T.S. Arthur - "The Lights and Shadows of Real Life"

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Unknown - "The Koran (without footnotes)"

Christian Rosencreutz - "Les Noces Chimiques"

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Books: The Koran (without footnotes)

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SECTION II.

OF THE STATE OF CHRISTIANITY, PARTICULARLY OF THE EASTERN
CHURCHES, AND OF JUDAISM, AT THE TIME OF MOHAMMED'S
APPEARANCE; AND OF THE METHODS TAKEN BY HIM FOR THE
ESTABLISHING OF HIS RELIGION, AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH
CONCURRED THERETO.

IF WE look into the ecclesiastical historians even from the third century, we
shall find the Christian world to have then had a very different aspect from
what some authors have represented; and so far from being endued with
active graces, zeal, and devotion, and established within itself with purity
of doctrine, union, and firm profession of the faith, that on the contrary,
what by the ambition of the clergy, and what by drawing the abstrusest
niceties into controversy, and dividing and subdividing about them into endless
schisms and contentions, they had so destroyed that peace, love, and charity
from among them, which the Gospel was given to promote; and instead thereof
continually provoked each other to that malice, rancour, and every evil work;
that they had lost the whole substance of their religion, while they thus
eagerly contended for their own imaginations concerning it; and in a manner
quite drove Christianity out of the world by those very controversies in which
they disputed with each other about it. In these dark ages it was that most
of those superstitions and corruptions we now justly abhor in the church of
Rome were not only broached, but established; which gave great advantages
to the propagation of Mohammedism. The worship of saints and images, in
particular, was then arrived at such a scandalous pitch that it even
surpassed whatever is now practised among the Romanists.
After the Nicene council, the eastern church was engaged in perpetual
controversies, and torn to pieces by the disputes of the Arians, Sabellians,
Nestorians, and Eutychians: the heresies of the two last of which have been
shown to have consisted more in the words and form of expression than in
the doctrines themselves; and were rather the pretences than real motives
of those frequent councils to and from which the contentious prelates were
continually riding post, that they might bring everything to their own will
and pleasure. And to support themselves by dependants and bribery, the
clergy in any credit at court undertook the protection of some officer in the
army, under the colour of which justice was publicly sold, and all corruption
encouraged.
In the western church Damasus and Ursicinus carried their contests at
Rome for the episcopal seat so high, that they came to open violence and
murder, which Viventius the governor not being able to suppress, he retired
into the country, and left them to themselves, till Damasus prevailed. It is
said that on this occasion, in the church of Sicininus, there were no less than
137 found killed in one day. And no wonder they were so fond of these seats,
when they became by that means enriched by the presents of matrons, and
went abroad in their chariots and sedans in great state, feasting sumptuously
even beyond the luxury of princes, quite contrary to the way of living of the
country prelates, who alone seemed to have some temperance and modesty
left.
These dissensions were greatly owing to the emperors, and particularly
to Constantius, who, confounding the pure and simple Christian religion with
anile superstitions, and perplexing it with intricate questions, instead of
reconciling different opinions, excited many disputes, which he fomented as
they proceeded with infinite altercations. This grew worse in the time of
Justinian, who, not to be behind the bishops to the fifth and sixth centuries
in zeal, thought it no crime to condemn to death a man of a different
persuasion from his own.
This corruption of doctrine and morals in the princes and clergy, was
necessarily followed by a general depravity of the people; those of all
conditions making it their sole business to get money by any means,
and then to squander it away when they had got it in luxury and debauchery.
But, to be more particular as to the nation we are now writing of, Arabia
was of old famous for heresies; which might be in some measure attributed
to the liberty and independency of the tribes. Some of the Christians of that
nation believed the soul died with the body, and was to be raised again with
it at the last day: these Origen is said to have convinced. Among the Arabs
it was that the heresies of Ebion, Beryllus, and the Nazaraens, and also that
of the Collyridians, were broached, or at least propagated; the latter
introduced the Virgin Mary for GOD, or worshipped her as such, offering
her a sort of twisted cake called collyris, whence the sect had its name.
This notion of the divinity of the Virgin Mary was also believed by some
at the council of Nice, who said there were two gods besides the Father,
viz., Christ and the Virgin Mary, and were thence named Mariamites. Others
imagined her to be exempt from humanity, and deified; which goes but little
beyond the Popish superstition in calling her the complement of the Trinity,
as if it were imperfect without her. This foolish imagination is justly
condemned in the Koran as idolatrous, and gave a handle to Mohammed
to attack the Trinity itself.
Other sects there were of many denominations within the borders of
Arabia, which took refuge there from the proscriptions of the imperial
edicts; several of whose notions Mohammed incorporated with his religion,
as may be observed hereafter.
Though the Jews were an inconsiderable and despised people in other parts
of the world, yet in Arabia, whither many of them fled from the destruction
of Jerusalem, they grew very powerful, several tribes and princes embracing
their religion; which made Mohammed at first show great regard to them,
adopting many of their opinions, doctrines, and customs; thereby to draw
them, if possible, into his interest. But that people, agreeably to their
wonted obstinacy, were so far from being his proselytes, that they were
some of the bitterest enemies he had, waging continual war with him, so
that their reduction cost him infinite trouble and danger, and at last his life.
This aversion of theirs created at length as great a one in him to them, so
that he used them, for the latter part of his life, much worse than he did the
Christians, and frequently exclaims against them in his Koran; his followers
to this day observe the same difference between them and the Christians,
treating the former as the most abject and contemptible people on earth.
It has been observed by a great politician, that it is impossible a person
should make himself a prince and found a state without opportunities. If the
distracted state of religion favoured the designs of Mohammed on that side,
the weakness of the Roman and Persian monarchies might flatter him with no
less hopes in any attempt on those once formidable empires, either of which,
had they been in their full vigour, must have crushed Mohammedism in its
birth; whereas nothing nourished it more than the success the Arabians met
with in their enterprises against those powers, which success they failed not
to attribute to their new religion and the divine assistance thereof.
