of you, — but cloth anyone mind? 
 And everything that they do is in the Books, 
 Everything, little and great, is written down. 
 Verily the pious shall be amid gardens and rivers, 
 In the seat of truth before the King Omnipotent. 
 
 A great many of the Hebrew legends are brought 
 in, as in the example just quoted, by an allusion to 
 the charge of madness or sorcery, which was then 
 much in vogue as a weapon among the Prophet's 
 opponents. " That is what the people of old said 
 against former Apostles," is Mohammad's retort, 
 *' and see what befell them ! " and then he relates the 
 story. He has become much more definite as to his 
 own position and the nature of his revelation. He 
 rejDudiates all superhuman powers. " I am only in- 
 spired that I am a plain warner," is his constant 
 reminder. He will not be held responsible for his 
 people ; they may believe or disbelieve, as they please, 
 or rather as God pleases. " Whoso will, let him take 
 the road unto his Lord : but ye will not will it 
 except God will it." Thus Mohammad ventures on 
 the dangerous ground of free-will and predestination, 
 on which he uttered many contradictory statements, 
 with an unmistakable leaning towards the doctrine 
 of election. " He whom God leads astray," he says, 
 " there is no guide for him." The Koran is not a 
 compulsion to save men against their will ; it is only 
 *' a memorial — a reminder — a plain Koran to warn 
 him who is living." They may take their choice, if 
 God pleases. 
 
 The Hebrew legends occupy nearly half of the con- 
 tents of the second group of Mekkan chapters ; indeed 
 
THE KORAN. 143 
 
 the majority of them belong to this period, and the 
 rest to the third group, none being attributable with 
 certainty to the first division, and very few to the 
 Medina chapters ; but there is plenty of the old 
 themes of judgment, and paradise, and hell, though 
 the descriptions have lost something of their power, 
 and the long verses which are now common weaken 
 the effect of the language. The old eloquence, how- 
 ever, breaks out in its original force now and then, as 
 in the picture of the judgment in the " Chapter of 
 K." (1.) :- 
 
 We created man, and we know what his soul whispereth, and we 
 
 are nearer to him than his jugular vein. 
 When the two notetakers take note, sitting on the right hand and 
 
 on the left, 
 Not a word doth he utter, but a watcher is by him, ready. 
 And the stupor of death shall come in truth : " this is what thou 
 
 wouldst have avoided ! " 
 And the trumpet shall be blown : that is the Day of the Threat ! 
 And every soul shall come, along with a driver and a witness — 
 " Thou didst not heed this ; so we have taken away from thee thy 
 
 veil, and to-day thy sight is keen." 
 And his companion shall say : " This is what I am ready to witness." — 
 *' Cast ye into Hell every unbelieving rebel, hinderer of the good, 
 
 transgressor, doubter, 
 Who setteth other gods with God ; cast ye him into the fierce 
 
 torment." 
 His companion shall say, " our Lord ! I misled him not ; but he 
 
 was in fathomless error." 
 God shall say, " Wrangle not before me, for I charged you before 
 
 about the threat. 
 My word doth not change, and I am not unjust to my servants." 
 On that day will we say to Hell, " Art thou full ? " and it shall 
 
 say, " Is there more ? " 
 And Paradise shall be brought nigh to the righteous, not afar : — 
 " This is what ye were promised, unto everyone who turneth 
 
 himself to God, and keepeth his laws, 
 
144 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Who feareth the Merciful in secret, and cometh with a contrite 
 
 heart ; 
 Enter it in peace," — that is the Day of Eternity ! 
 They shall have what they please therein, and increase at our 
 
 hands. 
 And how many generations have we destroyed before them, 
 
 mightier than they in valour ! then seek through the land — 
 
 is there any refuge ? 
 Verily in that is a warning to him who hath a heart, or giveth ear, 
 
 and is a beholder. 
 
 One of the peculiarities of the second group of 
 Mekkan chapters may be noted in the extract given 
 above. Mohammad was apparently desirous of giving 
 a new name to the One God whose gospel he preached. 
 "Allah "was already known to the Arabs, but Er- 
 Rahman, "the Merciful," though employed by the 
 Hebrews and also by the Himyerites, was not a name 
 with which the Mekkans were acquainted. The ex- 
 periment, however, was not successful. The people 
 seem to have drawn a wrong inference from the use 
 of the two names, and to have understood them to 
 refer to two separate gods. At the end of the seven- 
 teenth chapter Mohammad removes this confusion in 
 the words : " Say : call upon Allah, or call upon 
 Er-Rahman, whichever ye call him by; for His are 
 the best of names " ; but he judged it advisable to 
 avoid the double nomenclature, and it seldom occurs 
 again. 
 
 The teaching of Mohammad is still very simple in 
 the second period. The whole duty of man is summed 
 up in few words : " Prosperous are the believers who 
 in their prayers are humble, and who from vain talk 
 turn aside, and who in almsgiving are active, and who 
 
THE KOEAN. 145 
 
 guard their chastity, and who observe their trusts and 
 covenants, and who guard well their prayers ; these 
 are the heirs who shall inherit Paradise ; they shall 
 dwell therein for aye " (xxiii. 1-10, Palmer). Hardly 
 any definite rules of conduct or ritual are yet laid 
 down, and the little of the kind that does occur is in 
 one chapter — the seventeenth — where the Muslim is 
 enjoined to be steadfast in prayer from sundown to 
 dusk and at dawn; night prayers are commended as 
 supererogatory works ; hospitality and thrift are 
 counselled in the idiomatic phrase, " Make not thy 
 hand fettered to thy neck, nor yet spread it out quite 
 open " ; infanticide for fear of poverty is forbidden 
 "as a great sin"; inchastity is denounced as "an 
 abomination ; " homicide is. only permitted in the blood 
 revenge, and even then is to be restricted to one 
 person ; the faithful are commanded not to take the 
 wealth of orphans, but to fulfil their covenants, to give 
 full measure, and not to walk proudly on the earth : 
 " Verily thou canst not cleave the earth, and thou shalt 
 not reach the mountains in height." This is how 
 Mohammad sums up his teaching in the eighteenth 
 chapter : — 
 
 Say : I am only a mortal like yourselves : I am inspired that 
 your God is only One God : Then let him who hopes to meet 
 his Lord act righteous acts and join none in the services of 
 his Lord. 
 
 This is really all that Mohammad has to tell the 
 people, though his methods of urging it upon their 
 notice are diverse. To worship one God and act 
 righteously is the burden of his speech. 
 
 10 
 
146 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 In tlie third or last Mekkan period we find the 
 characteristics of the second repeated in a tamer style. 
 The language has become still more prosaic ; the 
 enumeration of the signs of God in nature wears more 
 and more the aspect of a catalogue ; the anecdotes of 
 the patriarchs, though much rarer than in the second 
 period, seem even more tiresome ; the constant refu- 
 tations of the charges of forgery, magic, and poetry 
 — the last now superfluous ; the never-ending reitera- 
 tion of the well-worn arguments — all these weary the 
 reader ; and this portion of the Koran is perhaps the 
 least interesting of all. It is more argumentative and 
 less enthusiastic. Years of failure had perhaps damped 
 Mohammad's ardour, and he appears rather as the 
 advocate putting a case to the reason of his hearers 
 than as a prophet filled with the divine afflatus and 
 breathing it forth in unpremeditated music. Mohainmad 
 was not a good reasoner, and he has but one method, 
 which we have seen already in the speeches of the 
 second group. The new feature is the frequent 
 answer he makes to the " evil and adulterous genera- 
 tion that seeketh after a sign." Why ask for a sign, 
 he demands, when all nature is a miracle, and bears 
 testimony to its Creator ? It is the old thought, 
 " the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
 ment showeth his handiwork." I am only a warner, 
 Mohammad is ever insisting, and I cannot show a 
 sign, except what ye see every day and every night. 
 Signs are with God : He who could make the heavens 
 and the earth could easily show you a sign if he 
 pleased. Beware ! the day will come when you will 
 
THE KOKAN. 147 
 
 indeed see a sign, and will bewail your unbelief, and 
 "taste that which ye called a lie." I shall not suffer 
 by your folly : I cannot help it if ye will not save 
 yourselves. Many nations before you have despised 
 the word of truth, and they were grievously punished. 
 It will be so with you in the great day to come, even 
 if Grod is not pleased to send down upon you an instant 
 punishment as he did upon the unbelieving generations 
 of old. This is the constant moral that Mohammad 
 points again and again. It is needless to give many 
 examples of the style of this period, for the difference 
 between it and the second period is not very striking 
 in an English translation, though the length of the 
 verses is obviously greater. It must not, however, 
 be supposed that Mohammad is always dull and 
 prosaic at this time ; the old eloquence often flashes 
 out — as in the " Chapter of Thunder " (xiii.), where 
 some parts are equal to anything in the earliest 
 speeches. And few passages in the Koran surpass 
 these verses in chapter vi.*: — 
 
 Say, " Whose is what is in the heavens and the earth ? " 
 Say, " God's, who has imposed mercy on himself." 
 With Him are the keys of the unseen. None knows them save 
 he ; he knows what is in the land and in the sea ; and 
 there falls not a leaf save that he knows it ; nor a grain 
 in the darkness of the earth, nor aught that is moist, nor 
 aught that is dry, save that is in his perspicuous Book. 
 He it is who takes you to himself at night, and knows what 
 you have gained in the day ; then he raises you up again, 
 that your appointed time may be fulfilled ; then unto Him 
 is your return, and then will he inform you of what ye 
 have done, 
 
 * The late Professor Palmer's translation. 
 
 10 * 
 
148 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Verily, Grod it is who cleaves out the grain and the date-stone ; 
 
 he brings forth the living from the dead, and it is he who 
 
 brings the dead from the living. There is God ! How then 
 
 can ye be beguiled ? 
 It is he who cleaves out the morning, and makes night a repose, 
 
 and the sun and the moon two reckonings — that is the 
 
 decree of the mighty, the Avise ! 
 There is Grod for you, your Lord ! There is no God but he, 
 
 the Creator of everything ; then worship Him, for he o'er 
 
 everything keeps guard !" 
 Sight perceives Him not, but he perceives men's sights ; for he 
 
 is the subtle, the aware. 
 Say, " Verily, my prayers and my devotion and my life and my 
 
 death belong to God, the Lord of the worlds." 
 
 Very little is added to the definiteness of the moral 
 
 teaching in the third period. " Verily God bids you 
 
 do justice and good, and give to kindred their due, 
 
 and he forbids you to sin and do wrong and oppress," 
 
 is as detailed a commandment as Mohammad generally 
 
 cares to give. A list of prohibited meats, indeed, is 
 
 given in chapter xvi. ; usury is added to the practices 
 
 already forbidden ; useless asceticism is discouraged ; 
 
 certain unimportant Arab customs are abolished; but 
 
 nothing of real consequence is added to the moral law 
 
 or the ritual of Islam. The whole duty of man is still 
 
 capable of expression in few words : — 
 
 Come ! I will recite what your Lord has forbidden you : — that 
 ye may not associate aught with Him, and may show kindness 
 to your parents, and not kill your children through poverty; — 
 we will provide for you and them ; — and draw not nigh to 
 flagrant sins, either apparent or concealed, and kill not the 
 soul, which God hath forbidden, save by right ; that is what 
 God ordains you, haply ye may understand. And draw not 
 nigh to the wealth of the orphan, save so as to better it, until 
 he i-eaches full age; and give weight and measure with justice. 
 We do not compel the soul save what it can compass ; and 
 
THE KOKAN. 149 
 
 when ye pronounce (judgment) then be just, though it be in 
 the case of a relative. And God's compact fulfil ye: that is 
 what he ordained you, haply ye may be mindful. Verily, this 
 is my right way, follow it then. 
 
 Thus a close examination of the earHer of the two 
 main divisions of the Koran reveals no great variety 
 of subjects or treatment. Mohammad's theology is 
 confined to the unity of Grod, whose power he seeks to 
 illustrate by the recital of the marvels of nature, and 
 whose justice will be vindicated at a great day of 
 reckoning. The complicated ritual familiar to students 
 of modern Mohammadanism is not so far elaborated. 
 The social system and laws of Islam are not yet fixed 
 in their terrible immobility. We hear nothing but 
 a voice crying in the wilderness the words of the 
 prophet of old — " Hear, Israel ! The Lord your God 
 is one Lord." 
 
 When we turn to the second great division of the 
 Koran, the twenty-four chapters composed during 
 the ten years after the Flight to Medina, we begin to 
 understand how the details of Mohammadanism were 
 formed. Hitherto we have only seen an earnest man 
 struggling to bring home to his people the error of 
 their unbelief, and to draw them to the worship of 
 the true God. We have now to see the Prophet as 
 king and legislator. When Mohammad joined his 
 fugitive disciples at Medina, he found the city pre- 
 pared to welcome him as its sole ruler, and from this 
 time his plain function of prophet becomes confused 
 with wider and less reconcileable duties. He had to 
 govern a mixed multitude which was little accustomed 
 to submit to authority, and in which were several 
 
150 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 antagonistic factions. Besides his own fellow-refugees 
 and the converts of Medina, between whom there was 
 always some jealousy, Mohammad had to deal with a 
 large party of those who judged it politic to profess 
 Islam, but were ready to recant and plot against the 
 Prophet whenever opportunity offered. These are 
 the men whom the Koran frequently attacks under 
 the name of "the Hypocrites." Besides these, the 
 Jews were very numerous in and round Medina, 
 and though they were at first inclined to palm off 
 Mohammad upon their neighbours as their own 
 promised Messiah, they soon found that he was not 
 the man to make a tool of, and thenceforward they 
 showed themselves his most determined enemies. To 
 keep order among all these sections was no easy task 
 for a born statesman, and to Mohammad, who had no 
 training in the art of governing men, it was peculiarly 
 difficult. His remarkable power of personal influ- 
 ence, which evoked an enthusiastic loyalty from his 
 followers, stood him in good stead, and it must be 
 allowed that he proved himself a strong ruler, as well 
 as a zealous prophet. How far his character as 
 prophet was corrupted by the necessities of govern- 
 ment we need not discuss* ; for the inspiration of 
 the Koran and the sincerity of its preacher have 
 nothing to do with the present chapter. The point to 
 be considered is merely the variety of causes which 
 produced the comparative complexity of the Medina 
 chapters. It is intelligible that the nature of the 
 
 * See above, p. 80 ff. 
 
tSe koean. 151 
 
 revelation should change with altered circumstances. 
 Whereas formerly Mohammad merely endeavoured to 
 preach righteousness and the fear of God to an 
 unbelieving city, he was now to wage wars, to subdue 
 rebels, to reconcile rivals, to make treaties, to with- 
 stand a siege, to lead a nation to conquest. His 
 words must now not merely speak of a judgment to 
 come, but must encourage the warrior on the battle- 
 field, sing the paean after victory, animate after defeat, 
 soothe the impatient, curb the rash, rebuke the 
 wrongdoer, reconcile adversaries, and adjust all 
 differences. The Prophet's house at Medina w^as 
 practically the court of appeal of the whole body of 
 Muslims. Nothing could be settled without his 
 counsel. Matters of social arrangement, the most 
 delicate domestic details, as well as the larger issues 
 of peace and war, were decided by the Prophet alone. 
 If a man died, the principle of inheritance had to be 
 laid down by Mohammad. If a man quarrelled with 
 his wife, divorce must be explained; every possible 
 matter of dispute came before the Prophet's carpet, 
 and was then and there considered and pronounced 
 upon; and these judgments were to last for all 
 time ! ]\Iohammad allowed no difference of degree 
 in inspiration, and his decision, for instance, that 
 he himself might take more than the prescribed 
 number of wives was, in his mind, (or at least in his 
 pubhc declarations,) as much the word of God as the 
 chapter of the Unity. He had, fortunately, a good 
 measure of common sense, and his judgment was 
 generally sound ; else the evil of thus stereotyping the 
 
162 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 decisions of a particular time and circumstance might 
 have been far greater. But as it is the laws of the 
 Koran represent the modified customs of a rude and 
 uncivilised people, and are often wholly inapplicable 
 to other nations and stages of development. That 
 the laws he approved as suitable to his fellow- 
 countrymen would be intolerable to a different people, 
 who could nevertheless receive his doctrine, was a 
 possibility that was not likely to have occurred to 
 Mohammad, though he seems to have foreseen a time 
 when obedience to all his laws would not be essential. 
 Under these circumstances it is fortunate that 
 Mohammad never attempted to arrange a code of law, 
 and that his scattered decisions are few and often 
 vague. It is surprising how little definite legislation 
 there is in the Koran. We have seen that there is 
 next to none in the Mekkan speeches ; but even in 
 those of Medina there is singularly little distinct law. 
 The greater portion of the Medina chapters is con- 
 cerned with passing events. The conduct of the 
 Muslims in battle and the praise and honour of those 
 who die " in God's way " are frequent topics, and 
 Mohammad is not sparing in abuse of those who show 
 the white feather when there is fighting to be done. 
 A considerable proportion of verses relate to " the 
 Hypocrites," who were constantly giving the prophet- 
 king cause for apprehension. But the chief theme in 
 the Medina orations is the conduct of the Jews, whom 
 Mohammad could never forgive for their rejection of 
 him. He protested that he was foretold in their 
 own scriptures, and that they " knew him as they 
 
THE KORAN. 153 
 
 knew their own children," if only they would admit 
 it ; and he promulgated the theory that they had 
 purposely corrupted their sacred books in order to 
 prevent the people from recognising the clear descrip- 
 tion by which he was portrayed therein. The Jews 
 also repudiated his legends of the patriarchs and 
 prophets, though they came out of their own 
 Haggadah ; and Mohammad was obliged to claim a 
 higher origin for his stories. Altogether the Jews 
 were a grievous thorn in the Prophet's side, and when 
 we read in his life how terrible a punishment he 
 allowed to be laid on them, we cannot be surprised at 
 the bitterness of the denunciations with which the 
 pages of the Medina chapters abound. He taunts 
 them for the little profit their scriptures are to them, 
 and likens them to an ass carrying books : — 
 
 Do ye not see those who have been given a portion of the 
 book ? They buy error, and they wish that ye may err from 
 the way ! But God knows best who your enemies are, and God 
 suffices as a patron, and sufficient is God as a help. And those 
 who are Jews and those who pervert the words from their places, 
 distorting with their tongues and taunting about religion — may 
 God curse them in their unbelief. . . . Behold how they devise 
 against God a lie ! 
 
 The likeness of those who were charged with the Law and then 
 bore it not is as the likeness of an ass bearing books : sorry is 
 the likeness of the people who say God's signs are lies ! but God 
 guides not an unjust j^eople ! 
 
 Mohammad is less hostile to the Christians, probably 
 because he had not yet come into intimate relations 
 with them, and had therefore not yet tested their 
 stiffneckeduess. He frequently repudiates the doc- 
 trine of the Trinity and the sonship — " the Messiah, 
 
154 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Jesus the Son of Mary, is but the apostle of G-od and 
 his word and a spirit from Him : beheve then in Grod 
 and his apostles and say not ' Three ' ; have done ! 
 it were better for you. God is only one God. . . . 
 The Messiah doth surely not disdain to be a servant 
 of G-od " ; but his attitude at first is friendly :— 
 
 Thou wilt surely find that the strongest in enmitv against 
 those who believe are the Jews and the idolaters ; and thou wilt 
 find the nearest in love to those who believe to be those who say 
 " We are Christians " ; that is because there are amongst them 
 priests and monks, and because they are not proud. And when 
 they hear what has been revealed to the Prophet, you will see 
 their eyes gush with tears at what they recognise as truth therein ; 
 and they will say, " our Lord, we believe, so write us down 
 among the witnesses . . ." Therefore has God rewarded them, 
 for what they said, with gardens beneath which rivers flow, to 
 dwell therein for aye. 
 
 But afterwards Mohammad changed his good 
 opinion of the Christians, and his revulsion of feeling 
 is expressed with vigour : — 
 
 The Jews say Ezra is the son of God ; and the Christians say 
 that the Messiah is the son of God ;— God fight them ! how they 
 lie ! They take their doctors and their monks for lords rather 
 than God, and the Messiah the son of Mary ; but they are bidden 
 to worship but one God, there is no God but he ; celebrated be 
 his praise from what they join with Him ! They desire to put 
 out the light of God with their mouths, but God will not have it 
 but that we should perfect his light, averse though the mis- 
 believers be ! He it is who sent his apostle with guidance and 
 the religion of truth, to make it prevail over every other religion, 
 averse although idolaters may be ! 
 
 O ye who believe ! Verily, many of the doctors and the monks 
 devour the wealth of men openly, and turn folk from God's 
 way ; but those who store up gold and silver and expend it not 
 in God's way, — give them glad tidings of grievous woe ! On 
 the day when it shall be heated in the fire of hell, and their 
 
THE KORAN. 155 
 
 brows shall be branded thei'ewith, and their sides and tlieir 
 backs ! — " This is what je stored up for yourselves, taste then 
 what ye stored up ! "* 
 
 These later denunciations probably annul the more 
 favourable judgments elsewhere expressed, for Mo- 
 hammad distinctly admitted that some verses were to 
 be held as abrogated by others. The statement, 
 therefore, that " Everyone who believes, and the 
 Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, who believe 
 in God and the last day, there shall come no fear 
 upon them, neither shall they grieve," is in the 
 opinion of most Muslims null and void. 
 
 Besides these speeches on the political situation and 
 the parties of the State, which occupy so large a part 
 of the Medina division of the Koran, more words are 
 devoted to the Prophet himself than heretofore. ■ As 
 ruler of a turbulent city, Mohammad found it neces- 
 sary to maintain his dignity, and there are several 
 indications of this in his utterances. The people are 
 ordered not to approach the Prophet as if he were 
 an ordinary person, and it is solemnly laid down that 
 he who obeys the apostle obeys God. Mohammad's 
 family receive a share of attention; special permis- 
 sions are accorded him from heaven in respect of 
 his marriages, and the character of one of his wives 
 is divinely vindicated. Such passages are interesting 
 only to the biographer of Mohammad, and to him they 
 form a perplexing problem, which has been solved in 
 very conflicting ways. 
 
 * Professor Palmer's translation, from which most of the 
 preceding extracts from the Medina chapters are taken. 
 
156 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Omitting then all that refers merely to temporary 
 matters, that is, the major part of the Medina 
 chapters, the residue of oratory and law that remains 
 to be considered is not large. In spite of the altered 
 subjects of the revelation and the multitude of unin- 
 terestiug or ephemeral details treated, it must not be 
 supposed that all the light of eloquence has died out. 
 It is true that the style is dull and protracted, like 
 that of the third Mekkan period ; the verses are long, 
 and the chapters bear evidence of being patched up 
 from a large number of fragmentary utterances — 
 answers to questions, outbursts of wrath at some 
 special provocation, and the like. But there are here 
 and there passages exhibiting a beauty and nobility of 
 thought and expression which were surpassed in no 
 period of the Prophet's career. Such is the magnifi- 
 cent imagery in the " Chapter of Light " (xxiv.) : — 
 
 God is the light of the heavens and the earth ; his light is as 
 a niche in which is a lamp, and the lamp in a glass ; the glass 
 is as it were a glittering star: it is lit from a blessed tree, an 
 olive neither of the east nor of the west, the oil thereof would 
 well-nigh shine, though no fire touched it — light upon light — 
 God guideth to His light whom He pleaseth . . . 
 
 In the houses God has suffered to be raised for His name to 
 be commemorated therein; men magnify Him at morn and 
 
 eve; 
 
 Men whom neither merchandise nor trafficking divert from 
 remembering God, and being instant in prayer and giving alms, 
 fearing a day when hearts and eyes shall blench ; 
 
 That God may recompense them for the best that they have 
 wrought, and give them increase of His grace ; for God maketh 
 provision for whom He pleaseth without count. 
 
 But those who disbelieve are like a vapour in a plain : — the 
 thirsty thinketh it water, till, when he cometh to it, he findeth 
 
THE KORAN. 157 
 
 nothing ; but he findeth God with him ; and He will settle his 
 account, for God is quick at reckoning : — 
 
 Or like black night on a deep sea, which wave above wave doth 
 cover, and cloud over wave — gloom upon gloom — wheu one putteth 
 out his hand he can scarcely see it ; for to whom God giveth 
 not light, he hath no light. 
 
 Hast thou not seen that what is in the heavens and the earth 
 magnifieth God, and the birds on the wing? each one knoweth 
 its prayer and its praise, and God knoweth what they do : God's 
 is the empire of the heavens and the earth, and to Him must 
 all things return. 
 
 Hast thou not seen that God driveth the clouds, and then 
 joineth them, and then heapeth them up, and thou mayest see 
 the rain coming forth from their midst ; and He sendeth down 
 from the heaven mountain-clouds with hail therein, and He 
 maketh it fall on whom He pleaseth, and He turns it away from 
 whom He pleaseth; the flashing of His lightning well-nigh 
 consumeth the eyes ! * 
 
 The oratorical passages, however, are rare, like the 
 descriptions of nature and the legends of the prophets. 
 The cliief remaining section of the Medina chapters is 
 that occupied by religious, civil, and penal regula- 
 tions, and these are almost all contained in three 
 chapters (ii., iv., and v.) ; they are, however, three of 
 the longest, and form an aggregate of nearly 600 
 verses, or nearly a tenth of the whole Koran. 
 
 It is instructive to study this legal section of the 
 Koran carefully in connection with the common state- 
 ment that the religion of Mohammad is made up of a 
 complicated and harassing ritual and a penal code 
 which takes no count of the relative importance of 
 crimes. Colonel Osborn, among various other mis- 
 
 * See my " Speeches and Tabletalk of the Prophet Mohammad," 
 Introduction, li., lii. 
 
158 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 takes in his clever books on Islam, has said that the 
 same fearful punishment is ordained for a serious sin 
 and a mere trifling infringement of cereinonial regula- 
 tions. That he is altogether wrong may be proved 
 from the Koran itself — in which it is stated that if 
 the believers avoid great sins^ God will wipe out their 
 offences, for he is very forgiving. But, in truth, all 
 this complaint of comphcated ritual and law is not 
 borne out by the Koran, however true it may be of 
 modern Mohammadan practice. Mohammad had no 
 desire to make a new code of jurisprudence or to 
 bind his followers to a hard and fast ritual. He 
 seldom appears to have volunteered a legal decision, 
 except when a distinct abuse had to be removed : 
 and the legal verses of the Koran are evidently 
 answers to questions put to him in his capacity of 
 Governor of Medina. In the same way, he laid down 
 but few rules for religious ceremonial, and even these 
 he allowed to be broken in cases of illness or other 
 impediments. "God wishes to make things easy for 
 you," he says, " for man was created weak." He 
 seems to have distrusted himself as a lawgiver, for 
 there is a tradition which relates a speech of his, in 
 which he cautions the people against taking his deci- 
 sion on wordly affairs as infallible. When he speaks 
 on the things of God he is to be obeyed, but when 
 he deals with human affairs he is only a man like 
 those about him. He was contented to leave the 
 ordinary Arab customs in force as the law of the 
 Muslims, except when they were manifestly unj ust. 
 The ritual of the Koran includes the necessary acts 
 
THE KORAN. 159 
 
 of faith — the recital of the creed, prayer, almsgiving, 
 fasting, and pilgrimage — but lays down scarcely any 
 rules as to how they are to be performed. " Observe 
 the prayers and the middle prayer," Mohammad 
 vaguely directs, "and stand instant before God"; 
 " Seek aid from patience and from prayer ; verily 
 God is with the patient " ; but he says nothing of the 
 perplexing alternations of prostrations and formulas 
 which are practised in the mosques. He refers to the 
 Friday prayers, but not in a compulsory tone. '* When 
 ye journey about in the earth, it is no crime to you 
 that ye come short in prayer, if ye fear that those 
 who disbelieve will set upon you. God pardons every- 
 thing but associating aught with Him." The fast is 
 more clearly defined, but with ample reservations : — 
 
 There is prescribed for you the fast, as it was prescribed for 
 those before you ; maybe ye will fear God for a certain number 
 of days ; but he amongst you who is sick or on a journey may 
 fast a (like) number of other days. And for those who are able 
 to fast (and do not), the expiation is feeding- a poor man ; but he 
 who voluntarily doeth a good act, it is better for him ; and to 
 fast is better for you, if ye only knew. The month of Ramadan, 
 wherein the Koran was sent down : . . . whoso amongst you 
 seeth this month, let him fast it; but he who is sick or on a 
 journey, a (like) number of other days — God wisheth for you what 
 is easy. 
 
