MOGADORE

[s. 502] : A town and seaport on the W. 484 political power of Islam is weakening, and as far as civilization is concerned may be counted as dead, the last few years have witne ed a great religious revival in the Muslim world, especially in Turkey, India and Africa. Steamship lines make Mecca more acce ible, and religious zeal, fanned to a white heat at the pilgrim festivals, is winning adherents to the party that cries out for union in Islam. Lo of political power seems to permit unity of religious life to the Mohammedan world, the like of which has not been witne ed since the Ommeiads from Damascus ruled an unbroken Islam territory from the Indus to the Atlantic. throwing itself with all its combined forces upon the inferior races of Asia, Austral asia and It is its Africa, and is winning them to its faith. is last opportunity. Mohammed, by accepting Jesus as the promised Me iah of the Old Testament, seems to have allied himself with Christianity rather than with Judaism. He profe ed to give all credit to the Old and New Testament Scriptures, and his rejection of the crude tri-theistic Christianity about him merely indicates the natural vitality of his Neverthele , he was chiefly religious instinct. moved by Judaistic influences, and every religious reformer in Islam urges to-day “return to minutiae^ of the faith of Abraham.” The detailed ceremonial in Islam were unquestionably the result of Jewish influences. Probably the same is true of the idea of making Muslims a chosen people,. and of the further idea of the 485 relation of conqueror to conquered as the ideal relation between God’s chosen people and all The Jewish expectancy of a other nations. Me iah in the last days made it reasonable that Mohammed should claim to be the succe or of Jesus who failed, and to prove by his triumphs that he himself was the prophet foretold from the In short, the genius of Mohammed beginning. coined the precious and other metals at his hand and put his own image and superscription upon the mixed resultant. In 627 A. D. Mohammed sent from Medina the following letter to Heraclius, Emperor at ConIt was his first strictly foreign mi tantinople. sionary effort: In the name of God the Compa ionate, the Merciful. Mohammed, who is the servant of God, and is His apostle, Rum peace be on whoever has gone to Hergal, the Qaisar of on the straight road. After this I say, verily, I call you to Embrace Islam, and God will [submi ion to Islam GodJ. reward you twofold. If you turn away from the offer of O people of Islam, then on you be the sins of your people. the Book, come toward a creed which is fit both for us and for you. It is this to worship none but God, not to as soc i The reate any with God, and not to call any others God. But we fore, O ye people of the Book, if ye refuse, beware! are Moslems, and our religion is Islam. [seal] Mohammed, The Apostle of God.; — This letter reveals the thought in the mind of any Muslim sovereign to-day as he looks over into the Christian lands of wealth and power. It not unlike the letter sent by the Mahdi of It is a thought of peace an offer of peace on condition of submi ion to, or adoption of, Islam, but this kindly thought is coupled with a grim suggestion to beware of Islam’s sword, which those understand who have felt its edge. Happily in this day none but the isolated fanatics of Africa are ignorant enough to imagine it expedient to indulge in such language toward Christian governments. Mohammed’s admi ions respecting Jesus as the “Word of God” and in regard to the Scriptures in the hands of the Jews and Christians form the open door for the Christian apologist. Our task is to prove to these 200,000,000 votaries of Islam that we do “worship none but God,” and that we do not “a ociate any with God” nor “call others God.” It was a misconception from the first (natural enough when we consider the phase of Christianity presented to Mohammed), and it is a misconception emphasized by a you sand years of contact with half idolatrous Cliristian sects in a state of decadence. The problem before the Christian Church is to take away this misconception, to present the Gospel in its simplicity and to lead this great unitarian disaffection back to the truth. The doctrine of the Trinity is vitally involved, and the Arian controversy must be fought all over again. Recent controversy over the usefulne and power of Islam has called attention away from is Khartum to Emin Pasha. — the true i ue. to Christianity — Muslims can never be won over by a series of wholesale maledictions, nor by a weak yielding of the vital facts of a true faith. The truths contained in the Koran should be readily acknowledged, since they are derived from the Bible; but it must be understood by way of caution that truths may be 80 connected that the result may be a great falsem putting hood. Good bricks may be used together usele structures. Islam has happily so been characterized as a broken “cistern’ badly broken that it must be all torn down, and many new bricks added before it may hold water; — Mohaminedanisiiii but it is a cistern still. There cannot be a question but that Mohammed and his early follower a looked upon the Aby in i an Christians as their religious neighbors and kinsmen. From the first that peculiar relationship has been admitted,, also, on the Christian side. Dean Stanley calls special attention to this when he says:”Springing; out of the same Oriental soil and climate, if not out of the bosom of the Oriental church itself, in. part under its influence, in part by way of reaction against it, Mohammedanism must be regarded as an eccentric heretical form of Eastern Christianity. This, in fact, was the ancient mode of regarding Mohammed. He was considered not in the light of the founder of a new religion, but rather as one of the chief heresiarchs of the church.” DoUinger agrees with this, and says: “Islam must be considered at bottom a Christian heresy, the bastard offspring of a Christian father and a Jewish mother, and is indeed more closely allied to Christianity than Manichjeism, which is reclvoned a Christian sect.” Ewald calls it “the last and most powerful offshoot of Gnosticism.” Jolin of Damascus, who did his work early in the 8th century, at the very seat of the Ommeiad dynasty, did not consider Islam a new religion, but only a Christian heresy. The same was true of Samonas of Gaza, Bartholomew of Ede a, Peter, Abbot of Clugny, Thomas A quinas, Savonarola, and most of the medieval writers. Radulfus de Column a, who wrote about 1300 a. d., says: “The tyranny of Heraclius provoked a revolt of the Eastern nations.”They could not be reduced, because the Greeks at the same time began to disobey the Roman Pontiff, receding, like Jeroboam, from the true faith. Others among these schismatics (apparently with the view of strengthening their political revolt) carried their heresy further, and founded Mohammedanism.” The very errors in this statement are instructive. Dante consigned Mohammed to the company of Turning to the heresiarchs in the “Inferno.” early Protestant confe ions, we find similar statements that regard Mohammedanism as a mere The Augsburg Con offshoot from the Church. fe ion condemns as heresies Man ich seism, Eunomianism, MoArianism, Val ent in i an ism, hammed an ism, “and all similar to these.” The second Helvetic confe ion condemns Jews, Mohammedans, and all those heresies teaching that the Son and the Spirit are not God. Doubtle there has been a tendency to carry idea of the identity between Islarn and Christianity too far, and we are in a reactionary But without a certain symperiod just now. pathy and an open acknowledgment of the truth Mohammedanism, the mi ionary caii never hope to win Muslims. When once the principles of higher criticism are understood in the Mohammedan world, Mohammed’s admi ions as to the inspiration of the original Christian Scriptures this m will be used with effect, for we have manuscripts of the New Testament older by several centuries