The Roman empire declined apace after Constantine, whose successors
were for the generality remarkable for their ill qualities, especially cowardice
and cruelty. By Mohammed's time, the western half of the empire was
overrun by the Goths; and the eastern so reduced by the Huns on the one
side, and the Persians on the other, that it was not in a capacity of stemming
the violence of a powerful invasion. The emperor Maurice paid tribute to the
Khagân or king of the Huns; and after Phocas had murdered his master, such
lamentable havoc there was among the soldiers, that when Heraclius came,
not above seven years after, to muster the army, there were only two
soldiers left alive, of all those who had borne arms when Phocas first usurped
the empire. And though Heraclius was a prince of admirable courage and
conduct, and had done what possibly could be done to restore the discipline
of the army, and had had great success against the Persians, so as to drive
them not only out of his own dominions, but even out of part of their own;
yet still the very vitals of the empire seemed to be mortally wounded; that
there could no time have happened more fatal to the empire or more
favourable to the enterprises of the Arabs, who seem to have been raised
up on purpose by GOD, to be a scourge to the Christian church, for not living
answerably to that most holy religion which they had received.
The general luxury and degeneracy of manners into which the Grecians
were sunk, also contributed not a little to the enervating their forces, which
were still further drained by those two great destroyers, monachism and
persecution.
The Persians had also been in a declining condition for some time before
Mohammed, occasioned chiefly by their intestine broils and dissensions; great
part of which arose from the devilish doctrines of Manes and Mazdak. The
opinions of the former are tolerably well known: the latter lived in the reign
of Khosru Kobâd, and pretended himself a prophet sent from GOD to preach a
community of women and possessions, since all men were brothers and
descended from the same common parents. This he imagined would put an
end to all feuds and quarrels among men, which generally arose on account of
one of the two. Kobâd himself embraced the opinions of this impostor, to
whom he gave leave, according to his new doctrine, to lie with the queen his
wife; which permission Anushirwân, his son, with much difficulty prevailed on
Mazdak not to make use of. These sects had certainly been the immediate
ruin of the Persian empire, had not Anushirwân, as soon as he succeeded his
father, put Mazdek to death with all his followers, and the Manicheans also,
restoring the ancient Magian religion.
In the reign of this prince, deservedly surnamed the Just, Mohammed was
born. He was the last king of Persia who deserved the throne, which after
him was almost perpetually contended for, till subverted by the Arabs. His
son Hormuz lost the love of his subjects by his excessive cruelty; having had
his eyes put out by his wife's brothers, he was obliged to resign the crown to
his son Khosru Parviz, who at the instigation of Bahrâm Chubin had rebelled
against him, and was afterwards strangled. Parviz was soon obliged to quit
the throne to Bahrâm; but obtaining succours of the Greek emperor Maurice,
he recovered the crown: yet towards the latter end of a long reign he
grew so tyrannical and hateful to his subjects, that they held private
correspondence with the Arabs; and he was at length deposed, imprisoned,
and slain by his son Shiruyeh. After Parviz no less than six princes
possessed the throne in less than six years. These domestic broils
effectually brought ruin upon the Persians; for though they did rather by
the weakness of the Greeks, than their own force, ravage Syria, and sack
Jerusalem and Damascus under Khosru Parviz; and, while the Arabs were
divided and independent, had some power in the province of Yaman, where
they set up the four last kings before Mohammed; yet when attacked by
the Greeks under Heraclius, they not only lost their new conquests, but
part of their own dominions; and no sooner were the Arabs united by
Mohammedism, than they beat them in every battle, and in a few years
totally subdued them.
As these empires were weak and declining, so Arabia, at Mohammed's
setting up, was strong and flourishing; having been peopled at the expense
of the Grecian empire, whence the violent proceedings of the domineering
sects forced many to seek refuge in a free country, as Arabia then was,
where they who could not enjoy tranquility and their conscience at home,
found a secure retreat. The Arabians were not only a populous nation, but
unacquainted with the luxury and delicacies of the Greeks and Persians, and
inured to hardships of all sorts; living in a most parsimonious manner, seldom
eating any flesh, drinking no wine, and sitting on the ground. Their political
government was also such as favoured the designs of Mohammed; for the
division and independency of their tribes were so necessary to the first
propagation of his religion, and the foundation of his power, that it would
have been scarce possible for him to have effected either, had the Arabs
been united in one society. But when they had embraced his religion, the
consequent union of their tribes was no less necessary and conducive to
their future conquests and grandeur.
This posture of public affairs in the eastern world, both as to its
religious and political state, it is more than probably Mohammed was well
acquainted with; he having had sufficient opportunities of informing himself
in those particulars, in his travels as a merchant in his younger years: and
though it is not to be supposed his views at first were so extensive as
afterwards, when they were enlarged by his good fortune, yet he might
reasonably promise himself success in his first attempts from thence. As
he was a man of extraordinary parts and address, he knew how to make the
best of every incident, and turn what might seem dangerous to another, to
his own advantage.
Mohammed came into the world under some disadvantages, which he soon
surmounted. His father Abd'allah was a younger son of Abd'almotalleb, and
dying very young and in his father's lifetime, left his widow and infant son in
very mean circumstances, his whole substance consisting but of five camels
and one Ethiopian she-slave. Abd'almotalleb was therefore obliged to take
care of his grandchild Mohammed, which he not only did during his life, but
at his death enjoined his eldest son Abu Tâleb, who was brother to Abd'allah
by the same mother, to provide for him for the future; which he very
affectionately did, and instructed him in the business of a merchant, which
he followed; and to that end he took him with him into Syria when he was but
thirteen, and afterward recommended him to Khadijah, a noble and rich widow,
for her factor, in whose service he behaved himself so well, that by making
him her husband she soon raised him to an equality with the richest in Mecca.