 This reads more like advice than commandment. 
 Turning the face to the Kibla of Mekka is distinctly 
 enjoined in chapter ii., and the pilgrimage to the Kaaba 
 is thus commended : " Verily Safa and Marwa are of 
 the beacons of God, and he who makes the pilgrimage 
 unto the House (Kaaba), or visits it, it is no crime 
 for him to compass it about ; and he who obeys his own 
 
160 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 impulse to a good work, God is grateful and doth 
 know." Almsgiving is frequently enjoined, but the 
 amount of the alms is merely described as " the 
 surplus." We also find that forbidden food is what 
 has died of itself, and blood, and the flesh of swine, 
 " which is an abomination," and meats which have 
 been offered to idols, to which were added subse- 
 quently all animals that had been strangled or gored 
 or preyed upon. Except these, no food was unlawful. 
 " Bat ye of the good things wherewith we have pro- 
 vided you, and give thanks to God." Further, the 
 believers were forbidden to drink wine, and to make 
 statues, and play at games of chance ; " in them is sin 
 and profit to men, but the sin is greater than the 
 profit." Usury was strictly prohibited, and classed 
 among the great sins. Ablutions are mentioned, and 
 sand is allowed as a substitute for water; but the 
 details of wudvL are not laid down. War against the 
 unbelievers is thus ordamed : " Fight in the path of 
 God with those who fight with you, but exceed not. 
 Kill them wheresoever ye find them, and thrust them 
 out from whence they thrust you out, for dissent is 
 worse than slaughter. But if they desist, then verily 
 God is forgiving and merciful. . . . Let there be no 
 hostihty save against the unjust; whoso transgresseth 
 against you, transgress against him in like manner " 
 — a different doctrine from what Mohammad said 
 elsewhere, " Repel evil with what is better." Fighting 
 in the sacred months is a great sin, but is sometimes 
 necessary. 
 
 The civil regulations of the Koran are scarcely 
 
THE KORAN. 161 
 
 more definite than those which refer to the rites of 
 rehgion. The law of marriage is capable of more 
 than one interpretation, and wears the aspect rather 
 of a recommendation than a statute : " If ye fear that 
 ye cannot do justice between orphans, then marry such 
 women as are lawful to you, by twos or threes or 
 fours ; and if ye fear ye cannot be equitable, then only 
 one, or what your right hands possess {i.e. slaves). 
 That is the chief thing— that ye be not unfair." 
 Marriage with unbelievers is forbidden : " Surely a 
 believing handmaiden is better than an idolatrous 
 wife." The laws relating to divorce are more explicit 
 than most regulations of the Koran, and contain most 
 of the details now in common use in Mohammadan 
 countries. The laws affecting women are indeed the 
 most minute and the most considerate in the Koran. 
 It was here that Mohammad made his principal 
 reforms, and though to a European these reforms may 
 seem sHght, in contrast with the previous condition of 
 Arab women they were considerable. The restrictions 
 of polygamy and recommendation of monogamy, the 
 institution of prohibited degrees against the horrible 
 laxity of Arabian marriages, the hmitations of divorce, 
 and stringent rules as to the support of divorced 
 women during a certain period by their former hus- 
 bands and as to the maintenance of children, the 
 innovation of creating women heirs at law, though 
 only to half the value of men, the abolition of the 
 custom which treated a man's widow as a part of 
 his hereditary chattels, form a considerable list of 
 removed disabilities. Mohammad, indeed, had no 
 
 11 
 
lf.2 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 very liigli opinion of women, as many traditions tes- 
 tify, and the following verso from chapter iv. of the 
 Koran carries with it an unfavourable impression : — 
 
 Men stand superior to women in that God hath preferred some 
 of them over others, and in that they expend of their wealth. 
 And virtuous women are devoted, careful in their husbands' 
 absence, as God has cared for them. But those whose perverse- 
 ness ye fear, admonish them and remove them into bed-chambers 
 and beat them ; but if they submit to you, then do not seek a 
 way against them ; verily, God is high and great. 
 
 But he goes on to advise reconciliation by means of 
 arbiters chosen by the two disputants, and frequently 
 counsels kindness to wives ; and it is a fact that no 
 profound legislator ever made such important changes 
 in favour of women as did Mohammad in spite of his 
 narrow outlook and his poor opinion of the sex. 
 
 The raising of women to the position of heirs is not 
 the only innovation that Mohammad made in the law 
 of inheritance. It may almost be said that he took 
 away the power of testamentary disposition. The just 
 share of each relative is appointed, and the testator 
 has only the power of disposing as he pleases with 
 one-third of his property. It must not be imagined, 
 however, that the complicated and delicate machinery 
 which Mr. Alaric Rumsey has so ably explained in 
 his " Mohammadan Law of Inheritance " is to be 
 found in full in the Koran. The general principle is 
 given, and certain details, which it needs a Moham- 
 madan lawyer to elucidate (cf. ch. iv., 11-16). One 
 ordinance as to wills deserves to be mentioned : a 
 man is required to provide a year's maintenance for 
 his widows, that they need not be compelled to leave 
 
THE KORAN. 1G8 
 
 their homes. The main peculiarity of Mohammad's 
 principles of inheritance is the definite institution of 
 an hereditary reserve of two-thirds, which the testator 
 cannot touch, and which devolves upon certain regular 
 heirs, or, in default, upon the state. The system 
 undoubtedly has its merits, and it has been not seldom 
 extolled, above the European principle of free dis- 
 position ; but it may be doubted whether the wide 
 diffusion of property which it involves is, on the whole, 
 advantageous to the state, or has proved successful 
 even under the favourable conditions which certain 
 peculiarities of Eastern life supply. 
 
 The penal law of the Koran is extremely frag- 
 mentary. Murder is to be dealt with by the Arab 
 custom of vendetta: "retaliation is prescribed for 
 you for the slain, the free for the free, the slave for 
 the slave, the woman for the woman; yet for him 
 who is remitted aught by his brother shall be prosecu- 
 tion in reason, and payment in generosity." Acci- 
 dental homicide of a Muslim is to be compounded for 
 by the bloodwit and freeing a believing slave. In- 
 chastity in wives was to be punished by immuring the 
 woman until death should release her, " or God make 
 for her a way " ; but stoning both parties (according 
 to an authentic fragment not included in the ordinary 
 Koran) was afterwards ordained. Four witnesses are 
 required to prove a charge of this gravity. Slaves, 
 in consideration of their disabilities, are to receive 
 one -half the penalty of free women in strokes of the 
 whip. Thieves are punished by cutting off the hands. 
 This is practically all that Mohammad distinctly 
 
 11 * 
 
164 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 ordained in tlie matter of criminal law. We do not 
 deny that something more may be extracted from 
 his speeches by inference ; but what has just been 
 epitomised is all that he stands definitely committed to 
 in the Koran. 
 
 These facts, drawn from a study of the Medina 
 chapters, suggest some important conclusions. It is 
 not nnusual to compare the Koran to the Pentateuch, 
 and to assert that each forms the law-book as well as 
 the gospel of its sect. The resemblance is stronger 
 than is commonly supposed. Just as the Hebrews 
 deposed their Pentateuch in favour of the Talmud, so 
 the Muslims abolished the Koran in favour of the 
 Traditions and Decisions of the Learned. We do not 
 mean to say that any Mohammadan, if asked what 
 was the text-book of his religion, would answer any- 
 thing but " the Koran"; but we do mean that prac- 
 tically it is not the Koran that guides his belief or 
 practice. In the middle ages of Christendom it was 
 not the New Testament but the " Summa Theologica" 
 of Thomas Aquinas that decided questions of ortho- 
 doxy ; and in the present day does the orthodox 
 churchman usually derive his creed from a personal 
 investigation of the teaching of Christ in the Grospels ? 
 Probably, if he refers to a document at all, the Church 
 Catechism contents him, or if he be of a peculiarly 
 inquiring disposition, a perusal of the Thirty-nine 
 Articles will resolve all doubts. Yet he too would 
 say his religion was drawn from the Gospels, and 
 would not confess to the medium through which it 
 was filtered. In precisely the same way Mohammad- 
 
THE KORAN. 165 
 
 anism is constructed on far wider foundations than 
 the Koran alone. The Prophet himself knew that his 
 revelations did not meet all possible contingencies. 
 When he sent Mo'adh to Yemen to collect and dis- 
 tribute alms, he asked him by what rule he would be 
 guided. " By the law of the Koran," said Mo'adh. 
 "But if you find no direction therein ? " " Then I 
 will act according to the example of the Prophet." 
 "But if that fails?" "Then I will draw an analogy 
 and act upon that." Mohammad warmly applauded 
 his disciple's intelligence, and very important deduc- 
 tions have been drawn from this approval of the prin- 
 ciple of analogy. It is, however, only the last resort. 
 When the Koran supplied no definite decision, the 
 private sayings of Mohammad — a vast body of oral 
 traditions carefully preserved and handed down, and 
 then collected and critically examined — were referred 
 to. And if there was nothing to the purpose in the 
 Sunneh, as this body of traditions is called, then the 
 records of the general consent of the fathers were 
 consulted. " The Law," says Ibn-Khaldun, " is 
 grounded on the general accord of the Companions of 
 the Prophet and their followers." Finally there was 
 the principle of analogy to guide them if all other 
 sources failed. As a matter of fact, however, Muslims 
 do not go through all this laborious process of investi- 
 gation, but refer to one of the standard works iu 
 which it has all been done for them. It was soon 
 found that " a system which sought to regulate all 
 departments of life, all development of men's ideas 
 and energies by the Sunneh and analogical deduc- 
 
166 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 tions therefrom, was one which not only gave every 
 temptation a system could give to the manufacture 
 of Tradition, but one which would soon become too 
 cumbersome to be of practical use." Hence, as Mr. 
 Sell has explained in his admirable work on " The 
 Faith of Islam," it became necessary to systematise 
 and arrange this chaotic mass of traditions, decisions, 
 and deductions ; and from this necessity sprang the 
 four great systems of jurisprudence known from their 
 founders as the Hanafite, Malikite, Shafi'ite, and Han- 
 balite, to one of which every orthodox Muslim belongs. 
 The decisions of these four Imams, Abii-Hanifa, Ibn- 
 Malik, Esh-Shafi'y and Ibn-Hanbal, are binding upon 
 all true Churchmen, in the Mohammadan sense. It 
 is the orthodox belief that since the four Imams no 
 doctor has arisen who can compare with them in 
 learning and judgment, and whether or not this is 
 true, it is certain that no theologian or jurist has ever 
 superseded their digests of the law. No account is 
 taken of the altered circumstances in which Moham- 
 madans are now placed ; the conclusions at which 
 these Imams arrived in the eighth and ninth centuries 
 are held to be equally applicable in the nineteenth, and 
 a popular theological handbook among our Indian 
 fellow- subjects states that " it is not lawful to follow 
 any other than the four Imams ; in these days, the 
 Kady must make no order, the Mufty give no fetweh, 
 contrary to the opinions of the four Imams." * 
 
 This is therefore the explanation of the difference 
 
 * E. Sell, " Faith of Islam," p. 19. 
 
I 
 
 THE KOKAN. 167 
 
 between modern Mohammadanism and the teaching 
 we have been able to draw from the Koran itself. 
 Islam rests on many pillars and the Korfm is not the 
 only support. A large part of what Muslims now 
 believe and practise is not to be found in the Koran 
 at all. We do not mean to say that the Traditions of 
 Mohammad are not as good authority as the Koran — 
 indeed, except that in the latter case the Prophet 
 professed to speak the words of God and in the former 
 he did not so profess, there is little to choose between 
 them — nor do we assert that the early doctors of the 
 law displayed any imaginative fuculty in drawing their 
 inferences and analogies, though we have our sus- 
 picions ; all we would insist on is that it is a mistake 
 to call the Koran either the theological compendium 
 or the corpus lecjis of Islam. It is neither the one nor 
 the other. Those who turn over the pages of the 
 Hedaya, or Khalll's " Code Musalman," of which 
 M. Seignette has recently published a French trans- 
 lation in Algiers, will easily see how little help the 
 Koran is to the Mohammad an legist, and how few 
 of Khalll's two thousand clauses can be traced to 
 the supposed Book of the Law. In the same way, 
 one may turn the pages of the Koran backwards and 
 forwards for a lifetime before one finds the smallest 
 indication of the formidable system of ritual which is 
 now considered an essential part of the Mohammadan 
 religion. 
 
 For ourselves we prefer the Koriin to the religion 
 as it is now practised, and are glad to think that we 
 do not owe all the faults of modern Islam to the 
 
168 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 sacred book on which it is supposed to rest. There is 
 a peculiar simplicity about the Koran which attracts 
 one in spite of its vain repetitions and dreariness. No 
 book bears more distinctly the impress of its author's 
 mind ; of none can it be so positively asserted that it 
 was spoken from the heart without thought or care. 
 Inconsistent, contradictory, tedious, wearisome as it 
 often is, the book has a personality in it which chains 
 the attention. It is not a code of law, nor yet a 
 theological system ; but it is something better than 
 these. It is the broken utterance of a human heart 
 wholly incapable of disguise ; and the heart was that 
 of a man who has influenced the world as only One 
 other has ever moved it. 
 
169 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AN EASTERN REFORMATION. 
 
 The fast of Ramadan was over, and the exhausted 
 people were assembled in multitudes in the great 
 Mosque of El- Basra. A man stood on the steps of 
 the pulpit, and, throwing away his kaftan, cried aloud, 
 "0, ye who are here met together ! Like as I cast 
 away this garment, so do I renounce all that I formerly 
 believed." This man was El-Ash'ary ; and this day, 
 three hundred years after the flight of the Arab pro- 
 phet from Mekka, was an epoch in the history of Islam. 
 For the faith of Mohamnrad has passed through 
 more phases and experienced greater revolutions than 
 perhaps any other of the religions of the world. In 
 the earliest, the Mekkan phase — the shortest but the 
 noblest of all — we see a simple and singularly lofty 
 Theism, disfigured indeed by a startling realism, but 
 nevertheless possessing a grandeur that Islam never 
 saw again. At Medina the religion of Mohammad 
 underwent considerable modifications, in correspond- 
 ence with the altered circumstances of the Prophet's 
 career. Thus far Islam had been a religion of 
 
170 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 the Arabs. It had yet to learn the influence that 
 culture can exercise upon faith. When the tide of 
 Mohamraadan conquest rolled northwards this in- 
 fluence began to be exerted. At the Court of the 
 Khalifs at Damascus was collected whatever of 
 intellectual life the Syrians had attained to under the 
 rule of the Byzantine Emperors; and, low as was the 
 standard reached, it was sublime compared with any- 
 thino; the Arabs had before known, and Islam soon 
 gave signs of its influence. At this time Christianity 
 also came into play. The Syrian Christians were well 
 received at the Court of the Khalifs, and were often 
 encouraged to discuss points of faith with their Muslim 
 antagonists : and the result of the collision of the 
 two creeds is apparent in the doctrines of some of the 
 early Mohammadan sects. When the 'Abbasy Khalifs 
 established their throne at Baghdad, Islam entered 
 its fourth or Persian phase. Encountered by Parsis 
 and Buddhists, the Muslim conquerors discovered that 
 there were not a few things in heaven and earth un- 
 dreamt of in their philosophy, and they forthwith set 
 about supplying the deficiency. 
 
 Thus we see Jewish, Christian, Syrian, and Persian 
 elements successively introduced into the simple 
 creed of Mekka. But another influence was brought 
 to bear upon Islam in its third and fourth phases, 
 more potent than any of these ; this was the philo- 
 sophy of Aristotle. Introduced to his works in Syria, 
 the keen-witted Arabs, and more thoughtful and logical 
 Persians, soon began to take a delight in them which 
 would have done credit to any mediaeval university. 
 
AN EASTERN REFORMATION. 
 
 171 
 
 1 
 
 Plato they never understood, and scarcely tried to 
 understand ; but Aristotle speedily created an enthu- 
 siasm among the Persian converts to Islam which 
 was fraught with the most momentous results for the 
 Mohammad an religion. The immediate effect of the 
 study of Aristotle's logical writings was the founda- 
 tion of schools of Freethinkers. Of these the school 
 of the Mo'tezills was the most important. They were 
 what may be called the Broad Church of Islam. They 
 :'epudiated the realistic ideas about the Deity which 
 were rife among other Muslims ; denied predestination 
 and asserted the doctrine of individual responsibility ; 
 and scouted the legends of a sensual paradise and 
 of bodily punishments in hell. Armed with all the 
 resources of practised dialecticians, the Mo'tezilis soon 
 found themselves triumphant. The orthodox divines, 
 unskilled in debate, and able to substantiate their 
 opinions only by vain appeals to Siirah and Sunnah, 
 were utterly worsted in their encounters with the 
 Broad Church, and eventually declined to discuss 
 matters of faith altogether. Orthodoxy seemed about 
 to be exterminated, at least among the educated 
 classes, and free-thought (of an exceedingly moderate 
 and reasonable kind, be it said) appeared everywhere 
 victorious. 
 
 It was at this crisis that El-Ash'ary arose, a prophet 
 in Basra. Born in the two hundred and sixtieth year 
 of the Flight, of an old Arab stock, he was brought 
 up in the strictest orthodoxy ; and, as a natural result, 
 on arriving at years of discretion he found the 
 trammels of his childhood's faith too narrow for en- 
 
172 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 durance, and enrolled himself among the disciples of 
 a celebrated doctor of the Mo'tezily heresy. Up to 
 his fortieth year he adhered strictly to the tenets of 
 his master, and was generally regarded as his most 
 distinguished pupil, when a difference arose between 
 them, which was attended with weighty consequences 
 for Islam. Tradition ascribes the origin of this 
 difference to a discussion between pupil and master 
 on the necessity that Grod should do right, and the 
 impossibility of evil with Him. El-Ash'ary put the 
 case of three brothers, one of whom lived a righteous 
 life, the second was godless, and the third died when 
 a child. The master answered, " The first will be 
 rewarded in heaven, the second punished in hell, and 
 the third neither punished nor rewarded." To this 
 his disciple objected. " But what if the third were 
 to say, Lord ! if thou lladst but let me live I might 
 have become pious, and entered into paradise like my 
 godfearing brother?" The sheykh replied, "God 
 would say, I knew that thou, hadst thou lived, 
 wouldest have been godless and an infidel, and have 
 gone into hell." El-Ash'ary instantly pressed the 
 obvious rejoinder, " Then the second brother would say, 
 " Lord! why didst thou not let me also die as a child, 
 that I might not have sinned and come into hell?" 
 The professor, fairly driven to bay, exclaimed, " Art 
 thou possessed ? " " Nay," said El-Ash'ary, " but the 
 sheykh' s ass is stuck fast on the bridge ! " 
 
 Whatever may be the historical truth that lies 
 beneath this tradition — and questions like these have 
 been asked and left unanswered among others than 
 
AN EASTERN EEFOEMATION. 173 
 
 Muslims, and in later times than the tenth century — 
 the fact is certain that El-Ash'ary, dissatisfied with 
 the liberal school, of which he had been a zealous 
 supporter to his fortieth year, and perhaps filled with 
 that longing after a definite and authorised creed which 
 has brought about the most extraordinary revulsions 
 of faith in men of all times and of all shades of 
 intellect, gave himself up to a minute examination of 
 the Koran and traditions, in order to test the evidences 
 of orthodox Mohammadanism. After a period of 
 severe mental struggle, not without the customary 
 accompaniment of visions with which legend is wont 
 to embellish such states of transition, he satisfied 
 himself of the errors of free-thought, drew up a 
 Snmma Tlieologica of his reformed doctrine, and 
 presented it in the great mosque of El-Basra with 
 the words and gesture already narrated. 
 
 The mere reaction of religious feeling from scepti- 
 cism to strict orthodoxy would in itself be little. 
 History has furnished countless instances of men who, 
 weary of battling in the quicksands of free-thought, 
 have taken refuge beneath the sheltering rock of a 
 traditional Church. But it is not often that these 
 men carry back with them into their peaceful retreat 
 the broad principles and scientific methods which 
 were formerly their greatest pride. They generally 
 look back upon their days of scepticism with horror 
 and affright ; and do not dare to approach ever so 
 distantly their former canons of evidence and methods 
 of reasoning. El-Ash'ary' s case was different, and it 
 is this that gives it so great an historical importance. 
 
174 STUDIES TN A MOSQUE. 
 
 He saw that, without the logical training of their 
 opponents, the orthodox party could not hope to 
 maintain their ground, and he at once introduced into 
 traditional Islam the dialectic system of the heretical 
 sect in which he had been educated. This was his 
 work ; not to give the people a heaven-born revela- 
 tion, not even to elaborate a new interpretation of 
 Mohammad's obscure sayings ; but simply to give 
 the orthodox the weapons of the sceptics, to teach 
 the upholders of the traditions how to defend them 
 against the skilful arguments of their adversaries. 
 It seems but a slight thing, this moulding of the Arab 
 material in a foreign form, this grafting of Greek 
 logic on Mekkan dogmas ; but it produced astounding 
 results. It effected nothing less than the overthrow 
 of the liberal school, and the establishment of Ash'arite 
 Islam, or at least forms of Islam mainly founded on 
 Ash'arite principles, over the greater part of the 
 Mohammadan world to this day. With us in the 
 present time, the vanquished indeed claim more 
 sympathy than the victors. The defeated liberal 
 party was really nearer to Mohammad's earliest teach- 
 ing than was El- Ash'ary ; and from the point of view 
 of comparative religion there is no question that the 
 Mo'tezilis were far in advance of the orthodox divines. 
 Yet, whichever way our sympathies may turn, it 
 is impossible not to recognise the importance of 
 El- Ash'ary 's place in the history of Mohammadanism. 
 The remainder of the life of our reformer was 
 spent in disputations at the mosques, where he would 
 hold at bay a ring of sceptics, making them wonder 
 
AN EASTERN KEFORMATION. 175 
 
 at the keen edge of his replies ; and in composing 
 polemical treatises, of which about a hundred, only 
 one-third of the whole number, have come down to 
 us. After five-and-twentj years thus spent in doing 
 battle with the heretics, he died at El-Basra, in 
 A.D. 935, the most distinguished man of his time. It 
 is not creditable to his charity to have to record that 
 the disciple on whose breast he lay heard the dying 
 man mutter these last words : — " The curse of God 
 be on the Mo'tezilis ; their work is delusion and 
 lies." 
 
176 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 
 
 The influence of Arabian Philosophy upon the develop- 
 ment of European thought has never been adequately 
 recognised. The older historians of Western culture 
 were shy of owning a debt to infidels, whether Jews 
 or Muslims ; and more recent writers have been 
 scarcely more generous, though from a different 
 cause : they have convinced themselves that there is 
 no salvation beyond the Mediterranean, and have 
 treated with a lofty disdain all things Eastern, by a 
 sort of ethnic prejudice which does not widely differ 
 from the Brahman principle of caste. But there is 
 more in this neglect than religious or ethnic preju- 
 dice : the obscurity which veils too many oriental 
 studies from ordinary men of culture is deepened in 
 the case of Arabian Philosophy. Even specialists 
 have till recently known very little of the subject, and 
 there is no text-book for the historical student. 
 Renan's two essays — on Greek philosophy in Syria, 
 and on Averroes — may be the alpha and the omega 
 of Arabian philosophy, but there are a score or so of 
 letters between them which are essential to the right 
 understanding of the language. The Aristotelianism 
 
THE BROTHEEHOOD OF PURITY. 177 
 
 of Averroes is not an epitome of the philosophy of the 
 Arabs, for it renders no account of those neo-Platonic 
 elements which produced in the schools of Baghdad 
 those disputes which were a foretaste of the conflict 
 between Realists and Nominalists in the universities 
 of Europe. But Averroes and the little we know of 
 Avicenna have satisfied the students of philosophy, 
 and no wider view of the Arabian movement has been 
 sought. It is not surprising, therefore, that most 
 people are vague in their conception of the share of 
 the Arabs in helping on the development of European 
 culture. They know the common-places — that Grreek 
 philosophy was preserved by the Arabs for the school- 
 men's use — that Roger Bacon was a pupil of the 
 Arabs — that a good many scientific terms beginning 
 with al- are derived from the Arabic, and the like ; 
 but how the Arabs got that philosophy, how they pre- 
 served it, what they made of it, where they studied it, 
 whither and through what course they transmitted it — 
 all these are unanswered questions to the most of them, 
 if they are so much as questions at all. And small 
 blame is theirs, for no specialist has taken the trouble 
 to bring this link in the history of thought home to 
 them. The only worthy book on the subject — the 
 work of which this chapter is meant to furnish an out- 
 line — contains over a thousand pages of a happy mix- 
 ture of German and Oriental obscurity and disorder ; 
 and the German translator's summary thereof reaches 
 four hundred pages ! Ordinary Englishmen of culture, 
 who ought to know something of the place of the Arabs 
 in the history of civilisation, cannot be expected to read 
 
178 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 a work of tliis length and character. But the main 
 results can be reduced to a manageable size and an in- 
 telligible order; and the following pages are an attempt 
 to make them available for those who are not specialists. 
 
 It is well to clear the way at starting by an explana- 
 tion of the term " Arabian." There can be no more 
 serious mistake than to imagine that the Arabs came 
 forth from their rude civilisation into the cultured 
 cities of the Grreek empire, and speedily became the 
 lamps of learning during the dark ages of Europe. The 
 greater part of what we call Arab culture, Arab science, 
 Arab philosophy, and Arab art, was the work of the 
 strangers who came under the yoke of the conquering 
 Muslims, and, above all, Persians and Spaniards. 
 The Semitic, and perhaps especially the Arab, mind 
 is not given to the departments of study which we are 
 accustomed to associate with the notion of Arabian 
 philosophy. Exact science, and the chains of logical 
 reasoning, are not consonant with the irregular 
 imaginative turn of the Arab intellect ; and few 
 Arabs excelled either in science or philosophy. Their 
 help was hardly needed, for the Persians, who did 
 their culture for them, possessed just that order of 
 mind which lends itself most willingly to those 
 studies, and the immense number of works written by 
 Persians in Arabic, if they only all survived, would 
 leave Kttle for the Arab to do. When, therefore, we 
 speak of Arabian philosophy (and the like), we mean 
 philosophy written in the Arabic tongue, but not 
 necessarily, or even commonly, by Arabs. 
 
