PRINCETON, N. J. ^"*^ - # Shelf Diviiion Section :, Number .-.A-Sl \ 1 1 IVw • ul& LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF MOHAMMED THE SPIRIT OF ISLAM THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF MOHAMMED OR THE SPIRIT OF ISLAM V\n„\ryu . . .1. AV BY SYED AMEER ALl, M.A. C.T.E. BARRISTER-AT-LAW A JUDGE OF THE HIGH COUHT OK JUDICATURE IN BENGAL ■ * AUTHOR OF "THE PERSONAL LAW OF THE MAHOMMEDANS " THE LAW RELATING TO DISPOSITIONS OF PROPERTY AMONG THE MAHOMMEDANS' "a critical EXAMINATION OF THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OK MOHAMMED" ?:TC. ETC. "What matters it whether the words thou uttcrest in prayer are Hebrew or Syrian, or whether tlie place in wliich thou seckest God is Jaball^a or Jftbalsft ? "— SanSi LONDON : W. II. ALLEN & CO. LTD. 13 Waterloo Place PUBLISHEKS TO THE INDIA OFFICE 1891 All Rights Reserved jCrf—C rf -C -J 3J --I --»■*- :!3 j.^^1 ^Jl ^5. ill ^1 i ^1 — C — C--C — — 1 ! (P -f-C- C 5^-^ «~- j-c-C or- f^ixl diMi ^1 aJcS^ j^^-i^i ^^1 — - — (jl-w C C^ C" — C-»C-» -. C-C " tItP JaS Cj — - jC --C ;;£ — C — J— — J^C JJ Cj£- To My Wife PREFACE. Eighteen years ago I published a small work, entitled, A Critical Examination of the Life and TeacJrmgs of Mohammed. Since tlien a great (change has taken place in the estimate of Islam as a Faith among the cultured classes of Christendom. Writers like Johnson, Lane-Poole, Bosworth Smith, Isaac Taylor, have dis- cussed, from a philosophical and historical point of view, the merits of Islam both as a creed and as a humanising agency. There seems, however, to be still room for an exposition of the Spirit of Islam as it was understood by the immediate descendants of its Teacher. The present work, which it would be a misnomer to call a second edition of the earlier one, is primarily intended for the Indian Moslems. I have endeavoured to embody in these pages the philosophical and ethical spirit of Islam, in the hope that it may assist the Moslems of India to achieve their intellectual and moral regeneration under the auspices of the great European power that now holds their destinies in its hands. At the same time, I trust this book may prove of sonie practical value to those Seekers of Truth in the West whose minds have gone forth in Vlll PREFACE. quest of a positive and eclectic Faith suited for the noblest, and, by its disciplinary character, also for the lowest, natures. The glamour of the poet has not succeeded in making the Creed of Negation popular in England, — that home of common sense, — for Buddhism has no vitality as a system ; its religious life is represented now by the prayer-wheels of the Lamas. But the general spread of liberalism in the West has, without the factitious assistance rendered to Buddhism, also led to the diffusion of Islamic ideas in Europe and cultured America, and even to the formation of a genuine Islamic centre in Enoland. Unitarianism and Theism are neither more nor less than the Islam of Mohammed, shorn of the disciplinar}' rules framed for the guidance of the common folk. For these in every land something more is needed than mere philosophy ; they require practical rules and positive directions for their daily life. Dogmatic Chris- tianity and philosophical Unitarianism both inculcate the exercise of self-restraint. Yet do all the preachings in churches and chapels reduce to any apprecial)]e extent the drunkenness, the brutality, the licentious- ness of the lowest natures ? The secular law imposes penalties, and keeps within bounds the recklessness of uncultured man. The Islam of Mohammed, w^ith its stern discipline and its severe morality, has j^roved itself the only practical religion for low natures to save them from drifting into a lawless materialism. It is probal)le, however, that, should the creed of the Arabian Prophet receive acceptance among European PREFACE. IX communities, miu-li of the rigid formalism whicli has been imparted to it by the lawyers of Central Asia and Irak will have to be abandoned. Perhaps the present exposition of the true Sj)irit of Islam may helj) in the diffusion of Islamic ideas in the West. Ameer All Calcutta, September- 1890. *** Tlic transliteration I have adopted in tliis work of Arabic letters requires a word of explanation. The Indians, the Persians, and the Turks generally pronounce certain letters of the Arabic ali)habet (juite differently from the Arabs, e.f/. they make no difference between Li_; and /u<, pronouncing both as an s ; and, excepting among the Arabic scholars, j^ and ; are pronounced alike as ;.. Little difference is made between i and „. F'or these reasons I have eschewed the system, recently started in Europe, of differentiating the sounds of Arabic letters by dots and commas ; for, to one una((|uainted with Arabic, an /* Avith a dot under- neath it, and so forth, can convey no meaning. In the present volume I have generally represented ^ as dh, excepting in the case of words in conamon use among non- Arabs, such as Ramazan, Fazl, and other words derived from the same root ; ci_« as //;, subject to the same excejition (as in the case of Osman). The sound of c occurring in the middle with a Fathha, I have represented by two w's (as in Jaafar) ; occurring in ihe beginning or end, or in the middle, with a kasra or zamma, as they are pronounced by non-Arabs, as in Omar, etc. In the use of the word Bani'i I have followed the Arabic rule, giving it as Bani\ when a nominative, and as Bani when a dative, ablative, etc. ERRATA. p. 1, line 4,/or^\kt j^'J^Hj^' i read ^l-sj- P. 4, line 23, for Msesopotamian read Mesopotamian. P. 37, line 5, for Mtesopotamia read Mesopotamia. P. 43, line I, for Bani-Ad read Banu-Aad. ^ P. 44, line II, for Baui-Thamud read Banahrein. It tlourished at Najran among the Banu-1-Harith ibn Kab ; in Irak, among the Ibad ; in Syria, among the Ghassanides and some Khuzaite families ; at Daumat uj-Jandal, among the Saconi and Banu-Kalb. And some of the tribes who roamed over the desert that lav between Palestine and Egypt were also Christians. ]\Iagism and Sabttism had also their representatives among the Arabs, and especially among the Himyarites : the Banu-Asad worshipped Mercury ; the Jodham, Jujiiter ; the Banii-Tay, Canopus ; the descend- ants of Kays - Aylan, Sirius ; "' a portion of the Koreish, the three moon-goddesses, — El-Lat, the bright moon, Manat the dark, and al-Uzza the union of the two, — who were regarded as the daughters of a high god {BcniU - ullah). Mecca was, at this time, the centre of a far-reaching idolatry, ramifications of which extended throughout the tribes of the peninsula. The Kinana, closely allied to the Koreish politically and by blood, besides the star Aldobaran, served the goddess Uzza, represented by a tree at a place called Xakhla, a day and a half's journey from Mecca. The Hawazin, ^ Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. i. \k .308 et «e({. ; Gibbon, Dediin', and Fall of the Unman Empire, vol. vi. pp. 114, 115 ; Caussin de Perceval, Hint, iks Arabes, vol. i. pp. 128-131. • - Koran, sura xli. 37. 52 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. who roamed towards the south-east of Mecca, had for their favourite idols the goddess Lat, located at Tayif. Mauat was represented by a rock on the caravan road between Mecca and Syria. The worship of these idols was chiefly phallic, similar in character to tliat which prevailed among the ancient Semites, the Phoenicians, and the Babylonians. But the majority of the nation, especially the tribes belong- ing to the race of Modhar, were addicted to fetichism of tlie grossest type. Animals and plants, the gazelle, the horse, the camel, the palm-tree, inorganic matter like pieces of rock, stones, etc., formed the principal objects of adoration. The idea of a Supreme Divinity, however, was not unrecognised ; but its influence M'as confined to an inappreciable few, who, escaping from the bondage of idolatry, betook themselves to a philosophical scepticism, more or less tinged with the legendary notions, religious and secular, of their neighbours, the Saba3ans, the Jews, or the Christians. Among these, some distinctly recognised the conception of a supreme God- head, and, revolting at the obscenities and gross materialism of their day, waited patiently for the appearance of a deliverer who, they felt in their hearts, would soon appear. Among some tribes, in the case of a death, a camel was sacrificed on the tomb, or allowed to die from starvation, in the belief that it would serve as a conveyance for the deceased in a future existence. Some believed that when the soul separ- ated itself from the body, it took the shape of a bird called Hdma or Sada. If the deceased was the victim of a violent death, the bird hovered over tlie grave, crying askuni, " Give me drink," until the murder was avenged. Belief in Jins, (/holds, and oracles rendered by their idols, whom they con- INTRODUCTION. 53 suited 1)}' means of pointless arrows, called Azldvi or Kiddli, was universal. Each tribe had its particular idols and particular temples. The priests and hierophants attached to these temples received rich offerings from the devotees. And often, there arose sanguinary conflicts between the followers or the worshippers of rival temples.^ But the prestige of the Kaaba, the chapel of Abraham and Ishmael, stood unimpeached among all. Even the Jews and the Saba^ans sent offerings there. The custody of this temple was an object of great jealousy among the tribes, as it conferred on the custodians the most honourable functions and privileges in the sight of the Arabs. At the time of Mohammed's birth this honour was possessed by his family ; and his grandfather was the venerable chief of the theocratic commonwealth which was constituted round the Kaaba. Human sacrifices were frequent. Besides special idols lucated in the temples, each family had household penates which exacted riirorous observances. Such was the moral and religious condition of the Arabs. Neither Christianity nor Judaism had succeeded in raising them in the scale of humanity. " After five centuries of Christian evangelization," says Muir, " we can point to but a sprinkling here and there of Christians ; — the Bani Harith of Xajran ; the Bani Hanifa of Yemama ; some of the Bani Tay at Tayma, and hardly any more. Judaism, vastly more powerful, had exhibited a spasmodic effort of proselytisni ^ Amoui; othci-s, the temple of Zu'l-Kluila.sa in Yemen, belonging; to the tribe of Ijiiufi-Khatliam ; the temple of Rodlia in Nejd, belonging to the BanCi-Eabia ; the temple of Zu'l Sabilt in Irak ; and that of Manat at Kodayd, not far from the sea, belonging to the tribe of Au.s and Khazraj, domiciled at Yathreb — were the most famous. 54 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. under Zu Nawas ; but, as an active and converting agent, the Jewish faith was no longer operative. In fine, viewed thus in a religions aspect, the surface of Arabia had been now and then gently rippled by the feeble efforts of Christi- anity ; the sterner influences of Judaism had been occasion- ally visible in a deeper and more troubled current; but the tide of indigenous idolatry and of Ishmaelite superstition, setting from every quarter with an unbroken and unebbing surge towards the Kaaba, gave ample evidence that the faith and worship of Mecca held the Arab mind in a thraldom, rigorous and undisputed." ^ The divisions and jealousies of the tribes," combined with the antagonistic feelinrjs which actuated one against the other from religious and racial differences, had enabled the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Persians, and the Abyssin- ians to become masters of various provinces in the north, in the east, and in the south-west. The Abyssinians had even gone so i8-r as to invade Hijaz, with the intention of destroying the national temple. But their power was broken before Mecca by the sturdy patriotism of Abdul-Muttalib. After twenty years' oppression, they were driven out of Yemen l)y a native prince, the celebrated Saif, son of Zu'1-Yezen, with the assist- ance of Persia. On his assassination by the Christians, the sovereignty he had enjoyed under the auspices of the great Anushirvan passed entirely int-o Persian hands, and Yemen became tributary to Persia.^ 1 Muir, vol. i. Introd. p. ccxxxix. - These tribal jealousies and lamily feuds, wliicli I shall have to describe later, were the causes which led to the ruin of the Arab empire. 2 Ibn-al-Athir, vol. i. pp. 324, .327 ; Caussin de Perceval, vol. i. ]). 138 et seq. ; Tabari (Zotenl^erg's transl.), vol. ii. pp. 217, 218. INTRODUCTION. 55 Besides the direct domination wliicli the rival empires of Constantinople and Ctesiphon exercised over the various pro- vinces of Arabia, two of the greatest chieftains, the kings of Ghassan and of Hira, divided their allegiance between the Cesars and the Chosroes ; and in the deadly wars, profitless and aimless, which Persian and Byzantine waged against eacli other, sucking out the life-blood of their people from mere lust of destruction, though oftener the right was on the side of the Zoroastrian than the Christian, the Gliassanide and Hirite stood face to face in hostile array, or locked in mortal combat/ The heterogeneous elements of which the Arabian peninsula was thus composed gave an extremely varied character to the folklore of the country. Among uncultured nations, the tendency is always to dress facts in the garb of legends. Imagination among them not only colours with a roseate hue, but magnifies distant objects. And the variety of cul- ture multiplies legends, more or less based on facts. The Hamitic colonies of Yemen and of the south-west generally ; the true Semites who followed in their footsteps, like the Aryans in tlie East; the Jews, the Cliristians,— all brought their traditions, their myths, their legends with them. In the course of ages, these relics of the past acquired a consistency and character ; but however unsubstantial in ajjpearance, on analysis tliere is always to be found underlying them a ^ The sedentary portion of the Arab population of Yemen, of Bahrein anil Irak, ol,ly because they left no posterity. THE ERA OF THE ELEPHAXT. Gi) striding solemnly in the midst of the vast force so struck the imagination of the Arabian tribes, that they dated an era from this event, and named it as the era of the Elephant (570 A.c). On the approach <»f the Abyssinians, the Koreish, with their women and children, retired to the iieio-hbourintr mountains, and from there w^atched the course of affairs, hoping all the while that the deities of the Kaaba would defend their dwelling-place. The morning dawned brightly as the Abyssinians advanced towards Mecca, when, lo and behold, say the traditionists, the sky was sud- denly overcast by an enormous flight of small birds, swallows, which poured small stones over the ill-fated army. These stones, penetrating through the armour of men and horses, created terrible havoc among the invaders. At the same time the flood-oates of heaven were opened, and there burst forth torrents of rain, carrying away the dead and dying towards the sea. Abraha fled to Sana covered with wounds, and died there soon after his arrival. Ibn-Hishfim, after narrat- ing this prodigy, adds, " it was in the same year that small-pox manifested itself for the first time in Arabia." " This indication explains the miracle," says Caussin de Perceval. One can well understand the annihila- tion of Abraha's army by some terrible epidemic, similar to the fate which overtook Sennacherib, to which was joined perhaps one of those grand down- pours of rain which often ^jroduce terrible inundations in the valley of Mecca. Shortly after this event, Abdullah died in the course 70 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. of a journey to Yatlireb, in the twenty-fifth year of his age/ And, a few days after, the afflicted wife gave birth to a son who was named Mohammed, Moham- med was born on 12th of Rabi L, in the year of the Elephant, a Kttle more than fifty days after the destruction of the Abyssinian army, or the 29th of August 570.^ His birth, they say, was attended with signs and portents from which the nations of the eartli couhl know that the Deliverer had appeared. The rationalistic historian smiles, the religious contro- versialist, who, upon a priori reasoning, accepts without comment the accounts of the wise men following the star, scoffs at these marvels. To the critical student, whose heart is not devoid of sympathy with earlier modes of thought, and wdio is not biased with pre- conceived notions, " the portents and signs " which the Islamist says attended the birth of his Prophet are facts deserving of historical analysis. We moderns perceive, in the ordinary incidents in the lives of nations and individuals, the current of an irresistible law; what wonder then that 1300 years ago they perceived in the fall of a nation's memorial the finger of God, pointing to the inevitable destiny, which was to overtake it in its iniquity. In accordance with the custom of the Arabs, the child was confided during his early infancy to a Bedouin woman^ of the tribe of ^ He was Ijuried in the quarter occupied Ly tlie sons u[ Adi, Lis maternal uncles. • 2 Towards the end of tlie fortieth year of the reign of Kesra Anu- shirvan, and the end of the year 880 of the era of the Seleucidai. ^ In after life, when this poor Bedouin woman was brought by the THE CHILDHOOD OF MOHAMMED. / 1 Baiii-Saad, a Itraiicli of the Hawaziii, and upon being returned by her to his mother, was brought up by Amina with the tenderest care. But slie died not h^ng after, and the doul)ly-orphaned chihl was thus thrown upon the care of his grandfather, Abdul Muttalil), who, durino- the few years that he survived the mother, watched liis grandson w^ith the utmost tenderness. But nothing coukl make u|) for the loss of that parental care and love which are the blessings of childhood. His father had died before he was born. He was bereft of his mother when only six years of age, and this irreparable loss made a deep impression on the mind of the sensitive child. Three or four years later he lost his grandfather also. Abdul Muttalib died towards the year 579 a.c.,^ shortly after his return from a journey to Sana, where he had gone as the representative of the Koreish to congratulate the son of Saif zu'l Yezen on his accession to the throne of the Tobbas, with the help of the Persians. AVith the death of Abdul Muttabb opens another epoch in the life of the orphan. On his death-bed the old grandfather had confided to Abu Tali1) the charge Koreisli as a oaiiti\u to Mecca, Moliammed recognised liei- with tears of joy, and oljtaint'(l fur lier from liis rich wife an ample provision for lier life. 1 Of tlie two duties of the Sik(hja and liifdda lield l)y Abdul Muttalib, the Sikaya, with the custody of the Zemzem, passed to his son Abbas. The second devolved on Ab(\ Talib, who enjoyed at Mecca great authority and consideration. AbCi Ti'dib, however, did not transmit the Kifiida to his cdiildren. This dignity was transferred,, upon liis death, to the branch of Xaufal, son of Abd-i-Maniif; and at the time Mecca. surrenf Okadh, the immorality and scepticism of the Koreish, naturally caused feelings of intense horror and disgust in the mind of the sensitive youth. In the twenty - fifth year of his age, Mohammed travelled once more into Syria as the factor or steward of a noble Koreishite lady named Khadija, a kinswoman of his. The prudence with which he discharged his duties made a favourable impression on Khadija, which gradually deepened into attachment. A niiir- riage, which proved a singularly happy one, was soon after arranged l)etween Mohammed and his noble kins- woman, and was solemnised amidst universal rejoicings. In spite of the disparity of age between Mohammed and his wife, who was much the senior of her husband, there always existed the tenderest devotion on l)oth sides. This marriage " brought him that repose and exemption from- daily toil which he needed in order to prepare his mind for his great work. But beyond that it gave him a loving woman's heart, that was the first to believe in liis mission, that was ever ready to console him in his despair, and to keep alive within him the thin flickering- flame of hope when no man believed in him, — not even himself, — and the world was black before his eyes." Khadija is a notable figure, an exemplar among the womanhood of Islam. The calumnv which is levelled at Mohammed's system, that it has degraded the female sex, is sufficiently refuted by the high position which his wife and youngest daughter, our " Lady of Light," occupy in the estimation of the Islamist. Khadija 76 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. bore Mohammed several children — three sons and four daughters ; Init the sons all died in infancy, and their loss, which wrung the heart of the bereaved father so tenderly and devotedly attached to them, supplied the hostile Koreish later with an al)usive epithet to apply to the Prophet.^ The daughters long survived the new Dispensation. With the exception of an occasional appearance in public when the exigencies of his posi- tion or the necessities of the city of his birth demanded it, the next fifteen years after his marriage is a silent record of introspection, preparation, and spiritual com- munion. Since the death of Abdul Muttalib authority in Mecca had become more or less divided. Each of the senators enjoyed a somewhat limited authority, and among the difterent functions there was no such insti- tution as a magistracy to insure the peaceable enjoy- ment by individuals of their rights and property. The ties of blood and family esprit de corps afforded some degree of protection to each citizen against injustice and spoliation, Ijut strangers were exposed to all kinds of oppression. They would often find themselves robbed, not only of their goods and chattels, but also of their wives and daughters. A famous poet of the name of Hanzhala of the tribe of Bani'l Kayn, better known as Abu Ttamahan, was publicly robbed in the streets of Mecca, notwithstanding that he had entered the city as a client of a Koreishite notable, Abdullah ibn Judaan. Another similar act of lawlessness l)roug;lit ^ Al-ahtar, literally without a tail ; in its secondary sense, one without issue. THE HILF-UL-FUZUL. 77 matters to a crisis. At the instance of Mohammed the descendants of Hashim and of Muttalil) and the prin- cipal members of the family of Znhra and Taym bound themselves by a solemn oath to defend every individual, wliether Meccan or stranger, free or slave, from any wrong or injustice to which he might be sul)jeeted in ^leccan territories, and to obtain redress for liim from tlie oppressor. This chivalrous league received the name of the HUf-uJ-Fuzul, or the Federation of the Fuzul, in memory of an ancient society instituted with a similar object among the Jurham, and composed of f(Uir personages, named Fazl, Fazal, Muffazzal, and Fuzail, collectively Fuzul. Mohammed was the prin- cipal meml)er of this new association, which was founded about 595 a.c, shortly after liis marriage. The League of the Fuzul exercised efficient })rotection over the weak and oppressed, and during the first year of its institution the simple threat of its inter- vention was sufficient to repress the lawlessness of the strong, and to afford redress to the helpless. The League continued to exist in full force for the first half- century of Islam. It was some years after the establishment of the Hilf-ul-Fuzfil , and towards the commencement of the seventh century of the Christian era, that an attempt was made by Osman, son of Huwairis, backed by Byzantine gold, to convert Hijaz into a Roman dependency. His attempt failed cbiefiy through tlie instrumentality of Moliammed, and Osman was ol)liged to fly into Syria, where he was subsequently poisoned by Amr, the Ghassanide prince. In 605 A.c, 78 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. when Mohammed was thirty-five, the Koreish took in hand the reconstruction of the Kaaba. In the course of this work a dispute among the different families engaged in the building of the temple, which at one time seemed likely to lead to great l)loodshed, was happily settled by the ready intervention of Mohammed. These are all we know of his public acts within these fifteen years. His gentle sweet disposition, his austerity of conduct, the severe purity of his life, his scrupulous refinement, his ever - ready helpfulness towards the poor and the weak, his nol)le sense of honour, his unflinching fidelity, his stern sense of duty had won him, among his compatriots, the high and enviable designation of al-Amin, the Trusty. It was at this period that he tried to discharge some portion of the debt of gratitude and obligation he owed his uncle Abu T41ib, by charging himself with the educa- tion of Ali, one of his sons. Abu Talib's endeavour to maintain the old position of his family had considerably straitened his circumstances. Mohammed, rich by his alliance with Khadija, and Abl.»as, the brother of Abil Talib, were the most opulent citizens of Mecca. During a severe famine which afflicted the country, Mohammed persuaded his uncle Abbas, to adopt one of the sons of A1»u Talil), whilst he adopted another. Thus iVbbas took Jafar ; Mohammed, Ali, and Akil remained with his father.^ Mohammed had lost all his sons in early infancy. In the love of Ali he found some consola- ^ Ibn-Hisham, p. 109 ; l)in-;il-Alliir, vol. ii. p. 42 ; Tabari, vol. ii. THE PERIOD OF PIIOBATIOX. 70 tion for their loss ; and the future marriage of the sou of Abu Talib with the youngest daughter of JMohammed, Fatima/ sealed the bond of love and devotedness. Mohammed about this time set an example to his fellow-citizens by an act of humanity which created a salutary effect upon his people. A young Aral) of tlie name of Zaid, son of Harith, was brought as a captive to Mecca by a hostile tribe, and sold to a nephew of Khadija, who presented the young lad to her. Mohammed obtained Zaid as a gift from Khadija, and immediately enfrancliised him. This kindness on the one side gave rise to aljsolute devotion on the other, and the Arab boy could not be induced, even by his own father, to return to his trilie oi' forsake Mohammed. Thus passed the fifteen years of trial and probation, years marked l)y many afflictions and yet full of S3'mpatliy with human suffering and sorrow. Before him lay his country, l)leeding and torn l)y fratricidal wars and intertribal dissensions, his people sunk in barljarism, addicted to obscene rites and superstitions, and, with all their desert virtues, lawless and cruel. His two visits to Syria had opened to him a scene of unutterable moral and social desolation ; riva 1 creeds and sects tearing each other to pieces, wranglino- over the body of the God they pretended to worshi]), carrying their hatred to the valleys and deserts of Hijjiz, and rending the townships of Arabia with their quarrels and bitterness. The picture Ijeforc hini was 1 Boin ill 606 a.c. 80 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. one of dreary hopelessness. The few who, ahandoninor their ancient heliefs, were groping in the dark for some resting - place, represented a general feeling of nnrest,^ In their minds there was nothing capal)le of appealing to the humanity beyond themselves. Mohammed's soul was soaring aloft, trying to peer into the mysteries of creation, of life and death, of good and evil, to find order out of chaos. And God's words uttered to his soul became at last the life- giving power of the world. For years after his marriao-e it had been his wont to betake himself, some- times with his family, at other times alone, for prayer and meditation to a cave on the Mount Hira,^ " a huge barren rock, torn l>y cleft and hollow ravine, standing- out solitary in the full wdiite glare of the desert sun, shadowless, fiowerless, without well or rill." Solitude had indeed become a passion with him. Here in this cave he often remained whole nights plunged in pro- foundest thought, deep in communion (ci-^jLcxJl) w^tli the unseen yet all-pervading God of the Universe. Slowly the heaven and earth fill with predestined vision 1 Four men, Zaid, Waraka son of Naufal, and a cousin of Khadija, and two others (Obaidullah and Osnian), abandoning the fetichisni c>f their countrymen, liad betaken themselves to a searcli for the true faith. Zaid was the principal person among them. Before the prophet retired into the wilderness, like Jesus, to commune with God, he had come in contact with Zaid, and learnt to esteem his abhorrence of idolatry. Wlien Zaid's cousin asked the Prophet in later times to supplicate divine mercy foi' him, Mohammed, who would not pray for liis own grandfather, as he had died in idolatry, willingly did so for Zaid. — Ibn-i-Hisham, p. 145. - Now called the Mount of Light. Ibn-Hishilm, Iljn-al-Athir, and Abulfeda mention the month of Ramazan as the month which Moliammed usually spent at Hira in prayer and the succour of the poor and famished wayfarers of the desert. Tabari mentions Rajjab. THE PERIOD OF COMMUNION. 