After he began by this advantageous match to live at his ease, it was that
he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion, or, as he expressed it,
of replanting the only true and ancient one, professed by Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry
into which the generality of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the
corruptions and superstitions which the latter Jews and Christians had, as he
thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity,
which consisted chiefly in the worship of the one only GOD.
Whether this was the effect of enthusiasm, or only a design to raise
himself to the supreme government of his country, I will not pretend to
determine. The latter is the general opinion of the Christian writers, who
agree that ambition, and the desire of satisfying his sensuality, were the
motives of his undertaking. It may be so; yet his first views, perhaps, were
not so interested. His original design of bringing the pagan Arabs to the
knowledge of the true GOD, was certainly noble, and highly to be commended;
for I cannot possibly subscribe to the assertion of a late learned writer,
that he made the nation exchange their idolatry for another religion
altogether as bad. Mohammed was no doubt fully satisfied in his conscience
of the truth of his grand point, the unity of GOD, which was what he chiefly
attended to; all his other doctrines and institutions being rather accidental
and unavoidable, than premeditated and designed.
Since then Mohammed was certainly himself persuaded of his grand article
of faith, which, in his opinion, was violated by all the rest of the world; not
only by the idolaters, but by the Christians, as well those who rightly
worshipped Jesus as GOD, as those who superstitiously adored the Virgin
Mary, saints, and images; and also by the Jews, who are accused in the Koran
of taking Ezra for the son of GOD; it is easy to conceive that he might think it
a meritorious work to rescue the world from such ignorance and superstition;
and by degrees, with the help of a warm imagination, which an Arab seldom
wants, to suppose himself destined by providence for the effecting that
great reformation. And this fancy of his might take still deeper root in his
mind, during the solitude he thereupon affected, usually retiring for a month
in the year to a cave in Mount Hara, near Mecca. One thing which may be
probably urged against the enthusiasm of this prophet of the Arabs, is the
wise conduct and great prudence he all along showed in pursuing his design,
which seem inconsistent with the wild notions of a hot-brained religionist.
But though all enthusiasts or madmen do not behave with the same gravity
and circumspection that he did, yet he will not be the first instance, by
several, of a person who has been out of the way only quoad hoc, and in all
other respects acted with the greatest decency and precaution.
The terrible destruction of the eastern churches, once so glorious and
flourishing, by the sudden spreading of Mohammedism, and the great
successes of its professors against the Christians, necessarily inspire a
horror of that religion in those to whom it has been so fatal; and no wonder
if they endeavour to set the character of its founder, and its doctrines, in
the most infamous light. But the damage done by Mohammed to Christianity
seems to have been rather owing to his ignorance than malice; for his great
misfortune was, his not having a competent knowledge of the real and pure
doctrines of the Christian religion, which was in his time so abominably
corrupted, that it is not surprising if he went too far, and resolved to abolish
what he might think incapable of reformation.
It is scarce to be doubted but that Mohammed had a violent desire of being
reckoned an extraordinary person, which he could attain to by no means more
effectually, than by pretending to be a messenger sent from GOD, to inform
mankind of his will. This might be at first his utmost ambition; and had his
fellow-citizens treated him less injuriously, and not obliged him by their
persecutions to seek refuge elsewhere, and to take up arms against them
in his own defence, he had perhaps continued a private person, and contented
himself with the veneration and respect due to his prophetical office; but
being once got at the head of a little army, and encouraged by success, it is
no wonder if he raised his thoughts to attempt what had never before
entered his imagination.
That Mohammed was, as the Arabs are by complexion, a great lover of
women, we are assured by his own confession; and he is constantly upbraided
with it by the controversial writers, who fail not to urge the number of women
with whom he had to do, as a demonstrative argument of his sensuality,
which they think sufficiently proves him to have been a wicked man, and
consequently an impostor. But it must be considered that polygamy, though
it be forbidden by the Christian religion, was in Mohammed's time frequently
practised in Arabia and other parts of the east, and was not counted an
immorality, nor was a man worse esteemed on that account; for which reason
Mohammed permitted the plurality of wives, with certain limitations, among
his own followers, who argue for the lawfulness of it from several reasons,
and particularly from the examples of persons allowed on all hands to
have been good men; some of whom have been honoured with the divine
correspondence. The several laws relating to marriages and divorces, and
the peculiar privileges granted to Mohammed in his Koran, were almost all
taken by him from the Jewish decisions, as will appear hereafter; and
therefore he might think those institutions the more just and reasonable,
as he found them practised or approved by the professors of a religion which
was confessedly of divine original.
But whatever were his motives, Mohammed had certainly the personal
qualifications which were necessary to accomplish his undertaking. The
Mohammedan authors are excessive in their commendations of him, and
speak much of his religious and moral virtues; as his piety, veracity, justice,
liberality, clemency, humility, and abstinence. His charity, in particular,
they say, was so conspicuous, that he had seldom any money in his house,
keeping no more for his own use than was just sufficient to maintain his
family; and he frequently spared even some part of his own provisions to
supply the necessities of the poor; so that before the year's end he had
generally little or nothing left: "GOD," says al Bokhâri, "offered him the
keys of the treasures of the earth, but he would not accept them." Though
the eulogies of these writers are justly to be suspected of partiality, yet
thus much, I think, may be inferred from thence, that for an Arab who had
been educated in Paganism, and had but a very imperfect knowledge of his
duty, he was a man of at least tolerable morals, and not such a monster of
wickedness as he is usually represented. And indeed it is scarce possible
to conceive, that a wretch of so profligate a character should ever have
succeeded in an enterprise of this nature; a little hypocrisy and saving of
appearances, at least, must have been absolutely necessary; and the
sincerity of his intentions is what I pretend not to inquire into.