than the rise of Islam. His admi ion of the miraculous birth of Jesus, of His miraculous power, of His deathle ne , and that He will be the Judge at the last great day, will also play an important part in the controversy. Already a Muslim writer in India has seen this and has declared that Christianity cannot be overthrown until the deathle ne of Jesus is exploded. The great difiiculty is that Islam erects barrier* against sympathy of feeling among its adherents Holiammedanisin by making belief in Mohammed a condition For its absolute of the brotherhood of man. permanent object it holds up the supplanting of Judaism and Christianity; justifying the most extreme views on this point by claiming divine appointment and obligation to extirpate all other religions, if need be by force, that it may be In its view fanaticism is an alone in the world. When it e ential quality of devotion to God. can have its own way, not only is it death for a Muslim to accept Christianity, but for a Christian to present to a Muslim proofs of the true nature It is death for a Christian even of the Koran. to set foot on the sacred soil of Mecca. It is into the vast field, thus fortified, that the The Christian Church is sent by its Master. problem confronted is as various as the sects and Patient nationalities in the Muslim world. labor, instruction in fundamental questions of philosophy and religion, the cultivation of an historic sense, the example of pure lives and a Christ like self-denial must at last open to the striving of the spirit these hearts of flint. //. Pre-Islamic Arabia: Arabia, cut off from the rest of th« world by deserts and seas, unconquered by A yrian, Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, or Roman, was the last place to which a prophet would have looked for the rise It was not of such a phenomenon as Islam. always thus isolated, for the latest research gives evidence of a very ancient civilization, which was the connecting link between Egypt and Baby But up to the time lonia in the earliest periods. The of Mohammed the Arabs had remained free. regions inhabtogether with adjacent peninsula, ited by Arabs, covered about 800,000 square miles, or an area as large as the United States Throughout the early east of the Mi i ippi. probably averaged centuries its inhabitants from 9,000,000 to 10,000,000 people, divided up into tribes, some of which were nomadic, while the large majority were settled. The southern portion of the peninsula was well cultivated, and furnished many valuable articles of commerce. The tribes were for the most part independent, or were loosely bound by confederacies. There was no nation of Arabs until the genius of Mohammed welded together the heterogeneous ma and gave Arabia a distinct mi ion, which harmonized with a latent pride and love of conquest. In the earliest days commerce seems to have been a predominant occupation in Arabia. The caravan trade furnished occupation to a large proportion of the inhabitants. At that era commerce was almost entirely confined to the The influence of Rome, and the development of a merchant marine under government protection and patronage, and the disturbed condition of the Persian frontier, broke up the monopoly of the Arabs, and many tribes were land. compelled to betake themselves to a nomad life. We have traditions of great emigrations from the more crowded south northward, which occurred before the historic period, which removals were doubtle caused by the interruption of the caravan trade. The story of Arabia until the period of Mohammed is confused. Putting aside conjecture, which has taken great license with the mysterious peninsula, we learn of a number of kingdoms which wielded considerable power. The Hi my a rites prominent in the southwest formed the most political combination in Arabia. 486 Abd KelM, who reigned about 275, said to have been converted to Christianity by a Syrian stranger, and was murdered by his subHis son, Marthad, was famous for his jects. religious toleration. He is reported to have said: “I reign over men’s bodies, not over their opinions. I exact from my subjects obedience to my government; as to their religious doctrine, the judge of that is the great Creator.” Constant i us, the Byzantine emperor, about the middle of the 4th century sent an emba y to the Hi my a rites, wishing to strengthen his alliance with them and to attract them to Christianity. Two hundred Cappadocian horses of the purest breed were sent as a present, and Bishop Theophilus undertook the mi ion work. Churches were built at the capital, Tzafar, at Aden, and one on the Persian Gulf. Arabian historians make no mention of this mi ion. A little later the Hi my a rites began to decline, and became a sort of dependency of Aby in i a, a Christian kingdom acro the Red Sea. Between 490 and 525 Dhu Nowas, in the district of Najran, took the reins of power in his hands. He was a recent convert to Judaism, and persecuted Christians bitterly in that region. They were offered Judaism or death, and twenty you sand are said to have perished. One intended victim, Tholaban, escaped to Hira, and, holding up a half burnt copy of the Gospel, invoked, in the name of outraged Christen dom, retribution. Justin I. sent a me age to the Aby in i an monarch, asking him to inflict punishment on the usurper. Dhu Nowas was Their king, is defeated and the Najran became an Aby in i an dependency. A zealous Christian, Abraha, had become Aby in i an viceroy somewhat later in Yemen. Bishop Greg ent i us was sent by the Patriarch of Alexandria to a ist in pushing the interests of Christianity. A cathedral was built at Sana, and an attempt made to make it the Mecca of the peninsula. The Meccans were displeased, and killed one of the Christian mi ionaries. A Kore i shite from Mecca defiled the cathedral at Sana, whereupon Abraha set out on an expedition, about 570, to destroy the Kaaba. His army was destroyed, and the episode has come down in Mohammedan story as the affair Mohammed was born a few of “The Elephant.” months after. By the aid of the Persians the Aby in i ans were finally expelled in 603, and Southern Arabia became thereafter loosely dependent upon that eastern rival of the Byzantine empire, until it was absorbed, in 634, by Muslim conquest. Along the Persian frontier was another considerable political power the kingdom of Hira, — founded in the 2d century of our era, and having political autonomy until the spread of Islam. It looked to Persia for help in its various wars, and tended more and more toward a dependent Along the Syrian border, and more condition. or le under Byzantine influence, was the kingdom of the Gha anides, which early came under the influence of the Western civilization. Christianity had a strong following in this region from the first, and the whole kingdom was under Christian influence. The kingdom of the Kindis, in Central Arabia, was another political unit, but much weaker than the other three. At Mecca we find the powerful Koreish tribe, which had control of the Kaaba, the religious center of native Arabian religion. The religion of Pre-Islamic Arabia may be called heathen, with constant tendencies in the 487 nobler minds toward a conception of one supreme God. Mohammed speaks of the era before him as “the times of ignorance,” which he came to do away with. At the Kaaba there were said to have been three hundred and sixty-five images of the gods, who were looked upon as the children •of Allah, the creator of all. Idols were found in every house, and formed an important article of manufacture. Religion was a sort of barter, which the individual carried on with the gods or godde es whose aid he desired or whose vengeance he wished to avert. Festivals and pilgrimages, punctiliously attended to, made up a large part of religious life and worship. There was a considerable stir of literary life, and renowned poets contested at the annual fairs for preeminence. The succe ful poems were displayed on the walls of the Kaaba. These