81 and command. A voice seems to issue even from the inanimate objects around liini, tlie stones and rocks and trees, calling on liim to fulfil the task an Almighty Power was directing him to undertake.^ Can the poetry of the soul go further ? The mental visions and the apparitions of angels at these moments were the l>right though gradual dawnings of those truths with which he was to quicken tlie world into life. Often in the dark and benighted pathways of concrete existence, the soul of every great man has been conscious of unrealised yet not unseen influences, which have led to some of the happiest achievements of humanity. From Samuel, that ancient seer, wild and awful as he stands, deep in the misty horizon of the past, to Jesus in the wilderness, pondering over the darksome fate of his people and the magnitude of his work, listening to the sweet accents of the God of Truth, — from Jesus to Mohammed in the solitude of his mountain retreat, there is no break in the action of these influences." In the still hours of the night, in the sweet calmness of the early dawn, in the depth of solitude, when no liunian sympathy is near, a voice comes to him from heaven, gently as the sough of the morning breeze : "Thou art the man, Thou art the Prophet of God;" or, when wrapt in thought it comes in mighty waves : "Cry in the name of thy Lord."'' The over- wrought mind at these moments raises a vision before the eye, J Ibn-Hisliuiu, p. 151. - Koran, sura xcvi. 2 ; Ibii-Hishani, j). 153 ; Ibn-al-Athir, p. 34. ■' Conip. Isa. xl. 6. F 82 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. a. vision of the celestial ministrants who are believed to form the medium of intercommunication between the God of Heaven and the man on earth. " The Father of Truth chooses His own prophets, and He speaks to them in a voice stronger than the voice of thunder. It is the same inner voice through which God speaks to all of us. That voice may dwindle away, and become hardly audilile ; it may lose its divine accent, and sink into the language of worldly prudence ; but it may also from time to time assume its real nature with the chosen of God, and sound in their ears as a voice from heaven."^ " The natural relations of Mahomet's vast conception of the personality of God with the atmosphere of his age," says a great writer," "is the only explanation of that amazing; soberness and self-command with which he entertained his all - absorbinoj visions ; " and then adds, " it could not have been accidental that the one supreme force of the epoch issued from the solitudes of that vast peninsula round which the tides of empire rose and fell. Every exclusive prophetic claim in the name of a sovereign will has been a cry from the desert. The symbolic meaning given to Arabia by the with- drawal of the Christian apostle to commune with a power above Hesh and blood, in Mahomet became more than a symbol. Arabia was itself the man of the hour, the prophet of Islam its concentrated word. To the ^ Professor Miiller, quoted from Stanley's Lectures on the History of titc Jewish Church, Part i. Lect. xviii. p. 394. - Johnson, Oriental lleliyions, p. 561. - • . THE INSPIRATION. 83 cliild of lier exalted traditions, driven by secret com- pulsion (Hit into the lonely places of the starry night, hismoiitli in the dust, the desert spoke without reserve." One night — "the night of power and excellence" — when a divine peace rests on creation, and all nature is lifted up towards its Lord — in the middle of that night the book was opened to the thirsting soul. Whilst lying self-absorbed, he is called by a mighty voice, surging like the waves of the ocean, to cry. Twice the Voice called, and twice he struggled and waived its call. But a fearful weight was laid on him, and an answer was wrung out of his heart. " Cry ! " called out the Voice for the third time. And he said, " What shall I cry ? " Came the answer : " Cry — in the name of thy Lord ! " When the A'oice had ceased to speak, telling him how from minutest beginnings man had been called into existence and lifted up Ijy understanding and knowledge of the Lord, who is most beneficent, and who hy the pen had revealed that which men did not know^,^ Mohammed woke from his trance, and felt as if the words spoken to his soul had been written in his heart. A great trembling came upon him, and he hastened home to his wife, and said, " 0 Khadija ! What has happened to me ? " lie lay down, and she watched by him. When he recovered from his paroxysm he said, " 0 Khadija ! he of whom one ^ Sura xcvi. vers. 1-5. " Ikra" is usually rendered into " read " ; Lut I have preferred to follow tlie rendering suggeiited by Deutsch, as more in accordance witli the call to the Prophet ; see Eodwell alsdj^^lh^l compare Zamakhshri. 84 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. would not have l:)8lieved it (meaning liimself) has hecome either a soothsayer ^ (Kahin) or one possessed — mad." She replied, " God is my protection, 0 Abu'l-Kasim ! (a name of Mohammed, derived from one of his boys), He will surely not let such a thing- happen unto thee ; for thou speakest the truth, dost not return evil for evil, keepest faith, art of a good life, and kind to thy relations and friends. And neither art thou a babbler in the market-places. What has befallen thee ? Hast thou seen aught terrible ? " Mo- hammed replied, "Yes." And he told her what he had seen. Whereupon she answered and said, " Kejoice, 0 dear husband, and be of good cheer. He in whose hands stands Khadija's life is my witness that thou wilt be the prophet of this people." Then she arose and went to her cousin Waraka, son of Naufal, who was old and blind, and " knew the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians." When she told him what she had heard, he cried out, " Kuddiis, Kuddiis ! Holy, holv ! Verily this is the Ndmus-i-ahher^ who came to Moses. He will be the prophet of his people. Tell him this. Bid him be of brave heart." In the midst of the wreck of empires and nations, in the wild turmoil of tribes and clans, there was a voice 1 Diviners and soothsayers were his particuLar aversions ; most of them were attached to the temples. 2 The primary signification of the word Namus in Arabic is a messenger, one who communicates a secret message. It also means law, as the Greek wo,ttoj. "In Talmudical phraseology," says Deutsch, "it signifies tlie revealed law. In Waraka's mind these different significations were combined; the messenger and the message, both divine, had come to Mohammed even as they had conie to Moses." PERIOD OF EXPECTATION. 85 in the air — east and west, nortli and south — that God's message was ('lose at hand : the shepherd was nigh who was to call back the erring flock into the Master's fold. It had spoken to the heart of Waraka. And when the two men met suljsequently in the streets, the 1)lind old reader of the Jewish and Chris- tian Scriptures, who had searched in them for consola- tion and found none, but who knew of the promise held out to mankind of a Deliverer, spoke of his faith and trust. " I swear by Him in whose hand Waraka's life is," said the old man, " God has chosen thee to be the prophet of this people. The Ndmvs-i-alcber has come to thee. They will call thee a liar, they will persecute thee, they will banish thee, they will fight against thee. Oh, that I could live to those days ! I would fio'ht for thee."^ And he kissed him on his forehead. These words of hope and trust brought com- fort to the troubled soul.^ And then followed a period of waiting for the voice to come again, — the inspiration of Heaven to fall once more on the anxious mind. We can appreciate the spiritual throes, the severe mental conflicts, the doubts, hopes, and misgivings which alternately wrung the heart of IMohammed, when we are told that before he had himself realised his mission he was driven to the verge of self-destruc- tion, when the angel of God recalled him to his duty to mankind.'' It spoke to the poor grieved heart, ' Rnuzat-us-safii. — Ibu-Hisliam, p. 103. - Waraka died soon after this event. — Ibn-Hisliam, p. 104. ^ Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. pp. 35, 36 ; Tabari (Zotenberg's transl.), vol. ii. p. 392. 86 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. agitated by doubt and fear, — of hope and trust, of the l;)right future when he should see the people of the earth crowdino- into the one true faith. Saved by the gracious monition, he hurries home from the desert, exhausted in mind and body, to the bosom of his devoted wife, praying only to be covered from the overwhelmins; Presence. His was not the communion with God of those egoists who bury themselves in deserts or forests, and live a life of quietude for themselves alone. His was the hard struggle of the man who is led onwards by a nobler destiny towards the liberation of his race from the bondage of idolatry. His destiny was unfolded to him when, wrapt in profound meditation, melancholy and sad, he felt himself called by that Voice from heaven which had called those who had gone before him, to arise and preach. " 0 thou, enwrapped in thy mantle, arise and warn, and glorify thy Lord." ^ And he arose and girded himself for the work to which he w^as called. Thenceforth his life is devoted to humanity. Preaching with unswerving- purpose amidst frightful persecutions, insulted and outraged, he held on in his path of reproof and reform. Khadija was the first to accept his mission. She was the first to believe in the revelation, to abandon the idolatry of her people, and to join with him in purity of heart in off'ering up prayers to the All- Merciful. Not only was she the first to believe in ' Koran, sura Ixxiv. COMMENCEMENT OF THE MINISTRY. 87 liim and his divine message, but in tlie struggle which was to follow she was his true consoler ; and " God," says tradition, " comforted him through her when he returned to her, for she roused him up again and made his burden more light to him, assuring him of her own faith in him, and representing to him the futility of men's babble." In the beginning Mohammed opened his soul only 612 a.c. to those who were attached to him, and tried to wean them from the gross practices of their fore- fathers. After Khadija, Ali was the next disciple.^ Often did the Prophet go into the depths of the solitary desert around Mecca, with his wife and young cousin, that they might together offer up their heartfelt thanks to the (xod of all nations for His manifold blessings. Once they were surprised in the attitude of prayer by Abu Tjilib, the father of Ali. And he said to Mohammed, " 0 son of my brother, what is this religion that thou art followino- ? " "It is the religion of God, of His angels, of His prophets, and of our ancestor Abraham," answered the Prophet. " God has sent me to His servants to direct them towards the truth ; and thou, 0 my uncle, art the most worthy of all. It is meet that I should thus call upon thee, and it is meet that thou shouldst accept the truth and help in spreading it." " Son of my brother," replied Al)ii Talib, in the true spirit of the sturdy old Semite, " I cannot abjure the religion of my ^ Il.)n-Hi>^litim, p. 155; AbiiUeda (Desvergers' trausl. p. 14); Eouzat-us- Safa. 88 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. fathers ; but by the Supreme God, whilst I am alive none shall dare to injure thee." Then turning towards Ali, his son, the venerable patriarch inquired what religion w^as his. " 0 father," answered Ali, " I believe in God and His Prophet, and go with him." " Well, my son," said Abu Tjilib, " he will not call thee to auo;ht save what is good, wdierefore thou art free to cleave unto him." ^ Soon after Zaid, the son of Harith, who notwith- standing his freedom had cast in his lot with Moham- med, became a convert to the new faith. He w^as followed by a leading member of the Koreishite com- munity of the name of Abdullah, son of Abu Kuhafa, who afterwards became famous in history as Abu Bakr.^ A member of the important family of Taym-ibn-Murra, a wealthy merchant, a man of clear, calm judgment, at the same time energetic, prudent, honest, and amiable, he enjoyed great consideration among his compatriots. He was but two years younger than the Prophet, and his unhesitating adoption of the new faith w-as of great moral effect. Five notables followed in his footsteps, among them Osman, son of Affan, of the family of Ommeyya, who afterwards became the third caliph ; Abdur Rahman, son of Auf ; Saad, son of Abi AVakkas, afterwards the conqueror of Persia ; Zobair, son of Aw- wam and nephewof Khadija, presented themselves before the Prophet and accepted Islam at his hands. Several - The above is a paraphrase of the account given by Jbn Hisham, pp. 159, 160 ; and Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. pp. 42, 43. - Desvergers in a note (p. 108) mentions that before his conversion to li^lani, he was called Abdul Kaaba, "servant of the Kaaba." THE DEVOTION OF THE DISCIPLES. 89 proselytes also came from the humbler walks of life. It is a noble feature in the history of the Prophet of Arabia, and one which strongly attests the sincerity of his character, the purity of his teachings and the inten- sity of his faith and trust in God, tluit his nearest relations, his wife, his beloved (^ousin, and intimate friends, were most thoroughly imbued with the truth of his mission and convinced of his inspiration. Those who knew him best, closest relations and dearest friends, people who lived with him and noted all his movements, were his sincere and most devoted followers. If these men and women, noble, intelligent, and certainly not less educated than the fishermen of Galdee, had per- ceived the slightest sign of earthliness, deception, or want of faith in the teacher himself, M(jhammed's hopes of moral regeneration and social reform would all have been dashed to pieces in a moment. They braved for him persecutions and dangers ; they bore up against physical tortures and mental agony, caused by social excommunication, even unto death. Would this have been so had they perceived the least backsliding in their master ? But even had these people not believed in Mohammed with such earnest faith and trust, it would furnish no reason for doubting the greatness of his work or the depth of his sincerity. For the influ- ence of Jesus himself was least among his nearest rela- tions. His brothers never believed in hini,^ nnd they even went so far as once to endeavour to obtain posses- sion of his person, believing him to be out of his mind.''^ 1 John vii. 5. - Mark iii. ^1. 90 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. Even his immediate disciples were not firm in their convictions.^ Perhaps this unsteadiness may have arisen from weakness of character, or it may have resulted, as Milman thinks,- from the varying tone of Jesus him- self; but the fact is undeniable." This intense faith and conviction on the part of the immediate fol- lowers of Mohammed is the noblest testimony to his sincerity and his utter self - absorption in his appointed task. For three weary long years he laboured thus quietly to wean his people from the worship of idols. But polytheism was deeply rooted among them ; the ancient cult offered attractions which the new faith in its purity did not possess. The Koreish had vested interests in the old worship ; and their prestige was involved in its maintenance. Mahommed had thus to contend, not only with the heathenism of his city sanc- tified by ages of observance and belief, but also with the opposition of the oligarchy which ruled its destinies, and with whom, like the generality of their people, super- stition was allied to great scepticism. With these forces fiohtino- against him, little wonder that the life and death struggle of the three years drew only thirty followers. But the heart of the great teacher never 1 And these were the men whom Jesus called "his mother and brethren," in preference to his own mother and brothers. Matt. xii. 45-48 ; Mark iii. 32, 33. - Milman, History of Christianity^ vol. i. pp. 254, 255. ^ Sir W. Muir admits this in the most positive terms (vol. ii. p. 274) ; he says, " the apostles fled at the first sound of danger." THE HOSTILITY OF THE KOREISH. 91 tailed. Stedfast in lii.s trust in the Almighty Master whose behests he was carrying out, he held on. Hithert(j he had preached quietly and unobtrusively. His com- patriots had looked askance at him, had begun to doubt the sanity of al-Amin, thought him crazed or "possessed," l)ut had not interfered with his isolated exhortations. He now determined to appeal publicly to the Koreish to abandon their idolatry. With this object he convened an assembly on the hill of Safa, and there spoke to them of the enormities of their crimes in the sight of the Lord, their folly in offering adoration to carved idols. He warned them of the fate that had overtaken the races which had passed unheeded the words of the preachers of liygone days, and invited them to abjure their old impious worship, and adopt the fciith of love and truth and purity. But the mockers mocked his words, laughed at the enthusiasm of young Ali, and departed with taunts and scoffs on their lips and fear in their hearts at the spirit of revolution which had risen in their midst. Having thus failed to induce the Koreish to listen to the warnings of Heaven, he turned his attention to the strangers visiting the city for trade or pilgrimage. To them he endeavoured to convey God's words. But here again his efforts were frustrated by the Koreish. When the pilgrims began to arrive on the environs of the city, the Koreishites posted them- selves on the different routes and warned the strangers against holding any communication with Mohammed, whom they represented as a dangerous magician. This machination led, however, to a result little expected by 92 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. the Meccans. As the pilgrims and traders dispersed to their distant homes, they carried with them the news of the advent of the strange, enthusiastic preacher, who at the risk of his own life was calling aloud to the nations of Arabia to abjure the worship of their ffithers. If the Koreish were under the impression that Mohammect would be abandoned by his own kith and kin, they were soon undeceived by a scathing denuncia- tion hurled at them by Abii Tfilib. The old patriarch, who had refused with characteristic persistency to abandon his ancient creed, or to adopt the new^ faith, rebelled at the injustice and intolerance of his com- patriots towards the reformer, and with true desert chivalry he deplored, in a poem wdiich lies eml)almed in history, the enormities of the Koreish towards one who was the benefactor of the orphan and the widow — the al-Arain, who never failed in word or deed; and declared that the children of Hashim and of Muttalib would defend the innocent with their lives. About the same time an Yathrebite chief wrote to the Koreish of Mecca, and, holding up the examples of bygone ages, exhorted them not to embroil themselves with civil dissensions and warfare. He advised them to give a hearing to the new preacher : "An honourable man has adopted a certain religion, why persecute him ? for it is only the Lord of the heaven wdio can read the heart of man ! " His counsel had some effect, and occasioned a change of tactics among the Koreish. For a time, accordingly, calumnies and vilifications, exasperating contumelies and COMMENCEMENT OF PERSECUTION. 93 petty outrages were substituted for o^^en and violent per- secution. The hostile Koreish stopped the Prophet from offering his prayers at the Kaaba ; they 2:)ursued him wherever he went ; they covered him and his disciples with dirt and filth when eno;ao;ed in their devotions. They incited the children and the bad characters of the town to follow and insult him. They scattered thorns ill the places which he frequented for devotion and meditation. In this act of refined cruelty the lead was always taken by Umm-i-Jamil, the wife of AIju Lahab, one of Mohammed's uncles. She was the most inveterate of his persecutors. Every place which he or his disciples frequented for devotion she covered with thorns. This exasperating conduct brought down upon her the desio-nation of beino; " the bearer of fagg-ots " [hammdlat-cd-hateh) [to hell]. Amidst all these trials Mohammed never wavered. Full of the intensest confidence in his mission, he worked on steadily. Several times he was in imminent dano'er of his life at the hands of the Koreish. On one occasion lie disarmed their murderous fury by his gentle and calm self-control. But persecution only added to the strength of the new faith. " The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," is a truth not confined to one creed. The violence of the Koreish towards ]\Ioliammed, their burning and bitter intoler- ance, led to the conversion of the redoubtable Hamza, the youngest son of Abdul Muttalib. This intrepid warrior, brave, generous, and true, whose doughty sword was held in dread l)y all the Koreish, about this 94 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. time came to the Prophet, adopted his faith, and became thenceforth a devoted adherent of Islam, and eventually laid down his life in the cause. Amidst all this persecution Mohammed never ceased calling to the nation so wedded to iniquity to abandon their evil ways and abominations. He threw his heart and soul into his preachings. He told them in burning words, which seared into the hearts of his listeners, the punishment which had lighted on the tribes of Ad and Thamud who had heeded not the warnings of God's messengers, of the outpouring of Heaven's wrath at the iniquities of Noah's people. He adjured them by the wonderful sights of nature, by the noon-day bright- ness, by the night when she spreadeth her veil, by the day when it appeareth in glory, to listen to the warning before a like destruction came upon them. He told them of the day of reckoning, when the deeds done by man in this world shall be weighed before the Eternal Judo-e, when the children who had been buried alive shall be asked for what crime they had been put to death, and when heaven and earth shall be folded up and none be near but God. He spoke to them r»f the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter, describ- ing to his materialistic people the joys of Paradise and the pains of hell " with all the glow of Eastern imagery." He told them what the unbelievers were like — " They are like unto one who kindleth a fire, and when it hath thrown its light on all around him, God taketh away the light and leaveth him in darkness, and they cannot see." THE ALARM OF THE INFIDELS. 95 "Deaf, (Iuml», Mind, therefore tliey shall not retrace their steps." " They are like those who, when there cometh a storm-cloud of lieaven Ijig with darkness, thunder, and lip-htnino;, thrust their fing;ers into their ears because of the thunder-clap for fear of death. God is round about the infidels." " The litvhtnino- almost snatcheth away their eves ; so oft as it gleameth on them, they walk on in it ; but when darkness closeth upon them, they stop ; and if God pleased, of their ears and of their eyes would He surely deprive them : verily God is Almighty." ' "As to the infidels, their works are like the Serah on the plain," which the thirsty [traveller] thinketh to l>e water, and then when he cometh thereto, he findeth it [to be] nothing ; but he findeth God round about him, and He will fully pay him his account ; for swift in takino; an account is God." " Or as the darkness over a deep sea, billows riding upon billows Ijelow, and clouds above ; one darkness over another darkness ; when a man stretcheth forth his hand he is far from seeing it ; he to whom God doth not grant lig-ht. no lioht at all hath he."'* The people Avere awestruck, and conversions grew frequent. The Koreish were now thoroughly alarmed ; Moham- med's preaching 1 betokened a serious revolutionary movement. Their power and prestige were at stake. ^ Sura ii. - /.'. ihv mirage of the desert. 3 Sura xxiv. 39, 40. ' 'o^ 96 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. They were the custodians of the idols whom Moham- med threatened with destruction ; they were the ministers of the worship which Mohammed denounced, — their very existence depended upon their maintaining the old institutions intact. If his predictions were fulfilled, they would have to efface themselves as a nation pre-eminent among the nationalities of Aral)ia. The new preacher's tone was intensely democratic ; in the sight of his Lord all human beings were equal. This levellino- of old distinctions was contrary to all their traditions. They would have none of it, for it boded no good to their exclusive privileges. Urgent measures were needed to stifie the movement before it gained further strength. They accordingly decided upon an organised system of persecution. In order, however, not to violate their law of vendetta, each family took upon itself the task of strancrlino- the new religion within its own circle. Each household tortured its own members, or clients, or slaves, who were supposed to have attached them- selves to the new faith. Mohammed, owing to the protection of Al)u Talib and his kinsmen, Abu Bakr and a few others, who were either distinguished by tlieir rank or possessed some influential friend or protector among the Koreish, were, for the time, exempt from immediate violence. The others were thrown into prison, starved, and then beaten with sticks. The hill of Ramdha and the place called Batlia became thus the scenes of cruel tortures.' The men or 1 Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 50 ; Ibn-Hisham, pp. 205-209. KOREISHITE PERSECUTION. 