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 OF 
 
 MAHOMET, 
 
 u-iTH SKETCHES OF the REIGA'S 
 OF HIS SUCCESSORS 
 
 ABUBEKER, OMAR, 
 OTHMAN, and ALL 
 
 From tii^Deciine\S^Fjlloy the Roman Empire, 
 
 By EDWARD GIBBON, Esq. 
 
 Printed at Leomin_ster, ey Sji^^wn yViiuhi:, 
 F©R JOHN WHITING, of Lancaster, • 
 — i^c; — 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MAHOMET; 
 
 THBtcities of Mecca and Meduia 
 present, in the heart of Asia, the 
 form, or rather the substance, of a com- 
 monwealth. The grandfather of Mahomet, 
 and his Uneal ancestors, appear in foreign 
 and domestic tnmsactions as the pricces 
 of their comitry ; but they reigned, hke 
 Pericles at Athene, or the Medici at Flor- 
 ence, by the opinion of their wisdom and 
 integrity ; their iniluence vvt.s divided with 
 their patrimony ; and the sceptre was trans- 
 ferred from the uncles of the prophet to a 
 younger branch of the tribe of Koreish. 
 On solem^n occasions they convened the 
 assembly of the people ; and, since man- 
 kind must be either compelled or persuad- 
 ed to obey, the use and reputation of ora- 
 tv-ry among the ancient Arabs is the clear- 
 est, evidence of public freedom. But their 
 smiple freedom vras of a very dinerent cast 
 
4 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 fi^om the nice r.nd artificiil machinery of 
 the Greek nnd Reman repubUcs, in which 
 each rnemberi;- possessed an undivided 
 share of the civil and political rights of the 
 community. In the more simple state of 
 the Arabs, the nation is free, because each 
 of her sens disdains a base submission to 
 the will of a master. His breast is fortifi- 
 ed v/ith the austere virtues of(J|irage, pa- 
 tience, and sobriety ; the Jove of inde- 
 pendence prompts him to exe.rcise the 
 habits of self-comm^ard ; and the fear Hf 
 dishonour guards liim h'om the meaner 
 a;>prchension^ of pain, of danger, and of 
 de?\t]i. The gravity and iirmness of the 
 mind is conspicuous in his outvrard de- 
 inccLncr : his speech is bioWj vreighty, and 
 concise, he is seldom provoked to laughter, 
 his only gesture is that of stroking his 
 bce^rd, the venerable symibol of m^anhood ; 
 .'jid the sense of his ovv'n importance teach- 
 es hira to accost his equals vrithout levity, 
 and biis superiors without awe. The liberty 
 of the S^araccns survived their conquests : 
 the iirst caMphs indulged the bold and 
 iumiliar language of their subjects : they 
 ascended the pulpit to ]-?er^iade and edify 
 the eorxereeation ; . i:or was it ]3eforc 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. b 
 
 the seat of empire was removed to the 
 Tigris, that the Abbassides adopted the 
 proud arid pompous ceremonial ol the ^fe- 
 siaa and Byzantine courts. W^ ?4 
 
 The base and plebeian origin of Mahom- 
 et is an unskilful ca.kimny of the Chris- 
 tians, who exalt instead of degrading the 
 merit of thdr adversary. His descent from 
 Ismael vv'^Ri national privilege or fable ; 
 but if the first" steps of the pedigree are 
 dark and doubtful, he could produce many 
 generations of pure and genuine nobility : 
 he sprung from the tribe of Koreisi"! and 
 the family of Hashem, the most illustrious 
 of the Arabs, the princes of Mecca, and 
 the hereditary guardians of the Caaba. 
 The grandiather of Mahomet v/as Abdol 
 Motaileb, the son of Hashem, a wealthy 
 and generous citizen, who relieved the dis- 
 tress of famine with the supplies of com- 
 merce. Mecca, w^hich had been fed by the 
 li'oerality of the father, v/as saved by th^ 
 courage of the son.* The kingdom 61 
 Yemen was subject to the Christian prin- 
 ces of Abyssinia ; their vassal Abrahah v/as 
 provoked by an insult to avenp^e the honour 
 cfthe cross ; and the holy city was invest- 
 ed by a train of elephants and ao aririy of 
 
G TPIE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 Africans. A treaty wns proposed ; and 
 in the first audience, the grandfather of 
 M«]iomet demanded the restitution of liis 
 r-r-^ . '' And v/hy, said Abrahah, do 
 '■ y:u not rather implore my clemency in 
 '- favour of your temple, which I have 
 ' ' threatened to destroy ? " * ' Because, ' ' 
 replied the intrepid chief, ''the cattle is 
 ^"^ my own : the Cciaba belone^fc the o;ods, 
 ' ' and t/)ey ^^"ill defend their house from 
 '• injury "^ and sacrilege.'' The want of 
 revisions, or the valour of the Koreish, 
 ^^i:ompelled the Abyssinians to a disgraceful 
 "retreat ; their discomfiture has been adorn- 
 ed vrith a miraculous ilight of birds, v^ho 
 shov.-ered dov/n stones on the heads of tlie 
 infidels ; and the deliverance was long 
 <:omAmemorated by the eera of the elephant. 
 The glory oFAbdol Motalleb was crowned 
 vdth domestic happiness, his life was pro- 
 longed to the age of one hundred and ten 
 ■^.xa^'s, and he became the father of fix 
 iaug'hters and r.hnrteen sors. His best 
 ' eloved Abdallah was the most beautiful 
 ; nd modest of the Arabian youth ; and in 
 'lie first night, when he consummated his 
 marric-ge with Amina, of the noble race of 
 the Zcdirltes, tv- o hundred ^'irgins are said 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. / 
 
 to ha,ve expired of jealous].' and despair. 
 Mahomet, or more properly Mohammed, 
 the only son of Abdall'ah and Amina, v/as 
 born at Mecca, four years after the death 
 of Justinian, and two months after the de- 
 feat of the "Abj/ssinians, whose victory 
 would have introduced into the Caaba the 
 rehgion of the Christians. In his eai^Iy 
 infancy, he #a3 deprived of his ilithcr, his 
 mother, and his grandfather ; his uncles 
 w^ere strong and numerous ; and in the di- 
 "^dsion of the inheritance, the orphan's share 
 w^as reduced to five camels and an jEthiopi- 
 rai maid-servant. At home and abroad, 
 in peace and war, Abu Taleb, the most 
 respectable of his uncles, v/as the guide 
 and guardian of his }'outh ; in his 
 tvv^enty fifth year, he entered into the ser- 
 vice of Cadijah,a rich and noble v/idow of 
 Mecca, who soon rev.Tirded his. fidelitv 
 v/ith the gift of her hand and fortune. 
 The marriage contract, in the simple style 
 of antiquity, recites the mutual love c^ 
 MahomiCt and Cadijah ; describes him as 
 the most accomplished of the tribe of Ko- 
 reish ; and stipulates a dowry of twel)^ 
 ounces of gold and tv/enty cam^els, v^'hich 
 vv'as supplied by the liberality of ht* u:i 
 
8 THE LIFE or ]NrAiIO?*lET» 
 
 cle. By this alliance, the son of Abdal- 
 lah was restored to the station of his an- 
 cestors ; and the judicious matron ^\as 
 content with his domestic virtues, till, in 
 the fortieth jeai' of his age, he assumed 
 the title of aprophet,andprociairnedthe re- 
 ligion of the Koran » 
 
 According to the tradition of his com- 
 panions, Mahomet v;as distinguished hj 
 the beauty of his person, an outward gif'c 
 which is seldom despised, except by those 
 to whom it has been refused. Before he 
 spoke, the orator engaged on his side the 
 affections of a public or private audience. 
 They applaudedhis commanding presence, 
 his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his 
 gracious smile, his flowing beard, his 
 countenance that painted every sensation 
 of the soul, and his gestures that enforced 
 each expresson of the tongue. In the fa- 
 miliar offices of life he scrupulously adher- 
 ed to the grave and ccreiiionious polite- 
 Tiess of his country : his respectful atten- 
 tion to the rich and povierfui ivas clignin- 
 ed by his condescension and affabiJity to 
 the poorest citizens of Mecca : the frank- 
 ness of his manner concealed tJie ^irtiiicc 
 of his vievv^s ; jmd the habits of counesy 
 
THE LIFE OF MA2I0MET. 9 
 
 were imputed to personal friendship or 
 universal benevolence. His memory was 
 capacious and retentive, iiis wit easy and 
 social, his imagination sublime, his judg- 
 ment clear, rapid, and decisive. He pos- 
 sessed the courage both of thought and 
 action ; and, altliough his designs might 
 gradually expand with his success, the 
 lirst idea which he entertained of his di- 
 v'lnt mission bears the. stamp of an original 
 P-^ superior genius. The son of Abdallah was 
 !;ducated in the bosom of the noblest race, 
 n the use of the purest dialect of Arabia; 
 md the fluency of his speech was correct- 
 ed and enlianccd by the practice of dis- 
 creet and seasonable silence. With these 
 :>ovv'ers of eloquence, Mahomet vras an 
 lliterate Barbarian : his youth had never 
 jeen instructed in the arts of reading and 
 .mting; the common ignorance exempted 
 lim from sliame or reproach, but he was 
 'educed to a narrow circle of existence, 
 md deprived of those faithful mirrors, 
 vhich refieet to our mind, the minds of 
 ;age3 and lieroes. Yet the book of nature 
 md of man was open to liis view; and 
 iome fancy has been indulged in the po- 
 itical and philosophical observations which ^ 
 
10 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET-. 
 
 are ascribed to the Arabian traveller, H 
 compares the nations and the religions c 
 the earth ; discovers the weakness of th 
 Persian aiid Roman monarchies ; beholds 
 with pity and indignation, the degenerac 
 of the times ; and resolves to unite, unde 
 one God and one king, the invincibl 
 spirit and primitive virtues of the Arab== 
 Our more accurate inquiry will suggcsl 
 that instead of visiting the courts, th 
 camps, the temples of the East, the tv/ 
 jouniies of Mahomet nito Syria were cor 
 lined to the fairs of Bostra and Damascus 
 that he was only thirteen years of age ^vhe 
 he accompanied the caravan of his uncle 
 2nd tliat his duty compelled him to retur 
 as soon as lie had disposed of the mei 
 chandise of Cadijah. In these hasty an 
 supeiiicial excursions, the eye of geniii 
 mi«rht discern some oljjects invisible t 
 his grosser companions ; some seeds ( 
 knowledge maght be cast upon a fruitfi 
 soil ; but his ignorance of the Syriac lax 
 guagc must have checked his curiosity 
 and I cannot perceive, in the life or wrr 
 ings of Mahomet, that his prospect wf 
 far extended beyond the limits of the A 
 rabian vv'orkl. From every region of th: 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOI.fET. li 
 
 jolitaiy world, the pilgrims of Mecca were 
 mnuaily assembled, by the calls of devo- 
 ioii and commerce ; in the free concourse 
 )f multitudes, a simple citizen, in his na- 
 ive tongue, might study the political state 
 md character of the tribes, the theory and 
 practice of the Jews imd Christians. Some 
 asefui strangers might be tempted, or for- 
 ced, to implore the rights of hospitality ; 
 md the enemies of Mahomet have named 
 :he Jew, the Persian, and the Syrian monk, 
 ivhom thev accuse of lendiner their secret 
 lid to the composition of the Koran. Con- 
 rersation enriches the understanding, but 
 ioiitude is the school of genius ; and the 
 Liniformity of a work denotes the hand of 
 I single artist. From his earliest youth, 
 iMahomet was addicted to religious con- 
 lemplation : each year, during the montli 
 :3f Ramada]!, he withdi'ew from the world, 
 md from the arms of Cadijah : in the cave 
 3f Hera, three miles from Mecca, he con- 
 sulted the spirit of fraud or enthusiasm, 
 whose abode is not in the heavens, but in 
 the mind of the prophet. The faith vrhich, 
 under the name of Islam, he preached to 
 his family and nation, is compounded of an 
 eternal trutli,and a necessary fiction,TH at 
 
12 the life of mahomet. 
 
 there is only one god, and that 
 Mahomet is the apostle of God. 
 
 It is the boast of the Jewish apologists, 
 that while the learned nations of antiquit}'- 
 were deluded by the fables of polytheism, 
 their simple ancestors of Palestine preserv- 
 ed the knowledge and ^A^orship of the true 
 God. The moral attributes of Jeho-^ali 
 may not easily be reconciled with the stan- 
 dard oi human virtue : his metaphysical 
 qualities are darkly expressed ; but each 
 ]Dage of the Pentateuch and the Prophets 
 is ail evidence of his power : the unity ol 
 his name is inscribed on the first table of 
 the law ; and his sanctuary was never de- 
 filed by any visible im.age of the invisible 
 essence. After the ruin of the temple, 
 the faith o f the Hebrew exiles Vv^as purified, 
 fixed, and enlightened, by the spiritual 
 devotion of the synagogue ; and the au- 
 thority of jNlahomet v/ ill not justify his 
 l^eipetual reproach, that the Je\A s or Jvlec- 
 ca or Medina adored Ezra as the son of 
 God. But the children of Israel had ceas- 
 ed to be a people ; and -the religions of the 
 w^orld w^ere guilty, at least in the eyes of 
 the prophet, of giving sons, or daughters, 
 or companions, to the supreme God. In 
 
THE LIFE OF MAH0:MET. 13 
 
 the rude idolatry of the Arabs, the crime 
 is manifest aiid audacious : the Sabians are 
 poorly excused by the pre-ernincnce of 
 the first piaiiet, or intelligepxe, in their cai- 
 lestial hierarch}' ; and in the Magian sysl - 
 em the conflict of the two principles Lea*a}'s 
 the imperfection of the conqueror. The 
 Christians of the seventh century had ii:- 
 sensibly relapsed into a serabiance of pag- 
 anism : their public and pri^^ate vows vvere 
 addressed to the relics and images that dis- 
 graced the temples of the East: the thron;^ 
 of the Almiglity was darkened by a cloud of 
 martyrs, and saints and angels, the oh.ject;. 
 of popular veneration ; and the Colly- 
 ridicui heretics, who flourished in the fru!.- 
 ful soil of Arabia, invested the VirgiaMu- 
 ryvriththe name and honours of a god- 
 dess. The mysteries of the TrhrriyWi'l 
 Incarnation appear to contradict tlie princi- 
 ple of the divine unity. In their cjl^vioiis 
 sense, they introduce three equal deiries, 
 and transform tlie man Jesus into the sub- 
 stance of the son of God : an orthodox 
 commentary v\dll satisfy only a belie\'ing 
 mind : intemperate curiosity and zeal had 
 torn the veil of the sanctuaiy ; and each of 
 the Oriented sects Vv^as e?.a'er to confeso th-it 
 B 
 
14 TKE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 all, except themselves, desen-ed the re- 
 proach of idolatry and polytheism. The 
 creed of Mahomet is free from suspicicn 
 or ambiguity ; and the Koran is a glorious 
 testimxny to the unity of God. The pro- 
 phet of Mecca rejected the ^vorship of idols 
 and men, of stars and planets, on the ra^ 
 tional principle tliat whatever rises must 
 set, that whatever is born must die, 
 that whatever is corruptible must decay 
 and perish, in the author of the universe, 
 his rational enthusiasm confessed and a- 
 tlored an infinite and eternal being, without 
 form or place, vrithcut issue cr similitude, 
 present to our most secret thoughts, ex- 
 isting by the necessity of his own nature, 
 and deriving from himself all moral ar.d 
 intellectual perfection. These sublime 
 truths thus anncuriccel in the language of 
 the prophet, are firmly held by his disci- 
 ples, ajid defined with metaphysical pre- 
 cision by the interpreters of the Koran. 
 A philosophic theist might subscribe the 
 popular creed of the Mahometans ; a creed 
 too sublime perhaps for our present facul- 
 ties. What object remains for the fanc}', 
 or even the understanding, when v\'e have 
 abstracted Oom the unknown, substance 
 di ideas of time andfipacc, ofm^otionand 
 
THE LIFi: OF MAPIOMET. 15 
 
 matter, of sensation and reflection ? The 
 first principle of reason and revelation was 
 confirmed by the voice of Mahomet : his 
 proselytes, from India to Morocco, are 
 distiiTiguished by tlie name of Unitarians ; 
 and the danger of idolatry haf-: been pre- 
 vented by the interdiction of imag-es. The 
 doctrine of eternal decrees and absolute 
 predestination is strictly embraced by the 
 Mahometans ; and they struggle Vvith thci 
 common difficulties, hoiD to reconcile the 
 prescience of God with the freedom and 
 responsibility of man ; /wa) to explain the 
 permission of evil under the reign of in- 
 finite power and infinite goodness. 
 
 The God of i?.atuie has written his ex- 
 istence on rji his works, and his lav/ in the 
 heart of man. To restore tj-ie knowledge 
 of the oj^*c and the practice of tlie other, 
 has been the real or pretended aim of iYx<^ 
 prophets of every age: the liberivity of 
 !hlahomet allowed to his predecessors the 
 same credit v/hich he claimed for himself/ 
 ani the chain of inspiration was prolong"- 
 ed from the fall of Adam to the promulga- 
 tion of the Koran. During that period, 
 some rays of prophetic light had been im- 
 parted to one hundred and tvrenty-four 
 
16 THE LITE CI MAHOMET. 
 
 ihouscind of the elect, discriminated by 
 their respective measure of virtue and 
 grace; three hundred and thirteen apostles 
 vrere sent ^^•ith a special coiTxmission to 
 recal their country from idolatry and \'ice; 
 one hundred and four volumes have been 
 dictated by the holy spirit ; and six legis- 
 lators- of transcendent brightness have an- 
 nounced to mankind the six successive re- 
 velations of various rites, but of one im* 
 jnutabie religion. The authority and sta- 
 tion of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, 
 Christ, and Mahomet, rise in just grada- 
 tion al:>oye each other ; l:*ut vvhosoever 
 hates or rejects any one of the prophets, i^; 
 numbered v^ith the^ infidels. The writ- 
 ings of the patriarchs vfcre extant only in- 
 the apocryphal copies of the Greeks and Sy- 
 rians : the conduct of Adam had not en- 
 ti tied him to the gratitude or respect of 
 his children ; the seven p.recepta of Noah 
 ^\ ere observed by an inierior and imper- 
 fcct class of the proselytes of the synagogue; 
 and the memory of Abraham v/as obscurely 
 levered by the Sabians in his native land 
 of Chald^ea : of the myriads of prophets, 
 Moses and Christ alone lived and reigned; 
 ; nd the rem.nant of the , inspired writings 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 17 
 
 was cOii-tprised in the books of the Old and 
 the Nev/ Testament. The miraculous sto- 
 ry of IMoses is consecrated and embellish- 
 ed in theKoran; and the captive Jevfs enjoy 
 the secret revenge of imposing their ov/n 
 belief on the nations whose recent creeds 
 they deride. For the author of Christiani- 
 ty ,theMahometans are taught by the propliet 
 to entertain an high & mysterio^, reverence. 
 '* Verily, Christ Jesus, the s9k of ?4ary, 
 *' is the apostle of God, and his \vord, 
 *^ which he conveyed unt^ Mar)^, and a 
 '* Spirit proceeding from him : honourable 
 *' in this world, and in the v/orld to come ; 
 "* and one of those who approach near to 
 '' thepresenee of God." The Vv^onders 
 of the genuine and apocryphal go':pels are 
 profusely heaped on his head ; and the La- 
 tin church has not disdained to borro\T' 
 from the Koran the immaculate concep- 
 tion of his virgin mother. Yet Je^nis was 
 a mere mortal ; and, at the d^.y of nid^^- 
 ment, his testimony will serve to cci-.demn 
 both the JeM^s, who reject him as aprophet,&' 
 the Christians, who adore him as the Son * 
 of God. The malice of his enemies as- 
 persed his reputation, and ponspir-ed a- 
 gainst his Hie ; but their i:i ten* i on oi";ly wa^ 
 
 a 
 
18 THE LIF£ or MAHOMET. 
 
 gailt V, ct pliantom or a criminal was sub- 
 stituted on the cross, and the innocent s'liiit 
 was translated to the seventh iicaven. Dur- 
 ing' six hundred }'ears the gospel was the 
 way of trulhand sah'-ation ; but the Chris- 
 tians insensibly forgot both the laws a.nd 
 the example of their founder; and Ma - 
 liO.net was instructed ^^y the Gnostics to 
 accuse tlie church, as ^ ell as the synago- 
 gae, of cormptiri^ the integrity of the sa- 
 cred text. The piety of Piloses and of 
 Ch.'Jst rcjoiced^i the assurance of a future 
 prophet, more^iistrious than themseh^es: 
 the cvrogelic promise of the Paraclete, or 
 Hoiy Ghost, v/as prefigured in the name, 
 and accomplished in the person, of Ma- 
 homet, the greatest and the lastcf the apos- 
 t'esofGod. 
 
 Tne communication of ideas reauires a 
 .^imilitudeof tho't & language : the discourse 
 of a philosopher would yibrate without effect 
 on the ear of a peasant ; yet how minute is 
 •rlie distance of their understandings, if it 
 l-e comrpared with the contact of an infinite 
 .md a Unite mind, Vv'ith th.e woixl of God 
 '•xpressed by tlic tongue or the pen of a 
 mortal ? The inspiration of the Hebrew 
 oro"Dhets, of the a-oostles and eyani^eiists of 
 
THE LIFE OF r.IAHOMET. 19 
 
 Cha-lst, mp^xt not bs incompatible v/lth 
 the exercise of their reason and memory ; 
 iind the diversity of their genius is strcng'- 
 iy mirkei in tlie style and composition of 
 the books of the Old and New Testament. 
 But Maliomet was content with a charact- 
 er, more humble, yet more sublime, of a 
 simple editor : the substance of the Koran, 
 accordin;:^ to himself or his disciples, m 
 uiicreated and eternal ; subsisting in the , 
 essence of the Deity, and inscribed v/itha 
 pen of light on the table of his ererlasting 
 decrees. A p :iper copy in a volume of 
 silk and gems, was brought down to the> 
 lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, who, 
 luider the Jevvdsh ceconomy, had indeed 
 been dispatched on the most important er- 
 rands ; and this trusty messenger succes- 
 sively revealed the chapters ancll? verses to 
 the Arabian prophet. Instead of a perpet- 
 ual and perfect measure of the divine will, 
 the fragments of the Koran v/ere produced 
 at the discretion of Mahomet ; each reve- 
 lation is suited to tlie emergencies of his 
 policy or passion and all cor.tradiction is re- 
 moved by the saving maxim, that any text 
 of scripture is abro^^ated or modiiied bv 
 any subsequent passage. Tiie word of 
 
29 THE LIJE OF MAKOMET. 
 
 God, and of the apostle, was diiig'ently re- 
 corded by his disciples on pahn-leaves and 
 the shoulder-bones of mutton ; and the 
 pages , \vithoiit order or connection, were 
 cast into a domestic chest in the custody 
 of one of his v/ives. Tvro years after the 
 death of Mahomet, the sacred volume was 
 collected and published by his friend and 
 successor Abubeker : the work was re- 
 vised by the caliph 0thman, in the thir- 
 tieth year of the Hegira ; and the various 
 editions of the Koran assert the same mir- 
 aculous priviledge of an unifcrm and in- 
 corruptible text. In the spirit of enthu- 
 siasm or vanity, the prophet rests the 
 truth of his mission on the merit of his 
 book, audaciously chaileng-es both men 
 and ano'cls to imitate the beauties of 
 a sFiigle page, and presumes to assert that 
 God alone could dictate this incompar- 
 able performance. This argument is 
 most powerfully addressed to a devout A- 
 rabian, v/hose mind is attuned to faith and 
 rapture, whose ear is delighted by the 
 m.usic of sounds, and whose ignorance is 
 incapable of comparing tlje productions of 
 human e'enias. The hainiioriv and co- 
 piousntiTis of style will not reach, n; a. 
 
THE LI hi: Oi MAHOM.CT. . 21 
 
 version the Europciui inficiel, : lie v\'ili pe- 
 ruse with impatience tlie endless incoher- 
 ent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and 
 declamation, v.hich seldom excites a sen- 
 timent or an idea, which sometimes crawls 
 in the dust, and- is sometimes lost in the 
 clouds. The divine attributes exalt the 
 flmcy of the Arabian missionary ; but his 
 loftiest strains must yield to the sublime . 
 simplicity of the book of Job, composed 
 in a remote age, in the same countiy and 
 in the same language. If the composition 
 of the Koran exceed the Eici^li^^ of a man, 
 to what superior intelligence "siH^y. we 
 ascribe the Iliad of Homer or tlie Philip^- 
 pics of Demosthenes ? In all religions, 
 thfi life of the founder supplies tlie silence 
 of his \^Titten revelation : the sayings of 
 Mahomet were so many lessons of truth ; 
 his actions so many examples of viriuc ; 
 und tiie public and pri'^'atc m.emoriaIs v/ere 
 j:>reserved by his wives and companions. 
 At the end of two hundred years, the Son-- 
 na or oral law was fixed and consecrated 
 by the labours of Al Bo char i, w^ho dis- 
 criminated seven titousand two hundred 
 and seven ty-fiv^c genuine traditions, from a 
 miiss of three hundred thou sand reports, of a 
 
22 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 more doubtful or spurious chajacter. Each 
 day the pious author prayed in the tem- 
 ple of Mecca, and performed h/is abkitions 
 Avith the water of Zemzem : the pages 
 were successively deposited on the pulpit, 
 and the sepulchre of the apostle ; and the 
 "\^'Ork has been ai)proved loy the four or- 
 thodox sects of tlie Sonnites. 
 
 The mission of the ancient pro])]iets, 
 of Moses and of Jesus, had been confirm- 
 ed by many splendid prodigies, and Ma- 
 homet was repeatedly urged, by the in- 
 habitants of Mecca and Medina, to pro- 
 duce a similar evidence of his dirine le- 
 ^Diion ; to call down from heaven- the an- 
 srel or the volume of his revelation, to cre- 
 ate a grij'den in the desert, or to kindje a 
 conSagration in the unbelieving city. As 
 often as he is pressed by the demands of 
 the Korcisb*, he involves himself in the 
 obscure boast of vision and prophesy, ap- 
 peals to the intemol proofs o{' his doctrine, 
 and shields himself behind the providence 
 of God, Vtdio refuses those signs and won- 
 ders that would depreciate the merit of 
 faith and aggravate the g»?ilt ofinlidelity 
 But the mxodest or ar.gry tone of his apol 
 gics betrays his 
 
 ."!,. 
 