He had indisputably a very piercing and sagacious wit, and was thoroughly
versed in all the arts of insinuation. The eastern historians describe him
to have been a man of an excellent judgment, and a happy memory; and these
natural parts were improved by a great experience and knowledge of men, and
the observations he had made in his travels. They say he was a person of few
words, of an equal cheerful temper, pleasant and familiar in conversation,
of inoffensive behaviour towards his friends, and of great condescension
towards his inferiors. To all which were joined a comely agreeable person,
and a polite address; accomplishments of no small service in preventing those
in his favour whom he attempted to persuade.
As to acquired learning, it is confessed he had none at all; having had no
other education than what was customary in his tribe, who neglected,
and perhaps despised, what we call literature; esteeming no language in
comparison with their own, their skill in which they gained by use and not by
books, and contenting themselves with improving their private experience by
committing to memory such passages of their poets as they judged might be
of use to them in life. This defect was so far from being prejudicial or putting
a stop to his design, that he made the greatest use of it; insisting that the
writings which he produced as revelations from GOD, could not possibly be a
forgery of his own; because it was not conceivable that a person who could
neither write nor read should be able to compose a book of such excellent
doctrine, and in so elegant a style; and thereby obviating an objection that
might have carried a great deal of weight. And for this reason his followers,
instead of being ashamed of their master's ignorance, glory in it, as an evident
proof of his divine mission, and scruple not to call him (as he is indeed called in
the Koran itself) the "illiterate prophet."
The scheme of religion which Mohammed framed, and the design and artful
contrivance of those written revelations (as he pretended them to be) which
compose his Koran, shall be the subject of the following sections: I shall
therefore in the remainder of this relate, as briefly as possible, the steps
he took towards the effecting of his enterprise, and the accidents which
concurred to his success therein.
Before he made any attempt abroad, he rightly judged that it was necessary
for him to begin by the conversion of his own household. Having therefore
retired with his family, as he had done several times before, to the above-
mentioned cave in Mount Hara, he there opened the secret of his mission to
his wife Khadijah; and acquainted her that the angel Gabriel had just before
appeared to him, and told him that he was appointed the apostle of GOD: he
also repeated to her a passage which he pretended had been revealed to him
by the ministry of the angel, with those other circumstances of his first
appearance, which are related by the Mohammedan writers. Khadijah received
the news with great joy, swearing by him in whose hands her soul was, that
she trusted he would be the prophet of his nation, and immediately
communicated what she had heard to her cousin, Warakah Ebn Nawfal, who,
being a Christian, could write in the Hebrew character, and was tolerably well
versed in the scriptures; and he as readily came into her opinion, assuring
her that the same angel who had formerly appeared unto Moses was now sent
to Mohammed. This first overture the prophet made in the month of Ramadân,
in the fortieth year of his age, which is therefore usually called the year of
his mission.
Encouraged by so good a beginning, he resolved to proceed, and try for some
time what he could do by private persuasion, not daring to hazard the whole
affair by exposing it too suddenly to the public. He soon made proselytes of
those under his own roof, viz., his wife Khadijah, his servant Zeid Ebn Hâretha
(to whom he gave his freedom on that occasion, which afterwards became a
rule to his followers), and his cousin and pupil Ali, the son of Abu Tâleb, though
then very young: but this last, making no account of the other two, used to
style himself the "first of believers." The next person Mohammed applied to
was Abdallah Ebn Abi Kohâfa, surnamed Abu Becr, a man of great authority
among the Koreish, and one whose interest he well knew would be of great
service to him, as it soon appeared, for Abu Becr being gained over, prevailed
also on Othmân Ebn Affân, Abd'alrahmân Ebn Awf, Saad Ebn Abi Wakkâs,
al Zobeir Ebn al Awâm, and Telha Ebn Obeid'allah, all principal men in Mecca,
to follow his example.
These men were the six chief companions, who, with a few more, were
converted in the space of three years, at the end of which, Mohammed having,
as he hoped, a sufficient interest to support him, made his mission no longer
a secret, but gave out that GOD had commanded him to admonish his near
relations; and in order to do it with more convenience and prospect of
success, he directed Ali to prepare an entertainment, and invite the sons
and descendants of Abd'almotalleb, intending then to open his mind to them;
this was done, and about forty of them came; but Abu Laheb, one of his
uncles, making the company break up before Mohammed had an opportunity
of speaking, obliged him to give them a second invitation the next day; and
when they were come, he made them the following speech: "I know no man in
all Arabia who can offer his kindred a more excellent thing than I now do you.
I offer you happiness, both in this life and in that which is to come. GOD
Almighty hath commanded me to call you unto him; who therefore among you
will be assisting to me herein, and become my brother and my vicegerent?"
All of them hesitating, and declining the matter, Ali at length rose up and
declared that he would be his assistant, and vehemently threatened those
who should oppose him. Mohammed upon this embraced Ali with great
demonstrations of affection, and desired all who were present to hearken
to and obey him as his deputy, at which the company broke out into great
laughter, telling Abu Tâleb that he must now pay obedience to his son.
This repulse however was so far from discouraging Mohammed, that he
began to preach in public to the people, who heard him with some patience,
till he came to upbraid them with the idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness
of themselves and their fathers, which so highly provoked them that they
declared themselves his enemies, and would soon have procured his ruin had
he not been protected by Abu Tâleb. The chief of the Koreish warmly solicited
this person to desert his nephew, making frequent remonstrances against
the innovations he was attempting, which proving ineffectual, they at length
threatened him with an open rupture if he did not prevail on Mohammed to
desist. At this, Abu Tâleb was so far moved that he earnestly dissuaded his
nephew from pursuing the affair any farther, representing the great danger
he and his friends must otherwise run. But Mohammed was not to be
intimidated, telling his uncle plainly "that if they set the sun against him on
his right hand, and the moon on his left, he would not leave his enterprise;"
and Abu Tâleb, seeing him so firmly resolved to proceed, used no further
arguments, but promised to stand by him against all his enemies.