poems, some of which have come down to us, show the lowest grade of morals. Drunkenne , gambling, gro love intrigues, vengeance, theft, the loosest po ible family ties, the degrading of woman to a mere animal existence all these traits, common throughout Arabia, make plain the utter inadequacy of the prevailing faith to elevate the life. Add to this the widespread tendency toward atheism and indifference. Such a state could not last long. Serious minds turned in every direction for help. There arose an ascetic fraternity who called themselves Hanifs (penitents). They sought to go back to the simple faith of Abraham, whom they styled the first Hanif. They proclaimed themselves as seekers after truth, and adopted the life which had been set before them for centuries by Christian hermits, whose rigid vigils had impre ed the Oriental mind. Among these Hanifs were Obeidullah, own cousin of Mohammed; Waraqah and Othman, cousins of Khadijah, all three of whom found their way to Christianity. Zaid ibn Amr, an aged Hanif, was seen leaning against the Kaaba, and sadly stretching his hands upward, and praying: “O God, if I knew what form of worship is most pleasing to Thee, so would I serve Thee; but I know it not.” Mohammed was touched when this was reported to him, and said: “I will pray for him; in the resurrection he, too, will be a community.” It cannot be said that these Hanifs were Jews or Christians, yet they could not have arisen without — these two religions as forerunners. They anticipated the central idea contained in the word “Islam” (resignation), and their conception of <jod was summed up in the word “Judgment.” We shall see later how Mohammed became a Hanif, and gave shape, proportion and continuity to a half faith which was floating about Mecca and Medina (Yathrib), and how he originated a church polity in closest union with a political organization, the combination of which was destined to make him the moral ruler over more human beings than have ever been controlled by any other man. The whole question of Christianity in Arabia is very obscure. Christians fled for refuge from the Roman persecutions to the fastne es of the Syrian desert in the early days of Christianity. Paul himself spent three years among Arabs, whether on the Sinaitic peninsula or along the Ijorder of the desert south of Damascus. A local church council at Bostra shows a large growth of Christianity east of the Jordan before the close of the 3d century. The Gha anides were first reached, and bishops were appointed Aloliamiuedanisi to follow the wandering tribes in their migraThe faith penetrated the desert south and east along caravan routes, and we may be sure that by the middle of the 3d century Christianity was well known in many parts of Arabia. tions. We have seen how the Hi my a rites were reached the succeeding century. Hira and Kufa, along the Persian frontier, about the same time, learned of Christianity through Nestor i an mi ionaries. A king of Hira was converted in the 6th century. Other tribes, such as the Beni Taghlib of Me so pot am i a, the Beni Haris of Najran, the Beni Tay, and various tribes about Medina (Yathrib), became nominally Christian. Ali Saad sneeringly said: “The Beni Taghlib are not Christians; they have borrowed from Christianity only the custom of drinking wine.” In the first wars between the Persians and the rising Muslim power the Christian Arabs of the north But in eastern frontier joined the Persians. spite of this spread of Christian knowledge throughout the peninsula, it did not seem to take any vital hold. It was swept away at the first onset of Islam. The nomad life in the desert was not conducive to Christianity. The legends of the Talmudic traditions found there congenial soil and won high honor as inspired Scripture, so that hostile Judaism to some extent neutralized the efforts of Christianity. Furthermore, the form of Christianity which penetrated Arabia was most inferior. Northern Arabia was a battle ground between Persian and Byzantine. But in the peninsula itself the apocryphal gospels were held as of equal value with the real gospels. The doctrine of the trinity was travestied by a crude tri-theism, in which the three persons of the Godhead were God the Father, God the Son, and the “Virgin Mary.” Jacobite and Nestor i an influences predominated. It is doubtful whether the Bible or any The portions were put into the vernacular. haughty nature of the Arabs could with difficulty accept the humble and forgiving spirit of the Gospel. The Aby in i ans, altho making up a powerful Christian kingdom, were of negro blood, and hence uninfluential. “In fine,” says Muir in summing up this subject, “viewed thus in a religious aspect the surface of Arabia had been now and then gently rippled by the feeble eiforts in of Christianity; the sterner influence of Judaism had been occasionally 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 toward the Kaaba, gave ample evidence that the faith and worship of Mecca held the Arab mind in a thraldom rigorous and undisputed. Yet, even amongst a people thus enthralled, there existed elements which a master mind, seeking the regeneration of Arabia, rnight work upon. Christianity was well known; living examples of it were amongst the native tribes; the New Testament was respected, if not reverenced, as a book that claimed to be divine; in most quarters it was easily acce ible, and some of its facts and doctrines were admitted without The tenets of Judaism were even more dispute. notorious, and its legends, if not its sacred writings, were familiar throughout the peninsula. The worship of Mecca was founded upon patriarchal traditions believed to be common both to Here, then, was a Christianity and Judaism. ground on which the spiritual fulcrum might Mo hamm e dan i 8 m be planted; here was a wide field, already conceded by the inquirer, at least in close connection with the truth, inviting scrutiny and improve The material for a great change ment. was here. But it required to be wrought, and... Mohammed was the workman.” Jews had made their homes in the Arabian peninsula in the earliest times. From the days of Solomon the Red Sea was the avenue of a thrifty commerce, and Hebrews had probably located at the trading ports. Later the conquests of Palestine by A yrians, Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had sent waves The fall of Jewish immigration into the desert. of Jerusalem and the rebellion of Bar Cochab had driven you sands of Jews in the footsteps of their brethren. A number of native Arab tribes embraced Judaism, and in the time of Mohammed we find this people scattered all over the pen in There were a sula, in small, compact colonies. large number of colonies near Medina, and from their teachers Mohammed drew much of the material found in the Koran. At first he hoped to win them to Islam, and contemplated making Jerusalem the Kibla. Their obduracy changed his temper, and in the conflicts that ensued you sands of Jews were butchered, and most of the others submitted to Islam. Communities of Jews are still to be found in Southern Arabia who have clung to their faith all these centuries. III. The Life of Mohammed: Into this world of conflicting dogmas Mohammed was born in the year 570, at Mecca. This city, situated on the caravan route between Yemen and Syria, had for centuries been famous for the Kaaba, which contained the sacred Black Stone and formed the religious center of the Arabian peninsula. The leading tribe had for years been the Koreish, and Mohammed sprang from the Beni Hashim, a noble tho somewhat waning branch of this tribe. His father’s name was Abdallah. Returning from a mercantile trip to Syria, Abdallah was taken sick at Medina, and died some months before the birth of Mohammed. His mother, Amina, according to the prevailing custom, put the infant out to nurse with Halima, a woman of the Beni Sdd, one of the Bedawin tribes, where he remained four or five years, acquiring the free manners and the pure tongue of the nomads. His Bedawin nurse was more than once alarmed by epileptic symptoms in her charge, and at the age of about five years he was given back to the keeping of Amina. The following year, while traveling toward Medina with her boy, Amina died, and the orphaned Mohammed was taken up by his uncle, Abu Talib, who became his faithful guardian. At the age of twelve years Mohammed accompanied his uncle on a mercantile trip to Syria, when he first came in contact with the rites and symbols of Oriental Christianity. As a youth he lived for the most part quietly, keeping the flocks of Abu Tdlib, and at the age of twenty uncle being poor, he entered the service widow named Khadlja. He was sent by her on a trading journey to Syria, and superintended the caravan. Khadlja was delighted with her agent’s service, and tho almost double his age, soon became his wife. She bore him four daughters and two sons. Both sons died. The youngest daughter, Fatima, married Ali, and thus became the ancestre of all the Muslim pose _ of meditation. 