THE LIFE Cr MAirOilET, 23 
 
 jind these passages of scaiidai establish, 
 beyond suspicion, the integrity of the 
 Koraii. The votaries of Maiiomet are 
 more assured than hhnself of his miracu- 
 Joiis gifts, and their confidence and credu- 
 lity increase as they aie irather remo^-ed 
 from the time and place of his spiritual 
 exploits. They belie^-e or affirm that trees 
 went forth lo meet him ; that he was sa- 
 luted by stones ; that water gushed from 
 his fingers ; that he fed tlie hungry, cured 
 the sick, and raised the dead ; that a beam 
 groaned to him ; that a camel complained 
 to him ; that a shoulder of mutton inform- 
 ed him of its behig poisoned ; and that 
 both animate and inanimate nature Mere 
 equ^Jiy subject to the apostle of God. His 
 dream of a nocturnal j curney i s seriously 
 described as a real and corporeal transac- 
 tion. A mysterious animal, the BoiT.k, 
 couA eyed him from the temple of Mecca 
 to that of Jerusalem : with his companion 
 Gabriel, he successively ascended the se\;- 
 en heavens, and received and repaid the sal- 
 utations of the patriarchs, the prophets, and 
 the angels, in their respective mansions. Be- 
 yond the seventh heaven, Mahomet alone 
 was permitted to proceed ; he passed tl;e 
 
24 THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 
 
 veil of unity, apprcachcd ^vithin Uvo bcw- 
 shots of the throne, and felt a cold that 
 pierced hiin to the heart, when his shoulder 
 Vv as touched by the hand of God. After 
 this fainlllur llio important com ersation,he 
 again descended to Jci usalcni, remounted 
 the Borak, returned to Mecca, r.nd per- 
 formed in the tenth part of a night the 
 journey of many thousand years. Ac- 
 cording to another legend, the apostle con- 
 founded in a national assembly ih.e m.ali- 
 cious challenge of the Koreihh. His re- 
 sistless ^vord split asunder th.e orb of the 
 moon : the obedient planet stooped frcm 
 her station in the sl:y, acccm.plishcd the 
 se^en revolutions round the Caaba, saluted 
 Mahomet in the Arabian tongue, imd sud- 
 denly ccntractinf^: lier din^ensioris, entered 
 at the collar, and issued forth through the 
 sleeve, of liis shirt. The vulgar are a- 
 mused with these marvellous tales ; but 
 the gravest of the Mussulman doctors hn- 
 itate the modesty of their master, and in- 
 dulge a latitude of faith or iritei-pretation. 
 They might speciously alledge, that in 
 preaching the religion, it was needless to 
 violate tlie haimcn}-, of nature ; that a 
 creed unclouded \iith mystery niay be ex- 
 
TJI£ LIFE or MAHOMET. 25 
 
 ciised from miracles ; and that the sword 
 of M^ihomet \\^as not less potcnt thi^n the 
 rod of Moses. 
 
 The polytheist is oppressed and distract- 
 ed by the variety of superstition : a thous- 
 and rites of E2:^^ptian ori^>'iii were iritcr- 
 woven with the essence of the Mosaic 
 Law ; and th.e spirit of the gcsjX'l had eva- 
 porated in the pagantry of the church. I'hc 
 prophet of Mecca ^vas tempted 1 y preju- 
 dice, or policy, or patriotism, to sanctify 
 the rites of the Arabians, aud the custom 
 of visitingthe holy stone of the Caaba. But 
 the precepts ofMahomet himself inculc:;te 
 a more simple and rational piet}- : prayer, 
 fasting, and alms, are the religious duties 
 of a Mussulman; and he isencoaragcd to 
 hope, that prayer v ill caiTy him half Vviiy 
 to God, fasting will bring him to the door 
 of his palace, and alms will gain him admit- 
 tance. I. According to the traditioFi of the 
 nocturnal journey, the apor.tle, in his i^er- 
 sonal conferrertee with the Deity, WoS c; .17.- 
 manded to impose on his disciples the (Ili- 
 ly obligation of fifty prayers. By the ad- 
 vice of Moses, he applied for aii irlleviaHo.i 
 of this intolerable burthen; the nu.77ibcr 
 was graduaJlv reduced to iive ;' \;iihont 
 C 
 
26 THE LITE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 any dispensation of business or pleasure, 
 or lime, or place: the devotion oi the faith- 
 fill is repeated at day break, at noon, in 
 the afternoon, in the evening', and at the 
 iirst Vv'atch of the night ; and, in the pre- 
 Jient decay of religious fervour, cur travel- 
 lers are edified by ti:e profound humility 
 and attention of theTuiks and Peisiiius. 
 Cleanliness is tlie hey of prayer : tlie fre- 
 quent luUration of the hards, the face, and 
 die body, which v. as practised of old by 
 the Arabs, is solemnly enjoined I}' the 
 Koran; and a pei mission is ionr.aijy tiiuit- 
 cd to su|:ply w ilh sand the scarcity cf \va- 
 ter. The words and attitudes cf supplica- 
 tion, as it is performed ehher sittir.g, or 
 standirg', or picstrate tn the gicuncl, are 
 prescr'ihed by custcm cr i.uthc riiy, but the 
 prayer is pouitd fcith in short and'*'fervuit 
 (jaculaticns ; the mecsure of zeal is 'net 
 .^■xhausicd by a tcchous liturgy ; and Ci.cli 
 Mussulman, for his cmu person, is invtss 
 ed ^vith the character cf a priest. Among 
 the theists, v. ho i eject tlie use of images, 
 it has been found necessary to rcstiam the 
 v^anderings of the fancy, by directing the 
 eye and the thouc,ht towLids a ht/ci, or 
 ^isibiepohitof die horizon. The prophet 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 27 
 
 was at first inclined to gratify the Jews by 
 the choice of Jerusalem ; but he soon re- 
 turned to a more natural partiality ; and 
 five times every day the eyes of the 
 nations at A^.tracan, at Fez, at Delhi, are 
 devoutly turned to the holy temple of Mec- 
 ca. Yet every spot for the service of God 
 is equally pure : the Mahometans indiffer- 
 ently pray in their chamber or in the street. 
 As a distinction from the Je\v$ and Christ- 
 jiuis, the Friday in eaeh Vy^eck h set apart 
 for the u:>efiil institutioi of public worship: 
 the people is assembled in the mosch and 
 the imam: some respectable elder ascends 
 the pulpit, to b':>gi:i the praya^ and pro- 
 nouiiCJethesernon.ButtheMiihoVnetanreli, 
 gion i^ destitute of priesthof)u or sacrince ; 
 ixnX the iadependent spirit of fanaticiiiin 
 look^ down with cnnlemj^t on the minis- 
 ters and the slaves of s ^! persii i ion . i I . The 
 vo'untary penance of the ascedcs, the tor- 
 Rieut and glory of their lives, was odious 
 to a propiiet V\'ho censured i-i his compan- 
 i:>nis a rash vo\¥.pf abstaining fi-om flesh, and 
 ^vome^, and sle;^p ; and firmly declared, 
 tbit he w^uid sufer no minks in his reli. 
 g^iOii. Yet he instituted, in each vear, a 
 last of thirty days; and strenuously recom^ 
 mended the cbserv.;^iee, as a discipline 
 
28 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 which purifies the soul and subdues the 
 body, as a salutary exercise of obedience 
 to the will of God andhlsxipostlc.. Burinj^ 
 the month of Ramadan, from the rising to 
 the setting oFthc sua, the Mussulman absta- 
 ins from.eating, and drinking, and women, 
 eUid l):ith'>, and jrerfunies ; frona all nour- 
 ishment that can restore his strength, from 
 all pleasure that can gratify his senses.. 
 In the revolution of die lunar year, tlie 
 Ramadan coincides by turns with the win- 
 ter cold and the sumrr^er heat ; and the 
 patient martyr,, without assuaging liis 
 thirst with a drop of water, must ex^ 
 pect the close of a tedious and sultry day, 
 The interdiction of wine, peculiar to some 
 orders of priest or hermits, is converted 
 bv iViahomet alone into a positi'v^e and 
 s;eneral law / and a considerable portion 
 uFthe globe has abjured, .at his command, 
 llie use of that salutary, though dangerous, 
 liquor. These painful restraints are, 
 doubdess, infringed by the libertine and 
 eluded by the hypocrite ; but the legisla- 
 tor, by whom they ai'e enacted, cannot 
 surely be accused of alluring his proselytes 
 by the indulgence of their sensual appetites. 
 lI[..Tiiecharitv oftheMahomctmis descends . 
 
THE LiPi or UAnOllET, £9 
 
 to the animal creation ; and the Koran re- 
 peatedly inculcates, not as a merit.biit as a 
 strict &. indispensable dutjj the rellci^ of the 
 indigent and unfortunate. Mcihoinet, per- 
 haps, is the only lav/giver who has defined 
 the precise measure of criCirity : the stand- 
 ard m ly vary with the degree and nature 
 of property, as it consists either in money, 
 in corn or cattle, in fruits or merchandise; 
 but the Mussulman does not accomplish 
 the law, unless he bestows a U?u/t 
 of his revenue / and if his conscience ac- 
 cuses him of h'aud or extoitio.^, the tenth, 
 under tJie idea of restitution, is enlarged 
 to 'd fifth. Benevolence is the foundation 
 of justice, since we are forbid to injure 
 those whom v/e are bound to assist, A 
 prophet may reveal the secrets of heaven 
 and of futurity ; but in his moral precepts 
 he can only repeat the lessons of our ov/n 
 hearts. 
 
 The two articles of belief, and the four 
 practical duties of Islam, are guarded by 
 rewards and punishments and the fxiih of 
 the Mussulman is devoutly fixed on the e- 
 vent of the judgment and the last d^. 
 The prophet has not presumed to deter- 
 mine'the moment ofthat av/fiil catastrophe, 
 c 
 
■30 THE LIP E OF MAHOMET.. 
 
 though he darkly announces tlie signs, 
 both in heaven and earth, whidi will pre- 
 cede the universal dissolution,, when life 
 shall be destroyed,and the order of creatioai 
 shalVbe confounded in the primitive chaos. 
 At the blast of the trumpet, new worlds 
 IV ill stait into being : iingels, genii, and men. 
 will arise from the. dead, and the human 
 soul will agi^iih be united to the body. The 
 doctrine of the resurection was first enter- 
 tai!ied by the Egyptians ; and their mum- 
 mies were embalmed, their pyramids were 
 Gonstrncted, to presence the ancient man-- 
 sion of the soul, during a period of three 
 thousand yeai's. But the attempt is pailial 
 and unavailing ; and it is with a more phi- 
 losophic spirit that Maljomet relies on the 
 ommipotence of the Creator, whose word- 
 can reanimate the breathless clay, and col- 
 lect the innumei'able atoms, that no lonccer 
 retain their form or substimce. The in- 
 termediate st:ite of the soul it is hard to 
 flecide ; and those who mostiirmly belie \e 
 her immateritii nature, are at a loss to un- 
 der c tan d hov/ she can think or act wlUiout 
 t}ie. ageuGy of the organs of sense. 
 
 The Ke-imio]-; of the soul and' body will 
 be follov-t^d by >he-f.r:al uidp-mcnt ofnian-- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 311 
 
 kind ; and, in his copy of the Magian pic- 
 ture, the prophet his to'3 faithfully repre- 
 seated the fomis of proceeding, and even 
 the slow and successive operations of an 
 earthly tribunal. By his intolerant adver- 
 saries he is upbraided for extending, even 
 to themselves, the hope of sab,'iition, for 
 asserting the blackest heresy, that every 
 man who believes in God, and accomplishes 
 good works, may expect in the last day 
 a favourable sentence. Such rationalin- 
 difference is ill adapted to tlie character of 
 a fanatic ; nor is it probable that a messen- 
 ger from he^aven should depreciate the val- 
 ue and neceS^sity of his~awn revelation. In|| 
 the Idiom of theJKoran, the belief of God is^ 
 inseparable from that of Mahomet : the 
 good works are those which he has en- 
 joined; and the two qualiiications imply 
 the profession of Islam, to which all nations 
 and all sects are equally invited. . Their 
 spiritual blindness, though excused by ig- 
 norance and crowned v/ith virtue, will be 
 scourged with everlasting torments ; and 
 the tears v/hich Mahomet shed over the 
 tomb of his mother, for whom he was for- 
 bidden to pray, display a striking contrast 
 of humanity and enthusiasm. The doom of 
 the infidels is common : the measure of 
 
32 Tni. t'llli. OF MAHOMET. 
 
 their guilt- arxl pimishtnent is clcteiTi-iined 
 by the degree of evidence which they have 
 rejected, by the n«agnitude of the errors 
 which they have entertained : the eternal 
 mansions of the Christians, the Jews, the 
 Sabians, the Magians, and the idolaters, 
 are sunk belov/ each other in the abyss ; 
 and the lowest hell is reserved for the faith- 
 less hypocrites who have assumed tlie 
 mask of religion. After the greater part 
 of mankind has l3een condemned for their 
 opinions, the true believers only ^vill be 
 judged by their actions. The good and 
 evil of each Mussulman will be accurately 
 weighed in a real or allegorical balance, 
 and a singular mode of compensation will 
 be allowed for the payment of injuries : 
 the aggressor will refund an equivalent of 
 his own good acticns, for the benefit of the 
 person whom lie has v^Tonged ; and if he 
 should be destitute of any moral property,^ 
 the v/eigiit of his sins v/ill be loaded with an 
 adequate share of the demerits of the sTilier- 
 er. According as the shares of guilt or 
 viitue shall preponderate, the scnterice 
 will be pronounced, and all, v/itliout dis- 
 tinction, v/ili pass over tliC sharp and per- 
 ilous bridge of thp abyss; ^:ut ths^ inno- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAKOMET. ^^^ 
 
 cent, treading in the footsteps Oi^Mahom- 
 et,\vill gloriously enter the gates of paradise, 
 while the guilty will fall into the first and mil- 
 dest of the seven hells. The term of expi- 
 ation will vary from nine hundred to seven 
 thousand years ; but the prophet has judi- 
 ciously promised, that all his disciples, 
 whatever may be their sins, sliall be saved, 
 by their own faith and liis intercession, from 
 eternal damnation. It n not surprising that 
 snpcrstitio 1 should act niD.'jt powerlully on 
 th^ fears of her votaries, since tlie human 
 £;ncycan paintwith more energy the misery 
 thin the blis"3 of a future life. Wkli the 
 two simple elements of darkness and 
 iivc, we create a sensation of pain, which 
 may be aggravated to an ioiinite degree by 
 th'- idea of endless duration. But the 
 same idea operates v/ith an> opposite efect 
 on the continuity of pleasure ; and too 
 mueh of our present enjoyments is o'J-• 
 t nned from the reUef or the comparison 
 of evil. It is natural enough that an A- 
 rabian prophet should dwell with rapture 
 on the groves, the fountains, and the riv- 
 ers, of paradise ; but instead of inspiring 
 the ble:iSed inhabitatits with a liberal taste 
 IQ" harmony c;ud science, conversation and! 
 
,>4' THE LIFE OF MAHOMST. 
 
 friendship, he idly celebrates the pearls 
 and diamonds J ti^ie robes of silk, pal- 
 aces of marble, dishes of gold, rich wines,, 
 artificial dainties, numerous attendarits, 
 and the whole train of sensusal and costly 
 luxury, v/hich becomes insipid to the o\\ii- 
 er , e*\'enin the short period of this mortal 
 life. Seventy-iwo liourh, or black-eyed 
 ghis, of rejjplendent beauty, blooming 
 youth, virgin purity ,imd exquisite sensibjli- 
 t}',wiil be created for the use of the meanest 
 helieverja moment of pleasure will be pro- 
 longed to a thousand yeani, and his facul- 
 ties \vill be cncreiised an hundred ibid, to 
 render. him wonhy of his Riicity. Not- 
 withstanding; a vulgar prejudice, the gates 
 of heaven, v/ill be open to both sexes ; 
 but Mahomet has not specified the male 
 com])anioo3 of the female eleet:,lef>the should 
 either alarm the je:ilousy of tl^ieir ibrmer 
 husbands, or disturb their felicity, by the 
 suspicion of an everlasting marraiage.Thi?^ 
 image of a carnal j'jaradise has provoked 
 the indignation, perhaps the envy, of the 
 monks : they declaim ag^ainst the impure 
 rclio'ion of Mahomet ; and liis modest a- 
 pol'^gists are driven to the poor excuse ol 
 iigares and allegories. B-ut the sounder 
 
THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 35 
 
 iind more consistent party adhere, without 
 shame, to tlie literal interpretation oi' the 
 Konm : uselesia would be the resurrection, 
 of the body, unless it were restored to the 
 possession and exercise of its worthiest fa- 
 cuUies ; and the union of sensual and in- 
 tellectual enjoyment is requisite to com- 
 plete the happiness of the double animal, 
 the perfect man. Yet the joys of the Ma- 
 hometan pi^-adise will not be confined to 
 the indulgence of luxury and appetite ; 
 and the prophet has expressly declared, 
 that all meaner happiness %vill be forgotten 
 iind despised by the sairas and martyrs, 
 •who shall be adm.itted to the beatitude of 
 the the divhie ^'ision; 
 
 The first and m(;st arduous conquests 
 of Mahomet were those of his wife, his 
 j^xn'vant, his pupil, and his frieixl ; sirice 
 lie prcGcrtcd himself as a prophet to those 
 who were rncst conversant with his infirm- 
 ities as a man. Yet Cadijah believed the 
 words, and cherished tl:e glory, of her 
 husl3and ;,the obsequipus and affectionate 
 Zeid V. ;is tempted by (he prospect of free- 
 dom ; the illustrious Ali, the son of Abu 
 Taleb, embraced the sentiments of his 
 cousin wi Ji the spirit of a youthful hero ; 
 
56 THE LIFE OF MAKOMET. 
 
 and the wealth, the moderation, tlie vera- 
 city of Abu beker, coriiirmed the religion 
 of the prophet v. hem he was destined to 
 j^uceeed. By his persuasion, ten of the 
 most respeetable eitizer.s of Mecca were 
 introduced to the pri-sate lessons of Islam ; 
 they yielded to the voice of reason and en- 
 thusiasm ; they repeated the fundanicntal 
 creed ; '' there is but one Go^'l, and Ma- 
 " hornet is the apostle of God ;" and their 
 fahh, e^en in this life \^as revvarded \\ ith 
 riches and honours^ w ith the coinmand of 
 armies and the i;OA errmient of kingdoms. 
 Three years Vv ere silently employed ni the 
 conversion of fourteen proselytes, the 
 first fruite of his mission; but in the fourth 
 year he assumed the prophetic office, and 
 resolving to impart to his family the light 
 of di^•ine truth, he prepared a banquet, 
 a lamb, as it is said, and a bowl of milk, 
 for the entertainment of forty guests of the 
 lace ofHashem. " Friends ana kinsmen." 
 said Mahomet to the assembly, '' I offer 
 '^ you, and I alone can offer, the most pre- 
 '* cious of gifts, the treasures of this world 
 *^ and of the world to come. Gcd has 
 ** commarided me to call you to his ser- 
 ^* vice. Who among you will suppoit 
 
THE ilJE OP MAHOMET. o7 
 
 *' my burthen ? Who among you will be 
 ** my companion and my vizir ?" No 
 answer was returned, till the silence of as- 
 tonishment, anddoubt.andcontemptjWas at 
 length broken by the impatient courage of 
 Ali, a youth in the fourteenth year of his 
 age. *' O prophet, I am the man : who- 
 * ' soever rises against thee, 1 will dash out 
 " his teeth, teai' out his eyes, break his 
 * * legs, rip up his belly. O prophet, I 
 " will be thy vizir over them." Mahom- 
 et accepted his offer with transport, and 
 Abu Taleb was ironically exhorted to re- 
 spect the superior dignity of his son. In 
 a more serious tone, the father of Ali ad- 
 vised his nephew to relinquish his imprac- 
 i ticable design. * * Spare your remon- 
 I strances," replied the intrepid fanatic to 
 [hisuHcle and benefactor; *' if they 
 should place the sun on my right- 
 hand and the moon on my left, they 
 *' should not divert me from my course.*' 
 He persevered ten years in the exercise of 
 his mission ; and the religion w hich lias 
 overspread the East and the West, advan- 
 ced with a slow and painful progress 
 within the w^alls of Mecca. Yet Mahom- 
 pt enjoyed the satisfaction of beholding the- 
 
3S THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 
 
 encrease of his infante on fa'ceation of Uiv 
 itarians, who revered him as a prophet, 
 mid to Vv'hcm he seasonably dispensed tlie 
 spiritual rxiirishment of the Koran. The 
 number ci proselytes may beestecm.ed by 
 the absence of eighty -three men and eigh- 
 teen women, who retired, to .Ethiopia in 
 the seventh year of his mission : and his 
 party was fortified by the tim^ely conversion 
 of his uncle Hamza, 8^: of the hcrce and in- 
 liexible Omar, who signalised in the cause 
 of Islam the sam.e zeal vrhich he had ex- 
 erted for its destruction. Nor was the 
 chanty of IS lahomet confined to the tribe 
 of Koreishor the precincts of Mecca : on 
 solemn festivals, in the days of pilgrimage, 
 he frequented the Caaba, accosted the 
 ustran^^ers of every ti'ibe, ard urged, both 
 in piivate converse and public discourse, 
 the belitf iind v/orship of a sole Deity. 
 Conscious of his reason and of his v/eak- 
 Bess, he asserted the liberty of conscience,' 
 and disclaimed the -use of religious vio- 
 lence : but he called the Arabs to repent- 
 since, and conjured thern to remember the 
 ancient idolaters of Ad and Thamud, whom 
 the divine justice had swept away from the 
 face of the eaitli. 
 
r K E L IF EOF MA HO M-E T> 3 9' 
 
 . The people of Mecca was hcu'dened in 
 their unbelief by superstition and envy. 
 The elders of the oily, the uncles of the 
 prophet, affected to despise the presump- 
 tion of an orphan, the reformer of his coun- 
 try : the pious or.itions of ?»I;^homet in the 
 Caaba v/ere ansvv^ered by the clamours of 
 Aba Taleb. *' Citizens and- pilgrims, list- 
 '' en not to the tempter, hearken not to his 
 ' * impious novelties. Stand ilist in the wor- 
 ^ ' ship of Al Lata and Al Uzzah." 
 Yet the son of Abdallah was ever 
 dzic to the aged chief ; and he protect- 
 ed the fame and person of his neph- 
 ew against the assaults of the Koreish- 
 ites, who had long been jealous of the pre- 
 eminence of the family of Hashem. Their 
 malice was coloured with the pretence of 
 TciiL^'ion : m the age of Job, the crime of 
 J,mpiety was punished by the Arabian mag- 
 ue ; and Mahomet was guilty of desert- 
 and denyin:^ the national deities. But 
 
 istra^ 
 
 1 iir- 
 
 so loose was th.e policy of Mecca, that the 
 k-aders of the Koreiih, instead of accusing 
 a criminal, were compelled to employ the 
 measures of persuasion or violence. They 
 repeatedly addressed Abu Taieb in the 
 style of reproach and men ace. '^ Thy ne- 
 
40 THE LIFE or IvIAHOMET. 
 
 '^ phew reviles our religion ; he accuses 
 '' our wise forefathers of" ignorance and fol- 
 *My; silence him quickly, lest he kindle 
 • ' tumult and discord in the city. If he per- 
 ** severe, we shall draw our swords against 
 " hirn and his adherents, and thou wilt be 
 '*' responsible for the blood of thy fellow - 
 '• citizens." The weight and moderation 
 of Aba Taleb eluded the violence of re- 
 ligious faction ; the most helpless or timid 
 of the discipks retired to ^Ethiopia, and 
 the prophet withdrew himf:idf to various 
 ]^/iace*; of strength ia the tovm and.countiy. 
 As he was still supported by his iamily, 
 the rest of the tribe of Koreish engaged 
 themselves to renounce all intercourse with 
 ihe children of Hashem, neither to buy 
 nor sell, neither to marry nor to give in 
 marriage, but to pursue them with impla- 
 cable enmity, till they should deliver the 
 person cf Mahomet to the justice of tlie 
 gods. The decree Vv-as suspended in the 
 Caaba before the eyes of the nation ; the 
 messengers cf the Koreish pursued the 
 Mussulman exiles in the heart of Africa : 
 they besieged the prophet and his most 
 faithful followers, intercepted their water, 
 ^id inflamed their mutual animosity by tl le 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMKT. 4-1- 
 
 retaliation of inj iirie s and insults . A doii b t- 
 ful truce restored the appearances of con- 
 cord ; till the death of Abu Taleb abiindon- 
 ed Mahomet to the power of his enemies, 
 at the moment when he was deprived of 
 his domestic comforts by the loss of his 
 faithful and generous Cadijah. Abu Soph- 
 ran, the chief of the branch of Ommiyah, 
 succeeded to the principality of the repub- 
 lic of Mecca. A zealous votary of the 
 idols, a mortal foe of the line of Hashem, 
 he convened an assembl}' of the Koreish- 
 ites and their allies, to decide the fate of 
 the apostle.. His imprisonment might pro- 
 voke the despair of his entliusiasm ; and 
 the exile of an eloquent and popular fanatic 
 would diiTuse the mischief through the 
 
 ' o 
 
 provinces of Arabia. liis death Vv^as resolv- 
 ed ; aujcl they agreed that a sword from 
 each tribe should be buried in his heart, 
 to di\dde the guilt of his blood and baffle 
 the veng-eance of theH-ishemites. An angel 
 or a spy revealed thejr conspira.cy ; and 
 flight was the only resource of Mahomet. 
 At the dead of niglit, accompanied by hi:^> 
 friend Abubeker, he silently escaped from 
 his house ; the ass issins vv^.lLc}ied at the 
 door ; but they ^vcre deceived by thi 
 
42 THE LirS Of MAHOMETx 
 
 figure of All, who re}X)sed on the bed, and 
 was covered with the green i^estment of 
 the apostle. The Koreish respected the 
 piety of the heroic youth ; but seme verses 
 of Ali, which ai'e still extant, exhibit an in- 
 teresting picture of his anxiety, his tender- 
 ness, and his religious confidence. Three 
 da3^s Mahomet and his companion \^ ere 
 concealed in the cave of Thor, at the dis- 
 tance of a league from Mecca ; and in the 
 close of each evening, they received from 
 the son and daughter of Abubeker, a se- 
 cret supply of intelligence and food. The 
 diligence of the Koreish explored every 
 haunt in the neighbourhood of the city, 
 'K'acy arrived at the entrance of the cavern ; 
 r)Ut the providential deceit of a spider's 
 web and a pi9;eon's nest, is supposed to 
 convince them that the place was solitary 
 and inviolate. *^ We are only tv/o," said 
 the trembling Abubeker. *' lliere is a 
 third," replied the prophet ; " it is God 
 *^ himself." No sooner was the pursuit a- 
 ■ bated, than the two fugitives issued from 
 the rock, and mounted their camels : on 
 the road to Medina, they were o\'ertaken 
 b}^ the emissaries of the Koreish ; they re- 
 deemed tiiemselves with prayers and prom- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 43 
 
 ises from their hands. In this eventful 
 moment, the lance of an Arab might have 
 changed the history of the world. The 
 flight of the prophet from Mecca to Medi- 
 na has fixed the memorable a^ra of the 
 Hegira, which, at the end of twelve cen- 
 turies, still discriminates the lunar years of 
 the Mahometan natio.is. 
 