The Koreish, finding they could prevail neither by fair words nor menaces,
tried what they could do by force and ill-treatment, using Mohammed's
followers so very injuriously that it was not safe for them to continue at
Mecca any longer: whereupon Mohammed gave leave to such of them as had
not friends to protect them, to seek for refuge elsewhere. And accordingly,
in the fifth year of the prophet's mission, sixteen of them, four of whom
were women, fled into Ethiopia; and among them Othmân Ebn Affân and his
wife Rakiah, Mohammed's daughter. This was the first flight; but afterwards
several others followed them, retiring one after another, to the number of
eighty-three men and eighteen women, besides children. These refugees were
kindly received by the Najâshi, or king of Ethiopia, who refused to deliver them
up to those whom the Koreish sent to demand them, and, as the Arab writers
unanimously attest, even professed the Mohammedan religion.
In the sixth year of his mission Mohammed had the pleasure of seeing his
party strengthened by the conversion of his uncle Hamza, a man of great
valour and merit, and of Omar Ebn al Khattâb, a person highly esteemed, and
once a violent opposer of the prophet. As persecution generally advances
rather than obstructs the spreading of a religion, Islamism made so great
a progress among the Arab tribes, that the Koreish, to suppress it
effectually, if possible, in the seventh year of Mohammed's mission, made
a solemn league or covenant against the Hashemites and the family of al
Motalleb, engaging themselves to contract no marriages with any of them,
and to have no communication with them; and to give it the greater sanction,
reduced it into writing, and laid it up in the Caaba. Upon this the tribe became
divided into two factions; and the family of Hashem all repaired to Abu Tâleb,
as their head; except only Abd'al Uzza, surnamed Abu Laheb, who, out of his
inveterate hatred to his nephew and his doctrine, went over to the opposite
party, whose chief was Abu Sofiân Ebn Harb, of the family of Ommeya.
The families continued thus at variance for three years; but in the
tenth year of his mission, Mohammed told his uncle Abu Tâleb that GOD
had manifestly showed his disapprobation of the league which the Koreish
had made against them, by sending a worm to eat out every word of the
instrument except the name of GOD. Of this accident Mohammed had
probably some private notice; for Abu Tâleb went immediately to the Koreish
and acquainted them with it; offering, if it proved false, to deliver his nephew
up to them; but in case it were true, he insisted that they ought to lay aside
their animosity, and annul the league they had made against the Hashemites.
To this they acquiesced, and going to inspect the writing, to their great
astonishment found it to be as Abu Tâleb had said; and the league was
thereupon declared void.
In the same year Abu Tâleb died, at the age of above fourscore; and it is
the general opinion that he died an infidel, though others say that when he
was at the point of death he embraced Mohammedism, and produce some
passages out of his poetical compositions to confirm their assertion.
About a month, or as some write, three days after the death of this great
benefactor and patron, Mohammed had the additional mortification to lose
his wife Khadijah, who had so generously made his fortune. For which reason
this year is called the year of mourning.
On the death of these two persons the Koreish began to be more
troublesome than ever to their prophet, and especially some who had
formerly been his intimate friends; insomuch that he found himself obliged
to seek for shelter elsewhere, and first pitched upon Tâyet, about sixty miles
east from Mecca, for the place of his retreat. Thither therefore he went,
accompanied by his servant Zeid, and applied himself to two of the chief of
the tribe of Thakif, who were the inhabitants of that place; but they received
him very coldly. However, he stayed there a month; and some of the more
considerate and better sort of men treated him with a little respect: but
the slaves and inferior people at length rose against him, and bringing him
to the wall of the city, obliged him to depart and return to Mecca, where he
put himself under the protection of al Motaam Ebn Adi.
This repulse greatly discouraged his followers: however, Mohammed was not
wanting to himself, but boldly continued to preach to the public assemblies at
the pilgrimage, and gained several proselytes, and among them six of the
inhabitants of Yathreb of the Jewish tribe of Khazraj, who on their return
home failed not to speak much in commendation of their new religion, and
exhorted their fellow-citizens to embrace the same.
In the twelfth year of his mission it was that Mohammed gave out that he
had made his night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and thence to heaven,
so much spoken of by all that write of him. Dr. Prideaux thinks he invented it
either to answer the expectations of those who demanded some miracle as a
proof of his mission, or else, by pretending to have conversed with GOD, to
establish the authority of whatever he should think fit to leave behind by way
of oral tradition, and make his sayings to serve the same purpose as the oral
law of the Jews. But I do not find that Mohammed himself ever expected so
great a regard should be paid to his sayings, as his followers have since done;
and seeing he all along disclaimed any power of performing miracles, it seems
rather to have been a fetch of policy to raise his reputation, by pretending to
have actually conversing with GOD in heaven, as Moses had heretofore done in
the mount, and to have received several institutions immediately from him,
whereas before he contented himself with persuading them that he had all by
the ministry of Gabriel.
However, this story seemed so absurd and incredible, that several of his
followers left him upon it, and it had probably ruined the whole design, had
not Abu Becr vouched for his veracity, and declared that if Mohammed
affirmed it to be true, he verily believed the whole. Which happy incident
not only retrieved the prophet's credit, but increased it to such a degree,
that he was secure of being able to make his disciples swallow whatever he
pleased to impose on them for the future. And I am apt to think this fiction,
notwithstanding its extravagance, was one of the most artful contrivances
Mohammed ever put in practice, and what chiefly contributed to the raising
of his reputation to that great height to which it afterwards arrived.