 Yet there is a certain fitness in applying the term 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 179 
 
 Arabian to the philosopliy wliich the Arabic-writing 
 Persians studied, for it owed its robustness and its 
 wide prevalence to the religion of the Arabs. If the 
 Koran liad not furnished a glorious field for dia- 
 lectical contest, if orthodoxy had not kindled by the 
 fire of persecution the zeal of the oppressed philo- 
 sophers, if Islam had not established a general intel- 
 lectual communion between countries so far apart 
 as Spain and Persia, the high schools of the Middle 
 Ase mio-ht never have adored their Aristotle, and 
 the later Renaissance of Italy might have reaped all 
 the honours that belong to the earlier Renaissance of 
 Spain ; if indeed the latter was not a necessary fore- 
 runner of the Humanist movement in the fifteenth 
 centurj, without which the New Learning would have 
 found no ears open to hear its voice. Islam generally 
 maintained a hold on Arabian philosophy, and its 
 methods were not seldom turned to the advantage of 
 the faith ; the relations between the two nearly 
 resembled the tie between the Latin Church and the 
 schoolmen ; and the Arabian philosophers usually 
 professed Islam with about as much of the original 
 simple faith of Mohammad in them as some of the 
 fathers of the Church had of the teaching of Christ. 
 By this connection with Islam Arabian philosophy 
 obtained a wider bearing than it could otherwise have 
 gained. It is a noteworthy fact, moreover, which 
 should be remembered by those who deny the Arabs 
 all share in the credit of preserving the learning of 
 the Greeks, that the Persians had that learning in 
 their midst long before the Arabs conquered them, 
 
 1% * 
 
180 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 but do not seem to have turned it to much account 
 until theii' Arab masters set them to work. This is 
 surely a fact to be considered by those who echo 
 Gr. H. Lewes's wholesale condemnation of the Arabs 
 as mere barbarians. , 
 
 Hojv Greek philosophy came to be applied to 
 Koranic theology is easily answered by a very super- 
 ficial study of the history of Islam. We have nothing 
 here to do with the beginnings of the faith, for there 
 was no philosophy there — only one grand dogma, and 
 a strange mixture of Jewish fables and old Arab super- 
 stitions kindled to live flame by the enthusiasm of a 
 great man. We have to take up the history of the reli- 
 gion at a little later time, after its prophet's death, 
 when the armies of the Bedawis were surging over 
 Syria and conquering the kingdom of the Sassanians. 
 This Persia, which the troops of the once-derided 
 " impostor " were now overrunning, was the meeting- 
 place of many creeds and doctrines. Besides the ancient 
 religion of the country, the Parsiism of Zoroaster, 
 which had not much influence upon the invaders, two 
 conflicting streams of thought coming from the west and 
 the east may be distinguished — the Greek philosophic 
 movement from the west, and the Buddhistic pantheism 
 and mysticism from India. The first found its way 
 to Persia chiefly in the hands of the banished 
 Nestorians, who had translated many of the Greek 
 classics into Syriac, and who sought to diffuse a wider 
 knowledge of these treasures of thought in the schools 
 which they founded in the land of their exile, in the 
 cities of the Sassanian kings of Persia. What form 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 181 
 
 of Greek philosophy it was that thus found its way 
 through the Syriac into Persian and then Arab minds, 
 and that was soon to be set forth in the Arabic 
 tongue and spread abroad over the lands of the 
 Muslims, may be readily surmised from what is known 
 of the religious disputes of the fifth century and the 
 character of the Nestorian controversy ; what shape 
 it afterwards took in the hands of the Arabian 
 Encyclopaedists we shall presently see. The other 
 influence, the pantheism and mysticism, whose effect 
 may be traced not only in the important development 
 of Sufisra, but in most of the Mohammadan heresies 
 — in their mystical tendencies, their allegorical inter- 
 pretations, and the leaning of some sects to the 
 emanation theory — undoubtedly acquired its prime 
 impulse from Indian teachers and writings, though 
 the neo-Platonism of Alexandria probably had no 
 inconsiderable share in developing it. 
 
 These two opposing movements of thought were 
 working in a country whose trade gathered together 
 an odd medley of faiths and opinions, where banished 
 Greek philosophers, Nestorians and Christians of 
 many other sects, Zoroastrians, infidels and heretics 
 of all kinds, formed the heterogeneous population of 
 the great cities. It is easy to understand the diffi- 
 culties that Islam had to encounter when introduced 
 into such a land. Like a rough country yokel among 
 polished gentlemen, it blushed for its uncouthness, 
 and undervalued the health and vigour which these 
 same gentlemen, in their elegant decrepitude, held as 
 signs of rusticity which no well-bred person could 
 
182 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 tolerate ; and it forthwith set about repairing its 
 deficiencies by the painful acquirement of accomplish- 
 ments which were irreconcilable with its essential 
 character. In other words, the Mohammadan doctors 
 found themselves face to face with metaphysical 
 problems which had never troubled the head of their 
 Prophet ; they began to perceive that the Koran 
 doctrine in its primitive simplicity was not merely 
 ineffectual among the cultivated people they had 
 conquered, but was positively ridiculous in their eyes ; 
 and they determined to find in the Koran what was 
 not there — a metaphysical conception of life and the 
 universe. It took many a year of hard fighting before 
 the orthodox were thus induced to accept the sugges- 
 tions of their opponents. They clung tenaciously to 
 the old crude dogma which had worked such a revolu- 
 tion in the world, till rout after rout convinced them 
 that to hold its own among the cultured thinking class 
 Islam must adopt the weapons of its adversaries, defend 
 itself by the help of the long-hated dialectics of the 
 Greek students, and marshal its dogmas in a pseudo- 
 philosophical uniform. 
 
 We are not now concerned with this development 
 of Islamic theology — which came to its ripeness in 
 the teaching of Bl-Ash'ary,* in which the more 
 thoughful part of the orthodox Mohammadan world 
 now reposes — except in so far as it affected the 
 progress of philosophical study. The bitter contro- 
 versies that divided the followers of the Prophet on 
 
 * See Chapter V. 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OP PURITY. 183 
 
 such points as the eternity of the attributes of God, 
 and the createdness or the uncreatedness of the Koran 
 (to omit more decidedly theological questions), are 
 important to us, partly asi showing the influence of 
 philosophy upon the Mohammadan doctors before the 
 very first century of the Flight had expired, but 
 especially in their effect of driving the condemned 
 heretical sects more and more into the arms of philo- 
 sophy. The theological disputes produced sects, and 
 the numerically weaker, because the more intelligent, 
 of these turned towards the philosophical doctrines 
 their reasons approved, yet without absolutely leaving 
 Islam; and these rational Muslims — we use the term 
 with the same vague meaning as " rational Christianity " 
 — of whom the most noted were the sect called 
 Mo'tezilis, or Separatists, habitually handled the 
 weapons of dialectical training to worst their 
 opponents, whose stolid orthodoxy, sustained by no 
 familiarity with logic or metaphysics, proved no match 
 for their nimbler wits. 
 
 Thus we find a body of metaphysical schoolmen 
 growing up among the Mohammadan divines, and in 
 the theological colleges of Islam. Doctors held forth 
 on Greek philosophy, and applied its methods to the 
 religion of Mohammad. The court and the capital 
 and the large towns ran wild about Graecism for a 
 while under the rule of the son of *' the good Harun- 
 er-Rashid," the Persian -loving, speculative, sceptic 
 El-Mamun. In this movement there were all shades 
 of rationalizers of the faith, from those who merely 
 tried to systematize and reconcile the conflicting 
 
184 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 doctrines of the Koran, to those who virtually rejected 
 the Koran altogether. There were moderate Muslim 
 schoolmen, extreme Muslim schoolmen, and philo- 
 sophers who were not Muslims at all — but these were 
 few ; and all alike owed their theories to Greek books. 
 As early as the second 'Abbasy Khalif's reign (760 a.d. 
 circ), the passion for translation from the Grreek had 
 begun with a rendering of Euclid ; and later on 
 El-Mamiin appointed official translators of Aristotle. 
 Aristotle was the staple authority ; but the works of 
 the Alexandrian school, especially Porphyry's Isagoge, 
 and Ptolemy's Almegist, held a high place in the 
 general esteem. And soon a very considerable 
 number of Grreek writers were done into Arabic and 
 devoured with avidity by a multitude of Mohammadan 
 students. 
 
 It is astonishing how little we know of the details 
 of this vehement study of Greek among the Arabs 
 and Persians. It seems hardly credible that the vast 
 number of works composed by the Arabian school of 
 philosophy should have been almost wholly swept 
 away by the overwhelming reaction to orthodoxy 
 which succeeded the transitory enthusiasm for reason 
 and culture. Yet even of the great names that shine 
 out of the dry pages of the Eastern annalists, as lights 
 in a dark world, we know very little at first-hand. 
 We hear of the mathematical and astronomical (rather 
 astrological) labours of El-Kindy, and his neo- 
 Pythagorean view of the universe. Schmolders has 
 published an iutroduction to Aristotle by El-Faraby 
 the ideal philosopher of the chroniclers ; of the great 
 
THE BEOTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 185 
 
 Avicenna (Ibn Sina) himself, what we know, except 
 his medical canon, " El Kanim," is chiefly derived 
 from the account of a historian of Muslim sects, Esh- 
 Shahrastany. Of none of these voluminous writers do 
 we possess much more than the titles of their works, 
 or at most one or two special treatises out of a long 
 series. What we know beyond this is gained from 
 the notices of them by historians and other writers, 
 not from their own works. The meagre section on 
 Arabian philosophy in Gr. H. Lewes's " History " is a 
 fair sample of the information to be had on the 
 subject. Specialists can add some few details from 
 rare and scattered manuscripts ; but a complete 
 and comprehensive account of any of the great 
 philosophers' opinions and methods, written by them- 
 selves or their disciples, is wanting. We only read a 
 list of names, and are told by later writers that these 
 men made great discoveries in mathematics, or 
 astronomy, or medicine, or promulgated systems of 
 philosophy. We want to know something more defi- 
 nite. We should like an instauratio magna of Arabian 
 philosophy, or at least a comprehensive outline of what 
 that philosophy was. Such an outline we have at last 
 in the treatises Professor Dieterici has translated. 
 
 The Arabian chroniclers tell us how, in the latter 
 part of the eighth century of the Christian era, a 
 strange company used to meet together in one of the 
 great cities of the Eastern Khalifate, for the inter- 
 change of ideas on literature, poetry, philosophy, and 
 things in general. This debating society consisted 
 of ten members : a Sunny, or orthodox believer in 
 
l86 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Moliammadan tradition ; a Slii'y, or upholder of the 
 claims of the rival house of 'Aly, and consequently a 
 despiser of all Sunnis and all things and persons 
 reverenced by Sunnis ; a Manichean, or dualist ; a 
 Muslim of the ultra-puritan sect ; an erotic poet of 
 extremely free notions, a materialist, a Jew, a 
 Christian, a Parsy, and a Sabian. This motley group 
 used to sit together in perfect enjoyment of each 
 other's society, telling good stories, discoursing of 
 letters, arguing on religion or philosophy or what you 
 will, and all with perfect good-humour and tolerance 
 of the most diverse opinions. 
 
 That debating club shows what a change of country 
 and the admission of foreign ideas had made possible 
 in a Muslim city. But it was a club of men who, we 
 must believe, were not seriously moved to think at 
 all. They belonged to various views, because in that 
 intellectual epoch views were the fashion. But they 
 were not stirred to search earnestly for the secrets of 
 the world, they did not trouble themselves with the 
 question. What is life ? What is the meaning of the 
 contrast between this luxurious Court of Basfhdad, 
 and the groaning, perishing multitude on whose death 
 it lives ? What will be the end of these things ? 
 And if they really thought seriously about a theory of 
 life, doubtless that reprobate poet had it all his own 
 way in the argument. 
 
 Two hundred years later a very different society 
 met together in the city of El-Basra, famous in the 
 history of Mohammadan theology for the doctors it 
 has brought up, and so renowned for orthodoxy that 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OP PURITY. 187 
 
 it is said no day passes but God bestows a smile upon 
 this holy town. There, towards the last quarter of 
 the tenth century, a knot of earnest men began to 
 meet together, at fixed seasons, in a house set apart 
 for their meetings. They formed a sort of Masonic 
 Lodge, and their proceedings were carefully con- 
 cealed, and none but the initiated were permitted to 
 be present at their debates. They called themselves 
 " Brethren of Purity," and the name well indicates 
 their objects. They were grieved at the state of the 
 Mohammadan Empire at that time, where division 
 was, instead of unity, princes tearing fragments from 
 the territory of the acknowledged Vicegerent of their 
 God, armies trampling the land under bloody foot, 
 everywhere slaughter and rapine ; no religion at the 
 Court, no justice at the Kady's, wrangling over split 
 straws at the Mosque; on all sides misery, and 
 tyranny, and crime; — no faith, no trust, no moral 
 strength or purpose in the world. Against the 
 reckless license and debauchery of the time these 
 " Brethren of Purity " raised their protest. They 
 met together to seek if there were any way in which 
 they might aid their fellows ; and if not, at least 
 they would join in keeping themselves " unspotted 
 from the world " they could not mend. They exer- 
 cised the utmost caution in the election of members 
 to their lodge. They had a great doctrine of friend- 
 ship, by which each friend should supply some quality 
 or virtue wanting in another, and thereby aid in the 
 attainment of a wide truthfulness ; for in numbers 
 alone, they held, could truth be won ; error was the 
 
188 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 result of individual, and therefore partial, knowledge. 
 Every member of this Brotherhood must contribute 
 in some manner to its completeness as an organ of 
 truth. The admission of a vicious member might 
 undo the whole society. The Brothers were classed 
 in four grades, according to their moral worth and 
 elevation of soul, the highest being composed of those 
 who were weary of this body — which is but the egg- 
 shell, meant to hatch the chick, and is useless when 
 the chick, the soul, recognizes its separate existence — 
 and were ready for the severing of soul from body and 
 the home-journeying to God. This Home-Quest is the 
 great idea of their theological teaching ; every member 
 who is called must understand it, and believe in it 
 with all his heart, and teach it to others, and live with 
 his eyes towards it. It is in fact something very like 
 the Nirvana of Buddhism, to which in religion these 
 Persian pantheists nearly approached. They have, too, 
 the sweetness and gentleness of Buddhism, and in this 
 they stand forth conspicuously from the pharisaism and 
 hardness of dogmatic Islam. Their God is not the 
 tyrant of the orthodox divines, but a supremely loving 
 and wise Creator, who has breathed his life into all 
 the universe for good and not for ill. And their virtues, 
 equally, are not the virtues of Islam, not so much right- 
 eousness and the due quittance of obligations, as mild- 
 ness and gentleness towards all men, forgiveness, long- 
 suffering, and compassion, the yielding up of self for 
 others' sake. In this Brotherhood, self is forgotten ; 
 all act by the help of each, all rely upon each for 
 succour and advice, and if a Brother sees it will be 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OP PURITY. 189 
 
 good for another that he should sacrifice his Hfe for him, 
 he winingly gives it. No place is found in the Brother- 
 hood for the vices of the outside world ; envy, hatred, 
 pride, avarice, hypocrisy, and deceit, do not fit into 
 their scheme, — " they only hinder the worship of 
 truth." 
 
 This is only one side of the design of this Lodge of 
 Pure Brethren — their campaign against immorality. 
 They have also an intellectual side, and it is this 
 which gives them their permanent importance. They 
 were aware how easy it is for immorality and purpose- 
 lessness of life to grow out of a general intellectual 
 scepticism, such as prevailed among too many of their 
 contemporaries. They knew that to enforce a high 
 standard of action you must have a definite creed, a 
 principle of life, whether theological or philosophical. 
 Any theory of ethics must be shown to form a part of 
 a wider theory of life to claim the adherence of men. 
 No one system satisfied these Brethren. They were 
 too well acquainted with other creeds, and too well 
 trained in the logical use of thought, to accept the 
 common orthodox Islam which had contented the 
 desert Arabs. Yet all other creeds and systems equally 
 appeared open to doubt or refutation. In this con- 
 fusion they found their satisfaction in an eclectic 
 theory. All these conflicting views, they said, must be 
 only different ways of looking at the same thing. 
 Truth must be one, and could not vary; these religions 
 and philosophies were only portions of truth. God 
 sent his spirit down upon all men; but, as a wise 
 teacher can only instil into his pupil gradually and 
 
190 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 piecemeal the knowledge lie would so gladly pour at 
 one tide, so man could only receive truth partially and 
 in fragments from his divine instructor. These frag- 
 ments of truth were to be found in every system of 
 faith and every method of philosophy ; if men failed 
 to detect them, the fault lay in their own imperfect 
 intelligence — it was only the skill to read between the 
 lines that was wanted to build up a harmonious whole 
 out of the fragments of truth scattered about in sacred 
 books and the writings of wise men and the mystic 
 doctrines of saints. 
 
 The aim of the Brethren of Purity was, therefore, 
 to construct such a whole out of these scattered parts. 
 To effect this they ransacked every faith, every philo- 
 sophy ; " no science and no method is to be despised," 
 they said ; no part of knowledge, no attempt to reach 
 truth, was common or unclean to them ; they reve- 
 renced the germ of truth which they were convinced 
 lay beneath all seeming falsehoods, and out of all 
 these " guesses at truth," out of the miscellaneous 
 collection of the then-known sciences, religions, and 
 methods of thought, they endeavoured to build up a 
 philosophy ; and they arranged their results in a 
 definite and consistent order, in accordance with a 
 well-conceived theory of emanation and evolution. 
 
 This theory and these results they set forth in 
 fifty-one tracts, which they called " The Tracts of 
 the Pure Brethren." The work only professes to be 
 an epitome, an outline ; its authors lay claim to no 
 originality, they only summarize what others have 
 thought and discovered. What they do lay claim to 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 191 
 
 is system and completeness. The work does profess 
 to contain a systematized, harmonious, co-ordinated 
 view of the universe and life, its origin and destiny, 
 formed out of many discordant, incoherent views; and 
 it does claim to be a complete account of all things — 
 to contain, in epitome, all that was known at the time 
 it was written. It refers to more profound and special 
 treatises for fuller information on the several sciences 
 it touches upon, but it does claim to touch on all 
 sciences, all departments of knowledge, and to set 
 forth their leading results. In effect, it is, by its own 
 showing, a hand-encyclojocedla of Arabian philosophy 
 in the tenth century. 
 
 It is not easy to exaggerate the importance of this 
 encyclopa3dia. Its value lies in its completeness, in 
 its systematizing of the results of Arabian study. We 
 have complained of the fragmentary character of the 
 remains of the chief Arabian philosophers : this ency- 
 clopaedia meets the difficulty, and shows us their views 
 as a whole. It was a favourable time for composing 
 such a work. Most of the great names of Arabian 
 science and philosophy had gone before — El-Kindy, 
 El-Faraby, Er-Razy, Thabit ibn Kurra and his son 
 Sinan, and the rest, with Babek, the Sufy metem- 
 psychosist — and the tide had already turned against 
 the students, and orthodoxy had prohibited the sale 
 of philosophical books. 
 
 There was no time to be lost if the labours of the 
 philosophers were to be preserved ; and so, just when 
 Avicenna, the crown of Arabian philosophers and the 
 embodier of all his predecessors, was coming into the 
 
192 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 world, the Brethren of Purity set about their task of 
 gathering up the ideas of the age and putting them 
 into their encyclopaedia before orthodoxy could destroy 
 them. Of that age of completeness, the age of Avi- 
 cenna, this encyclopsedia is the true mirror. Its 
 defects are the defects of the age : the ideas it pre- 
 sents are the ideas of the age. It is a faithful portrait 
 of the philosophy and science of the Arabs at the 
 time when the enthusiasm for culture was coming to 
 an end in the East, and only one great name was still 
 to be added to the list of Arabian philosophers. And 
 as we had no portrait of that philosophy that was at 
 all perfect or complete, only a vignette or a profile or 
 so, taken in a half-light, with the negatives destroyed, 
 this full-length portrait of Arabian philosophy is of 
 the highest value. 
 
 It has been said that this encyclopaedia was not 
 much thought of at the time of its appearance. If 
 that were true it would not affect its real importance, 
 and the fast-increasing power of the orthodox reaction 
 would perfectly account for its unpopularity. But 
 the facts that the work is quoted by one of the greatest 
 of Arabian thinkers, El-Grhazzali, that it was trans- 
 lated into Persian, and thought worthy of abridgments 
 and epitomes, and, finally, that it was carried into 
 Spain in time for Averroes to study it, seem to me 
 to point to no slight popularity ; and the record of a 
 contemporary, credited by Barhebraeus ( Abii-1-Faraj), 
 confirms this view, and is interesting in giving us the 
 opinions of the fellow-countrymen of the Brethren of 
 Purity on their society and aims and writings. In 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 193 
 
 the Chronicle of the Learned (Tahahat-el-Hul-ama) of 
 El-Kiifty there is a report of a conversation which 
 took place in 373 a.h. between Abu-Hayyan Et-Tawhidy 
 and the Buweyhy Prince Samsam-ed-dawleh, who then 
 sustained the dignity of Amir-el-Umara, or Prince of 
 Princes, at the Khalif's court, and was virtually 
 master of the Khalif himself. 
 
 The Tracts of the Brethren of Purity were just 
 then making a sensation, and people were much 
 exercised in their minds as to the authorship of 
 these anonymous publications. Among others Sam- 
 sam-ed-dawleh was desirous of knowing something 
 more about their writers, and especially about the 
 teaching of one Zeyd Ibn Rifa'a, who was reputed 
 to be one of the writers in the encj^clopgedia, and, 
 as we know now, was in truth its heart and soul. 
 Abu-Hayyan was well acquainted with this Zeyd, and 
 the Prince applied to him for information as to his 
 friend's doctrine. And Abu-Hayyan answered : " He 
 hath surpassing insight and clear understanding; he 
 hath the command over verse and prose, excellently 
 can he write — with logic and eloquence. His thoughts 
 are of the destinies of mankind ; be listens to judg- 
 ments, sifts opinions and beliefs, and is adroit every 
 way, whether the establishment or the explanation of 
 views be the matter in hand, or the bringing of the 
 dispute to a close." 
 
 Then said the Prince : " What, then, is his system ?" 
 I answered, says Ibn-Hayyan, " He stands in no 
 definite relation with any one system. He knows how 
 to form his school from all sides — in every question 
 
 13 
 
194 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 and in every divergence of opinion he displays his 
 clearness in proving and his boldness in arguing. 
 
 " He lived long in El- Basra, and there associated 
 with a number of people of different sciences and 
 professions, among others Abu-Suleyman Mohammad 
 El-Busty, known as El-Mukaddesy, Abu-l-Hasan 'Aly 
 Ez-Zenjany, Abu- Ahmad El-Mahrajany, and El-Awfy. 
 He mixed with them, and they formed a society of 
 friends. They united in striving after holiness, purity, 
 and uprightness, and set before themselves a doctrine 
 whereby, they maintained, they should keep the road 
 towards the attainment of the heavenly joy — for they 
 held that religion was defiled by folly and entangled 
 with error, and only by Greek philosophy could it be 
 cleansed and purified ; in which is both wisdom in 
 belief and soundness in study. If one could but unite 
 Greek philosophy with the religious law of Islam, the 
 perfection of faith, they thought, would be reached. 
 With this design they wrote fifty tracts on all branches 
 of philosophy, theoretical and practical, and furnished 
 them with a table of contents, and entitled them 
 ' The Tracts of the Brethren of Purity ' (Easail 
 Ikhwdn eS'Safd). They concealed their names and 
 distributed the tracts among the booksellers' libraries, 
 gave them, too, to the people, and stored them with 
 pious phrases, religious parables, with self-evident 
 propositions, and glossed methods." 
 
 The Prince said: "Hast thou seen these tracts?" 
 and I answered: "I saw a number of them; they 
 were diffuse, treated of everything, without bringing 
 contentment or satisfying. There were extracts in 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 195 
 
 them, metaphors, entanglements, combinations. I 
 brought some of them to our sheykh, old Abu-Suley- 
 man Mohammad Ibn Bahram, the logician of Sijistan, 
 and laid them before him. He looked at them all 
 day, and went about with them for a long time, and 
 then gave them back to me. He said, ' They weary 
 without satisfying, deny without refuting, give with- 
 out pleasing, weave without woof, comb out and curl 
 again. They believe what neither is nor can be. 
 They believe it is possible to class philosophy (to wit, 
 the doctrine of stars, and spheres, and measures, and 
 the Almegist) and the doctrine of the workings of 
 Nature, and music, and logic, in quality and quantity, 
 under the head of religion, and thus join faith and 
 reason. But that is a goal never yet reached, which 
 many, with keener spirit, more power, and conspicuous 
 judgment, have striven after before these without 
 attaining: the desired end : rather did they succeed 
 in working mischief, grievous ill, and a sorry end.' " 
 And here the speakers plunge into a discussion as to 
 the possibility of a union between religion and philo- 
 sophy, intcf which we will not follow them. The con- 
 versation proves that the work did create a sensation 
 on its first appearance, and shows how some scholars 
 regarded it. 
 
 Of the authorship of the fifty-one tracts, we have 
 seen that some doubt existed : the general opinion is 
 that Zeyd's writings were the nucleus of the col- 
 lection, and that the four friends, mentioned by Abu- 
 Hayyan above, were his collaborators. Zeyd was the 
 leader in the crusade against the vices of the time. 
 
 13 * 
 
196 STUDIES IN A MOSQDE. 
 
 His keen wit not seldom discomfited the hypocrites 
 and abashed the scoffers. His career was one long 
 struggle for a high moral standard and a noble pur- 
 pose in life. He may well have given the impulse 
 and direction to the Encyclopgedists, and written some 
 of the tracts himself. One thing, at least, is clear 
 about the authors of the work : it is abundantly 
 shown by internal evidence that they were learned in 
 all the learning of the time, were well trained in the 
 Arabian Greek school, and acquainted with the ancient 
 literature of Persia and India. They knew, too, the 
 Old and New Testaments well enough to correct the 
 mistakes of the Koran ; and their story of the Messiah 
 is said to be " the worthiest record of the life of 
 Jesus that can be met with in Arabic literature." 
 In the critical faculty, indeed, they are singularly 
 deficient, they admit false books of Aristotle side 
 by side with true among their authorities ; but that 
 is a general deficiency in the oriental mind. In 
 training and knowledge these men were well fitted 
 for the work they undertook. 
 
 Dr. Friedrich Dieterici, Professor of ""Arabic at 
 Berlin, has translated this Encyclopgedia, chiefly from 
 the Paris codex, but with collation of those of Gotha, 
 Munich, Berlin, and Vienna. A printed text was 
 published at Calcutta. For the last twenty years 
 Professor Dieterici has been engaged on this trans- 
 lation, publishing a volume from time to time as each 
 section of the work was completed. In 1858 appeared 
 his rendering of the fable (" Mensch und Thier ") 
 appended to the twenty-first Tract of the Brotherhood 
 
THE BROTHEEHOOD OF PURITY. 197 
 
 of Purity; in 1861 their Natural Philosophy appeared 
 in German ; then in 1865 and 1868, respectively, 
 their Propaedeutics and Logic; in 1871 and 1872 
 their Anthropology and Metaphysics. From those six 
 " Qaellenwerke," Dr. Dieterici composed his epitome 
 of the whole in two more volumes, entitled " Makro- 
 kosmos" and " Mikrokosmos," in 1876 and 1879; 
 and in the interval between these two, he published 
 a popular lecture on the subject under the title of 
 " Darwinismus im Xten und XlXten Jahrhundert," 
 which included a somewhat superfluous attack upon 
 the doctrine of evolution. 
 
 The publication of separate sections of the work at 
 intervals, sometimes of several years, has been a 
 great hindrance to its exciting the interest to which 
 its real value entitles it. Though each part is im- 
 portant in itself, yet its importance lies chiefly in its 
 relation to the whole work, as a part of an orderly 
 exposition of Arabian philosophy. Moreover, Dr. 
 Dieterici left several of the parts without any ex- 
 planation of their origin ; so that unless one had read 
 the parable of " Mensch und Thier," the title of 
 which is not a little obscure to any one unacquainted 
 with the history of the Brotherhood of Purity, he 
 would remain in perfect ignorance as to the authorship 
 and aim of the work throughout the two or three 
 hundred pages of the part. Now, however, that the 
 whole Encyclopaedia (with the exception of some of 
 the theological tracts) is published, we need not 
 criticise the way in which it graduall}^ appeared. Of 
 its merits as a translation it is impossible to judge 
 
198 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 without the original manuscripts. It does not pre- 
 tend to be a literal rendering ; and the general 
 sense of the Arabic doubtless presented few diffi- 
 culties, except in philosophical and scientific terms, 
 to Dr. Dieterici, who was studying Arabic in Egypt 
 more than thirty years ago. 
 
 In technical matters, moreover, the translator has 
 had the advantage of the assistance of several 
 scientific men — as Professors and Drs. Bruhns, 
 Forster, Karsten, Hanstein, Rammelsberg, and Ebren- 
 berg. 
 
 Altogether, these twenty years of patient labour 
 have resulted in a book which, whilst susceptible 
 of much improvement, reflects the highest credit on 
 Dr. Dieterici's industry and zeal, and is one of 
 the most interesting additions to Oriental study 
 that indefatigable Germany has produced for many 
 years. 
 