97 women whom the Koreish fouiKl abandoning the w^orship of their idol-goJs, were exposed to the burning lieat of the desert on the scorching sand, where, when reduced to the last extremity by thirst, they were offered the alternative of adoring the idols or death. Some recanted only to profess Islam once more when re- leased from their torments ; but the majority held firmly to their faith. Such a one was Bilhll, the first Muezzin of Isirim. His master, Ommeyya, son of Khallaf, conducted him each day to Batha when the heat of the sun was at its greatest, and there exposed him bare- backed with his face to the burning sun, and placed on his chest an enormous block of stone. " There shalt thou remain until thou art dead," Ommeyya used to say, " or thou hast abjured Islam." As he lay half-stifled under his heavy weight, dying with thirst, he would only answer, " Ahadoon, ahadoon," " one [God], one." This lasted for days, until the poor sufferer was reduced to the verge of death, when he was ransomed by Abu Bakr, who had in like manner purchased the liberty of six other slaves. They killed with excruciating tor- ments Yasar and Samiya his wife ; they inflicted fearful tortures on Ammar their son. Mohammed was often an eye-witness to the sufferings of his disciples, — suf- ferings borne with patience and fortitude as became martyrs in the cause of truth. And these were not the only martyrs in the early history of Islam. ^ ' E.ci. Kli()l)ail) ibii Ada, wlio, beins perfidiously sold to the Koreish, was by them put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting,' off his flesh piece-meal. In the midst of his tortures, beinpf asked whether he did not wish Mohammed in his place, he answered, " I u-ould not wish to he G 98 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. Like tlie Pharisees tempting Jesus, the Koreish came to Mohammed with temptations of worldly honour and aggrandisement, to draw him from the path of duty. One day, says the chronicler, he was sitting in the Kaaba, at a little distance from an assembly of the antagonistic chiefs, when one of them, Otlm, son of Kabia, a man of moderate view^s, came to him and said, "0 son of my l»rother, thou art distinguished by thy (qualities and thy descent. Now thou hast sown division among our people, and cast dissension in our families ; thou denouncest our gods and goddesses ; thou dost tax our ancestors with impiety. We have a proposition to make to thee ; think well if it will not suit thee to accept it." " Speak, 0 father of Walid," ^ said the Prophet, " I listen, 0 son of my brother." Commenced Otba : " If thou wishest to acquire riches by this affair, we will collect a fortune larger than is possessed by any of us ; if thou desirest honours and dignity, we shall make thee our chief, and shall not do a thing without thee ; if thou desirest dominion, we shall make thee our king ; and if the spirit (demon) which possesses thee cannot be overpowered, we will l)ring thee doctors and give them riches till they cure thee." And when he had done, " Hast thou finished, () father of Walid ? " asked the Prophet. " Yes," replied he. " Then listen to me." " I listen," he said. " In ivith my family, my substance, and my children on condition that Mohammed was only to be pricked with a thorn." 1 Walid being a son of Otba. It was usual, and is so even now, among the Arabs to call a man as the father of so-and-so, instead of using his own name, as a mai'k of consideration. THE KOREISH TEMPTING MOHAMMED. 99 tlie name of the most merciful God," commenced the Warner, " this is a revelation from the most Merciful : a Iwok, the verses whereof are distinctly explained, an Arabic Koran, for the instruction of people wdio under- stand ; bearino- aood tiding-s, and denouncinij; threats : l)ut the greater part of them turn aside, and hearken not thereto. And they say, ' Our hearts are veiled from the doctrine to which thou invitest us ; and there is a deafness in our ears, and a curtain l)etween us and thee : wherefore act thou as thou shalt think fit ; for Ave shall act according to our own sentiments.' tSay, ' verilv I am only a man like you. It is revealed unto me that your God is one God : wherefore direct your wav straight unto Him ; and ask pardon of Him for what is past.' And woe be to the idolators, who give not the ap})ointed alms, and believe not in the life to come I ^ But as to those who believe and work righteousness, they shall receive an everlasting re- ward." ' When the Prophet finished this recitation, he said to ()tba, " Thou hast heard, now take the course which seemeth best to thee." '" Profoundly afflicted by the sufferings of his disciples, w^liose position, as time went on, became more and more unbearable, he advised them to seek a refuge in the neighbouring Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, wdiere ruled a pious sovereign, till God in His mercy wrought a change in the feelings of the Koreish. He had heard ^ Whilst hospitality was ref,'arclecl as a great virtue, charity was con- sidcroil a weakness among the Arabs ; and a future life, an old woman's fable. '■^ Koran, sura xli. 3 Ibn-Hishaui, pp. 185, 186. 100 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. of the rigliteoiLsness of this Christian sovereign, of his tolerance and hospitality, and was certain of a welcome for his followers. Some immediately availed themselves of the advice, and sailed, to the number of fifteen, to the hospitable shores of the Negus (Najashi), This is called the first flight in the history of Islam, and occurred in the fifth year of Mohammed's mission (615 A.c). These emi- grants were soon joined by many more of their fellows- sufferers and labourers in the cause of truth, until their number amounted to eighty-three men and eighteen women. ^ But the untiring hostility of the Koreish pursued them even here. They were furious at the escape of their victims, and sent deputies to the king to demand the delivery of these refugees that they might be put to death. They stated the chief charges against the poor fugitives to l)e the abjuration of their old religion, and the adoption of a new one. The Negus sent for the exiles, and inquired of them whether what their enemies had stated was true. " What is this religion for which you have abandoned your former faith," asked the king, " and adopted neither mine nor that of any other people ? " Jafar, son of Abii Talib, and l)rother of Ali, acting as spokesman for the fugitives, spoke thus : " (J king, we were plunged in the depth of ignorance and barbarism ; we adored idols, we lived in unchastity ; we ate dead bodies, and we spoke abominations ; we disregarded every feeling 1 Ibn-Hishaui, p. 208 et seq. ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 58 ; AbulfedS, p. 20. THE SPEECH OF JAFAK. 101 of humanit}^ and the duties of liospitality and neigh- l)oui'liood ; we knew no law but that of the strong, when God raised among us a man, of whose birth, truthfubiess, honesty, and purity we were aware ; and he called us to the unity of God, and taught us not to associate anything with Him ; i He forbade us the worship of idols ; and enjoined us to speak the truth, to be faithful to our trusts, to be merciful, and to reo-ard the rio;hts of neioflibours : he forbade us to speak evil of women, or to eat the substance of orphans ; he ordered us to Hy vices, and to abstain from evil ; to offer prayers, to render alms, to observe the fast. We have believed in him, we have accepted his teach- ings and his injunctions to worship God, and not to associate anything with Him. For this reason our people have risen against us, have persecuted us in order to make us forego the worship of God and return to the worship of idols of wood and stone and other abominations. They have tortured us and injured us, until finding no safety among them, we have come to thy country, and hope thou wilt protect us from their oppression." "^ The demands of the Koreish were scouted by the king, and the deputies returned in confusion to Mecca. Whilst the disciples of Mohammed were seeking safety in other lands from the persecution of their enemies, he himself stood bravely at his post, and ^ The idolaters are almost always called " Associators," Mushrikin, in the Koran, or men who associate other beings with God. - Can there be a better summary of Mohammed's work or of his teachings? Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 61 ; and Ibn-Hisham, pp. 219, 220. 102 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. amidst every insult and outrage pursued his mission. Again they came to him with promises of honour and riches, to seduce him from his duty ; the reply was as before, full of life, full of faith : " I am neither desirous of riches nor ambitious of dignity nor of dominion ; I am sent by God, who has ordained me to announce glad tidings unto you. I give you the words of my Lord ; I admonish you. If you accept the message I bring you, God will be favourable to you both in this world and in the next ; if you reject my admonitions, I shall be patient, and leave God to judge between you and me." They mocked him, scoffed at him, tried by insidious questions to expose the fallacy of his teachings.^ His simple trust and sublime faith in his Master rose superior to all their materialistic scepticism. They asked for miracles to prove his mission. They asked him to cause wells and rivers to gush forth, to bring down the heaven in pieces, to remove mountains, to have a house of gold erected, to ascend to heaven by a ladder.' It was a repetition of the old story, w^ith this difference, that in the case of Jesus His own followers insisted u^^on His performing miracles to satisfy them of the truth of His mission. " His immediate disciples," says Professor Momerie, "were always misunderstanding Him and His w^ork : wantinoj Him to call down fire from heaven ; wantino* Him to declare Himself kintr of the Jews : w^antin^;: to sit on His rio-ht hand ' Ibn-Hisliam, p. 188. A Christian historian goes into raptures at tlie subtlety of the idolaters ; see Osborn, Islam under the Arabs. '' Sura xvii. 92-96. THE MORAL EVIDENCES OF MOHAMMED S 5IISSI0X. 103 and on His left hand in His kingd(3m; wanting Him to show them the Father, to make God visible to their bodily eyes ; wanting Him to do, and wanting to do themselves, anything and everything that was incom- patible with His great plan. This was how they treated Him until the end. When that came, they all forsook Him, and tied." To these unsatisfied, lukewarm spirits, whose craving for wonders was no less strong than that of the Koreish, and wlio afterwards clothed the revered figure of Jesus in a mist, a lesfacv which even modern idealistic Chris- tianity cannot shake off, the Master was wont to reply, at times anorilv, that it was an evil and adulterous age which sought after a sign, and that no sign should be oiven to it ; and that if a man Ijelieved not in Moses and the prophets, he would not repent even though one rose from the dead.' It must be said to the credit of the disciples of the Arabian teacher, that they never called for a miracle from their master. Tliey — scholars, merchants, and soldiers — looked to the moral evidences of his mission. They ranged themselves round the friendless preacher at the sacrifice of all their worldly interests and worldly hopes, and adhered to him through life and death with a devotion to his human personality to which there is s(;arcely a parallel in the history of the world. 1 Patristic Christianity has held, and still holds, to the miracles as a jn-oof of the divinity of Jesus ; modern Christianity calls them Aherglaubc. It may well be, as the avithor of Literature and Dogma says, that the miracles are doomed, and that the miracle-saf^a of Christianity must, sooner or later, go with all legends, Eastern or Western. 104 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. In an age when miracles were supposed to be ordi- nary occurrences at the beck of the commonest saint, when the whole atmosphere was surcharged with super- naturalism, not only in Arabia, but in the neighbouring countries where civilisation had made far greater pro- gress, the great Pioneer of rationalism unhesitatingly replies to the miracle - seeking heathens — "God, has not sent me to work wonders ; He has sent me to preach to you. My Lord be joraised ! Am I more than a man sent as an apostle ? . . . Angels do not commonly walk tlie earth, or God would have despatched an angel to preach His truth to you.^ 1 never said that Allah's treasures are in my hand, that I knew the hidden things, or that I was an angel. . . . I who cannot even help or trust myself, unless God pleaseth." . . . No extraordinary pretensions, no in- dulgence in hyperbolical language, no endeavour to cast a glamour round his character or personality. " I am only a preacher of God's words, the l)ringer of God's message to mankind," repeats he always. From first to last no expression escapes him " which could be construed into a request for human worship ; " ^ from first to last there is unvarying soberness of expression, which, considerino' the age and surroundinos, is more than marvellous ; from first to last the tone is one of simple, deep humility before the Creator. And in the moment of his greatest exaltation the feeling is one of humble, sweet thankfulness : — " In the name of God, the Merciful, the> Gom- ^ Sura xvii. 97, 98 ; sura Ixxii. 21-24. ^ Profe:--.sor Monierie. Mohammed's appeal to reason. 105 passionate ! Whatsoever is in heaven and on earth praises God the King, the Holy One, the Almighty, the All-wise. It is He who out of the midst of the illiterate Arabs has raised an apostle to show nnto them His signs, and to sanctify them, and to teach them the Scripture and the Wisdom, them who before had been in grreat darkness. . . . This is God's free grace, which He oiveth unto whomsoever He wills. God is of great mercy ! " ^ Disclaiming every power of wonder - working, the Prophet of Isltlni ever rests the truth of his divine commission entirely upon his teachings. He never resorts to the miraculous to assert his influence or to enforce his warnings. He invariably appeals to the familiar phenomena of nature as signs of the divine presence.- He unswervingly addresses himself to the inner consciousness of man, to his reason, and not to his weakness or his credulity. Look round yourself: is this wonderful world, the sun, moon, and stars, liolding their swift silent course in the blue vault of heaven, the law and system prevailing in the universe ; the rain-drops falling to revive the parched earth into life ; the ships moving across the ocean, beladen with 1 Sura Ixii. vv. 1-10. ' The passage of Sir W. Muir on this point is, to say the least, remark- able. He says : " Whether the idolatry of Mecca would not have suc- cumbed without a struggle before such preaching as ^Mahouiet's, sustained by reasonable evidence, may be matter for speculation" (the italics are his own), vol. ii. p. 114. Like the Koreish, Sir W. Muir is not satisfied with the teachings, unless su])ported by wonder-workings. A few devils cast out would have satisfied Ijoth the Koreish and, in later ages, the Christian historians. 106 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. what is profitable to mankind ; the beautiful pabn covered with its golden fruit, — are these the handi- work of your wooden or stone gods ? ^ Fools ! do you want a sign, when the whole creation is full of the sions of God. The structure of yonr body, how wonderfully complex, how beautifully regu- lated ; the alternations of night and day, of life and death ; your sleeping and awaking ; your desire to accumulate from the abundance of G(jd ; the winds driving abroad the joregnant clouds as the forerunners of the Creator's mercy ; the harmony and order in the midst of diversity ; the variety of the human race, and yet their close affinity ; fruits, flowers, animals, human beings themselves, — are these not signs enough of tin- presence of a master mind ? " To the Prophet of Islam, nature in itself is a revela- lation and a miracle. " There is a tongue in every leaf, A voice in every rill, A voice that speaketli everywhere. In flood and fair, through earth and air, A voice that's never still."" '^ The Prophet of monotheism is pre-eminently the Prophet of nature. His ethical appeal and his earnest assertion of divine unity are founded upon the rational and intellectual recognition of all-pervading order, of ^ Sura XXV. 49-59 ; sura 1. 9, etc. -' Sura vi. 95-99, li. 20, xv. 20, xx. 50-57, xxxiv. 20-28, 39, etc. 3 Coinp. jj jCy« ) % Jq^; .^yy^') ')^ ^ <=*^ >^ " Every blade that springs from the earth hears testimony to the unity of (iod." KOREISHITE HOSTILITY. 107 the visible presence of one Mind, one Will, regulating, guiding, and governing the universe. His grandest miracle is the Book in which he has poured forth with an inspired tongue all the " revelations of nature, conscience, and prophecy." Ask you a greater miracle than this, 0 unbelieving people ! than to have your vulgar tongue chosen as the language of that incom- parable Book, one piece of which puts to shame all your golden poesy and suspended songs — to convey the tidings of universal mercy, the warnings to pride and tyranny ! But to all his exhortations the Koreish turned a deaf ear. They were blind to the signs of Clod, blind to the presence of a Divine Personality in nature, deaf to the call of the seer to come back to righteousness, to forego the crimes and abominations of antiquity. Their answer to him breathes a fierce animosity paral- leled only by the darkest days of Arian or Pelagian persecution in Christendom. '"' Know this, 0 Moham- med," said they, " we shall never cease to stop thee from preaching till either thou or we perish." Durino; this interval occurred an incident which has been differently construed by the Moslem historians and the Christian biographers of the Prophet. One day, in one of his prophetic trances, Mohammed was reciting within the Kaaba some verses which now form part of the fifty-third chapter of the Koran. When he came to the words, " What think ye of al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manah? the third besides," an idolater who was present on the occasion, and whom tradition has con- 108 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. verted into the devil, anxious to avert tiie threatened denunciation, called out, " They are exalted damsels, and their intercession with God may be hoped for." These words were supposed to form part of the Prophet's revelation. And the Koreish, overjoyed either at the trick or at Mohammed's supposed concession, hastened to express their willingness to come to terms. When Mohammed learnt what had happened, he immediately proclaimed the words, " They are nought but empty names, which you and your fathers have invented." This is the version given by Mahommedan historians and traditionists. Accordino- to the Christian bio- graphers, the incident is supposed to indicate a momen- tary desire on the part of the prophet to end the strife with the Koreish by some compromise. The bigot calls it "a lapse" and "a fall" ; but the generous and unbiased historian considers the episode as throwing additional lustre on the Prophet of Arabia. Persecu- tion was becoming fiercer and fiercer every day, the sufierings of his followers were increasing, and the whole city was up in arms against them. The sight of his poor disciples afilicted him deeply ; his weary struggle with the Arabian idolatry filled him with grief What wonder that a momentary thought crossed his mind to end the conflict by making a slight con- cession to the bigotry of his enemies. " And so Mohammed made his first and last concession. He recited a revelation to the Koreish, in which he spoke respectfully of the three moon-goddesses, and asserted that their intercession with God might be hoped PERSECUTION CONTINUES. 109 for : ' Wherefore bow down l)efore God and serve Him ; ' and the whole audience, overjoyed at the compromise, bowed down and worsliipped at the name of the God of Mohammed, — the whole city was recon- ciled to the double religion. But this dreamer of the desert was not the man to rest upon a lie. At the price of the whole city of Mecca he W(juld not remain untrue to himself He came forward and said he had done wrong, — the devil had tempted him. He openly and frankly retracted wdiat he had said ; and ' as for their idols, they were but empty names which they and their fathers had invented,' " '■' Western biographers have rejoiced greatly over 'Mohammed's fall.' Yet it was a tempting compro- mise, and few would have withstood it. And the life of Mohammed is not the life of a god, but of a man ; from first to last it is intensely human. But if for once he was not superior to the temptation of gaining over the whole city, and oljtaining peace where before had been only bitter persecution, what can we say of his manfully thrusting back the rich prize he had gained, freely confessing his fault, and resolutely giving himself over again to the old indignities and insults ? If he w^as once insincere — and who is not ? — how in- trepid was his after sincerity ! He w^as untrue to himself for a while, and he is ever referring to it in his public preaching with shame and remorse ; but the false step was more than atoned for by his magnificent recantation." ^ Upon the promulgation that Lat, Uzza, and Manah ^ Stanley Lane- Poole, Introd. to the Selections from the Koran, p. xlix. 110 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. were 1uit empty names, the persecution Inirst out anew with redoubled furv. Supported, however, by a firm conviction in divine assistance, and uphehl by the admonitions of the heavenly voice within, conveyed to him by the minis- trators of heavenly mercy, he continued his preaching- undeterred by the hostility of his enemies, or by the injuries they inflicted upon him. In spite of all oppo- sition, however, slowly but surely the new teachings oained ground. The seeds of truth thus scattered could not fail to fructify. The wild Arab of the desert, the trading citizen of distant townships who came to the national fair, heard the words of the strange man wdiom his enemies thought possessed, listened to the admonitions in which he poured forth his soul, listened with awe and wonder to his denunciations of their divini- ties and of their superstitions, of their unrighteous- ness, of their evil ways, and carried back to their far-ofl' homes new light and new life, even unconsciously to themselves. And the satires, the ill-names his enemies heaped upon Mohammed, only tended to make his words more extensively known. The Meccans, on their side, were by no means quiet. Several times the Koreish sent deputations to Abil Talib, asking him to stop his nephew from preaching against their religion. At first Abu Talilj turned them away with soft and courteous words. But as Mohammed per- sisted in his fiery denunciations against their godless- ness and impiety, they expelled him from the Kaaba where he was wont to preach latterly, and then came PERSECUTIOX CONTINUES. Ill ill a 1 )()(!}• to liLs niiclc' " We respect thy age and tliy rank," said they, " but our respect for thee has Ijounds, and verily we can have no further patience with thy nephew's abuse of our gods, and liis ill words against our ancestors ; wherefore do thou either prevent him from so doing, or thyself take part with him, so that we may settle the matter by fight until one of the two parties is exterminated."' Having thus spoken, they departed. Abii Tfdib was unwilling to separate himself from his people, neither did he like abandoning his nephew to the idolaters. Sending for Mohammed, lu; informed him of the speech of the Koreish, and begged him to renounce his task. Mohammed thought his uncle wished to withdraw his protection ; but his high resolve did not fail him even at this moment. Firmly he replied: "() my uncle, if they placed the sun on niv ricrht hand and the moon on my left, to force me to renounce ni}- work, verily 1 would not desist there- from until God made manifest His cause, or I perished in tlie attempt." But overcome by the thought of desertion by his kind protector, he turned to depart. Then Abd Talib called aloud: "Son of my l)rother, come back ; " and he came. And Abu Talib said : " Say whatsoever thou pleasest ; for by the Lord, 1 shall not abandon thee, nay, never."" The Koreish made another attempt to persuade Abu Trdil) to deliver up his nephew to them. They offered in exchange a > Tahari, vol. ii. y. 4()f) ; according to this author's authorities, vor. i'14 of cliap. xxi. of the Koran was revealed about this period. - Ilju-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 47 ; Ibn-Hishani, pj). 167, 168. ■' Ibn-Hish;un, j). 168 ; I1)n-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 48; Abulfeda, p. 17. 112 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. young man of the family of Makhzum, but it was of no avail/ The declared intention of Abti Talib to sup- port his nephew excited their fury, and they renewed their menaces of violence. The venerable patriarch appealed to the sense of honour of the Ban! - Hashim and Bani-Muttalib, the kinsmen of Mohammed, to pro- tect a distinguished member of their family from falling a victim to the hatred of rival clans. And the appeal was nobly responded to, with the solitary exception of the scpiint-eyed Abu Lahab, " the father of flame," as the sequel will show. At this time the new faith gained a valuable adherent in Omar, whose energy of character made him an important factor in the future commonwealth of Islam. His services to the relio-ion of Mohammed have engraved his name on the j^ages of history. A distinguished member of the family of Adi-ibn-Kaab, and the son of the Khattab, notorious for the persecution of the Moslems, he was hitherto a violent opponent of Islam, and the l)itterest adversary of the Prophet. His con- version is said to have been worked by tlie magic effect on his mind of a chapter of the Koran which he hoard recited in his sister's house, where he had tjone in a furious raoe and with murderous intent. Struck with the words which he had heard, he went straight to the Prophet with the naked sword in his hand with which he had meant to slay Mohammed and his disciples, causing considerable consternation among the assembly of the Faithful listening to the Preacher. He 1 Ibn-Hisliain, p. 169 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 48. KOREISHITE LEAGUE AGAINST MOHAMMED. 113 kissed the master's hand, and then demanded to be taken into the fold of God ; and heartfelt thanks went up to heaven from the Moslems for the o-race that had fallen on Omar. After his conversion he became one of the 1 )ulwarks of the faith. Ishim need no more hide its head in Ijyways and corners, go about in concealment, or offer its prayers to God in secret and trepidation. Besides a large following taken from the humbler walks of life, there were now- gathered round the Prophet a chosen band of apostles, consisting, not of ignorant folk, but of men of energy, talent, and worth, like Hamza, Abu Bakr, and Omar. And though Ali was in his youth, he was fast rising into prominence. These important adhesions gave heart to the Moslems, and they now ventured to perform their devotions in public. The Koreish, who were at first thunderstruck at the conversion of Omar, saw the gravity of the situation. And yet they waited to strike the decisive blow. The return of the deputies, however, from Abyssinia, and the announcement of their unsuccessful mission, roused them to frenzy. They determined at last to exterminate with one stroke the entire clan of Hashini and Muttalib. AVitli that purpose they, in the 7th year of the mission, towards the end of 616 A.c, formed a league against the descendants of Hashim and Muttalil ). Thev bound themselves by a solemn document, which was deposited in the Kaaba, not to enter into any contract of marriage with the Hashimites, or to buy and sell with H 114 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. them. The Hashimites and Muttalibites, Mussuhiiaiis as well as idolaters, were struck with dismay, and fearful that this might be the prelude to some other attack, judged it safer to abandon their houses dispersed in the city, and concentrate themselves at one point. Tliey l)etook themselves accordingly to the Shi-h (or quarter) of Abu Talib, — a long, narrow mountain defile on the eastern skirts of Mecca, cut off by rocks or w^alls from the city, except for one narrow gateway. Abu Laliab alone remained aloof, and ranged himself on the side of the enemy. They lived in this defensive position with Mohammed in their midst for nearly three years, beleaguered by the Koreish, and subjected to every privation. The provisions which they had carried with them were soon exhausted, and the cries of the starving children could be heard outside. Probably they would have entirely perished but for the occasional help they received surreptitiously from less bigoted compatriots. Some of the chiefs, however, were beginning to be ashamed of their injustice. Towards the tenth year of the mission (619 A.C.), Hisham, son of Amr, who took a lively interest in the Hashimites, tried to bring about a recon- ciliation between the Koreishites and the two families of Hashim and Muttalib. He succeeded in winnino- over Zobair, son of Abu Ommeyya, to his side; and, seconded by him and others, the pact was annulled, and the two families were taken back to the enjoyment of the (iommunal rights, and were allowed to return to Mecca. THE YEAR OF MOURNING. 