In this year, called by the Mohammedans the accepted year, twelve men of
Yathreb or Medina, of whom ten were of the tribe of Khazraj, and the other
two of that of Aws, came to Mecca, and took an oath of fidelity to Mohammed
at al Akaba, a hill on the north of that city. This oath was called the women's
oath, not that any women were present at this time, but because a man was
not thereby obliged to take up arms in defence of Mohammed or his religion;
it being the same oath that was afterwards exacted of the women, the form
of which we have in the Koran, and is to this effect, viz.: "That they should
renounce all idolatry; that they should not steal, nor commit fornication, nor
kill their children (as the pagan Arabs used to do when they apprehended they
should not be able to maintain them), nor forge calumnies; and that they
should obey the prophet in all things that were reasonable." When they had
solemnly engaged to do all this, Mohammed sent one of his disciples, named
Masab Ebn Omair, home with them, to instruct them more fully in the grounds
and ceremonies of his new religion.
Masab, being arrived at Medina, by the assistance of those who had been
formerly converted, gained several proselytes, particularly Osaid Ebn Hodeira,
a chief man of the city, and Saad Ebn Moâdh, prince of the tribe of Aws;
Mohammedism spreading so fast, that there was scarce a house wherein
there were not some who had embraced it.
The next year, being the thirteenth of Mohammed's mission, Masah returned
to Mecca, accompanied by seventy-three men and two women of Medina, who
had professed Islamism, besides some others who were as yet unbelievers.
On their arrival, they immediately sent to Mohammed, and offered him their
assistance, of which he was now in great need, for his adversaries were by
this time grown so powerful in Mecca, that he could not stay there much
longer without imminent danger. Wherefore he accepted their proposal, and
met them one night, by appointment, at al Akaba above mentioned, attended
by his uncle al Abbas, who, though he was not then a believer, wished his
nephew well, and made a speech to those of Medina, wherein he told them,
that as Mohammed was obliged to quit his native city, and seek an asylum
elsewhere, and they had offered him their protection, they would do well not
to deceive him; and that if they were not firmly resolved to defend and not
betray him, they had better declare their minds, and let him provide for his
safety in some other manner. Upon their protesting their sincerity,
Mohammed swore to be faithful to them, on condition that they should
protect him against all insults, as heartily as they would their own wives
and families. They then asked him what recompense they were to expect
if they should happen to be killed in his quarrel; he answered, Paradise.
Whereupon they pledged their faith to him, and so returned home; after
Mohammed had chosen twelve out of their number, who were to have the
same authority among them as the twelve apostles of Christ had among
his disciples.
Hitherto Mohammed had propagated his religion by fair means, so that the
whole success of his enterprise, before his flight to Medina, must be
attributed to persuasion only, and not to compulsion. For before this second
oath of fealty or inauguration at al Akaba, he had no permission to use any
force at all; and in several places of the Koran, which he pretended were
revealed during his stay at Mecca, he declares his business was only to
preach and admonish; that he had no authority to compel any person to
embrace his religion; and that whether people believed, or not, was none of
his concern, but belonged solely unto GOD. And he was so far from allowing
his followers to use force, that he exhorted them to bear patiently those
injuries which were offered them on account of their faith; and when
persecuted himself, chose rather to quit the place of his birth and retire
to Medina, than to make any resistance. But this great passiveness and
moderation seems entirely owing to his want of power, and the great
superiority of his opposers for the first twelve years of his mission; for
no sooner was he enabled, by the assistance of those of Medina, to make
head against his enemies, than he gave out, that GOD had allowed him and
his followers to defend themselves against the infidels; and at length as
his forces increased, he pretended to have the divine leave even to attack
them, and to destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the sword; finding
by experience that his designs would otherwise proceed very slowly, if they
were not utterly overthrown, and knowing on the other hand that innovators,
when they depend solely on their own strength, and can compel, seldom run
any risk; from whence, the politician observes, it follows, that all the armed
prophets have succeeded, and the unarmed ones have failed. Moses, Cyrus,
Theseus, and Romulus would not have been able to establish the observance
of their institutions for any length of time had they not been armed.
The first passage of the Koran which gave Mohammed the permission of
defending himself by arms, is said to have been that in the twenty-second
chapter; after which a great number to the same purpose were revealed.
That Mohammed had a right to take up arms for his own defence against
his unjust persecutors, may perhaps be allowed; but whether he ought
afterwards to have made use of that means for the establishing of his
religion is a question I will not here determine. How far the secular power
may or ought to interpose in affairs of this nature, mankind are not agreed.
The method of converting by the sword, gives no very favourable idea of the
faith which is so propagated, and is disallowed by everybody in those of
another religion, though the same persons are willing to admit of it for the
advancement of their own; supposing that though a false religion ought not
to be established by authority, yet a true one may; and accordingly force is
almost as constantly employed in these cases by those who have the power
in their hands, as it is constantly complained of by those who suffer the
violence. It is certainly one of the most convincing proofs that Mohammedism
was no other than human invention, that it owed its progress and
establishment almost entirely to the sword; and it is one of the strongest
demonstrations of the divine original of Christianity, that it prevailed against
all the forces and powers of the world by the mere dint of its own truth,
after having stood the assaults of all manner of persecutions, as well as
other oppositions, for 300 years together and at length made the Roman
emperors themselves submit thereto; after which time, indeed, this proof
seems to fail, Christianity being then established and Paganism abolished by
public authority, which has had great influence in the propagation of the one
and destruction of the other ever since. But to return.
Mohammed having provided for the security of his companions as well as his
own, by the league offensive and defensive which he had now concluded with
those of Medina, directed them to repair thither, which they accordingly did;
but himself with Abu Becr and Ali stayed behind, having not yet received the
divine permission, as he pretended, to leave Mecca. The Koreish, fearing the
consequence of this new alliance, began to think it absolutely necessary to
prevent Mohammed's escape to Medina, and having held a council thereon,
after several milder expedients had been rejected, they came to a resolution
that he should be killed; and agreed that a man should be chosen out of every
tribe for the execution of this design, and that each man should have a blow
at him with his sword, that the guilt of his blood might fall equally on all the
tribes, to whose united power the Hashemites were much inferior, and
therefore durst not attempt to revenge their kinsman's death.