488 _ The gro idolatry of Arabia oppre ed his mind. He was aroused but not satisfied by his slight knowledge of Judaism and Christianity. For days at a time he would continue in a lonely cave on Mount Hira. Ecstatic reveries accompanied his meditations, and he finally came to believe himself called to be the reformer of his people. After a period of silence known as the fatrah, these revelations continued with more or le frequency till the end of his life. Khadija was his first convert. The first three years of his preaching resulted in the conversion of some forty of his relatives and friends, among whom were Ali, Zeid, Abu Bekr, and Othman. His teaching against idolatry developed fierce opposition, in which Mohammed was safe under the protection of Abu Talib, but others suffered persecution, and in 615 eleven men fled to Aby in i a. In 620 Abu Talib and Khadlja died. Mohammed afterward married other wives, nine of whom survived him. Proceeding to T^lif, he was unsucce ful in his appeal to the people there, but returned strengthened by a dream of a journey to heaven. In 621 his cause was greatly advanced by the addition of twelve pilgrims from Medina, and the following year the band was increased to seventy, who were pledged to receive and defend the prophet in Medina. His brightest hopes now centered about the northern city. Abandoning Mecca, he and 150 followers in little bands fled to Medina. This date marks the era of the H^gira (migration), 622. At Medina Mohammed built a mosque, instituted rites of worship, and declared war against unbelievers. The Jews rejecting his claims, he became their bitter foe. In 623 the battle of Bedr resulted in a signal victory for the Muslims over the Meccans. A year later he was defeated by the Koreish at Ohod, and Medina was unsucAbout this ce fully besieged by 4,000 Meccans. time the Beni Koreitza, the last of the Jewish tribes in the neighborhood, surrendered to the power of Mohammed, and over 600 men were beheaded by his order. In the sixth year of the H^gira, Mohammed, with 1,500 followers, made a pilgrimage to Mecca, but was refused admittance. A truce was signed at Hodeibia, near the city, suspending hostilities for ten years, and granting permi ion for a pilgrimage the following year. Discontent was allayed among the Muslim converts by an expedition against the Jews of Khaiber, yielding rich booty. His plans now widened, and the same year he sent written demands to the Persian king, Chosroes II., Emperor Heraclius, the Governor of Egypt, the Aby in i an king, and several Arab - tribes. Chosroes tore up the letter and Muta killed the envoy. To revenge this insult Mohammed fought what proved to be a losing battle at Muta, on the Syrian border, where his friend Zeid was five, his killed. of a rich A breach of the truce at this time by the Koreish gave grounds for attack, and Mohammed at the head of 10,000 men entered Mecca in nobility. When approaching his fortieth year Mohammed began to retire from his family for the pur triumph in 630. In the course of that year Taif submitted, and ended opposition in the peninsula. In 632 Mohammed with his wives and 40,000 adherents performed the “Farewell Pilgrimage” to Mecca. The rites of this pilgrimage are still scrupulously followed. Three months later Mohammed fell sick and died in the house of his favorite wife, this 480 Mohammedanism Ayesha, after having liberated his slaves and distributed alms to the poor. He was buried in the roon i where he died, which is now included within the Great Mosque. The person of Mohammed was attractive. Tho little above the ordinary height, his presence was stately and commandmg. His expre ion was always pensive and contemplative. His eyes and hair were black, and a beard reached to His gait was quick, and is said to his breast. have resembled a man descending a hill. time of his death the revelations existed only in scattered fragments, on bits of stone, leather and flat bones. The great repository of truth was in the minds of his followers. With the marvelous tenacity of the Arab memory, large numbers of Muslims at the time of their Prophet’s death could repeat the principal suras, and soon after Eome are mentioned who could recite the whole without an error. With Mohammed’s death the As to his character, up to the end of his life in Mecca his sincerity cannot be doubted, and his conduct seems beyond reproach. He believed himself to be the divinely appointed me enger for the overturning of idolatry, and he suffered to collect the contents. In the second year after this event a vast number of the best reciters of the Kor4n were slain at the battle of Yemdna, for years the taunts of a nation with apparently no ulterior motive but the reformation of his Secular history can furnish no more people. striking example of moral courage than Mohammed bearing patiently the scorn and insults of the Koreish. From the beginning of life in Medina temporal power and the acquisition of wealth and glory mingled with the Prophet’s motives. Cruelty, greed, and gro licentiousne were justified by special “revelations.” His conduct during the last ten years of his life seems to bear out this estimate of his character, “that he was delivered over to the judicial blindne of a self deceived heart.” IV. The Kordn: Like Christianity, Islam cenabout a book. This book is the Koran The (“reading” or “that which is to be read”). Koran is the foundation of Islam. The orthodox believe that the original text exists from all eternity, or at least was the earliest creation and is inscribed in the highest heaven upon the “wellters guarded Tablet.” By a proce of “sending down,” one piece after another was communicated to the Prophet, who in turn proclaimed them to his immediate circle of followers, and so to the world. The angel charged with conveying these portions is generally called “Gabriel,” who dictated the words directly to Mohammed. This being the origin and nature of the Koran, all Muslims hold to its absolute verbal inspiration, and regard it as the rule of faith and practise, from which there can be no appeal. The Kordn as given to the Muslim world is in Arabic, a volume slightly smaller than the New Testament. It is divided into 114 chapters or suras, of very unequal length. This collection constitutes proclaimed the Revelation by Mohammed as received during the last twenty three years of his life. The suras are not spoken of by number, but by a title peculiar to each, derived from its contents or some special quality. The heading of each svra, indicating whether it was revealed at Mecca or Medina, is the work of commentators, and forms no part of the inspired text. Every sura is in turn divided into verses, tho these subdivisions are not numbered in manuscript copies. The 114 chapters are arranged seemingly in a most artle manner, without regard to chronology or doctrine, the only order discernible being that the longest are placed first, with the notable exception of