115 During the period Mohammed was shut up in the Shi-h with his kinspeople, Ishim made no progress outside. In the sacred months, when violence was considered a sacrilege, the Teacher w^ould come out of his prison and endeavour to obtain hearers among the pilgrims ; but the squint-eyed " Father of the Flame " followed him about, and made his words nouo;ht bv calling him "a liar and a Sal^ean." The year which followed is called in the history of Islam " the year of mourning " for the loss of Alnl Talib and Khadija, who followed each other to the grave w^ithin a short interval. In Abu Talib, Moham- med lost the guardian of his youth, who had hitherto stood between him and his enemies. The death of Khadija was a severe blow. When none believed in him, when he himself had not yet awakened to the full con- sciousness of his mission, and his heart was full of doubts, when all around him was dark and despairing, her love, her faith had stood bv him. " She was ever his angel of hope and consolation." To the end of his life he retained the tenderest recollection of her love and devotion. Note to Chapter I. Suj AV. MuiK thinks M. Caussin de Perceval has made a mistake in supposing Ilamdha and Batha to be names of places. He thinks they signify the nature of the soil over which tliese people were tortured; vol. ii. p. 128. To corroborate M. Caussin de Perceval and myself, I have only 116 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. to add that the existence of these places is an undoubted fact ; and Batha especially has been frequently referred to by Mahomrnedan authors as a place in the immediate vicinity of Mecca. For example, the celebrated Hakim Sanu'i says : — Clio iliaat liast khulmat kvui (-ho bi-ilman, ke zislit aid, ({irifta dnnian ihiam, wa Mekki, kliufta (lar Batlul. " If thou possessest knowledge, serve like those who are ignorant ; for it is unseemly that people from China should adopt the Ihram (that is to say, come on a pilgrimage to Mecca), and the native of Mecca should lie sleeping at Batha." CHAPTER II. THE hj:gira. C -■ - iPC - C-C-C ^ •!* " Stf'---» The cliiklren of Ommeyya aud other hostile chins, actuated as much l)y their attachment to the ohl cult as by their jealousy of and hatred towards the Hashimites, considered this a favourable opportunity to crush out Islam in Mecca ; and the death of Abil Talil), whose personal influence and character had restrained their fury within some limits, l)ecame the signal for the Koreish to redouble their persecutions.^ Weiirhed down b^' the loss of his venerable pro- tector and of his cherished wife, hopeless of turning the Koreish from idolatry, with a saddened heart, and yet full of trust, he determined to turn to some other field for the exercise of his ministry. Mecca had rejected the words of God, hapless Tayef may listen to them. Accompanied by his faithful servant Zaid, he arrived among the Tliakif." He spoke to them about his mission ; told them about their ini(piities, and called them to the worship of God. His words 1 Ibn-al-Athir, vc.l. ii. \k 69. 2 7],^ people of Tayef. 117 118 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. caused a storm of indignation : Who was this crazy man, said they, who invited them to abandon the beautiful divinities they worshipped with such light- ness of heart and such freedom of morals ? They drove him from the city ; and the rabble and the slaves followed, hooting and pelting him with stones until the evening, when they left him to pursue his way alone. Wounded and bleeding, footsore and weary, he betook himself to prayer under the shade of some palm trees, which afforded a welcome shelter to the thirsty and famished wayftirer. Eaising his hands towards heaven, he cried : " O Lord ! I make my complaint unto Thee, out of my feebleness, and the vanity of my wishes. I am insignificant in the sight of men. 0 Thou most merciful ! Lord of the weak ! Thou art my Lord ! Do not forsake me. Leave me not a prey to strangers, nor to mine enemies. If Thou art not offended, I am safe. I seek refuge in the light of Thy countenance, by which all darkness is dispersed, and peace comes here and hereafter. Let not Thy anger descend on me ; solve my difficulties as it pleaseth Thee. There is no power, no help, but in Thee." ^ Mohammed returned to Mecca sorely stricken in heart. He lived here for some time, retired from his people, preaching occasionally, but confining his efforts mainly to the strano-ers who cono;reg;ated in Mecca and ■J O o o its vicinity during the season of the annual pilgrim- age, hoping, as Tabari expresses it, to find among 1 Ibn-Hi^^halll, pp. 279, 280 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. pp. 70, 71. THE FIRST PLEDGE OF AKABA. 119 them some who woukl Ijelieve in him, and carry tiie truth to their people. One clay, whilst thus sadly but yet hopefully work- ing among these half-traders, half-pilgrims, he came upon a group of six men from the distant city of Yathreb conversing together. He asked them to sit down and listen to him ; and they sat dowai and listened. Struck by his earnestness and the truth of his w^ords, they became his proselytes (620 A.c.);^ and returning to their city, they spread the news, with lightning rapidity, that a Prophet had risen among the Arabs who was to call them to God, and put an end to their dissensions, which had lasted for centuries. The next year these Yathrebites returned, and brought six more of their fellow-citizens as deputies from the two principal tribes who occupied that city.^ On the self - same spot which had witnessed the conversion of the former six, the ncAvcomers gave in their adhesion to Mohammed. This is called the first pledge of Akaba, from the name of the hill on which the conference was held.^ The pledge they took was as follows : " We will not associate anything with God ; we will not steal, nor commit adultery, nor fornication ; we will not kill our <-hildren ; we will abstain from calumny and 1 Ibn-Hisliilm, pp. 286, 287 ; Tabari (Zotenberg's trausl.), vol. ii. p. 438. ■•^ Alls and Kliazraj. •" In tliti history of Isbun, this pledge is also called the " Pledge of Women," in contradistinction to the second pledge, in which the deputies of Yathreb took an oath to assist the Moslems, even hy arms, against the attacks and ontrages of their enemies. 120 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. slander ; we will obey the Prophet in everything that is right ; and we will he faithful to him in weal and sorrow."^ After the pledge, they returned home with a dis- ciple of Mohammed to teach them the fundamental doctrines of the new religion, which rapidly spread among the inhabitants of Yathreb. The interval which elapsed between the first and second pledge is remarkable as one of the most critical periods of Mohammed's mission. The sublime trust of Mohammed in God, and the grandeur of his character, never stand forth more prominently than at this period. He was sad at the sight of his people so sternly wedded to idolatry ; ' l)ut his sorrow was assuaged by the hope that the truth would in the end prevail. He might not live to see it ; ' but as surely as darkness flies before the rays of the sun, so surely falsehood will vanish before truth.^ Regarding this epoch, a few words of unconscious admiration escape even the lips of Muir : " Mahomet, thus holding his people at bay, waiting, in the still expectation of victory, to outward appearance defenceless, and with his little band, as it were, in the lion's mouth, yet trusting in His Almighty power whose messenger he believed himself to be, resolute and unmoved, — presents a spectacle of sublimity paralleled only in the sacred records by such scenes as that of the 1 Ibn-Hisliaiii, p. 289 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. pj). 73, 74. 2 Koran, sura vi. ver. 107. 2 Koran, sura xl. ver. 78, xliii. ver. 40, etc. •* Koran, sura xxi. ver. IS. THE VISION OF THE ASCENSION. 121 prophet of Israel, when he comphnined to his Master, ' I, even I only, am left.' " ^ This period of anxious waiting is also remarkable for that notable vision of the Ascension which has furnished worlds of golden dreams for the imaginative genius of poets and traditionists. They have woven beautiful and gorgeous legends round the simple words of the Koran : " Praise be to Him who carried His servant by night from the sacred temple to the temple that is more remote, whose precincts We have blessed, that We mio^ht show him some of our signs I for He is the Hearer, the Seer."^ And again : "And remember We said to thee, Verily, thy Lord is round about mankind ; AYe ordained the vision which We showed thee."^ In spite of the beautiful garb in which the traditionists have dressed this wonderful incident, "it is still a grand vision full of glorious imagery, fraught with deep meaning." * The following year (622 a.c), the Yathrebites who had adopted the new religion repaired to Mecca, to the number of seventy-five, in company with their ^ Life, of Mahomet, vol. ii. p. 228. ^ Koran, sura xvii. ver. 1. ^ Koran, cliaj). xvii. vcr. 62. "All that Molianiniedans must believe respecting the Meraj is, that the Praphet saw himself, in a vision, transported from Mecca to Jerusalem, and that in such vision he really beheld some of the greatest signs of his Lord. It must be evident to the reader that the visions also of a proiihct are a mode of divine inspiration," Syed Ahmed Khan, Ess. xi. p. 34. Muir says that "the earliest authorities point only to a vision, not to a real bo. 267, which support this view. It may, I think, be fairly asked why Christians, who believe in the bodily resurrection and bodily ascension of Jesus and of Elijah, should look upon those Moslems who believe in the bodily ascension of Mohammed as less rational than themselves ? ■• Stanley Lane-Poole, Introd. to the Selections from the Koran, f. Ivi. 122 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. idolatrous brethren, to invite the Prophet to their city ; ^ but the idoLaters had no knowledge of the intention of their companions. In the stillness of niglit,^ when all hostile elements appeared slumbering, these pioneers of the new faith met under the hill which had witnessed the first pledge. Mohammed appeared among them, accom- panied by his uncle Abbas, who, though not a convert, yet took a w\arm interest in the progress of Islam. He opened the conference, and vividly described to the Yathrebites the risk they incurred by adop ting- Islam and inviting its teacher to their city. They replied with one voice, that they adopted the religion fully conscious of the dangers that surrounded them. " Speak, 0 Prophet of God," said they, " and exact any pledge for thyself and thy Lord." The Prophet began, as was his wont, by reciting several passages of the Koran ; he then invited all present to the service of God, and dwelt upon the blessings of the new dispensation.^ The former pledge was repeated, that they would worship none but God ; that they would observe the precepts of Islam ; that they would obey Mohammed in all that was right, and defend him and his, even as they would their women and children. "* "And," said they, "if we die in the cause of God, what shall be our return ? " " Happiness hereafter," ^ Ibn-Hishani, p. 296. - In the night of tlie first and second day of the Tashrik, the period of tliree days which follow immediately the celebration of the rites of the pilgrimage. ^ Ibn-Hisham, p. 296 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. ]\ 76. * Ibid. THE SECOND PLEDGE OF AKABA. 123 was the reply.' "But," said tliey, "thou wilt not leave us in the hour of prosperity to return to thy people?" The Prophet smiled and said: "Nay, never ; your blood is my blood ; I am yours, you are mine." " Give us then thy hand ; " and each one placing his hand on the Prophet's hand, swore allegi- ance to him and his God. Scarcely had the compact been concluded, when the voice of a Meccan, who had been watching this scene from a distance, came floating on the night air, striking a sudden panic into the self- denying hearts there assembled. The firm words of Mohammed restored their presence of mind. Mohammed then selected twelve men from among them — men of position, pointed out to him by the voice of the people — as his delegates {JSfakthi^).' Thus was concluded the second pledge of Akaba. The Meccan spy had already spread the news of this conference through the city. Astounded at the temerity of Mohammed and his followers, the Koreish proceeded in a body to the caravan of the Yathrebites to demand the men who had entered into the pledge with him. Finding no clue, however, as to the persons who had taken part at the meeting, they allowed the <'aravan to depart unmolested. But this apparent moderation on the part of the Koreish formed only a > Abulfi'dri, p. 29 ; Ilm-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 77. '^ Ibn-IIishrun, pj). 297-300. Sevcnty-tive people, men and women, took part in this pledge. This event occurred in the month of Zu'l- Hijja, and the Prophet stopped at Mecca thron«,diont the remainder of this month and Muharram and Safar. In Rabi I. he left for Medina ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 78 124 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. prelude to a furious persecution of Moliammed and his disciples. The position of the latter became every day more and more perilous. The Prophet, fearing a general massacre, advised his followers to seek im- mediate safety at Yathreb ; whereupon about one hundred families silently disappeared by twos and threes from Mecca and proceeded to Yathreb, where they were received with enthusiasm. Entire quarters of the city thus became deserted ; and Otba, the son of Kabia, at the sight of these vacant abodes, once so full of life, " sighed heavily," and recited the old verse : "Every dwelling-place, even if it has been blessed ever so long, will one day become a prey to unhappiness and bitter wdnd ; " "And," he sorrowfully added, "all this is the work of the son of our brother, wlio has scattered our assemblies, ruined our affairs, and created dissension amongst us."^ As it w^as with Jesus, so it was with Mohammed ; only with this difference, that in one case the Teacher himself says : " Think not that I came to send peace on earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword : for I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in- law ag-ainst her mother-in-law."^ In Mohammed's case it was one of his most persevering opponents who accused him of creating dissension in families. Throughout this period, when the storm was at its height, and might at any moment have burst over his head, Mohammed never quailed. All his disciples had 1 Ibn-Hisham, p. 316. ^ Matt. x. 34, 35. THE HEGIRA. 125 left for Yathrel) ; alone he remained bravely at his post, with the devoted Ali and the venerable Abu Bakr. Meanwhile the clouds were gathering fast. Fearful of the escape of the Prophet, an assembly of the Koreish met in all dispatch in the town-hall (Dar-un- Nedwa), and some chiefs of other clans were invited to attend. The matter had become one of life and death. Stormy was the meeting, for fear had entered their hearts. Imprisonment for life, expulsion from the city, each was debated in turn. Assassination was then proposed ; but assassination hy one man would have exposed him and his family to the vengeance of blood. The difficulty was at last solved by Abu Jahl, who suggested that a number of courageous men, chosen from difterent families, should sheath their swords simul- taneously in Mohammed's bosom, in order that the responsibility of the deed might rest upon all, and the relations of Mohammed might consequently be unable to avenge it.^ This proposal was accepted, and a number of noble youths were selected for the sanguinary deed. As the night advanced, the assassins posted themselves round the Prophet's dwelling. Thus they watched all night long, waiting to murder him when he should leave his house in the early dawn, peeping now and then through a hole in the door to make sure that he still lay on his bed. But, meanwhile, the instinct of self-pre- servation, the instinct which had often led the great ^ Ibn-Hisluim, pp. 32.3-325 ; Ibn-Athir, vol. ii. p. 79 ; the Koran, sura viii. vcr. 30. According to Ibn Hisliani, tliis proposal of Abvl Jahl, one of the Koreish, was seconded by a stranger, in the guise of a veneiable Sheikh, whom tradition has resolved into Satan himself. 126 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. Prophet of Nazaretli to evade his enemies/ had warned Mohammed of the danger. In order to keep the attention of the assassins fixed upon the bed, he put his own green garment upon the devoted and faithful Ah, hade him lie on his bed," "and escaped, as David had escaped, through the window." He repaired to the house of Abu Bakr ; and they fled together unobserved from the inhospitable city of their birth. They lay hid for several days in a cavern of Mount Thour, a hill to the south of Mecca. ^ The fury of the Koreish was now unbounded. The news that the would-be assassins had returned unsuc- cessful, and Mohammed had escaped, aroused their whole energy. Horsemen scoured the country. A price was set upon Mohammed's head.* Once or twice the danger approached so near that the heart of old Abu Bakr quaked with fear. " We are but two," said he. " Nay," said Mohammed, "we are three ; God is with us ;" and He was wdth them. After three days the Koreish slackened their eftbrts. All this time Mohammed and his companion were sustained by food brought to them at night by a daughter of Abu Bakr.'' On the evening of the third day the fugitives left the cavern, and, pro- curing with great difficulty two camels, endeavoured to reach Yathreb 1)}^ unfrequented pjitlis. But even here the way was full of danger. The heavy price set upon ^ Couip. Milman, Hist, of Christianity, vol. i. p. 253. - Ibn-Hisliam, p. 325 ; Iljn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 80. " See Desvergers' note (57) to his Abulfedu, \y. 116. "* Of a hundred camels, Ibn-Hishani, p. 328 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 81. ■"' Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 81. THE HEGIRA. 127 Mohammed's head had brought out many horsemen from Mecca, and they were still diligently seeking for the helpless wanderer. One, a wild and fierce warrior, actually caught sight of the fugitives and pursued them. Again the heart of ALii Bakr misgave him, and he cried, " We are lost." " Be not afraid," said the Prophet, " God will protect us." As the idolater overtook Mohammed, his horse reared and fell. Struck with sudden awe, he entreated the forgiveness of the man whom he was pursuing, and asked for an attestation of his pardon. This was given to him on a piece of bone by Al)u Bakr.^ The fugitives continued their journey without further molestation, and after three days' journeying reached the territories of Yathreb. It was a hot day in June, G22 of the Christian era, when Mohammed aliahted from his camel upon the soil which was thenceforth to become his home and his refuo;e. A Jew watchino- on a tower first espied him," and thus were the words of the Koran fulfilled : "They, to whom the Scriptures have been given, recognise him as they do their own children."^ Mohammed and his companion rested for a few days* at a village called Kol)a,'' situated only two miles to the south of Yathreb, and remarkable for its beauty and fertility. Here he was joined by Ali, who had been severely maltreated by the idolaters after their disap- 1 Ibn-Hisliani, pp. 331, 332 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, ihuL ■ Ibii-Hisliaiii, p. 334. •' Koran, sura vi. ver. 20. ■• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, anil Thursday, Ibn-Hisliiini, p. 335 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 83. ^ See Desvergors' Abulfeda, p. 116, note r)9. 128 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. pointment at Mohammed's escape.^ Ali fled from Mecca and jom^neyed on foot, hiding himself in the daytime and travelling only at night, lest he should fall into the hands of the Koreish.^ The Banii-Amr-bin-Auf, to whom the village belonged, requested Mohammed to prolong his stay amongst them. But the duty of the Prophet lay before him ; and he proceeded towards Yathreb, attended by a numerous body of his disciples. He entered the city on the morning of a Friday, 16th of Eabi L, corresponding (according to M. Caussin de Perceval ^) with the 2nd of July 622." Thus was accomplished the Hijrat, called in European annals " the flight of Mohammed," from which dates the Mahommedan calendar. Note 1 to Chapter II. The " Hejira," or the era of the Hijrat, was instituted seventeen years later by the second Caliph. The commence- ment, however, is not laid at the real time of the departure from Mecca, which happened on the 4th of Eabi I., but on the first day of the first lunar month of the year, viz. Muliar- ram — which day, in the year when the era was established, fell on the 15th of Jvdy. But though Omar instituted the official era, the custom of referring to events as happening before or after the Hijrat originated, according to some traditions, with the Prophet him- 1 Ilm-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 80. - Ibid. vol. ii. ix 82. ^ Caussin. de Perceval, vol. iii. pp. 17-20. ■» Ibn-Hisliam, p. 335 ; Abulfetia, p. 30. THE HEGIRA. 129 self; this event naturally nmikiny the greatest crisis in the history of his mission. — -Comp. Tabari, in loco. Note 2 to Chapter II. The twelve Moslem months are : Muharram (the sacred month), Safar (the month of departure), liabi 1. (first month of the spring), IJabi II. (second month of the spring), Jamadi I. (first dry month), Jamadi II. (second dry month), Uajjab (respected, called often IJajjab - al - Murajjab), Shabrm (the month of the budding of trees), iJamazan (month of heat), Shawwal (month of junction), Zu'1-Kada (month of truce, rest, or relaxation), Zu'l Hijja (month of pilgrimage). The ancient Arabs observed the lunar year of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 seconds, divided into twelve months of 29 and 30 days alternately. In order to make them agree with the solar year of their neighbours, the Greeks and the Eomans, and also in order to make the months fall in the right season, they added a month every third year. This intercalation was called Nasi ; and although it was not perfectly exact, it served to maintain a sort of correlation between the denomination of the months and the seasons. Since the suppression of the Nasi, on account of the orgies and various heathen rites observed in the intercalary years, the names of the months have no relation to the seasons. CHAPTER III. THE PEOPHET AT MEDINA. SA^T 3j4.1aJ _>—==»' ^ '^'hy^ t^Xi^i^^y*^ y <~-ijS ^J'^J ^^ (^\ Sj — *T ^^j d,)j j Sj — «T ^ij Few Mussulmans of the })i'<^st?iit; day understand the full import of the mystical verses quoted at the head of this chapter, but all appreciate the deep devotion to the grand seer implied in those words. And this devotion is not one which has twined itself round a mythical ideal, or has grown with the lapse of time. From the moment of his advent into Yathreb Ik^ stands in the full blaze of day — the grandest of figures upon whom the light of history has ever shone. The minutest details of his life are carefully noted and handed down to posterity, to l^ecome crystallised often against the spirit of his own teachings, which aimed at the perpetual growth of the human race. We have seen this wonderful man as an orphan child who had never known a fatlier's love, bereft in infancy of a mother's care, his early life so full of patlios, growing up from a thoughtful childhood to a still more thought- THE PROPHET AT MEDINA. 131 fill youth. His youth as pure and true as his boyhood ; his manhood as austere and devout as liis youth. His ear ever open to the sorrows and sufferings of the weak and the poor ; his heart ever full of sympathy and tenderness towards all God's creatures. He walks so humbly and so purely, that men turn round and point, there goes al-Amin, the true, the upright, the trustv. A faithful friend, a devoted husband ; a thinker intent on the mysteries of life and death, on the responsi- bilities of human actions, the end and aim of human existence, — he sets himself to the task of reclaiming and reforming a nation, nay, a world, with only one loving heart to comfort and solace him. Baffled, he never falters ; beaten, he never despairs. He struggles on v/ith indomital)le spirit to achieve the work assigned to him. His purity and nobleness of character, his intense and earnest belief in God's mercy, l)ring round him ultimately many a devoted heart ; and when the moment of the severest trial comes, like the faithful mariner, he remains stedfast at his post until all his followers are safe, and then betakes himself to the liospitable shore : such we have seen him. We shall see him now the king of men, the ruler of human hearts, (^hief, lawyer, and supreme magistrate, and yet without any self- exaltation, lowly and humble. His history henceforth is mero-ed in the historv of the common- wealth of which he was the centre. Henceforth the preacher who mended with his own hands his clothes, and often went without bread, was mightier than the mightiest sovereigns of the earth. 132 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. " Mohammed had shown men what he was ; the iiol)ility of his character, his strong friendship, his endurance and courage, above all, his earnestness and fiery enthusiasm for the truth he came to j)reach, — ■ these things had revealed the hero, the master whom it was alike impossible to disobey and impossible not to love. Henceforward it is only a question of time. As the men of Medina come, to know Mohammed, they too will devote themselves to him body and soul ; and the enthusiasm will catch fire and spread among the tribes, till all Arabia is at the feet of the Prophet of the one God. ' No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own cloutino-.' He had the gift of influencing men, and he had the nol)ility only to influence them for good." Medina the " illuminated " — the city of many names — is situated about eleven days' journey to the north of Mecca. Now a w^alled city of considerable strength, in those days it was completely open and exposed to outside attacks until the Prophet made the famous moat as a defence against the Koreishites. The city is said to have been established by an Amalekite chief, whose name it bore until the advent of the Prophet. In early times Yathreb and its environs were inhal»ited l)y the Amalekites ; these are said to have been over- whelmed and destroyed by successive colonies of Jews, who, flying before Babylonian and Greek and Roman persecutors or avengers, entered Arabia and established themselves in the northern part of Hijaz. The most important of these colonies were the Banu-Nadhir at THE PROPHET AT MEDINA. 