This conspiracy was scarce formed when by some means or other it came
to Mohammed knowledge, and he gave out that it was revealed to him the
angel Gabriel, who had now ordered him to retire to Medina. Whereupon, to
amuse his enemies, he directed Ali to lie down in his place and wrap himself
up in his green cloak, which he did, and Mohammed escape miraculously, as
they pretend, to Abu Becr's house, unperceived by the conspirators, who
had already assembled at the prophet's door. They in the meantime, looking
through the crevice and seeing Ali, whom they took to be Mohammed himself,
asleep, continued watching there till morning, when Ali arose, and they found
themselves deceived.
From Abu Becr's house Mohammed and he went to a cave in Mount Thur, to
the southeast of Mecca, accompanied only by Amer Ebn Foheirah, Abu Becr's
servant, and Abd'allah Ebn Oreikat, an idolater, whom they had hired for a
guide. In this cave they lay hid three days to avoid the search of their
enemies, which they very narrowly escaped, and not without the assistance
of more miracles than one; for some say that the Koreish were struck with
blindness, so that they could not find the cave; others, that after Mohammed
and his companions were got in, two pigeons laid their eggs at the entrance,
and a spider covered the mouth of the cave with her web, which made them
look no farther. Abu Becr, seeing the prophet in such imminent danger,
became very sorrowful, whereupon Mohammed comforted him with these
words, recorded in the Koran: "Be not grieved, for GOD is with us." Their
enemies being retired, they left the cave and set out for Medina, by a by-road,
and having fortunately, or as the Mohammedans tell us, miraculously, escaped
some who were sent to pursue them, arrived safely at that city; whither Ali
followed them in three days, after he had settled some affairs at Mecca.
The first thing Mohammed did after his arrival at Medina, was to build a
temple for his religious worship, and a house for himself, which he did on a
parcel of ground which had before served to put camels in, or as others tell
us, for a burying-ground, and belonged to Sahal and Soheil the sons of Amru,
who were orphans. This action Dr. Prideaux exclaims against, representing
it as a flagrant instance of injustice, for that, says he, he violently
dispossessed these poor orphans, the sons of an inferior artificer (whom the
author he quotes calls a carpenter) of this ground, and so founded the first
fabric of his worship with the like wickedness as he did his religion. But to
say nothing of the improbability that Mohammed should act in so impolitic a
manner at his first coming, the mohammedan writers set this affair ina quite
different light; one tells us that he treated with the lads about the price of
the ground, but they desired he would accept it asa present; however, as
historians of good credit assure us, he actually bought it, and the money was
paid by Abu Becr. Besides, had Mohammed accepted it as a present, the
orphans were in circumstances sufficient to have afforded it; for they were
of a very good family, of the tribe of Najjâr, one of the most illustrious among
the Arabs, and not the sons of a carpenter, as Dr. Prideaux's author writes,
who took the word Najjâr, which signifies a carpenter, for an appellative,
whereas it is a proper name.
Mohammed being securely settled at Medina, and able not only to defend
himself against the insults of his enemies, but to attack them, began to send
out small parties to make reprisals on the Koreish; the first party consisting
of no more than nine men, who intercepted and plundered a caravan belonging
to that tribe, and in the action took two prisoners. But what established his
affairs very much, and was the foundation on which he built all his succeeding
greatness, was the gaining of the battle of Bedr, which was fought in the
second year of the Hejra, and is so famous in the Mohammedan history. As
my design is not to write the life of Mohammed, but only to describe the
manner in which he carried on his enterprise, I shall not enter into any detail
of his subsequent battles and expeditions, which amounted to a considerable
number. Some reckon no less than twenty-seven expeditions wherein
Mohammed was personally present, in nine of which he gave battle, besides
several other expeditions in which he was not present: some of them,
however, will be necessarily taken notice of in explaining several passages
of the Koran. His forces he maintained partly by the contributions of his
followers for this purpose, which he called by the name of Zacât or alms, and
the paying of which he very artfully made one main article of his religion; and
partly by ordering a fifth part of the plunder to be brought into the public
treasury for that purpose, in which manner he likewise pretended to act by
the divine direction.
In a few years by the success of his arms (notwithstanding he sometimes
came off by the worst) he considerably raised his credit and power. In the
sixth year of the Hejra he set out with 1,400 men to visit the temple of
Mecca, not with any intent of committing hostilities, but in a peaceable
manner. However, when he came to al Hodeibiya, which is situate partly
within and partly without the sacred territory, the Koreish sent to let him
know that they would not permit him to enter Mecca, unless he forced his
way; whereupon he called his troops about him, and they all took a solemn
oath of fealty or homage to him, and he resolved to attack the city; but
those of Mecca sending Araw Ebn Masúd, prince of the tribe of Thakif, as
their ambassador to desire peace, a truce was concluded between them for
ten years, by which any person was allowed to enter into league either with
Mohammed or with the Koreish as he thought fit.
It may not be improper, to show the inconceivable veneration and respect
the Mohammedans by this time had for their prophet, to mention the account
which the above-mentioned ambassador gave the Koreish, at his return, of
their behaviour. He said he had been at the courts both of the Roman emperor
and of the king of Persia, and never saw any prince so highly respected by his
subjects as Mohammed was by his companions; for whenever he made the
ablution, in order to say his prayers, they ran and catched the water that he
had used; and whenever he spit, they immediately licked it up, and gathered
up every hair that fell from him with great superstition.