 The religion of the Koran might have 
 perished in its cradle had not ivledina em- 
 braced with faith and rev^erence the holy 
 outcasts of Mecca- Medina, or the cityy 
 known under the name of Yathreb, before 
 it was sanctified by the throne of the proph- 
 et, was divided between the tribes of the 
 \ Charegites and the Awsltes, whose here- 
 iditary feud was rekindled by the slightest 
 j provocations : two colonies of Jews, who 
 boasted a sacerdotal race, were their hum- 
 ble allies, and without converting the A- 
 rabs, they introduced the taste of science 
 and religion, which distinguished Medina 
 as the city of the book, h^ome of her no- 
 blest citizens, in a pilgrimage to the Caa- 
 ba, were converted by the preaching of 
 Mahomet ; on their return they diffused 
 the belief of God and his prophet, and thq 
 new alliance was ratified bv tlieir deputies 
 
44 tHE LIFE OF MAHOMET, 
 
 ill Uvo secret and nocturnal interviews on 
 a hill in the suburbs of Mecca. In the 
 first, ten Chiu-es;ites and two Awsites uni- 
 ted in faith and love,, protested in the 
 name of their Vvives, their children, and 
 their absent brethren, that they ^vould for- 
 ever profess the creed, and observe the 
 precepts, of tlie Koran. The second v/as 
 a political association, the iirst vital spark 
 of the empire of the Saracens.. Seventy, 
 three men and tw^o women of Medina held 
 a solemn ccnference with Mahomet, his 
 kinsmen, and his disciples ; and pledged 
 tliemselves to each other by a mutual oath 
 of fidelity. They promii^ed in the name 
 of the city, that if he should be banished,, 
 they v/oiiid receive him as a confederate, 
 obey him as a leader,, and defend liim to 
 the last extremity, like their wives and 
 children. "But if you. ar-e recalled by 
 *' your country,'* they asked with a flatter- 
 ing, anxietv, '** will you not abandon your 
 new allies P' " All things,'' replied Ma- 
 homet with.a smile, '* are now common 
 " between us : your blood is as my blood, 
 *' your ruin as my ruin. We are bound 
 *' to each other by the tics of honour andi 
 * * interest. I am* vour friend, m\d the ensr 
 
rnt LIFE or mahomet. 45 
 
 ' ' of your foes. " " but if we are killed in 
 " your service, what," exclaimed the de- 
 puties of Medina, " will be our reward ?'* 
 ** Paradisx," replied the prophet. 
 *' Stretch forth thy hand." He stretched 
 it forth, and they reiterated the oath of al- 
 legiance and fidelity. Their treaty was 
 ratified by the people, who unanimously 
 embraced the profession of Islam ; they 
 rejoiced in. the exiie of the apostle, but 
 they trembled for his safety, and impatient- 
 ly expected his arrival After a perilous 
 a!id rapid journey along the se-i-coast, he 
 halted at Koba, two miles from the city, 
 and made Im public entry into Medina, 
 sixteen days af-er his flight from Mecca. . 
 Five huiidred of the citizens advanced to 
 meet him ; he was h:dled ¥/ith acckma- 
 tioiis of loyalty mid devotion; Mahoinet 
 was mounted on a she-came-, an umbrella 
 shaded his head, and a tu'^ban v/as uafarled 
 before hi ni to supply the deiiciency of a 
 standard. His bravest disciples, who had 
 been scattered by the storm, assembled 
 round his person : and the equal, though 
 various, merit of the Moslems was distin- 
 guished by the names of Ido/iagerians and 
 AnsarSi the fugitives of Mecca, and the 
 
46 THE LIFE OF MAHOMEr, 
 
 auxiliaries of Medina. To eradicate th<^ 
 seeds of jealous}^ Mahon^et judiciously 
 coupled his priacipal followers,- with the 
 rights vuid obligations cf brethren, and 
 when All founds himself witliout a peer^ 
 ihz prophet tenderly declared, that /^e 
 would be the companion and brother of 
 the noble youth. The expedient was 
 crowned with success ; the holy fraternity 
 was respected in peace au'-J. war, and the 
 two parties vied with each other in a gen- 
 erous emulation of courage and fidelity,- 
 Once only the concord v/as slightly ruified 
 by an accidental qiiarrel; a patriot oi Medira 
 airaigived the insolence of the strangers, 
 hut the hiut of their expulsion was heai'd 
 "^vith abhorrence, and his own son iri0?"it 
 eagerly offered to la\y at the apostle's feet 
 tJie head of his iatlier.. 
 
 IVom hi Li establishment at Medina, Ma^ 
 hcmet assumed the exercise oi the regal 
 and sacerdotj] omce ; arid it was impious 
 to appeal frora a judge whose decrees 
 were inspired by the divine wisdcm. A 
 small portion of ground,, the patrimony of 
 two orphans, w^as acquired Ijy gift or pur- 
 chase ; on that chosen spot, he built a:i 
 liouscand amosch- more venerable in their 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 4V 
 
 Tude simplicity than the palaces and tem- 
 ples of the Assyrian caliphs. His seal of 
 gold, or silver, was inscribed with the a- 
 postolic title ; when he prayed & preached 
 in the weekly assembly, he leaned against 
 the ti'unkof a palm-tree; and it was long be- 
 fore he indulged hi mself in the use of a chair 
 or pulpit of rough timber. After a reign 
 of six years, fifteen hundred Moslems, in 
 arms and in the lield, renewed their oath 
 of allegiance ; and their chief repeated the 
 .assurance of protection till the death of the 
 last mem.ber, or the final dissolution of the 
 party. It was in the same camp that the 
 deputy of Mecca was astonished by the at- 
 tention of the faithful to the words h looks 
 of the prophetjby the eagerness with which 
 they collected his spittle, an hair thatdropt 
 on the oTound, the refuse water of his lus- 
 trations, as if they participated in some de- 
 gree of the prophetic virtue. *' I have 
 " seen," said he, *' theChosrocs of Persia 
 *^ and the C^sar of Rome, but never did I 
 ^^ behold a king among his subjects like 
 *' Mahomet among his companions." The 
 devout fervour of ^enthusiasm acts with 
 more energy and truth than the cold and 
 ibrmal servility of courts. 
 
^Q i tit. L,li: L. vi: ivi A « u ivi i:. i . 
 
 In the state of nature every man has a 
 right to defend, by force of arms, his per- 
 son and his possessions ; to repel, or even 
 to prevent, the violence of his enemies, 
 and to extend his hostilities to a reasonable 
 measure of satisfaction and retaliation. In 
 the free society of the Arabs, the duties 
 of subject and citizen imposed a feeble re- 
 straint; andMaliomet in the exercise of a 
 peaceful and benevolent mission, had been 
 despoiled and banished by the injustice of 
 his countrymen. The choice of an inde- 
 pendent people had exalted the fugitive of 
 Mecca to the rank of a sovereign ; and he 
 %vas invested with the just prerogative of 
 formxing alliances, and of waging offensive 
 or defensive war. The imperfection of 
 human rights was supplied and armed by 
 the plentitude of divine power : the proph- 
 et of Medina assumed, in his new revela- 
 tions, a -fiercer and more sanguinary towe, 
 which proves that his former moderation 
 was the effect of weakness : the means of 
 persuasion had been tried, the season of 
 forbearance was elapsed, and lie was now 
 commanded to propagate his religion by 
 the sword, to destroy the monuments of 
 idolatry, and, without regarding the sane- 
 
THE MFE OF MAHOMET. ^y 
 
 thy of days or months, to pursue the im- 
 beiieving nations of the earth. The same 
 bloody precepts, so repeatedly inculcated 
 in the Koran, are ascribed by the author 
 to the Pentateuch and the Gospel. But the 
 mild tenor of the evangelic style may ex- 
 plain an ambiguous text, that Jesus did 
 jnot bring peace on the earth, but a sword : 
 his patient and humble virtues should not 
 be confounded with the intolerant zeal of 
 princes and bishops, vvho have disgraced 
 the name of his disciples. In the prosecu- 
 tion of religious war, Mahomet might ap- 
 peal with more propriety to the example of 
 Moses, of the judges and the kings of Is- 
 rael. The military laws of the Hebrews 
 ai*e still more rigid than those of th e A- 
 rabian legislator. TheLord of hosts march- 
 .ed in person before the Jews: if a city re- 
 [sisted their summons, the males, vvithout 
 distinction, were put to the sword : the 
 seven nations of Canaan were devoted to 
 destruction ; and neither repentance ror 
 conversion could shield them from the in- 
 e>-itable doom, that no creature ^vith in their 
 precincts should be left ali\ e. The fair op- 
 tion of friend; ihip, or submission, crl)attle,' 
 was proDOsed to the enemies ef Mahomet/ 
 
50 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 If they professed the creed of Islam, they 
 were admitted to all the temporal and spi- 
 ritual benefits of his primitive disciples, 
 and m.arched under the same banner to ex- 
 tend the religion which they had em- 
 ]:)raced. The clemency of the prophet was 
 decided by his interest, yet he seldom 
 trampled on a prostrate enemy ; and he 
 seems to promise, that, on the payment of. 
 a tribute, the least guilty of his unbelie^-- 
 ing subjects might be indulged in their 
 worship, or at least in their imperfect faith. 
 In the first months of his reign, he prac- 
 tised the lessons of holy warilu'e, and dis- 
 played his white banner before the gates 
 of Medina : the martial apostle fought in 
 person at nine batdes or sieges ; and fifty 
 enterprises of war were atchieved in ten 
 years by himself or his lieutenants. The 
 Arab continued to unite the professions of 
 a merchant and a robber ; ancl his petty ex- 
 cursions for the defence or the attack of a 
 cai'avan insensibly prepared his troops for 
 the conquest of Arabia. Tiie distribution 
 of the spoil \^'as regulated by a divine law : 
 the whole was fliithfully collected in orie 
 common mass : a fifth of tlx gold and ^.11- 
 ver, the prisoners and cattle, tiie movea- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 51 
 
 bles and immoveables, was reserved by 
 the prophet for pious and charitable uses ; 
 the remainder was shared in adequate por- 
 tions by the soldiers who had obtained the 
 victory or guarded the camp : the rewards 
 of the slain devolved to their widows and 
 orplifins ; and the increase of cavalry was 
 encouraged by the allotment of a double 
 slvM-c to the horse and to the man. From 
 all sides the roving Arabs were allured to 
 the standard of religion and plunder : the 
 apostle sanctified the license of embracing 
 the female captives as their wives or con- 
 cubines ; and the enjoyment of wealth and 
 beauty was a feeble type of the joys of pa- 
 radise prepared for the valiant martyrs of 
 the faith. '* The sv/ord," says Mahomet, 
 *' is the key of heaven & of hell : a drop of 
 ** blood shed in tiie cause of God, a night 
 " spent in arms, is of more avail than two 
 ** months of tasting or prayer : v/hosoever 
 *' falls in brittle, his sins are forgiven : at 
 *' the day of judgment his wounds shall be 
 *' resplendent as vermillion and odoriferous 
 ** as musk ; and the loss of his limbs shaU 
 *' be supplied by the wings of angels and 
 '' cherubim." The intrepid souls of the A- 
 rabs were fired Vvith enthusiasm ; the pic- 
 
5:2 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 ture of the invisible world was stronp-lv 
 painted on their imagination ; and the death 
 v'hich they had ahvays despised became an 
 object of hope and desire. The Koran in- 
 r-iilcates, ifl the most absohite sense, the 
 tenets of fate and predestination, which 
 would extinguish both industry and virtue, 
 if the actions of man v/ere governed by 
 his speculative belief. Yet their influence 
 in eveiT a^e has exalted the co«ras:e of the 
 Saracens and Turks. The first companions 
 of Mahomet advanced to battle with a fear- 
 less confidence ; there is no danger w^i^re 
 there is no chance : they were ordained to 
 I- trish in their beds ; or the}^ were safe and 
 ir.vulnerable amidst the dtirtsof the enemy. 
 Perhaps the Koreisli would have been 
 content with the flight of Mahomet, had 
 they not been provoked and alarmed by the 
 vengeance of an enemy, who could inter- 
 cept their Swian trade as it passed and re- 
 passed through the territory of Medina. 
 .4bu Sophian himself, with only thirty or 
 forty followers, conducted a wealthy ca- 
 ravan of a thousand camels : the fortune 
 or dexterity of his march escaped the vig- 
 ilance of Mahomet ; but the chief of the 
 Koreish was informed that the holy rob- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 53 
 
 bers were placed in ambush to await his 
 return. He dispatched a messenger to hi^ 
 brethren of Mecca, and they were roused, ' 
 by the fear of losing their merchandise and 
 tiieir provisions, unless they hastened to 
 his relief with the military force of the city. 
 Tlie sacred band of Mahomet was formed 
 of three hundred and thirteen Moslems, of 
 whom seventy-seven were fugitives, and. 
 the rest auxiliaries : they mounted by turns 
 a train of seventy camels ( the camels of 
 Yathreb were formidable in war ) ; but 
 such was the poverty of his first disciples, 
 that only two could appear on horseback 
 in the field. In the fertile and famous vale 
 of Beder, three stations from Medina, he 
 was informed by his scouts of the cai^avan 
 that approached on one side ; of the Ko- 
 reish, one hundred horse, eight hundred 
 and fifty foot, who advanced on the other. 
 After a short debate, he sacrificed the pros- 
 pect of wealth to the pursuit of glory and 
 revenge ; and a slight intrenchmcnt was 
 formed to cover his troops, and a stream 
 of fresh water that glided through the v.il- 
 ley. '* O God," he exclaimed as the 
 numbers of the Koreish descended from 
 the hills, '* O God, if tfiese are destroyed 
 
54 THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 
 
 ** by whom wilt thou be worshipped on the 
 " eaith '? " — Courage, my children, clo£C 
 " your mnks ; discharge your arrows, and 
 *' the day is your own.'' At these words 
 he placed himself, with Abubeker, on a 
 throne or pulpit, and instantly demanded 
 the succour of Gabriel and three thousand 
 angels. His eye was fixed on the field of 
 battle : the Mussulmans fainted and were 
 pressed : in that decisive moment the pro- 
 phet started from his throne, mounted his 
 horse, and cast a handful of sand into the 
 air ; " Let their faces be covered with 
 *' confusion." Both armies heard the 
 thunder of his voice : their fancy beheld 
 the angelic wamors; the Koreish trembled 
 and fled: seventy of the bravest were slain; 
 and seventy captives adorned tiie first vic- 
 tory of the faithful. The dead bodies of 
 the Koreish were despoiled and insulted : 
 two of the most obnoxious prisoners v^erc 
 punished with death ; and the ransom of 
 the others, four thousand drams of silver, 
 compensated in some degree the escape of 
 the caravan. But it ».-, as in vam that the 
 (■;amels of Abu Sophian explored a new 
 ro-jxl. through the desert aTjfcl along the Eu- 
 phrates : tliey were overtaken by the dili- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. SS 
 
 ■gence of the Mussulmans ; and wealthy- 
 must have been the prize, if twenty thou- 
 sand drams could be set apart for the fifth 
 of the apostle. The resentment of the pub* 
 lie and private loss stimulated Abu Sophian 
 to collect a body of three thousand men, 
 seven hundred of whom were armed with 
 cuirasses, and two hundred were mounted 
 .on horseback : three thousand camels at- 
 tended his march ; and his wife Henda, 
 with fifteen matrons of Mecca, incessantly 
 sounded their timbrels to animate the 
 troops, and to magnify the greatness of 
 Hobal, the most popular deity of the Ca- 
 aba. The standai'd of God and Mahomet 
 was upheld by nine hundred & fifty believ- 
 ers : the disproportion 4)f numbers was not 
 more alarming than in the field of Beder; 
 and their presumption of victory prevailed 
 against the divine and human sense of the 
 apostle. The second battle was fought 
 on mount Ohud, six miles to the north 
 of Medina : the Koreish advanced in the 
 form of a crescent : and the right wing of 
 cavalry was led by Caled, the fiercest and 
 most sucQessful of the Arabian warriors. 
 The troops of Mahomet w^ere skilfully pos- 
 ted on the declivity of the hill ; and their 
 
56 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 rear was guarded by a detachment of fifty 
 archers. The weight of their charge im- 
 pelled and broke the centre of the idolaters; 
 but in the pursuit they lost the advantage 
 of their ground : the archers deserted their 
 station : the Mussulmans were tempted by 
 the spoil, disobeyed their general, eaid dis- 
 ordered their ranks. The intrepid Caled, 
 wheeling his cavalry on tb.eir iiank and 
 rear, exclaimed, with a loud voice, that 
 Mahomet was slain. He was indeed 
 vv ounded in the f:ice with ajavelin : two of 
 his teeth were shattered with a stone ; yet, 
 in the midst of tumult and dismay, he re- 
 proached the infidels with the murder of a 
 prophet ; and blessed the friendly hand that 
 staunched his blood, and conveyed him to 
 a place of safety. Seventy martyrs died 
 for the sins of the people : they fell, said 
 the apostle, in pairs, each brother embrac- 
 ing his lifeless companion : their bodies 
 Avere mangled by the inhuman females of 
 Mecca ; and the wife of Abu Sophian tast- 
 ed the entrails of Ham za, the uncle of Ma- 
 homet. They might applaud their super- 
 stition and satiate their fury ; but the Mus- 
 sulmans soon rallied in the field, and the 
 Koreisli wanted strenjrth or courae-e to un- 
 
 •J o 
 
THE LIFE OF KAHOMET* 5f 
 
 dertake the siege of Medina. It was at- 
 tacked the ensuing year by an army of 
 ten thousand enemies ; and this third ex- 
 pedition is variously named from the na- 
 tions, which marched under the banner of 
 Abu Sophian, from the ditch which was 
 drawn before the city, and a camp of three 
 thousand Mussulmans. The prudence 
 of Mahomet declined a general engage- 
 ment ; the valour of All was signalized in 
 single combat ; and the war was protracted 
 twenty days, till the final separation of the 
 conf^demtes. A tempest of wind, raii\ 
 and hail, overturned their tents : the pri- 
 vate quarrels were fomented hy an insidi- 
 ous adversary ; and the Koreish, deserted 
 by their allies, no longer hoped to subvert 
 the throne, or to check the conquests, of 
 their invincible exile. 
 
 The choice of Jerusalem for the first 
 kebla of prayer discovers the early pro- 
 pensity oFMahomet in favour of the Jews; 
 and happy would it have been for their 
 temporal interest, had they recognised, in 
 the Arabian prophet, the hope of Israei 
 and the promised Messiah. Their obsti- 
 nacy coiiverted his friendship into implac- 
 able hatred, with which he pursued that 
 
58 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 unfortunate people to the last moment of 
 his life : and in the double character of 
 an apostle and a conqueror, his persecu- 
 tion was extended to both worlds. The 
 Kainoka dwelt at Medina under the pro- 
 tection of the city ; he seized the occa- 
 sion of an accidental tumult, and su.m- 
 moned them to embrace his religion, or 
 contend with him in battle. ''Alas," 
 replied the trembling Jews, *' we are 
 ignorant of the use of arms, but we per- 
 severe in the faith and worship of our 
 *' fathers; why wilt thou reduce us to 
 *' the necessity of a just defence ?" The 
 unequal conliict was terminated in fifteen 
 days ; and it was with extreme reluct- 
 ance that Mahomet yielded to the impor- 
 tunity of his allies, and consented to spare 
 the lives of the captives. But their riches 
 were confiscated, tlieir arms became more 
 effectual in the hands of the Mussulmans ; 
 and a \\Tetched colony of seven hundred 
 exiles was driven with their wives and 
 children to implore a refuge on the co:i- 
 fiiiies of Syria. The Nadhirites vrere m.ore 
 guilty, since they conspired in a friendly 
 interview to assassinate the prophet. He 
 •^csieged their castle three miles from Mc- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 59 
 
 dina, but their resolute defence obtained 
 an honourable capitulation ; and the gai'- 
 rison, sounding their trumpets and beat- 
 ing their drums, was permitted to depart 
 with the honours of war. TJie Jews had 
 excited and joined the war of the Koreish : 
 no sooner had the natiojis retired from the 
 ditch., than Mahomet, without laying aside 
 his armour, marched on the same day to 
 extiq^ate the hostile race of the chiidi'en of 
 Koraidha. After a resistance'of twenty-five 
 days, they surrendered at discretion. They 
 trusted to the intercession of their old al- 
 lies of Medina : they could not be ignor- 
 ant that fanaticism obliterates the feelings 
 of humanity. A venerable elder, to whose 
 judgement they appealed, pronounced the 
 sentence of their death : seven hundreil 
 Jews were dragged in chains to the market- 
 place of the city : they descended alive in- 
 i to the grave prepared for their execution 
 I and burial ; and the apostle beheld with an 
 i inflexible eye the slaughter of his helpless 
 ! enemies. Their sheep and camels were in- 
 j herited by theMussulmans : tliree hundred 
 i cuirasses, five hundred pikes, a thousand 
 ; lances, composed the most useful portion 
 j of the spoil. Six da}-s journey to the north- 
 
60 THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 
 
 east of Medina, the ancient & wealthy town 
 of Chaibar was the seat of the Jewish po\^'- 
 er in Arabia ; the territory, a fertile spot in 
 the desert, was cohered ^'^ith plantations 
 and cattle, and protected by eight castles, 
 some of which were esteemed of impreg- 
 nable strength. The forces of Mahomet 
 consisted of two hundred horse and fcur^ 
 teen hundied foot : in the succession of 
 eight regular and painful sieges they were 
 exposed to dai:iger,andiktigue,and hunger ; 
 and the most undaunted chiefs despaired 
 of the event. The apostle revived their 
 faith and courage by the example of Ali, 
 on whom he bestowed the surname of the 
 Lion of God : perhaps we may believe that 
 an Hebrew champion of gigantic stature 
 was cloven to the chest by his irresistible 
 scymetai^ ; but we cannot praise the mo- 
 desty of romance, v» hich represents him as 
 tearing from its hinges the gate of a for- 
 tress, and wieldmg the ponderous buckler 
 in his left hand. After the reduction of the 
 castles, the town of Chaibar submitted to 
 the yoke. The chief of the tribe was tor- 
 tured, in the presence of Mahomet, to 
 force a confession of his hidden treasure : 
 theindustty'ofthe shepherds i.nd husba»d- 
 
THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 61 
 
 men was rewarded ^vith a precai^ious tol- 
 eration : they w-ere permitted, so lon^ as 
 it should please tiiie conqueror, to improve 
 their patrimony, in equal shares, for /lis 
 emolument and their own. Under the reign 
 of Omar^ the Jews of Chaibai' were tnms- 
 planted to Syria-; and the caliph alleged the 
 injunction of his dying master, that one 
 and the true religion should be professed 
 la his native land of Arabia. 
 
 Five times each day the eyes of Ma- 
 homet were turned to^vai-ds Mecca, and he 
 was urged by the most sacred and po\^ er- 
 ful motives to revisit, as a conqueror, the 
 city and the temple from M'hence he had 
 been driven as an exile. The Caaba was 
 present to his waking and sleeping fancy t 
 an idle dream was translated into vision 
 and prophecy ; he unfurled the holy ban- 
 ner ; and a rash promise of success too 
 hastily dropped from the lips of the apostle. 
 His march from Medina to Mecca display- 
 ed the peaceful and solemn pomp of a pil- 
 grimage : seventy camels chosen and be- 
 decked for sacrifice, preceded the van ; the 
 sacred territory was respected, and the cap- 
 tives were dismissed without ransom to. 
 proclaim his clemencv and devotion. 
 Y 
 
62 THE LI?« OF MAHOMET. 
 
 But no scorer did Mahomet descend into 
 the plain,within aday's jcurney of the city, 
 than he exclaimed, " they have clothed 
 themselves with the skins of tyg;ers ; " the 
 numbers and resolution of the Kcreish op- 
 posed his progress ; ajid the roving Arabs 
 of the desert might desert or betray a lead- 
 er whom they had followed for ihc hopes 
 of spoil. The intrepid fanatic sunk into a 
 cool and cautious politician : he waved in 
 the treaty his title of rpostle of God, con- 
 cluded v/ith the Koreish and their allies a 
 truce often years, engaged to restore the 
 fugiti^'es of Mecca who should embrace 
 his religion, and stipulated only, for the 
 ensuir.g year, the humble privilege of en- 
 tering the city as a friend, and of remain- 
 ing three da}s to accomplish the rites of the 
 pilgrimage. A cloud of shame and sorrow 
 hung on the retreat of the Mussulmans,and 
 their disappointment might justly accuse 
 the failure of a prophet who had so often 
 appealed to the evidence of success. The 
 faith and hope of the pilgrims were rekin- 
 dled by the prospect of Mecca : their 
 swords were sheathed ; seven times in 
 the footsteps of the apostle they encom- 
 vpussed the Caaba : the Koreisli had re- 
 
fHE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 63' 
 
 tired IfOdie hills, and Mahomet, after the 
 customary sacrifice, evacuated the city on 
 tiie fourth day. llie people was edified 
 by his devotion ; the hostile chiefs were 
 awed, or divided, or seduced ; and both 
 Caled and Anirou, the fature conquerors 
 of Syria and Egypt, most seasonably de- 
 serted the sinking cause of idolatry. The 
 power of Mahomet was increased by the 
 submission of the Arabian tril^es : ten 
 thousanid soldiers were assembled for the 
 eonqae:5t of Mecca, and the idolaters, the 
 v/eaker party, were easily convicted of vi- 
 oLitlng the trace. Endiusiasm and disci- 
 pline impelled the march and pre3er\'ed 
 the secret, till tlie blaze of ten thousand 
 fires proclaimed to the astonished Korei^h, 
 the design, the approach, and the irresistil 
 ble force of the enemy. The haughty Abu 
 Sophian pre-icnted the ].:eys of the city, 
 admired the variety of arms and ensigns 
 that passed before him in review ; observ- 
 ed that the sou of Abddlah had acquired 
 a mighty kingdom, and confessed, under 
 the scymetar of Omar, that he w^as the apos- 
 tle of the true God. The return of Marius 
 and Sylla was stained with the blood of 
 the Romans : die revenge of Mahomet was 
 
64 THE LITE O? MAH0M2T. 
 
 Stimulated by religious zeal, and his injured 
 followers were eager to execute or to pre- 
 vent tlie order of a massacre. Instead of in- 
 dulging their passions and his own, the 
 victorious exile forgave the guilt, and unit- 
 ed the factions, of Mecca. His troops, in 
 ihree divisions, marched into the city '.. 
 eight and tv;e]ity of the inhabitants were 
 fJain by tPiC sword of Cukd ; eleven men 
 i\nd six \\'omcn were proscribed by the 
 ffCntence of Mahomet ; but he blamed the 
 cnielty of his lieutenarit ; and seveml of the 
 >\iOst obnoxious victims v/erc indebted for 
 their lives to his clemency or contempts 
 Mlie chiefs of the Koreieh \verc prostrate 
 at his ktt. **\yhat mercy can you expect 
 ''ffoni the man whom you have wrong 
 **ed?" We confide in the generosity of 
 *' our kinsman." *' And you shall not con- 
 "^ fide in vain t begone ! you ai'e safe, you 
 *' are fiee." The people of Mecca deserv- 
 cd their pai'don by the profession of Islam ; 
 itiid after an exile of seven years, the fui^.;! 
 live missionary was inthroned as the prince 
 ajid prophet of his native country. But the 
 three hundred and sixty idols ofthe Caaba 
 v.cre ignominiousiy broken ; the house of 
 God was purified and adorned ; as an ex- 
 
THE LIf£ OF ]JCAHOMET, 65 
 
 ample to future times, the apostle again 
 fLiltillecl the duties of a pilgrim : and a per- 
 petual law was enacted that no unbeliever 
 ! should dare to set his foot on the territory 
 of the holy city. 
 