Sura I., called the Fatiha. So far as is known, Mohammed himself never wrote anything down, and if he was acquainted with the arts of reading and writing (which some have disputed), it seems that he found it more convenient to employ an amanuensis whenever he had anything to commit to writing. At the canon was closed, but up to this time no attempt had been made to systematically arrange or even and Omar became convinced that the divine revelation ought to be put on a le precarious footing. The attention of Abu Bekr being called to the matter, he speedily appointed Zeid, the chief amanuensis of the Prophet, to make th collection. Zeid worked diligently, and brought together the fragments of the Koran from every quarter, gathering them from palm-leaves, stone tablets, the bones of sheep and camels, from bits of leather, “but most of all from the breasts of men.” The tablets of the Arab memory were at that time the reliable source of much of the revelation. The manuscript thus formed remained during the caliphate of Omar the standard text. As transcripts of this original were made variety crept in, and in the caliphate of 0thman, some time a little later than 33 a.h., Zeid was appointed to make a recension of his former text. With a committee of three Koreish to act as final judges in disputed cases, the new collection was made in the pure Meccan dialect, which Mohammed himself used. The former copies were called in and burned, and the recension of Othman has remained down to the present day unaltered. All the facts warrant us in supposing that the Koran as now existing contains the very words as delivered b}’ the Various readings are practically unProphet. known. One source of the Kordn’s power is its son or diction. Another is the sim doctrine. The unity of God, Judgment, and Islam (that is, submi ion to His are The will) the fundamental teachings. whole substance of the religion is comprehended under two propositions, which are sometimes spoken of as the Mohammedan “Confe ion of ously plicity musical of its”There is no God but God, and His Prophet.” The former sweeps away idolatrj’‘, and the latter at once Faith,” viz.: Mohammed lends divine Mohammed. is authority to every precept of The portion of confe ion per Belief taining to faith embraces six branches: in God; in His angels; in His scriptures; in His in the resurrection and the day of prophets; judgment; in God’s absolute decree, and pre In practise destination of both good and evil. things are nece ary: (1) Confe ion of Faith, (2) Worship, (3) Alms-giving, (4) The Fast and (5) a Pilgrimage to Mecca. Salvation, according to the Koran, is by free But grace and is not a thing to be won by merit. the gracious gift from God depends upon Con Whoever confe es belief in fe ion of Faith. five God and His Prophet will be finally saved from hell altho his sins may be punished there. On the other hand, tho a man confe belief in the One God, if he does not declare belief in Moham- Mohammedaiiisin med as the Prophet of God he cannot be accepted by God. The believer is bound also to do good works, that is to say, to observe the ordinances with strict fidelity. Large portions of the Koran deal with the narratives of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, showing that Mohammed had come in contact with the corrupt forms The Old of these religions then in Arabia. Testament characters, especially the Patriarchs and Prophets, and Our Lord Himself, are regarded with the greatest reverence. The narratives given in the Kordn are drawn from the Talmudic traditions, which Mohammed perhaps supposed to be the O. T. Scripture, and from the It is often Christian apochryphal Gospels. said that the Koran is the most widely-read book in existence. In one sense this is true, since the mere reading of the book, without understanding, is commonly held to exert a magical influence for good. But it should be remembered that the Koran is not understood by readers outside of Arabia (even where Arabic is vernacular), excepting in the limited circle of well educated men. The Hadilh, or Traditions: The Koran V. prescribes an ethical code which is obligatory on Muslims, since all regard it as the only revel a But along with the tion of the Divine will. Kor4n, Mohammedans receive well-authenti- Prophet as authoritative comments on religious, ethical and ceremonial subjects. These traditions are in fact considered cated sayings of the as inspired sayings, handed down by men liable They inform us not only what Moto error. hammed said and did, but what he allowed others Mohammed was to say and do unrebuked. much afraid that he would be misreported, and commanded his adherents as follows: “Convey to other persons none of my words except those ye know of a surety. Verily he who represents my words wrongly shall find a place for himself How poorly this injunction was in the fire.” followed is evident from the fact that Abu Daud received only 4,800 traditions out of 500,000. Thus it appears why there is such a diversity of opinion among Mohammedans. Various canons of criticism have been laid down by learned Muslims by which these traditions — such as the integrity may be of the persons transmitting the saying, the number of links in the chain of narrators, the style of composition, etc. The first attempts to collect these traditions were made in the 8th century. The work of Malik is held in the greatest esteem. The six standard collections (out of 1,465 in all) are sifted Imam by (1) Mohammed Is mail al Bukhari, a.h. 256; (2) Muslim ibnu’l Hajjaj, a.h. 261; (3) Abu ’Isa Mohammed-at-Tirmizi, a.h. 279; (4) Abu Da’ud as-Sajistani, a.h. 275; (5) Abu ’Abdi’r-Rahman an Nasa’i, a.h. 303; and (6) Abu ’Abdi ’llah Mohammed Ibn Majah, a.h. 273. All the Muslim sects receive the traditions altho disagreeing as to their number and their content. The following are a few characteristic sayings of Mohammed: “I am no more than a man, but when I enjoin anything respecting religion, receive it, and when I order anything about the affairs of the world, then I am nothing more than a man.” “I have left you two things, and you will not stray as long as you hold them fast. The one is the book of God, and the other is the example (Sunna) of his prophet.” “Some of my injunctions abrogate others.” “My sayings do not — — 490 abrogate the Word of God, but the Word of God can abrogate my sayings.” The following is a specimen of the way a tradition was of at-Tirmizi: handed down in the collection “Abu Kuraib said to us that Ibrahim ibn Yusuf ibn Abi Ishaq said to us from his father, from abu Ishaq, from Tulata ibn Musarif, that he said, I have heard from Abdu’r-Rahman ibn Ausaja that he said I have from Bara ibn ‘Azib that he said I have heard that the prophet said, ’Whoever shall give in charity a milch-cow, or a leathern bottle of water it shall be equal to the freeing of a slave.’” VI. Muslim Worship: The forms of worship have so much importance in Islam, both as a means of acquiring merit before God and as shaping the religious ideas of the Muslim, that it may be well to illustrate what this worship is. Five times every day every Mohammedan man or woman must recite the prescribed litany in Arabic in a specified manner. Each of the five services or exercises consists of a certain number of “rounds” or repetitions of the litany; one service differing from the other in the number of “rounds” rather than in variety of the words used. The example here given is the service of morning worship, either in the congregation at mosque or alone in the house. We condense the directions from one of the books of instruction in use among the Sunnite silver, or Mohammedans The morning worship consists of four rounds {rakai), two of which are obligatory and two are of usage (following the custom of Mohammed). The worshipper, having performed ablution, stands facing in the direction of Mecca. 1. He must declare his purpose (inaudibly), saying, I purpose to perform the first obligatory (or usage) round of morning worship. 