In the seventh year of the Hejra, Mohammed began to think of propagating
his religion beyond the bounds of Arabia, and sent messengers to the
neighbouring princes with letters to invite them to Mohammedism. Nor was
this project without some success. Khosru Parviz, then king of Persia,
received his letter with great disdain, and tore it in a passion, sending away
the messenger very abruptly; which when Mohammed heard, he said, "GOD
shall tear his kingdom." And soon after a messenger came to Mohammed
from Badhân, king of Yaman, who was a dependant on the Persians, to
acquaint him that he had received orders to send him to Khosru. Mohammed
put off his answer till the next morning, and then told the messenger it had
been revealed to him that night that Khosru was slain by his son Shiruyeh;
adding that he was well assured his new religion and empire should rise to as
great a height as that of Khosru; and therefore bid him advise his master
to embrace Mohammedism. The messenger being returned, Badhân in a few
days received a letter from Shiruyeh informing him of his father's death,
and ordering him to give the prophet no further disturbance. Whereupon
Badhân and the Persians with him turned Mohammedans.
The emperor Heraclius, as the Arabian historians assure us, received
Mohammed's letter with great respect, laying it on his pillow, and dismissed
the bearer honourably. And some pretend that he would have professed this
new faith, had he not been afraid of losing his crown.
Mohammed wrote to the same effect to the king of Ethiopia, though he had
been converted before, according to the Arab writers; and to Mokawkas,
governor of Egypt, who gave the messenger a very favourable reception, and
sent several valuable presents to Mohammed, and among the rest two girls,
one of which, named Mary, became a great favourite with him. He also sent
letters of the like purport to several Arab princes, particularly one to al
Hareth Ebn Abi Shamer, king of Ghassân, who, returning for answer that he
would go to Mohammed himself, the prophet said, "May his kingdom perish;"
another to Hawdha Ebn Ali, king of Yamâma, who was a Christian, and having
some time before professed Islamism, had lately returned to his former faith;
this prince sent back a very rough answer, upon which Mohammed cursing him,
he died soon after; and a third to al Mondar Ebn Sâwa, king of Bahrein, who
embraced Mohammedism, and all the Arabs of that country followed his
example.
The eighth year of the Hejra was a very fortunate year to Mohammed.
In the beginning of it Khâled Ebn al Walid and Amru Ebn al As, both excellent
soldiers, the first of whom afterwards conquered Syria and other countries,
and the latter Egypt, became proselytes of Mohammedism. And soon after
the prophet sent 3,000 men against the Grecian forces, to revenge the death
of one of his ambassadors, who being sent to the governor of Bosra on the
same errand as those who went to the above-mentioned princes, was slain by
an Arab of the tribe of Ghassân at Muta, a town in the territory of Balkâ in
Syria, about three days' journey eastward from Jerusalem, near which town
they encountered. The Grecians being vastly superior in number (for,
including the auxiliary Arabs, they had an army of 100,000 men), the
Mohammedans were repulsed in the first attack, and lost successively three
of their general, viz., Zeid Ebn Hâretha, Mohammed's freedman, Jaafar, the
son of Abu Tâleb, and Abdâllah Ebn Rawâha; but Khâled Ebn al Walid, succeeding
to the command, overthrew the Greeks with a great slaughter, and brought
away abundance of rich spoil; on occasion of which action Mohammed gave
him the honourable title of Seif min soyuf Allah, One of the Swords of GOD.
In this year also Mohammed took the city of Mecca, the inhabitants whereof
had broken the truce concluded on two years before. For the tribe of Becr,
who were confederates of the Koreish, attacking those of Khozâah, who were
allies of Mohammed, killed several of them, being supported in the action by a
party of the Koreish themselves. The consequence of this violation was soon
apprehended, and Abu Sofiân himself made a journey to Medina on purpose to
heal the breach and renew the truce, but in vain, for Mohammed, glad of this
opportunity, refused to see him; whereupon he applied to Abu Becr and Ali,
but they giving him no answer, he was obliged to return to Mecca as he came.
Mohammed immediately gave orders for preparations to be made, that he
might surprise the Meccans while they were unprovided to receive him; in a
little time he began his march thither, and by the time he came near the city
his forces were increased to 10,000 men. Those of Mecca being not in a
condition to defend themselves against so formidable an army, surrendered
at discretion, and Abu Sofiân saved his life by turning Mohammedan. About
twenty-eight of the idolaters were killed by a party under the command of
Khâled; but this happened contrary to Mohammed's orders, who, when he
entered the town, pardoned all the Koreish on their submission, except only
six men and four women, who were more obnoxious than ordinary (some of
them having apostatized), and were solemnly proscribed by the prophet
himself; but of these no more than three men and one woman were put
to death, the rest obtaining pardon on their embracing Mohammedism, and
one of the women making her escape.
The remainder of this year Mohammed employed in destroying the idols in
and round about Mecca, sending several of his generals on expeditions for that
purpose, and to invite the Arabs to Islamism: wherein it is no wonder if they
now met with success.
The next year, being the ninth of the Hejra, the Mohammedans call "the year
of embassies," for the Arabs had been hitherto expecting the issue of the war
between Mohammed and the Koreish; but so soon as that tribe--the principal of
the whole nation, and the genuine descendants of Ismael, whose prerogatives
none offered to dispute--had submitted, they were satisfied that it was not in
their power to oppose Mohammed, and therefore began to come in to him in
great numbers, and to send embassies to make their submissions to him, both
to Mecca, while he stayed there, and also to Medina, whither he returned this
year. Among the rest, five kings of the tribe of Hamyar professed
Mohammedism, and sent ambassadors to notify the same.
In the tenth year Ali was sent into Yaman to propagate the Mohammedan
faith there, and as it is said, converted the whole tribe of Hamdân in one day.
Their example was quickly followed by all the inhabitants of that province,
except only those of Najrân, who, being Christians, chose rather to pay
tribute.
Thus was Mohammedism established and idolatry rooted out, even in
Mohammed's lifetime (for he died the next year), throughout all Arabia, except
only Yamâma, where Moseilama, who set up also for a prophet as Mohammed's
competitor, had a great party, and was not reduced till the Khalifat of Abu
Becr. And the Arabs being then united in one faith and under one prince,
found themselves in a condition of making those conquests which extended
the Mohammedan faith over so great a part of the world.