 The conquest of Mecca determined the 
 iaith and obedience of the Arabian tribes ; 
 who, according' to the vicissitudes of for- 
 tune, had obeyed or disregai'ded the elo- 
 quence or the arms of the prophet. Indif- 
 ference for rites and opinions still marks 
 the character of the Bedo weens ; and tliey 
 might accept, as loosely as they hold, the 
 doctrine of the Koran. Yet an obstinate 
 remnant still adiiered to the religion and 
 liberty of their ancestors, and the war of 
 Honain derived a proper appellation from 
 the idols, whom Mahomet had vowed to 
 destroy, and whom the confederates of" 
 Tayef had sworn to defend. Four thou- 
 sand pagans advanced with secrecy and 
 speed to surprise the conqueror ; the}' 
 pitied and despised the supine negligence 
 of the Korcish, but they depended on the 
 wishes, and perhaps the aid, of a people 
 who had so lately renounced their gods, 
 md bov/ed beneath the yoke of their ene- 
 mv. The banners of Medina, artd Mecca 
 
66 THi LITE OF MAKOMET- 
 
 were displayed by the prophet; a crowd 
 of Bedo weens increased the strength or 
 numbers of the army, and tAvelve thou- 
 sand Mussulmans entertained a rash and 
 sinful presumption of their invincible 
 strength. They descended without pre- 
 caution into the valley of Honain : the 
 heights had been occupied by the archers 
 and slingers of the confederates;- thci<r 
 numbers were oppressed, their discipline 
 was confounded, their courage was appal- 
 led, and the Koreish smiled at their im- 
 pending destruction. The prophet on his 
 white mule, was encompassed by the en- 
 emies ; he attempted to rush against their 
 jspeare in search of a glorious death : ten 
 of his faithful companions interposed their 
 weapons and their Ixeasts ; three of these 
 fell dead at his feet: '' O my brethren, ''^ 
 he repeatedly cried with sorrow^ and indig- 
 nation, " I am the son of Abdallah, I am 
 *' the apostle of truth ! O man standfast 
 ** in the faith ! O God send down thy 
 succour I" His uncle, Abbas, who, like 
 the heroes of liomer, excelled in the loud- 
 Tiess of his voice, made the valley resound 
 w ith tiie recital of the gifts and promises 
 of God : the flvine Moslems returned frewn 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 6^' 
 
 all sides to the holy standard ; and Ma- 
 homet observed ^vith pleasure, that the 
 io^irnace was again rekindled : his conduct 
 and example restored the battle, and he 
 animated his victorious troops to inilict a 
 merciless revenge on the authors of their 
 shame. From the field of Honain, he 
 marched without delay to the siege of Tay- 
 ef, sixty miles to the south-east of Mecca, 
 a fortress of strength, whose fertile lands 
 produce the fruits of Syria in the midst of 
 the Arabian desert. A friendly tribe, in- 
 structed ( I kno\^^ not how) in the art of 
 sieges, supplied him with a train of batter- 
 ing rams and military engines, with a 
 body of five hundred artificers. But it was 
 in vain that he offered freedom to the 
 slaves of Tayef ; that he violated his own 
 laws by the extirpation of the fruit-trees ; 
 that the ground was opened by the min-^ 
 ers ; that the breach w\as assaulted by the 
 troops.- After a siege of twenty days, the 
 prophet sounded a retreat, but he retreated 
 with a song of devout triumph, and affect- 
 ed to j)ray for the the reperxtance and 
 safety of the unbelieving city. The spoil 
 of this fortunate expedition amounted to 
 six thousand captives, twenty four thoii- 
 
68 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 sand camels, forty thousand sheep, and 
 four thousand ounces of silver : a tribe 
 who had fought at Honain, redeemed their 
 prisoners by the sacrifiee of their idols ; 
 but Mahomet compensated the loss, by 
 resigning to the soldiers his fifth of the 
 plunder, and ^vished for their sake, that he 
 possessed as many head of cattle as there 
 vrere trees in the province of Tehama. In- 
 stead of chastising the disaifection of the 
 Koreish he endeavoured to cut out their 
 tongues (his ovvii expression), and to se- 
 cure their attachment by a superior meas- 
 ure of liberality : Abu Sophiaii alone was 
 })resented v\ ith three hundred camels and 
 twenty ounces of silver ; and Mecca was 
 sincerely converted to the profitable religion 
 of the Koran. The fug i trees ziDd auxiliaries 
 complained, that they "^vho had borne the 
 burthen were neglected in the season of 
 victory. " Alas," replied their artful 
 leader, '' suffer me to conciliate these re- 
 *' cent enemies, these doubtful proselytes, 
 *'bythe gift of some peri^lial3le goods. 
 '* To your guard 1 entrust my life and 
 ^^ fortunes. You are the companions of 
 ** my exile, of my kingdom, of my para- 
 * ' d ise . " He was followed by the depu- 
 
TK^E LIF2 OF MAHOMET. 
 
 69" 
 
 ties ofTayef, who dreaded the repetition 
 of a siege. '' Grant us, O apostle of God ! 
 " a truce of three years, with the tolera- 
 '* tion of our ancient worship." ''Not 
 " a month, not an hour. *' Excuse us at 
 " least from the obligation of prayer." 
 ^' Without prayer religion is of no avail." 
 Thev submitted in silence j their temples 
 were demolished,, and the satire sentence 
 of destruction was executedon dl the idols 
 of Arabia. liis iieutenaiUs, en the shores of 
 the Red Sea, the Ocean, and the Gulf of 
 Persia, were saluted by the acduinations of 
 a faithful people ; and the ambassadors who 
 knelt beibre the throne of Medina, were as 
 numerous ( siys m^ Ax^m proverb ) as 
 the dates that fall from the miturity of a 
 ])ahTi-tree. The nation submitted to tlie 
 God and the sceptre of rviahomct : the op- 
 probrious name of tribute was abolished : 
 the spontaneous or rehictant oblations of 
 alms and titlies were applied to the service 
 of relip-ion : und one liundred and fourteen 
 thousand Moslems accompanied the last 
 pilo^rimage of the apostle. 
 
 When Heraclius returned in triumph, 
 from the Persian war, he entertained, at 
 Emesfej. one of the ambassadors, of Ma-- 
 
70 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 hornet, who invited the princes and nations- 
 of the earth to the j>roiession of Islam. On 
 this foundation the zeal of the Arabians has 
 supposed the secret convertion of the Chris- 
 tian emperor ; the vanity of the Greeks 
 has feigned a personal visit of the prince 
 of Medina, v/ho accepted from the royal 
 bounty a rich domain, and a secure retreat, 
 in the province of Syria. But the friend- 
 ship of HeracUus and Mahomet was of short 
 continuance : the new religion had inflam- 
 ed rather than assuaged die rapacious spirit 
 of the Saracens ; and the murder of an en- 
 voy afforded a decent pretence for in\'ading, 
 with three thousand soldiers, the teiTitory 
 of Palestine, that extends to the eastward 
 of the Jordan. The holy banner was en* 
 trusted to Zeid ; and such was tlie disci- 
 pline or entliusiasm of the rising sect, that 
 the noblest chiefs served witliout reluc- 
 tance, under the slave of the prophet. On 
 the event of his decease, Jaafar and Abdal- 
 lah vv'cre successively substituted to the 
 command ; and if the three should perish 
 in the war, the troops were authorised to 
 elect their general. The three leaders were 
 slain in the batde of Muta, tlie nrst niiltary 
 action which tried the valour of the ^Mos. 
 
THE LIFE Of MAHOMET. 71 
 
 lems against a foreign enemy. Zcid fell, 
 like a soldier, in the foremost ranks : the 
 death of Jaaf ar ^^'as heroic and memorable ; 
 he lost his right-hand ; he shifted the stand- 
 ard to his left ; the left was severed from 
 his body ; he embraced tke standard with 
 his bleeding stumps, till he was transfixed 
 to the ground with fifty honourable wounds. 
 *^ Advance,'^ cried Abdailah, who stepped 
 into the vacant place, ^'advance v/ith con- 
 ** lidenc^ ; either victory or paradise is our 
 own.'' The lance of a Roman decided the 
 iilternative ; but the falling standard was 
 rescued by Caied, the proselyte of Mecca i 
 nine sv^'ords were broken in his hand ; and 
 his valour withstood and repulsed the super- 
 ior numbers of the Christians. In the noc- 
 turnal council of the camp he vras chosen to 
 command : his skilful evolutions of the en- 
 suing day secured either the victory or the 
 retreat of the Saracens; and Caled isre- 
 novv^icd among his bretliren and his enemies 
 by the glorious appellation of the Sword of 
 GmL In the .pulpit, Mahomet described^ 
 with prophetic rapture, the crowns of the 
 blessed mailyrs ; but in private he betray- 
 ed the feelings of human nature : he m as 
 .surprised as he wept over tlie daughter of 
 
72 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET 
 
 Zeid ; " What do I see ?" said the astcn- 
 ]shedvotar3^ *' You see," replied the apos- 
 tle, '' a friend, who is deplcrirgthe loss of 
 **his most faithful friend." Alter the con- 
 quest of Mecca the soverign of Arabia af- 
 fected to prev ent the hostik preparations of 
 Heraclius; and solemnly prcclaimed Mar 
 against the Romans, without attempting to 
 disguise the hardships and dangers of the 
 enterprise. The Moslems were discoura- 
 ged : they alledged the want of money, or 
 horses, or provisions ; the season of haiTCst, 
 and the intolerable heat of the summer : 
 ** Hell is much hotter," said the indignant 
 prophet. He disdained to compel their ser- 
 vice ; but on his return he admonished the 
 most guilty, by an excommunication of 
 fifty days. The desertion enhanced the 
 merit of Abubeker, Othman, and the faith- 
 ful companions \vho devoted their lives 
 and fortunes ; and Mahomet displayed hi3 
 banner at the head of ten thousand horse 
 and twenty thousand foot. Painful indeed 
 was the distress of the march : lassitude and 
 thirst were aggrav ated by the scorching 
 and pestilential winds of the desert : ten 
 men rode by turns on the same camel : and 
 they were reduced to the shameful nccessi- 
 
THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 4 c> 
 
 ty of drinking the water from the belly of 
 that useful animal. In the midway, ten 
 days journey from Medina and Damascus, 
 they reposed near the grove and fountain 
 of TabuG. Beyond that place, Mahomet 
 declined the prosecution of the war ; he 
 declared himself satisfied with the peaceful 
 intentions, he was more probably daunt- 
 ed by the martial array of the Emperor of 
 the East. But the active and intrepid Ca- 
 led spread around the terror of his name ; 
 and the prophet received the submisdoii 
 of the tribes and cities, from the Euphrates 
 to Allah, at the head of the Red Sea. To 
 his Christian subjects, Mahomet readily 
 granted the security of their persons, the 
 freedom of their trade, the propert}- of 
 their goods, and the toleration of their vsor- 
 ship. The weakness of their Arabian 
 brethren had restrained them from oppo- 
 sing his ambition : the disciples of Jesus 
 were endeared to the enemy of the Jews ; 
 and it was the interest of a conqueror to 
 propose a fair capitulation to the most 
 pov/erful rehgion oftlie earth. 
 
 Till the age of sixty-three years, the~ 
 strength of Mahomet ^vas equal t the tern- 
 poral and spiritual fatigues of his Riission. 
 G 
 
74 THE LIPE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 His epileptic fits, an absurd calumny of 
 tl^e Greeks, would be an object of pity ra- 
 ther than abhonence ; but he seriously 
 believed that he was poisoned at Chaibar 
 by tlie revenge of a Jewish female. Dur- 
 ing four years, tlie health of the prophet 
 declined ; his infirmities increased ; but 
 his mortal disease was a fever of fourteen 
 days, which deprived him by intervals of 
 the use of reason. As soon as he was con- 
 scious of his danger, he edified his breth- 
 ren by the humility of his virtue or peni. 
 tence. *' If there be am/ man," said the 
 apostle from tlie pulpit, '' whom I have 
 *' unjustly scourged, I submit my own 
 " back to the lash of retaliation. Have I 
 *^ aspersed the reputation of a Mussulman ? 
 *' let him proclaim rny faults in the face of 
 *Uhe congregation. Has any one been 
 *' despoiled of his goods ? the little I pos- 
 ^' sess shall compensate the principal and 
 '* interest of the debt." " Yes," replies 
 a voice from the crowd, " I am entitled to 
 " three drams of silver." Mahomet heard 
 the complaint, satisfied the demand, and 
 thanked his creditor for accusing him in 
 this world rather than at the day of judg^ 
 ment. He beheld with temperate firm- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 75 
 
 ftessthe approach of death ; enfranchised 
 his slaves (seventeen men, as ihey are 
 named and eleven women ;) minutely di- 
 rected the order of his funeral, and moder- 
 ated the lamentations of his weeping friends, 
 on whom he bestowed the benediction of 
 peace. Till the third day before his death, 
 he regulatly performed the function of pub- 
 lic prayer : the choice of Abubekcr to 
 supply his place, appeared to mark that 
 antient and fliithfui friend as his succes- 
 sor in the sacerdotal and regal oaice ; but 
 he prudently declined tlie risk and aivf 
 of a more explicit nomination. At a mo- 
 ment v/hen his faculties ^vere visibly im- 
 paired, he called for pen and ink, to v/rite, 
 or more properly to dictate, a divine book, 
 the sum and accomplishment of all his re- 
 velations : a dispute arose in the chamber, 
 wliethcr he should be allov/ed to supercede 
 the authority of the Koran ; znd the pro- 
 phet was forced to reprove the indecent 
 vehemence of his disciples. If the slight- 
 est credit may be aiforded to the tra- 
 ditions of his wives and com.panions, he 
 maintained in the bosom of his family, and 
 to the last moments of his life, the dignity 
 ©f ail apostle and the faith of an enthusiast ; 
 
75 THE LITZ OF MAHOMET. 
 
 described tlie visits of Gabriel, who bade 
 an everlasting fai'ewei to the earth, and ex- 
 pressed his lively confidence, not only of 
 the merc}% but of die favour of the Su- 
 preme Being. In a familiar discourse he 
 had mentioned his special prercgative,that 
 ihQ angel of death y/as not allowed to take 
 his soul till he had respectfully asked ihe 
 perniissioa of the prophet. The request 
 was granted ; and Mahomet immediately 
 fell into the agony of his dissoluticn : his 
 head v/as reclined on the lap of Ayesha, 
 the best beloved of all his vvdves ; he fainted 
 with the violence of pain; recovering his 
 spirits, he raised his eyes tovv^ards the roof 
 of the house, and, Vvith a steady look,, 
 though a faultering voice, uttered the last 
 broken, though articulate, words : " O 
 
 God ! pardon my sins 
 
 Yes, i cornc, among 
 
 my fellovz-citizens on high:'' and thus 
 peaceably expired on a carpet spread upon- 
 the floor. An expedition for the conquest 
 of Syria was stopped by this mouiTiful e- 
 vent : the army halted at tlie gates of Me^ 
 dina ; the chiefs were assembled round 
 tlieir dying master, llic city, more es- 
 pecially the house, of the prophet was a 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 77 
 
 scene of clamorous sorrow or silent despair: 
 fan?.ticism alone could su^gei>t a ray of 
 hope and consolation. *' How can he be 
 ** dead, our witness, our intercessor, our 
 ** mediator, with God ? By God he is not 
 ** dead ; like Moses and Jesus he is wrapt 
 ** in a holy trance, and speedily ^viU he re- 
 ^' turn to his faithful people." The evi- 
 dence of sense was disregarded ; and O- 
 mar, unsheathing his scymetar, threatened 
 to strike off the heads of the infidels, who 
 should dare to affirm that the prophet ^vas 
 no more. The tumult was appeased by 
 the weight and moderation of Abubeker. 
 •^ Is it Mahomet,'' said he to Omar and 
 the multitude, *' or the God of Mahomet, 
 *^ whom yoU' worship ? The God of Ma- 
 * * homet livetb for ever, but the apostle 
 ** was a mxortal like ourselves, and accor- 
 " ding to his own prediction, he has ex- 
 '' perienced the common fate of mortality ." 
 He was piously intered by the hands of his 
 nearest kinsman, on tlie same spot on 
 which he expired ; Medina has been sanc- 
 tified by the death and burial of Mahomet; 
 and the innumerable pilgrims of Mecca 
 often turn aside from the way, to bo^v in 
 voluntary devotion, before the simple tomb 
 o/thc prophet. g 
 
78 THE LITE 0? MAHOMET. 
 
 At the conclusion of the life of Monom- 
 er, it may perhaps be expected, that I 
 should balance his faults and virtues, that 
 I should decide v/kether the title of enthu- 
 siast or imposter more properly belongs to 
 that extraordinary man. Had I been in^ 
 tiniately conversant with the son of Abdah 
 lab, the task would still be difficult, and 
 the success uncertain : at the distance of 
 twelve centuries, I darkly contemplate his 
 shade through a cloud of religious incense; 
 and could I truly delineate the portrait of 
 an hour, the fleeting resemblance v/ould 
 not equally apply to the solitary of mount 
 Hera, to the preacher of Mecca, and to the 
 conqueror of Arabia. The author of a 
 mighty revolutio!i appears to have been en- 
 dowed with a pious and contemplative dis- 
 position : so soon as marria2:e had raised 
 him above the pres'?ure of v/ant, he avoid- 
 ed tlie paths of ambition and avarice ; and 
 till the age of forty, he lived witli inno- 
 cence, and would have died without a name. 
 The unity of God is an idea most conge- 
 nial to nature and reason ; and a slight con- 
 versation \Yith the Jews and Ciiristains 
 Vv'ou id reach him to despise and detest the 
 idolatry of Mecca. It was the duty of a 
 
THE LITE OF MAHOMET. i^ 
 
 mrai and a citizen to impart the doctrine 
 of salvation, to rescue his countiy from the 
 dominion of sin and error. The energy ol 
 a mind incessantly bent en the same ob^, 
 ject, would convert a general obligation 
 into a particular call ; the warm sugges- 
 tions of the understanding or the fmicy, 
 would be felt as the inspirations of heaven ; 
 the labour of thought would expire in rap-- 
 ture and vision ; and the inv^^ird sensation, 
 the iuvinsible monitor, would be discribed 
 v/ith the form and attributes of an angel 
 of God. From enthusiasm to imposture, 
 the step is perilous and slippery : the d^mon 
 of Socrates ailbrds a memorable instance, 
 how a Vvisc m.an may deceive himself, hov/ 
 a 2:0 od man mav deceive others, how the 
 conscience may slumber in a mixed and 
 middle state betv/een self- illusion and vol- 
 untary fraud. Charity may believe that 
 tiie original motives of ^Mahomet were 
 those of pure and genuine benevolence ; 
 but a human missionary is incapable of 
 cherishing the obstina^^e unbelievers whore-- 
 ject his claims, despise his arguments, and 
 persecute his life ; he might forgive his 
 persoiial adversaries, he may lawfully hate 
 tlie enemies of God ; the stern passions, of 
 
80 THE LITE or MAHOMET. 
 
 pride and revenge ^vcre kindled in'^the Bo- 
 som of Mah«)met, and he sighed like the 
 prophet of Niniveh, for the destruction of 
 the rebels whom he had condemned. The 
 injustice of Mecca, and the choice of Me- 
 dina, transformed the citizen into a prince, 
 the lumible preacher into the leader of ar- 
 mies ; but his sword was consecrated by 
 the example of the saints; and the same 
 God v/ho aiHicts a sinful world, with pesti- 
 lence and earthquakes, might inspire for 
 their conversion or chastisement the valour 
 of his servants. In the exercise of politi- 
 cal government, he was compelled to abate 
 of the stem ri gear of fanaticism, to comply 
 in some measure with the prejudices and. 
 passions of his followers, and to employ 
 even the vices of mankind as the instru- 
 ments of their salvation. The use of fraud 
 and perfidy, oferuelty and injustice, were 
 often subservient to the propagation of the 
 faith ; and Mahomet commanded or ap- 
 proved the assassination of the Jews and i« 
 dolatcrs who had escaped from the field of 
 battle. By the repetition of such acts, the 
 character of Mahomet must have been 
 gradually stained ; and the influence of 
 such pernicious habits would be poorly 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 21 
 
 compensated by the practice of theperson- 
 al and social virtues which are necessaiy 
 to maintain the reputation of a prophet a- 
 mong his sectaries and friends. Of his 
 last years, ambition was the ruling passion; 
 and* a politician will suspect, that he se- 
 cretly smiled {t^ae victorious imposter ! ) at 
 the enthusiasm of his youth and the credu- 
 hty of his proselytes. A philosopher will 
 observe, that their credulity and /lis suc- 
 cess, would tend more strongly to fortify 
 the assurance of his divine miss' on, that 
 his interest and religion were inseparably 
 connected, and that his conscience would 
 be soothed by the persuasion, that he a- 
 lone v/as absolved by the Deity from the 
 obligation of positive and moral lav/s. If 
 he retained any vestige of his native inno- 
 cence," the sins of Mahomet may be allow- 
 ed as an evidence of his sincerity. In the 
 support of the truth, the arts of fraud and 
 fiction may be deemed less criminal ; and 
 he would have started at the foulness of 
 the means, had he not been satisfied of the 
 imrportaace and justice of the end. Even 
 in a conqueror or a priest, I can surprise 
 a word or action of unafiected humanity ; 
 and the decree of Mahomet, that, in the 
 
82 THE LIFE OF MAHOMEt. 
 
 sale of captives, the mothers should never 
 be separated from their children, ma}- sus- 
 pend or mxoderate the censure of the his- 
 torian. 
 
 The good sense of Mahomet despised 
 the pomp of royalt}' ; the apostle ofGcd 
 submitted to the menial offices of the famih-; 
 he kindled the fire, s\vept tlie floor, milked 
 the ewes, and mended ^\ith his own hands 
 his shoes and his wooUen .c;arnient. Dis- 
 darning the penance and merit of an her- 
 mit, he observed without effort or vanitv, 
 the abstemious diet of an Arab and a sol- 
 dier. On solemn occasions he feasted his 
 companions with rustic and hospitable 
 plenty ; but in his domestic life, many 
 weeks would elapse v/ithout a fire being- 
 kindled on the hearth oftlie proDbet. The 
 mterdiction of wine was coniirmed by his 
 example ; his hunger was appeased with 
 .1 sparing allowance of barley -bread ; he 
 delighted in the taste of milk and honey : 
 but his ordinary food consisted of dates 
 and water. Fcrfiimes and v.-om.en v/ere 
 the two sensual enjoyments which his na- 
 ture required and his religion did not for- 
 bid : and Mahomet siTirmed, that the fer- 
 vour of his devotion* was increased hj 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 8.3 
 
 these innocent pleasures. The heat of the 
 cUmate inflames the blood of the Arabs ; 
 and their libidinous cornplection has been 
 noticed by the writers of antiquity. Their 
 incontinence was regulated by the civil 
 and religious laws of the Koran : their in- 
 cestuous alliances were blamed^the bound- 
 less licence of polygamy -was reduced to 
 four legitimate wives or concubines ; their 
 rights both of bed and of dov^y vrere e- 
 quitably determined ; the freedom of di- 
 vorce vv as discouraged, adultery was con- 
 demned as a capital oiTence, and fornica- 
 tion, in either sex, was punished with an 
 hundred stripes. Such wei'c the calm and 
 rational precepts of the legislator : but in 
 his private conduct, Mahomet indulged the 
 appetites of a man, and abused the claims 
 of a prophet. A special revelation dispens- 
 ed him from the laws he had imposed on 
 his nation ; the female sex, without re- 
 serve was abandoned to his desires ; and 
 this singular prerogative excited the envy, 
 rather than the scandal, the veneration, ra- 
 ther than the envy, of the devout Mussul- 
 mans. If we rememl:)er the seven hundred 
 wives and three hundred concubines of the 
 jvise Solomon, we shall applaud the mod' 
 
84 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 esty of the Arabian, who espoused no more 
 than seventeen .cr fifteen wives; eleven 
 are enumerated v. ho occupied at Medii:ia 
 their separate apartments round the house 
 of the apostle, and enjoyed in their turns 
 the favour of his conjugal society. What 
 is singular enough, they v\ere all widovv^s, 
 excepting only Ayesha, the daughter of 
 Abubeker. S/ic wtiS doubtless a virgin, 
 sirice Mahomet consumated his nuptials 
 (such is the prematuFe ripeness of the cli- 
 mate) when she was only nine years of 
 age. The youth, the beauty, the spirit 
 of Ayesha, gave her a superigr ascendant: 
 she\^ as belo^^ed andtiTisted by the prophet; 
 and, after his death, the daughter of Abu- 
 beker was lonp- revered as the mother of 
 the faithful. Her behaviour had been am- 
 biguous and indiscreet : in a nocturnal 
 inarch, she v/as accidentally left behind ; 
 and in the morning Ayesha returned to the 
 camp with a man. The temper of Ma- 
 homet was inclined to jealousy ; but a 
 divine revelation assured him of her inno- 
 cence : he chastised her accusers, and pub- 
 lished a law of domestic peace, that no wo- 
 man should be condemned unless f®ur 
 male -fitnesses had seen her in the act of 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 85 
 
 adiilteiy. In his adventures with Zeineb, 
 the wife of Zeid, and with Mary, an Egyp- 
 tian captive, the amorous prophet forgot 
 the interest of his reputation. At the house 
 of Zeid, his freedman and adopted son, he 
 beheld, in a loose undress, the beauty of 
 Zeineb, and burst forth into an ejaculation 
 of devotion and desire. The servile, or 
 grateful, freedman understood the hint, 
 and yielded without hesitation to the iove 
 of his benefactor. But as the filial relation 
 had excited some doubt and scandal, the 
 angel Gabriel descended from heaven to 
 ratify the deed, to annul the adoption, and 
 gently to reprove the apostle for distrusting- 
 the indulgence of his God. One of hi^ 
 wives, Hafna, the daughter of Omar, sur- 
 prised him on her own bed, in the em- 
 braces of his Egyptian captive : she prom- 
 ised secrecy and forgiveness ; he swore 
 that ke would renounce the possession of 
 Mary, Both parties forgot their engage- 
 ments ; and Gabriel again descended with 
 a chapter of theKoran,to absolve him from 
 his oath, and to exhort liim freely to enjoy 
 his captives Sc concubines,without listening? 
 to the clamours of his wives. In a solita- 
 ry retreat of thirty days, he iaboured^ alf iir 
 H 
 
86 THE LIFE OF MAKCMEt. 
 
 with Mary, to fulfil the commands of the 
 angel. When his love and revenge were 
 satiated, he summoned to his presence hi^i 
 eleven wives, reproached their disobedi- 
 ence and indiscretion, and threatened them 
 ^vith a sentence of divorce, both in this 
 world and in the next: a dreadful sentence, 
 since those v» ho had ascended the bed of 
 the propliet were forever excluded frcm the 
 hopeof a second marriage. Perhaps the 
 iacontnience of Mahomet may be palliated 
 by the tradition of his natural or preternat- 
 ural gift : he united the manly virtue of 
 thirty of the children of Adam ; and the a- 
 postle migth rival the thirteenth labour of 
 the Grecian Hercules. A more serious 
 and decent excuse may be drawn from his 
 fidelity to Cadijah. During the twenty- 
 four years of their marriage, her youthful 
 husband abstained from the right of poly- 
 gam}', and the pride or tenderness of the 
 venera!)le matron was never in-suited by 
 the society of a rival. After her death, 
 he placed lier in the rank with the four 
 perfect women, with the sister of Moses, 
 the mother of Jesus, and Fatima, the best 
 belo^'ed of his daughters. " Was she not 
 old ?" said Ayesha, vritji the insolence of 
 
tUZ LIFE OF MAHOMET. 87 
 
 a bU^oming beauty ; *' has not God given 
 *' you a better in her place ?'' '^ No, by 
 *' God," said Mahomet, with an effusion 
 of honest gratitude, ** there never can be 
 *'a better! Shebeheved in me, v»'hen men 
 ** despised me : she relieved ray wants, 
 ** when I was poor and persecuted by the 
 ** world." 
 
