MOHAMMEDANISM

Hitherto Mohammed had used only the mild words of persuasion and argument in propagating his religion. Throughout the eighty-five chapters of the Koran, published at Mecca, so far from the use of any species of coercion being recommended to be employed in support of his faith, he exhorts his followers to bear with meekne the injuries to which their principles might expose them, declaring that he had no authority to compel any one to embrace his creed. In the eighteen chapters published at Medina, on the contrary, he taught a very different doctrine, and announced that God had commanded him to extirpate idolatry by force of arms, and to force uni. versal submi ion to his authority. The enjoyments of paradise were promised to " those who fight for the cause of God, whether they be slain or not." (Sur. 11. 4 9.) Nor were those mere words of course; they were soon reduced to practice. Mohammed, soon after his arrival in Medina, a umed the exercise both of the sacerdotal and regal office. The option of friendship, or submi ion, or battle, was proposed to the enemies of Islamism. His petty excursions for the defence or attack of a caravan prepared his troops for the conquest of Arabia. But what established his power, and laid the foundation of future conquests, was the i ue of the battle of Bedr, near Medina, fought in the second year of the Hegira, between the troops of Abu Sophian, the new sovereign of Mecca, and his own, in which the latter, though only a third of the number of the enemy, gained a complete victor)', with the lo of only forty men. From this period the progre of Mohammed, if not a complete triumph (for he sustained some defeats), afibrds an example of perhaps the most rapid succe on record; and at the lapse of six years, in the eighth Hegira, his victorious troops entered the city of Mecca, — an epoch from which may be dated the final establishment of the Mohammedan faith in Arabia. The few contests that followed were merely the last struggles of an expiring opposition, and were mostly terminated by Mohammed's generals; while the prophet himself was employed in destroying the idols enshrined in the Caaba, and in consecrating the temple to the worship of the sole God. The year following is known in Mu ulman history as the " year of emba ies;" because mi ions were sent to the prophet from a majority of the Arabian tribes, giving in their adhesion to his creed, and recognizing his authority, both sacred and civil. But while his religion was thus triumphant, and was destined still farther to spread, and to remain, the prophet's own days were drawing to a close. About three years before his death his health had been declining, in consequence of poison that had been administered to him by a Jewe of Chaibor, in order to test the validity of his divine knowledge. But his death was occasioned by a fever of fourteen days, on the 6th June, 632, in the 10th Hegira, in the 63d year of his age. His remains were buried in Medina, in the very room in which he breathed his last; and though the house itself has long since disappeared, a simple unadorned monument marks the spot where his body reposes. The pilgrim, on his way to Mecca, increases the worth of his pilgrimage if he turn aside to visit also the city which contains the ashes of Mohammed. During the life of Khadijah, Mohammed did not avail himself of the right of polygamy: after her death, however, the restraints which policy or conjugal affection had imposed on him were laid aside, and the utmost license marked his subsequent career. While he limited the number of wives to four in the case of others, he claimed an exemption to himself on divine authority; and married no fewer than seventeen according to some authorities, and nine according to others: strangely enough, all widows except one, — Ayesha, the daughter of Abu Beker. By Khadijah he had four sons, and as many daughters; and by an Egyptian concubine a fifth son: but his sons all died in infancy; and of ten daughters none survived him except Fatima, who was married to her cousin Ali. From this marriage sprang an illustrious offspring; the ancestors of the numerous existing scherifs, or sons of the prophet. The religion of the supposititious prophet is contained in the A^oraw (/. e. book), the contents of which, according to Mohammedan belief, are uncreated and eternal, subsisting in the e ence of the Deity, and inscribed with a pen of light on the table of the everlasting decrees, and communicated at different times to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. The Koran, which is written in the purest Arabic, is, with some exceptions, a work characterized by great richne and sublimity. To the beauty of its style, indeed, its author appeals as a proof of its inspiration; but Gibbon has remarked, that " his loftiest strains must yield to the sublime simplicity of the book of Job" (chap. iv.). Its boldest flights, and its general scope, are borrowed from the sacred volume. Indeed, the object of Mohammed seems to have been to recal the inhabitants of the populous country of Arabia to the worship of the only God, and to unite idolaters, Jews, and C;hristians in the same creed. He