 In the seventh Tract the Brethren put forward a 
 scheme of knowledge, which will give an insight into 
 their method, and is therefore subjoined. " The 
 sciences," they say, "at which men toil, fall into 
 primary studies, religious studies, and philosophical 
 studies." 
 
 I. Primary studies are the educational sciences, 
 intended to help men to a maintenance, and to direct 
 them in their intercourse with others. They are nine 
 in number : (a) writing and reading ; (b) lexicography 
 and grammar ; (c) simple arithmetic ; (d) poetry and 
 music; (e) the doctrine of omens and forebodings; 
 (/ ) that of magic, amulets, alchymy ; (g) trades and 
 
THE BKOTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 199 
 
 handicrafts ; (h) selling and buying, commerce, 
 agriculture, the breeding of cattle ; (i) biography. 
 
 II. Beligious studies help the soul in its struggle 
 towards the other world. They are five — revelation, 
 explanation, tradition, law, and illumination. 
 
 III. PHILOSOPHICA.L SCIENCES are of four sorts — pro- 
 paedeutics, logic, physics, theology. 
 
 A. Pkopaedeutics consist of arithmetic, geometry, 
 
 astronomy, music. 
 
 B. Logic is of two kinds : (a) analytica, the art 
 
 of apprehending; (b) rhetorica, or the art 
 of those (sophists) who in theorizing and 
 arguing would lead one into error. 
 
 1. The Isagoge aims at estabhshing a clear under- 
 standing of the six words employed in philosophical 
 propositions : individual, species, genus, essential, 
 enduring, and accidental properties — what each is in 
 itself, what the six have in common, in what consists 
 their difference, and how they bear upon the idea of 
 the soul. 
 
 2. The Categories are to explain the meaning of the 
 ten words, each of which denotes a genus generum. 
 The first of these is substance ; the other nine, attri- 
 butes. This tract shows what each of them is, how 
 many species it contains. Further, it teaches the 
 knowledge of the signs by which each is to be distin- 
 guished from the remainder ; and finally it points out 
 how these all lead to the ideas which are contained in 
 the notion of the soul. 
 
 3. The Hermeneutics lay down how to combine tlie 
 
200 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 ten words, and the senses therefrom resulting, judg- 
 ments and enunciations correct and false. 
 
 4. The Analytica priora explain the composition of 
 premisses, and their various kinds, and the mode 
 of forming out of them the syllogism, which binds 
 together propositions and their conclusions. 
 
 5. The Analytica posteriora teaches how to form 
 correct analogies and correct proofs. 
 
 C. Physios are divided into seven sections : — 
 
 1. The doctrine of the elements of bodies; i.e. the 
 knowledge of five things — matter, form, time, space, 
 motion. Further, the values which result from a 
 combination of one of these with another. 
 
 2. The doctrine of heaven and earth ; i.e. the know- 
 ledge of the nature of the sphere-substances, — the 
 stars, their number, the manner of their connection, 
 the cause of their revolving ; the question whether 
 they are subject to development and decay, as is the 
 case with the four elements beneath the moon-orbit ; 
 why the stars move and differ in rapidity and slow- 
 ness ; why the earth reposes in the midst of the 
 universe ; whether or not there is another world out- 
 side the universe ; whether there is such a thing as a 
 vacuum in nature ; and the like. 
 
 3. The treatise on development and decay treats of 
 the substance of the four elements — fire, air, water, 
 earth — and shows how one of these changes into 
 another by the influence of heavenly bodies, and 
 thence spring new forms and things — mineral, plant, 
 animal — which in turn decay and are changed back 
 again into those elements. 
 
THE BKOtHEEHOOD OF PURITY. 201 
 
 4. The doctrine of meteorology shows how the air 
 changes by the influence of the constellations. This 
 happens by virtue of their motions and the falling of 
 their rays upon these elements. . . . Proper to the air 
 are colours, and alterations, such as light and dark- 
 ness, heat and cold. The changes of wind, clouds, 
 mist, rain, snow, hail, Kghtning, thunder-peals, falling- 
 stars, comets, rainbows, moon halos, and the like, 
 arise over our heads as alterations and forms of air. 
 
 5. Mineralogy describes the substances which are 
 condensed from the vapours pent up in the interior of 
 the earth, and are formed from the moistures which 
 are found in the air, in hollows and valleys, and in 
 the sea-bottom. This is true of substances such as 
 quicksilver, sulphur, alum, and salts, ammonium, 
 gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and blacklead, stibium, 
 beryl, hyacinth. Their qualities, uses, and disad- 
 vantages are mentioned. 
 
 6. Botany deals with everything that is sown or 
 planted, or that springs up of itself on the surface 
 of the earth, on the summits of mountains, in the 
 depths of the sea, and on the banks of streams. 
 These are trees, seeds, vegetables, herbs, grasses, and 
 runners. The number of their species and genera are 
 given, their habitats are stated, and how they drive 
 their roots into the ground and lift up their branches 
 in the air, how they spread over all the earth and 
 reach out their boughs on all sides. Then is described 
 the form of their boughs, which are long, short, thick, 
 thin, straight or crooked ; the shape of their leaves, 
 which are broad or narrow, smooth or rough ; their 
 
202 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 flowers and blossoms, the formation of their fruit, 
 kernels, and grains; their juice, their taste, their 
 smell, their peculiarities, their uses and drawbacks, 
 one after the other are spoken of. 
 
 7. Zoology has to do with all the other bodies, down 
 to the vermin in animals, plants, fruit, grain, and the 
 like ; and it gives the number of genera and species 
 and sub-species. It shows how the bodies spring from 
 the womb, the egg, or putrefaction ; how their limbs 
 are put together and their bodies composed; their 
 forms various and divisible into kinds. Further, their 
 different sounds, their opposing natures and disposi- 
 tions, as well as their proper occupations, are described. 
 Moreover, the time of their rutting, the forming of 
 their nests, their love in the bringing up of their 
 young, are mentioned ; how they take to their little 
 offspring and care for them. Finally, their uses and 
 disadvantages, their lairs, their masters and enemies, 
 their accomplishments and the like, are dealt with. 
 Such matters belong to natural science and medical 
 and veterinary knowledge. Husbandry and breeding 
 have to do with the taming of great and wild animals 
 and birds. All arts and handicrafts are connected 
 with Physics. 
 
 D. Theologioal science is of five kinds : — ■ 
 1. The doctrine of the Creator. It rests on the 
 attribution of His oneness, and shows how He is the 
 ground of all existing things, the Creator of all crea- 
 tures. He holds existence within Himself, and bestows 
 it. He is the essence of all excellence and goodness. 
 He maintains order, gives duration, guides every- 
 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 203 
 
 thing. He knows the hidden. He is the first of all 
 things as beginning, and the last as end. He makes 
 all things known, is visible in His power, and embraces 
 all secrets in His knowledge. He is hearing, knowing, 
 kind, well-acquainted, and gentle with His servants. 
 
 2. The doctrine of spi7'itual beings treats of the 
 simple, reasoning, knowing, acting, forms free from 
 matter (as angels and Grod's purified servants), who, 
 joined close to one another, form the spiritual spheres, 
 which inclose the material spheres. 
 
 3. The doctrine of souls has to do with the souls 
 and spirits which penetrate the spheres and natural 
 bodies from the all-inclosing circle to the centre of 
 the earth — showing how these set the spheres in 
 their gyres and the stars in motion, nourish animals 
 and plants, bury themselves in the bodies of animals, 
 release themselves at death, and regulate the 
 " Direction." 
 
 4. The doctrine of '"'' Directions.'' They are of five 
 kinds : the prophetic, the kingly, the popular, the 
 household, and the individual. 
 
 6. The doctrine of the Return and the escape to 
 another world, or the awakening of souls out of their 
 dark bodies to the Return to the straight path. The 
 aim of all science is to point out the path which pro- 
 phets and philosophers trod. The beginning of all 
 knowledge is the knowledge of self. Self-knowledge 
 rests on four points : first, a man must know he is a 
 compound being, composed of a sensuous body and 
 a spiritual soul ; secondly, he must know how and 
 wherefore the soul and body are tied together ; thirdly. 
 
204 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 what the state of the soul was before it entered that 
 body; fourthly, what the state of the soul will be 
 when it is severed from the body by death.* 
 
 It will be noticed that while the Pure Brethren 
 made use of the details of many philosophical systems, 
 they arranged them after a manner peculiar to them- 
 selves. The salient feature in their metaphysics is 
 the vivid distinctness with which they realised the 
 relations of soul and matter in every form of existing 
 things. According to their system, the whole uni- 
 verse is an emanation from Grod, but not a direct 
 emanation. From God proceeds first a complete 
 spiritual substance, containing within itself the forms 
 of all things : this they named Reason. From Reason 
 emanated an inferior substance, the Universal or All- 
 soul^ whence proceeded primal matter ; when this 
 becomes capable of receiving dimensions it is called 
 secondary matter, and out of this were formed the 
 spheres, the earth, and all existing phenomena. All 
 material things become what they are by the influence 
 of soul. For soul is a spiritual force of two kinds, 
 and permeates all matter from the outer sphere to 
 the centre of the earth. The two kinds of soul-force 
 are its work-force, which forms and perfects all bodies, 
 and its intellectual-force, which forms and perfects 
 the inner being : both forces are sustained by a 
 perpetual effusion from Reason. 
 
 The all-soul is one : but there is no created thing 
 for which it has not a special force or part-soul. All 
 
 * "Makrokosmos," 124-130. 
 
THE BEOTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 205 
 
 the efficient forces of the all-soul working on matter 
 are part-souls ; whether it be the simple soul working 
 on simple bodies, like the spheres, stars, and elements ; 
 or the specific soul working on specific bodies, animals, 
 plants, and minerals ; or parfc-souls proper working 
 upon individual animals, plants, or minerals. The 
 all-soul rules the category, the simple soul the genus, 
 the specific soul the species, the part-soul the indi- 
 vidua! ; and the all-soul nourishes the simple soul, 
 the simple the specific, and the specific the part- 
 soul. 
 
 This union of matter and soul, which forms the 
 universe, is, however, only temporary. Soul inhabits 
 matter only for the purpose of bringing itself towards 
 perfection. As the body is supported by food, so is 
 the soul nourished by wisdom and knowledge and 
 spiritual discipline. If the soul assimilate wisdom, 
 righteousness, and faith, it grows more beautiful and 
 approaches perfection. But so long as it is linked to 
 matter, the soul can never attain absolute perfection. 
 The body, or matter, is but the egg which enables 
 the chick, the soul, to prepare itself for a higher 
 existence. When the process of education is over, 
 and the soul has taken to itself all the elements of 
 wisdom and faith of which it is capable, then the 
 prison-house of matter is burst open, and the soul 
 flies forth to join the universal soul from which it 
 originally proceeded. The body is merely a city 
 which lies desolate when the inhabitants are departed. 
 The soul is the inhabitant of the body, and as this 
 waxes old the soul draws nearer its awakenino^ and 
 
206 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 at last reaches its goal in the general realm of spirit. 
 This emancipation of the soul is the one end of life. 
 To prepare for the great home-quest by spiritual 
 exercises, study, self-denial, and purity of life, is the 
 one object of man's existence ; thus only can he attain 
 rest and peace. 
 
 This doctrine of emanation and return, and of the 
 temporary linking of soul to matter for a definite end, 
 permeates every page of the Tracts of the Brotherhood, 
 and is enforced by every variety of argument and 
 much beauty of illustration. We can trace European 
 analogies to it in the system of cosmogony and doc- 
 trine of worldly government of both the Dominicans 
 and the Franciscans ; but nowhere is it more nobly 
 or more winningly expressed than in the teaching of 
 the Brethren of Purity. The manner in which the 
 relation of spirit to matter is viewed by them is most 
 strikingly shown in the description of the awakening 
 of the soul from the sleep of sloth and blindness to 
 rise to the higher state ; as we read we remember 
 Milton's exquisite praise of purity : — 
 
 So dear to Heayen is saintly chastity 
 
 That when a soul is found sincerely so 
 
 A thousand liveried angels lackey her, 
 
 Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt ; 
 
 And in clear dream, and solemn vision. 
 
 Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear, 
 
 Till oft converse with heavenly habitants 
 
 Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape, 
 
 The unpolluted temple of the mind, 
 
 And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence. 
 
 Till all be made immortal. 
 
THE BEOTHERHOOD OF PURITY. 207 
 
 In their ideal of the higher life, indeed, the Brother- 
 hood of Purity belong to Christianity rather than to 
 Islam : but, in truth, their noble doctrine appeals to 
 what is best in all philosophies and religions. 
 
208 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 
 
 It Is the beginning of the Mohammadan year, the 
 sacred month Moharram, when feasts and rejoicings 
 and solemn services are held throughout the countries 
 of Islam. In Cairo they are lighting up the streets 
 where the few-«to-ry---teller9r-bliii^ -re-main are reciting 
 the old histories of Arab prowess and Bedawy love, 
 and the Ghawazy girls are distracting pious folk with 
 their dances ; and people are eating their 'Ashiira 
 cakes and giving alms for the sake of " our Lord 
 Hoseyn " ; and the crowd is heaving and struggUng 
 in the great mosque of the Hasaneyn, watching the 
 dervishes and making the circuit of the sacred tomb 
 where lies the trunkless head of the martyred Hoseyn. 
 But we are in Persia, where they hold a different 
 legend of this head, and have nothing to say to the 
 pretensions of their Cairene rivals. Still, the Persians 
 keep their Moharram after their own picturesque 
 fashion. Long processions of banner-bearers and 
 minstrels have been threading the streets between 
 lines of weeping people, who groan and cast dust 
 
THE PEESIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 209 
 
 on their heads. There is a sound of lamentation 
 ringing through the town, and every man is dressed 
 in a sombre garb of mourning. There are no joyous 
 revels, no feasts of delight; but the night is filled 
 with the voices of praying men and the chant of 
 funeral rites. As we push our way onward — at some 
 risk of a mischief from the bands of savage fellows 
 who parade the streets, bare-headed, stained with 
 their own blood, brandishing clubs, and shouting, 
 " Hoseyn ! king of martyrs ! " — we come to the 
 great open court of a palace, whence issue dolorous 
 cries, as though some horrid deed were a-doiug 
 within. We enter a square enclosure, tented over, 
 and see a plain raised platform, whereon a few men 
 and children stand gesticulating and reciting. Around 
 are all the people of the place, crowded together, in 
 dense lines from wall to platform, from the nobles in 
 the shut-off boxes at the wall, to the street urchins 
 crushed against the platform. "Women are there, 
 apart, seated each on a little bench. The men are all 
 squatted cross-legged on the ground. A vast amphi- 
 theatre of faces, all bent eagerly on the group in the 
 centre, and all showing the marks of grief and intense 
 sympathy with what is doing there. Every now and 
 then some one in the crowd lifts up his voice and 
 groans aloud ; then the rest take up the sound, and 
 the whole place rings with cries of "Fa Hasan I 
 Ya Hoseyn! Ay Hoseyn shdh!'^ till the groaning and 
 the shouts fall away into silence as suddenly as they 
 arose. At last there comes a pause : the group in the 
 midst have relaxed their efforts, the people's paroxysms 
 
 14 
 
210 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 of grief are hushed ; young men go round with water- 
 skins to moisten the dried throats ; and we can turn 
 and ask what this strange thing may mean. 
 
 The answer to this question is very easy to discover. 
 All the East knows it, and is ready to fight over it. 
 This performance is the play of " Hasan and Hoseyn " ; 
 it is the dramatic representation of the tragedy which 
 has divided the whole Muslim world from the begin- 
 ning till now into the two great parties of Sunnis and 
 Shi'a, ever hostile and filled with bitter hate for each 
 other ; the tragedy of the suffering House of 'Aly, 
 whence and in whose cause have come forward 
 countless claimants to the Khalif's throne, rebels 
 against the Khalif's law ; whose power has seated 
 dynasties in Egypt and in Spain ; in favour of whose 
 descendant even the 'Abbasy Khalif essayed to alter 
 the succession-line of the vicegerents of God. The 
 sympathy which this oppressed House has evoked 
 from subject races, and its pliant yielding to foreign 
 ideas, made it the parent of the strangest anji the 
 most outrageous of the doctrines which have grown 
 fungus-like upon the mighty trunk of Islam ; the 
 mysterious doctrines of the Isma'ilians, the apostolic 
 succession of the Imams, the blind devotion of the 
 credulous Berber, the horrors of the Karmathian, 
 the detestable Vehmgericht of the " Assassins," the 
 reign of terror of the mad khalif of Egypt, and the 
 wild apotheosis of the monster among the Druse 
 dwellers of the Lebanon ; all owe their origin to the 
 schism of the House of 'Aly. The Shi'a have had a 
 hand in most of the troubles of the Bast. Wherever 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 211 
 
 they were found in subjection, there infidelity and 
 sansculottism had a refuge. The hatred of the fol- 
 lowers of 'Aly towards the upholders of his enemies has 
 never slackened, neither has their love and reverence 
 for the holy family one jot abated ; and both find fuel 
 in the moving scenes of the Passion Play of "Hasan 
 and Hoseyn." They witness that play with an enthu- 
 siasm which strikes a Western beholder with amaze- 
 ment. The highest triumphs of the modern stage, 
 when the actor's genius has thrown its whole power 
 into the grandest productions of the old drama, and 
 the artist, the historian, and the mechanician have 
 combined to heighten the illusion by every contrivance 
 of stage effect and minute accuracy of detail, awaken 
 no fury of sympathy such as this simple ill-formed 
 play produces with " properties " and accessories so 
 rude that they would have been scoffed at even in 
 that plain little Globe Theatre on the Surrey side, 
 whose bareness Shakspere covered with his art as 
 with a king's mantle. Only in the Passion Play which 
 Ober-Ammergau has made famous can a parallel be 
 found to this Oriental witchery ; and even there, 
 with far greater skill and preparation, and a more 
 artistic setting, the audience seems cold and indifferent 
 to the Saviour's griefs by contrast with the tear- 
 stained faces of these heart-broken Easterns, who 
 bewail with dust-defiled head, and heaving breast, 
 smitten with passionate hands, the martyrdom of their 
 redeemer. Where else in the whole world shall we 
 see such passion of grief, such grandeur of selfless 
 sympathy, as here, where the people forget the passing 
 
 14 * 
 
212 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 of time and the change of place, and taking the rude 
 platform for the real scene of the martyrdom, and the 
 actors for those they represent, furiously stone the 
 soldiers of Yezid and drive them from the stage ; and 
 the murderer- actor so loses himself in his part, that 
 he thinks he sees the real Hoseyn in the man before 
 him, and actually beheads him before all eyes ! Such 
 things have been known in the playing of this 
 wonderful drama; and so commonly, that it has 
 become difficult to find actors who will take the un- 
 popular parts, for fear of death or at least a serious 
 bodily mischief ; and Russian prisoners, Morier tells 
 us, have been impressed to act the murderers, who 
 as soon as the bloody deed was done, the martyrdom 
 accomplished, fled from the theatre in mortal terror. 
 Even the murderers cannot go through their parts 
 without tears in their eyes — so deeply do the suffer- 
 ings of their actor victims touch their compunctious 
 hearts ! 
 
 The story of these ancient wrongs, this tragedy of 
 the early days of Islam, which is so real to millions 
 in India and Persia, seems very far away and meaning- 
 less to us in England, who scarcely know the names of 
 the martyrs, and can with difficulty separate the early 
 history of the Arabs from our recollections of the 
 " Thousand and One Nights." But this tragedy is 
 no fiction, though it has furnished the basis for a 
 thousand wild fancies of Mohammadan devotees for 
 many centuries. Those of us who still read our 
 Gibbon may remember the fine passages in which the 
 greatest of England's historians relates the wrongs of 
 
THE PERSIAN MIBACLE PLAY. 213 
 
 the House of 'Aly. It is an affecting story, which 
 moves us more in its simple outline than in the 
 mythical dress with which adoring ages have wrapped 
 it round, and whence modern writers have drawn 
 their imaginary ideals of the martyrs' conduct and 
 character. Little as Eastern history has entered 
 into the ordinary circle of reading, we have most of 
 us heard of the lion-hearted 'Aly, the Bayard of 
 Islam, nephew of Mohammad and adopted by him as 
 his own son, — the second convert to the new faith, and 
 from first to last the staunchest friend and valiantest 
 warrior that ever stood at the Prophet's right hand. 
 It was the common report that 'Aly would succeed 
 Mohammad as the leader of Islam, and when the 
 Prophet died it was a surprise to the Muslims that 
 he had not named 'Aly as the first Khalif. Without 
 such express appointment the post was sure to be 
 contested ; and the jealousy of certain families and 
 political parties, the seniority of other chief men, and 
 the hatred of 'Aisha, Mohammad's favourite wife, 
 whom 'Aly with some reason had suspected of an 
 intrigue, combined to exclude him from the supreme 
 power, which had not been specially intrusted to 
 him by the Prophet, and for which his near kinship 
 with Mohammad constituted no claim. It is a mistake 
 into which many writers, following Shi'y legends, 
 have fallen, to compassionate 'Aly as the lawful Khalif 
 deprived of his rights by usurpers. There were no 
 rights in the case. However much a sentiment of 
 reverence for the family of their prophet may have 
 inclined the early Muslims to prefer them to other 
 
214 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 claimants, there was no doctrine of heredity established 
 at the time of 'Aly. The election to the office of 
 Khalif, or chief of the religion and the state, was 
 vested in the whole body of the Faithful, and with 
 certain restrictions was open to any candidate who 
 might offer himself. The prime qualification was not 
 near kinship to the Prophet, but the capacity to rule 
 — the strong will, the wakeful energy, the prudence, 
 the diplomatic skill, which could alone maintain order 
 in the mixed and rebellious empire which Mohammad 
 had united by his supreme influence, but which was 
 now threatening to break up into its original divisions. 
 The bold resolute 'Omar was undoubtedly the fitter 
 man for this difficult position than the more shrinking 
 and scrupulous 'Aly, and Mohammad's old friend 
 Abu-Bekr had also, by his age and the respect in 
 which he was held of all men, as well as by his wise, 
 conciliating spirit, a valid title to the supreme voice. 
 The people did well to prefer these men to 'Aly, who 
 assuredly was not made of the stuff whereof conquer- 
 ing kings are fashioned. But when these were gone, 
 and the feeble 'Othman, the tool of the enemies of 
 'Aly, had met his death, there was no one so highly 
 esteemed among the original supporters of Mohammad 
 as his adopted son, and we may be sure that the 
 fact of his being the husband of the Prophet's 
 daughter Fatima, and the father of Hasan and Hoseyn, 
 the favourites of their late grandfather, and now 
 his sole male representatives, did not tell against 
 'Aly : and in 655 he became the fourth Khalif of Islam. 
 'Aly's reign was brief and troubled. He could not 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 215 
 
 enforce his authority in the distant provinces of the 
 momently increasing empire ; and Mo'awiya, the 
 governor of Syria, and representative of a family 
 which had always been at feud with that of Moham- 
 mad and 'Aly, openly refused to submit to his rule, 
 and proclaimed himself Khalif in his room. Whilst 
 still waging an unequal contest with this rival, 'Aly 
 was assassinated in the mosque of Kufa, not by 
 his enemy's orders, but by the hand of the agent of a 
 puritan sect, who deplored the divisions of Islam and 
 thought to heal them by the removal of 'Aly and his 
 opponents, Mo'awiya and 'Amr, at the same time. 
 Unfortunately they only succeeded in murdering 'Aly, 
 and Mo'awiya, who had made the Khalif's five years of 
 reign a burden to him, survived to persecute 'Aly's 
 sons and to establish his dynasty, which we call that 
 of the "Ommiade" or Umawy Khalif s, firmly at 
 Damascus. 
 
 The followers of 'Aly proclaimed his elder son, 
 Hasan, Khalif ; but this poor-spirited youth was con- 
 tent to sell his pretensions to the throne to his father's 
 enemy for a handsome pension, upon which he lived 
 at Medina in the midst of his well- stocked harim in 
 luxurious retirement. On his death, his brother Hoseyn 
 became the lawful KhaUf in the eyes of the partisans 
 of the House of 'Aly, who ignored the general admis- 
 sion of the authority of the " Ommiades," and sought 
 to establish a principle of hereditary succession in the 
 line of the Prophet's daughter, Fatima, 'Aly's wife. 
 For a time Hoseyn remained quietly at Medina, lead- 
 ing a life of devotion, and declining to push his claims. 
 
216 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 But at length an opportunity for striking a blow at 
 the rival House presented itself, and Hoseyn did not 
 hesitate to avail himself of it. He was invited to join 
 an insurrection which had broken out at Kilfa, the 
 most mutinous and fickle of all the cities of the empire; 
 and he set out with his family and friends, to the 
 number of one hundred souls, and an escort of five 
 hundred horsemen, to join the insurgents. As he drew 
 nigh to Kufa, he discovered that the rising had been 
 suppressed by the " Ommiade " governor of the city, 
 and that the country round him was hostile instead 
 of loyal to him. And now there came out from 
 Kufa an army of 4,000 horse, who surrounded the 
 little body of travellers, and cut them off alike from 
 the city and the river. Hoseyn vainly besought his 
 enemies to give him leave to return to the retirement 
 he had always preferred at Medina. His entreaties 
 were disregarded, and, seeing death lay inevitably 
 before him, he begged his little band of followers to 
 secure their own safety in flight : but they were men 
 of the true Arab mettle, and, staunch to the death, 
 stood up to the overwhelming forces arrayed against 
 their leader. A series of single combats, in which 
 Hoseyn and his followers displayed heroic courage, 
 ended in the death of the Imam and the men who 
 were with him, and the enslaving of the women and 
 children. How desperate was the fortitude, how ter- 
 rible the anguish, of the " Family of the Tent " on 
 this fatal field of Kerbela, will be seen in analysing 
 the drama which represents this tragical history. 
 Such is the bare outline of the misfortunes of 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 217 
 
 the House of 'Aly, so far as they are touched 
 upon in the "Miracle Play of Hasan and Hoseyn." 
 The later descendants of the afflicted line endured 
 many injuries from the orthodox Khalifs of both 
 the " Ommiade " and 'Abbasy dynasties, and at 
 times showed themselves worthy of their ancestry ; 
 but their story does not come within the scope of the 
 play, which confines itself to the original events, with 
 which nothing in the after history of the " Imams," as 
 'Aly's successors were called, can compare. The bare 
 incidents of this first and greatest ejDOch in the history 
 of Shi'y misfortune, set plainly forth without the 
 embellishment of religious fervour or political parti- 
 sanship, do not seem to warrant the immense enthu- 
 siasm of the Persians. One may indeed fairly admire 
 the many fine qualities of 'Aly, and deplore the but- 
 chering of his family ; but to go further, and insist 
 on the marvellous virtues of the whole household, 
 and the indefeasible divine right of 'Aly and his 
 descendants to the throne of Islam, is extravagance. 
 The divine right resolves itself, as we have seen, into 
 a popular vote ; and even the virtues of the family do 
 not bear very close inspection. The gentle 'Aly, of 
 whom Mr. Matthew Arnold has invented a fine ideal, 
 was certainly gentler than most of his contemporaries, 
 but it was he who conducted the bloody capture of 
 Khaybar ; and his domestic qualities are placed in 
 a singular light by the historians who mention his 
 twenty-eight wives or their equivalents. His devotion 
 to the Prophet, his uncompromising rectitude, his 
 valour, and his indecision are the prominent charac- 
 
>18 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 teristics of 'Aly : the rest is in the fond imagination 
 of his biographers. As to Hasan, his son, the latest 
 historian of Islam describes him as a voluptuary whom 
 luxury reconciled to the loss of a crown, and in whose 
 eyes women and wealth outweighed the ignominy of 
 a purchased abdication. The story of his being poi- 
 soned by command of the Khalif Yezid, son of the 
 hated Mo'awiya, appears to be a fable. Hasan died, 
 like any common Muslim, in his bed, and was no 
 martyr after all. The same authority brands Hoseyn 
 as an adventurer who had laid himself open to the 
 charge of perjury and high treason. It is possible to 
 exaggerate as much on one side as the other, and Pro- 
 fessor Dozy is perhaps as unfair to the House of 'Aly 
 as Mr. Arnold is unduly partial. The truth seems to 
 lie between — in the view which accords to 'Aly and his 
 family all the merits of a worthy but persecuted line 
 of pretenders to a throne they were ill qualified to fill, 
 but which cannot grant them the aureoles of saints 
 and martyrs. 
 