 In the largest indulgence of polygamy, 
 the founder of a religion and empire might 
 as})ire to multiply the chances of a nim>c- 
 rou3 posterity and a lineal succession. 
 The hopes of Mahomet vrere fatally disap- 
 pointed. The virgin Ayesha, and* his ten 
 widows of mature age and approved fertil- 
 ity, were barren in his potent embraces. 
 The four sons of Cadijah died in their in- 
 f:m3y, Mary, his Egyptian concubine, 
 Avas endeared to him by the birth of Ibra- 
 him. At the end of fifteen months the 
 prophet wept over his grave ; but he sus- 
 tained withSrmness the raillery of his ene- 
 mies, and checked the adulation or credu- 
 lity of the Moslems, by the assurance that 
 an ecli;«3C of the sun was ;7^^ occasioned by 
 the death of the infmt. C idijah had like- 
 wise given him four daughters, who were 
 married to tiie most faithful of his disci- 
 
©(3 T?IE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 piles : thQ three eldest died before their fa- 
 ther ; but Fatima, who possessed his con- 
 iidence and love, became the wife of her 
 cousin All, and the mother of an illustrious 
 progeny. The merit and misfortunes of 
 All and his descendants will lead me to 
 anticipate, in this place, the series of the 
 Saracen caliphs, a title which describes the 
 commanders of the fl\ithfui as the vicars 
 and successors of the apostle of God. 
 
 The birth, the alliance, the character of 
 j^li, which exalted him above the rest ©f 
 his countrymen, might justify his claim to 
 the vacant" throne of Arabia. * The son of 
 Abu Taleb was, in his own right, the 
 chief of the flimijy of Ilashem, and tiie 
 hereditary prinee or guardian of the city 
 icud temple of Mecca. The light of pro- 
 phecy v/as extinct ; but the husband of 
 ^'atima might expect the inheritance and 
 blessing of her father; the Arabs had some- 
 times been patient of a female reign ; and 
 the two grandsons of the prophet had often 
 been fondled in his lap, and shewn in his 
 pulpit, as the hope of his age, and the chief 
 of the youth of paradise. The first of the 
 true JDclievers might aspire to march be- 
 (brc tiiem in this world and in the next ; 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 89 
 
 and if some were of a graver and more rig- 
 id cast, the zeal and virtue of Ali were ne- 
 ver outstripped by any recent prcseiyte. 
 He united tiie qualifications of a poet, a 
 soldier, and a saint : his wisdom still 
 breathes in a collection of moral and relig- 
 ious siiyings ; and ever}' antagonist, in the 
 combats of the tongue or of tlie sword, was 
 subdued by his eloquence and vdlour. 
 From the first hour of his mission, to the 
 last rites of his funeral, the apostle was ne- 
 ver forsaken by a generous friend, v/hom 
 he delighted to name his brother, his vic- 
 egerent, aiidtlie faithful Aaron of a second 
 Moses. The son of Abu Taleb was after- 
 wards reproached for neglecting to secure 
 his interest by a solemn declaration of his 
 right, which would have silenced all com- 
 petition, and sealed his succession by the 
 dcitjrees of heaven. But the unsuspecting 
 hero confided in himself ; the jealousy of 
 empire, and perhaps the fear of opposition, 
 luiglit suspend the resolutions of Mahom- 
 ci } and the bed oi sickness was besieged 
 by tho. artful Ayesha, the daughter of A- 
 bubel>er, and the enemy of Ali, 
 
 The silence and d^ath of the prophet 
 restored the liberty ofthe people ; and his 
 
 H 
 
90 THE LITE OF MAHOirET. 
 
 companions conver.ed an assembly to de- 
 liberate on the choice of his successor. 
 'llie hereditary claim and lofty spirit of A- 
 h, were oftensive to an aristocracy of elders, 
 desirious of bestowing and resuming the i 
 scepti'e by a free and frequent election ; the 
 Koreish could never be reconciled to the 
 proud preeminence of the line of Hashem; 
 the ancient discord of the tribes was rekin- 
 dled ; the fugitives of M^cca. £ind tlie aux- 
 iliaries of Medina asseited their respective 
 meritSj ?aid the rash proposjd of chusing 
 two independent caliphs would have crush- 
 ed in their infancy the religion and empire 
 of the Saracens. The tumult was appeas- 
 ed by the disinterested resolution of Omar, 
 who, suddeijly renouncing his own pre- 
 tentions, stretched forth his hand, and de- 
 dared himself the first subject of the rnild 
 and venerable Abubeker. The urgency 
 of the moment,and the acquiescence of the 
 people, might excuse this illegal and pre- 
 cipitate measure ; but Omar himself con- 
 fessed from the pulpit, that if any Mussul- 
 man should hereafter presume to anticipate 
 the suffrage of his brethren,both the elector 
 and the elected would be worthy of death. 
 After the simple hiauguration of Abubeker, 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 91 
 
 he was obeyed in Medina, Mecca, and the 
 provinces of Arabia ; the Hashemites a- 
 ione declined the oath of iideUty ; and their 
 chief, in liis own house, maintained, above 
 six mondis, a sullen and independent re- 
 serve ; without listening to the threats of 
 Omar, vvdio attempted to consume with 
 fire the habitation of the daughter of the 
 aposde. The death of Fatima, and the 
 decline of his party, subdued the indignant 
 spirit of Ali : he condescended to salute 
 the commander of the faithful, accepted 
 bis excuse of the necessity of preventing 
 their common enemies, and wisely reject- 
 ed his courteous offer of abdicating the gov- 
 ernment of the Arabians. After a reign 
 of two years, the aged caliph was summon- 
 ed by the angei of death. In his testa- 
 ment, with the tacit approbation of th,e 
 companions, he bequeathed the sceptre to 
 the firm and intripid virtue of Omar. '' I 
 ^' have no occasion said the modest can- 
 *'didate, '' for the place." ^' But the 
 " place has occasion for you," replied A-^ 
 bubeker; who expired with a fervent pray -^ 
 er, that the God of Mahomet would ratify 
 his choice, and direct the Mussulmans in 
 the way of concord and obedieace. The 
 
92 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 prayer was not ineffectual, since All him- 
 sell, in a life of privacy and prayer, profes- 
 sed to revere the superior worth and dig- 
 nity of his rival ; who comforted him for 
 the loss of empire, by the most flatter- 
 ing marks of confidence and esteem. In 
 the tvrelfth yeai' of his reign, Omar receiv- 
 ed a mortal wound from the hand of an 
 assassin: he rejected with equal imparuali- 
 ty the names of his son and of Ali, refused 
 to load his conscience with the sins of hi> 
 successor, and devolved on six of the mo^t 
 respectable companions, the arduous task 
 of electing a commandei of the foithfuL 
 On this occasion, Ali was again blamed 
 by his friends for submitting his right to 
 the judgment of men, for recognizing their 
 jurisdiction by accepting a place among 
 the .six electors. He miglit have obtained 
 their suffrage, had he deigned to promise 
 u strict and servile confonnitv, notonlv to 
 the Koran and tradition, but likewise to 
 the determinations of two seniors. With 
 these lii'nitations, Othman, the secretary of 
 Mahomet, accepted the government ; nor 
 was it till after the third caliph, twenty- 
 four years after the dccdh of the prophet, 
 that Aii wtiS invested, by the popular 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 93 
 
 choice, with the regal and sacerdotal office. 
 The manners of the Arabians retained their 
 primitive simplicity, and the son of Abu 
 Taleb despised the pomp and vanity of 
 this world. At the hour of prayer, he re- 
 paired to the mosch of Medina, clothed in a 
 thin cotton gown, a course turban on hiis 
 head, his slippers ia one hand, and his 
 bow in the other, instaid of a walking stail 
 The companions of the prophet and the 
 chiefs of the tribes saluted their new sov- 
 ereiga, and gave him their right hands as 
 a siga of fealty imd allegiance. 
 
 The mischiefs tiaat flow from the con- 
 tests of ambition are usually confined to 
 the times and countries in which they 
 have been agitated. But the religious dis- 
 cord of the friends and enemies of Ah has 
 been renewed in every age of the Hegira^ 
 and is still maintained in the immortal ha- 
 tred of the Persians and Turks. The for- 
 mer, who are branded with the appeilation 
 of Shiites or sectaries, have enriched the 
 Mahometan creed with a new ^ticle of 
 f lith ; and if Mahomet be the apostle, his 
 companion Aii is Xht vicar, of God. In 
 their private converse, in their public wor- 
 ship, they bitterly execrate the three usui*- 
 
94 THE tIFE O? W Alio MET. 
 
 pers who intercepted his indefeasible right 
 to the dignity of Imam and Caliph ; and the 
 name of Omar expresses in tiieir tongue I 
 the perfect accomphshments of wickedness ' 
 and impiety. The Sonnites^ who are sup- 
 ported by the genial consent and orthodox 
 tradition of the Mussuhnans, entertam a 
 more impcU-tial, or at least a more decent 
 opmion. They respett the memory of 
 Abubeker, Omar, Othman, and Ali, the 
 holy and legitimate successors of the pro- 
 phet. But they assign the last and most 
 liurable place to the husband of Fatima, 
 in the persuasion that the order of succes- 
 sion was determined by the decrees of 
 sanctity. An historian who balances tlic 
 ibur caliphs with a hand unshaken by su- 
 perstition, will calmly pronounce, that 
 then- manners were alike pure and exem- 
 plary ; that their zeal was fervent, and pro- 
 bably sincere ; and that, in the midst of 
 riches and power, their lives were devot- 
 ed to the practice of moral and religious 
 duties. But the. public virtues of Abube- . 
 ker and Omar, the. prudence of the iirst, | 
 the severity of the second, maintained the \ 
 peace and prosperity of their reigns. The 
 feeble temper and declinit)g age of Othniaii 
 
THE LIFE or MAKOMET. 95 
 
 were incapable of sustaining the weight of 
 conquest and empire. He ehose, and he 
 was deceived ; he trusted, and he was be- 
 trayed : the most deserving of the faithful 
 became Uvseless or hostile to his govern- 
 ment, and his lavish bounty was produc- 
 tive only of ingratitude and discontent. 
 The spirit of discord v/ent forth in the 
 provinces, their deputies assembled at Me- 
 dina, and the Charegites, the desperate 
 fimatics who disclaimed the yoke of subor . 
 dination and reason, were confounded a- 
 mong the free-born Arabs, who demand- 
 ed the redress of their wrongs and the pun- 
 ishment of their oppressors. From Cufa, 
 froin Bassora, from Egypt, from the tribes 
 of the desert, they rose in arms, encamp- 
 ed about a league from Medina, and dis- 
 pathced an haughty mandate to their sover- 
 eign, requiring him to execute justice, or 
 to descend from the throne. His repent- 
 ance began to disarm and to disperse the 
 insurgents ; but their fury was re-kindled 
 by the arts of his enemies : and the forge- 
 ry of a perfidious secrctary was contrived 
 to blast his reputation and precipitate his 
 fall. The caliph had lost the only guard 
 of his predecessors, the esteem andeonfi- 
 
96 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 dence of the Moslems ; during a siege of 
 six weeks his water and provisions were, 
 intercepted, and the feeble gates of the 
 palace were protected only by tke scruples 
 of the more timorous rebels. Forsaken 
 b}' those w4io had abused his simplicity, 
 the helpless and venerable caliph expected 
 the approach of death : the brother of A- 
 yesha marched at the head of the assassins; 
 and Othman with the Koran in his lap, 
 was pierced with a multitude of v/ounds. 
 A uimuituous anarchy of five days was 
 appeased by the inauguration of Ali ; his 
 refusal would have pro\'oked a general 
 massacre. In this pahiful situation he sup- 
 ported the becoming pride of the chief of 
 the Hashe mites ; declared that he had ra- 
 ther serve than reign ; rebuked the pre- 
 sumption of the strangers ; and required 
 the formal, if not the voluntary, assent of 
 the chiefs of the nation. He has never 
 been accused of prompting the assassin of 
 Omar ; though Persia indiscreetly cele- 
 brates the festi\'al of that holy martyr. The 
 quarrel between Othman and his subjects 
 was assuaged by the early mediation of 
 Ali ; and Hassan, the eldest of his sons, 
 was insulted and wounded in the defence 
 
THE LITE OF MAHOMET. V/ 
 
 of the caliph. Yet it is doubtful 'wvhether 
 the father of Hassan was strenuous and 
 sincere in his opposition to the rebels ; 
 and it is certain that he enjoyed the bene- 
 fit of their crime. The temptation was 
 indeed of such magnitude as might stag- 
 ger and coiTuptthe m.ost obdurate virtue. 
 The ambitious candidate no longer aspir 
 ed to the barren sceptre of Arabia 4 the 
 Saracens had been victorious in the East 
 and West ; and the wealthy kingdoms of 
 Persia, Syria, and Eg}'pt, ^vere the patri^ 
 mony of the commander of the faithful. 
 
 A life of prayer and contemplation had 
 not chilled the martial activity of All; but 
 in a mature age, after a long experience 
 of mankind, he still betrayed in his con- 
 duct the rashness and indiscretion of 
 youth. In the first days of his reign, he ncgr 
 Iccted to secure, either by gifts or fetters, 
 the doubtful allegiance of Telha kZobeir, 
 two of the most powerful of the Arabian 
 chiefs. They escaped from Medina to 
 Mecca, and from thence to Bassora ; 
 erected the standard of revolt ; and usurp- 
 ed the government of Irak, or Assyria, 
 which they had vainly solicited as the 
 reward of their services. The mask of 
 patriotism is allowed to cover th& most 
 
 T 
 
"08 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 glaring inconsisencies ; and the enemies, 
 perhaps the assassins, of Othman now 
 demanded vengeance for his biood. They 
 were accompanied in their flight by A- 
 yesha, the widow of tlie prophet, who 
 cherisiaed, to the last hour of her life, an 
 implacable hatred against the husband and 
 the posterity of Fatima. The most rea- 
 sonable Moslems were scandahsed, that 
 the mother of the faithful should expose 
 in a camp her person and character ; but 
 the superstitious crowd was confident 
 that her presence would sanctify the jus- 
 tice, and assure the success, of their cause. 
 At the head of twenty thousand of his 
 loyal Arabs, and nine thousand valiant 
 auxiliaries ofCufa, the caliph encountered 
 and defeated the superior numbers of the 
 rebels under the walls of Bossora, Their 
 leaders, Telha and JEobeir, were slain in 
 the first batde that stained with civil blood 
 the arms of the Moslems. After passing 
 through the ranks to animate the troops, 
 A3Tsha had chosen her post amidst the 
 dangers of the field. In the heat of the 
 action, seventy men, who held the bridle 
 of her camel, were successively killed or 
 w^ounded ; and the cage or liter in which 
 
the; life of mahomet. 99 
 
 she sat, was stuck with javelins and darts 
 like the quiiis of a porcupine. The ven- 
 erable captive sustained with firmness the 
 reproaches oF the conqueror, and was 
 speedily dismissed to her proper station, 
 at the tomb of Mahomet, with the. res- 
 pect and tenderness that was stili due to 
 the v/idow of the apostle. After this vic- 
 tor}^ which was styled the Day of the 
 Camel, Ali marched ag-ainst a more for- 
 midable adversjiry ; against Moawiyah, 
 the son of Abu Sophian, who had assum- 
 ed the title of caliph, and whose claim was 
 supported by the forces of Syria and the 
 interest of tht house of Ommiyah. From' 
 the passage of Thapsacus, the plain of 
 Siffin extends along the v/estern bank of 
 the Euphrates. On this spacious and 
 level theatre, the two competitors waged 
 a desultory v/ar of one hundred and ten 
 days. In the course of ninety actions or 
 skirmishes, the loss of Ali was estimated 
 at twenty five, that of Moawiyah at forty 
 five, thousand soldiers ; and the list of the 
 plain was dignified with the names of five 
 and twenty veterans who had fought at Be- 
 der under the standard of Mahomet. In 
 this sanguinary contest, the lawful caliph 
 
aOO the life of MAHOMET. 
 
 displayed a superior character of valour 
 aiid humanity. His troops were strictly 
 enjoined to await the firs^ onset ol the en- 
 emy, to spare their flying brethren, and to- 
 respect the bodies of the dead, and the 
 chastity of the female captives.. Me gen- 
 erously proposed to save iht blood of tlie 
 MoslcTfiS by a single combat ;- but his 
 txemblLng ri^al declined the challenge aS' 
 % sentence of incvitiible death.. The rank s« 
 cf the Syrians were br^^ken by the charge- 
 of a hero V, ho was mounled en a pyebald 
 horse J and wielded with irre::'i stable force 
 lis ponderou s and t^ o -edged svvord. As . 
 often as he smote a rebeU he shouted the 
 -Allah Acbar, ''God Js victorious ;^' and" 
 in the tumult of a nocturiial battJe, he was; 
 hiCard to repeat four hundred times that 
 tremendous evclamalic). The prince- 
 Q^ Damascus already meditated Ins Hight, 
 bat the certain victory was snatched from. 
 tjie grasp of Ali'by the disobedience and 
 entliusia.sm. of his troops. Their con- 
 •science was. awTd by the colemn appeal 
 to the books of the Koran which Moaw- 
 iyali exposed on the foremtost lances., : : and 
 All vvajs compelled to yield to a disgmce- 
 igl t^-uce and au insiduou^ compromise.. 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 101 
 
 He retteated with sorrow and indignation 
 to Cufa ; his party was discouraged ; the 
 distant provinces of Persia, of Yemen, and 
 of Egypt, were subdued or seduced by 
 his crafty rival ; and the stroke of fanati- 
 cism which was aimed against the three 
 chiefs of the nation, was fatal only to the 
 cousin of Mahomet. In the temple of 
 Mecca, three Charegites or enthusiasts 
 discoursed of the disorders of the church 
 and state : they soon agreed, that the 
 deaths of Ali, of Moawiyah, and of his 
 friend Amrou, the viceroy of Egypt, would 
 restore the peace and unity of religion. 
 Each of the assassins chose his victim, 
 poisoned his dagger, devoted his life, and 
 secretly repaired t?) the scene of action. 
 Their resolution was equally desperate : 
 but the first inistook the person of Am- 
 rou, and stabbed the deputy who occupi- 
 ed his seat ; the prince of Damascus was 
 dangerously hurt by the second ; the law- 
 ful caliph, in the mosch of Cufa, receiv- 
 ed a mortal wound from the hand of the 
 third. He expired in the sixty third year 
 of his age, and mercifully recommended 
 to his children, tliat they would dispatch 
 the murderer by a single stroke. The 
 
i02 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 sepulchre of Ali was. concealed from the ; - 
 tyrants of the house of Ommiyah ; but in 
 the fourth ag;e of the Heglra, a tomb, 
 a temple, a city,, arose near the ru- 
 ins of Cufu Many thousands of the 
 Shiltes repose :;i holy ground at the feet 
 of the vicar of God ; and the desert is 
 vivified by the numerous and annual visits 
 of the Persians, who esteem their devo- 
 tion not less meritorious than the pilgrim- 
 :ige of Mecca. 
 
 The persecutors of Mahonret usii!*ped 
 the inheritance of his children ; and the 
 champions of idolatry became the supreme 
 heads of his religion and empire. The 
 opposition of Abu Sophian had been, 
 fierce and obstinate ; his conversion was-, 
 '.ardy and reluctant ; his new faith was for- - 
 titled by necessity and interest; he served, 
 he fought, perhaps he believed v and the 
 sins of the time of ignorance were expiat- 
 ed by the recent merits of the family of 
 Ommi}'ah. IMoawiyah, the son of Abu , 
 Sophian, and of the cruel Henda, .was 
 dignified in his early youth v/itfi the of- 
 fice or title of secretary of the prophet ; 
 the judgment of Omav entrusted him with 
 the government of Syria ; and he admin 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 103. 
 
 istcred that irnportant province above for-- 
 ty years either in a subordinate or supreme, 
 rank. Without renouncing the fame of 
 valour and Hberality, he afiected the repu- 
 tation of humanity and moder^ition : a 
 gratfrfal people was attached to their bene- 
 factor ; and the victorious Moslem":; were 
 enriched with the spoils of Cyprus and 
 Rhodes. The sacred duty of pursuing 
 the assassins of Othman was the engine 
 and pretence of his ambition. The bloody 
 shirt of the martyr was exposed in the 
 mosch of Damascus : the emir deplored 
 the fate of his injured kinsman ; and sixty 
 thousand Syrians Vvcre engaged in his ser- 
 vice by an oath of fidelity aiid revenge. 
 Amrou, the conqueror of Egypt, himsolf 
 an army, was the first who saluted the 
 new monarch, and divulged the danger^ 
 ous secret, that the Arabian caliphs might 
 be created elsewhere than in the city of 
 the prophet. The policy of Moawiyah 
 eluded the valour of his rival ; and, after 
 the death of Ali, he negotiated the abdi- 
 cation of his son Hassan, v/hose mind was 
 either above or below the government of 
 the v/orld, and \^'ho retired without a sigh 
 from the palace of Cuf.i to an humble cell 
 
104 XHl LIFE or MAHOMET.' 
 
 near the tomb of his grandfather. The 
 aspiring wishes of the caliph were finally 
 crowned by the important change of an 
 elective to an hereditary kingdom. Some 
 murmurs of freedam or fanaticism attest- 
 ed the reluctance of the Arabs, and four 
 citizens of Medina refused the oath of fi- 
 delity ; but the designs of Moawiyah 
 were conducted with vigour and address ; 
 and his son Yezid, a feeble and dissolute 
 youth, was proclaimed as the commander 
 of the faithful and the successor of the 
 apostle of God. 
 
 A familiar story is related of the bevo- 
 knce of one of the sons of Ali, In serv- 
 ing at table, a slave had inadvertently 
 dropt a dish of scalding broth on his mas - 
 ter : the heedless wretch fell prostrate, to 
 deprecate his punishment, and repeated a 
 verse of the Koran : "■ Paradise is for those 
 ** who command their anger :" — " lam 
 ** not angry :'^ — ** and for those who par- 
 *' don offences :" — ** I pardon your of- 
 ** fence :" — ^' and for those who return 
 ** good for evil :" — '* I give you your 
 ** liberty, and four hundred pieces of sil- 
 ver." With an equal measure of piety, 
 Hosein, the younger brother of Hassan, 
 
THE LIFE OP MAHOMET, 105 
 
 inherited a remnant of his father's spirit, 
 and served with honour ai^aint^t the Chris- 
 tians in the siege of Constantinople. The 
 primogeniture of the line of Hashem, and 
 the holy character, of giandson of the 
 apostle, had centered in bis person, and he 
 was at liberty to prosecute his claim a- 
 gainst Yezid the tyrant of Dam:\scus, 
 whose vices lie despised, and whose title 
 he had never deigned to acknawledge. A 
 li-st was secretly transmitted from Ciifa to 
 Medina, of one hundred 8t forty thousand 
 Moslems, who professed their attachment 
 to his cause, and wiio v/cre eager to- 
 draw their swords- so soon as he should 
 ijpTx^ar on tlic biaiks of the Eup!irates, 
 Against the advice of his wisest friendsy. 
 he resolved to trust his person and fimily 
 hi the hands of a periidlous people. He 
 ti-aversed tlifC djiieil of Arabia with a tim- 
 orous retinue of women and children ; but 
 as he approached the conEaes of Irak, h^ 
 v;as alarmed by the solitary or hostile face 
 c f the country, and suspected either the 
 defection or ruin of his party. His fears 
 ^verejust; Obeldollali, the governor of 
 Cufa, had extinguished the first .sparks of 
 aa insurrection ; and Hosein,, in tlie plain. 
 
106 THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 
 
 of Kerbela, was encompassed by a body 
 of five thousand horse, who intercepted 
 his communication with the city and the 
 river. He might stiil have escaped to a 
 fortress in the desert, that had defied the 
 power of Caesar and Chosroes, and con- 
 fided in the fidehty of the tribe of Tai, 
 which would have armed ten thousand 
 warriors in his defence. In a conference 
 with the chief of the enemy, he proposed 
 the option of three honourable conditions; 
 that he should be allofved to return to 
 Medina, or be stationed in a frontier gar- 
 rison against the Turks, or safely con- 
 ducted to the presence of Yezid. But 
 the commands of the caliph, or his heu- 
 tenant, were stern and absolute ; and Ho- 
 sein was informed that he mi-st either 
 submit as a captive and a criminal torthe 
 commander of the faithful, or expect iht 
 consequences of his rebellkvn, ** Do you 
 '* think.'' replied he, ** to tenify me with 
 '* death P^ And during- the short res- 
 pite of a night, he prepaicd v/ith calm and 
 solemn resignation to encounter his fate. 
 He checked the lamentations of his sister 
 Fatima, who deplored the impending ru- 
 in of his house, ** Our trust," said Ho- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET* 107 
 
 sein, ** is in God alone. All things, both 
 ** in heaven and earth, must perish and 
 ** return to their Creator. My brother, 
 ** my father, my mother, were bet- 
 ^* ter tlian me ; and every Mussulman has 
 '* an example in the prophet." He pres- 
 sed his friends to consult their safety by a 
 timely flight : they unanimously refused 
 to desert or survive their beloved master; 
 and their courage was fortified by a fer- 
 vent prayer and the assurance of paradise. 
 On the morning of the fatal day, he mounts 
 ed on horseback, with his sword in one 
 hand and the Koran in the other : his 
 generous band of martyrs consisted only 
 of thirty two horse and forty foot ; but 
 their flanks and rear were secured by the 
 tent-ropes, and by a deep trench which 
 they had filled with lighted faggots, ac- 
 cording to the practice of the Arabs. The 
 enemy advanced with reluctance ; and one 
 of their chiefs deserted, with thirty follow- 
 ers, to claim the partnership of inevitable 
 death. In every close onset, or single 
 combat, the despair of the Fatimitcs v/as 
 invincible; but the surrounding multi- 
 tudes galled them from a distance with a 
 xloud of arrows, & the horses & men were 
 
iG8 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 successively slain : a truce was allowed on 
 both sides for the hour of prayer ; and the 
 battle at length expired by the death of the 
 last of the companions of Hosein. Alone, 
 weary, and wounded, he seated himself 
 at the door of his tent. As he tasted a 
 drop of water, he was pierced in the mouth 
 \\ ith a dart ; and his son and nephew, two 
 Ijeautiful youths, were killed in his ai-ms. 
 He lifted up his hands to heaven, they 
 were full of blood, and he uttered a funer- 
 al prayer for the living and the dead. In 
 a transport of despair his sister issued 
 from the tent, and adjured the General of 
 the Cufians, that he would not suffer Ho- 
 sein to be murdered before his eyes : a 
 'tear trickled down his venerable beard ; 
 and the boldest of his soldiers fell back on 
 every side as the dying hero threw him- 
 self among them. The remorseless Sha- 
 mar, a name detested by the faithful, re- 
 proached their com ardice ; and the grand- 
 son of Mahomet was slain with three and 
 thirty strokes of lances and swords. Af- 
 ter they had trampled on his body they 
 carried his head to the castle of Cufa, and 
 the inhuman Obeidollah struck him on 
 ihe mouth with a cane : *' Alas!'' ex- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 10^ 
 
 claimed an aged Mussulman, **on these 
 *' lips have 1 seen the lips of the apostle of 
 God!'* In a distant age and dimate the 
 tragic scene of the death of Kosein wi!! a- 
 waken the sympathy of the coldest reader. 
 On the annual festival of his martyrdom, 
 in the devout pilgrimage to his sepulchre, 
 his Persian votaries abandon their souls 
 to the religious frenzy of sorrow and in- 
 dignation. 
 