taught that the 758 chain of inspiration was prolonged from Adam to tlie promulgation of the Koran; that Christ did not die on the cro , but that a phantom, or a criminal, was substituted in his place, and that he was translated to the seventh heaven; that Christ rejoiced in the a urance of a future prophet more illustrious than himself; and that the promise of the Paraclete, or Holy Ghost, was prefigured in the name, andaccompUshed in the person, of Mohammed, the last and greatest of the prophets. He taught the existence of angels, good and bad, and of the Devil or E bit's j describing the latter as having been expelled from heaven, without hope of recovery, for refusing to pay homage to Adam at the divine command. As to the inspired writings, he acknowledged the Pent a teuch, the Psalms, and the Gospel. The doctrine of the resurrection and the day of judgment formed part of his faith. He taught that every man shall be judged according to his works; but that the believers in Islamism shall not be subjected (like the wicked idolaters or infidels) to eternal condemnation, but that, after undergoing a purifying punishment, they shall be translated into the regions of bli . He inculcated the absolute and unalterable predestination of all things. He called prayer " the pillar of religion," and " the key of Paradise;" and he prescribed five different stated periods of prayer daily, accompanied with as many ablutions or purifications of the body. During prayer he first insisted that the face should be turned to Jerusalem, in compliment to the Jews; but afterwards bestowed that honour on Mecca. Alms, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca, are the remaining duties of practical religion enjoined on all good Mu ulmans. Of the last the most holy was that of Ramadan, instituted in honour of the month in which Gabriel appeared to him in Mecca. Friday was ordained as the Moslem sabbath, because it was on that day he made his flight to Medina. He continued the rite of circumcision in compliment to the prejudices of his countrjrmen. He condemned usury, and forbade the drinking of wine. The gro ly sensual character of Mohammed's paradise constitutes, perhaps, the greatest blemish in his religious system, and has exerted a debasing influence over all the countries where it has acquired an ascendency. To the history of Islamism after the death of its illustrious founder we cannot do more than allude. The rival pretensions of Abu Beker and Ali, the latter of whom called himself" the first believer," to succeed Mohammed in the empire he had founded, both gave a temporary check to the progre of the religion, and produced a schism which exists till the present day. See Sonnites, SCHIITES. Notwithgtanding the high pretensions of his competitor, Abu Beker was elected to the office of supreme head of the Mu ulman religion and power, under the title of "Caliph," or " Khalif, " i. e. succe or of the prophet. Under his sway, and that of his two immediate succe ors, the most brilliant succe attended the Arab arms. Indeed, by the 20th Hegira, or within ten years of the death of the prophet, Syria, Persia, and Egypt, being conquered, adopted the new faith. Ali was chosen the fourth khalif, but achieved nothing very memorable. At his death, which took place by the hands of an a a in, the throne was usurped by a son of Abu Sophian, whose descendants are called the Omayzade race of khalifs. They held the sovereignty for nearly 100 years; during which time the whole of Africa was overrun, and so far colonized by tribes of Bedouins that it has since remained, as to language, manners, and religion, an Arab country. The Islam faith prospered nearly as rapidly in the East; at least within 80 years from Mohammed's death it embraced all the countries between the Indus and the Atlantic, and from the Indian Ocean to the steppes of Central Asia. It has since penetrated even into China, and found its way into many of the islands in the Indian Archipelago. Spain was taken in 711. The Arabs were, for a short time, masters of the South of France, but were finally driven acro the Pyrenees in 732. The Omayzade khalifs were, in the 133d Hegira (A. u. 750), superseded by the descendants of Abl>as, one of the uncles of Mohammed. This Ijist dynasty is known in history as that of the Abbas side khalifs. Meanwhile the seat of the khalifat was removed from Medina to Damascus, and latterly to Bagdad. Nor was the khalifate itself of very long standing. It had been tottering for years; but it fell in the 656th Hegira (A. D. 1258); a Tartar army naving taken Bagdad, and put an end to the nominal, sacerdotal, and regal power of the khalifs, the real power having, for a long time, resided in the Turkish sultans of Asia Minor. The title of khalif is now recognized as one of the attributes of the grand segni or as succe or of Mohammed, and of the soph i of- Persia as succe or of Ali; but it no longer implies the discharge of any religious functions. But neither the foreign conquests of the Mu ulmans, nor the downfall of the khalifat, made any e ential change in the political state of Arabia. The people adhere to Mohammedanism as the true faith, but otherwise Page 772