 Round this simple story of rival families, impotent 
 claims, and cruel suppression, has grown up a won- 
 derful crop of fables, by which the family of 'Aly, and 
 especially Hoseyn, have been credited with quahties 
 almost divine. Unable to believe that their Imam was 
 conquered and killed against his will, the Shi'a have 
 made the whole tragedy a predestined case of vica- 
 rious sacrifice. Hoseyn is foretold as a victim in the 
 ^ cause of Islam. " He shall die for the sake of my 
 people," says Mohammad of his grandson, according 
 to these legends, and the " Passion Play " is full of 
 
THE PERSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 219 
 
 allusions to Hoseyn's redemptive work and voluntary 
 sacrifice of his body for the sins of the Muslim world. 
 Hoseyu himself knows, when only a child, the destiny 
 that lies before him. " All the rational creatures," he 
 says, " men and Jinn, who inhabit the present and 
 future worlds, are sunk in sin, and have but one 
 Hoseyn to save them " ; and when 'Aly speaks mourn- 
 fully of the woes that shall happen to his family, 
 Hoseyn answers, " Father, there is no occasion to call 
 these things trials, since all refer to the salvation of 
 our sinful followers. Thou, Hasan, and I, together 
 with my mother the virgin, will accept sufferings 
 according to the best of our ability." Standing by 
 the grave of Mohammad, before departing on the 
 fatal journey to Kerbela, Hoseyn says, " How can I 
 forget thy people, since I am going to offer myself 
 voluntarily for their sakes ? " and Mohammad tells 
 him he has taken off from his heart the burden of 
 grief he had for the future state of mankind ; and 
 Hoseyn departs with this speech, which savours of 
 Siifism : " I have found behind this veil what my 
 heart has sought after for years. Now I am made 
 free. I have washed my hands of life. I have girded 
 myself to do the will of God." And so throughout the 
 journey and on the field of battle he and all those 
 about him are continually referring to this voluntary 
 expiation of the sins of his people ; and he dies with 
 this thought, and in meek compliance with the will of 
 God, and will awake at the Resurrection with the 
 intercessory power he has purchased with his blood. 
 Without the introduction of this important element 
 
220 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 of self-sacrifice to idealise the character of Hoseyn, 
 the unvarnished tale might not call forth the intense 
 sympathy with which it is received among the Shi'a. 
 When Hoseyn has been represented as a self-renounc- 
 ing redeemer of men, and his sufferings voluntarily 
 undergone out of love for mankind, the tragedy wears 
 a new interest and gains a wider influence. The 
 ^ Persian sects have always shown a leaning towards 
 asceticism and the renouncing of self — or what they 
 fancied such — and this sacrifice of Hoseyn immediately 
 appealed to their predisposition. But more than this ; 
 the story of a life surrendered for others' sake, the 
 sad devotedness of Hoseyn, stir a feeling that exists 
 in every heart — a certain admiration for self-denial 
 which the most selfish men feel — a sort of worship 
 for high ideals of conduct which has a corner in the 
 most unromantic heart. It is the sorrowful resigned- 
 ness, the willing yet tortured self- dedication of the 
 martyr, that touches. One may see in it a Christian 
 side to Islam. In the dry severity of the Arabian 
 faith there is too little of the self-giving love which 
 renounces all, even life itself, for the sake of others ; 
 there is more of the stiff-necked pharisaical pride 
 which holds up its righteous liead on its assured way 
 I to the pleasures of Paradise. The death of Hoseyn, as 
 \idealised by after ages, fills up this want in Islam ; it 
 is the womanly as against the masculine, the Christian 
 as opposed to the Jewish, element that this story 
 supplies to the religion of Mohammad. 
 
 But this idealisation of the story of the " Family of 
 the Tent " is not the cause but the effect of the wide- 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 221 
 
 spread admiration of the ShT'a for the House of 'Aly, 
 Men must have believed in the greatness and goodness 
 of 'Aly and his sons, and their just title to the throne, 
 before they came to idealise all the virtues they pos- 
 sessed or did not possess. There were many influences 
 that made for the ShI'y cause, especially in Persia ; 
 and once firmly planted there, it soon found the means 
 of widening its boundaries and spreading over a great 
 part of the Mohammadan empire. The Persians, as a ' 
 down-trodden race, instinctively sympathised with the / 
 family that had suffered at the hands of the same 
 oppressors as themselves. How quickly this sym- 
 pathy was kindled, and how widely it was felt, may 
 be judged from the fact that the famous Klialif 
 El-Mamun, the son of Harim er-Rashid, and the 
 descendant of Khalifs of unimpeachable orthodoxy, 
 himself recognised the title of the Imams to reign on 
 his throne, and went so far as to appoint (though the 
 death of the Imam annulled the appointment) the then- 
 living representative of the family of 'Aly, the Imam 
 Er-Riza, to whose splendid tomb in Khorasan the pious 
 Persian still retires to die, as his successor on the 
 throne of the Khalifs of Baghdad, and to inscribe the 
 heretical name upon his coinage : and why ? — because 
 El-Mamun was the representative of the Persians, by 
 whose aid he had triumphed over his brother El-Amin, 
 and was bound to favour the sympathies of his 
 supporters. And once the Persians had adopted the 
 Shi'y cause, it forthwith gained in attractiveness by 
 their developrnent of its mystical side. There were 
 many mysterious properties assigned to the members 
 
222 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 of the holy family, and the Persians, with their 
 love of the supernatural, turned them to the utmost 
 account, and elaborated a hundred quaint fancies and 
 curious dogmas, which considerably aided the propa- 
 gation of the Shi'y heresy, and especially met with an 
 enthusiastic reception from the credulous Berbers, 
 from whose fostering succour most of the great sec- 
 tarian dynasties of Africa, Egypt, and Spain derived 
 their first strength. The splendid organisation of the 
 schismatics had no parallel in any of the other parties 
 of Islam, and the Da'is, or missionaries, of the Shi'a 
 spread the faith abroad in a propaganda which would 
 not have discredited the Society of Jesus. Finally, 
 the weakness of the orthodox 'Abbasy rule and the 
 unmanageable extent of the Khalif's dominions offered 
 a favourable field for rebellion, and as it needed a reli- 
 gious excuse to rouse Muslims against their spiritual 
 chiefs, the schism of 'Aly's house furnished a plausible 
 colour to all treasonable agitators, and became an 
 invaluable peg on which to hang an insurrection. The 
 founders of all the great dynasties that pretended to 
 a rival spiritual power claimed a descent, real or pre- 
 tended, from 'Aly and the daughter of the Prophet. 
 
 From these and like causes Shi'ism found favour 
 in a large part of the kingdoms of Islam ; and 
 though in Africa it has lost most of its hold, Persia 
 and a part of India remain devoted to the House of 
 'Aly. Instead of journeying to Mekka, the Persian 
 pilgrims to the Meshhed 'Aly, the supposed tomb of 
 'Aly, in the desert near Kufa, and to the Meshhed 
 Hoseyn, " the holy, blissful martyr for to seke " in his 
 
THE PEESIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 223 
 
 tomb amid the beautiful gold-roofed mosques and 
 minarets and the green gardens of Kerbela. " In the 
 fourth century a tomb, a temple, a city arose near the 
 ruins of Kufa. Many thousands of the Shi'a repose in 
 holy ground at the foot of the vicar of God ; and the 
 desert is vivified by the numerous and annual visits of 
 the Persians, who esteem their devotion not less 
 meritorious than the pilgrimage to Mekka." The rich 
 pay vast sums for the privilege of being buried there, 
 and the earth of the vicinity is sold to pilgrims at 
 a great price, by reason of the virtue it is said to 
 possess. No person, past or present, receives such 
 honour and reverence in Persia as the family of 'Aly. 
 It is possible to curse freely anything in that country 
 or in the world outside without annoyance or hin- 
 drance — save the holy Imams and the wife of the man 
 you are addressing. 
 
 Every year, as the month of Moharram comes 
 round, this devotion displays itself in a grand festival, 
 lasting ten days, in which the history and sufferings 
 of the holy family are commemorated, concluding with 
 the agonising climax of the martyrdom of Hoseyn. 
 The whole town — every town throughout the country 
 — goes into mourning during these days, and the 
 streets are filled with grief-stricken faces. No one 
 seems to sleep, and the night is noisy with funeral 
 wakes, and the solemn voices of the Seyyids Ruza- 
 khaus, and services are going on perpetually at the 
 theatres, where also twice a day the melancholy drama 
 is performed which shows the vast multitudes who 
 resort thither the tragical history of the martyrs of 
 
224 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Kerbela. The theatre (tehja) is a plain inclosure, 
 built or boarded off in the court of a mosque or palace, 
 or any other open space, or permanently attached to a 
 rich man's house. It is sheltered from the sun and 
 the rain by an enormous awning, stretched on masts, 
 hung with panther and tiger skins, shields and swords, 
 and countless lamps. In the centre is a brick plat- 
 form, surrounded with a scaffolding of black poles, 
 from which hang coloured lamps to light up the even- 
 ing performances. At the back of the platform is 
 placed the tab fit, or model of the martyrs' tombs, 
 which forms a very important part of the " pro- 
 perties," and in the houses of the rich, instead of the 
 common lath and plaster and tinsel, this is made of 
 gold and silver, or ivory and ebony, elaborately inlaid. 
 
 These tdbfds are not only found in the theatres, but 
 are placed all over the city ; rich and poor erect them ; 
 bonfires are kept constantly blazing before them, and 
 groups of frantic men and women dance round them, 
 and leap through the flames, to the music of castanets 
 and the yells of wild Berbers, who beat themselves 
 with chains and prick their flesh with needles, in 
 remorse for the sin of one of their race, who is re- 
 ported by tradition to have mocked at the sufferings 
 of the holy martyrs. Even the poorest keep some 
 sort of illumination alight during this great festival, if 
 it be only a nightlight in a jar sunk in the earth. 
 
 In front of the tdbfct, in the theatre, are placed the 
 " properties " of the play — Hoseyn's banner, sword 
 and spear, and the like, and the tank which is to 
 represent the river Euphrates ; and in front is a 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 225 
 
 movable pulpit. Simple as are these preparations, the 
 theatre is often a spectacle of Oriental magnificence 
 of the most splendid and profuse order. The per- 
 formances and the decorations are generally the gift of 
 some noble or rich man, who has a mind for popu- 
 larity in this world and the next, and has no dislike to 
 making an opportunity for the display of his jewellery 
 and treasures, which are sometimes exhibited to the 
 value of millions of pounds. All religious people are 
 aware that to give a ta^ziya, or performance of the 
 miracle-play, is to collect bricks for one's eternal 
 mansion in the skies : and the costlier the bricks, the 
 better for the soul. A specially gorgeous chamber in 
 the wall is often prepared to assist in the represen- 
 tation of scenes which are meant to depict splendour, 
 such as that where the Khalif's court at Damascus is 
 introduced ; and in this chamber royal jewels of 
 untold value sparkle, and the richest stuffs and em- 
 broideries of the country are used to decorate it. 
 Round the walls of the theatre are beautifully orna- 
 mented side-boxes (or the windows of the over-looking 
 houses may serve) which are quickly filled by their 
 wealthy decorators, — else anyone might enter them, 
 for the play is open free to all the world, except 
 Sunnis. The whole theatre is bathed in a dazzling 
 light, from the thousand wax candles that surround 
 the tdbfdj and the lamps and lustres and chandeliers 
 of coloured glass that hang in all directions from the 
 awning and light up the beautiful porcelain vases 
 and the paintings and the hundred treasures of art 
 and antiquity that are spread recklessly around. We 
 
 15 
 
226 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 might believe that the golden prime of the good Harun 
 er-Rashid was come back to the world that had long 
 mourned its departure, and that we were again walk- 
 ing in the magic world of Afrits and bottled Jinn, and 
 lamps, and rings, and one-eyed " Calendars," which 
 Ja'far and his master, with black Mesrur, invaded in 
 their nocturnal rambles. 
 
 These theatres with their decorations are costly 
 gifts to the people. Their preparation and embellish- 
 ment, together with the pay* and entertainment of 
 the actors, who are always royally entreated, and the 
 constant distribution of largesses, sometimes reach no 
 trifling total, and seven millions of francs have been 
 expended on a single theatre during the ten days. 
 Hardly anything ca^n be used twice — the decorations 
 are given to the poor at the end of the performance, 
 except those portions which are solemnly buried on 
 the last day. Yet so little is the cost taken into 
 account, that a large town, like Teheran, will erect a 
 number of tekyas, on every available open space ; and 
 theatres have been built so large as to gather within 
 them twenty thousand persons. 
 
 The audience — except the blazing mass of jewellery 
 and gorgeous apparel in tlie side-boxes occupied by 
 
 * The pay of a jeune premier with, a good voice has been known 
 to reach 300 tomans, or nearly .£150, for the ten days of the 
 performance : but it must be remembered that the actors generally 
 ])erform half a dozen ta'z'iyehs in one day in large towns, the same 
 troop going from one telcya to another from five o'clock in the 
 morning to late in the evening. The men of Isfahan are preferred 
 for the leading parts on account of their graceful dialect and 
 their exceptional elocutionary powers. 
 
THE PERSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 227 
 
 the rich and noble — are seated cross-legged on the 
 floor, squeezing cl(5se up to the platform, so that the 
 actors mount to it over them. And before that easrer 
 multitude, heated with the crowding and the excite- 
 ment of the time — in the midst of that glare of light 
 and flash of jewels and mingled glory of Eastern 
 colour — on that plain platform, with no scenery, no 
 accessories, a heap of straw for the plain of Kerbela, 
 and a copper basin for " the great river, the river 
 Euphrates " — without backgrounds or footlights, 
 without a trace of mystery or illusion — a body of 
 earnest men, and children filled with a solemn child's 
 awe of unknown mysteries, aided by a prompter 
 and chorus, will act, in the chanting manner of the 
 East, the story of the martyrs, the Passion Play of 
 " Hasan and Hoseyn," till the whole multitude, actors 
 and audience, will forget where they are and who they 
 are, and will sway and groan and weep and shout as 
 though the things they saw were no acting, but the 
 real sufferings of their martyred saints. 
 
 This Drama, played in this rude fashion, yet with 
 the skill which comes of real enthusiasm added to 
 careful training, is a potent means of keeping alive 
 the zeal of the Shi' a. It touches the people in their 
 tenderest sympathies. It - reminds the Persians of 
 their own oppression under a foreign yoke, in recalHng 
 the persecution, by the same oppressors, of the martyr 
 whose cause they identified with their own. Hoseyn 
 was their kinsman, not only by the bond of suffering, 
 but by the tie of marriage ; for he had wedded the 
 daughter of the last Sassanian King Yezdegird, whom 
 
 15 * 
 
228 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Sa'd and his Arabs vanquislied on the field of Kadisia. 
 It reminds them of tragedies in "their own history, 
 before Shi'ism became the ruling faith, when the 
 hateful Sunnis were trampling them under bloody 
 feet. It brings to their mind cruelties which were 
 but the legitimate continuation of the murderous 
 work at Kerbela. It fires them with fierce indignation 
 against their oppressors. The softening influence of 
 the self-sacrifice of Hoseyn, as depicted in the play, 
 / whilst it draws tears from their eyes, calls forth no 
 answering gentleness and long-suffering in their own 
 lives. They see not the example, but the victim to 
 be avenged; and so real and earnest is their hate, 
 that it fares ill with any Sunny whom they may 
 meet in this period of excitement. The festival of 
 Moharram is an anxious time for the Government 
 of India. 
 
 Travellers in Persia and Indian residents have often 
 written of this play. At the beginning of this century 
 Morier published accounts of his two journeys 
 through Persia, and described, though briefly and 
 without specimens, this drama ; and a native of the 
 Deccan, Ja'far Sherif, in his " Qanoon-e-Islam, or 
 the Customs of the Moosulmans of India," translated 
 in 1832 by Dr. Herklots — a work which seems to have 
 escaped the observation of later writers — devotes con- 
 siderable space to a minute description of the play 
 and the rites of Moharram. The Comte de Gobineau, 
 in his " Trois Ans en Asie," and more fully in his 
 "Religions et Philosophies en Asie," has accorded 
 it very detailed and interesting notices, which Mr. 
 
THE PEESIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 229 
 
 Matthew Arnold has popularised for English readers 
 in an essay which appeared in the " Cornhill Maga- 
 zine," and was afterwards incorporated in the new 
 edition of " Essays in Criticism." Professor Dozy, in 
 his " Essai sur I'Histoire de I'lslamisme," has devoted 
 much space to a graphic description of the Moharram 
 festival and the play. The best account, however, is 
 to be found in Chodzko's beautiful little volume, the 
 "Theatre Persan," in which not only is the perform- 
 ance and the setting of the play described, but five 
 scenes are translated at length. But no complete 
 version or translation of this remarkable drama had 
 appeared in any language imtil Sir Lewis Pelly 
 brought out his handsome volumes. It would per- 
 haps be more accurate to speak of the plays rather 
 than play ; for on no two occasions is the performance 
 precisely the same ; the treatment of the subject, the 
 number of scenes, and the choice of them, vary in 
 every instance, and the words are subject to the 
 extemporaneous modifications of the actor as well as 
 the changes which the anonymous playwrights, fol- 
 lowing the progress of the art of developing legends, 
 are compelled from time to time to introduce. The 
 scenes extracted from Count Gobineau by Mr. Arnold 
 do not tally with the corresponding scenes in Sir 
 Lewis Pelly's edition ; and the former mentions 
 scenes which are absolutely wanting in the latter. 
 Chodzko, again, differs from Sir Lewis Pelly, and his 
 manuscript of thirty-three scenes contained incidents 
 altogether missing here. But practically the scenes 
 are very much the same in all accounts ; the differ- 
 
 (f 
 
230 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 ence is chiefly of words, and the absence of certain 
 portions may be accounted for by Sir Lewis Felly's 
 admission that out of fifty-two scenes he omitted 
 fifteen, with the design, as he says, of " drawing the 
 line somewhere even in harrowing up the feelings " : 
 a more obvious reason is surely the shortening of an 
 apparently endless book. The differences between 
 the several versions are so immaterial, and the general 
 aim and character of the play are so constant in all, 
 that those who read Sir Lewis Felly's " Miracle Flay 
 of Hasan and Hosain," may be sure they have a fair 
 example of the drama that exercises so powerful an 
 influence on innumerable audiences in Fersia and 
 among our Indian fellow-countrymen. 
 
 In the performance of the play there is a sort of 
 equivalent to an overture, which varies in every case. 
 A prologue is recited by a dervish or mulla, or in 
 their absence by the ordinary choragus of the actors. 
 It is thus briefly described by Sir George Birdwood,* 
 but longer addresses are recorded by Count Gobineau 
 and Mr. Arnold : — 
 
 The thronging visitoi-s at first cover the whole area of the 
 inclosure, laughing and talking like a crowd at a fair. But in 
 the midst of the hubbub a signal is given, it may be by the 
 muffled beating of a drum, in slow time, the measured beats 
 becoming fainter and more faint, until step by step the people 
 fall back into their places, and are at length hushed in a silence 
 which is most expressive in its dramatic effect. Then a mulla 
 enters the pulpit, and intones a sort of "argument" or prelude 
 to the play. He begins in some such form as this : " O ye 
 
 * In the Introduction to Sir Lewis Felly's " Miracle Play of 
 Hasan and Hosain." 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 231 
 
 Faitliful, give ear! and open your hearts to the wrongs and 
 sufferings of his Highness the Imam 'Ali, the vicegerent of the 
 Prophet, and let your eyes flow with tears, as a river, for the 
 woes that befel their Highnesses the beloved Imams Hasan and 
 Hoseyn, the foremost of the bright youths of Paradise." 
 
 For a while he proceeds amid the deep silence of the eager 
 audience, but as he goes on, they will be observed to be swaying 
 to and fro, and all together ; at first almost imperceptibly, but 
 gradually with a motion that becomes more and more marked. 
 Suddenly a stifled sob is heard, or a cry, followed by more and 
 more sobbing and crying, and rapidly the swaying to and fro 
 becomes a violent agitation of the whole assembly, which rises in 
 a mass, everyone smiting his breast with open hand, and raising 
 the wild, rhythmical wail of Ya Ali ! Ay Hasan ! Ay Hoseyn ! 
 Ay Hasan ! Ay Hoseyn ! Hoseyn SMh ! As the wailing gathers 
 force, and threatens to become ungovernable, a chorus of mourners 
 which has formed almost without observation on the arena, begins 
 chanting, in regular Gregorian music, a metrical version of the 
 story, which calls back the audience from themselves, and im- 
 perceptibly at last soothes and quiets them again. At the same 
 time the celebrants come forward, and take up the " properties " 
 before the tabtlt, and one represents Hoseyn, another El-'Abbas, 
 his brother and standard-bearer, another El-Hurr, and another 
 Shemmar, all going through their parts (which it seems to be the 
 duty of the chorus every now and then more fully to explain), 
 not after the manner of actors, but of earnest men, absorbed in 
 some high sacrament, without consciousness of themselves or of 
 their audience. 
 
 The ten days' performances {tcCzlyas) ought to 
 represent severally the events of each of the ten 
 days of the original history; but it is doubtful 
 whether this is ever strictly carried out in India. It 
 is certain that the arrangement of the play, like the 
 form and decoration of the theatre, and the manner 
 of the performance, varies greatly in different parts of 
 the East. The first day should properly describe 
 the departure of Hoseyn, against the entreaties of 
 
232 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 his friends, on the fatal journey to Kufa ; but it is 
 usual to act various preliminary scenes before arriving 
 at this point. A certain amount of suspense increases 
 the excitement of the audience ; and accordingly the 
 actors go through some incident taken from the Old 
 Testament or from Eastern history, or from the legends 
 of 'Aly or of Hoseyn's youth, before they enter upon 
 the main theme. Thus, Sir Lewis Felly's edition pre- 
 sents eleven scenes (and others have probably been 
 omitted) before that describing the departure of 
 Hoseyn from Medina, though it must not be inferred 
 that all these scenes were acted at a single Moharram. 
 The prompter or manager would probably select two 
 or three, and then proceed to the great subject of the 
 drama. 
 
 The first scene in Sir Lewis Felly's version repre- 
 sents the familiar picture of Joseph thrown into the 
 well by his brethren. His sufferings and Jacob's 
 anguish at the loss of his son are expatiated upon 
 only in order to enhance the impression of the still 
 greater sufferings of the martyrs at Kerbela presently 
 to be set forth, and Jacob is made to admit the 
 triviality of his woes in comparison with Hoseyn's to 
 the angel Gabriel, who is sent to console the bereaved 
 patriarch. 
 
 Gahriel (to Jacob). Peace be unto thee, thou wise proj^het : the 
 incomparable God, sending thee salutation, says : " What thinkest 
 thou, afflicted one? Is thy Joseph more precious than Mo- 
 hammad's dear grandson, before whose eyes all his comjDanions 
 were first slain, and his own body being riddled by arrows, he 
 was afterwards most cruelly jjut to death, and his corpse thrown 
 on the ground?" 
 
THE PERSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 233 
 
 Jacoh. Oh, may a thousand ones like me and my Joseph be 
 a ransom for Hoseyn ! May a thousand Josephs be the dust of 
 his feet ! May the curse of God rest on Yezid and his i)arty, 
 who cruelly murdered that Imam ! Come, Gabriel ! show me 
 the plain of Kerbelfi, for God's sake ! 
 
 Gabriel. O Jacob, may Gabriel be a ransom for thee ! May 
 I perish for thy name, thou manifest messenger of God ! Come 
 and peep through my finger. Behold thence the land of Kerbelfi. 
 
 Jacob. Declare unto me, messenger of the glorious Lord, 
 part of the sad transaction of Kerbela, for thy speech has greatly 
 grieved me ; it has rendered my eyes like the river Jeyhuu. 
 
 Gabriel. Alas ! the tyranny of the cruel spheres ! Who can 
 hear the sad things done in Kerbela ! Injustice and oppression, 
 hatred and enmity, shall attain to their perfection in that plain 
 of trial as regards the descendants of God's Prophet. One shall 
 hear no cry from that holy family but for bread and water. 
 Their sad voices shall reach the very throne of the Majesty on 
 high. Their tears shall saturate all that field of battle. The 
 children of that Eang of religion shall subsist on the tears alone 
 of their own eyes. 
 
 And SO the scene ends. Throughout all the early 
 part of the play, before the actual journey of Hoseyn 
 begins, the one object is to foreshadow the great 
 sacrifice by examples of lesser sufferings. Everyone 
 knows already, or is told by Mohammad or by Hoseyn, 
 the approaching tragedy of Kerbela ; and the pains of 
 all are alleviated by the contemplation of the greater 
 sufferings of the days to come. Everything leads up 
 to the crowning act of Hoseyn's life. The child 
 of Ibrahim, the warrior 'Aly, the Imam Hasan, all are 
 anxious to sacrifice their lives for the sins of the 
 people of Islam ; but it is only to point out the way 
 to Hoseyn's greater surrender of his life for the 
 souls of sinners, by which he alone obtained the high 
 power, of intercession with God in the Last Day. 
 
234 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 THroufrliout these earlier scenes, Hoseyn is the 
 principal character, overshadowing in his splendour 
 even the brightness of Mohammad himself. In the 
 second scene, when Mohammad has to choose between 
 the death of his own child Ibrahim and 'Aly's child 
 Hoseyn, he sacrifices his own fatherly love to the 
 happiness of the family of 'Aly, and permits Azrail, 
 the Angel of Death, to draw out the soul of Ibrahim. 
 Gabriel then proposes to Mohammad that Hoseyn 
 shall be made a propitiation for the sins of " his 
 beloved people, his true family, his broken-winged 
 birds," the people of Islam ; and on the Prophet's 
 consent Gabriel promises that on the Day of Judg- 
 ment God will forgive all the sins of the people "for 
 the Imam's meritorious blood's sake": and Azrail, 
 struck with Hoseyn's appearance, recalls a sentence 
 from the Preserved Tablet, the great Book of God, 
 that "he who loves Hoseyn and mourns for him is 
 passed from death unto life." It is one of the most 
 dramatic scenes in the play. The terror of the child 
 at the approach of the Angel of Death, the soothing 
 of Hoseyn, and the grief of Mohammad, are finely 
 expressed. 
 
 In the third scene, Mohammad is enlightened by 
 Gabriel as to the distribution of the various classes 
 of sinners in the seven hells, and finds to his dismay 
 that even Muslims may be damned : he is led to the 
 graveyard, where he hears the cries of a disobedient 
 son who is condemned to perpetual torture because 
 his mother will not forgive him. His agonies in the 
 flames are vividly described. All the bystanders are 
 
THE PERSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 235 
 
 filled with compassion, and one after another the 
 sacred famil}'' endeavour to induce the mother to 
 forgive her son and deliver him from hell ; but she 
 continues obdurate until Hosoyn softens her heart 
 with a description of the pains he is destined to 
 suffer at Kerbela, and Gabriel threatens her with 
 untold punishment if she does not yield to the 
 entreaties of the holy Imam ; and at last she consents 
 to release her son from his agony. And so all the 
 scenes bear upon the goodness and the influence of 
 Hoseyn, and his knowledge and willing acceptance 
 of the coming death at Kerbela, which shall be the 
 redemption of the sinners among the Muslims whose 
 damnation had so deeply moved the soul of Moham- 
 mad. In the fourth scene, 'Aly shows himself ready 
 to sacrifice his life for the sake of his erring fellow- 
 creatures ; — it is only a finger-post to the plain of 
 Kerbela. In the fifth scene, the death of Mohammad, 
 from whose dying moments the (historical) presence of 
 'Aisha is studiously omitted, serves to admit the (sup- 
 posed) declaration of 'Aly's appointment as the first 
 Khalif, and Mohammad's consignment of the -turban, 
 Moses' rod, Solomon's signet, and the like to this 
 favoured disciple. The sixth directs the indignation 
 of the Shi'a against the usurping Abu-Bekr, and the 
 cruel 'Omar, whose endeavour to force 'Aly to recognise 
 the former is detailed in all its fictitious violence. 
 The" death of Fatima in the seventh scene is the 
 occasion for the display of the sacred relics of the 
 Shi'a — the tooth which Mohammad lost at the battle 
 of Ohud, the ring which will refresh the lips of 'Aly 
 
236 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Akbar at Kerbela, and the torn shirt which Hoseyn 
 will put on when he goes to his death. Distinctions 
 of time are boldly disregarded in the whole of this 
 curious drama ; everyone speaks of the history of 
 the " Family of the Tent " at Kerbela and all that 
 will happen to them, as though they were accomplished 
 facts. The death of 'Aly and the poisoning of his 
 successor the Imam Hasan, when the hated dowager, 
 'Aisha, is introduced, in order to receive the full 
 brunt of Shi'y indignation, on her refusal to allow 
 Hasan to be interred in the sepulchre of Mohammad, 
 bring the introductory scenes almost to a close. Two 
 more, describing the execution by the governor 
 of Kufa of the envoy whom Hoseyn had sent, in 
 order to test the loyalty of the city, and the murder 
 of the envoy's sons, in violation of the laws of hospi- 
 tality — the children's deaths are told in an aifectingly 
 simple manner — lead us to the main theme, the 
 journey and fighting and death of the Imam Hoseyn 
 (scenes xii-xxiii. in Sir Lewis Felly's edition). 
 