 When the sisters and children of All 
 were brought in chains to the throne of 
 Damascus, the caliph was advised to ex- 
 tirpate the enmity of a popular and hostile 
 race, whom he had injured beyond the 
 hope of reconciliation. But Yezid pre- 
 ferred the counsels of mercy ; and the 
 mourning family was honourably dismis- 
 sed to mingle their tears with their kind- 
 red at Medina. The glory of martyrdora 
 superseded the right of primogeniture ; 
 and the twelve imams or pontiffs, of the 
 Persian creed are Ali, Hassan, Hosein, 
 and the lineal descendaats of Hosein to 
 the ninth generation. Without armj>, or 
 treasures, or subjects, they successively 
 enjoyed the veneration of the people, & pro- 
 yoked the jealousy of the reigning caliphs: 
 K 
 
110 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET, 
 
 their tombs at Mecca or Medina, on the 
 banks of the Euphrates, or in the province 
 of Chorasan, are still visited by the devo- 
 tion of their sect. Their names were of- 
 ten the pretence of sedition and civil war ; 
 but these royal saints despised the pomp 
 of the world, submitted to the will of God 
 and the injustice of man, and devoted their 
 innocent lives to the study and practice of 
 religion. The twelfth and last of the I- 
 mams, conspicuous by the title of Maha- 
 di, or the Guide,surpassedthe solitude and 
 sanctity of his predecessors. He concealed 
 himself in a cavern near Bagdad : tlie time 
 raid place of his death are unknown ; and 
 his votaries pretend, that he still lives, and 
 will appear before the day of judgment 
 to o^'erthrow the tyranny of Dejal, or the 
 Antichrist. In the lapse of two or three 
 centuries the posterity of Abbas, the uncle* 
 of Mahomet, had multiplied to the num- 
 ber of thirty-three thousand : the race of 
 Ali might be equally prolific ; the meanest 
 individual was above the first and greatest 
 of princes ; and the most eminent were^ 
 f'.upposed to excel the perfection of angels.' 
 But their adverse fortune, and the wide 
 extent of the Mussulman empire, allowed 
 an am*pie scope for every bold and art- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. Ill 
 
 f\i\ impostor, who claimed affinity with 
 ihe holy seed : the sceptre of tke Almo- 
 hades in Spain and Afric, of the Fatimites 
 ill Eg^ypt and S}Tia, of the Sultans of Ye- 
 men, and of the Sophis of Persia, has been 
 consecrated by this vague and ambiguous 
 title. Under their reigns it might be dan- j 
 [^erous to dispute the legitimacy of their 
 birth; and one of the Fatimite caliphs sil- 
 enced an indiscreet question, by drawing j 
 his scymetar : This, said Moez, *' is my 
 pedigree ; and these," casting an handful 
 of gold to his soldiers, '' and these are my 
 ** kindred and my children." In the var- 
 ious conditions of princes, or doctors, or 
 nobles, or merchants, or beggars, a swarm, 
 of the genuine or fictitious descendants of 
 IViahomet and All is honoured with the 
 appellation of sheiks, or sheriffs, or emirs. 
 In the Ottoman empire, they are distin- . 
 guished br a green turban, receive a 
 stipend from the treasur}^ are judged only 
 by their chief, and, however debased by 
 fortune or character, still assert the proud 
 pre-eminence of their birth. A family of 
 three hu>Kli cd persons, the pure and or- 
 thodox branch of the caliph Kassan, is 
 preserved without taint or suspicion in the 
 
112 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 hoI}- cities of INIecca and Medina, and stilL 
 retails, after the revolutions of twelve 
 centuries, the custody of tiie temple and 
 the sovereignty of their native land. The 
 fame and merit of Mahomet would en- 
 noble a plebian race, and the ancient blood : 
 cfthe Korcibh transcends the recent m.ijes- 
 ty of the kings of the earth. 
 
 The talents of Mahomet are entitled to 
 our applause, but his sucefr;s has perhaps 
 ti;c strongly attracted our admiration. Are 
 we surprised that a multitude of proselytes 
 should CTiibruce the doctrine and the pas- 
 sions of an eloquent fanatic? Ir.' the here- 
 sies of the church, the same seduction h;is 
 been tried' and rcf^xated from the time of 
 tpe apostles to that of the reformers. Does 
 jt ;s^ecLp. Incredible that a private citizei) 
 -Should ^j;rasp the sword and the sceptre,, 
 .-/abdiie his -native 'ccuntr3% and erect a 
 ■:«iOnarchy by his victorious arms? In the 
 •vioving picture of the dynasties of the 
 J'"ast, an hundred fortunate usurpers have 
 arisen fr?mi a baser ^ origin, siuTncunted , 
 more formidable obstacles, and 'filled a lar- 
 ger scope of empire an.d conquest. 'Ma- ; 
 homet was alike instructed to preach and 
 ^.0 fight, and the union of these opposite . 
 
THE I^IFS OF MAHOMET. liS 
 
 qualities, while it enhanced his merit, 
 coucributed to his success : the operation 
 of force and persuasion, of enthusiisui and 
 fear, continually acted on each other, till 
 every barrier yielded to their irresistible 
 povvcr. His voice invited the Arabs to 
 freedom and victory, to arms and rapine, 
 to the indulgence of their darling passions 
 in this world and the other ; the restraints 
 which he imposed were requisite to estab- 
 lish, the credit of the prophet, and to exer- 
 cise the obedience of the people ; and the 
 only objection to his success, was his ra- 
 tional creed of the unity and perfections 
 of GkxL It is not the propagation but the 
 permanency of his religion that deserves 
 our wonder ; the same pure and perfect 
 impression which he engraved at Mecca 
 and Medina, is preserved, after the revo- 
 lutions of twelve centuries, by the Indian, 
 the African, and the Turkish proselytes 
 of the Koran. If t^ie Christian apostles, 
 St. Peter or St. Paul, could return to. tlie 
 Vatican, they might ppssibiy enquire the 
 name of the Deity who is worshipped with- 
 such mysterious rites in that magnificent 
 temple : at. Oxford or Geneva, they would 
 experience less surprise ; but it i^ight still 
 K z 
 
114 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 be incumbent on tliem to peruse tl.e cat- 
 ecism of the church, and to study the or- 
 thodox commentators on their own writ- 
 ings and the Words of their Mahler. But 
 the Turkish dome of St. Sophia, with an 
 iricrease of vSplendour and size, represents 
 ♦.he humble tabernacle erected at IMedina 
 b\' the hands of Mahomet. The Mahom- 
 etans have uniformly withstood the temp- 
 tation of reducing the object of their faith 
 and devotion to a level with the senses and 
 imagination of man. '' I believe in one 
 " God,andJvIahomet the apostle of God,'' 
 is the simple and invariable profession of 
 Islam. The intellectual image of the De^^-" 
 iiy has never been degraded by any visible^ *^ 
 idol ; the honours of the prophet have ne- 
 ver transgressed the measure of hum^an 
 virtue ; and his living precepts have re- 
 strained the gratitude of his disciples with- 
 in the bounds of reason and religion. The 
 votaries of Ali have indeed consecrated 
 (he memory of their hero, his w ife, and ^^ 
 his children, and some of the Persian doc- -J 
 tors pretend that the divine essence was iri-^ ' 
 carnate in the person of the Imams ; but" " 
 their superstition is universally condemn- 
 ed bv the Sounites ; and their impiety has^*'* 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 115 
 
 afFqrded a seasonable warning against the 
 worship of saints or martyrs. The meta- 
 ph3-sical questions on the attributes of God» 
 and the liberty of man, Have been agitated 
 in the schools of the Mahometans, as well 
 as in those of the Christians ; but among 
 tlic former they have never engaged the 
 passions of the people or disturbed the 
 tranquilit}^ of the state. The cause of this 
 important clifFerence may be found in the 
 separation or union of the regal and sacer- 
 dotiil characters. It was the interest of 
 the caliphs, the successors of the prophet 
 and commanders of the faithful, to repress 
 and discourage all religious innovations : 
 the order, the discipline, the temporal and 
 spiritual ambition of the clergy, are un- 
 known to the moslems ; and the sages of 
 the law are the gu.ides of their conscience 
 and the oracles of their faith. From the 
 Atlantic to the Ganges, the Koran is ac- 
 knowledged as the fundamental code, not 
 only of theology but of civil and criminal 
 jurisprudence ; and the laws which re- 
 gulate the actions and the property of man- 
 kind, are guarded by the infallible and im- 
 mutable sanction of the will of God. This 
 ri^ie-ions servitude is attended with some 
 
116 " THE LIFE OF MAlforfET.. 
 
 pr&tical disadvantage ; the illiterate legis- 
 Jatorhad been aiten misled by his own pre- 
 judices 8c those of his country; & the institu- ^ 
 tions of the Arabian desert may be ill-ad- 
 apted to the wealth and numbers of Ispah- , 
 an and Constantinople, On these occa- 
 sions, tlie Cadhi respectfully places on hh 
 head :hc holy volume, and substkutes a 
 dextrous interpretation more opposite to 
 the principles of equity^ and the manners 
 and policy of the times. 
 
 His beneiiciai or pernicious influence on; 
 the public happiness is the last considera- 
 tion in the character of Mahomet. The 
 most bitter or most bigotted of his Clirist- 
 ian or Jewish foes, will surely allow that 
 he assumed a false commission to incul- 
 cate a salutary doctrine, less perfect only 
 than their own. He piously supposed, as 
 the basis of his religion, the truth raid sanc- 
 tity of r/z^ir prior revelations, the virtues 
 and miracles of their founders. The idols 
 of Arabia w^ere broken before the throne 
 of God ; the blood of human victims was 
 expiated by prayer,, and fasting, and alms, 
 tlielaudible or innocent arts of devotion ; 
 and his rewards and punishments of a fu- 
 ture life were painted by the images most 
 
THE LIFE 0? MAHOMET. 117 
 
 congenial to an ignorant and carnal gener- 
 ation. Mahomet was perhaps ineupable 
 of dictiiting a moral and pohtical system 
 for the nse of his conntrymen ; but he 
 breathed among the Faithfui a spirit of cha- 
 rity and friendship, recommended ,thQ^ 
 practice of the social virtues, and check- 
 ed, bj'.his la^vs and precepts, tiie thirst of 
 revenge and the oppression of \vido^^'s and 
 orphans. The liostile tribes were united 
 in fl\ith and obedience, and the valour 
 which had been idly spent in domestic 
 q.:iarrels, was vigorously directed against 
 a foreign enemy. Had die impulse been 
 less powerful, Arabia, free at home, and 
 formidable abroad, might have fiourished 
 under a succession of her native mon- 
 arqiis, Ller sovereignty was lost by the. 
 extent and rapidity of conquest. The col- 
 onies of the nation were scattered over the 
 East. and "l^^est, and their blood was min- 
 gled with the blood of their conveits and 
 captives. After tiie reign of three caliphs, 
 the- throne was transported from Medina 
 to the valley of Damascus and the banks of 
 tiicTigiis; the holy cities Vvcre violated by 
 im.pious war; Arabia was ruled by the rod 
 of a subject, perhaps of a stranger ; and 
 
118 THE LIFE G? .MAHOMET, 
 
 the Bedoweens of the desert, awakeniii^ 
 from their dream ox"* dominion, resumed 
 their old and solitary independence. 
 
 From the rapid conquests of the Sarac- 
 ens a presumption will naturally arise, that 
 the first caliplis commanded in person the 
 armies of the faithful.and sought the crown 
 of martyrdom in the foremost ranks of the 
 battle. I'he courage of Abubeker, Om.ar, 
 and Otliman, had indeed been tried in the 
 persecution and wars of the prophet ; and 
 the personal assurance of paradise must 
 have taught them to despise the pleasures 
 and dangers of the present world. But 
 they ascended the throne in a venerable or 
 mature cige, and esteemed tlie domestic 
 cares of religion and justice the most im- 
 portpjit duties of a sovereign. Except 
 the presence of Omar at the siege of Jeru- 
 salem, their longest expeditions were the 
 frequent pilgrimage from Medina to Mec- 
 ca ; and they calmly received' the tidings 
 of victory as they prayed or preached be- 
 fore the sepulchre of the prophet. The 
 austere and frugal measure of their lives 
 was the eifect of virtue or hal>zt, and the 
 pride of their simplicity insulted the vahi 
 maL^nificence of the kincs of the earth. 
 
THE LIFE OFMAHdMET. 119 
 
 When Abubeker assumed the office of ca- 
 liph, he enjoined his daughter Ayesha to 
 take a strict account of his private patri- 
 mony, that it might be evident whether 
 he were enriched or impoverished by 
 the service of the state. He thought him- 
 self entitled to a stipend of three pieces of 
 gold, with the sufiicient maintenance of a 
 single camel and a black slave; but on the 
 Friday of each v/eek he distjibuted the re- 
 sidue of his own and the public money, 
 £rst to tlie most worthy, and then to the 
 most indigent, of the Moslems. The re- 
 tnainsof his wealth, a coarse garment,and 
 five pieces of gold, were delivered to his 
 successor, who lamented with a modest 
 sigh his own inability to equal such an ad- 
 mirable model. Yet the abstinence and 
 humility of Omar were not inferior to the 
 virtues of Abilbeker ; his food consisted 
 of barley- bread or dates ; his drink was 
 water ; he preached in a gown that was 
 torn or tattered in twelve places ; and a 
 Persian satrap who paid his homage to the 
 conqueror, found him asleep among the 
 beggai's on the steps of the mosch of Me- 
 dina. Oeconomy is the source of liberal- 
 ity, and the increase of the rerv'^nue ena- 
 
120 TPIE LIFE OF MAKOMET. 
 
 bled Omar to establish a just and perpet- 
 ual reward for the past and present services 
 of the faithful. Careless of his own emo- 
 lument, he assigned to Abbas, tlie uncle 
 of the prophet, the first and m.ost ample 
 allowance of twenty-fi^'e thousand drams 
 or pieces of silver. Five thousand were 
 allotted to each of the aged warriors, the 
 relics of tlie field of Beder, and the last and 
 meanest of the companions of Mahomet 
 was distinguished by the aimual reward of 
 three thousand pieces. One thousand was 
 the stipend of the veterans who had fought 
 in the first battles against the Greeks and 
 Persians, and the decreasing pay, as low 
 as fifty pieces of silver, was adapted to the 
 respective merit and seniority of the sol- 
 diers of Omar. Under his reign, and that 
 of his predecessor, the conquerors of the 
 East were the trusty servants of God and 
 the people : the mass of the public treasure 
 was consecrated to the expenses of peace 
 and war ; a prudent mixture of justice and 
 bounty, maintained the discipline of the 
 Saracens, and they united, by a rare feli- 
 city, the dispatch and execution of despo- 
 tiam, with the equal and frugal maxims 
 of a republican government. The heroic 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET* 121 
 
 courage of All, ihe cQBsummate prudence of 
 Moawiyali. excited the emulation cf their 
 subjects ; and the talents which had been 
 exercised in the school of civil discord. 
 were more usefully applied to propagate 
 the faith and dominion of the prophet. In. 
 the sloth and vanity of the ]>alace of Damas- 
 cus, the succeeding princes of the house 
 of Ommiyah were alike destitute of the 
 qualifications of statesmen and of saints. 
 Yet the spoils of unknown nations were 
 continually laid at the foot of theii' throne, 
 and the uniform ascent of the Arabian 
 greatness must be ascribed to the spirit of 
 the nation rather than the abilities of their 
 chiefs. A large deduction must be allow- 
 ed for the v/eakness of their enemies. 
 The birth of Mahomet, was fortunately 
 placed in the .most degenerate and dis- 
 orderly period of the Persians, ^he Romans, 
 and the Barbarians of Europe : the em- 
 pires of Trajan, or even of Constantine or 
 Charlemagne, would have repelled the as- 
 sault of the naked Saracens, and the tor- 
 rent of fanaticism might have been ob- 
 scurely lost in the sands of Arabia. 
 
 In the victorious days of tlie Roman re- 
 public, it had been the aim of the senate 
 to confine their counsels and legions to a 
 1. 
 
I!t2 THE LIFE Of MAHOMET. 
 
 single war, and completely to suppress a 
 first enemy before they provoked the hos- 
 tilities of a second. These timid max- 
 ims of policy were disdained by the 
 iTiagnanimity or'enthusiasni of the Arabian 
 caliphs. With the same vigour and suc- 
 cess they invaded the successors of Au- 
 gustus, and those of Arlaxerxes ; and the 
 rival monaixhies at the same instant be- 
 came the prey of an enemy whom they 
 had been so long accustomed to despise. 
 In the ten years of the administration of 
 Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obe- 
 dience thirty. six thousand cities or castles, 
 destroyed four thousand churches or tem- 
 ples of the unbelievers, and ediiied four- 
 teen hundred moschs for tlie exercise of 
 the religion of Mahorsiet. One hundred 
 years after his flight from Mecca, the ai*ms 
 and the reign of his sucessors extended 
 from India to the Atlantic Ocean, over 
 the various and distant provinces, which 
 may be comprised under the names of, 
 I. Persia; II. Syria; III. Egypt; IV, 
 Africa ; and, V. Spain. 
 
 I. In the first year of the first caliph, his 
 lieutenant Caled, the sword of God, and 
 the scourge of the infidels, advanced to 
 tkc banks of the Euphrates, and reduced 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 123 
 
 the Cities of Anbar and Hira. Westward 
 of the ruins of Babylon, a tribe of seden- 
 tary Arabs had fixed themselves on the 
 verge of the desert ; and Hira was the 
 seat of a race of kinf2:s who iiad embraced 
 the Christian religion, and rei:^-ned above 
 six Jiundrcd years under the shadow of 
 the throne of Persia. Tiie k.st of the 
 Mondars was defeated and slain by Caied; 
 his son was sent a captive to Medina ; his 
 nobles bowed before the snccestvor of the 
 prophet ; the peo])le was tempted by the 
 example and success of their countrymen ; 
 and the caliph accepted as the first fruits 
 of foreign conquest, an annual tribute of 
 seventy thousand pieces of gold. The 
 conquerors, and even their historifins. 
 ^vere astonished by the dawn of their fu- 
 ture greatness : " In the same year/' says 
 iiimacin, *' Caled fought many signal br:t- 
 •' ties ; an immense multitude of the hifi* 
 *' dels was slaup^htered ; and spoils, infin- 
 * ' ite and innumerable, were acquired by 
 *' the victorious Moslems.'* But the in- 
 vincible Caled was soon transferred to the 
 Syrian war : the invasion of the Persian 
 frontier was conducted by less active or 
 less prudent commanders : the Saracens 
 were repulsed with loss in the passage oi 
 
124 TUZ LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 the Euphrates ; and, though they cha.stis- 
 ed the insolent pursuit of the j^/lagians, 
 their remaining forces stiii hovered m the 
 desert of Babylori. 
 
 The indignation mid fears cf the Per- 
 sians suspended for a mcmejit their intes- 
 tine divi-aions. By the unanimous sen- 
 tence of the priests ^uid nobles, their qi^een 
 Arz^ma vva& deposed; the sixth of the 
 ti'ansient tisurpers, who had arisen and 
 vanished in three or four years, since tlie 
 death of Ckosroes and tlie retreat of Her- 
 aciius. Her tiara v, as placed tn the head 
 of Ye^degerd, the grandson of Chssroes ; 
 and the same acra, which comcides With 
 an aBtronoaiicai period > has recorded the 
 iall of the Sassanian dynasty raid the re- 
 ligion of Zoroaster. The youth and inex- 
 perience of the prince, he v/as only ^fifteen 
 years of sge, declined a perilous en- 
 counter : the royal standard was deliver- 
 ed into the hands of his general Rustam ; 
 and a remnant of thirty thousand regular 
 troops was swelled in truth, or in opinion, 
 to one hundred and twenty tliousand sub- 
 jects, or allies, of the great king. The 
 Moslems, v^^hose numbers were reinforced 
 from twelve to thirty thousand, had pitch- 
 ed their camp in the plains of Cadesia : 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMKT. 125 
 
 and their line, though it consisted of few- 
 er men, could produce more soldiers than 
 the unwieldy hosts of the infidels. I shall 
 here observe what i must often repeat, 
 that the charge of the Arabs was not Hke 
 that of the Greeks and Romans, the eflbrt 
 of a iirni and compact infantry : their mili- 
 tary force was chiefly formed of cavalry 
 and archers ; and the engagement, w^hich 
 was often interrupted and often renewed 
 by single combats and flying skirmishes, 
 might be protracted without any decisive 
 event to the continuance of several days. 
 The periods of the battle of Cadesia were 
 distinguished by theirpeculiar appellations. 
 The first, ft^om the well-timed appearance 
 of six thousand of the Syrian brethren, 
 was denominated the day of mccoiir. The 
 day of concussion might express the disor- 
 der of one, or perhaps of both, of the con- 
 tending armies. The third, a nocturnal 
 tumult, received the whimsical name of 
 the night of /^^/rfe^, from the discordant 
 clamours, v/hich were compared to the in- 
 articulate sounds of the fiercest animals. 
 The morning of the succeeding day deter- 
 mined the fate of Persia ; and a seasona- 
 ble whirlwind drove a cloud of dust a- 
 gainst the fices ofthe unbelievers. The 
 ^ L 2 
 
125 THE LIFE or MAHOMET. 
 
 clangor of cU'ins was re-echoed to the tent 
 of Rustam, who, far unlike the ancient 
 hero of his name, was gently reclining in 
 a cool and tranquil shade, amidst the bag- 
 gage of his camp, and the train of mules 
 that were laden with s old and silver. Oa 
 tlie sound of danser he started from his 
 conch ; but his iilght was overtaken by a 
 valiant Arab, who caught him by the foot, 
 struck off his head, hoisted it on a lance, 
 and instantly returning to the field of bat- 
 tle, carried slaughter and dismay among 
 the thickest ranks of the Persians. The 
 Saracens confess a loss of seven thousand 
 five hundred men ; and the battle of Cade- 
 sia is justly described by the epithets of 
 obstinate and atrocious. The standard of 
 the monarchy was overthrow n and captur- 
 ed, in the field — a leathern apron of a black- 
 smith, who, in ancient times, had arisen 
 the deliverer of Persia ; but this badge of 
 heroic poverty was disguised, and almost 
 concealed by a profusion of precious gems. 
 After this victory, the wealthy province of 
 Irak or Assyria submitted to the caliph, 
 and his conquests were hrmly established 
 by the speedy foundation of Bassora, a 
 place which ever commands the trade and 
 riavie:ation of the Persians. At the dis-* 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 127 
 
 tince of. fourscore miles from the Gulf, t!is 
 Euphrates and Tigris unite in a broad and 
 direct current, which is aptl^ styied the 
 river of the Arabs. In the mid-wa}^ be- 
 tween the J unction and the mouth of these 
 famous streams, the nev/ settlement was 
 planted on the western bank ; the first col- 
 ony was composed of eight hundred Mos- 
 lems; but the influence of the situation soon 
 reared a flourishing and populous capital. 
 The air, though excessively hot, is pure 
 and healthy : the meadows are filled with 
 palm-trees and cattle ; anvd one of the ^ 'l- 
 jacent vailies has been celebrated among 
 the four paradises or gardens of Asia. Un- 
 der the first caliphs, the jurisdiction of this 
 Arabian colony extencfed over the south- 
 ern provinces of Persia : the city has been 
 sanctified by the tombs of the companions 
 and martyrs ; and the vessels of Europe 
 still frequent the port cfBassora, as a con- 
 venient station and passage of the Indian 
 trade. 
 
 After the defeat of Cadesia, a country 
 intersected by rivers and canals might have 
 opposed an insuperable barrier to the vic- 
 torious cavalry; and the v/alls cfCtesiphon or 
 Madayn, Vv-hich had resisted the battering- 
 rams of the Romrms, ^vould not have yield- 
 
128 THE LIFE OF MAHOMETe 
 
 ed to the dirt:3 of the Saracens. But the 
 Hying Persians v/ere overcome by the be- 
 lief, that the last dity or their religion and 
 empire was at hand : the sti'ongest posts 
 were abandoned by treachery or cowardice; 
 and the king, widi a part of his family and 
 treasures, escaped to Holwan at the foot of 
 the Median hiils. In the third month after 
 the batde, Said, the lieutenant of Omar, 
 passed the Tigris without opposition ; tliQ 
 capital was taken by assault ; and the dis- 
 orderly resistance of the people gave a 
 keener tdge to the sabres of the Moslems^ 
 who shouted with religious transport, 
 ** This is the white palace of Chosroes,this 
 ** is the promise of the apostle of God !"^ 
 The naked robbers of the desei't were 
 suddenly enriched beyond the measure of 
 their hope or knowledge. Each chamber 
 revealed a new treasure secreted with art, 
 or ostentatiously displayed ; the gold and 
 silver; the various wardrobes and precious 
 furniture, surpassed (says Abullfcda) the 
 estimate of fancy or numbers ; and anoth- 
 er historian defines the untold and almost 
 infinite mass, by the fabulous computa- 
 tion of thi'ee thousands of thousimds of 
 thousands of pieces of gold. Some mi- ^ 
 nute though curious facts represent the 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 129 
 
 contrast of riches and ignorance. From 
 the remote islands of the Indian Ocean, a 
 large provision of camphire had been im- 
 ported, which is employed witli a mixture 
 of wax to iHu minute the palaces of the 
 East. Strangers to the name and proper- 
 ties of that odoriferous gnm, the Saracens, 
 miHtakin.fT it for salt, mingled tiie camphire 
 in their bread, and were astonished, at the 
 bitterness of the tar>te. One of the apart- 
 ments of the palace was decorated with a 
 carpet of silk, sixty cubits in length, and 
 as many m breadth ; a paradise or garden 
 was depictured on the ground ; the flow- 
 ers, fruits, and shrubs were imitated bv 
 the jfig"ures cf the gold embroidery, and 
 the colours of the precious stones ; and 
 the c'jmple square was encircled by a vari- 
 egated and verdant border. The Arabian 
 general persuaded hU soldiers to relin- 
 quish their claim, in the reasonable hope^ 
 that the eyes of the caliph would be de- 
 lighted with the splendid workmanship of 
 nature and industrv. Res-ardless of the 
 merit of ait and the pomp of royalty, the 
 n;^id Omar divided the prize among his 
 brethren of Medina : the picture Tvas de- 
 stroyed ; but such was the intrinsic value 
 •61 the materials, that the share of All alone 
 
130 THE LIFE GF ."MAHOMEr. 
 
 Wi:s sold for twenty thousand drams. A 
 mule that carried iiway the tiara and cui- 
 rass, the belt and bracelets of Chosroes, 
 '^vas overtaken by the pursuers ; thegor- 
 geoUvS irophy was presented to the com- 
 mander of the faithful, aiul the gravest of 
 the companions condescended to smile 
 when they beheld the v.hite beard, hairy 
 arms, & uncouth figure of the veteran, wh.o 
 ^vas invested with the spoils of the great 
 king. The sack cfCtesiphon was follow- 
 ed by its deseriicn and gradual decay. The 
 Saracens disliked the air and situation of 
 the place, and Omar was advised by his 
 general to rem.ove the seat of government 
 to the V. estern side of the Euphrates, la 
 every age the foundation and ruin of the 
 Assyrian cities has been easy and rapid ; 
 the country is destitute cf stone raid titji- 
 ber, and the most solid structmxs are com- 
 posed of brick baked in the sun^ and join- 
 ed by a cement of the native bitumen* 
 The name of Ci^fa, describes an iiabita- 
 tion of reeds and earth ; lyat theimportaneg 
 of the new capital uas supported by the 
 numbers, v.'ealth, anvl spirit of a colony of 
 veterans ; and their li cent ion f.ness was in- 
 dulged by the v/isest caliphs, wlio were, 
 apprehensive of provoking the rcvolt of an] 
 hundred thousand swords : "Ye men bfl 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 131 
 
 ** Cnfa/* said Ali, who solicited their aid, 
 ** you have been always conspicuous by 
 *^ your valour. You conquered the Per- 
 " siau king, and scattered his forces, till 
 ** you had taken possession of his inheri- 
 "tance." This mig-hty conquest was a- 
 chieved by the battles of Jalula and Nehav- 
 ead. After the loss of the former, Yez- 
 degerd fled from Holwan, and concealed 
 his shame and despair in the mountains 
 of Farsistan, from whence Cvrus had de- 
 scended with his equal ajid valiant com- 
 panions. The courage of the nation suj'- 
 vived that of the monarch ; among the 
 hills to the south of Ecbatana or Rama- 
 dan, one hundred &: fifty thou sand Persians 
 made a third aiid final stand for their relig- 
 ion and country ; and the decisive battle 
 of Naliavend was styled by the Arabs tlie 
 victory of victories. If it be true that the 
 flj'ing general of the Persians was stopt 
 and overtaken in a crowd of mules and 
 camels laden wifth honey, the incident, 
 however slight or singular, will denote 
 the luxurious impediments of an Oriental 
 army. 
 