133 Khaibar, the Baiiu-Kuraizlia at Fidak, tlie Banu-Kay- imka near Medina itself. Livino- in fortified cantons, they had domineered over the neighbouring Arab tribes, until the establishment of two Kahtanite tribes, Aus and Khazraj at Yathreb. These two tribes, who yielded at first some sort of obedience to the Jews, were able to reduce them to a state of clientao;e. Before lono', however, they commenced quarrelling among them- selves, and it was only about the time when the Prophet announced his mission at Mecca that, after long years of decimating warfare, they had succeeded in patching up a peace. Such was the political condition of Yathreb when the Prophet made his appearance among the Yathrebites. AVitli his advent a new era dawned upon the city. The two tribes of Aus and Khazraj, forgetting their inveterate and mortal feuds in the brcjtherhood of the faith, rallied round the standard of Islam and formed the nucleus of the Moslem commonwealth. The old divisions were eftaced, and the noble desionation of Ansar (Helpers) became the ccmimon title of all who had helped Islam in its hour of ti'ial. The faithful band which had forsaken their beloved birthplace, and every tie of home, received the name of JMuhajerin (Emigrants or Exiles). In order to unite the Ansar and Muhajerin in closer bonds, the Prophet established a l)rotherhood between them, which linked them together in sorrow and in happiness. Yathreb changed its ancient name, and was hence- 134 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. forth styled Medinat un-Naht, the city of the Prophet, or shortly, Medina, the city. A mosque was soon built, in the erection of which Mohammed assisted with his own hands ; and houses for the accommodation of the emigrants rose apace. 'J'wo brothers, who owned the land on which it was proposed to build the mosque, had offered it as a free gift ; but as they were orphans, the Prophet paid them the price at which it was valued. The building was simple in form and structure, suited to the unostentatious religion he taught. The walls were of brick and earth, and the roof of palm leaves. A portion of the mosque was set apart as a habitation for those who had no home of their own. Everything in this humble place of worship was conducted with the greatest simplicity. Mohammed preached and prayed standing on the bare ground or leaning against a palm tree, and the devoted hearts around him beat in unison with his soul-stirring; words. " He who is not affectionate to God's creatures and to his own children," he would say, " God will not be affec- tionate to him. Every Moslem who clothes the naked will be clothed by God in the green robes of Paradise." ^ In one of his sermons he thus dwelt on the subject of charity : " When God created the earth, it shook and trembled, until He put mountains upon it to make it firm. Then the angels asked, ' 0 God, is there any- thing in Thy creation stronger than these mountains ? ' And God replied, ' Iron is stronger than the mountains, ' Froiii Abfi Hurainl, MishMt, book xii. chap. iii. part i. THE PROPHET AT MEDINA. 135 for it breaks them.' ' And is there anything in Thy creation stronger than iron ? ' ' Yes ; fire is stronger than iron, for it melts it.' ' Is there anything in Thy (Teation stronger than fire ? ' ' Yes ; water, for it ({uenches fire.' ' 0 Lord, is there anything in Thy creation stronger than water ? ' ' Yes ; wind, for it over- comes water and puts it in motion.' 'Oh, our Sustainer, is there anything in Thy creation stronger than wind ? ' ' Yes ; a o-ood man oiving; alms ; if he o-ive with his right hand and conceal it from his left, he overcomes all things.' " His definition of charity embraced the wide circle of kindness : " Every good act," he would say, " is charity. Your smiling in your brother's face is charity ; an exhortation addressed to your fellow men to do virtuous deeds is equal to alms-giving. Putting a wanderer in the right path is charity ; assisting the blind is charity; removing stones and thorns and other oljstructions from the road is charity ; giving water to the thirsty is charity." ^ " A man's true wealth here- after is the good he does in this world to his fellow- men. When he dies, people will ask. What property has he left behind him ? But the angels, who examine him in the grave, will ask. What good deeds hast thou sent before thee ? " " 0 Prophet ! " said one of his disciples, " my mother, Umm Sad, is dead ; what is the best alms I can give away for the good of her soul?" "Water!" replied Mohammed, bethinking himself of the panting heats of 1 From Abft Said Khazii. 136 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. the desert. " Dig a well for her, and give water to the thirsty." The man digged a well in his mother's name, and said, " This is for my mother, that its blessings "may reach her soul." " Charity of the tongue," says Irving, " that most important and least cultivated of charities, was like- wise earnestly inculcated by Mahomet." Abu Jariya, an inhabitant of Basrah, coming to Medina, and being convinced of the apostolic office of Mohammed, begged of him some great rule of conduct. " Speak evil of no one," answered the Prophet. " From that time," says Abu Jariya, " I never abused any one, whether freeman or slave." The teachings of Islam extended to the courtesies of life. " Make a salam (or salutation) to the dwellers of a house on enterino- and leavino; it.' Return the salute of friends and acquaintances, and wayfarers on the road. He who rides must he the first to make the salute to him wdio walks ; he who walks to him who is sitting : a small party to a large party, and the young to the old." ^ ' Compare Koran, cliap. xxiv. vers. 27, 28, 61, and 62. - From Aba Hurairah, MiMdf, Bk. xxii. chap. i. part 1. Besides the references already given, consult the Kitdb-ul-Mustatrif, chaps, iv. v. x. xii. xix. xxii. xxiii. and xxv. The Mustatrif gives fully the references to Tirmizi, Muslim, and Bukhari. Consult also the Majdlis-ul-Ahmr Majlis (seance), 84. CHAPTER IV. THE HOSTILITY OF THE KOREISH AND THE JEWS. J^^Uwl 'l.!U~^ 'W-^"^ \-iX9 ^w.»-i« ^«JuJ) *v!aA3 sla^w ^w-UJl w«»,£») At this time there were three distinct parties in Medina, i- \"- ^ ^ . ^ 19th Ai'iil The Muhajerin (the Exiles) and the Ansar (the Helpers) '^p*j».J.^i^ formed the kernel of Islam. Their devotion to the '^•''• Prophet was unbounded. The Exiles had forsaken their homes, and abandoned, contrary to all Arali traditions, the ties of kith and kin, in the cause of the faith. They had braved all sufferings, withstood all temptations in the service of the Lord. Many of them had come to the city of safety without means. They had been received with open arms by the Medinite converts, who in many cases shared their worldly goods 138 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. with the poorer of the new-comers. The brotherhood of faith, so wisely established by the Prophet, whilst it prevented the growth of jealousy, gave rise to a generous emulation, both among the Ansar and the Muhajerin, as to who would bring the greatest sacrifice in the service of God and His Prophet. The enthusiasm and earnestness with wdiich these men and women devoted themselves to the new awakening, the zeal with which they laid down their lives, was a manifesta- tion such as had not Ijeen seen since the best days of the Christian phase of religious development. The second, and at first by no means an unimportant party, was composed principally of lukewarm converts to the faith, who retained an ill - concealed predilection for idolatry ; and was headed by Abdullah-ibn-Ubbay, a chief of some position in the city, who aspired to the kinghood of Medina. With this object he had gathered round him, like Abu Sufian at Mecca, a strong body of partizans. Everything was ripe for him to seize the reins of power, when the arrival of the Prophet upset his designs. The popuhir enthusiasm compelled him and his followers to make a nominal profession of Islam ; but, ever ready as they were to turn against the Moslems at the least opportunity, they w^ere a source of considerable danger to the new-born commonwealth, and required unceasing watchfulness on the part of the Prophet. Towards them he always showed the greatest patience and forbearance, hoping in the end to win them over to the faith. And this expectation was fully justified by the result. AVith the death of THE JEWS IN MEDINA. 139 Abdul]ali-il)n-Ul)l)ay his party, which has been stigma- tised ^ as the party of the Miinafikin (the disaffected or hypocrites), disapj^eared from view. But the Jews, who may be said to have formed the third party, constituted the most serious element of danorer, Thev had close business connections with the Koreish, and their ramifications extended into various parts hostile to the new faith. At first they were inclined to look with some ftivour on the preachings of ]\Iohammed. He could not, of course, be their pro- mised Messiah, l)ut perhaps a weak dreamer, a humble preacher, dependent upon the hospitality of their old enemies, now their patrons, the Aus and Khazraj, might become their avenger, help them in conquering the Arabs, and found for them a new king;dom of Judah. With this aim in view, they had joined with the Medinites in a half-hearted welcome to the Prophet. And for a time they maintained a pacific attitude. But it was only for a time ; for barely a month had gone by before the old spirit of rebellion, which had led them to crucify their prophets, found vent in open seditions and secret treachery. One of the first acts of Mohammed after his arrival in Medina was to weld together the heterogeneous and conflicting elements of which the city and its suburl)s were composed, into an orderly con- federation. With this object he had granted a charter to the people, by which the rights and obligations of the Moslems inter se, and of the Moslems and Jews, were clearly defined. And the Jews, borne down for ^ Koran, sura xlii. ; Ibn Hisliam, pp. 3fi3, 411. 140 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. the moment l)y tlie irresistible character of the move- ment, had gladly accepted the pact. This document, which has been carefully preserved in the pages of Ibn- Hisliam, reveals the man in his real glory — a master- mind, not only of his own age, as Muir calls him, but of all ages. No wild dreamer he, bent upon pulling down the existing fabrics of society, but a statesman of un- rivalled powers, who in an age of utter and hopeless disintegration, with such materials and such polity as God put ready to his hands, set himself to the task of reconstructing a State, a commonwealth, a society upon the basis of universal humanity. " In the name of the most merciful and compassionate God," says this first charter of freedom of conscience. " griven bv Mohammed, the Prophet, to the Believers, whether of the Koreisli or of Yathreb, and all individuals of whatever orioin who have made common cause with them, all these shall constitute one nation." Then, after reg-ulatinjJi; the payment of the Diat^ by the various clans, and fixing some wise rules regarding the private duties of Moslems as between themselves, the document proceeds thus : " The state of peace and war shall l)e common to all Moslems ; no one amons; them shall have the right of concluding peace with, or declaring war against, the enemies of his co - relio-ionists. The Jews who attach themselves to our commonwealth shall be '^lo- tected from all insults and vexations ; they shall have an equal right with our own people to our assistance ^ Diat, wehrtjeld, price wliich a homicide Lad tu pay to tlie family of the victim, if they consented to it. THE CHARTER OF MOHAMMED. 141 and good offices : the Jews of the various branches of Awf, Najjar, Harith, Jashm, Thrdal)a, Aus, and all others domiciled in Yathrel), shall form with the Moslems one composite nation ; they shall practise their religion as freely as the Moslems ; the clients ^ and allies of the Jews shall enjoy the same security and freedom; tlw (jnUty shall he j^ursued a7id j^anished ; the Jews shall join the Moslems in defendino- Yathreb (Medina) against all enemies ; the interior of Yathreb shall be a sacred place for all who accept this charter ; the clients and allies of the Moslems and the Jews shall be as respected as the 2^<^ifi'ons ; all true Moslems shall hold in abhorrence every man guilty of crime, injustice, or disorder'; no one shall uphold the culpable, though lie were his nearest kin." Then, after some other pro- visions regarding the internal management of the State, this extraordinary document concluded thus : " All future disputes ])etween those who accept this charter shall be referred, under God, to the Prophet." - A death-blow was thus given to that anarchic custom of the Arabs, which had hitherto oblio-ed the ag-aneved and the injured to rely upon his own or his kinsmen's power in order to exact vengeance, or satisfy the requirements of justice. It constituted Mohammed the chief magistrate of the nation, as much l)y his pro- phetic function as by a virtual compact between him- self and the people. ^ /.*'. tlie protected. - Ibu-Hisham, pp. 341-;343. Tlie (lUiiintiu-ss of this (lucuuient has led me to paraphrase it, in order to throw into greater relief it« real worth. 142 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 2 AH. 7tii The Jewish tribes of the Bani-Nadhir, Bani-Kuraizha, IMay (523 to ^ . . ... n hit i 2(ith April and Bani-Kamuka, settled id the vicinity oi Medina, were not at first included in this charter ; but after a short time they, too, gratefully accepted its terms. No kindness or generosity, however, on the part of the Prophet would satisfy the Jews ; nothing could conciliate the bitter feelings with which they were ani- mated. Enraged that they could not use him as their instrument for the conversion of Arabia to Judaism, and that liis belief was so much simpler than their Tal- mudic legends, they soon broke off, and ranged them- selves on the side of the enemies of the new faith. And when asked wdiich they preferred, idolatry or Islam, they, like many Christian controversialists, declared they preferred idolatry, with all its attendant evils, to the creed of Mohammed. They reviled him ; they " twisted their tongues " and mispronounced the Koranic words and the daily prayers and formulae of Islam, rendering them meaningless, absurd, or blasphemous ; -^ and the Jewish poets and poetesses, of whom there existed many at the time, outraged all common decency and the recognised code of Arab honour and chivalry l)y lampooning in obscene verse the Moslem women. But these were minor offences. Not satisfied with insulting the women of the Believers and reviling the Prophet, they sent out emissaries to the enemies of the State, the protection of which they had formally accepted. The Koreish, who had sworn Mohammed's death, were well acquainted, thanks to the party of Abdullah-ibn-Ubbav and the fciithless Israelites, with THE JEWS IN MEDINA. 143 the exact strength of the Moslems. Tliev ulso knew that the Jews had accepted Mohammed's alliance onlv from motives of temporary expediency, and that the moment they showed themselves in the vicinity of Medina the worshijipers of Jehovah would break away from him and join the idolaters. And now came the moment of severest trial to Islam. Barely had the Prophet time to put the city in a state of defence and organise the Believers, before the blow descended upon him.^ Medina itself was honeycombed by sedition and treachery. And it now became the duty of Mohammed to take serious measures to guard against that dreaded catastrophe which a rising within, or a sudden attack from without, would have entailed upon his followers. He was not simply a preacher of Islam ; he was also the guardian of the lives and liberties of his people. As a Prophet, he could afford to ignore the revilings and the gibes of his enemies ; but as the head of the State, " the general in a time of almost continual warfare," when Medina was kept in a state of military defence and under a sort of military discipline, he could not overlook treachery. He was bound by his duty to his subjects to suppress a party that might have led, and almost did, lead to the sack of the city l)y investing armies. The safety of the State required the proscription of the traitors, who were either sowing the seeds of sedition within ^ledina or carrying; information to the common enemv. Some ' Koran, .smu ix. ver. 13; Al-Jannubi ; ZamakL.^liri (tlie K(i.-elieved in the existence of intermediate beings, celestial messengers from God to man. The modern dis])elief in angels furnishes no reason for ridiculing the notions of our forefathers. Our disbelief is as much open to the name of superstition as their 1 >clief ; only one is negative, the other positive. What we, in modern times, look upon as the principles of nature, they looked upon as angels, ministrants of heaven. Whether there exist intermediate beings, as Locke thinks, between God and man, just as there are intermediate beings between man and the lowest form of animal creation, is a c|uestion too deep to be fathomed by the human intellect. Mohammed also, like Jesus, probably believed in the existence of the Principle of Evil as a personal entity. But an analysis of his words reveals a more rationalistic element, a subjective conception clothed in language suited for the apprehension of his followers. When somebody asked him where Satan lived, he replied, " In the heart of man." The belief in angels and devils lias given rise to an extraordinarv number of leo-ends both in Islam and in ^ Ps. xviii. IDEAS REGARDING ANGELS. 14!) CliriHtianitv. The saints of heaven and an ujels fight for the Christian. The Moslem tries as much as possible to leave the saints to themselves, and only accepts the assistance of nno;els in the hattles of life. Tradition converts the Pharisee who tempted Jesus, into the veritable Prince of Hell.' Note to Chapter IY The story of Moliamnied's inluiman reply to the appeal of Okba, son of Abu ]\Iuait, wlien he was being led forward to execution, is utterly false ; it is said that on Okba's asking, " Who will take care of my little children ? " ^Mohammed answered, " Hell tire." This story is so preposterous in itself, so opposed to Mohammed's true character (one of wdiose noblest traits was his love for children, and who always inculcated love and protection of orphans as an absolute duty, and an act most acceptable to Gcd), that it is hardly necessary to search for its true origin. Christian writers, however, seem to gloat over it, and hence it becomes needful to examine how the story arose. ' All the Sclilfiormacher school believe the teniptov to have hccii tlie licail ])iiest. Milmaii ineiitious this view as well as the patristic and orthodox one, but dextei'ously leaves for the reader to choose -which he likes. The chapter of Renss on Angels (History of Christian Theokxjy iit the Apostolic Age, fhiglish translation, note 1, pp. 401-404), with tlie mass of references arrayed therein, distinctly proves that the early Chiistiaiis, the innnediatf disciples of .Iesn>-, firmly believed the angels and devils to lie jicrsonal entities, beings slightly ethereal, hut in every way human-like ; and this belief those disciples of Jesus must have received from the Masti'r himself, who indeed, as Renan says, could not have been, in these respects, intellectually dift'erent from the people of his age ; J'u' (If Jesus, .3rd ed. 1867, p. 267. loO THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. It originated most probably from the sobriquet of Sihi/at- vn-Ndr (children of fire), applied to the children of Okba. Okba himself belonged to the tribe of Ajhln/ a branch of which inhabited certain valleys near Safra, and were known by the name of Bani-nn-Nar (children or descendants of fire). The sobriquet was probably derived from this circum- stance ; and the story of Mohammed's reply from the nick- name. Another story of Mohammed's having bitterly apostrophised the dead of the idolaters on their burial is, to say the least, distorted. Tabari thus narrates the circumstances which has given rise to this calumny : " The Prophet placed himself by the side of the large grave or pit which had been prepared for the corpses ; and as the bodies were lowered, the names were called out, and Mohammed then uttered these words, 'You, my kindred, you accused me of lying, when others believed in me ; you drove me from my home, when others received me ; what destiny has been yours ! Alas ! all that God threatened is fulfilled.' " These words, which were palpably meant to express pity, have been distorted to imply bitterness. ^ Agliani, according to C de rerce\-al, vol. iii. p. 70. CHAPTER V. HOSTILITY OF THE JEWS AND ARABS. « — C ustantiiie (312 A.c.) as tlie greatest triumph of theii' fuitli. Tlie eliapter of Gibbon, vol. iii. chaj). xx., niingk-fl satire and history, shows 1h>\v tlie success of Cliristianity dates from tliat event. ir>i 152 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. like the Israelites or Christians of yore, saw the hand of Providence in their success over the idolaters. Harl the Moslems failed, we can imagine what their fate would have been — a universal massacre. Whilst Mohammed was engaged in this expedition he lost one of his favourite daughters, Rukaiya, married to (Jsman, who had only recently returned from the Abyssinian exile. But the desire for revenge with which the idolaters were burning allowed him no time to indulge in domestic sorrow. As soon as all the Koreishite prisoners had returned home, Abu Sufian issued forth from Mecca with two hundred horsemen, vowing; solemnly never to return until he had avenofcd himself on Mohammed and his followers. Scouring the country to within a few miles of Medina, he came down with a fell swoop on the unprepared Moslems, slaying the peoj)le, ravaging the date-groves which furnished the staple food of the Arabs. The Meccans had provided themselves with bags of "sawik"^ for the foray. As soon, however, as the Moslems sallied forth from Medina to avenge the murders, the Meccans turned bridle and fled, dropping the bags in order to lighten their beasts : whence this affair was derisivelv called Ijy the Moslems, Ghazivat us-saivik, " the battle of the meal-bags." " ^|]jf^']gj. It was on this occasion that an incident happened April 024. ^ Smcik is the old and modern Arabic name for a dish of green grain, toasted, j^ounded, mixed with elates or sugar, and eaten on journeys when it is found difficult to cook. - The place where the affair took place bears now the name of Suwayka — a few hours' journey to the south-west of Medina. HOSTILITY OP THE JEWS AND ARABS. 15:^ to the Proi)bet which lias been exceedingly well told l»y Washington Irving. Mohammed was sleeping one day alone at the foot of a tree, at a distance from his (•amp, when he was awakened by a noise, and beheld Durthur, a hostile warrior, standing over him with a drawn sword. "0 Mohammed," cried he, "who is there now to save thee?" "God!" rejJied the Prophet. The wild Bedouin was suddenly awed, and dropped his sword, wdiich was instantly seized upon by Mohammed. Brandishing the weapon, he ex- claimed in turn, " Who is there now to save thee, 0 Durthur ? " " Alas, no one ! " replied the soldier. " Then learn from me to be ' merciful.' " So saying, lie returned the sword. The Arab's heart was over- come ; and in after years he proved one of the staunchest adherents of the Prophet.' But this .skirmish between the idolaters and the Moslems, like others which followed, proved only a prelude to the great drama that was about to be enacted. The idolaters Avere burnino; for reveno;e. Thev :^-^i> = '^ '^ •' -JOth April made formidable pre])arations for another war upon ''-♦!," ];\t'i ^ i ^ April (.2.). ^ The last ninntli of this year was marked by tlie death of Osnian, sf)n of Maliztin, and tlie marriage of Ali, son of AbA Talil), to Fatima, Mohannned's daughter. Osman was one of the earliest believers, and lie was the first of the Muhajerin avIio died at Medina, and was interred at Baki, a subui-b of Medina, where lie buried a number of illustrious and saintly people, whose tombs are up to the present s and Ix-atino- their timbrels.' C r1 O The first violent onslauefht of the Koreish was braveh' repulsed Ijy the Moslems, led by Hamza, who, taking advantaoe of the confusion of the enemv, dashed into the midst of the Koreishites, dealing havoc on all sides. Victorv had almost declared for the Moslems, when the archers, forgetting the injunction of the Prophet, and ^ Buitou tliiis tlescribes the spot: "This spot, so celehrated in th(^ ;uiuals of El Islam, is a sholvinj^ strip of laml, close to the southeiu base of Mount Ohod. The army of the infidels advanced from the tiumara in crescent shape, Avith Abft Sufiyan, the general, and his idols in the centre. It is distant about three miles from El Medinah in a northerly direction. All the visitor sees is hard gravelly ground, co\eri'd Avith little hea]is of various coloured granite, red sandstone, and liits of porphyry, to denote the different places ■where the martyrs fell and were luiried. Seen from this point, there is something ap})alling in the look of the holy mountain. Its seared and jagfred Hanks rise like masses of iron from the })lain, and the crevice into whicli the Moslem host retired, when the disobedience of the archers in hastening to plunder enabled Klialid ben Walid to fall upon Mohammed's rear, is the only break in the grim wall. Reeking with heat, its surface pi'oduces not one green shrub or stunted tree ; not a bird or l)east appeared upon its inhospitable sides, and tlie bright Ijlue sky glaring above its bald and sullen brow made it look oidy the more repulsive." — Barton's PH(jrima(\t to Mecca, vol. ii. p]). 236, 237. - Extracts from their war -songs are given by Ibn-Hisham, \>. 562. "(Jourage! ye children of Abd-ud-Dar; courage! defenders of Avomeu ! strike home with the edges of your swords." Another runs thus: "We are daughters of the star of the morn ; we tread softly on cushions ; face the enemy boldly, and we shall pi'ess you in our arms ; fly, and we shall shun you, shun you witli disgust." Also Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. ]>. 118. 156 THE LIFE OF MOHAMxMED. seeing the enemy in flight, dispersed in search of plunder.' And what happened in later days at Tours happened at Ohod. Khalid bin Walid, one of the Koreish, at once perceived their error, and rallying the horse, fell on the rear of the Moslems.' The infantry of the Koreish also turned, and the Moslem troops, taken both in rear and front, had to renew the battle at fearful odds. Some of the bravest chiefs in the Moslem army fell fighting. The intrepid Hamza, with several others, was killed ; Ali, who had chivalrously answered the first call of defiance {Rnjz) of the idolaters,"' and Omar and Abu Bakr were severely wounded. The efforts of the idolaters were, however, principally directed towards Mohammed, who, surrounded by a few disciples, and separated from the main body of his people, became now the chief ol)ject of their assaults. His friends fell fast around him. Though wounded and bleeding he did not forget their lovino; hearts, and blessed the hand that tried to stanch the l)lood Avhi(di flowed from his forehead.* But rescue was nigh. The brave warriors who under Ali had been fighting in the centre with the energy of despair, succeeded in retreating to a 1 This disobedience is referred to in the Koran, sura iii. ver. 146. - Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. 119 ; Tabari, vol. iii. p. 26. 3 Tabari says that Talha, the standard-bearer of the idolaters, a man of lieroic bravery, placed himself liefore Ali, and brandishing his sabre, defied him, crying, " You Moslems say that our dead will go to liell, and yours to heaven ; let me see wliether I cannot send thee to heaven." Upon this Ali replied, "Be it so!" and they fought, and Tallia was struck to the ground. "Mercy, O son of my uncle," cried he. Ali replied, " Mercy be it; thou dost not deserve the tire." — Vol. iii. p. 25. * Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 114, and Abulfeda, p. 44, mention the date of the battle of Ohod as tlie Ttli of Shawwal ; Taluui, vol. iii. p. 21, men- THK VICTORY OF THE KOKEISH. 