2. He then lifts both hands, palm to the front, until the thumbs touch the lobes of the ears; then he says, “God is most great!” 3. Folding the hands acro the stomach, the right hand over and clasping the left, he says, “Glory to God! Praised and ble ed be Thy name, O Most High, and there is no other God but Thee I take refuge in God from Satan the bestonedl In the name of God the Merciful and the Compa ionate! Praise God the Lord of all creatures, etc. (the first chapter of the Koran);”Giod is one God, the Eternal; He be get teth not, neitlier is He begotten, and therg is none like unto Him.” 4. The worshipper now bows, saying “God is most great!” and, placing his hands upon his knees, taking care to keep the line of his head and back straight. 5. Remaining in that position he says: “Praise God the (If he is able to say it Lord, the Great One,” three times. I five or seven times the merit is greater.) God attend unto his praise,” the wor6. Saying shipper regains the upright position. upon his knees, sitting upon his heels, and 7. He now drops “May then, saying,”God is most great!” he touches his forehead to the ground; one hand being on each side of his head, palm downward upon the ground. 8. In this prostrate position the worshipper says three times, “Glory t the Lord on High!” 9. Saying “God is most great!” he recovers position on his knees. 10. Saying “God is most great,” he touches his forehead to the ground again. 11. In this prostrate position he repeats three times, “Glory to the Lord on High!” 12. Saying, “God is most great!” the worshipper recovers position upon his knees again. now This completes one round of worship, and the worshiper rises to his feet and begins the second round, which consists of a repetition of the first. After the four rounds are completed, and indeed at the end of every service, no matter of how many rounds, the worshiper, standing, repeats, “Glory to God,” thirty-three times, and “Praise be to God,” thirty-three times, and, “God is most great,” thirty-three times. He 491 may then, if he chooses, abandon the Arabic language, and in his own tongue, as best he knows how, he may ask of God anything that his heart desires. Whatever the service is (whether morning, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, or evening) must be definitely expre ed at the beginning, as well as whether the round is to be obligatory or of usage. If the worshiper does not do this, his worship is defective. Whatever is prescribed for any particular posture or any particular “round” of worship must be exactly said. If too much or too little is said, the worship is defective. In such cases the “round” must be done over from the beginning, or a special form for the correction of defects must be gone through. It is hardly nece ary to remark that these rules of worship go for much in that severance of religion from morals which one sometimes notices in Mohammedans. The effect of fixing the litany in the Arabic language, which is not understood by a vast number of Muslims, and of having the services of worship consist of a greater or le number of repetitions of the sentences above recorded, is to settle in the worshiper’s mind the idea tliat religion is an outward form. The result of malcing the acceptablene of worship turn upon precision in posture and in utterance, is to turn the thought during worship upon self instead of upon God; while the doctrine that the greatne of merit is measured by the number of perfect repetitions of these sentences, gives to the worshiper who can repeat them glibly a greater self-complacency than is found among the adherents of any other religion. — VII. Islam and the Bible: Mohammedans profe to regard the Old and New Testament Scriptures, as well as the KorAn, as the revealed Word of God. Mohammed and his immediate followers seem to ’have considered the Koran as being in perfect harmony with the Bible. When the antagonism between the two was pointed out somewhat later, the learned Muslim doctors claimed that the current Scriptures had been corrupted since Mohammed’s time. They claimed that the Kordn was in perfect accord with the original Scriptures to which their prophet had acce . The existence of texts of the New Testament older than Mohammed’s time has seriously weakened that argument. When once Mohammedans are compelled to admit the genuinene and antiquity of these manuscripts, they will be compelled to show reason for the discrepancies. The Kor gives a large part of the Old Testament history in a garbled and legendary form as tho from hearsay. Adam, created out of earth, the “chosen one of God,” was the first in an. Eve, his wife, was created by God from a rib of Adam’s left side. Iblees (Satan) tempted them; they fell and were cast out of Paradise. The story of Abel and Cain is embellished with rabbinical additions. Noah, “the Prophet of God,” is a prominent person in the Kor4n, and the narrative of the flood is told with many amusing details. Abraham, “the Friend of God,” IS mentioned very freely, together with Ishmael and Isaac. The story of the conversion “When the a high order. night overshadowed him he saw a star and he said. This is my Lord. But when it set he said, I like not those that set. And when he saw the moon rising he said, This is my Lord; but when of Abraham is of Mobammedanism my set he said. Verily, if Lord direct me not a uredly be of the erring people. And when he saw the sun rising, he said. This is Lord. This is greater. But when it set he said, O people, I am clear of the objects which it I shall my my ye a ociate with God. Verily I turn my face unto Him who hath created the heavens and the earth; following the right religion I am not of the polytheists.” The story of his sojourn in Babylonia is given elaborately. His journey to Palestine, his dealings with corrupt Lot, the half-miraculous birth of Isaac, the destruction of the cities of the plain, the attempted sacrifice of Isaac, together with apocryphal incidents, are tediously set forth. Abraham gives direction to his children as to Islam, the true religion, and is accounted the first “Hanif,” the founder of the Muslim faith in its present form. The stories of Isaac, Ishmael, Joseph, the life and bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt, Moses and the wanderings in the desert, Joshua (slightly mentioned), Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Job, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jonah, Ezra, are given in a prolix fashion. Turning to the New Testament we find mention of Zacharias, with John the Baptist, his son, and Gabriel. There is no evidence in the Koran that Mohammed ever saw a copy of the New Testament, but he constantly mentions it as the “Injil which was given to Jesus.” The Kor^n says (Ivii. 27): “We caused our Apostles to follow in their (i.e. Noah’s and Abraham’s) footsteps, and We caused Jesus the son of Mary to follow them, and We gave him the Injil, and We put into the hearts of those who followed him kindne and compa ion, but as to the monastic life, they invented it themselves.” Again (iii. 2): “He has sent thee a book (Kor^n) confirming what was sent before it, and has revealed the Law and the Gospel before, for the guidance of men.” (See also vii. 156; iii. 43; iii. 58; xlviii. 29; ix. 112; v. 50, 51, 70, 72, and 110; xix. 31.) Very full statements are made concerning He is called Jesus (’Isa), Jesus the Jesus Christ. Son of Mary, the Me iah, the Word of God, the Word of Truth, a Spirit from God, the Me enger of God, the Servant of God, the Prophet., of God and illustrious in this world and the next. Mohammed taught that Jesus was miraculously born of the “Virgin” Mary (Sura iii. 37xix. 16-21), who was the sister of Aaron. 