 The geography of Persia is darkly de- 
 lineated by the Greeks and Latins ; but 
 the most illustrious of her cities appear ta 
 
132 THE LIFE OP MAHOMET. 
 
 be more, ancient than the invasion of the 
 Ai:.' 3. By'tlieredactidiT of Hamadan 
 and Iphdian, of Gaswin, T?^T:iris, and Rei, 
 thej"grnclua!iy/firj;)fciiclie4 'l^^e shores of 
 the Ca^painlS'da'y^tiVthe orators of Mec- 
 ca nr'gh't ap^Miid^ the' 'Sii^fcfesaiid /spirit of 
 the fliithai?:, ^ho hM A'^'^dy lost' sight of 
 thencftiv ;:d had 'almost trans- 
 
 cerided'ti... L: ^....:.;. oi the habifable ^vodd. 
 A t;ain ' kii' riir:g f hWaf ds" the West and the 
 Rornan eiup^n'e, %( y repassed the Tigris 
 c^f'^'^r:? bridge of Mcsul, and in the cap- 
 t: 2ncce>:(^f Amienia Knd Mesopota- 
 
 i: . , , :^^ raced iheir vlctcricusiifietht en of 
 t;: : o r' iL arniy. Frrm tli€ palace of Ma- 
 d.:.^: ' :ir Easiern progress was not less 
 rapid or extc nsi^. '\ They advruiced a- 
 long the Tigris and -he Gulf ; penetrated 
 through tlie pae,3€s of ihe mountains into 
 tlie valley of Estachar or Persepolis ; 
 and profaned the last sanctuury of the 
 Magian empire. The grandson of Chos- 
 roes v/as nearly surprised among the fall- 
 ing columns and mutilated figures ; a sad 
 emblem of the past and present fortune of 
 Persia ; he fied with accelerated Iiaste over 
 the desert of Kirman, implored the aid bf 
 the war-like Segestans, and saught an 
 humble reiuge ou the verge of the I'urkisli 
 
r^Z ?.1^E, Cf MAHOMET. , i^^S 
 
 iind Chinese power. J3 ut. a victorlov^s ar- 
 my issensibk of flitigue : the Anibs divi- 
 ded their forces in the pursuit of a timor- 
 ous enemy; and the caliph of Otlvftian 
 promised the government of Chorasan to 
 the, first general who should enter that 
 large and populous country, tlie kingdom 
 of the aiicient Bactrians, The condition 
 was accepted ; the prize was deserved ; 
 the standai'd of ' Mahomet was planted on 
 the waUs of Herat, Meroii, and ,Balch -; an^d 
 the successful leader neither halted" nor re- 
 posed till his foamhig cavalry had tasted 
 the waters of the Oxus. In the putjlic 
 anarchy, the independent governors of the 
 cities and castles cbtained their separate 
 capitulations : the terms were ^-^anted or 
 imposed by the esteem, the prudence, or 
 the compassion, of the yjctbrs ; and a sim^ 
 pie profession of faith established the dis^ 
 .tinction betvyeen a brother and a slave. Af- 
 ter a noble xjefence, Harmczan, the prince 
 or satrap of Ahwaz and Susa, ' was com- 
 pelled to surrender his person and bis state 
 to the discretion of the caliph ; and their 
 interviev/ exhibits a portt*ait of the Arabian 
 manners. In the presence, and b}^ the 
 command of Omar, the gay Barbari^i ^vas 
 despoiled of, his silken robes cinbr<^cred 
 
134 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET* 
 
 w ith gold, and of his tiara bedecked with 
 rubies and emeralds ; '* Are you now sen- 
 " sible,'* said the conqueror to his miked 
 captive ; **are you sensible of the judg- 
 *'mentofGod, and of the different re- 
 '' vva^ds of infidelity and obedience?*' *'AI- 
 *' as !" replied Haimozan, ** I feel them 
 ** two deeply.. In the days of our com- 
 " mon ignorance, we fought with the wea- 
 '* pons of flesh, and my nation was supe- 
 *' rior. God was then neuter : since he 
 *' has espoused yeur quairel, you have 
 *' subverted our kingdom and religion.** 
 Oppressed by this painful dialogue, the 
 Persian com.plained of intolerable thirst, 
 but discovered some apprehensions lest 
 he should be killed whilst he was drinking 
 a cup of water. '* Be of good courage,'* 
 said the caliph, ** your life is safe till 3'ou 
 '* have drank this water :" the crafty sat- 
 rap accepted the assurance, and instantly- 
 dashed the vase against the ground. O- 
 mar would have avenged the deceit ; but 
 his companions represented the sanctity of 
 an oath ; and the speedy conversion of 
 Harmozan entitled him not only to a free 
 pardon, but even to a stipend of two thou- 
 sand pieces of gold. The administration 
 of Persia was regulated by an actual sur- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 155 
 
 vey of the people, the cattle, and the fruits 
 of the earth ; mid this monument, which 
 attests the vigilance of the caliphs, might 
 have instructed the philosophers of every 
 
 The flight of Yezdegerd had carried 
 him beyond the Oxus, and as far as the 
 Jaxartes, two rivers of ancient and modern 
 renown, which descend from the moun- 
 tains of India towards the Caspian Sea. 
 He was hospitably entertained by Tark- 
 han, prince of Fargana, a fertile province 
 on the Jaxaftes ; the king of Samarcand, 
 with the Turkish tribes of Sogdiana and 
 Scythia, were moved by the lamentations 
 and promises of the fallen monarch ; &: he 
 solicited by a suppliant embassy, the more 
 solid and powerful friendship of the em- 
 peror of Ciiina. The virtuoas Taitsong, 
 the first of the dynasty of the Tang, may 
 ^e justly compared with the Antonines of 
 Rciiie : his people enjoyed the blessings 
 of tranquility and peace ; and his domin- 
 ion 'v^as acknowledged by fort3'-four liords 
 of the Barbarians of Tartary. His last 
 garrisons of Cashgar and Khoten main- 
 tained a frequent intercourse with tlieir 
 neighbours of the Jaxartes and Oxus ; a 
 recent colony of Persians had introduced 
 
I36i THE Ltf E OF MAHOM'ET. 
 
 into China the astronomy ofthe ^Tagl; 
 and Tai'tsong might be alarB";^d by the 
 rapid pre grl^ss and dangerous vicinity of* 
 the Arab's . The influence, and perhaps^ 
 the supplies, of China revived the hope.'j of 
 l^czdegerd and the seal of the r\^orshippers^ 
 Q? fire ; and he returlted 7/ith an army of 
 Turks to cdnqiicr the inheritance of his 
 fathers. The ibrtunate Moslems, v/idiout 
 tifisheathin g their swords ^ v/erc the - spec- 
 tators of hii ruiii and 'death. The grand- 
 son of Chosrocs was l7etrayed ■ by hi.i ser- 
 vant, insulted by the seditious inh:ibitant3 
 of Mcrcu, and oppressed', defeated, and 
 pursued, b^y his Barbarian allies. Ke 
 readied the b'Vnks -of ariver^ and cfTtred 
 iiiyriiig^' and b?vic«lets for an in^,tant- pas- 
 sj^ige in a milkTS boat.. .%nbranr^ar in- 
 K'nsihie of royal dK-:tres^, tlie rustic repll-, 
 ej[), that Tour Jranis of silver -nlsre the dai* 
 Iv^ profit of his niiil^an.d^'hat he v/otild not 
 .suspend his Vvork' unless" the loss: rei'e re- 
 paid. In this nioment'"'or hesitation arid 
 delay, the last oPthe Skssanian kings v/a-* 
 oreitakeh and slaug-htered by the Turkish 
 cLTvahy, ■ in' the nineteehth" year(^'his un- 
 happy rei^n. His sun Firuz, an humble 
 client of the C'lnitese Emperor, accepted 
 t])fe station of captain of his guards ; and'- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 137 
 
 the Magian worship was long preserved 
 by a colony of loyal exiles in the province 
 of Bucliaria. His grandson inherited the 
 regal name ; but after a faint and fraidess 
 enterprise, he returned to China, and end- 
 ed his days in the palace of Sigan. The 
 male line of the Sassanides was extinct ; 
 but the female captives, the daughters of 
 Persia, were given to the conquerors in 
 servitude, or marriage ; and the race of 
 the caliphs and imams was enobled by 
 the blood of their royal mothers. 
 
 11. The conquest of .Egypt may be ex- 
 plained by the ckaracter of the victorious 
 Saracen, one of the first of his nation, in 
 an age when the meanest of the brethren 
 was exalted above his nature by the spirit 
 of enthusiasm. The birth of Amrou was 
 at on"ce base and illustrious : his mother, a 
 Rotorious prostitute, was unable to decide 
 among five of the Koreish ; but the proof 
 of resemblance adjudged the child to Aasi 
 the oldest of her loveis. The vouth of 
 Amrou was impelled by the passions and 
 prejudices of his kindred : his poetic gen- 
 ius was exercised in satrical verses against 
 the person and doctrines of Mahomet ; his 
 dexterity was employed by the reigning 
 faction to pursue tlie religious exiles who 
 M n 
 
138 THE LIF2 CF MAHOMET. 
 
 had ta-k-en. ref-a^^;-e in tkc court of tke .lEdiK 
 opiau king. Yet he returned from this 
 emb:issy, a secret proselyte ; his reason or 
 .his- interest dct'ermhied him to renounce 
 -the A^orship of idols;- he escaped from 
 Mecca with his friend Oaled, and thepro- 
 piiet t)f Medina enjoyed at tlie sa«ie nio- 
 •n-ient tlie satisfr.ction of embracing; tlic 
 two nrniest con*ipanio!:is of his cause.. The 
 impatience of Amroii to lead the aimies of 
 the iaith&ih was checked' by the reproof of 
 0»uar, who advised him not to> seek p>ow- 
 Arivaiid dorrkhiion, since he who is a sub- 
 jrct to-day, may be a prince to-morrow, 
 \'et his merit was not overlook ed by the 
 two first successors of Mahomet r they 
 were indebted to bis arms for the conquest 
 ,of Palestine ; k m all battles and sieges of 
 Syria, he united with the temper of a 
 cluef, the valour of an adventurous soldier. 
 Ill a visit to Medina, the caliph expressed 
 a wish to sur\'ey the »word which had cut 
 dovvn so many christian warriors : tlie son 
 of Aasi unsheathed a sliort and ordinary 
 scymetar ;^ asxd as he perceived the snr- 
 irrise of Om;r, *' Alas,*^ said tlie modest 
 Saracen, " the 3 word i-tse^f, Vv^thout the 
 *' arm of its master, is neitlier shaq7<>r uor 
 ^* more w^urhtv tka-i t'lic sword of Floanr-z- 
 
THE Hf E tSF MAHOMET, 
 
 139 
 
 '' d:ik the poet." After the coiiqiiestof 
 Egypt he w as recalled Ijy the jealousy of 
 the caliph Othnian ; bat hitlie :>al>sequent 
 .troubles, the ambition- of a.soldkT, a states- 
 man, and an orator, emer^^ed Ironi a pri- 
 vate station. His powerful suj)port, both 
 in Gouncll and in the field, established the 
 tlirone of the Oinnilades ; the administra- 
 tion and revenue of Egypt ^vere restored 
 by the gratitude of Moawiyh to a faithful 
 friend who had raised himself abcn-e the 
 i^ank of a sui)ject ; and Amrou ended his 
 .days in the piJace and city which fee had 
 founded on the banks of the Nile. His 
 dying speech' to his children is celebrated 
 by the Arabians as a model of eloquence 
 and wisdom ; he deplored tlie errors of 
 his youth ; but if the penitent was still in- 
 fected by the vanity of a poet,, he might 
 exag*gerate tlie venom- and mit^chief of bis 
 impi^^us composition. 
 
 Frornrhls camp, in Palestine,, Amrou- had 
 •Stirprisedor anticipated the caliph'^s leave 
 for the invasion of Egypt. The invincible 
 Omar trusted in his God and in his sword, 
 which had shaken the thrones of Chosroes 
 and Cccsar : but when he corrjpared the 
 slender force of the Moslems with the 
 gi*eatnt?ss of 'tlie entcr]r»risej he condemned 
 
140 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET, 
 
 his own rashness, and listened to his tim- 
 id companions. The pride and greatness 
 of Pharaoh were familiar to the readers of 
 the Koran ; and a tenfold repetition of pro- 
 digies had been scarcely sufficient to ef- 
 fect, not the victory but the flight, of 
 600,000 of the children of Israel : the ci- 
 ties of E^ypt were many and populous ; 
 their architecture was string and solid ; 
 the Nile, with its numerous branches, was 
 alone an insuperable barrier ; and the gra- 
 nary of the Imperial city would be obsti- 
 nately defended by the Roman powers. 
 In this peri^Iexity, the commander of the 
 faithful resigned himself to the decision of 
 chance, or, in his opinion, of providence. 
 At the head of only four thousand Arabs, 
 the intrepid Ararou had marched away 
 from his station of Gaza when he was o- 
 vertaken by the messenger of Omar. ** If 
 ** you are still in Syria," said the ambigu- 
 ous mandate, '* retreat without delay ; 
 ** but if, at the receipt of this epistle, you 
 ** have already reached the frontiers of E- 
 *' gypt? advance with confidence, and de- 
 *• pend on the succour of God and of your 
 ** brethren. '^^ The experience, perhaps 
 the secret intelligence, of Amrou had 
 taught him to suspect the mutability of 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 141 
 
 courts ; and he continued his march till 
 his tents were unquestionably pitched on 
 Egyptian ground. He there assembled 
 his officers, broke the seal, perused the 
 epistle, gravely inquired the* nsme ami 
 situation of the place, . and declared his 
 ready obedience to the commands of the 
 caliph. After a siege of thiily days, he 
 took possession of Farniah or Pclusium ; 
 and tkit key of P^pi'pt,as it has been just- 
 ly named, uTilocked th'c; entrance of the 
 country , ias far as the ruins of Heliopolis 
 and the neighbarhood of the modern Cai- 
 ro. 
 
 . On the western side of tha Nile, at a 
 small distance to th-e east of the Pyramids, 
 at a small distance to the south of the 
 Delta, Mc3jjplus, one hundred and fil\y 
 furlongs m circuiTitereT\ce, displayed the 
 inag^iac^ence of uncient kings. Under 
 tae reign of the Ptolemies and Caesar?, 
 tiie seat of government was removed to 
 tae sea-coast ; the antient capital was 
 eclipsed by the arts and opulence of Alex- 
 aiidria ; the palaces, and at lenp;tlv the 
 temples, were reduced to a desolate and 
 ruinous .condition : yet in the at^e of Au- 
 gustus, and even in tkit of Constantlne, 
 Memphis was still numbered aniong tlic 
 
142 THE LIFE 0? 51AH0MET, 
 
 greatest and most populous of tke provin- 
 cial cities. The banks of the Nile, in this 
 place of the breadth of three thousand feet, 
 were united by two twidges of sixty and 
 of tliirty boats, connected in the middle 
 stream by the small island of Rouda, 
 M-hich was covered with gaidens and hab- 
 itations. The eastern extremity of the 
 bridge was terminated by the town of Bab- 
 ylon and the camp of a Roman legion, 
 Wiich protected the passage of theriver 
 an i the second capital of Egypt. This 
 im^)ortant fortress, which might fiirly be 
 djscribedas a part of Memphis or Miiirah, 
 was invested by the arms of the lie a ten- 
 ant of Omar : a reinforcement of four 
 thousand Saracens soon anived in his 
 camp ; and the military engines, which 
 battered the walls, may be irnpuled to the 
 art and labor of his Syrian allies. Yet 
 the siege was protracted to se^xn month?:; 
 and the rash invaders were enccrapassed 
 and threatened by the inundation of the 
 Nile. Their last assault v-as bold and 
 successful : tliey passed the ditch, ^thich 
 had been fortified with iron spikes. applied 
 their scaling-ladders, entered tlie fortress 
 with the shout of '* God is victorious V 
 and drove the remnant of the Greeks to 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 143 
 
 their boats and the isle of Rouda. The 
 spot was afterwards recommended to the 
 conqueror by the easy communication 
 with die gulph and the peninsula of Ara- 
 bia : the remains of Memphis were de- 
 serted : the tents of the Arabs were con- 
 verted into permanent habitations ; and 
 tlie first mos«h was blessed by the pres- 
 ence of fourscore companions of Mahom- 
 et. A new city arose in their camp on 
 the eastward bank of the Nile ; and the 
 contiguous quarters of Babylon and Fos- 
 tat are confounded in their present decay 
 by the appellation of old Misrah or Cairo, 
 of which they form an extensive suburb. 
 But tlie name of Cairo, the town of victo- 
 ry, more strictly belongs to the modern 
 capital, which was founded in the tenth 
 century by the Fatimite caliphs. It has 
 gradually receded from the river, but the 
 continuity of buildings m«ay. be traced by 
 an attentive eye from the monuments of 
 Sesostris to those of Saladin. 
 
 Yet the Arabs, after a elorious and prof- 
 itable enterprise, must have retreated to 
 the desert, had they not found a powerful 
 alliance in the heart of the country^ The 
 rapid conquest of Alexander was assisted 
 by the superstition and revolt of the na- 
 
144 T^E XIFE-t^F MAHOMET. 
 
 tives ; they abhorred their Persian op- 
 pressors, the disciples of the Magi, ^vho 
 had burnt the temples of Egypt, and feast- 
 ed with sacrilegious appetite on the flesh 
 of the god Apis. Alter a period of ten 
 centuries the same revohition was renew- 
 ed by a similar cause : and in the support 
 of an incomprehensible creed, tlie seal of 
 Coptic Christians v/as equally ardent. I 
 have already explained the origin and pro- 
 gress of die iMonophysite controversy, and 
 the persecution of the emperors, which 
 converted a sect into a nation, and alien- 
 ated Egypt from their religion and gov- 
 erDment. The Saracens were received 
 as the deliverers of the Jacobite church ; 
 and a secret and effectual treaty was open- 
 ed during the siege of Memphis betweetj 
 a victorious army ai^d a people of slaves. 
 A rich and noble Egyptian, of the name 
 of Mokawkas, had dissembled his faith to 
 obtain the administration of liis province : 
 in the disorders of the Persian war he as- 
 pired to independence : the embassy of 
 Mahomet ranked him among princes; 
 l)ut he declined, with rich gifts and am- 
 biguous compliments, the proposal of a 
 new religion. The abuse of his tiiist ex> 
 posed him to the resentment of HeraQl\us';^ 
 
THE LI F E OF K A HO*{: E T . 145 
 
 HS siibiTiission was delayed by arrc.ganm 
 lud fear ; and liis conscience was prompt- 
 id by interest to throw himself on the fa- 
 ^'our of the nation and support -of the Sar- 
 acens. In his first conference with Am- 
 rou, he heard without indignation the 
 jsual option of the Koran, the tribute, or 
 he sword. **The Greeks,'' replied, 
 ' Mokawkas, *' are determined to abide 
 "the determination of the sword; but 
 
 * with the Greeks I desire no communi- 
 
 * cation, either in this world or in the next, 
 =* and I abjure forever the Byzantine t^*"- 
 '* rant, his synod of Chalcedon, and his 
 ** Melchite slaves. For myself and my 
 ** brethren, we are resolved to live and 
 " die in the profession of the gospel and 
 ** unity of Christ, It is impossible for us 
 *^ to eriibrace the revelations of your 
 ** prophet ; but wx are desirous of peace, 
 " and cheerfully submit to pay tribute 
 ** and obedience to his temporal succes* 
 <* sors.*' The tribute was ascertained at 
 two pieces of gold for the head of everj? 
 Christian ; but old men, monks, women^ 
 and children, of both sexes, under sixteen 
 years of age, were exempted from this 
 personal assessment ; the Copts abov^ 
 and below Memphis siwore allegiance to 
 
 N 
 
146 THE LIPE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 the caliph, and promised an hospitable en-. 
 tertainment of tliree days to every Mussul- 
 man who should travel through their coun- 
 try. By this charter of socurity, the ec- 
 ,clesiastical arid civil tyranny of the Melch^- 
 ites was destroyed : the anathemas of Sf^ 
 Cyril were thundered from Jtvcry pulpit ; 
 and the sacred edifices, with the patrimo- 
 ny of the Church, were restored to the 
 national communion of the Jacobites, who 
 enjoyed without moderation the moment of 
 triumph & revenge. At the pressing sum- 
 monsof Amrou, their patriarchBenjamin em t 
 ergedfrom his desert; and,after the first in- 
 terview, the courteous Arab affected to de- 
 clare, that he had never conversed wi^ 
 a Christian priest of more innocent man- 
 ners and a more venerable aspect. In th^ 
 march from Memphis to Alexandria the 
 lieutenant of Omar entrusted his safety to 
 the zeal and gi'atitude of the Eg}^ptians : 
 the roads and bridges were diligently re- 
 paired ; and in every step of his progress, 
 he could depend on a constant supply of 
 provisions and intelligence. The Greeks 
 of Eg}'pt. whose numbers could scarcely 
 equal a tenth of the natives, were over- 
 w^helmed by the universal defection ; they 
 fvid ever been hated, the were n,o longer 
 
T»E tlTE 0F MAHOMET. 147 
 
 feared : the magistrate fled from his tribu- 
 nal, the bishop from his uitar ; and the dis- 
 tant garrisons were surprised or staived 
 by the surrounding multitudes. Had not 
 tlie Nile afforded a sale and ready convey »• 
 ance to the sea, not an individual could ' 
 have escaped, who by birth, or language, 
 or office, or religion, was connected with 
 their odicHis name. 
 
 By the retreat of the Greeks from the 
 provinces of Upper Egypt, a coasidera- 
 ble force was collected in the Island of Dei-' 
 ta : the natund and artificial tl^annels of 
 the Nile afibrdcd a succesision of strong 
 and defensible posts ; and the road to Ai - 
 exandria was laboriously cleared by the 
 victory of the Saracens in two and twenty 
 days of general or partial combat. in 
 thlir annals of conquest, the siege of Al- 
 exandria is perhaps the most arduous and 
 important enterprise. The first trading 
 city in the world was abundantly replen- 
 iished with the means of subsistence and 
 defence.- Her numerous inlmbitaiUs fought 
 for the dearest of human rights, religion 
 2.nd property ; and the eiimity of the na- 
 tives seemed to exclude them from the 
 eommon benefit of peace and toleration. 
 The sea was continually open ; and if 
 
148; Ijljbjl lilFE OF *f AKOMEl'. 
 
 HeracliQus had beta awai:e to the public 
 distress, fresh armks of Romans and Bar- 
 barians might have been poured into the 
 haibciip to isave the stcoiid (•apital cf the 
 empire. A circurflference of ten rniles 
 ;voukl have scattered lb,e forces ef ti}e 
 .Greeks and fovctirrd ■ h^ stratagems of an- 
 active eii^my ; but the two side^j ofr;]n cb- 
 iciirr eqi.are were covered by the sea arid- 
 trie lake Mavcieotis, and ecichof therarrow 
 ends ex|:csed a front of no more than ten 
 fiirlongi^. The efibrts of ihe Arabs v ere 
 not iaadequatf^ to the diflicuky ci ibe at- 
 tempt hV-d the va-ue of the pr.^f... From 
 the throne ofMtdii:a, ti;eeyescf Cniar 
 were i^xed onthe o^imp ajidcxty : his voice 
 excited to aiw8 the Arabian tribes ?nd 
 the veterans of Syria ; and the merit of an 
 holy ^vvar vra^r reconitn ended by the pecii- 
 har fame and fertility of Egypt, Anxious 
 for the. ruin or expii<sio.n of their tyrants^ 
 ib^ faithful natives devoted theit* iaboars 
 to the service oi'Amrcu ; homt spark's of 
 roarshal spirit were perhaps rekindled by 
 die ex an: ph of their aHies ; and the san- 
 p;aine h^opes cf Mokav/ka" had iixed his 
 sepulchre in tho church of St. John of Al- 
 exandria. Eutychlus the patriarch ob- 
 serves, that the 'Saracens fcugh.t with' the 
 
THE LIFE OF M^AHC^MET. 149 
 
 courage of lions ; they repulsed the fre- 
 quent and almost daily sallies of the be- 
 sieged, and soon assaulted in their turn 
 the walls and towers of the city. In every 
 attack, the sword the banner oiAmroUjglit' 
 tered in the van of the Moslems. On a memo- 
 rable day, he was betrayed by his impru- 
 dent valour : his followers who had enter- 
 ed the citadel were driven back ; and the 
 general with a friend and a slave, remain- 
 ed a prisoner in the hands of the Christ- 
 ians. When Amrou was conducted be- 
 fore the praefect, he remembered his dig- 
 nity and forgot his situation ; a lofty de,- 
 meanour, and resolute language, revealed 
 the lieutenant of the caliph, and'the battle- 
 axe of a soldier was already raised to 
 strike off the head of his audacious cap- 
 tive. His life was saved by the readiness 
 of his slave, who instantly gave his mas- 
 ter a blow on th€ fiicCy and commanded 
 him, with an angry tone, to be silent in 
 the presence of his superiors. The credu- 
 lousGreek was dieceived; he listened to the 
 offer of a treaty,and his prisoners were dis- 
 missed in the hope of a more respectable 
 embassy, till the joyful acclamations of the 
 camp announced the return of their gene- 
 ^ral, and insulted the folly of the infidels. 
 
 N :j 
 
I5O THE LI F E. GF M A H;0 M E T. 
 
 At length, after. a siege of fourteen monthsj, . 
 and the loss ofthree.and tv.enty thousand 
 rneu, the Saracens prevailed : the Greeks , 
 ^mborked their dispirited and diminished • 
 numbers, and the standard of Mahomet' 
 'V^'as planted on tlirO walls of thc^ capjtal of 
 Egypt. *' I have taken," said Amrou to . 
 the caliph, ** the great city of .the Westo 
 * ' It is impossible for me to enumerate die 
 \* y%*^iy t>f its riches and beauty ; , and I 
 ** sjiali content myself with observing, that 
 ** it contains four thousand palaces, four 
 ** thousand baths, four thousand theatres 
 •** or places of amusement,, twelve thou- 
 ** sajid shops for the sale of vegetable food, 
 " and forty thousand tributary Jewso 
 •* The town has been subdued by force 
 *^ of arms, without treaty or capitulation, 
 *' and the Moslems are. impatient to seize 
 '* the fruits of their victory.'* The cbm-^ 
 mander of the faithful rejected with firm- 
 ness the Idea of pillage, and directed his 
 lieutenant to reserve the wealth and reven- 
 ue of Alexandria for the public service 
 and the propagation of the faith: the inhabi- 
 tants were numbered ; a tribute was im- 
 posed ; the seal and resentment of the Ja- 
 cobites were curbed, and the Melchites 
 who submitted to tlie Arabian, yoke, w«re 
 
indulged in the obscure but tranquil ex^ 
 ercise of their worsiiip. The iatelhgence 
 of this disgraceful and calamitous event 
 afflicted the dechning health of the empe- 
 ror ; and Heraciious died of a dropsy a- 
 bout seven weeks after the loss of Alex- 
 andria. Under the mmority of his grand- 
 son, the clamours of a people, deprived of 
 their daily sustenance, compelled the By- 
 zantine court to undertake the recovery of 
 the capital of Egypt. In the space of four 
 years, the liarbour and fortifications of 
 Alexandria were twice occupied by a fleet 
 and army of Romans. They were twice 
 expelled by the valour of Amrou, who 
 was recalled by the domestic peril from 
 the distant wars of Tripoli and Nubia. 
 But the facility of the attempt, the repe- 
 tition of the insult, and the obstinacy of 
 . the resistance, provoked him to swear, that 
 if a third time he drove the infidels into 
 the sea,he would render Alexandria as ac- 
 cessible on all sides as the house of a 
 prostitute. Faithful to his promise, he 
 dismantled several parts of the walls and 
 towers, but the people were spared in the 
 chastisement of the city, and the mosch of 
 Mercy was erected on the spot where the. 
 ^ v,ictorious general had stopped the fury of 
 his troops. 
 