 On the first day of the sixty-first year of the Flight, 
 or in October 680 a.d., in spite of the warnings of 
 his friends and the presentiments of his own heart, 
 or, as the Shi 'a say, in order to accomplish his known 
 fate and work his redemptive mission, Hoseyn left 
 Medina for Kiifa. When Zeyneb, his sister, asks 
 Hoseyn why all this slaughter must take place at 
 Kerbela, he answers, '' The helpless people of the 
 Prophet of Grod have no rock of salvation to fly to 
 for a refuge except Hoseyn. They have no advocate 
 with God on the Day of Judgment except Hoseyn. 
 
THE PERSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 237 
 
 The way of salvation is shut up against them on 
 account of their manifold sins ; and, except Hoseyn, 
 none can make a proper atonement or propitiation for 
 transgression. Who could save the people of God 
 from the wrath to come, seeing the empire of faith 
 has no other king but Hoseyn?" And so he goes 
 like a lamb to the slaughter. Letters from Kufa 
 arrive, saying how the Euphrates is as restless as 
 quicksilver in its longing for him, and the land of 
 Kerbela has worn out its eyes looking for his coming. 
 The country of Kiifa is as a tulip-field, but without 
 the rose of the face of Hoseyn it seems but thorns to 
 its inhabitants. As Hoseyn knew beforehand how 
 deceptive were these promises of support, and was 
 aware he should die in that same tulip-field, the intro- 
 duction of these despatches was needless. But it is 
 noticeable that in the attempt to adhere to a certain 
 amount of historical truth, and yet to retain the 
 favourite traditions and fancies of the Shl'a, consis- 
 tency is wholly lost sight of. The audience are too 
 deeply moved to notice the fault, and in such a 
 work as this it would be absurd to expect anything 
 different. 
 
 When Hoseyn draws nigh to Kufa, he meets with 
 a reconnoitring party of the army that has been 
 collected to meet him, and by the advice of the 
 captain, El-Hurr by name, turns off the main road 
 and arrives at Kerbela. Here, encircled by enemies, 
 forbidden either to advance or to retreat, the little 
 band meets death bravely in a series of single com- 
 bats. El-Hurr, who had deserted to the party of the 
 
238 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Imam, is the first to fall, then others go out and fight 
 and are slain, and next 'Aly Akbar, the eldest son of 
 Hoseyn, who is determined to be the first of his 
 family to die for the Imam. 
 
 The death of Kasim, son of Hasan, immediately 
 after his marriage with Fatima, a daughter of his 
 uncle Hoseyn, is one of the more striking of these 
 preliminary encounters, and forms the subject of a 
 special ceremony in the Moharram festival. On the 
 seventh day this scene is acted, and the acting is 
 not confined to the performance in the theatre. A 
 wedding procession winds through the streets by 
 night. The wedding presents come first, surrounded 
 by armed men ; richly dressed servants carry salvers 
 with fruit and flowers and sweetmeats. The bridal 
 litter follows, gorgeously embellished with silver and 
 lighted up by a crowd of torch-bearers. Musicians 
 close the rear, and a multitude of spectators. They 
 come to the theatre, and with joyous shouts make the 
 tour of the inclosure,^ finally placing the wedding gifts 
 by the model of the Tombs. Hardly are the gifts 
 deposited, when another procession appears. A long 
 line of mourners, bearing the bier of the martyred 
 bridegroom, surrounded by wailing people, who lead 
 in their midst the horse of the martyr, on which are 
 hung his turban, sword, and arrows, solemnly traverses 
 the theatre, just as the joyous bridal party had 
 traversed it before, and takes up its station, like the 
 other, by the Tombs. And then the play goes on. 
 No more powerful or effective contrast could be 
 imagined. The thought of the bridegroom tearing 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 239 
 
 himself from his bride's caresses and rushing to meet 
 death for his saintly uncle on the wedding-day moves 
 intense sympathy in the spectators. The peculiar 
 improbability of a marriage in a beleaguered family 
 hourly expecting death, the reluctance of everybody 
 to this strange union, which the Imam abruptly 
 declares must be arranged in accordance with some 
 forgotten wish of his brother Hasan, are all unnoticed; 
 the one thought is the heroic devotion of the bride- 
 groom. 
 
 Scene after scene, we find nothing but accounts of 
 single combats between the relations of Hoseyn and 
 the enemy. They are all very much alike. They 
 begin with general lamentations of the whole of the 
 " Family of the Tent." Then one of them resolves 
 to go out and fight. A heart-breaking farewell is 
 gone through, and he departs. After abusing the 
 enemy in melodious verse, to which the foes reply in 
 common prose, he falls on them and produces a panic 
 of fear. Exhausted with his exertions he returns to 
 the tents and begs Hoseyn to give him water, for he 
 is dying of thirst ; or else he comes back to see his 
 best-loved brother and sister once more; or perhaps 
 he never returns. A second onslaught ends his life, 
 and he dies with the profession of faith on his lips. 
 The death of 'Abbas, the brother and standard-bearer 
 of Hoseyn, is something of an exception to this com- 
 mon model. The sufferings of the Imam's little 
 daughter Sukeyna impel 'Abbas to appeal to the 
 enemy for leave to get water from the Euphrates, 
 which lay beyond them. He urges that however 
 
240 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 treasonable Hoseyn's acts may be in the eyes of the 
 enemy, his children at least are guiltless ; and they 
 are dying of thirst. But leave is refused, and 'Abbas 
 returns in shame to the camp. Hoseyn consoles him 
 in his failure, and they both resolve to go out and 
 fight. "It is high time," Hoseyn says, "both of us 
 should swim in our own blood " ; and having wrapped 
 themselves in winding sheets, which was the gloomy 
 custom with these martyrs, the two take a lengthy 
 farewell of their sisters, and ride towards the enemy. 
 
 Hoseyn (addressing ^ Abbas). Dear brother, gird thy loins, for 
 our time is very short ; turn to the field of battle and make 
 ready for war. If this army, God forbid, should separate us the 
 one from the other, we should never be able to see each other's 
 faces any more. 
 
 'Abbas. I shall never separate myself from thee so long as I 
 live ; and if I die for thy sake, how fortunate would I then be ! 
 Should the enemy, however (God forbid !), make a separation 
 between thee and me, — should they be able to remove me far 
 away from thee, — where am I to see thy dear face, beloved 
 brother, and how am I to be acquainted with thy circumstances 
 in the field ? 
 
 Hoseyn. If thou be separated from me by accident, go out of 
 the field at once in the direction of the camp, and seek me 
 there ; and if I miss thee in the field, I shall try to find thee 
 there ; if I fail to discover thee, I will draw out my sword 
 against this wicked enemy, and ask, " Where is my brother? " 
 
 'Abbas. When I am removed from thee, lay a sword on these 
 villains, destroy the whole of them ; then probably thou wilt 
 find me. I hope, king of religion, that in passing through 
 the lines, thou wilt be kind enough to sit at my head and lament 
 loudly over me. 
 
 So they ride on till they come near the enemy, 
 
 whom they harangue in the following duet : — 
 
 Hoseyn (to the enemy). ye who are devoid of all reputation 
 and honour — 
 
THE PEESIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 24] 
 
 'Abhds. Ye who have given'the name of faith to infidelity — 
 
 Hoseyn. Ye who wei'e destined to ill at your incarnation — 
 
 'Abbas. Are ye companions of God? Nay, rather ye are at 
 enmity with his Prophet ? 
 
 JSoseyn. Yezid the tyrant is from the seed of adultery. 
 
 'Abbas. And how can one born of an adulteress deserve the 
 Khalifat or be fit to rule ? 
 
 Hoseyn. Can he be an ornament or adornment of the throne ? 
 
 'Abbas. 'Aly alone and his holy children can be such as 
 Hoseyn, 
 
 Hoseyn. people, I am the child of the Prophet. 
 
 'Abbas. Hoseyn is lord, and I am his servant. 
 
 Hoseyn. I am the true follower of the Prophet's religion. 
 
 'Abbas. I am the heir of Haydar's high office. 
 
 Hoseyn. ye people, far removed from morality, I am Hoseyn. 
 
 'Abbas. And I am entitled the moon of Beny Hashim. 
 
 Hoseyn. I do not care an atom whether I am killed. 
 
 'Abbas. Martyrdom is the heritage of my forefathers. 
 
 Hoseyn. I shall shed so much blood in the plain of enmity — 
 
 'Abbas. That the Creator of the world will sav " Bravo ! " 
 
 Hoseyn. O ye inhabitants of Kiifa, what are our faults ? 
 
 'Abbas. Why should a stop be put to our proceedings ? 
 
 Hoseyn. Do ye not know, wicked people — 
 
 'Abbas. That of the family of the Propuet, small and great — 
 
 Hoseyn. One faints from weakness, and instantly falls to the 
 ground — 
 
 'Abbas. Another cries out, " Thirst ! Thirst ! " 
 
 Hoseyn. Have ye compassion on our souls ? 
 
 'Abbas. Give ye some water for our children. 
 
 Hoseyn. For the sake of Yezid, who is born of adulterer's 
 seed — 
 
 'Abbas. How can it be lawful to be ci'uel to the family of God's 
 Prophet ? 
 
 Hoseyn. If ye will not intercept us in our way — 
 
 'Abbas. "We will go to Turkey or Europe. 
 
 Hoseyn. But if ye will not let us escape with our lives — 
 
 'Abbas. We shall lay hold of the cutting sword. 
 
 Hoseyn. What will ye say to my mother [Fatima, daughter of 
 the Prophet] in the Day of Judgment ? 
 
 'Abbas. My judge shall be your adversary on that day. 
 
 16 
 
242 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 'Omar ibn Sa'd, tlie general of tlie enemy, in reply, 
 orders his soldiers to fall upon tlie brothers : — 
 
 Ihn Sa'd. ye soldiers of the army, ye ill-starred Syrian 
 troops, ye brave men of the field of battle and lion-like heroes, 
 the famous 'Abbas, the standard-bearer of the thirsty army, the 
 defender of the oppressed ! verily 'Abbfis has come to the field for 
 water; overthrow him with a volley of arrows; slay him with 
 spears and daggers. 
 
 They engage; the two brothers become sepa- 
 rated : — 
 
 'Ahhds (at the ivaters of the Euphrates). It is not right to drink 
 water while Hoseyn, the king of religion, is parched with thirst ; 
 thou art a good servant indeed ; do not, then, be so faithless. 
 
 So he returns to the fight. The army itself re- 
 proaches its general for attacking the sons of 'Aly — 
 Hoseyn upbraids them — and a rout takes place. 
 
 The Army (to Ibyi Sa'd). prince of the world, the reins are 
 gone from our hand. Mercy ! mercy ! Deliver us from 'Abbas, 
 the fierce lion, and save us from the King of the Age himself ! 
 Help thy army, for they are all undone ; the world is darkened. 
 Alas! alas! 
 
 Ibn Sa'd rallies the scattered troops, and 'Abbas is 
 severely wounded. Not seeing Hoseyn, he drags him- 
 self back to the camp, according to their agreement 
 before the battle, and asks his sister Kulsum if she 
 has seen Hoseyn. 
 
 Kulsum. He came, dear brother, but he seemed to have lost 
 himself; he had received many arrows in different parts of the 
 body. He fell from time to time on the centre of the army, every 
 now and then saying, " Where is my brother? " 
 
 Hoseyn, who has been desperately seeking for his 
 brother over the plain, now comes back, and learns 
 from Kulsiim that 'Abbas, not having found him at 
 
THE PEKSIAN MIEACLE PLAY. 243 
 
 the camp, had gone back once more to the battle. 
 Hoseyn again follows him, and rushes among the 
 enemy. Shemmar tells him he has cut off the hands 
 of 'Abbas and made him brotherless. 
 
 'Abbas. My right hand, O God, has fallen off from my body ; 
 enable my other hand to reach the skirt of Hoseyn. 
 
 Hoseyn (still seeking for hini). land of Kerbehi, where is 'Abbas 
 the brave ? land of Kerbehi, where is the nightingale of my 
 rose-garden ? 
 
 'Abbas. hope of loving souls, come and save thy brether, who 
 is wallowing in his own blood. 
 
 Hoseyn {at the head of Abbas). O brother, brother! Now my 
 back is broken, now my hope is lost. 
 
 Abbas. Hoseyn, art thou pleased with thy servant ? Art thou 
 satisfied with his past deeds ? 
 
 Hoseyn. Oh, may I be a sacrifice for thee and these thy wounds ! 
 I am satisfied with thee, may God be pleased with thee too ! 
 
 Abbas. Now I go, with an earnest desire, to meet the messenger 
 of God, saying, I testify that there is no God but the true God. 
 
 The death of 'Abbas is followed by a similar 
 martyrdom of a certain Hashim, who volunteered 
 in the Imam's cause. At this moment, when the 
 enemy are pursuing Hoseyn very close, the angels 
 obtain leave to come to his assistance; but their 
 aid is rejected by the martyr. He shows the 
 angels' envoy the corpses of his dearest friends lying 
 around him, and he says, though the crown were 
 put on his head and the universe were subservient 
 to him, and the Grreat Alexander himself were to 
 obey his orders, and two worlds were under his 
 control, and though Solomon were to consent to be 
 his doorkeeper — '* Verily, after the death of these 
 youths, to reign would be torture. The crown of the 
 King would feel like a pan of fire on my head." So 
 
 16 * 
 
244 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 he goes on fighting. Yet so wonderful is his courage, 
 so nimble his skill, so heavy his shock, that he still 
 carries slaughter among the enemy, and death has 
 not yet claimed him. (The story is here strangely 
 interrupted by a legend of a Sultan of India threatened 
 by a lion. Hoseyn leaves his fighting, is transported 
 to India, addresses the Sultan at some length, the 
 lion roaring at the two meanwhile, and then proceeds 
 to draw tears of remorse from the penitent animal, 
 whom he then takes back with him to Kerbela, and 
 shows him the bodies of the martyrs, who begin to 
 talk in a piteous manner.) There is little now left 
 of the fated family. The men are all dead save 
 Hoseyn. The women gather together to carry his 
 armour and standard. The Imam himself puts on 
 the old torn shirt we have heard of before, and 
 prepares for the last fight. A dervish from Kabul 
 mysteriously appears, and throws himself upon the 
 spears of the enemy. The king of the Jinn comes and 
 offers the help of troops of his genii. But Hoseyn 
 is not tempted : *' What can I do with the empire of 
 the world, or its glories, after my dear ones have 
 all died and gone?" and he goes to meet his foes 
 for the last time. He staggers back, wearied and 
 hopeless, and lays his head in the dust. The enemy 
 approach and stone him; one draws nigh to slay 
 him. His grandfather, the great prophet Mohammad, 
 appears to him to console him, and tells him how all 
 this sacrifice of life tends to the happiness of the 
 world. And Hoseyn answers : " Seeing thy rest 
 consists in my being troubled in this way, I would 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 245 
 
 offer my soul, not once or twice, but a thousand times, 
 for the salvation of thy people." And his dead mother 
 Fatima comes and weeps over him. Then " the 
 accursed Shemmar " stands over him with the gleaming 
 dagger ; and Hoseyn dies with these words : — 
 
 Hoseyn. Lord, for the merit of me, the dear child of thy 
 Prophet ; Lord, for the sad groaning of my miserable sister ; 
 O Lord, for the sake of yonng 'Abbas rolling in his blood, even 
 that young brother of mine that was equal to my soul, I pray 
 thee, in the Day of Judgment, forgive, O merciful Lord, the sins 
 of my grandfather's j)oople, and grant me, bountifully, the key of 
 the treasure of intercession, (Dies.) 
 
 There are fourteen scenes more before the play is 
 over, but with them we shall not concern ourselves. 
 They describe the fate of the survivors of Kerbela, the 
 women and children, the cruelty of their captors, 
 various conversions of Christians by the miraculous 
 intervention of the departed Imam, and the deaths of 
 Zeyneb and other holy personages. The last scene 
 represents the Resurrection. The patriarchs and 
 prophets of the Jews arise from their sleep one after 
 the other, and implore mercy for themselves, but show 
 no anxiety about their flocks or the rest of the world. 
 Mohammad is the first to inquire about the fate of 
 his people, and to intercede for them. His interces- 
 sion, and Hasan's, proving of no avail, Hoseyn comes 
 forward at the head of the martyrs of Kerbela, and, 
 in the name of their woful sufferings, prays God to 
 have mercy on mankind. The sight of this mangled 
 group — Hoseyn bristling with arrows, 'Aly Akbar 
 headless, Kasim bleeding all over, 'Abbiis lopped of 
 his hands, the rope of Zeyneb, the chain of Zeyn-el- 
 
246 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 A'bidin, the little 'Aly Asghar with his gashed throat 
 — prevails over the stern decrees of the Deity, and 
 Gabriel delivers the key of Paradise to Mohammad, 
 who in turn by Grabriel's orders delivers it to Hoseyn, 
 with these words : — 
 
 Mohammad. Permission has proceeded from the Judge, the 
 gracious Creator, that I should give to thy hand this key of 
 intercession. Go tJiou and deliver from the flames everyone who has 
 in his lifetime shed hut a single tear for thee, everyone who has in any 
 ivay helped thee, everyone who has performed a pilgrimage to thy 
 shrine or mourned for thee, and everyone ifiho has ivritten tragic 
 verses for thee. Bear each and all vnth thee to Paradise. 
 
 Hoseyn. O my friends, be ye relieved from grief, and come along 
 with me to the mansions of the blest. Sorrow has passed away, it 
 is now time for joy and rest ; trouble has gone by, it is the hour 
 to be at rest and tranquillity. 
 
 The Sinners [entering Paradise). God be praised! by Hoseyn's 
 grace we are made happy, and by his favour we are delivered from 
 destruction. By Hoseyn's lovingkindness is our path decked with 
 roses and flowers. We were thorns and thistles, but are now made 
 cedars owing to his merciful intercession. 
 
 And so the Play ends. — M-Hamdu li-lldh ! 
 
 The people who have been assisting at the festival 
 of Moharram, being dismissed with the comforting 
 promise of Mohammad respecting all who mourn or 
 write tragic verses for Hoseyn, now devote themselves 
 to the great ceremony of the last day — the burial of 
 the tabid — the model of the Tombs of Kerbela. For 
 centuries the great towns of Persia have set apart a 
 plain outside the walls for this very purpose. It 
 represents the plain of Kerbela, and thither a mighty 
 procession marches. Hoseyn died on the battle-field, 
 and he must be buried as a warrior. Flags float, 
 shots are fired, shields clashed. First come the sacred 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 247 
 
 banners, then musicians chanting sad airs, next the 
 sword-bearer, and then Hoseyn's horse, before whom 
 walks a servant bearing the symbol of the Sun, and 
 over whom the royal parasol is carried; Hoseyn's 
 coat-of-mail and turban, and bow and arrows, hang 
 from the saddle. Two censer-bearers usher on the 
 mulla who will recite the funeral oration. At last 
 come the sacred things — the funeral monuments, the 
 litter of the bride of Kasim, and the wedding gifts. 
 Servants mounted on elephants distribute alms on 
 the road, and muskets are discharged all the way to 
 the burial-ground. A vast multitude surrounds the 
 procession, clad in mourning, barefoot, with dust on 
 the head, and raising continually the cry of Hasan 
 and Hoseyn. When they are come to the place, they 
 bury the model of the Tombs with its fruits and its 
 flowers, and the perfumes and the presents, in the 
 vault prepared for their reception, and take themselves 
 to their homes. And Moharram is over. 
 
 Sir George Birdwood gives a vivid description of 
 the ceremonies of the last day at Bombay, where the 
 tombs are carried, not to a sepulchre, but to the sea, 
 into which indeed the very Euphrates by whose bank 
 Hoseyn died pours its waters. " On the 10th of 
 Moharram every house in which a tdhiU is kept, or in 
 which one is put up for the occasion, sends forth its 
 cavalcade, or company, to join the general funeral 
 procession, which in the native Mohammadan states 
 sometimes assumes the character of a solemn military 
 pomp. First go the musicians, with pipes and cymbals, 
 high horns, and deafening drums, followed by the 
 
248 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 arms and banners of Hasan and Hoseyn, and the 
 ensigns and crests, in gold, and silver, or other metals, 
 of 'Aly and Fatima, and these by a chorus of men 
 chanting a funeral dirge, followed in turn by Hoseyn' s 
 horse. Next come men bearing censers of burning 
 myrrh and frankincense, and aloes wood and gum 
 benjamin, before the tdhiit or model of the tombs of 
 Hasan and Hoseyn, which is raised aloft on poles, or 
 borne on an elephant. Models of the sepulchre of 
 'Aly also, and of Mohammad at Medina, and repre- 
 sentations of the Seraph-beast Burak, on which Mo- 
 hammad is said to have performed his journey from 
 Jerusalem to heaven, are also carried along with the 
 tdhiit. There may be one or two hundred of these 
 separate funeral companies, or cavalcades, in the 
 general procession, which is further swollen by crowds 
 of fakirs and clowns, or ' Moharram fakirs,' got up 
 for the occasion in marvellously fantastic masquerade, 
 figuring — one as ' Jack Priest ' ; another, ' King 
 Tatterdemalion'; and others, 'King Clout,' 'King 
 Ragamuffin,' ' King Doubledumb,' and a hundred 
 others of the following of the ' Lord of Misrule ' or 
 * Abbot of Unreason ' of our Cathohc forefathers. 
 An immense concourse of people, representatives of 
 every country and costume of Central and Southern 
 Asia, runs along with the procession. In Bombay, 
 after gathering its contingent from every Shi'y 
 household as it winds its way through the tortuous 
 streets of the native town, the living stream at length 
 emerges on the esplanade on the side opposite Back 
 Bay — the whole esplanade (' the Plain of Kerbela ' for 
 
THE PERSIA.N MIRACLE PLAY. 249 
 
 the day) from Bombay harbour to Back Bay lying 
 almost flush with the sea. The confused uproar of 
 its advance can be heard a mile away, and long before 
 the procession takes definite shape through the clouds 
 of dust and incense which move before it. It moves 
 headlong onward in an endless line of flashing swords, 
 blazoned suns, and waving banners, state umbrellas, 
 thrones, and canopies, and towering above all the 
 tdbfdSi framed of the most elegant shapes of Saracenic 
 architecture, glittering in silver and green and gold, 
 and rocking backwards and forwards in high air, like 
 great ships npon the rolling sea, with the rapid move- 
 ment of the hurrying crowd, beating drums, chanting 
 hymns, and shrieking, ' Yd 'Aly, Ay Hasan^ Ay Hoseyn, 
 Hoseijn Shah ! drowned, drowned, in blood, in blood ; 
 all three, fallen prostrate, dead ! Ya 'Aly, Ay Hasan^ 
 Ay Hoseyn, Hoseyn Shah ! ' until the whole welkin 
 seems to ring and pulsate with the terrific wail. 
 Ever and anon a band of naked men, drunk with 
 opium or hemp, and painted like tigers or leopards, 
 makes a rush through the ranks of the procession, 
 leaping furiously, and brandishing their swords and 
 spears and clubs in the air. The route, however, 
 is strictly defined by a line of native policemen, and 
 before these representatives of British law and order, 
 the infuriated zealots will suddenly briug themselves 
 in full charge to a halt, wheel round, and retreat back 
 into the body of the procession, howling and shrieking 
 like a flight of baffled fiends. 
 
 " So, for a mile in length, the route advances, 
 against the rays of the now declining sun, until the 
 
250 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 sea is readied, when it spreads out along tlie beach 
 in a Hne at right angles to the * Sacred Way ' by 
 which it has come across the esplanade. Nothing 
 can be more picturesque than the arrival and break- 
 up of the procession in Back Bay. The temporary 
 tdh'ds are taken out into the Bay as far as they can 
 be carried, and abandoned to the waves, into which 
 all the temporary adornments of the permanent tcihiUs 
 are also thrown. This operation has a wonderfully 
 cooling effect on the mob. Their frantic clamours 
 suddenly cease. In fact, the mourners of Hasan and 
 Hoseyn, having buried their tdhilts in the sea, seize 
 the opportunity to have a good bath; and a little 
 after the sun has finally dropped below the western 
 horizon, the whole of the vast multitude is seen in 
 the vivid moonlight to be slowly and peacefully re- 
 gathering itself across the wide esplanade into its 
 homes again, and the saturnalia into which the last 
 act of the Mystery of Hasan and Hoseyn has degene- 
 rated in India is closed for another year." 
 
 It is a wonderful thing, this enthusiasm of Mohar- 
 ram, and the most wonderful thing in it is the 
 powerful effect of the Miracle Play. The more we 
 read it, the more we are astounded at its influence. 
 Making every allowance for the difference between 
 East and West, for the absurd diction of the transla- 
 tion, for the absence even of such surroundings as 
 the play has on its simple stage, especially for the 
 melody of the Persian language, in which the play is 
 chanted, — it is still the most intolerably tedious and 
 dreary composition we have ever struggled through. 
 
THE PERSIAN MIRACLE PLAY. 251 
 
 One gets desperately weary of the perpetual wailing 
 of women and men, the constant introduction of the 
 merits of the inextinguishable Hoseyn, the continual 
 single combats, and the weeping over their uniform 
 ends, the endless recapitulation of the several injuries 
 of the individual members of the morbid " Family of 
 the Tent," the conversations with all the dead bodies. 
 One would be thankful when each member is killed, 
 but that he is as offensive dead as living. Any 
 change would be grateful, but none comes. It is 
 one long recital of woes, and one long river of tears. 
 There is no attempt to individualise characters. 
 They are all alike and talk alike. The only trace of 
 originality we can find is in the child Sukeyna, who 
 is perpetually screaming, and defying all her aunt 
 Zeyneb's attempts at consolation. Before reading 
 the play one needs to be converted to the particular 
 form of the Mohammadan religion which it immor- 
 talises. Plotless, characterless, full of iteration, of a 
 length unbearable, the play must be judged by other 
 than literary standards. It is in its associations, in 
 its thousand references to the fiery memories of 
 religious persecution, that its strength lies. That 
 its associations should be powerful enough to over- 
 come its dramatic defects constitutes its claim to 
 our reverence. But that such a play should be a 
 sacred thing in the East, and produce the frenzy of 
 enthusiasm it does produce as surely as the month 
 of Moharram comes round, is a new wonder added to 
 the many strange things in the history of Islam. 
 