43; The infant vindicated the chastity of its mother miraculously by speaking in its cradle (xix. 22-34; xxiii. Jesus performed miracles in his 52). youth (Apocryphal Gospels) and in his maturity (iii. 43-46; He was commi ioned v. 112-115). as a Prophet of God to confirm the Law and reveal the Gospel (Ivii. 26, 27; v. 50, 51; ii. 81, iv. 157; iii. vi. 85; The 254; Ixi. 6; 44). Koran aflirms that Jesus did not die, but ascended to heaven miraculously, and another victim was, unknowingly to the Roman soldiers, substituted for Jesus on the cro (iii. 47-50; iv. 155, After he left the earth his disciples dis156). puted as to whether he was a prophet, like Moses or Isaiah, or a part of the Godhead, making up the Trinity as “The Father, the iii. Mother, and the Son.’* (xix. 35, 36; 51; 52; xliii. 57-65; ix. 30; iii. 72, 73; v. 19; v. The Traditions 76-79; iv. 169; v. 116, 117). teach that Jesus will come a second time, and that he will be the Judge at the last great day, and that even Mohammed will be judged by him. It is claimed that he predicted one that should Blohammedanism come after him who should carry out his misand Muslim theologians affirm that Mosion, hammed was that person. Mohammed himself (Sura Ixi. 6),”The calls himself “Ahmad” Praised,” to adapt his name to the title used by Christ which Muslims claim had been perverted from “Paraclitos” to “Paracletos,” because the former, meaning “the Praised,” clearly designated Mohammed (“The Praised”). “After a careful and Sir William Muir says: repeated examination of the whole Koran I have been able to discover no grounds for believing that Mohammed himself ever expre ed the smallest doubt at any period of his life in regard either to the authority or the genuinene of the Old and New Testaments as extant at his time. He was profuse in his a urances that his system entirely corresponded with both, and that he had been foretold by former prophets; and as perverted Jews and Christians were at hand to confirm his words, and as the Bible was little known among the generality of his followers, those a urances were implicitly believed.” VII. Mohammedan Conquests: At the time of Mohammed’s death (June 8, 632, in the 11th year of the Muslim era) the whole of the Arabian peninsula had embraced Islam, with the exception of a few southern tribes which preferred Moseylema, the “false prophet” of the Nejd. The few hours that succeeded the death of Mohammed were critical ones for Islam. Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of the prophet, a young man, and Abu Bekr, the old, stanch follower of Mohammed, and the father of Ayesha, the prophet’s favorite wife, were the natural Abu Bekr was candidates for the leadership. at last proclaimed caliph (Khalifa, succe or) and the wisdom of the election was made plain by the vitality which characterized his reign of The rebellious tribes of Arabia were subdued, the government was thoroughly organ two years. ized and centralized, and the long career of Under Khaled the armies victory was begun. cro ed the Syrian frontier, occupied Bosrah, overran the Hauran, defeated the Byzantine army on the plains of Eznadin, and invested Damascus. After a seventy days’ siege this capital of Southern Syria fell August 3, 634 Sweeping eastward and northward, (13 A.H.). Khaled defeated a second Byzantine army at Yamook. In the meanwhile Omar succeeded to the caliphate, August 22, 634. Jerusalem was conquered, and all Syria was in the hands of Muslims. In the meantime an army was push At the battle ing acro the Persian frontier. Kadisiya of the initial failure of the Arabs was Me so pot am i a was gained, and on the field of Mahavend (641) retrieved, Ctesiphon and Susa fell, the Sa anid dynasty of Persia received a death blow. The whole of Persia, Khorasan, Kerman, 483 to his saddle-girths into the Atlantic, and with raised sword took po e ion of the regions beyond in the name of God. Othman had been a a inated in 656, and Ali, Mohammed’s nephew, was at last raised to the caliphate. rebellion was put down at the battle of the Camel, fought at Basra, November, 656. The murder of Othman aroused the Mo’awiya of this tribe, the KoreLshite faction. Syrian governor, did not recognize Ali as caliph, and Ali saw it was a hopele task to subdue him. The strength of Ali was in Kufa. The Syrians gained the battle of Siffin by fastening copies of Disaffection the Koran to their lances (657). arose among the caliph’s forces, and he was murdered in January, 661, becoming a martyr in the eyes of a large part of the Muslim world, and occasioning that great split in the faith which has ever since divided Shi’i (All’s faction) from Sunni (traditionists). Mo’awiya was proclaimed caliph by his soldiers. Muslim Persia proclaimed Ha an, a son of Ali, as caliph; but on being defeated in battle, Ha an retired from Hu ein, another son of Ali, was the struggle. not so tractable. The Syrian caliph showed A great statesmanship in the management of his empire, which was expanding in every direction. Armenia, Cyprus, Cos, and Crete were conquered, and even Constantinople was invested. Mo’awiya died at Damascus, which he made the capital of the Ommeiad dynasty, of which he was the founder, 680, and was succeeded by his son, Yezid I. ’This voluptuous caliph ordered the prefect of Medina to strike off the head of HusHu ein sein, a son of Ali, if he would not yield. fled toward Kufa with all his family. The Ommeiad army met him in the plain of Kerbela, near Kufa, and surrounded his little company. Hu ein declared himself ready to renounce all pretension to the caliphate, but on October 9, 680 (9lh of Moharram, a.h. 61), on his refusal to surrender his person to the enemy, he and all The Shi’ites his followers were cut to pieces. observe the 10th of Moharram as a day of public mourning. The news of this bloody ending of the son of Ali spread consternation far and wide. Revolts were with difficulty put down. Ali, son of Hu ein, wisely refused to put himself at Medina was plunthe head of the opposition. dered, and Mecca was in a state of siege, when news came of the death of the caliph at Damascus (November 11, 683). Mo’awiya II., Merwan I., Abd al Melik, al Walid, and the other caliphs in the Ommeiad dynasty saw Islam extend in Tarik cro ed the strait, ever after called from him Jebel Tarik (Gibraltar), into Spain in 711; Roderick, the last of the Vis i gothic kings, lost his crown and life in the ba of Xeres; Malaga, Granada, Cordova, Seville, every direction. b Toledo, Sarago a, Barcelona, and the whole Mekran, Seistan, and Balkh were conquered and a imilated. The century had not pa ed before the Oxus was the eastern boundary of the Spanish peninsula, except a few mountain retreats, were rapidly conquered. In 731 Abder- Rahman cro ed the Pyrenees and swept up as far as caliph’s empire. Tours, where his host was defeated by Charles Martel in 732. In the meanwhile the Ommeiad dynasty at Damascus began to decline. Ibrahim, great grandson of Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet, of the house of Hashem, put himself at the head of a revolt, which under his son, Abd Allah AbuAbbas, the “Blood-shedder,” was succe ful. The Ommeiad dynasty gave place to the Abbas sides, and the newly built city of Baghdad became the capital of Islam. In 641 Amr invaded Egypt, which fell with hardly a struggle, the Monophysite Christians throwing in their lot with the Arabs as against the Orthodox Byzantines. Othman succeeded The armies steadily to the caliphate in 644. pushed westward. Libya, Tripoli, Tunis, Al- A geria, and Morocco fell succe ively. Christian civilization made a firm stand at Carthage, but in the battle of Utica (698) the power of African Christianity was broken, and Musa rode 493 The year 750 was the turning-point in Muslim There were still further conquests to be history. made in Central Asia, India, and Central Africa, but the unity of the Muslim world was broken The Abbas sides controlled affairs in forever. the east, but the Ommeiads held on in Spain. In 755 Abder-Rahman founded the caliphate of Cordova, which ran a brilliant career until 1013, when Muslim power in Spain was broken up into various factions. Christians were treated with great leniency, universities were established, libraries collected, literature, science, and