152- THE LITE OF M'AHDMET. 
 
 rV. The conquest of Africa, from the 
 Nile to the Atlantic ocean, was first at- 
 tempted by the arms of the caliphOthman,. 
 The pious desii^H was approved by the 
 Gompanions of Mahomet and' the chiefs of 
 the tribes ; and- twenty thousand Arabs 
 marched- froni Medina, with the gifts and.- 
 the blessing of the commander of the 
 faithful. They were joined in the camp- 
 of Memphis by twenty thousand of their 
 country men ; and the conduct of the war 
 was entrusted to Abdhllah, the son of Said 
 and the foster brother of the caliph, \\ ho 
 had- lately supplanted the conqueror and 
 lieutenant of Egypt.. Yet the favour of 
 the prince, and the merit of ;.his favourite^ 
 could not obliterate the guilt of his aposta- 
 cy. The early conversion of Abdallah^ 
 and his s-kilful pen, had recommended him 
 to the important office of transcribing the 
 sheets of the Koran; he betrayed his trust, 
 corrupted the text, derided the errors 
 which he had made, and fled to Mecca to 
 escape the justice, and expose the igno- 
 ranee, of the apostle. After the conquest 
 of Mecca, he fell prostrate attlve feet of 
 Mahomet ; his tears, and the entreaties of 
 Othman, extorted a reluctant pardon ; but 
 tiie prophet declared that he had so long 
 
THE LIf £ OF MAHOMET. 153 
 
 Jiesitated, to cillow tiine for Gome zealoiis 
 disciple to avenge hij^ injury in the blocd 
 of the apostate. "VVith apparent fidelity 
 and effective merit, he seized the idigign 
 which it was no longer his interest to dis- 
 sert ; his birth F,nd talents gave him an 
 honourable rank anion[^ the Koreish -, and, 
 in a natA<^.n of cavuhy, Abdallah was re- 
 rowned as the bo!de:>t and moot dexterous 
 hoise-^nian oi Arc bia. At the H ad of forty 
 tho(.i:!cind Mcslunfi, he advj^nctd fn^m li- 
 ^ypt into iLe i:3;l;ncv.n cciintrits of the 
 West. 1 he sands of Barca mifdit be im- 
 pervious to a Roman legiqn ; but the A- 
 rabs were attended by theijf faiihiul cara- 
 ds ; and the natives of tl^ desert behejU 
 without terror the familiar aspect of tb.e 
 scibaad. clirnste. After a paii^ful march, 
 they pitched thtlr tcnta besqre the walls 
 of Tripoli^ a maritime city, in. which tlie 
 name, the wealth, and the irihabitaiitSj of 
 the province had^'gradualiy centered, and 
 W'hich E.ow maintains the tliird rank a- 
 hiong the states cf Bai'bary. A reinforce- 
 ment of the Greeks was snprised and cut 
 in pieces on the sea- shore ; bnt the fortifi- 
 cations of Tripoli resisted the first assaults^ 
 and the Saracens were tempted by the ap- 
 proach of the prsefect Gregory to relirv- 
 
154 THE riTE OP MAHOMET. 
 
 quish the labou-rs of the siege for the per = 
 jls and the hopes of a decisive action. 
 If his standard w as followed by one hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand men, the regu. 
 lar bands of the empire mtist have been los 
 in the naked and disorderly crowd of Afri 
 cans and iMoors,^who formed the strength 
 or rather the nunibers,. 01 his host. He 
 rt jected w ith indignation the ofjtion of the 
 Koran or the tribute r and during several 
 days, thetwo arn'iies v/ere fiercely engag- 
 ed from the dawn of light to the hour 
 noon, when their fatigue and ^e excessive 
 heat compelled them to seek ^bjlter ant 
 refreshment in their rcspeetive camps 
 The daughter of Gregory, a maid of in- 
 Gomparab'e beauty and spirit, is said tc 
 have fought ly his side : from her earlie:^^ 
 youth she was-trained t(> wieid-tht xc:y^ie- 
 tar ; and the richaess of- her arm* and ap. 
 parel^v/as conspicuous in the forcuio^l 
 ranks of the battle. Her hand, witKar 
 hundred thousand pieces of gold, was of^ 
 k'ttd for the head- of the Arabian General: 
 and'the youths of Africa \^ere excited by 
 the prospect of the glorious prize. At th.c 
 pressing s<5iici?atiOns ofhis brethren, Ab- 
 d^ill ih withdrew h>s person from- the field* 
 but the Saracens were disccun;ged= By the 
 
THS LIFE OF MAHOMET. 155 
 
 retreatof their leader, and the repetitioa 
 fOf these equal or unsuccessful conflicts. 
 **_^A noble Arabian, who afterwards be- 
 came the adver^saiy rS All and the father 
 of a caliph, had signalized his value in E- 
 "j^ypt, and Zobier was the first who plant- 
 xd a scaling-ladder against the walls of 
 Babylon. In the African war he was de- 
 tached from the stcUidard of Abdallah. On 
 the news of the batde, Zobier, with twelve 
 ..companions, cut his way through the camp 
 of the Greeks, im^ pressed forwards, with^ 
 out tasting either food or repose, to par- 
 take of the dangers of his brethren. He 
 cist his eyes Eound the .field : *' Where,'' 
 said he, ** is our General ?" *' In his 
 ** tent.*' ** Is the tent a station for the 
 *' general of the Moslems ?" Abdallah 
 represented with a blush the importance of 
 hkoi^Ti life, and the temptation that was 
 held forth by the Roman prasfect. ** Re- 
 •* tort,'^ said Zobier, <* on the infidels 
 **. their ungenerous attempt. Proclaim 
 ** through the i;anks, that the head of Gre- 
 '* gory shall be repaid with his captive 
 *^ daughter, and the equal sum of one 
 * ^ hundi ed thousand pieces of gold* * ' To 
 the courage and discretion of Zobier the 
 Ifc^^tenant of the caliph entrusted the cxe- 
 
I56 THE'tlfE OF" ^fAROMET. 
 
 ciition of his own stratagem, v/hich incliri- 
 ed the long-disputed balance in the favour 
 of the Saracens, Supplying by activity 
 and artifice the deficiency of numbers, a 
 part of their forces lay concealed in their 
 tents, while the remainder prolonged an' 
 irregular skirmish with the enemy, til! the 
 sun was high in the heavens. On both 
 sides they retired with fainting steps: their 
 horses Were unbridled, their armour w^as 
 laid aside, and the hostile nations prepar- 
 ed, or seemed to prepare, for the refresh- 
 ment of the evening, and the encounter of 
 the ensuing day. On a sudden, the charge 
 was sounded ; the Arabian camp poured 
 forth a swarm of fresh and intrepid war- 
 riors *, and the long line of the Greeks and 
 Africans was surprised, assaulted, over- 
 turned, by new squadrons of the faithful, 
 who, to the eye of fanaticism, might ap*. 
 pear as a band of angels descending from 
 the sky. The pr affect himself was slain 
 by the hand ofZobier : his daughter who 
 sought revenge and death, v/as surround- 
 ed and made prisoner ; and the fugitives' 
 involved in their disastelr the town of Su- 
 fetula, to which they escaped from the sa- 
 bles arid iances of the Arabs. Sufetula 
 W2l9 built one hundred and fifty miles to 
 
TH-E LIFE OF MAHOMET. I57 
 
 ^the south of C^thage : a gentle declivity 
 is watered by a running stream, and shad 
 edby a grove of juniper trees ; and, in 
 the mips of a triumphal arch, a portico^ 
 and three temples of the corinthian order. 
 
 * curiosity may yet admire the m-igniiicencc 
 ©fthe Rpmans. After the fall of this op- 
 
 • '^ient city, the j^ovincials and Barbarians 
 implored on all sides the mercy of the con- 
 queror. His vanity or his z.eal might be 
 
 , "flattered by offers of tribute or professions 
 
 'of faith : but his losses, his. fatigues, jmd 
 
 "the progress of an epidemical disease, prc- 
 
 ■ rented a solid establishment ; and the Sar- 
 
 ■'^ens, after a campaign of fifteen months, 
 
 retreated to the confines of Egypt, with 
 
 the captives and the wealth of their Afri- 
 
 call expedition. The caliph's fifth was 
 
 gfaated, to a favorite on the nomiaal pay 
 
 ment of 500,000 pieces of gold; but the 
 
 state v/as doabiy injured by this failacioup 
 
 ' transaction-, if each foot- soldier ,had shared 
 
 one thousand, and each horsenirtfi three 
 
 tfiousand, pieces/ in the real division of the 
 
 ' plu nder. The author of the death of Grc- 
 
 gory was expected tg have claimed the 
 
 most precious reward of :the victory. : from 
 
 his silence it might be- ^t^somcd that he 
 
 ■ N 
 
I58 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 
 
 J-adtallen in the battle, till the tears and ex 
 damations of the praefect's daughter at th 
 sight of Zobeir revealed the value an 
 modesty cf that gallant soldier. The ur 
 fortunate virgin was olTered, and almoi 
 rejected as a slave, and her father's mu: 
 derer, "who cooly declared that his swor 
 V as consecrated to the service of religion 
 and that he laboured for a recompence fj 
 above the charms of mortal beauty, or tli 
 riches of this transitory life. A rewar 
 congenial to his temper^ was the honouK 
 ble commission of announcing to the ci 
 liph Othman the success of his arms, Th 
 companions, the chiefs, and the peopl< 
 were assembled in tk^ mosch of Medin 
 to hear the interestesting narrative ofZ( 
 beir ; and, as the orator forgot nothin-g e2 
 cept the merit jof his own counsels cu.d a( 
 tions, the name of Abdailah waa joine 
 by the Arabians with the heroic iiames < 
 Caled aiid Amrou. 
 
 The western conquests of the Sarac^r 
 were suspended near tr,^ cnty years, t. 
 their dissentions were composed by t] 
 establishment of the house of Ommiyah 
 xind the caliph Moa^viyah was invited k 
 the cries of the Africans themselves. Ti 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. i^y 
 
 successors of HeracUiis had been informed 
 pfthe tribute trhich they had been com- 
 pelled to stipulate with the Arabs ; but 
 instead of being moved to pity and relieve 
 their distress, they imposed, as an* equiv- 
 alent or a fine, a second tribute of a simi- 
 lar amount. The ears of the By2:antine 
 ministers were shut against the complaints 
 of their poverty and ruin r their despair 
 was reduced to prefer the dominion of a 
 single master ; and the extortions of the 
 patriarch of Cai'thage, who was invested 
 with civil and miiitaiy power,, provoked 
 the sectaries, and even the Catholicts, of 
 the Roman province to abjure the religion 
 as well as the authority of their tyrants. 
 The first lieutenant of IVToawiyah acquired 
 a just renown-, subdued an important ci- 
 ty, defeated an army of thirty thousand 
 Gi-eeks, swept away four score thousand 
 captives, and enriched with their spoils 
 the bold adventurers of Syria and Egypt. 
 But the title of conquer of Africa is more 
 justly due to his successor Akbah. He 
 marched from Damascus at the head of 10^ 
 000 of the bravest Arabs: and the genuine- 
 force of the Moslems vvas enlarged by the 
 doubtful. aid and couversioii of many thoui- 
 
160 THE LIFE OF MA-HOMETc 
 
 sand Barbarians. It would be difficult, 
 Mor is it necessary, to trace the accurate 
 line of the progress of Akbah. The in- 
 rerrior regions have been peopled by the 
 Orientals with fictitious armies and imag- 
 inary citidels. In the wariike province of 
 Zab or Nuniidia, four score thousand of 
 the natives might assemble inarms; brt 
 t'he number of three hundred and sixty 
 town^ is incompatabie with the ignorance 
 or decay of husbandry ; and a circumfer- 
 eace of three leagues will be justified by 
 the ruins of Erbe or Lambesa, the antient 
 metropohs cf that island country. As we 
 approach near tliQ sea-coast, the welU 
 known cities of Bugia and Tangier define 
 the more certain limits of the Saracen vic- 
 tories. A remnant of trade still adheres 
 to the commodious harbour of Bugia, 
 which in a more prosperous age, is said 
 to have contained about twenty thousand 
 houses ; and the plenty of iron which is 
 dug from the adjacent mountains might 
 have supplied a braver people Vv-iththe in- 
 s-truments of defence. The remote po- 
 sition and venerable antiquity of Ting i, or 
 Tangier, have been decorated by the 
 Greek and Arabian fables ; but the figur- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET* 161 
 
 ative eKpressiens of the latter, that the 
 walls were constructed of brass, and tha^ 
 the roofe were CQvered with gold and sil- 
 ver, may be interpreted as the emblems 
 of strength and opulence. Tlie province 
 of Mauritania Tingitana, which assumed 
 the name of the capital, had been imper- 
 fectly discovered and settled by the Ro- 
 mans J the five colonies v/ere confined to 
 a naiTOW pale, and the more soutliern parts 
 were seldom e5q:)lored except by th'^ ar 
 gents €)f luxury, who searched the forests 
 for ivoiy and the citron wood, Sc the shores 
 of the ocean for the purple shell-fish. The 
 fearless Akbali plunged into the heart of 
 the country, traversed the wilderness in 
 which his successors erected the splend- 
 id' capitals of Fez and Morocco, and at 
 length penetrated to the verge of the At- 
 lantic and the great desert. The river 
 Sus descends from the y/esterri sides of 
 mount Atlas, fertilises, like the Nile, the 
 adjacent soil, and falls into the sea at a 
 moderate distance from the Canary, or 
 Eortunate,, Islands. Its, banks were in- 
 habited by the last of the Moors, a race of 
 savagesy without laws, or discipline, or re- 
 ligion : they were astonished By tfie 
 
i62 THE LIFE ©F MAHOMET. 
 
 Strange and irresistablc terrors of the Or- 
 iental arms; and as they possessed neither 
 gold nor silver, the richest spoil was the 
 beauty of the female captives, some ol 
 whom were afterwards sold for a thous- 
 and pieces of gpld". Tlie career, though 
 not the zeal of Akbah was checked by the 
 prospect of a boundless ocean. He spur^ 
 red his horse into the waves, and raising 
 his eye to heaven, exclaimed M'ith a tone 
 of a fanatic : '* Great God ! if my course 
 * ' were not stopped by this sea,, I would 
 "" still go on, to the unkno\Mi kingdoms 
 '* of the West, preaching the unity of thy 
 ** holy name, and putting to the sword 
 ** the rebellious nations, who v/orship an}) 
 " other gods them thee." Yet this Ma- 
 hometan Alexander, who: sighed for the 
 new worlds, was unable to preserve his 
 recent conquests. By the universal de- 
 fection of the Greeks and Africans, he wa* 
 recalled from the shores of the Atlantic, 
 and the surrounding multitudes left him 
 only the resource of an honourable death; 
 The last scene was dignified by an exam- 
 ple of national virtue. An ambitious 
 chief, w^ho had disputed the command 
 aind failed in the attempt, was led about a^ 
 
THE LIFX OF MAHOMET. 16^ 
 
 a prisoner in the camp of the Arabian gen- 
 eral. The insurgents had trusted to his 
 discontent and revenge.; he disdained 
 the'ir offers and revealed their designs. In 
 the hour of danger, the grateful Akbah 
 unlocked his fetters, and advised him to 
 retire ; he chose to die ^nder the banner 
 of his rivaL Embracing as friends and 
 martyrs, they unsheathed their scymetars, 
 broke their scabbards, and maintained an 
 obstinnte coml>at^ till they fell by eacli o< 
 ther's side on the last of their slaughtered 
 countrymen. The third :gencral or gov- 
 ernor of Africa, Zuheir, avenged and en- 
 countered the fate of his predecessor. He 
 vanquished the natives in many batdes ; 
 lie v/as ov^rthrcviii by a powerful army, 
 '^'hich Constantinople had sent to the re- 
 ' lief of Carthage^ 
 
 It has been the frequent practice of the 
 Moorish tribes to join the invaders, to 
 shaie the plunder, to profess the faith,aud 
 to revolt to their savage state of indepen- 
 dence and idolatry, on the first retreat or 
 misfortune of the Moslems. The pru- 
 dence of Akbah had proposed to found an 
 Arabian' colony in the heart of Africa ; a 
 cUider that might curb the levity 
 
of the Barbarians, a place ©f refuge 
 to secure against the accidents of war, the 
 wealth and the families of the Saratens. 
 With this view, and iinder the modest ti- 
 tle of the station of a caravan, he planted 
 this colony in the fiftieth year ' of the Ile- 
 gira. In its present decay, Cairoail still 
 holds the second rank in the kingdom of 
 Tunis, from which it is distant iibout fifty 
 miies to the south; its inland situation, 
 twelve miles vvcstward of tiie sea. has pro- 
 tected die city from the Greek and Sicilian 
 fleets. When the wikl beasts and serpents 
 werc extripated, when the forest, or rath- 
 er wilderness, was cleai*ed, the vestiges 
 ^f a Koman town were 'discovered in a 
 sandy plain: the vegetable food of Cai- 
 roan is brought from afar; ai^d the scaixi- 
 ty of springs ccnsti*ains the inhabitants to 
 collect in cisterns and reservoirs a precari- 
 ous supply of rain-v/ater. These obstacles 
 were subdued by the industiy of Akbah ; 
 he traced a circumference of three thou- 
 sand and six hundred paces, which he en- 
 compassed %vith a brick wall ; in the space 
 of five years, the governor's palace wt.s 
 surromided with a £\ifficient number of 
 private habitations i a spacious rt^cpcK was 
 
JXHE LlfEOF MAHOMET. 
 
 1.65 
 
 ??upported by five hundred columns of 
 granite, porphyry, and Numidian marble; 
 aiid Carioan became the seat of learning as 
 well as of empire. Bat these were the 
 glories of a later age ; the new cclony was 
 shaken by the successive defeats of Akbah 
 and Zuheir, and the western ^xpedidons 
 were again interrupted by the civil discord 
 of the Arabian monarchy. The son of the 
 valiant Zobeir maintained a war of twelve 
 years, a siege cf seven months against the 
 lipase of Ommiyah. Abdallah was said 
 t^ unite the fierceness of the lion with the 
 subtlety of the fox ; but if he inherited the 
 courage, he was^devoid of the generosity, 
 of his tather. 
 
 The return of domestic peace allowed 
 the caliph Abdahnalek to resume the con- 
 quest of Africa ; the standard v/as deliver- 
 ed to Hassan governor of Egypt, and the 
 revenue of that kingdom, with an army of 
 forty thousand men, was consecrated to 
 the important service. In the vicissitudes 
 of war, the interior provinces had been al- 
 ternately v/on and lost by the Siu*acens. 
 But the sea-coast still remained in the 
 hands of the Greeks ; the predecessors ot 
 Hassan had respected the name and forti- 
 O 
 
166 THE LIFE OF MAHOM£T.. 
 
 fications cf Carthage ; and the nimiberof 
 defenclero was recruited by the fugitives 
 of Ca;:=e3 ?j: Tripoli. The arms of Hassan 
 were bolder and more fortunate : he redu- 
 ced and pilla^red the metropohs of Africa; 
 and the nfientiou of scaling'dad ierr, may 
 iustify the su picioii ihat he an icipated, 
 by a sudden aiisault, the rnore tedious op- 
 erations cf a regular &.iege. But the joy 
 of the conquerors was scon di^tirbcd by 
 the appearance of the Christian succcurs.. 
 The preefect aiKi patrician John a gener- 
 ^al of experience and renown, embaiked at 
 ^Constantinople the forces of the Eastern 
 empire ; ^ they \veTe joined by the ships 
 and soldiers of Sicily, and a powerful rein- 
 forcement of Goths was c^tained from the 
 fears and religion of the Spanish monarchc 
 The weight of the confederate navy brokp 
 the chain that guarded the entrance of the 
 harbour ; the Arabs retired to Cairoan, or 
 Tripoli ; the Christians landed ; the citi- 
 zens hailed the ensign of the cross, and 
 the winter was idly wasted in the dream of 
 victor)^ or deliverance. But Africa was ir^ 
 recoverably lost: the Zealand resentment of 
 the commander of the faithful prepared in 
 the ensuing sprinq" a more numerous ar- 
 
THE LIFE OF MAHOMET. 167 
 
 mament by sea and land ; and the patri- 
 clan in his turn was compelled to evacu- 
 ate the post and fortiii cations of GarthagCo 
 'A second battle was fought in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Utica : the Greeks andGoths 
 were again defeated ; and their timely em- 
 barkation saved them from the sword of 
 Hassan who had invested the slight and in- 
 suihGient rampart of their camp. What- 
 ever yet remained of Carthage, v;as deliv- 
 ered to the fiames, and the colony of Di- 
 do and Caesar lay desolate above two hun- 
 dred years, till apart, perhr.ps a twentieth, 
 of the old circumference was repeopled by 
 the first of the Fatimite caliphs. In the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century, the se- 
 cond capital cf the West was represented 
 by a moschj a college witliout students, 
 twenty-five or thirty shopSi and" the huts 
 of live hundred peasants, ^vha' in their ab-- 
 ject poverty, displayed the arrogance ofth-e 
 Punic srnators.^ Even that paltry village 
 was swept away by'the Spaniard'^ whom 
 Gharles the Fifth had stationed in the for- 
 tress of Goletta. The ruins of Carthage 
 have perished; and the place m/ight be uii^ 
 known it some broken arches of an aqt: '^ 
 
lO-:i I HE ilf £ OF MAIiuMi.Tt 
 
 'l\i:i did not guide the footsteps of the in'- 
 quisitive travellero 
 
 The Greeks were expelled, but tht A= 
 r>ib'.ans vrere not yet masters of the coun- 
 'f.ry. In the interior provinces the Moors 
 or Berbers, so feeble under the first Cae- 
 sars, so formidable to the Byzantine prin- 
 ces, maintained a disorderly resistance to 
 the religion and pouter of the successors of 
 Mahomet, Under the standard of their 
 queen Gahina the indepeixlant tribes ac- 
 quired some degree of union and disci- 
 pline; and as the Moors respected in their 
 females the character of a prophetess, they 
 attacked the invaders vnui an enthusiasm 
 sinrilar to their own. The veteran bands 
 of ILissan were inadequate to the defence 
 of Africa; the ccnquests of an a2:e were 
 lost in a single day ; and the Arabian 
 chief, o^'erwheimed by the torrent, retired 
 to the confines of Egypt, and expected; 
 -ve years, the promised succours of the 
 aliph. After the retreat of the Saracens^ 
 il-e victorious p?-ophetess assembled the 
 3Ioovi.^h cliich^j and recomincndcd a mea- 
 sUiC of strange and savage pchcy. '' Our 
 '' cities/ ' said she, "• and the «;oid and bil- 
 
THE LIJE OF MAKOMilT. 
 
 i€9 
 
 *'ver which tliey contain, perpetually at^^ 
 ** tract the arms of the Arabs. These 
 ^' vile metals are not the object of our am- 
 *4^ition ;:v/e content ourselves with the 
 * * simple productions of the earth. Let 
 '* us destroy these cities ; let us bury in 
 '* their ruins those pernicious trcc^sures ; ■ 
 *' and when the avarice of our fees shall be 
 *' destitute of temptation-, perhaps they Vv ill 
 ** cease to disturb the tranquility of a war' 
 '* like people.'^ The proposal was accep- 
 ted with an unanimous applause. From 
 Tangier to Tiipoli the buiidrngs, or at 
 least the fortifications, v/eie demolished, 
 the fruit-trees wei^e cut do v. n, the means 
 of subsistence were extirpated,'': fertile and 
 populous garden. \ras chrngcd into a de- 
 sert, and the historians of a nK.re recent 
 period could discern the frequent ti'aecs of 
 the prosperity and devastation of their an^ 
 ceston;. S^i''h is the. tale of the [nodeni 
 Arabians. Yet I strongly susjicct that 
 their ignorance of antiquity, the love of 
 the mai'vellcus, ana the fashion of extol- 
 h:c^-te nhiiosop'iv of B:.ibarians, has in- 
 ( : ■ I > :- :;-! ■'- '..^oii-jc, as one voluntary 
 Uiree hundred 3'ears 
 
 %; Jli'.i'- 
 
170 THE LIFE OF MAHOMET^. * 
 
 since the first fury of the Donatists and 
 Vandals. In the progiess of the revolt 
 Cahina had xnost probably contributed her 
 share of destruction ; and the alarm of un- 
 iversal ruin might terrify and alienate the 
 citic'j that had rehictantly yielded to her 
 unworthy yoke. They no longer hoped, 
 perhaps they no longer v\'ished, the return 
 ox their Byzantxie sovereigns : their pre- 
 sent servitude was not alleviated by the 
 Dcnelits of order and justice ; and the most 
 zealous Catholic mast prefer the imperfect 
 truths of the Koran to the blind and pjde 
 idolatry of the Moors, The general of 
 the Saracens was arain rcceived as the sa-- 
 viour of the province : the friends of civil 
 society conspired against the savages of 
 the land ; and the royal prophetess was 
 slain in the iirst battle which overturned' 
 the baseless fabric of her superstition and 
 empire. The same spirit revived under 
 the successor of Hassan : it was finally 
 quelled by the activity of Musa and his' 
 L wo sons; but the number of tlie rebels 
 may be presumed from that of three hun- 
 dred thorisand captives ; sixty thousand 
 ofwhom; the caliph's fifth,, v.xvc sold for 
 
THE LIPE OF MAHOMET, 171 
 
 the profit of the pv^blio treasur}\ Thirty 
 •thousand of the B^irbarian youth were en- 
 listed ill the troops ; and the p"'_U3 labours 
 of Musa to hicnlcate the khowcdgc ard 
 practice of the Koran aecuitorned the liS- 
 ricans to obey the apos^'e of God and the 
 commander of the fvilthiuL In their C'i- 
 mate and government, their diet and habit- 
 ation, the wandering Moors resembled the 
 Bedoweens o' the desert. With the re- 
 ligion, they were proud to adopt the ian- 
 g-.iage, name, and origin of Arabs : the 
 bio >d of the strangere lind natives was in- 
 sensibly ndiigled ; and from the Euphrates 
 to the Atlavitic the same nation might 
 5eem to be diffused over the sandy plains 
 «^)f Asia and Africa. Yet I will not deny 
 that fifty thousand tenti?- of pure Arabians 
 might be transported over the Nile, and 
 scattered through the Libian desert ; and 
 I am not ignorrant that five of the Moorish 
 tribes still retain their barbarous idiom, 
 with the appellation and character of u/?fVf 
 Africans. 
 
 THE EN0^ 
 
3 
 
BP75.G43 
 
 The life of Mahomet, with sketches of 
 
 iminii^r "'"^^°'°9ical Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00006 6615