157 point on tin- hill, where they were secure from tlie attacks of the enemy, but full of consternation at the h)ss, as they supposed, of their great master. Seeing, however, their l)rethren still fighting in another part of the field, thcv rushed down into the midst of the idolaters. Penetrating to the place where the small group of Moslems yet defended the Prophet, and tind- iiitf that he still lived, thev succeeded, after great exertions, in retreating with him to the heights of j\Iount Ohod, where they breathed again. Ali fetched water in his shield from the hollow of a rock. With this he bathed Mohammed's face and wounds, and with liis companions offered up the mid-day prayers sitting. The Koreish were too exhausted to follow up their advanlao-e, either bv attackino; jMedina or drivino; the Moslems from the heiuhts of Ohod. Thev retreated irom the ^ledinite territories after barbarously mutilat- iuiX their slain enemies. The wife of Abu Sufian, Hind, the daughter of Otba, with the other Koreishite women, showed the trreatest ferocitv in this savai>e work of venoeance, tearincj out and dev<»urin<>- the heart of TIamza. and makino; bracelets and necklaces of the ears and noses of the dead. The barbarities practised by the Koreish on the slain created among the Moslems a feeling of bitter exaspera- tiuus tliL' Sill ; lbii-lli.-lii"uii, tlic l.'jtli ; ami seviial ulliiTs the lltli. C'. de Perceval, however, ealculates the 11th to have heeii the real date of the battle, as acconliu;^ to all the chroniclers the day was a Saturday, and the 11th of Shawwill (I'fitli of .January) fell on a Saturday. - flint, i/es Arahes, vol. iii. p. 90. nolf. * Ilm-Hisliani, p. 580 et seq. ; Ibii-al-Athir, vol. ii. \>]<. 1 l'}-\-2(i ; Tabari, vol. iii. \>. 16 et se([. ; Abulfediv, pp. 44-46. 158 THE LIFB: of MOHAMMED. tioii. Even Moliaiiimcd was at first so moved by indig- nation as to declare that the dead of the Koreish should in future be treated in like manner. But the gentle- ness of his nature contiuered the Ijitterness of his heart. " Bear wrong patiently," he preached ; " verily, best it will be for the patiently enduring." ^ And from that day the horrible practice of mutilation which prevailed among all the nations of antiquity was inexorably for- bidden to the Moslems.* (.)n his return to Medina the Prophet directed a small body of the disciples to pursue the retreating enemy, and to impress on them that the Moslems, though worsted in battle,* were yet unbroken in spirit, and too strong to l)e attacked again with impunity. Abii Sufifm, hearing of the pursuit, hastened back to Mecca, having first murdered two Medinites whom he met on his route. He, however, sent a message to the Prophet, saying that lie would soon return to exter- minate him and his people. The reply as before was full of trust and faith — "' God is enouoh for us, a o-ood guardian is He ! " ^ The moral effect of this disastrous battle was at once visible in the foravs which the neiohbourino- nomades prepared to make (jn the Medinite territories. Most of • Koran, suia xvii. ver. 127 ; Ibu-Hi.sli:uii, pp. 584, 585 ; Zamakhshri (the Kashshdf), Egypt, ed., p. 446. . ^ The Jews used to burn their prisoners alive, and most barbarously mutilate the slain. The Greeks, the Romans, and the Persians all practised similar barbarities. Christianity eftected no improvement in these frightful customs, for as late as the si.vteenth century we read of the most horrible mutilations. ^ Ibn-Hishain, p. 590; Koran, sura iii. ver. 167. HOSTILITY OF THE JEWS. 159 tlieni, however, were repressed by the energetic action of Mohtimmed, tliougli some of the liostile tribes succeeded in enticinof Moslem missionaries into their midst, under tlie pretence of embracing Islam, and then massacred them. On one such occasion seventy Moslems were treacherously murdered near a brook called Bir-Mauna, within the territories of two tribes, the Bani-Amir and the Bani-Sulaim, chieflv throuoh the instrumentality of the latter. One of the two survivors of the slaughter escaped towards Medina. Meeting on the way two unarmed Arabs belonging to the Bani-Amir who were travellino- under a safe- conduct of the Prophet, and mistaking tliem for enemies, he killed them. When Mohammed heard of this he was deeply grieved. A wrong had been committed bv one of his followers, though under a mistake, and the relatives of the men that were killed were entitled to redress. Accordingly orders were issued for collecting the Diat (the ivehrgeld) from the Moslems and the people who had accepted the charter.^ The Jewish tribes of the Bani-Nadhir, the Kuraizha, and others were bound equally with the Moslems to <'ontril)ute towards this payment.' Mohammed him- self, accompanied by a few disciples, proceeded to the 1 See avte, pp. 140-142. - Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. iii. ]>. 133; Tabaii, vol. iv. ]>. 50. Muirauil Spreii,L,n'r have stran<,'ely garliled tliis part of the atlair. Sir \V. Muir does iH>t tiinl any authority for M. (A ;ence, by their union with the party of the Munafikin (the Hypocrites), and by the general unanimity which prevailed among them (so different from the disunion of the Arabs), the Jews formed a most dangerous element wdthin the federated State which had risen under the teacher of Islam. Among unadvanced nations poets occupy the position and exercise the influence of the press in modern times. ^ The Jewish poets by their superior culture naturally exercised a vast influence among the Medin- ce-ux 4). 2 Ibn-Hisham, pp. 65i, 653 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 133 ; Abulfeda, p. 49. 2 Koran, sura lix. ver. 5. * See ante, p. 139. HOSTILITY OF THE JEWS. IG" property among the Muliajerin and two of the Ansar who were extremely poor/ The expulsion of the Bani-Nadhir took place in the month of Rabi I. of the fourth year." The remaining portion of this year and the early part of the next were passed in repressing the spasmodic hostile attempts of the nomadic tribes against the Moslems, and in inflicting punishments for various murderous forays on the Medinite territories.^ Meanwhile the enemies of the Faith were by no 5 a.h. = :^rd May means idle. Far and wide the idolaters had sent ^'-^ to 23r. 54. A jiiinciple was henceforth established that any acquisition, not niaile in actiial warfare, should belong to the State, or the chief of the State ; and that its application should depend upon his discretion (vide Droit Mu.f.salmaii by M. Qufrrif, p. 337). Sura lix. of the Koran treats almost entirely of the circumstances connected with the banishment of the liani-Nadhir. - According to Ibn-Hishani, p. 653, and Abiilfeda, p. 49 ; Tabari, vol. iii. p. 55, says it was the month of Saf;ir. ^ Of this nature was the exjiedition against the Christian Arabs of Dfimat-aj-Jandal(a place, according to Abulfeda, about seven days' journey to the south of Damascus), who had stopped the Medinite traffic witli Syria, and even threatened a raid upon Medina ; these marauders, how- ever, fled on the approach of tlie Moslems, and Mohammed returned to ^[edina, after concluding a treaty with a neighbouring chief, to whom he granted permission of i)asturage on tlie Medinite territories. — C. de Perceval, vol. iii. p. 129 ; Tabari, vol. iii. ]>. 60. ■^ Ibn-Hisham,p.669; Ibn-al-Athir,vol.ii.p.l36; Tabari, vol. iii. pp. 60, 61. 168 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. efforts were successful beyond their utmost hopes. A formidable coalition was soon formed ; and an army, consisting of ten thousand well - appointed men. marched upon Medina, under the command of the relentless Abu Sufian. Meeting no opposition on their way, they soon encamped within a few miles of Medina, on its most vulneral>le side, towards Ohod. shawwai To opposc this liost, the Moslems could only muster -^Febniary ji bocly of tlircc thousaud mcu.^ Forced thus by their inferiority in numbers, as well as by the factious opposition of the " Munafikin " within tlie city,^ to remain on the defensive, they dug a deep trench round the unprotected quarters of Medina, and, leaving their women and children for safety in their fortified houses, they encamped outside the city, with the moat in front of them. In the meantime thev relied for the safety of the other side, if not upon tlie active assistance, at least upon tlie neutrality of the Bani-Kuraizha, who possessed several fortresses at a short distance, towards the south-east, and were bound by the compact to assist the Moslems against every assailant. These Jews, however, were persuaded l)y the idolaters to violate their pledged faith, and to join the Koreish. As soon as the news of their defection reached Mohammed, he deputed " the two Saads," Saad-ibn-Muaz and Saad-ibn-Ubada, to entreat them to return to their duty. The reply was defiant and sullen : " Who is Mohammed, and who is the Apostle 1 Ibn-Hisliani, p. 678. 2 Referred to in Koran, sura xxxiii. vers. 12, 13, 14, etc. HOSTILITY OF THE JEWS. 169 of God, tliat we should obey him ? There is no bond or compact betwixt us and him." ^ As these Jews w^ere well acquainted with the locality, and could materially assist the besiegers by showini^ them the weak points of the city, the consternation among the Moslems became oreat, whilst the dis- affected body within the walls increased the elements of dansfcr.^ The idolaters and the Jews, failing in all their attempts to draw the Moslems into the open field, or to surprise the city under the direction of Jewish guides, determined upon a regular assault. The siege had already lasted twenty days. The restless tribes of the desert, who had made common cause with the Koreish and their Jewish allies, and who had expected an easy prey, were becoming weary of this protracted campaign. Great efforts w-ere made at this critical moment by the leaders of the beleaguering host to cross the trench and fall upon the small Moslem force. Every attempt was, however, repulsed V)y untiring vigilance on the part of Mohammed. The elements now seemed to combine against the besieging army ; their horses were perishing fast, and provisions were - Ibn-HisliiUii, p. 675 ; Muir, vol. iii. p. 259. - The whole scene is so beautifully painted in the Koran, sura xxxiii. (S(irat-al-Ahzab, "The Confederates"), that I cannot resist quoting a few verses here : " WHien they assailed you from above you and from below you, and when your eyes became distracted, and your hearts came up into your throats, and ye thought divers thoughts of God, then were the faithful tried, and with strong quaking did they quake ; and when the disaffected and diseased of heart (with infidelity) said, 'God and His Apostle have made us but a cheating promise.' " 170 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. l)e(3oming scanty. Disuiii(Hi was rife in their midst, and the far-seeing chief of the Moslems, with matchless prudence, fomented it into actual division. Suddenly this vast coalition, which had seemed to menace the Moslems with inevitable destruction, vanished into tliin air. In the darkness of night, amidst a storm of wind and rain, their tents overthrown, their lights put out, Abu Sufian and the majority of his formidable army fled, the rest took refuge with the Bani-Kuraizha.^ Mohammed had in the night foretold to his followers the dispersion of their enemies. Daybreak saw his prognostication fulfilled, and the Moslems returned in joy to the city.^ But the victory was hardly achieved in the opinion of the Moslems as long as the Banil-Kuraizha remained so near, and in such dangerous proximity to the city of Islam. They had proved themselves traitors in spite of their sworn alliance, and had at one time almost surprised Medina from their side, — an event which, if successful, would have involved the general massacre of the Mussulmans. The Moslems therefore felt it their duty to demand an explanation of the treachery. This was doggedly refused. The consequence was that the Jews were besieged, and compelled to surrender Zu\. at discretion. They made only one condition, that A.H.=28tii their punishment should be left to the iuda;ment of February ^ , . , . to 24th the Ausite chief, Saad-ibn-Muaz. This man, a fierce March 627. _ . soldier who had been wounded in the attack, and indeed 1 Ibn-Hishani, p. 683 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 140. - In Moslem annals this war is called the " War of tlie Trench." THE FATE OF THE BANI-KURAIZHA. 171 (lied from his wounds tlie next day, infuriated by their treacherous conduct, gave sentence that the fighting- men should be put to death, and that the women and children should become the slaves of the Moslems ; and this sentence was carried into execution.^ " It was a harsh, bloody sentence," says Lane-Poole, "worthy of the episcopal generals of the army against the Albigenses, or of the deeds of the Augustan age of Puritanism ; but it must be remembered that the crime of these men was high treason against the State during time of siege ; and those who have read how Wellington's march could 1)6 traced by the bodies of deserters and pillagers hanoino: from the trees, need not be surprised at the; summary execution of a traitorous clan."^ The punishment inflicted on the various Jewish tribes has furnished to the Christian biographers of the Pro- phet, like Muir, Sprenger, Weil, and Osborn, a ground for attack. The punishment meted out to the Bani- Kainukii and Bani-Nadhir was far below their deserts. The Banu-Kuraizha alone were treated with anything like severity. Human nature is so constituted that, however cri- minal the acts of an individual may be, the moment he is treated with a severity which to our mind seems harsh or cruel, a natural revulsion of feeling occurs, and the sentiment of justice gives place to pity within our hearts. No doubt the sentence on the Bani- 1 Ibn-Hisliilm, pp. 680-690 ; Il.ii-al-Atliii', vol. ii. p. 141 ci sc(i. ; Tabari, vol. iii. p. 68 et seq. - Selections from the Koran, Introd. p. Ixv. 172 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. Kuraizhji, from our point of view, was severe. But however mucli we may regret that the fate of these poor people should have been, though at their own special request, left in the hands of an infuriated soldier, — however much we may regret that the sentence of this man should have been so carried into effect, — we must not, in the sentiment of pity, overlook the stern (question of justice and culpability. We must bear in mind the crimes of which they were guilty, — their treachery, their open hostility, their defection from an alliance to which they were bound by every sacred tie. Moreover, we must bear in mind the temptations which they, the worshippers of the pure Jehovah, held out to the heathen Arabs to continue in the practice of idolatry. Some Moslems might naturally be inclined to say, with the C-hristian moralist : " It is better that the wicked should be destroyed a hundred times over than they should tempt those who are as yet innocent to join their company." ^ These Moslems might say with him, with only the variation of a word : " Let us but tliink what might have been our fate, and the fate of every other nation under heaven at this hour, had the sword of the Arah'^ done its work more sparingly. The Arab's sword, in its bloodiest executions, wrought a work of mercy for all the countries of the earth to the very end of the world." If the Christian's argument is correct and not inhuman, certainlv the Moslem's aro;umcnt 1 Arnold's Sermons, 4th Sermon, " "Wars of the Israelites," pp. 35, 36. . - In the original, of course, Israelites. HOSTILITY OF THE JEWS. l73 cannot be otherwise. Other Moslems, however, might h)ok upon this fearful sentence on the Bani-Kuraizha in the same light as Carlyle looks upon the order of Cromwell for the promiscuous massacre of the Irish inhabitants of Droghecla : " An armed soldier solemnly conscious to himself that he is the soldier of God the Just, — a consciousness which it well beseems all soldiers and all men to have always, — armed soldier, terrible as death, relentless as doom; doing God's judgment on the enemies of God." We, however, are not disposed to look at the punish- ment of these Jews from either of these points of view. We simply look upcm it as an act done in perfect con- sonance with the laws of war as then understood l)y the nations of the world : "a strict application of admitted customs of war in those days." ^ These people brought their fate upon tliemselves. If they had been put to death, even without the judgment of Saad, it would have perfectly accorded with the prin- ciples which then prevailed. But they had themselves chosen Saad as the sole arbiter and judge of their fate ; they knew that his judgment was not at all contrary to the received notions, and accordingly never murmured. They knew that if they had suc- ceeded they would have massacred their enemies with- out compunction. People judge of the massacres of King David according to the "lights of his time,"" * An observation of Orote, Hid. of Greece^ vol. vi. p. 499. ^ 2 Sam. viii. 2 : " Tlie conquered Aninioiiites he treated with even •greater ferocity, tearing and liewing some of them in ])ieces witli harrows, axes, and saws ; and roasting others in brick-kilns" (xii. 31). Maitiand, 174 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. Even tlie fearful slaughters committed by the Chris- tians in primitive times are judged according to certain "lights." Why should not the defensive wars of the early Moslems be looked at from the same standpoint ? But, whatever the point of view, an unprejudiced mind^ will perceive that no blame can possibly attach to the Prophet in the execution of the Bani-Kuraizha. The number of men executed could not have been more than 200 or 250. In the distribution of the surviving people, it is said, a young Jewess of the name of Baihana was allotted to the Prophet. Some say she was previously set apart. The Christian historians, always ready to seize upon any point which to their mind offers a i^lausible ground for attacking Mohammed, have not failed to make capital of this story. Leaving the examination of the question of slavery to a later chapter, we will here only observe that the allotment of Raihana, even if true, furnishes no ground for modern attack, as it was perfectly consonant with the customs of war recognised in those days. The story about Raihana becoming a wife of the Prophet is a fabrication, for after this event she disappears from history and we hear no more of her, whilst of others we have full and circumstantial accounts. Jewish Literature and Modern Education, p. 21. Compare also Stanley's Lectures on the Jewish Church, vol. ii. p. 99. ^ I can only remember M. Bartlielemy St. Hilaire, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole among Eurojjeans wlio liave not been carried away by prejudice. CHArTER. VI. Mohammed's clemency. The formidable coalition formed by tlie Jews and the ga.h. 23r.i • pi April 6"27 idolaters to compass the destruction ol the new com- to 12th ^ . . April 628 monwealth of Medina had utterly failed, well might a.c. the Moslems say, miraculously.^ But the surrounding /• tribes of the desert, wild and fierce, were committing depredations, accompanied with murders, on the Medin- ite territories ; and the existence of the State required the emplo^^ment of stern measures for their repression. Several expeditions were despatched against these marauders, but the slippery sons of the desert gener- ally evaded the a})proach of the Moslems. The Bani- Liliyan, who had requested Mohammed to send a few of his disciples among them to teach tlie precepts of Islam, and who, on the arrival of the missionaries, had killed some and sold the rest to the Meccans, — had, up to this period, remained unpunished. But the time had come when this crime should be avenged. In the month of Jamadi I. of this year, a body of troops, under ^ Comp. Koran, sura xxxiii. vor. 9. 175 17G THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. the personal command of the Proj^het, marched against the Bani-Lihyan. The marauders, however, receiving timely notice of the Prophet's approach, fled into the mountains, and the Moslems returned to Medina with- out having accomplished their purpose/ A few days had only elapsed when a chief of the Bani-Fizara, a branch of the nomade horde of Ghatafan, {Kliail i-(lhatafan), suddenly fell upon the open suburbs of the city, and drove off" a large herd of camels, murder- ing the man who had charge of them, and carrying oft' his wife. The Moslems were immediately on their track, and a few of the animals were recovered ; but the Bedouins escaped into the desert with the larger portion of their booty. It was about this time that the Prophet granted to the monks of the monastery of St. Catherine, near Mount Sinai, and to all Christians, a charter which has been justly designated as one of the noblest monuments of enlightened tolerance that the history of the world can produce. This remarkable document, which has been faithfully preserved by the annalists of Islam, displays a marvellous breadth of view and liberality of conception. By it the Prophet secured to the Chris- tians privileges and immunities which they did not possess even under sovereigns of their own creed ; and declared that any Moslem violating and abusing what was therein ordered, should be regarded as a violator of (xod's testament, a transgressor of His commandments, ' Ibn-Hisliani, p. 718 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 143 ; Tabari, vol. iii. p. -2. Mohammed's clemency. 177 aiul a .sliohter of His faith. He undertook himself, and enjoined on liis followers, to protect the Christians, to defend their churches, the residences of their priests, and to guard them from all injuries. They were not to be unfairly taxed ; no bishop was to be driven out of his bishopric ; no Christian was to be forced to reject his religion; no monk was to l>e expelled from his UKHiastery ; no pilgrim was to be detained from liis l)ilfrrimno;e ; nor were the Cliristian churches to be pulled down for the sake of building mosques or houses iov the Moslems. Christian women married to Moslems were to enjoy their own religion, and not to l)e sub- jected to compulsion or annoyance of any kind on that account. If the Christians should stand in need of assistance for the repair of their churches or monasteries, or any other matter pertaining to their religion, the Moslems were to assist them. This was not to be con- sidered as taking part in their religion, but as merely ]-endering them assistance in their need, and complying with the ordinances of the Prophet which were made in their favour by the authority of God and of His Apostle. Should the Moslems be engaged in hostilities with out- side Cliristians, no Christian resident among the Mos- lems should ]je treated with contempt on account of his creed. iVnv Moslem so treatino- a Christian should be accounted recalcitrnnt to the Prophet. ^lan always attaches ;in idea of greatness to the character of a person who. whilst possessing the })0wer of returning evil for evil, not only preaches but 'practises the divine principle of forgiveness. Moham- M 178 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. med, as the chief of the State and guardian of the life and liberties of his people, in the exercise of justice sternly punished every individual guilty of crime. Mohammed the Prophet, the Teacher, was gentle and merciful even to his greatest enemies. In him were combined the hiohest attributes that the human mind can conceive — justice and mercy. A chief of the tribe of Hanafa, named Thumama, son of Uthal, was taken prisoner by the Moslems in one of their expeditions against the unruly Arabs of the desert. He was brought to Medina, where he was so atfected by the kindness of the Prophet, that from an enemy he soon became a most devoted follower. Returning to his people he stopped the transport to Mecca of provisions from Yemama, and this stoppage by Thumanni reduced them to the direst straits. Failing- to move the Hanafites, they at last addressed them- selves to Mohammed, and liesought him to intercede for them. The Prophet's heart was touched with pity, and he requested Thumama to allow the Meccans to have whatever they wanted ; and at his word the convoys were again permitted to reach Mecca. Endless instances mig-ht be cited of Mohammed's merciful nature. We will, however, only instance two. A daug-hter of his — a beloved child — was, after the treaty of Hudeiba Heeing from Mecca. She was far advan(^ed in pregnancy, and as she was mounting her camel, a Koreish named Habrar, with characteristic fero- city, drove the butt-end of his lance against her, throw- iug her to the ground, and eventually causing her death. MOHAMMED S CLEMENCY. 179 On tlic conquest of Mecca the murderer was proscribed. After liiding for some time he presented himself before the Prophet, and threw himself on the mercy of the liereaved father. The wronir was srreat ; the crime was atrocious, — l)ut the injury was personal. The man was to all appearance sincere in his penitence and the profes- sion of the f;iith. Pardon was unconditionally oTanted. The Jewess who attempted his life at Khaibar, and Ikrima, the son of Abii Jahf who was bitterly personal in his animosity towards the Prophet, were freely foro'iven. A tribe of Christian Bedouins (the Banii - Kab)), settled about Diimat-uj-Jandal, had in their depreda- tions appeared on the Medinite territories. An expedi- tion was now despatched to summon them to embrace Islam and forego their lawless practices. Whilst delivering his injunctions to the captain who headed this small force, Mohammed used the memorable words, " In no case shalt thou use deceit or perfidy, nor shalt thou kill any child." ' In his instructions to the leaders of the expeditions against marauding and hostile tribes and peoples, he invariably enjoined them in peremptory terms never to injure the weak. " In avenging the injuries inflicted ' Tliii-Hislirun, p. iM-2. T'ompaiv these injiniction.s of the Ai'uhian Prophet, as al.-^o the historic words of Ahfi Bakr (tlie tiist Caliph) to Yezid ibu Abfi-Sufiau, when despatchiuf; hiiu a^raiust the Byzantines, with the commands of the Israelite prophet : " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts. . . . Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all tliat tliey have, and spare them not ; but slay Ijoth man and woman, infant and sucklin,!;, ox and sheep, camel and ass," 1 Sam. xv. 3 ; " Slay utterly old and young, botli maids, and little children, and women,"' Ezek. ix. 6. 180 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. upon US," he said to his troops, whom h(3 dispatched against the Byzantines, " molest not the harmless inmates of domestic seclusion ; spare the weakness of the female sex ; injure not the infant at the breast, or those wdio are ill on bed. Al)stain from demolishing the dwellings of the unresisting inhabitants ; destroy not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit trees; and touch not the palm." Abu Bakr, following his master, thus enjoined his captain : "0 Yezid ! be sure you do not oppress your own people, nor make them uneasv, Imt advise with them in all your affairs, and take care to do that which is right and just ; for those that do otherwise shall not prosper. When you meet your enemies quit yourselves like men, and d<» not turn vour backs ; and if vou gain the victory, kill not little children, nor old people, nor women. Destroy no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill for the necessity of subsistence. When vou make any covenant or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons that have retired in monas- teries, who propose to themselves to serve (lod that way. Let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries." ^ These injunctions contrast strangely with the fearful denunciations of the Chris- tians, Catholic, Protestant, and Greek, from the days of St. Lactantius to those of the Covenanters. The ' Compare Mill's History of Mahdmnicdanism, pp. 45, 4G. Gaguier, Vie de Mdhoiiitf, in loco. MOHAMMED S CLEMENCY. 