252 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 Among the various problems that have vexed the souls 
 of learned men, few have provoked greater controversy, 
 or given rise to more fanciful and conflicting theories, 
 than that connected with the name of Sabian. What 
 the Pelasgians and Etruscans have been to classical 
 commentators, the Letters of Junius and the person- 
 ality of the Man in the Iron Mask to students of 
 modern mysteries, the origin, character, and habitat 
 of the Sabian religion have proved to Oriental writers 
 and their European followers. To write the history 
 of the numerous significations which have been 
 attached to the word Sabian is to chronicle the 
 errors of the learned world in its Oriental depart- 
 ment ; whilst to denominate anything as "Sabian" 
 is even less definite than to call it " Turanian." 
 Omne ignotum pro Tiiranio has been the maxim of 
 philologists ; and to cast every unknown or problem- 
 atical creed into the general rubbish-hole of " the 
 Sabian religion " has been the principle of Orientalists. 
 The conquered subjects of the Khalifate recognised 
 this principle, and when they wished to escape the 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OP ST. JOHN. 253 
 
 financial penalties of heathendom, and could not 
 persuade their Muslim lords that they were Jews 
 or Christians, they would boldly style themselves 
 " Sabians," in the full conviction that the Moham- 
 madans knew no more about that religion than that 
 the Prophet of the Arabs had specially excluded it 
 from the general outlawry of idolatry. The problem 
 is one of comparatively modern growth. The ancients 
 knew no such sect as the Sabian ; Grreek and Latin 
 historians, the early Armenian annalists, the Syrian 
 Fathers, make no mention of such a creed. The 
 Sahceans of Arabia Felix are the only people of 
 similar name referred to by the classical writers ; 
 but these, though their name has given rise to fre- 
 quent confusions among scholars of all ages, have 
 absolutely nothing in common with the genuine 
 Sabians. The Sabseans are simply the people of 
 Saba in the Yemen, the traditional descendants of 
 Sheba, the rulers of that wonderful but little known 
 Cushite kingdom in Southern Arabia which is now 
 known by the name of Himyerite : as Philostorgius 
 
 puts it, Tovs TToXai [xr]V 2a/3atotis vvv Se 'OyLieptVas KakovjXivovs* in 
 
 language, religion, race, and history, these Sabaeans 
 are totally distinct from the Sabians of the Koran 
 and of the mediaeval antiquaries. 
 
 The Mohammadan writers are the first to mention 
 the Sabians, and it is not till the study of Arabic and 
 the Jewish redactors of Arabic works became the 
 fashion in Europe that we have any discussion of this 
 mysterious people. Maimonides' " Moreli han Nebu- 
 
 * Hist. Eccl. iii. 4. 
 
254 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 kim," in the fifteenth century, was the beginning of 
 the fray; and since the discovery of his passage on 
 the Sabians no scholar-knight thought his spurs won 
 till he had broken a lance de Zabiis. Casaubon lighted 
 on the place, and forthwith wrote urgently to Joseph 
 Scaliger, " Doce me, obsecro, quee hsec gens fuerit " ; 
 to whom Scaliger, omniscient as ever, " Scito esse 
 Chaldgeos, Arab. Tzabin ; dicti a vento Apeliote : 
 quasi dicas Orientales." He has not the least doubt 
 about it, and Casaubon receives the decision meekly. 
 Oar own John Selden walked in the same way, and in 
 his work on the Syrian gods, " De Diis Syriis," iden- 
 tified the Sabians with the ancient Chaldeans, curiously 
 citing Eutychius to prove that Zoroaster was the 
 founder of the Sabian religion. Salmasius came to a 
 similar conclusion, and laid it down that the Sabians 
 were a sect of the Chal'dees. Stanley, in his " History 
 of Philosophy " (1655), devotes a remarkable chapter 
 to the Sabians, in which he collects a fine cluster of 
 myths, cites the passage in the Book of Job wherein 
 it is related how " the Sabeans fell upon " the 
 patriarch's oxen and asses, "and took them away; 
 yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of 
 the sword " ; and ends by placing the Sabians {i.e. 
 Sabseans) in Arabia, adding the definition " Arabes, 
 hoc est Sabgei," which, if over comprehensive, is suffi- 
 ciently correct as regards the Sab^eans, but entirely 
 false if taken to describe the Sabians. Pococke in- 
 geniously, but erroneously, derives the name from a 
 word meaning *' army," and defines the Sabians as 
 worshippers of the heavenly host ; and Bochart and 
 
SABIANS AND CHEISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 255 
 
 Golius follow him in his etymology. So the theories 
 went on. Everybody had a conjecture to offer about 
 the Sabians, but nobody really had the necessary data 
 on which to ground an opinion. The only point on 
 which all agreed was that the essential characteristic 
 of the Sabian religion was the worship of the stars ; 
 and this idea has generally been the prevailing notion 
 in Eastern and Western minds when they thought of 
 the Sabian creed. Meanwhile, travellers in the East 
 were bringing back accounts of a peculiar people, 
 called Sabians, who dwelt in the fens of Lower Meso- 
 potamia, and had a religion of their own which could 
 not be explained altogether by the old conception of 
 star- worship, and whose reverence for St. John Baptist 
 gained for them, among Europeans, the name of 
 " Christians of St. John." Ignatius a Jesu published 
 at Rome, in 1652, his " Narratio " of the origin, ritual, 
 and errors of the Christians of St. John ; and for a 
 long time after this the history of the controversy is 
 only a " narratio " of the errors of Ignatius a Jesu. 
 Further complications were introduced by the discovery 
 of many references in Oriental writers to a sect also 
 called Sabian, dwelling at Harran. The problem now 
 seemed involved beyond hope of extrication. To 
 distin^ruish or to unite the Sabeans of Job and Philos- 
 torgius, the Sabians of Babylonia, and the Sabians of 
 Harran, was beyond the skill of the scholars of the 
 day. They tried to identify the Sabians of Baby- 
 lonia with those of Harran, and had to invent 
 for that purpose a new Harran in Mesopotamia, 
 instead of the ancient Carrhae ; but a junction be- 
 
256 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 tween tliese and the Arabian Sabgeans was not to 
 be effected. 
 
 The wonderful growth of Oriental studies in the 
 present century could not fail to clear up much of this 
 obscurity. It was easy to separate the Sabians from 
 the Sabeeans, when it was discovered that the two 
 words began with different letters, and went on with 
 different letters, and had, in fact, nothing in common. 
 It did not require much scholarship to do this ; but as 
 the writings of the vast body of intelligent, observant, 
 studious men Avho composed that enormous Arabic 
 literature which is slowly being unfolded to our 
 view, became better known and understood, it became 
 apparent (1) that there was a distinction between the 
 two sects called Sabian, that of Harran and that of 
 Babylonia ; and (2) that the solution of the difficulty, 
 at least as far as the Babylonian division was con- 
 cerned, would have to be sought elsewhere than in the 
 Mohammadan literature. The Muslim writers maintain 
 a difference between the two kinds of Sabians, and 
 give considerable details about those of Harran ; but 
 of the Babylonian Sabians they tell us next to nothing. 
 Now, interesting as the sectarians of Harran seemed 
 to be, with their bizarre combination of Greek philo- 
 sophy and the old heathen religion of Syria, the 
 geographical position of the more eastern sect, as well 
 as its greater mystery, gave it an even superior charm. 
 Who could these Sabian " Christians of St. John " be ? 
 Living in the swamps of Lower Babylonia, on the site 
 of the old Chaldean empire, could they be a relic of 
 the Wise Men of the East ? Might we not find among 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 257 
 
 them the religion which the Assyrians borrowed from 
 the Babylonians, with its triads of gods and its planet- 
 worship ? Would their divinities have Accad names ? 
 Might we not even find the people now " weeping for 
 Tammiiz,"as they did in the days of Ezekiel (viii. 14), 
 and in older days, long before the Greeks set up their 
 answering Adonis ? 
 
 However delightful such speculations might be, a 
 little serious study soon proved their futility. The 
 publication of one of the sacred books of the Baby- 
 lonian Sabians, under the title of the " Book of 
 Adam," or Oodex Nazareeus, by Norberg, at the 
 beginning of this century, provided scholars with 
 something approaching to a definite ground on which 
 to build with more security than before. Although 
 by no me^ns a scientific edition, containing mistakes 
 which led to corresponding errors in those who worked 
 from Norberg's premises, the Codex Nazarseus was a 
 genuine Sabian authority, and dispelled a good many 
 of the mists which surrounded the character of this 
 people and their religion. But the first really scientific 
 work on the subject did not appear till 1856, when 
 Chwolsohn in his " Ssabier und Ssabismus " conclu- 
 sively demonstrated who were and who were not 
 Sabians, showed the fallacies and confusions of the 
 earlier hypotheses, and, touching lightly on the Baby- 
 lonian Sabians, gave a very comprehensive account of 
 the Harranian sect. This elaborate and thoroughly 
 scientific work cleared the ground for ever of all the 
 undergrowth of fancies and myths which had sprung 
 up round the name of Sabian; and though among 
 
 17 
 
258 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 the advanced German school of Orientalists it is now 
 tlie fashion to adopt a somewhat patronising tone 
 towards the "careful and painstaking" Chwolsohn, 
 and to dispute his conclusions about the Babylonian 
 sect, his researches into the antiquities and rehgion of 
 Harran have a worth that can never be depreciated, 
 and his labours in this direction will not have to be 
 done again. 
 
 The disappointing thing in Chwolsohn' s book is the 
 slight notice he takes of the Babylonian sect, which he 
 admits to have been the true Sabians, as understood 
 by the early Mohammadan writers, but to whom he 
 nevertheless devotes only one short chapter, whilst 
 the rest of his bulky volumes is entirely concerned 
 with the Sabians of Harran, who only took the 
 name of Sabian in a.d. 830, under the reign of the 
 Khalif Mamiin, in order to escape the penalties of 
 heathenism, and to enrol themselves among the re- 
 cognised sects of the Koran. Mohammad had said 
 in the fifth Sura, "Yerily, everyone who believes, 
 and the Jews and the Christians and the Sabians, 
 who believe in God and the Last Day, and do what 
 is right, on them shall come no fear, neither shall 
 they grieve." The people of Harran could not 
 pretend to be Christians or Jews, but the other sect 
 mentioned with these in this sentence of amnesty, the 
 Sabian, was so vague, and the Mohammadans knew 
 so little who they were, that the Harranians adopted 
 the name, and thereby avoided the obloquy and oppres- 
 sion which was the lot of those whom the Koran 
 treated as heathen. This sect, therefore, was only 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 259 
 
 adoptively Sabian, and it is to these adoptive Sabians, 
 and not to the true Sabians of Babylonia, whom the 
 Mohammadan writers had lono; before recosfnised as 
 the people referred to in the Koran, that Chwolsohn 
 devoted his main attention. However much we may 
 regret that he did not investigate the other part of 
 the subject more closely, it is impossible not to feel 
 grateful for the completeness and accuracy of his 
 researches into Harranian religion. Though not true 
 Sabians, the Harran adopters of the name are well 
 worthy of study. Their religion is one of the most 
 curious religious phases that Syria, the land of changing 
 creeds, has produced. It was the old heathenism of the 
 country, mixed with many foreign elements. " Eclec- 
 ticism prevailed at that peinod, and it was not only 
 Greeks and Romans that found the influence of foreign, 
 chiefly Eastern, metaphysical speculation irresistible." 
 We find at Harran Biblical legends, Jewish ceremonial 
 laws, Greek gods, such as Helios, Ares, and Kronos 
 — probably translations of native divinities — and 
 finally something of Aristotle and a good deal of the 
 neo-Platonism of Porphyry. It was the symbolical 
 veneration of the planets, which formed a part of 
 this griBcised Syrian heathenism, that gave rise to 
 the common idea that Sabian means star-worshipper. 
 After the people of Harran adopted the name Sabian, 
 the Mohammadan writers began to use the word as 
 synonymous with star- worshipper, and finally called all 
 and any idolaters Sabians. The process is very similar to 
 that by which Hellen came to mean Pagan ; and Harran 
 itself was called Hellenopolis, the city of paganism. 
 
 17 * 
 
260 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 The explanation of the true Sabian religion, as 
 preserved in the remnant of a religious sect in Baby- 
 lonia, was reserved for another hand. Whilst Chwol- 
 sohn was clearing up the obscurities surrounding 
 the name of Sabian, and explaining the character- 
 istics of the adoptive Sabians of Harran, Peter- 
 mann was travelling in Mesopotamia, studying the 
 true Sabians (or Mand^eans, as they call themselves)- 
 i?i situ, learning their language, and taking down 
 their traditions and doctrines from Priest Yahya, the 
 most learned man of the sect. The results of these 
 researches appeared in his " Travels " in 1860, and 
 seven years later he published the text of the great 
 scripture of the Sabians, which Norberg had imper- 
 fectly edited before, whilst Dr. Euting performed the 
 same service for another of their sacred books. Peter- 
 mann's writings still form the highest authority on 
 the true Sabian religion, and the publication of 
 accurate editions of the Sabian scriptures enabled 
 other scholars to investigate the mythology and 
 legends in detail, and finally gave Professor Theodor 
 Noldeke the means of making an exhaustive study 
 of the Sabian language, and to collect the most im- 
 portant results of his investigations in his " Man- 
 daische Grrammatik." The linguistic importance of 
 the sect would alone make them worthy of careful 
 study. They speak an Aramaic dialect closely allied 
 to Syriac and Chaldee, but much freer from foreign 
 influences than either. Whilst Syriac shows in many 
 ways the effect of Greek .influence, and Chaldee is 
 obviously deeply affected by its greater Hebrew kins- 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 261 
 
 woman ; ManclEean, the dialect of tlie Sabians of 
 Babylonia, is comparatively untonclied, for the im- 
 portation of some Persian words does not affect the 
 language in any fundamental manner. Hence no one 
 who wishes to understand the character and history 
 of the Aramaic branch of the Semitic family of 
 languages, especially in its syntactic relations, can 
 afford to neglect the Mandsean dialect, which is, in 
 fact, the legitimate descendant of the tongue of the 
 ancient Shemites of Babylonia. 
 
 Finally, the French Yice-Consul at Mosil, 
 M. Siouffi, published in 1880 the results of his 
 conversations with a Sabian youth who had been 
 converted to the Catholic faith by the energies of the 
 Carmelite mission at Baghdad. As far as ceremonies 
 and customs go, M. Siouffi's book is interesting and 
 useful ; but as soon as he ventures upon theological 
 ground he is not to be trusted. Both the knowledge 
 and the honesty of the young convert Adam are 
 questionable ; he certainly seems to have endeavoured 
 to deceive M. Siouffi on more points than one — a feat, 
 however, not very difficult of accomplishment, inas- 
 much as the enquiring mind of the Vice-Consul was 
 wholly unread in the subject, and he knew absolutely 
 nothing of the discoveries of Petermann and Chwol- 
 sohn. The extracts from various superseded autho- 
 rities at the end of the volume show the extent of 
 the author's ignorance, whilst the invention of a sole 
 supreme god, Alalia (probably an improvement on 
 Hayya), shows the imaginative faculty of the Sabian 
 convert and his desire to convince M. Siouffi of the 
 
262 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 monotlieistic character of liis former religion, at the 
 expense of veracity. The spelling of the names of 
 the divinities and the translations of formulas show 
 that M. Siouffi knows next to nothing of the Mandsean 
 language. Indeed, had he really studied it to any 
 purpose, he could hardly have failed to hear of 
 Norberg, Petermann, Euting, and Noldeke, and to 
 have read the Sabian scriptures in the European 
 texts. 
 
 One word must, however, be said in favour of 
 M. Siouffi's account of the Mandsean religion, as 
 explained to him by the convert Adam. It has been 
 assumed that, because this account differs widely 
 from that set forth in the Manda3an scriptures, it is 
 therefore wholly inaccurate. Admitting M. Siouffi's 
 ignorance and his teacher's possible dishonesty, these 
 are scarcely sufficient to account for the origin of all 
 the traditions and beliefs described in the " Etudes 
 sur la rehgion des Soubbas." We cannot help think- 
 ing that the religion set forth in th-e pages of this 
 work has some existence in fact, and is not merely 
 the result of an ingenious fabricator and a too con- 
 fiding and ill-informed pupil. The Mandsean religion, as 
 found in the scriptures of the sect, is too complicated 
 and too profound for the mass of believers ; more- 
 over, even in this form, it shows a remarkable process 
 of degradation from its original conception. Yery 
 few of the modern Mandseans know the contents of 
 their sacred books, and it is quite possible that an 
 exoteric doctrine grew up beside the priestly religion, 
 and that some of M. Siouffi's traditions really repre- 
 
SABIANS AND CHEISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 263 
 
 sent the vulgar religion, as opposed to tlie scriptural. 
 Among a people filled with the legends of such a land 
 as Babylonia, with neighbours on all sides of every 
 imaginable difference of mythological tradition, it 
 seems impossible that the form of Gnosticism which 
 the Mandpean scriptures represent should have re- 
 mained long unmixed with the many and diverse 
 beliefs of the soil. The doctrine of the sacred books 
 is itself an amalgamation of several mutually incon- 
 sistent creeds, and there is no reason why the process 
 of corruption and adulteration should have come to 
 an end when the Mandsean scriptures were finally 
 redacted. On the contrary, there is every probability 
 that the common people clung to the local traditions, 
 though the priests rejected most of them, and that 
 they continued to mix the teaching of their spiritual 
 guides with the mass of legendary myths they had 
 inherited from their forefathers. In that case, Peter- 
 mann's account of the Mandsean creed would be the 
 esoteric, the priestly, view; whilst the basis of M. 
 Siouffi's probably garbled description of the religion 
 of the Subba would represent the popular belief of 
 the ignorant and superstitious Mandseans of to-day. 
 At present it is only possible to suggest this theory 
 as one that deserves to be tested : nothing but a 
 further examination, on the spot, of modern Mandaean 
 beliefs can settle the question whether M. Siouffi is 
 merely the dupe of a cunning deacon, or the expositor 
 of the vulgar conception of their religion by the 
 Christians of St. John. 
 
 There is, however, no doubt that the true source 
 
264 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 of a right understanding of the historical Sabian 
 religion, as taught and practised by its priests, is to 
 be derived only from the sacred books and the expla- 
 nation thereof given to Petermann by his instructor, 
 the Mandgean priest Yahya. We shall have occasion 
 to relate some of M. Sioufifi's traditions of the com- 
 mon folk at a later page ; but the first thing neces- 
 sary is to comprehend what is meant by Sabism or 
 Mandaism as thus authoritatively expounded. To 
 avoid confusion it is necessary to premise that Man- 
 dceans (equivalent to ot XoyLKoi or " Gnostics ") is the 
 proper name of this sect, and the only one used 
 among members of it. Sdbi, or Sabian (plural Siibba), 
 is the name given to it by Mohammadans, and is 
 derived from a Syrian word meaning " a washer," 
 and was applied first by the Syrians to the Mand^ans 
 on account of their frequent baptisms. We shall use 
 the terms Mand^ean and Sabian indifferently. 
 
 The principal scripture of the Mandgeans is the 
 Sidra Rabba, or " Great Book," also called the 
 Ginza, or " Treasure " (and incorrectly, by Norberg, 
 the Book of Adam, Liber Adami), which con- 
 tains the whole doctrine of the sect in a hundred 
 separate unconnected sections. It is divided into 
 two parts, called respectively "the right" and "the 
 left." The "right," which occupies about two-thirds 
 of the whole work, contains the dogmatic teaching 
 of the religion, legends, moral doctrine, polemics 
 against heresy, and the like. It is wholly wanting 
 in order and method, frequently self-contradictory, 
 always confused. Much of it is as yet incompre- 
 
SABIANS AND CHEISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. ^65 
 
 Sensible to the most accomplished scholar ; and 
 in reading it we feel that we are in the presence 
 of a strange medley of creeds, imperfectly under- 
 stood even by its professed expositors. The second 
 part, the "left," deals with the future state of the 
 soul, and is apparently designed for liturgic use. 
 This chief scripture must have been composed about 
 700 A.D., but portions of it are earlier. It is evi- 
 dently the work of many writers and different 
 ages. It has undoubtedly preserved its present form 
 (as edited by Petermann) for many centuries. An- 
 other important book is the anthology of hymns and 
 formulas edited by Dr. Euting, under the title of 
 " Qolasta." Besides these, the Mand^eans have two 
 or three collections of prayers, a book on Astrology, 
 and another containing the Legends of St. John 
 Baptist. The " Divan," attributed to them by Igna- 
 tius a Jesu, is unknown by that name in the present 
 day ; it was probably the Sidra Rabba. 
 
 The result of an examination of these authorities is 
 to reveal to us one of the strangest religions that the 
 world has seen. The sect variously known by the 
 names of Sabians, Mandteans, Nazarenes, and Christians 
 of St. John, presents the most curious combination of 
 wholly diverse creeds that can well be conceived. As 
 the descendants of the ancient Semitic population of 
 Chaldea, and the inheritors of the Babylonian lan- 
 guage, it is natural that we should find among the 
 Mand^ans some trace of the early religion of the 
 country. The mythology, indeed, cannot be connected 
 to any great extent with that of ancient Babylonia, so 
 
266 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 far as we know it at present, but the astrological and 
 magical leanings of tlie people, the names still given 
 to the planets, and the preference for certain sacred 
 numbers, e.g. 360 and the epoch of 480,000 years, 
 point distinctly to their Chaldean and Nabathean 
 ancestry. It is even asserted by a Mohammadan 
 historian of the tenth century that in his time the 
 Mandseans kept the feast of Thammuz, the Babylonian 
 prototype of Adonis, and it is likely that many other 
 of their beliefs and practices may be traced to their 
 Babylonian descent. Next to the Chaldean must be 
 placed the Parsy element, which was introduced by 
 the problematical Parthian founder of the sect, and 
 which is shown in the occurrence of Mithra and Rauso 
 and Razista of the Zend Avesta among the Mandeean 
 objects of veneration. But the most considerable 
 element in Mandgean religion is derived from those 
 peculiar Gnostic sects which sprang from the dying 
 struggles of paganism. We shall not here concern 
 ourselves with the founding or the history of the sect ; 
 for nothing certain is known of either. Chwolsohn's 
 ingenious and learned reasoning is now pronounced 
 by the highest Mandgean authority to be mistaken; 
 otherwise we might follow him in identifying the 
 Sabians with the Elkesaites or Elchasaites of Pseud- 
 origines, Theodoret, and Epiphanius — the Mughtasila 
 or " Washers " of the Fihrist — founded at the end of 
 the first century of the Christian era by a holy man 
 named El-Hasaih or El-Chasai, 'HXxao-ai, 'HX^ai, who 
 came from Parthia and taught Parsy ideas and doc- 
 trines to the Babylonians. The sect of the Elkesaites 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 267 
 
 is now pronounced to be distinct from that of the 
 Mandj^ans, and Professor Noldeke is even inclined to 
 identify the former and not the Mandgeans with the 
 Sabians of the Koran, in spite of the general agree- 
 ment of Mohammadan writers to the contrary effect. 
 The influence of some sect like the Elkesaites is seen 
 in the Mandsean adoption of the custom of frequent 
 baptisms and ablutions, as well as in other customs, 
 whilst the name Nazarene or Nasorene, so often 
 applied to the Babylonian Sabians, is the common 
 appellation of the Judaso-Christian sects, and must 
 have been derived from them ; and the few Jewish 
 legends which are found in the Sidra Rabba must 
 have come from the same source. 
 
 The origin of the MandjBans is to be found in the 
 convulsions of religious belief which succeeded the 
 first spread of Christianity. It is one of those bizarre 
 creeds which rose up on the ruins of the great pagan 
 religions. Those who have tried to follow the history 
 of Gnosticism, who have wandered through the mazes 
 of the systems which sprang from the dying throes of 
 Hellenism, and have dived into the writings of the 
 Alexandrian and Syrian schools, have read the Her- 
 metic books, and endeavoured to trace the workings 
 of gnostic and cabalistic doctrines among the Juda30- 
 Christian sects, will understand what a tangle of 
 dogma is found in the Mandsean creed, when we say 
 that it is at bottom a corrupt gnosticism, half under- 
 stood, and utterly confused. The name Mandasan, 
 which is the only one used among the sectaries, means 
 "gnostic"; and the fundamental notions of gnos- 
 
268 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 ticism can be traced, in spite of infinite confusions 
 and the presence of foreign conceptions of every 
 description, in the theology of the Christians of 
 St. John. To show how far this theology is purely 
 gnostic, how far Jewish and cabalistic, how far taken 
 from Parsy or even Buddhist sources, and how far, 
 filially, local, the relic of the Chaldean land-religion, 
 is an impossible task. The sacred books are so much 
 confused, and their accounts vary so hopelessly in 
 different places ; the names of the divinities or seons 
 are so frequently confounded, the same being employed 
 in different places for two or more distinct emanations 
 or manifestations, or different names being used for 
 the same, that it is beyond the power of scholarship as 
 yet to separate the various elements in the Mandsean 
 religion and ascribe each to its proper source. Even 
 the learned Dr. Nuldeke writes, in a pathetic con- 
 clusion to a review of Petermann's and Euting's 
 editions of the Mandtean scriptures : "I have busied 
 myself with the Mandasans for years ; I have read the 
 two newly-edited books carefully through twice, and 
 parts of them much oftener ; . . . I have endeavoured 
 by a study of the gnostic and other systems to gain 
 an insight into this literature : and yet I have not so 
 far arrived at any adequate understanding." But 
 though there is an infinite amount of uncertainty and 
 obscurity about much of this strange creed, or collec- 
 tion of creeds, the main outline has been tolerably 
 clearly drawn by Petermann from his priestly teacher ; 
 and we cannot do better than recapitulate his account. 
 At the l3eginning of all things there were two 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 269 
 
 existences, which may be looked upon as the male and 
 female principles. There was the prirageval matter, 
 the liyle which, like the Orphic egg of the world, held 
 all things in its womb. And beside this was the 
 intellectual creative principle, Mana Rahba, the Lord 
 of Glory, who was throned in the aether of the shining- 
 world, through which flowed the great Jordan, the 
 river of the water of life, whence all things and plants 
 that dwell in the shining world derive the spark of 
 life. Mana called into l3eing Hai/ija Kadmaija, " First 
 Life," and, having thus far advanced the creation, 
 retired into the profoundest obscurity, where he is 
 visible only to certain of the highest emanations, and 
 to the souls of the holiest among the Mandasans, whose 
 greatest privilege it is to be permitted to see once 
 after death the glorious Mana from whom they all 
 originally issued. Hayya Kadmaya is regarded as the 
 creating working god — not, however, the Demiurgus 
 of the gnostics — and to him belong the deepest 
 veneration and worship. He, and not Mana Rabba, 
 who is above all mortal reverence, is addressed first in 
 the prayers, and every book begins with his name. 
 It is easy to see that this working god might readily 
 be confounded with Mana, the original creative prin- 
 ciple, and as a matter of fact the scriptures abound in 
 such confusion. Tlie same attributes are often given 
 to Hayya Kadmaya as to Mana. Like the latter, he is 
 described as throned in the shining aether world, where 
 runs great Jordan, and where dwell countless angels 
 (Uthre) in perpetual bliss. 
 
 From Hayya Kadmaya proceeded Hayya Tinyana^ 
 
270 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 or "Second Life," and Manda dliayya. These two 
 are the Cain and Abel of the Manda3ans. The former 
 wishes to raise himself above Hayya Kadmaya, and 
 he is punished by being expelled from the world of 
 the shining tether and put into the lower world of 
 light. Manda d'hayya, on the other hand, is the ideal 
 of purity and goodness. He is called Father, King of 
 Angels, Lord of Worlds, Beloved Son, Grood Shepherd, 
 High Priest, Word of Life, Teacher and Saviour of 
 Mankind, the conqueror of hell, and the chainer of the 
 devil; he dwells with the Father (Mana or Hayya), 
 and is the Christ of the Mand^an religion. They call 
 themselves after his name. Manda d'hayya, who is 
 also called Adam Kadmaya, reveals himself through 
 his three sons, Abel, Seth, and Enos, or in Mandsean 
 nihil (or HihiUZiva), Shithil, and Anush. Just as 
 Hayya was confused with Mana, so Hibil-Ziva fre- 
 quently receives the same attributes as his father 
 Manda d'hayya, and is treated with equal reverence. 
 