181 followers of the " Prince of Peace " burnt and ravished, pillaged and murdered promiscuously old and young, male and female, without compunction, up to recent times. And his vicegerents on earth, popes and patriarchs, bishops, priests, and presbyters, ap})roved of their crimes, and frequently granted plenary al)Solu- tion for the most heinous offences. In the month of Shaban of this year (November- December, 627) an expedition was directed against the Bani-Mustnlik. These people had up to this time been on friendly terras with the Moslems. But recently, instigated by their chief Harith, the son of Abu Dhirar, they had thrown off their allegiance, and committed forays on the suburljs of Medina. The expedition was entirely successful, and several prisoners were taken, amongst whom was a daughter of Harith, called Juwairiya.^ Six years had now passed since the exiles of Mecca had left their homes and their country for the sake of their faith, and of him who had infused into them a new consciousness such as they had never felt before, awakening in them the spirit of union, love, and brotherhood. People flocked from every part of Araljia to listen to the words of the wondrous man who had achieved all this ; to ask his counsel in tlui affairs of everyday life, even as the sons of Israel consulted of old the prophet Samuel." But the hearts of these exiles still yearned sadly for 1 Ilin-Hishiim, p. 725 ; Ibii-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 146. '^ Stanley's Lectures on the Jewish Church, vol. i. in loco. 182 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. the place of their birth. Driven from their homes, they had found refuge in a rival city ; expelled from tlie precincts of the sacred Kaaba, which formed the glorious centre of all their associations, — the one spot round which gathered the history of their nation, — for six years had they been denied the pilgrimage of the holy shrine, a custom round wdiich time, with its hoary traditions, had cast the halo of sanctity. The teacher himself longed to see the place of his nativity with as great a yearning. The temple of the Kaaba belonged to the whole Arab nation. The Koreish Avere merely the custodians of this shrine, and were not authorised l)y the public law of the country to interdict the approach even of an enemy, if he presented himself without any hostile design, and with the avowed object of fulfilling a religious duty.^ The season of the pilgrimage had approached ; the Prophet accordingly announced his intention of visiting the holy places. At once a thousand voices responded to the call. Preparations were rapidly made, and, accompanied by seven hundred Moslems, Ansar and Muhajerin, all perfectly unarmed, he set out on the pilgrimage.- The animosity of the Koreish, how^ever, was not yet extinguished. They posted themselves, with a large army, some miles in advance of Mecca, to bar the way, but soon after fell back on the citv, in order to keep every point of access closed to the ^ Tabari, vol. iii. p. 84 ; Caussin de Percival, vol. iii. pp. 174, 175 ft seq. 2 Ibn-Hi.sliani, ]). 740 ; Tabari, \ul. iii. \). 84 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 152 ; Abulfcdu, p. 60, nieiitions the number as 1400. THE PEACE OF HUDEIBA. 183 Moslems. They swore solemnly not to allow the followers of the Prophet to enter the shrine, and mal- treated the envoy who was sent to them to solicit permission to visit the holy places, A body of the Meccans went round the Prophet's encampment with the avowed object of killing any unwary Moslem who might leave the camp. They even attacked the Prophet with stoues and arrows.^ Finding the idolaters im- movable, and wishful himself to end the state of warfare between the Moslems and the Koreish, Moham- med expressed himself willing to agree to any terms the Meccans might feel inclined to impose. After much difficulty a treaty was concluded, by which it was agreed that all hostilities should cease for ten years ; that any one coming from the Koreish to the Prophet without the permission of the guardian or chief, should be redelivered to the idolaters ; that nnv individual from amono; the Moslems o;oino; over to the Meccans should not be surrendered ; that any tribe desirous of entering into alliance, either with the Koreish or with the Moslems, should be at lil)erty to do so witliout hindrance ; that the Moslems should retrace their steps on this occasion, witliout advancing farther ; that they 1 WliL'u suiiie (if tlit'se men were seized and brought before the Prophet, he pardoned and released them. Ibn-Hisham, p. 745. — It was on thi.s occasion that the Moslems took the pledge, called " The Agreeable Pledge" (Biat-iir-Rhidwan), or "The Pledge of the Tree" (Biat-ush-Shajara). Csman being sent to the Koreish to repeat the reque.st for permission, they seized and detained him. The Moslems, fearful of his murder. Hocked round Mohanmied, and solemnly swore to avenge his death. Ibn-Hisham, p. 746; Koran, sura xlviii. vcr. 17; comp. also Muir, vol. iv. p. 32. 184 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. should be permitted in the following year to visit Mecca, and to remain there for three days with their travelling arms, namely, their scimitars in sheaths/ The moderation and magnanimity displayed hy Mohammed in concluding this treaty caused some discontent among the more impulsive of his follow^ers, in whose hearts the injuries and cruelties inflicted l)y the Koreish yet rankled. In virtue of the third stipulation of the treaty, by which the Moslems bound themselves to surrender every idolater who came over to their cause without the permission of their patron or chief, the Koreish demanded the surrender of several of the Prophet's disciples ; and their demand was immediately complied with by Mohammed, in spite of the murmurs of some of the Moslems."^ On his return to Medina, Mohammed, in pursuance of the catholic wish by which he was inspired, that his religion should embrace all humaiiity,'' despatched several envoys to invite the neighbouring sovereigns and their subjects to drink of the cup of life offered to ^ I.e. tlie Saldh-ur-rdkih : Ibn-Hisliuin, p. 747; Ilm-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 156 ; Mislikat, l)k. xvii. diap. 10, part i. It was on the occasion of this peace tliat a Koreisliite envoy wlio was sent to the Moslem encampment, struck with the jn-ofound reverence and love shown to the Prophet by his followers, on his return to the Koreish, told thein he had seen sovereigns like the Chosroes (Kesra), the Cjesar (Kaiser), and the Negus (Nejashi), surrounded with all the pomp and circumstance of royalty ; but he had never witnessed a sovereign in the midst of his subjects receiving sucli veneration and obedience as was paid to Moham- med by his people. Iljn-Hisham, p. 745 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 154 ; Tabari, vol. iii. p. 87 ; and Abulfeda, p. 61. 2 As women were not included in the treaty, the demand of the idolaters for the surrender of the female Moslems was peremptorily declined. ^ Koran, sura vii. vers. 157, 158. Mohammed's message to heraclius and paryiz. 185 them by the preacher of Ishim. Two of the most noted embassies were to Heraclius the Emperor of the Greeks, and to Khiisru Parviz, the Kesra of Persia. The King of Kings was amazed at the audacity of the fugitive of ^lecca in addressing him, the great C'hosroes, on terms of equality, and enraged at what he considered the insolence of the letter, tore it to pieces, and drove the envoy from his presence with contumely. When the news of this treatment was brought to the Prophet, he (juietly observed, " Thus will the empire of Kesra be torn to pieces." ^ The fulfihnent of the prophecy is engraved on the pages of history. Heraclius, more polite or more reverential, treated the messenger with great respect, and returned a gracious replv to the message. Before, however, leaving Syria he tried to acquaint himself better with the cliaracter of the man who had sent him the message. Witli this object he is said to have summoned to his presence some Arab merchants who had arrived at Gaza with a caravan from Aral)ia. Among them was Abu Sufian, at that time still one of the bitterest enemies of the Prophet. The Greek emperor appears to have put several questions to Abii Sufian with regard to Mohammed, and his replies as preserved in the traditions, are almost identical with the summary which Jafar gave to the Negus of the teachings of Mohammed. "What are the doctrines Mohammed advances ? " asked Heraclius of Abii Sufian. " He bids us abandon the worship of our ancient idols to adore one God ; to bestow alms ; to observe truth and jturity ; 1 Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. pp. 1G3, 1G4. 186 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. to abstain from fornication and vice, and to Hee abom- inations." Asked if his followers were increasing!; in number, or if they were falling off, the reply was, " His adherents are increasing incessantly, and there has not l)een one who has forsaken him." Another ambassador sent soon afterwards to the Ghassanide prince, a feudatory of Heraclius, residing at Busra, near Damascus, instead of receiving the reverence and respect due to an envoy, was cruelly murdered by another chief of the same laniilv, and Amir of a C^iristian tribe subject to Byzantium. This wanton outrage of international oblio-ations became eventuallv the cause of that war which placed Islam in conflict with the whole of Christendom. But of this we shall treat later. CHAPTER VIL THE DIFFUSION OF THE FAITH. The Jewish tribes, in spite of tlie reverses they had 7 a. h 12th -■ April 62S already suffered, were still formidable,— still busy with to 1st May their machinations to work the destruction of the Mos- lems. They possessed, at the distance of three or four days' journey to the north - east of Medina, a strongly fortified territory, studded with castles, the principal of which, called al-Kamus, was situated on an almost inaccessible hill. This group of fortresses was called Khaihar, a word signifying a fortified place. The population of Khaibar included several branches of the Bani-Nadhir and the Kuraizha, who had taken refuge there. The Jews of Khaibar had shown an active and imphicable hatred towards ^Mohammed and his followers, and since the arrival of their brethren among them, this feeling had acquired greater force. The Jews of Khaibar, united by an ancient alliance with the Bedouin horde of the Bani-Ghatafan, and with other cognate tribes, worked incessantly for the formation of another coalition 187 188 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. ao^aiiist the Moslems/ These hitter were aliv^e to the power possessed by the desert - races to injure them, and prompt measures were needed to avert the evils of another league against Medina. Accordingly, early in tlie month of Muharram of this year, an expedition, consisting of about 1400 men, was despatched against Khaibar. The Jews now solicited the assistance of their allies. The Banu-Fezara hastened to their sup- port, but afraid of the Moslems turning their flank, and surprising their flocks and herds in their absence, speedily retreated. The Jews were thus left alone to bear the brunt of the war. Terms were offered to them by the Moslems, but were refused. In spite of the most determined resistance on the part of the Jews, fortress after fortress opened its gate. At last came the turn of the redoubtable castle, the al-Kamus. After a spirited defence, it also fell into the hands of the Moslems. The fate of this, their principal fortress, brought the remaining Jewish townships to see the utter futility of further resistance. They sued fen- foroiveness, which was accorded. Their lands and immovable property were guaranteed to them (on condition of good conduct), together with the free practice of their religion ; and, as they were exempt from the regular taxes, the Prophet imposed upon them the duty of paying to the commonwealth, in return for the protection they would thenceforth enjoy, half the produce of their lands. The movable pro- perty found in the fortresses which the Moslems 1 Caussin de Perceval, vol. iii. pp. 193, 194. THE FALL OF KHAIBAR. 189 reduced l)v leo'ular sieoes and liattles, was forfeited to tlie armv, and distributed amoijo; the men accordins; to the character of tlicir arms ; thus, for instance, three shares were given to a horseman, wdiilst a foot-soklicr received only one/ Towards the end of the seventh year of the Hegira, Mohammed and liis disciples availed themselves of their truce with the Koreish to accomplish the desire of their hearts' — the pilgrimage to the holy places. This journey, in ^Moslem history, is reverently styled "The Pilgrimage, or Visit of Accomplishment.'"^ It was in March 629 that the Prophet, accompanied by 2000 Moslems, proceeded to Mecca to perform the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage — rites which every pilgrim of Islam has now to observe. The Koreish would, however, have nothing to say to the pilgrims, and hold no converse with them. For the three davs during which the ceremonies lasted, they evacuated the citv, and from the summits of the neio-hbourinii' heights watched the Moslems performing the rites. " It was surely a strange sight," says ]\Iuir, with ;in ' Ilin-Hisliaiii, \\\\. 7f)4 ami 773 ; Ibii-al-Atliir, vol. ii. ii. 109. Tlie story of Kinaiia boiiiL^ tortuicil for tlie sake of disclosiii",^ tlu- concealed tri-asures i.s false. Frequent attempts were made about this time to assassinate the Propiiet. On his entry into Kliaibar, a Jewess, animated with the same vengeful feeling as the Judith of old, spread a poisoned repast for him and some of his followers. One of them died immediately after he had taken a few mouthfuls. The life of the Projjhet was saved, but the poison ]iermeated his system, and in after-life he suffered severely from its effects, and eventually died thereof. In spite of this crime, Mohammed forgave the woman, and she was allowed to remain among her jieople unharmed. Tabari, vol. iii. j). 104 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. ji. 170. ^ See Koran, sura xlviii. ver. 27. " Unuat-ul-Kadha. 190 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. unconscious thrill, " which at this time presented itself in the vale of Mekka, — a sight uni(|ue in the history of the world. The ancient city is for three days evacuated by all its inhabitants, high and low, every house deserted ; and, as they retire, the exiled converts, many years banished from their birthplace, approach in a great body, accompanied by their allies, revisit the empty homes of their childhood, and within the short allotted space, fulfil the rites of pilgrimage. The outside inhabitants, climbing the heights around, take refuge under tents, or other shelter among the lulls and glens ; and, clustering on the overhanging peak of Aboo-Kubeys, thence watch the movements of the visitors beneath, as with the Prophet at their head thev make the circuit of the Kaabeh, and the rapid procession between Es-Safa and Marwah ; and anxiously scan every figure if perchance they may recoonise among the worshippers some long - lost friend or relative. It was a scene rendered possible only by the throes which gave birth to Islam." ^ In strict conformity with the terms of the treaty, they left Mecca after a sojourn of three days. This peaceful fulfilment of the day-dream of the Moslems was followed by important (M)nversions among the Koreish-. The self-restraint and scrupulous regard for their pledged word displayed l)y the Believers created a visible impression among the enemies of Islam. Many of those who were most violent among the Koreish in their opposition to the Prophet, men of position and - Muir, Life, of Mohammed, vol. iii. 402. I \ I THE UMKAT-UL-KADHA. 191 iiiHuciice. wlio had warred ao-aiiist liim, and reviled liiiii, struck 1)V Mohammed';;; kindness of heart and n()1)ilitv of iiatnre, whicli overlooked all crimes ao^ainst himself, adopted the Faith.' The murder of the Moslem envoy by a feudatory' of the Greek emperor was an outrage which could not 1)6 passed over in silence, and unpunished. An expedition, consisting of three thousand men, was • lespatched to exact reparation from the Ghassanide })rince. The lieutenants of the Byzantine emperor, instead of disavowing the crime, adopted it, and thus made the (juarrel an imperial one. Uniting their forces, they attacked the Moslems near Miita, a village not far from Balka in Syria, the scene of the murder. The Byzantines and their allies were repulsed ; l)ut the disparity of numbers was too great, and the Moslems retreated to Medina.'^ It was about this time that the Koreisli and their allies, the Banii-Bakr, in violation of the terms of peace concluded at Hudeiba, attacked the Banu-Kliuzaa, who were under the protection of, and in alliance with, the ^loslems. They massacred a number of the Khuzaa, and dispersed the rest. The Banu - Khuzaa brought ' For iiistiuicc, KlialKl-ilui-Walid, wlio coiiiiiiaiKlcd the Kon-isli cavaliy at Oliotl, and Auir ibii al-As, laiiums as Aimu. - Accordiii;4 to Caussin dr IVrci'val, tlu' nauK', of Lliis Lliicd'taiii was Sluu-ribhil, son of Anir (and not, as Aliulfeda mentions it, Anir, son of Sliurabhil). — Vol. ii. ]>. 1^53, and vol. iii. ]>. -IW. •'* Caussin de IVrceval, vol. iii. p. •Ill et seq. ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. jip. 178-180. In this battle, Zaid, the son of Harith, who commanded tiie Moslem troops, .Jafar, a cousin of Mohammed, and several other notables ■were killeil. 192 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. their comnlaiiits to Molitimmed, and asked for justice. The reign of iniquity and oppression had Listed lono- at Mecca. The Meccans had themselves viohxted tlie peace, and some of their chief men had taken part in the massacre of the Khuzaa, The Prophet immedi- ately marched ten thousand men against the idolaters. AVitli the exception of a slight resistance by Ikrima/ and Safvvan " at the head of their respective clans, in which several Moslems were killed, Mohammed entered Mecca aluKjst unopposed. Thus, at length, Mohammed entered Mecca as a conqueror. He who was once a fugitive, and per- secuted, now came to prove his mission by deeds of mercy. The city which had treated him so cruelly, driven him and his faithful band for refuse amono-st strangers, which had sworn his life and the lives of his devoted dis(^iples, lay at his feet. His old persecutors, relentless and ruthless, who had dis- graced humanity l)y intiicting cruel outrages upon inoffensive nlen and women, and even upon the lifeless dead, were now completely at his mercy. But in the hour of triumph every evil suffered was forgotten, every injury inflicted was forgiven, and a general amnesty was extended to the population of Mecca. ( )nly four criminals, " whom justice condemned," made up Mohammed's proscription list when he entered as a conqueror the city of his bitterest enemies. The army followed his example, and entered gently and peaceably ; no house was rol^bed, no woman was ^ Tlie son of Abu Jahl, wlio loll at Bedr. - The son of Ommeyya. THE DIFFUSION OF THE FAITH. 193 insulted. Most truly lias it Leeiisaid that tlirouuli all the annals of conquest, there has been no triumphant entry like unto this one. But the idols of the nation were unrelentingly struck down. Sorrowfully the idolaters stood round and watched the downfall of the images they worshipped. And then dawned upon them the truth, when they heard the old voice at which they were wont to scoff and jeer cry, as he struck down the idols. " Truth has come, an;, nor speak evil of women." ^ Thus were the w^ords of the Koranic prophecy ful- filled, " When arrives victory and assistance from God, and seest thou men enter in hosts the religion of God, then utter the praise of thy Lord, and implore His pardon ; for He loveth to turn in mercy (to those wlio seek Him)." - Mohammed now saw his mission all hut completed. His principal disciples were despatched in every direction to call the wild tribes of the desert to Ishun, and with strict injunctions to preach peace and good-will. ( )nly in case of violence they were to defend themselves. These injunctions were obeyed with only one exception. The troops under Khalid ibn-Walid. under the (H'ders of this fieri;e and newly-converted warrior, kille\). 834, 835 ; llju-til-Athii-, vol. ii. p. 1!).') ; Tabaii, vol. iii. p. 141. - Caiissin de Perceval, vol. iii. i>. 248 ; in the KanuU, Hiuiain is merely saiil to be on the road from Mecca to Tilyel". Kodwell, however, in a note lo his translation of the Koran, makes the distance only three miles. This surely is a mistake. ^ This hattle is referred to in the Koran, sura ix. vers. 25, 2G ; Hm- Hishaiu, p. 846 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. pp. 200, 201. 196 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. refuge in their city of Tfiyef, wliicli only eight or nine }^ears before had (lri\'en the Prophet from within its walls with insults ; the rest fled to a fortified camp in the valley of the Autas. This was forced ; and the families of the Ilawazin, with all their worldly effects, — their flocks and herds, — fell into the hands of the Moslems. Tayef was then besieged, but after a few days Mohammed raised the siege, well knowino- that the })ressure of circumstances would soon force the Tayefites to suljmit without bloodshed. Returning to the place where the cajttured Hawazin were left for safety, he found a deputation from this formidable tribe awaiting his return to solicit the restoration of their families. Awn re of the sensitiveness of the Arab nature regard- ing their rights, Mohammed replied to the Bedouin deputies that he could not force his people to abandon all the fruits of their victorv, and that thev must at least forfeit their eftects if they would regain their families. To this thev consented, and the followino- day, when Mohammed was offering the mid-day prayers,^ with his disciples ranged l)ehind him, they came and repeated the request: "We supplicate the Prophet to intercede with the Moslems, and the Moslems to intercede with the Prophet, to restore us our women and children." Mohammed replied to the deputies, " My own share in the captives, and that of the children of Abdul Mnttalib, I give you back at once." His disciples, catching his spirit, instan- taneously followed his example, and six thousand ^ Tabari say.s uiorniiig piayei>, vol. iii. p. 155. THE DIFFUSION OF THE FAITH. 107 people were in a moment sot free/ This generosity won the hearts of many of the Thakif," who tendered their allegiance, and became earnest Moslems. The incident which followed after the distribution n-His]iaiii, i>. 877 ; llni-al-AUiir, vol. ii. p. -IOC); Taljaii, vol. iii. ]>. 1.")."). - Tlie people of Tayef were so called. The story told by Muir (vol. iv. ]>. 149), asa cmiovis illustration of tlie Prophet's mode of life, is apocryphal. It must be reiuend)ereil, firstly, that the division of the booty had not tnken place, and (.onsequently the Prophet could not have given away as jlift part of his own share ; but this he had ])romised to the deputies (before the division) to restore to the Hawazin. The story is a fabrication, and utterly worthless. 198 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. and His Prophet belong benevolence und grace." "Nay, by tlie Lord," continued the Prophet, "'but ye might have answered, and answered trul}', for I would have testified to its truth myself. ' Tliou earnest to fis rejected as an impostor, and we beliered in thee; thou earnest as a helpless fugitive, and we assisted thee : poor, and an outcast, and ive (jure thee an asylam ; comfortless, and ive solaced thee.' Ye Ansar, why disturl* your hearts because of the things of this life? Are ye not satisfied that others should obtain the flocks and the camels, while ye go back unto your homes with me in your midst ? By Him who holds my life in His hands, I shall never abandon you. If all mankind went one wav and the Ansar another, verily I would join the Ansar. The Lord be favour- able unto them, and bless them, and their chihlren, and their children's children ! " At these words, says the chronicler, they all wept until the tears ran down upon their beards. And they all cried with one voice, "Yea, Prophet of God, we are well satisfied with our ' share.' " Thereupon they retired happy and con- tented.^ Mohammed soon after returned to Medina. ^ Ibu-Hisliain, p. 886 ; Ibu-;il-Atliir, vol. ii. \^. :2(J8 ; Almlfcda, p. 82. CHAPTER VIII. THE YEAR UF DEPUTATIONS. ^ -» c * c - c '^'^i C C JJ-J c C-"— C ---53 JC-'>'--C-- -C- C ^ C -' -C ^C-»C- KASil)A-I-B(JRPA. — e Baxat Suad. The ninth year of the Heoira was noted for the '.'a. h. 20th •^ '^ April . 215. ^ 202 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. The Prophet's return to Medina was signalised by the arrival of a deputation from the refractory and hard-hearted idolaters of Tayef, the very people who had driven the poor preacher from their midst with insults and violence. Orwa, the Tayefite chief, who had come to Mecca after the Hudeilja incident as the Koreishite envoy, w^as so impressed with the w^ords of the Teacher and his kindness, that shortly after the accomplishment of his mission he had come to the Prophet and embraced his religion. Though repeatedly warned by Mohammed of the dangers he ran among the l)igoted of his city, he hastened back to Tfiyef to pro- claim his abjuration of idolatry, and to invite his fellow- citizens to share in the blessings imparted by the new Faith. Arriving in the evening, he made public his conversion, and called upon the people to join him. The followini>; mornino- he again addressed them ; but his w^ords roused the priests and worshi^ipers of Uzza into frenzy, and they literally stoned him to death. With his dying breath he said he had oft'ercd up his blood unto his Master for the good of his people, and he thanked God for the honour of martyrdom, and as a last wish prayed his friends to bury him l»y the side of the Moslems who had fallen at Hunain.^ The dyin< words of Orwa had a greater effect upon his comi)atriot^ than all his endeavours whilst living. The martyr's blood l)lossomed into faith in the hearts of his murderers. Seized with sudden compunction, perhaps also wearying of their hostility with the tribes of 1 Ibn-Hisliain, pp. 914, 915 ; Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. p. 216. S THE YEAR OF DEPUTATIONS. 203 tlie desert, the Tayefites sent tlie deputation to wliich we have referred above, to pray for forgiveness and permission to enter the circle of Ishun. I'hey begged, however, for a short respite for their idols. First they asked two years, then one year, and then six months ; l)ut all to no purpose. The grace of one month might surely be conceded, they urged as a last appeal. ]\Iohammed was immovable. Ishlm and the idols could not exist tooether. Thev then l)eooed for exemption from the daily prayers. Mohammed replied that without devotion religion could be nothing.^ Sorrowfully, at last, they submitted to all that was recpiired of them. They were excused, however, from destroving; the idols with their own hands, and the well-known Abu Sufian, the son of Harl), the father of the notorious Muriwiyah, the Judas Iscariot of Isirmi, one of those wdio have been stig-matised as the Mualafat- ul-Kuli\b (the nominal believers), — for they had adopted the faith from policy, — and Mughira, the nephew of Orwa, were selected for that work. They executed their commission amidst uproarious cries of despair and grief from the women of Tayef." The tribe of Tay had about this time proved recalci- trant, and their disaffection w\as fostered by the idola- trous priesthood. A small force was despatched under ^ Ibn-al-Atliir, vol. ii. ji. -III. - Ibn-Hisluuii, ]ip. 917, '.)18; Talnui, vol. iii. jip. 161-163. The ,^r«it number of de])ntations received by Moliaiuiued in the ninth year has led to its being calleil the "year of dei)Utations.'' The principal adhesion.s which followed immediately upon the conversion of the Tluikif were of the Himyarite i)rinces of Yemen, of Malira, of Oman, of the country of the Bahrain, and of the tribes domiciled in Yemama. 204 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. Ali, to reduce tliem to obedience and to destroy their idols. Adi, the son of the famous Hatim, whose generosity and munificence lias been sung by poets and minstrels throughout the Eastern world, was the chief of his tribe. (3n the approach of Ali he fled to Syria ; but his sister, with some of his principal clansmen, fell into the hands of the Moslems. They w^ere conducted, with every mark of respect and sympathy, to Medina. Mohammed at once set the daughter of Hfitim and her people at liljerty, and bestowed on them many valuable gifts. She proceeded to Syria, and told her brother of the nol)leness of Mohammed. Touched hv gratitude. Adi hastened to Medina to throw himself at the feet of the Prophet, and eventually embraced Islam. Return- ing to his people, he persuaded them to abjure idolatry ; and the Banfi-Tay, once so wedded to fetichism, became thenceforth devoted followers of the religion of ^Mohammed.' Another notable conversion which took place about the same time as that of the Bani-Tav is deserving of more than passing notice. Kaab-ibn-Zohair, a dis- 1 Ibn-Hi.sliam, p]). 948, 949 ; Ilm-al-Atlni', vol. ii. ].. i>18 ; Tabari, vol. ii. pp. 171-174. Tlie r<)Uver.sion of Adi occurred in Ralii II. of the ninth year (July -August, 6.30 a.c), and, accordingly, ought to have been placed before the expedition to Tabfik. But I have followed tlie order of the Arab historians. When the daughter of Hutini, whose name was Sufana, came before the Pro])het, she addressed liim in tlie following words : ' Apostle of Clod, my father is dead ; my brother, my o\\\\ relation, fled into the mountains on the approach of the Moslems. I cannot ransom myself; it is thy generosity which I implore for my deliverance. ]\Iy father was an illustrious man, the prince of his tril)e, a man who lansomed prisoners, protected the honour of women, nourished the poor, consoled tlie afflicted, never rejected any demand. I am Sufana, daughter of THE YEAR OF DEPUTATIONS. 205 tinguislietl poet of the tribe of JMozayiia, luul placed himself under the ban by trying to incite hostilities at^ainst the Moslems. His brother was a jMosleni, and had counselled him strongly to abandon idolatr}^ and adopt Islam. Kaab, following the advice of his brother, came secretly to Medina, and proceeded to the mosque where ]\Iohamnied was wont to preach. There he saw a man surrounded b}' Arabs listening to his words with the crreatest veneration. He at once recognised the Prophet, and penetrating into the circle, said aloud, '• Apostle of God, if I should l>ring before thee Kaab as a Mussulman, would you pardon him % " " Yes," answered Mohammed. " It is I who am Kaab, the son of Zohair." Several people around the Prophet wanted leave to put him to death. "No," said the Prophet, " I have given him grace." Then Kaab beo-ged permission to recite a Kasida ^ which has always been considered a master -piece of Arabic poetry. When he came to the lines ■ (|Uoted at the head of this chapter, the Prophet bestowed on the l»()et his own mantle, which was afterwards sold by his familv to Muawiyah for 40,000 dirhems, and after Hatiin." "Tliy liitlRT," ans\VfrL-i this touching episode. 1 Called the Kiishht-i-Jkhi(it Si(((d, from the opening words of the poem. - "The Pro])het is the torch wliich has lighted up the world ; he is the sword of God for destroying ungodliness." 206 thp: life of mohammeb. passing into the hands of the Abassides, is now pre- served l)y the Ottoman Turks. ^ Hitherto no prohibition had issued against the heathens entering the Kaaba, or performing tlieir okl idolatrous rites within its sacred precincts. It was now decided to put an end to this anomahjus state, and remove once for all any possil)ility of a relapse into idolatry on the part of those on whom the new and pure creed hung somewhat lightly. Accordingly, towards the end of this year, during the month of pilgrimage, Ali was commissioned to read a proclama- tion to the assembled multitudes, on the day of the great sacrifice ( Yedm-un-JVahr), which should strike straight at tlie lieart of idolatry and the immoralities attendant upon it : " No idolater shall, after this vear, perform the })ilgrimage ; no one shall make the circuit (of the temple) naked;'"' whoever hath a treaty with the Prophet, it shall continue binding till its termination ; for the rest, f(3ur months are allowed to every man to return to his territories ; after that there will exist no obligation on the Prophet, except towards those with whom treaties have been concluded."^ ^ Called the Kliirhii-shorif {the Holy Mantle), wliicli is taken out as tlie national standard in times of j^reat eniei;Lfency. TJie Knxkhi-i-Bdnat Sudd, which is sometimes also called the Kn^hhd-ul-Borda (the Kasida nt' the Mantle), is different from the Kastdnt-nl-Bordu of AhCi Abdullah Mohammed-il)n-Said, who Hourished in the reign of Malik Tahir, whit'h opens with the following lines : — - C ' - --- =i--0 - Alluding to a disgraceful custom of the idolatrous Arabs. 3 Ibn-Hisham, i-p. 921, 922 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 222 ; Abulfeda, p. 87. THE YEAR OF DEPUTATIONS. 207 This '•Declaration of Discliarge," as it is styled l)y Moslem writers, was a manifestation of far-siglited wisdom on the part of the Prophet. It was impossiljle for the state of society and morals wdiich then existed to continue ; the idolaters, mixing year after year with tlie Moslem pilgrims, if allowed to perform the lascivious and degrading ceremonies of their cultus, would soon have undone what IMohammed had so laboriously aci^omplislied. History had already seen another gifted, vet unculturehiek). He \Yas a chief of Yemen, a man of great wealth and equal sagacity, and a clever conjuror. Among his simple tribesmen, the conjuring tricks he performed invested him with a divine cliaracter. He soon succeeded in gaining them over, and, with their help, reduced to subjection many of the neiohbouring towns. He killed Shahr, who liad l)een appointed l»y Mohammed to the governor- ship of Sana in the place of Bazan, his father. Avho had just died. Bazan had l)een the viceroy of Yemen under the Chosroes of Persia, and after his adoption of Islam was continued in his viceroyalty by the Prophet. He had during his lifetime exercised great influence, not only over his Persian compatriots settled in Yemen, wdio Avere called by the name oi Ehria, but also- over the Arabs of the pi'ovince. His example had led to the conversion of all the Persian settlers of Yemen. Al-Aswad, the impostor, had massacred Shahr, and forcibly married his wife Merzbrma. He was killed by the Ehna, assisted by Merzbana, when he was lying drunk, after one of his orgies. The other two pretenders, Tulayha, son of Khuwailid, and Abu Thumama Haroun, son of Halib, commonly called Moseilema, were not suppressed until the accession of Abu I')akr to the caliphate. Moseilema had the audacity to address the Prophet in the following 218 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. terms : " From Moseilema, propliet of God, to Moliam- med, prophet of God, salutations ! I am your partner ; the power must be divided between us : half the earth for me, the other half for your Koreishites. But the Koreishites are a greedy people, who will hardly rest satisfied with a just division." Mohammed's reply reveals his sterling nature. " Mohammed, the Prophet of God, to Moseilema the Liar. Peace is on those who follow the right path. The earth belongs to God ; He bestows it on whom He pleaseth. Only those prosper who fear the Lord ! " The last days of the Prophet were remarkable for the calmness and serenity of his mind, which enabled him, though weak and feeble, to preside at the public prayers until within three days of his death. One night, at midnight, he went to the place where his old companions were lying in the slumber of death, and prayed and wept by their tombs, invoking God's bless- ings for his "companions resting in peace." He chose Ayesha's house, close to the mosque, for his stay during his illness, and, as long as his strength lasted, took part in the public prnyers. The last time he appeared in the mosque he was supported by his two cousins, Ali and Fazl, the son of Al)bas. A smile of inexpressible sweetness played over his countenance, and was remarked by all wdio surrounded him. After the usual praises and hymns to God, he addressed the multitude thus : " Moslems, if I have wronged any one of you, here I am to answer for it ; if I owe aught t(^ any one, all I may happen to possess belongs to you." THE LAST ILLNESS OF THE PROPHET. 219 Upon hearing this, u man in the crowd rose and claimed three dirhems which he had given to a poor man at the Prophet's request. They were immediately ])aid back, with the w^ords, "Better to blush in this w^orld than in the next." The Prophet then prayed and imi)lored heaven's mercy for those present, and for those who had fallen in the persecutions of their enemies ; and recommended to all his people the observ- ance of religious duties, and the practice of a life ot peace and good- will, and concluded with the following words of the Koran : "The chvelling of the other life we will give unto them who do not seek to exalt themselves on earth or to do wrong ; for the happy issue shall attend the pious," ^ After this, Mohammed never again appeared at public prayers. His strength rapidly failed. At noon on Monday (12th of Rabi L, 11 a.h.— 8th June 632 A.C.), wdiilst praying earnestly in whisper, the spirit of the great Prophet took flight to the " blessed companionship on higli."'^ So ended a life consecrated, from first to last, to the service of God and humanity. Is there another to be comj^ared to his, wdtli all its trials and temptations? Is there another which has stood the fire of the world, and come out so unscathed ? The humljle preacher had risen to be the ruler of Araljia, the equal of Chosroes and of Csesar, the arbiter of ' Koran, sura xxviii. ver. 83 ; Ibn-al-Athir, vol. ii. p. 241 ; Tal)ari, vol. iii. p. 207 et seq. - Ibn-Hisliani, p. 1009; l])n-al-Atliir, vol. ii. pj). 244, 245; Abulfeda, p. 91. Comp. Caussin tie Perceval, vol. iii. p. 322 and note. 220 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. tlie destinies of a nation. But tlie same humility of spirit, the same nobility of soul and purity of heart, austerity of conduct, refinement and delicacy of feeling, and stern devotion to duty which had won him the title of al-Amin, combined with a severe sense of self- examination, are ever the distinguish- ing traits of his character. Once in his life, whilst enoag-ed in a reliiiious conversation with an influen- tial citizen of Mecca, he had turned away from a humble blind seeker of the truth. He is always recurring to this incident with remorse, and proclaim- ing God's disapprobation.^ A nature so pure, so tender, and yet so heroic, inspires not only reverence, but love. And naturally the Arabian writers dwell with the proudest satisfaction on tlui graces and in- tellectual gifts of the son of x4bdullah. His courteous- ness to the great, his affability to the humble, and his ^ The Sui'ii in connectiou witli this incident is knuwn by the tith' of " He frowned," and runs thus : — "The prophet frowned, and turned aside. Because the blind man eanie to him. And how knowest thou whether he miLrht not have been cleanseil from his sins, Or whether he might have been ailmonished, and prage to l)e scolded whatever he did. '• Ten years," said Anas, his servant, " was I about the Prophet, and he never said so much as ' Ufl" to me.""' He was ver\' aflectionate towards his family. Une of liis boys died on his 1)reast in the smoky liouse of the nurse, a blacksmith's wife. He was ver)' fond of I'liildren. He would stop them in the streets, and pat their little cheeks. He never struck any one in his life. The worst expression he ever made use of in conversation was, " What has come to him ? IMay his forehead be darkened with mud!" When asked to curse some one, he replied, " I have not l)een sent to curse, but to be a mere}' to mankind."^ 1 Mislikat, Bk. xxiv. cliap. .3, pt. 2. - Ihid. Bk. xxiv. cliap. 4, pt. 1. • ■'' Ihid,. Bk. xxiv. chap. 4, pt. 1. 222 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. « He visited tlie sick, followed any bier he met, nccepted the invitation of a slave to dinner, mended liis own clothes, milked his goats, and waited upon liimself, relates summarily another tradition/ He never first withdrew his hand out of another's palm, and turned not 1)efore the (ither had turned. His hand was the most generous, his Ijreast the most courageous, his tongue the most truthful ; he was the most faithful protector of those he protected ; the sweetest and most agreeable in conversation ; those who saw him were suddenly filled with reverence ; those who came near him loved him ; they who described him would say, " I have never seen his like, either before or after." He was of great taciturnity ; and when he spoke, he spoke with emphasis and deliberation, and no one could ever forget what he said.' " Modesty and kindness, patience, self-denial, and generositv pervaded his conduct, and riveted the affections of all around him. With the bereaved and afflicted he sympathised tenderly. ... He shared 1 Mislikat, Bk. xxiv. chap. 4, pt. 2. - Mr. Poole's estimate of Mohammed is so heautiful and yet so truthful that I cannot resist the temptation to quote it here : " There is somethini; so tender and womanly, and withal so heroic, about the man, that one is in peril of finding the judgment unconsciously blinded by the feeling of leverence and well-nigh love that such a nature inspires. He who, stand- in" alone, braved for years the hatred of his people, is the same who was never the first to withdraw his hand from another's clasp ; the beloved of children, who never passed a group of little ones witliout a smile from his wonderful eyes and a kind word for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet-toned voice. The frank friendship, the noble generosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt criticism in admiration. "He was an enthusiast in that noblest sense when enthusiasm becomes THE CHAKACTER OF MOHAMMED, 223 his food even in times of scarcity witli others, and was sedulously solicitous for the personal comfort of evevx one about him." He would stop in the streets listening to the sorrows of the humblest. He would go to the liouses of the lowliest to console the afflicted and to comfort the heart-broken. The meanest slaves would take hold of his hand and drag him to their masters to obtain redress for ill-treatment or release from i)ondage.^ He never sat down to a meal without first invokino' a blessino;, and never rose without uttering a thanks- giving. His time was regularly apportioned. During the dav, when not eno-ao-ed in i)ravers, he received visitors and transacted public aftairs. At night he slept little, spending most of the hours in devotion. He loved the poor and respected them, and many who hnd no home or shelter of their own slept at night in the mosque contiguous to his house. Each evening it was his custom to invite some of them to partake of his humble fare. The others became the guests of his prin- cipal disciples.'^ His conduct towards the l)itterest of the salt of the earth, the one thing that keejis men iioni rotting whilst tliey live. Enthusiasm is often used despiteful ly, because it is joined to an unwortliy cause, or falls upon liarren ground and hears no fruit. So was it not with Mohammed. He was an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thing needed to set the world atlame, and his enthusiasm was nol-h- for a noble cause. He was one of those hajipy few wlio have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the one God ; and never to his life's end did lie forget wlio he was, or the message which was the marrow of his being. He lirought his tidings to his people witli a grand dignity sprung from the conscious- ness of his high office, together with a most sweet humility, whose roots lay in the knowledge of his own weakness." ' Hyat-ul-Kul6b (Shiah) and the Rouzat-ul-Ahbab (Sunni). ^ Abulfe(h\, p. 99. 224 THE LIFE OF MOHAMMED. his enemies was marked l)y a noljle clemency and for- bearance. Stern, almost to severity, to the enemies of the State, mockings, atironts, outrages, and persecu- tions towards himself were in the li(jur of triumph — ■ synonymous with the hour of trial to the human heart — all l)uricd in oblivion. ;ind forg-iveness was extended to the worst criminal. ]\[ohammed was extremely simple in his hal>its. His mode of life, his dress and his furniture, retained to the very last a character of patiiarchal simplicity. Many a time, iVbii Huraira reports, had the Prophet to go without a meal. Dates and water frequently formed his onlv nourishment. Often, f(jr months together, no fire could be lighted in his house from scantiness of means, (lod, say the Moslem historians, had indeed put before him the key to the treasures of this world, but he refused it. CHAPTER X. ISLAM. CC- CC-fC^ JOJ-C. ^- O C -^ C C-» C -- — C-C-" C- — C c — O C-»C -^ C- J c--- CC-C-C '— C C-- ' CC- O C-tC- c-c -c^ " 0 my servants I st-ek Me in Inimility of s])irit and i)iety. T am the Bt'iieticeiit and Loving'. I am the Listenei' of the cry of him who .seeketh M<'. I am the Consoler of the attiicted wlio crieth for mercy. I am the For^iver of him avIio sinneth. Whoever seeketh Me will tind Me." — (Paraphrase.) Thk religion of Jesus bears the iiniiie of I'liristiaiiity, (lerived from his designntion of Christ; that of Moses and of Buddha are known l)y the respeetive names of their teachers. The religion of iMohammed alone has u reat conservators of the mono- theistic idea, as they have been generally regarded in history, probably might have assisted in the formation of this conception. But they themselves showed what strange metamorphoses can take place in the thoughts of a nation when not aided l)y a historical and rationalistic element in their religious code. The Jews had entered Arabia at various times, and under the pressure of various circumstances. Natur- ally the ideas of the different bodies of emigrants, refugees, or colonists would vary much. The ideas of the men driven out by the Assyrians or Babylonians would be more anthropomorphic, more anthropopathic, than of those who fled before Vespasian, Trajan, or Hadrian. Tlie characteristics which had led the Israel- ites repeatedly to lapse into idolatry in their original homes, when seers were in their midst to denounce their backslidings, would hardly preserve them from the heathenism of their Aral) brothers. With an idea of " the God of Abraham " they would naturally com- bine a materialistic conception of the Deity, and hence we find them rearing " a statue representing Abraham, with the ram beside him ready for sacrifice," in the interior of the Kaaba. Amongst the later comers the Shammaites and the Zealots formed by far the largest proportion. Among ^ Shahristani ; Tide calls the reli<,non of the pre- Islamite Arabs as nothing more than " animistic polyda^monism." ISLAM. 229 them the worship of the law verged upon idolatry, and the Scribes and Rabbins claimed a respect almost approaching adoration. They believed themselves to be the guardians of the people, the preservers of law and tradition, '' living exemplars and mirrors, in which the true mode of life, according to the law, was pre- served." ' They looked upon themselves as the " flower of the nation," and they were considered, through their intercourse with God, to possess the gift of prophecy. In fact, by their people as well as by themselves they were regarded as the prime favourites of God,* The veneration of the Jews for Moses went so far, says Josephus, that they reverenced his name next to that of God ; and this veneration they transferred to Ezra, the restorer of national life and law under the Kvanian dynasty."' Besides, the mass of the Jews had never, probably, thoroughly abandoned the worship of the Teraphim, a sort of household god made in the shape of human beings, and consulted on all occasions as domestic oracles, or regarded perhaps more as guardian penates.* Tliis worship must have l)een strengthened by contact with the heathen Aral)s. AVhen Jesus made his appearance in Judaja, the doctrine of divine unity and of a supreme Personal Will, overshadowing the universe with its might and grace, received acceptance only among one race — the ' DoUingor, 77ie Gentile and the Jev; vol. ii. p. 308. - .Toseplius, Antiquities, xvii. 24. They were, so to speak, the Brahiiiiiis of Judaism. ' Ezra vii. 10 et seq. * JiKlges xviii. 14. 230 THE TEACHINGS OF MOHAMMED. worsln^^pers of Jehovah. And even among them, despite all efforts to the contrary, the conception of the Divinity had either deteriorated by contact witli heathen nations, or become modified by the influence of pagan philosophies. On the one hand, Chaldseo- magian philosophy had left its finger-mark indelibly impressed on the Jewish traditions ; on the other, their best minds, whilst introducing amono- the Greek and Roman philosophers the conception of a great Primal Cause, had imbibed, in the schools of Alexandria, notions hardly reconcilable with their monotheistic creed. The Hindoos, wdth their multitudinous hordes of gods and goddesses ; the Mago-Zoroastrians, with their two divinities struggling for mastery ; the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, with their pantheons full of deities whose morality w^as l»elow that of the w^orshippers, — such was the condition of the civilised world wdien Jesus commenced his preachings. With all his dreams and aspirations, his mind was absolutely exempt from those pretensions which have been fixed on him by his over-zealous followers. He never claimed to be a " complement of God," to be a " hypostasis of the Divinity." Even modern idealistic Christianity has not been able yet to shake itself free from the old legacy be- queathed by the anthropomorphism of bygone ages. Age after age everything human has been eliminated from the history of the great Teacher, until his per- sonality is lost in a mass of legends. The New Testament ISLAM. 231 itself, with " its iiiculjatiou of a century," leaves the revered figure clothed in a mist. And each (hiy the old idea of " an ^^on born in the bosom of eternity," gathers force until the Council of Nice gives it a shapti and consistencv, and formulates it into a dogma. Many minds, bewildered by the far-offness of the universal Father, seek a resting-place midway in a human personality which they call divine. It is this need of a nearer object of adoration which leads modern Christianity to give a name to an ideal, clothe it with flesh and blood, and worship it as a man-God. The gifted author of the Defects of Modern Christi- anity considers the frequency with which the Nazarene Prophet asserted that he was " the Son of God," and demanded the some worship as God Himself, a proof of his Divinitv. That Jesus ever maintained he was the Son of God, in the sense in which it has been construed by Christian divines and apologists, we totally deny. Matthew Arnold has shown conclusively that the New Testament records are in many respects wholly unreli- al)le. So i'Av as the divinity of Christ is concerned, one can almost see the legend growing. But assuming that he made use of the expressions attributed to him, do they prove that he claimed to be the " the only- begotten of the Father." Has the apologist not heard of the Eastern dervish, famous now as al-Hallaj, who claimed to be God Himself. "A?i-al-HaU:' "I am God— I am the Truth," said he ; and the Mussulman divines, like the Jewish Sanhedrim, pronounced him guilty of blasphemy, and condemned him to death. A 232 THE TEACHINGS UF MOHAMMED. simple poor lieart, kindling with an exalted mysticism. was thus removed from earth. The Baby still believes that his master, "the Gate" to eternal life, was not killed, l)ut miraculously removed to heaven. Can it be said that when Abu Mughith al-Hallaj ^ and Bab called themselves " Truth " and the " Gate to heaven," thev meant to imply that they were part of the Divinity, or, if they did, that their " claim " is tantamount t(» proof? But, as we said before, we deny that Jesus, whose conceptions, when divested of the Ahcrghmhe of his followers, were sino-nlarlv free from exao-creration as to his own character or personality, ever used any expression to justify the demand attempted to be fixed upon him. His conception of the " Fatherhood " of God embraced all humanity. All mankind were the children of (lod, and he w^as their Teacher sent by the Eternal Father.^ The Christian had thus a nobler exemplar before him. The teachings of the Prophet of Nazareth should have elevated him to a purer concep- tion of the Deity. But six centuries had surrounded the figure of Jesus with those myths wdiich, in opposition to his own w^ords, resolved him into a manifestation of the Godhead. The " Servant " took the place of the Master in the adoration of the world. The vulgar masses, unable to comprehend or realise ^ AbA Mugliith iljn Mansfir, al-Hallaj, died in the prime of life. He was a man of pure morals, great simplicity, a friend of the poor, but a dreamer and an enthusiast. For an account of Bab and BS,bism, see (iobineau, Les lieligimis et les Philosophies dans I'Asie Centrale. ^ The use of the word "Father" in relation to God was cut out from Islam owing to the terrible perversion of the idea among the then Christians. ISLAM. 233 this wonderful mixture of Neo-Pytliagoreanism, Platoii- ism, Judseo-Hellenistic philosopliy, and the teachings of Jesus, adored liim as Ood incarnate, or reverted to tlie primitive worship of relics and of a tinselled goddess who represented the pure mother of Jesus/ The Collyridians, who were l)y no means an unim- l)ortant sect, went so far as to introduce in the Christian pantheon the Virgin Mary for Ood, and worship her as such, ofiering her a sort of twisted cake called coUyris, whence the sect had its name. At the Council of Nice, which definitely settled the nature of Jesus, there were men who held that besides " God the Father," there were two other gods — Christ and the Virgin Mary.''^ And the R(mianists even now, it is said, call the mother of Jesus the complement of the Trinity. In the long night of superstition the Christians had wandered far away from the simplicity of the Nazarene teachings. The worship of images, saints, and relics had become inseparably blended with the religion of Jesus. The practices which he had denounced, the evils which he had reprehended, were, one by one, incorporated Avith his faith. The holy ground where ^ Mosheini, vol. i. p. 4.32. - Moslieini's Ecclesiastical Hist. vol. i. p. 432 ; comp. also Hallain, Const. Hist, of England, cliap. ii. p. 75. From the text it will be seen how much truth there is in tlie assertion that Islam derived " everything <,'ood it contains" from Judai.sm or Cliristianity. "It has been the fashion," says Deutsch, "to ascribe whatever is good in Mohammedanism to Christianity. We fear this theory is not compatible with the results of honest investigation. For of Arabian Christianity at the time of Moham- med, the less said, perhaj)s, the better. By the side of it . . . even modern Amharic Christianity, of which we possess such astounding accounts, appears pure an