 The first emanation from the ejected Cain, or 
 " Second Life," was AhdtJiur, or the Father of Angels. 
 He sits at the confines of the world of light, at the 
 great door which leads up from the lower regions, and 
 with scales in hand he weighs the deeds of the dead, 
 and sends the souls back to purgatory, or on into 
 paradise, according to the weight of their actions. At 
 first there was nothing under Abuthur but a void, and 
 then a stagnant black water ; but as he looked down 
 his form was reflected in the water, and thence sprang 
 Petahil, or Gabriel, the Demiurgus of the creed. 
 Petahil received a command from his father to form 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 271 
 
 the common world and bring mankind into being, and 
 assisted by evil spirits, as some say, or by his own 
 unaided powers, he created the w^orld and made Adam 
 and Eve, but he could not give them souls. So Hibil- 
 Ziva and his brethren were given a portion of Mana 
 E.abba's spirit, and they poured it into mankind, so 
 that they worshipped Hayya Kadmaya instead of 
 Petahil. Abathur was enraged with his son for the 
 manner in which he had arranged the creation, and he 
 expelled him from his place, and sent him down into 
 the Mattarathas or hells, where he must dwell till the 
 judgment-day, when Hibil-Ziva will bring him up and 
 baptise him and make him king of angels. There are 
 four purgatories, each ruled by its kings, but the true 
 hell is beneath them all, and its government is dis- 
 tributed among three old men, Shdum, Griv, and Krun 
 the deepest of all. Some slimy water refreshes the 
 inhabitants of purgatory, but in hell even this fails, 
 and in Krun's kingdom there is only dust and 
 emptiness, and a fire that does not lighten, but 
 consumes. 
 
 The progress of the soul after death is very minutely 
 described in the Mandiean books. It repairs first to 
 the Turquoise mountain, traverses the superior world, 
 till it arrives at the great encircling ocean, over 
 which a Charon, after certain delays varying in 
 length according to the sinfulness of the soul, will 
 convey it to the entrance to the Mattarathas, in each 
 of which horrible tortures await it if it has sinned 
 overmuch. At the gate of each purgatory it is asked 
 its name, and has to answer that it was baptised in 
 
272 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 the name of Hayya Kadmaya and Manda d'hayya, and 
 has given alms, before it can be let through. It has 
 to pass by terrible monsters, even Ur, who eats 3,000 
 souls daily, bat providentially sleeps when a good 
 Mandgean passes. Then it goes on to Petahil's Mat- 
 taratha and to Abathur, who admits it to the world of 
 light, where it wanders, in delight, and may peradven- 
 ture attain to the vision of Mana Rabba. 
 
 Hibil-Ziva, having completed Petahil's work, invaded 
 hell and laid bare its hidden things, and carried off 
 Bulla, daughter of Kin, queen of hell, to the upper 
 worlds, where she gave birth to TJr (or " Fire ") the 
 most terrible of all demons, who dared even to attack 
 the world of light. Him Hibil-Ziva cast into the 
 black water and chained there, and enclosed with iron 
 and golden walls. From this unnatural son Ruha 
 bare three litters of seven and twelve and five sons. 
 The first became the seven planets, placed in the seven 
 heavens, the sun being in the fourth or middle 
 heaven ; the second birth furnished tbe twelve signs 
 of the zodiac ; the third, five stars, including Sirius, 
 baneful to mankind, and the authors of all hurt and 
 mischief. Heaven is of most transparent water, in 
 which the stars and planets float in boats. It is so 
 clear that we can see straight to the Pole Star, which 
 is at the apex of heaven, before the door of Abathur 
 — and the Pole Star is the Kibla to which the face 
 must be turned in prayer. The earth is a disk, three 
 parts surrounded by water, but bounded on the fourth 
 side by the lofty mountain of blue turquoise. It is 
 only the reflection of this turquoise mountain that 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OP RT. JOHN. 273 
 
 makes the sky look blue. Beyond the mountain is 
 another and superior world, dwelt in by Pharaoh and 
 his Egyptians, who are great Sabian heroes, and by 
 the holiest saints of the Mandaean faith. A vast sea 
 girdles both worlds. 
 
 The Mandgeans, in common with many ancient 
 peoples, believe in world-cycles. There have already, 
 they say, been several cycles ; the present race will be 
 destroyed about e5,000 years hence by a mighty storm, 
 when a new couple from the better world beyond the 
 turquoise mountain will repeople the earth and their 
 progeny will endure for 50,000 years, after which Ur 
 will destroy all the lower world, and the world of 
 light will alone remain. 
 
 Man consists of three parts, body, soul (lA^xv), and 
 spirit (i>o{}s). The soul (ritha) is merely the animal 
 nature, the evil tendency, and hence the same 
 name is given to Ruha, the mother of Ur, from 
 whom all mischievous arts and magic are believed 
 to have sprung, and only one good gift, the 
 gift of bearing children, which she gave to women. 
 The spiritual or higher soul is the V0B9, which was 
 implanted by Hibil-Ziva, as has been related, and is 
 in constant warfare with the natural soul. So far are 
 the Mandasans from acknowledging any affinity with 
 orthodox Christianity, from which they derived their 
 conception of Manda d'hayya, that they regard the 
 Messiah as the son of Ruha, the arch-witch, whom 
 they identify by an obvious etymological process with 
 the Holy Ghost, and hence give Christ the character 
 of a magician, and place Him among the planets as 
 
 18 
 
274 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 the trickster Mercury. They do not recognise any of 
 the propliets or books of tlie Old Testament any more 
 than the Grospels ; all were false propliets, they hold, 
 except John the Baptist, who is their sole law-giver 
 and teacher, and of whom they relate marvellous 
 
 legends. 
 
 The tradition of St. John the Baptist and the sub- 
 sequent history of the Mandgeans, as given by M. 
 Siouffi, may form a curious if not perfectly accurate 
 supplement to the account of this peculiar religion 
 which has just been given on the authority of Peter- 
 mann. The legend is obviously corrupt, but it is 
 none the less likely to be commonly accepted by the 
 Mandsean populace. The sect, it must be remembered, 
 does not by any means admit its late origin, but, on 
 the contrary, claims for itself the remotest antiquity, 
 and regards its foundation as coeval with the creation 
 of man. From time to time, however, it has suffered 
 reverses at the hands of unbelievers, its bishops and 
 priests have become extinct, and the diminished people 
 have adopted the faith of the infidels among whom 
 they dwelt. It was at such a time, when the Sabians 
 had joined themselves to their Jewish neighbours, and 
 deserted the true religion, that Yahya, whom they 
 identify with John the Baptist, but who might equally 
 well have been any other John, was sent to recall 
 the people to their ancient faith. As there were no 
 more true believers, it followed that no soul went to 
 paradise, and the inhabitants of that blessed region, 
 tired of their own unvaried company, and desirous of 
 some fresh additions to their society, made their plaint 
 
SABIANS A^D CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 275 
 
 to the authorities, and demanded the resuscitation of 
 the true religion and the consequent arrival of new 
 souls. So Manda d'hayya sent a bowl of magical 
 water to a woman among the Judaised Mandaeans, 
 whose name was Inoshwej — the Ehzabeth, in short, 
 of the Sabian tradition. Now Inoshwej and her 
 husband, Abu Sawa, were both well stricken in years, 
 and had no children. Nevertheless, no sooner had 
 she drunk of the magic water, than Inoshwey con- 
 ceived, and in due time, specified as nine months, 
 nine days, nine hours, and nine minutes, bore a 
 child. The Jews suspected that some ill would befall 
 them at the hand of this miraculous infant, and had 
 instructed their women who attended Inoshwey to 
 kill the boy as soon as he was born ; but their designs 
 were frustrated by an angelic messenger, who caught 
 the child up to paradise, where he was brought up 
 and instructed in all the mysteries of the Sabian faith. 
 When John was perfected in wisdom and had attained 
 to manhood, Anush carried him back to the earth. 
 The two were met by a maidservant of Inoshwey, who 
 recognised the family likeness of the youth, and ran to 
 her mistress and told her she had seen a young man 
 as beautiful as the full moon. The mother was so 
 transported with joy at the return of her son that 
 she hastened to meet him without first putting on 
 her veil. Her husband, deeply offended by this sin 
 against the customs of the people, had a mind to 
 divorce her, but, being warned by an angel, he 
 changed his mind, and embraced his son on the banks 
 of Jordan. Anush, having restored John to his family, 
 
 18 * 
 
276 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 called upon the sun and the moon to protect him, and 
 returned to paradise. Meanwhile John went back to 
 the parental roof, and forthwith bec^an his mission by 
 baptising his father and mother, after which he gave 
 proofs of his divine authority by performing various 
 miracles, as healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, 
 and restoring strength and soundness to the halt and 
 maimed, so that manv of the Jews believed in him and 
 became Sabians. Then John appointed bishops and 
 priests over his people, and baptised Christ, and, 
 having ordered all things, gave himself up to unceas- 
 ing prayer night and day. His first prayer was to be 
 preserved from the blandishments of women, for he 
 was fair to look upon, and feared to become a prey 
 to their love. And as their prophet would not marry, 
 the whole people in like manner renounced marriage, 
 so that the number of souls that went to paradise 
 became much diminished. Then the dwellers in 
 heaven sent a message to John, and said, "The end 
 of all your austerity will be the destruction of the 
 Sabian race. You will prevent our paradise from 
 being peopled. Be less severe on yourself in praying, 
 and take a wife to whom to devote a portion of your 
 time.'" So John married, and the Sabians took wives 
 again. And it came to pass, after four-and-forty 
 years, that Manda d'hayya came and took John over 
 the sea, and through the Mattarathas, to the abode of 
 blessedness, and his people knew him no more. 
 
 After the passing of John, the Sabians were greatly 
 persecuted by the Jews, who were fearful lest all their 
 people should turn Sabians. A daughter of Eleazar, 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 277 
 
 the chief rabbi, had joined the religion of John, and the 
 Jews in revenge massacred the greater number of 
 the Sabians, and the remnant, after having destroyed 
 Jerusalem by divine aid, migrated to another land. 
 It was at this time (continues the tradition, in defiance 
 of chronology) that Moses attacked them, and fought 
 in single combat with the Sabiaii champion, Ferrokh 
 Malka (King Pharaoh), who drove the false prophet 
 into the sea. But the waters opened behind Moses 
 and let him escape, whilst the Sabians pursuing were 
 all drowned, except Ferrokh Malka and thirty fol- 
 lowers, who fled to Shuster. Here, being deprived of 
 their clergy, a new teacher was sent them, named 
 Abu-1-Faras Adam, who performed miracles and taught 
 them the law, and ordained bishops and priests ; and 
 then returned to the invisible world beyond the tur- 
 quoise mountain. After this the Sabians were greatly 
 persecuted by the Muslims, and were scattered abroad. 
 To centuries of oppression were added the horrors of 
 the plague, which in 1831 (they say, with a curious 
 leap in the chronology) carried off all the clergy, so 
 that for ten years the Sabians had to do without mar- 
 riage. At this time they went back to Shuster. Some 
 established themselves at Suk-esh-Shuyukh on the 
 Euphrates. They chose fresh priests and bishops, 
 and the order has been unbroken ever since. Misfor- 
 tunes have reduced them to four thousand souls ; but 
 their books say they have still many evil things to 
 endure, that they will yet again be deprived of their 
 priests, and their numbers will be diminished even 
 more. 
 
278 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 Sucli is the popular tradition of Mandsean history, 
 according to the convert Adam, which must be 
 taken for what it is worth. Much more valuable are 
 the accounts preserved by M. Siouffi on the manners 
 and customs of this strange people. The most charac- 
 teristic of their religious observances is the frequent 
 habit of baptism, in which we cannot but see a relic 
 of some aboriginal Babylonian river- worship, though 
 the sacerdotal adoption of the practice was doubtless 
 due to the various Judseo-Christian sects which en- 
 forced the importance of baptism ; from sects such as 
 the Hemerobaptists and the Elkesaites, whom many 
 scholars indeed identify with the Mandoeans, the doc- 
 trine of purification by water might have been easily 
 derived ; but there must, we imagine, have been some 
 substratum of ancient Euphrates- worship among the 
 faiths of the Chaldean soil, Avhich brought about so 
 complete and rigorous an adoption of the custom of 
 baptism in running water. A good Sabian ought to 
 be baptised soon after birth, directly after marriage, 
 on every Sunday, before the great feast-days, on 
 returning from a journey, after a funeral ; when one 
 has been bitten by a dog or serpent, or has killed a 
 bird, or eaten food prepared by unbelievers, or bled 
 at the nose. In any of these circumstances, and 
 many others which it is impossible to describe, at 
 all hours of the day and night, and in every variety of 
 weather, the Sabians hurry to the river and plunge 
 in. The poor fellows turn quite blue in cold weather ; 
 and it is worse still for the women, who must go before 
 daybreak, in the chill of the morning, to avoid being 
 
SABIANS AND CHBISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 279 
 
 seen. These lustrations are variously termed bap- 
 tisms or ablutions according to the presence or 
 absence of a priest, and other differences ; but prac- 
 tically the two are very much the same thing, as in 
 ablution the performer keeps his face to the pole-star 
 and plunges three times, repeating the formula of 
 invoking the names of Hayya and Manda d'hayya, 
 just as in baptism. No one who is not baptised is a 
 Mandagan ; and the souls of children who die before 
 baptism go straight to the monster Ur, who devours 
 them. It is forbidden even to kiss an unbaptised 
 child. In christening, a child is given more names 
 than one. For sacred matters he uses his mother's 
 name, for worldly affairs his father's, whilst he has 
 also a general appellation among his fellow-citizens. 
 Prayer is a very important and exacting duty among 
 the Mandseans. They had originally three obligatory 
 prayers, one before sunrise, the second at noon, and 
 the third at sunset ; and each of these ought to last 
 two hours or more ; but, finding these devotions 
 incompatible with business, they suppressed the noon 
 prayer. Four or five hours' prayer a day still remains 
 for laymen, and the bishops and priests have even 
 longer orisons to make. AH prayers are addressed in 
 the first place to Hayya, and then to Manda d'hayya, 
 Hibil-Ziva, Anush, Yaver-Ziva, and a host of other 
 divine emanations, including John, and the Persian 
 Sam, who has often been confused with Shem the 
 son of Noah. The substance of the prayers is little 
 more than an invocation to the gods to protect the 
 worshipper from all ills that may befall him, from evil 
 
280 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 spirits and jinn, and the imprecations of women. 
 The Mandseans believe that women have a peculiar 
 vein or nerve which was put into them by the devil, 
 which renders them powerful for mischief, and makes 
 their good vows of none effect, whilst giving extra- 
 ordinary potency to their malisons. Hence, when a 
 Mandsean sees an angry woman, he j)uts his fingers in 
 his ears and flies with all possible speed from the spot, 
 lest he should fall a victim to her curse. A believer 
 must never pass a river without invoking peace upon 
 it. Fasting proper forms no part of the Sabian reli- 
 gion, but the people are enjoined to abstain from flesh 
 meat on thirty-two special days of the year. Besides 
 Sundays, they have five great feasts in the year. The 
 first is Nauroz, or new year's day, which is believed 
 to be also observed in paradise ; it includes new year's 
 eve and the first six days of the new year. Among 
 the many ceremonies and prohibitions of this feast, it 
 is curious to note that it is not allowed to draw any 
 water while Nauroz lasts : all that will be needed is 
 drawn the day before, and the people take the same 
 occasion to be baptised. They pass the night before 
 new year's day without sleeping. On the day itself 
 they remain at home, to be secure against possible 
 defilement; for to touch as much as a blade of grass 
 would render fresh baptism necessary, and total absti- 
 nence from food for twenty-four hours. On this day 
 the priests consult their astrological books, to see 
 wliat will befall in the new year, and whether it will 
 be fat or lean. Next day everybody calls on the 
 priests and pays them the customary fees. No beast 
 
SABIANS AND CHEISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 281 
 
 or bird may be killed during the feast, nor is it per- 
 missible even to milk the kine. The next feast is on 
 the 18th of Taurus (the Mandsean months are named 
 after the zodiacal signs), and lasts five days. It is 
 held in commemoration of Hibil-Ziva's return from his 
 conquest of hell ; and the new life of the earth in 
 spring is deemed the fittest time for such a festival. 
 The third feast-day is a month later, and is in honour 
 of the Sabian hero Ferrokh or Pharaoh. The fourth 
 is on the first of Capricorn; and the last is the 
 greatest of all, Pancha, which is held on the five addi- 
 tional days that make up the year, when the twelve 
 months, of thirty days each, are over. 
 
 The priestly office is regarded with the highest 
 veneration among the Mandasans, and is in nowise 
 underpaid. On the other hand, it is no sinecure. The 
 priest is constantly called upon to baptise, to hear 
 confessions, and administer a species of eucharist, to 
 marry people, visit the dying, kill the meat for the 
 community, draw horoscopes for children, and write 
 amulets for the sick, foretell future events, and, in 
 fact, do everything that has to be done outside the 
 ordinary routine of work. The office of public sacrificer 
 is not the lightest part of the priest's duty. No meat 
 can be eaten by a Manda3an which has not been pro- 
 perly killed by either a priest or a duly authorised 
 deputy ; and the supply of meat to the community 
 involves considerable energy on the part of the 
 sacred butchers. The custom is very analogous to 
 the Mohammadan law of food. The priests them- 
 selves have special rules as to eating. They must 
 
282 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 take their meals in solitude, apart from their family. 
 If a layman touches the viands, or a fowl passes by 
 them, they become unfit for a priest's palate. They 
 must fetch their water themselves from, the well, and 
 must not mix it with the water drunk by the other 
 inmates of their house. Every priest is compelled to 
 marry, and may marry a second time on his wife's 
 death. Women may take orders ; virgins can become 
 deacons ; but to be made a priest a woman must first 
 marry a priest. There are three orders in the clergy. 
 Any boy of pure descent (i.e. without divorce or 
 illegitimacy in his family), who is free from physical 
 defects, may become a deacon (shganda). The ap- 
 prenticeship, according to M. Siouffi, lasts twelve 
 years, from the age of seven to nineteen ; and then, 
 after a year of diaconate, the deacon may become 
 priest (term ?*f?a). From the ranks of the priests, in 
 general synod, is chosen the bishop {ganzibra), whose 
 first duties are two months' separation from his wife, 
 three baptisms on three successive Sundays in the 
 river, the public reading and explanation of the 
 principal Mandasan scriptures, and the visitiug of 
 the death-bed of a holy Sabian, whom he must charge 
 with a message to Abathur. The last condition some- 
 times involves the scouring of the country for a dying- 
 man, before the bishop can assume his functions ; and 
 very unseemly rejoicings take place when the dear 
 departing one is discovered. There used once to be 
 a still higher grade, that of Besh-amma, or " head of 
 the people," who enjoyed temporal as well as spiritual 
 authority ; but the last who held this ofiice is related 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 283 
 
 to have been the prophet Abu-1-Faras Adam already 
 referred to. The dress of the clergy, when engaged 
 in sacred rites, is of pure white — a white stole and 
 white turban, a gold ring on the little finger of the 
 right hand, with the inscription " The Name of Yaver- 
 Ziva," an olive staff in the left hand, the feet bare. 
 The dress of the lay folk ought strictly to be white 
 like the priests', but, as a matter of fact, they dress 
 very much like the ordinary Muslim Fellahin, in blue 
 or brown and white striped blouses, with a coloured 
 cloth on the head. The men wear their hair long, but 
 that of the women is cropped close. They are very 
 fond of turquoise ornaments — doubtless they remind 
 them of the blue mountain which lies on the road to 
 paradise. 
 
 Their churches are curious little edifices, constructed 
 of the rudest materials, and built just big enough for 
 two men to move in them. There are no altars, no 
 ornaments. The door faces south, so that on entering 
 the pole-star is before you. Hard by there is always 
 running water. They are only for the use of the 
 priests, who prepare there the eucharist cakes (which 
 after consecration turn into the veritable manna of 
 heaven), and perform the various ceremonies peculiar 
 to their order. The consecration of a church is a 
 singular ceremony. It requires four priests and a 
 deacon, and lasts the whole of the five days of the 
 feast of Pancha. After mutually baptising each other, 
 the priests and the deacon enter the church, carrying 
 with them a hand-mill, some charcoal, a dove, and 
 some corn and sesame. The deacon grinds the corn 
 
284 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 in the hand-mill, while the priests light a charcoal fire 
 and extract the oil of the sesame. They then make a 
 cake, kill the dove, and drop four drops of oil and four 
 of blood on the cake, saying a certain number of 
 prayers the while. Finally they pray aloud, and the 
 people outside the church respond, the priests touch 
 hands solemnly, and retire to their own houses, after 
 carefully closing the church door. For four days 
 similar rites are performed, and at the end of the fifth 
 day they bury the remains of the dove under the floor, 
 put the cakes away in a vase, and the church is 
 regarded as consecrated for one year, after which the 
 ceremony must be repeated. The lay people do not 
 take part in the services in church ; indeed they know 
 extremely little about their religion beyond its common 
 external observances. Petermann says they are ex- 
 pected to learn by heart one hundred and eighty rules 
 of conduct, but most of them do not accomplish this, 
 and are quite satisfied with the knowledge of the 
 formulas of baptism ; and the priests themselves often 
 know little more ; yet the value of their instruction is 
 so highly estimated that M. Siouffi says a priest who 
 has the charge of fifty or sixty souls draws a yearly 
 income of a thousand francs. 
 
 A weighty part of the priest's duty is the exorcism 
 of devils. The Mandgeans believe in a variety of evil 
 spirits, and attribute all the accidents and misfortunes 
 of life to their influence. When a man is possessed by 
 a devil, the priest is immediately summoned, and if 
 the fiend is of a gentle and compliant disposition he 
 will probably depart at the bare sight of the holy man ; 
 
SABTANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 2S5 
 
 but if he prove obstinate, a solemn ceremony must 
 be performed and the name of the Giver of life invoked. 
 It is usual upon this for the devil to demand time in 
 order to effect a convenient retreat ; and when the 
 time granted has elapsed, the priest returns to see if 
 the evil spirit has departed. Should he be a dilatory 
 devil, another exorcism is performed on the ensuing 
 Sunday, with much burning of incense, saying of 
 prayers, and application of amulets. It is a rare thing 
 for this second effort to prove unsuccessful ; but should 
 the fiend by some extraordinary perversity remain still 
 in the man, the whole body of priests come and exorcise 
 him en masse. No devil was ever known to resist this 
 final resource, except one peculiar and terrible species, 
 which is born of the union of human beings and 
 demons, and can never be expelled. M. Siouffi's 
 instructor has seen and assisted in many exorcisms, he 
 says, and entertains no doubt whatever as to their 
 efficacy. He also records a curious superstition about 
 these spirits, who are supposed to live on food snatched 
 from the tables of talkative people. Adam says it has 
 often been noticed that the meat ran short after some 
 one had spoken. Hence the Mand?eans eat their meals 
 in complete silence. 
 
 Another responsible duty of the priest is that of 
 interpreting the stars. The Mandaeans have enough 
 of the old Chaldean spirit to prefer divine to natural 
 assistance, and always value the priest's amulet more 
 than the doctor's prescription. JSTo newly-born child 
 is considered properly cared for till his horoscope is 
 drawn ; and no affair of the slightest consequence is 
 
286 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 undertaken without first consulting the stars through 
 the priests. Before setting out on a journey, or 
 building a house, the priest is referred to, and the 
 most propitious time is selected ; and the stars are even 
 consulted as to the lines of the foundations and the 
 position of the doors. Sick people and childless wives 
 resort to the priest for amulets inscribed with sacred 
 formulas, and pay high sums for them. 
 
 The Mandgeans in no sense worship the heavenly 
 bodies ; though they fear the five stars that Ruha bare 
 at the last birth, and ascribe powerful influences to the 
 planets, who are believed to cause wars, inspire men 
 with discoveries, and make the thunder and lightning. 
 In spite of their veneration for the science, the Man- 
 dgeans know nothing of astronomy, and hold the most 
 superstitious and ignorant notions about the phenomena 
 of the sky. A halo round the sun or moon is believed 
 to be a ring of stars summoned in council to arrange 
 administrative details. Shooting stars are messengers 
 from the moon to the planets. Eclipses are the result 
 of the seizure of the sun or moon by the guardian 
 angels who are appointed to watch their proceedings. 
 If either of these luminaries conceives a malicious 
 design against the world, its guardian immediately 
 squeezes it until it abandons its wicked intention : 
 and this squeezing produces the eclipse. 
 
 A bishop has the special duty of superintending the 
 Massahhta, which is a sort of mass, generally said for 
 the souls of the dead, but which anyone may say for 
 his own soul before death, and thus escape many 
 penalties in the other worlds. It involves seven days' 
 
SABIANS AND CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN. 287 
 
 unceasing prayer, and a variety of initiatory cere- 
 monies; after which the performer is considered dead 
 to the world, and is the object of intense reverence : 
 when his soul is weighed in Abathur's balance it is 
 found to be as heavy as Shithil's own. 
 
 The " whole duty of man," as conceived by the 
 Mandi^ans, has been summarised by M. Siouffi, and 
 will serve as a fit conclusion to the sketch we have 
 given of the tenets and customs of the " Christians of 
 St. John." A year after birth — if possible earlier — 
 the Sabian must be baptised. At seven years he 
 enters a school, kept by a deacon, where he learns (or 
 ought to learn) to read the sacred books and to say 
 the prescribed prayers. On leaving school he must 
 be apprenticed to a trade — generally he becomes a 
 goldsmith, carpenter, or ship-builder. In a foreign 
 country, or a strange house, he must eat no food whicli 
 he has not dressed himself. He must be baptised every 
 Sunday. He must pay the debts of others, labour 
 for the freeing of those who are in captivity, be 
 generous, hospitable, kind-hearted, never complaining. 
 He must be humble, and rise if even a beggar salutes 
 him ; chaste and modest ; his dress unassuming. He 
 must never be angry or return blow for blow, but 
 must rather seek reconciliation with his enemy. In 
 society he must always seek to take the lowest place, 
 his voice must be always subdued. He must never 
 cut his beard, and he must always be in a state of 
 legal purity. He must not forswear himself, nor steal, 
 nor lie. He must keep the Sundays and feast and fast 
 days, must honour his parents, and kiss his mother's 
 
288 STUDIES IN A MOSQUE. 
 
 brow and his father's hand each day ; he must not 
 covet another man's goods, and in the presence of 
 women he must avert his eyes. He must always be 
 agreeable and respectful to his wife, and devote him- 
 self assiduously to the bringing up of his children. 
 His alms must be given in secret, and his prayers 
 earnest and regular. To be quite perfect, he should 
 copy the sacred books and perform the Grreat Mass. 
 
 Although the modern "Christians of St. John" do 
 not always attain to the standard of excellence thus 
 held before them, they are a very well-meaning, 
 inoffensive people. They hate orthodox Christianity, 
 and only tolerate Islam "upon compulsion"; but 
 they manage to live fairly peaceably with their 
 Mohammadan neighbours. They work steadily at 
 the trades they adopt, and are famous for their skill 
 as jewellers. And if they are ignorant of the funda- 
 mental doctrines of their religion, at least they are 
 indefatigable in carrying out its ceremonious law in 
 the wholesome matter of baptism, and - are cleanly if 
 they are not godly. Their diminishing numbers, and 
 the secrecy in which they preserve the mysteries of 
 their faith, render a further enquiry into their tenets 
 and customs very desirable. There is so much that is 
 conflicting and obscure in our present information as 
 to the Mandgean religion, that a visit to the people by 
 some qualified scholar could not fail to throw fresh 
 light on the peculiar creed of the Babylonian Sabians 
 or Christians of St. John. 
 
 London : Printed by W. H. Allen & Co., 13, Waterloo Place, S.W. 
 

 DATE DUE 
 
 llfllMiii.il 1 i||p 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 _ 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 CAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTeO IN U S A 
 
BP161 .L26 
 studies in a Mosque. 
 
 imiri,^n:.['''°'°9icalSem„ 
 
 ^ 1012 00039 3217