art fostered, and from these centers went forth light which hastened the dawning of modern civilization. The “Mozarabes” (“Arabs by adoption”) were Christians living under this mild rule, who were the instruments of this wide diffusion of Arab learning throughout Europe. The Saracens did not long remain in France. In 760 Pepin the Short drove them over the Pyrenees. Charles the Great (Charlemagne) drove them back in Spain beyond the Ebro. By the year 1030 the kingdom of Leon was Navarre, Aragon, Castile, established. well and Portugal were gathering headway. Sardinia in 1017 was reclaimed from the Arabs, and The Balearic Islands were Corsica in 1050. won by Aragon. By the middle of the 14th left in century the Saracens had nothing Spain but the little mountainous kingdom of Granada. In 1492 the combined forces of Castile and Aragon, under the lead of Ferdinand the Catholic, extinguished this last faint glimmer of Muslim rule in Southwestern Europe, at the close of a crusade lasting eight centuries. With the downfall of the Ommeiad dynasty at Damascus Arabia lost political power in the Muslim world. The Abbas sides at Baghdad The subtle skep were non-Arab in tendency. ticism of Persia brought a loosene and indifference in sharp contrast with the strict and fanatical Arab type. Founded in 750, this A foU am me clan ism south and west to the Med i ten an can. They then set up a powerful kingdom in Central Asia Minor, threatening destruction to the Byzantine empire. Their abuse and murder or enslavement of Christian pilgrims to the holy places about Jerusalem excited the Crusades, which held the attention of Europe from 1095 to 1291, and which resulted in checking the power of the Seljuk Turk, but left Syria a prey to discord. A Httle later the Ottoman Turk appeared, and by 1300 had a firm position on the border of the Byzantine empire. After absorbing the Seljukian domains and all the Greek territory in Asia, the Ottoman armies entered Europe in 1354; Constantinople fell a century later (1453), and the whole Balkan peninsula was under the The armies of the sultans pre ed crescent. northward into Poland and westward as far_ as Vienna, their footing in Europe not becoming precarious until well on into the 18th century. Islam obtained a firm foothold in India as An attempt to conquer Sindh early as 1000. It was not until in the 8th century had failed. the Turk adopted Mohammedanism that Islam invasions and Seventeen made headway. twenty-five years of fighting under the leadership of Mahmud of Ghazni (1001-1030) had rediiced only the western portions of the Punjab. Bengal was conquered in 1203. By 1306, as a result of the barbarous conquests of three centuries, there was a powerful Mohammedan rule The story of Isla,m in India in Northern India. is one of constant revolts, or uninterrupted There invasions and steady aggrandizement. were a large number of independeni Mohammedan states when the “Mogul” dynasty (1526Babar, the Turk, 1761) made its appearance. (1482-1530), having gathered headway on the Afghan side of the Indian pa es, pushed through in 1526 and conquered right and left, until at his death his empire stretched from the river Amu This in Central Asia to the delta of the Ganges. vast power began to decline as early as 1707. detached were kingdoms Independent Muslim from the main body. The Mahrattas grew in power until they were able to break the “Mogul” Empire into pieces. The English East India Company was already at work in India, backed by the British army. The first governor. Lord The Company Clive, took the helm in 1758. grew until nothing le than a great military dynasty existed until 1258. For a hundred Baghdad was years it ran a brilliant career. the resort of learned men from every region. Greek letters and philosophy were cultivated. Haroun er-Rashid (768-809) gathered at his court an a emblage of the wisest and wittiest minds in his empire. Arabic literature expanded under his patronage. He sent an emba y to the court of Charles the Great, and gathered But the first information from every quarter century of Abbas side rule was toUowed by four The Jiarmathian revolt centuries of decay. in Arabia greatly weakened the central organ Baghdad, at mercenaries ization. Turkish called in as a body-guard of the caliph, acquired more and more power, and the last caliphs Province were mere puppets in their hands. after province was dismembered. In 1258 Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, overthrew Baghdad and extinguished the Abbas side rule. In 909 the Fatimite dynasty was founded in Egypt by ObeidaUah, a supposed descendant of Ali and Fatima. Cairo was founded and Central Africa cannot here be traced in detail. Having conquered the Mediterranean coast of Africa in the year 698, Mohammedanism pushed up the Nile valley and acro the Sahara. Aby in i a alone has been able to withstand the Muslim onset, and remains like an island in a sea of The native terminology of the geogIslam. raphy of all Northern Africa as far south as the equator is Arabic. Misr (Egypt), Sahara, made the capital. The story of the rule of the extravagant Sufi mysticism there is revolting in the extreme. Salad in put an end to this dynasty in 1171. In the meantime Islam had been pushing steadily eastward. Large bodies of Turks and The Seljuk Turks Tatars were converted. appeared as an independent body of marauders as early as 1035, conquered Persia and pushed Swahili dialect of the Arabic is the language of Islam has spread in Africa by three agencies the sword, commerce, and the mi ion power could properly care for the immense terSince ritory and the millions under its control. 1858 the Mohammedans of India have been directly under English rule. The spread of Islam in China, Austral asia and Sudan, Bahr el Abyad (White Nile), Bahr el Asrak (Blue Nile), Bahr el Ghasel, are specimen names. The Arabic has penetrated south beyond the Zambesi River, as is shown in “Kafir” In (Caffre), which means infidel or unbeliever. Zanzibar and throughout Central Africa the commerce. — Mohaminedanism wherever it has gone the principle of same to ruin whatever it ary, but — action has been the cannot rule. IX. The Extent of Islam To-day: It is impo ible to estimate accurately the numerical strength of the Mohammedan world. For many years it was reckoned at 160,000,000, but the latest investigation pushes it up nearly to 200,000,000. The following table is drawn from the most Rumania 44,000 600,000 14,500 548,500 14,000 24,000 2,500,000 16,000,000 14,000,000 9,000,000 4,000,000 62,500,000 250,000 770,000 30,000,000 13,200,000 9,000,000 100,000 8,000,000 1,800,000 Bulgaria Servia Bosnia and Herzegovina Monte negro Greece Turkey in Europe Turkey in Asia Ru ia Persia Afghanistan India Ceylon Balu chi stan China Malaysia Egypt Zanzibar Morocco Tripoli Tunis 1,000,000 4,000,000 3,500,000 7,600,000 8,375,000 500 000 500,000 800,000 750,000 1,100,000 2,000,000 Algeria Egyptian Sudan Sierra Leone and Nigeria (British).. French Sahara, etc Nyas a land. E. African Protectorate Uganda German B. Africa Soma lil and Kamerun Cape of Good Hope, detached groups of islands, America, etc., etc., 60,000 193,550,000 Let us examine more in detail the various countries. Rumania, Servia, Monte negro, and Greece have nearly rid themselves of the Turks. Those who remain are scattered about as landowners and merchants. It is said that they are moving toward Asia Minor slowly, and before long will not be an appreciable part of the population. In Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria, over a million Muslims still remain. Turkey in Europe has two million Mohammedans, scattered from the Adriatic to the Bosphorus. These are more stationary, altho there is a constant movement toward Asia, as European civilization more and more gives equal civil rights to unbelievers in the Balkan peninsula. It should be remembered, however, that by far the greater number of the Muslims of European Turkey, etc., are not Turks, but natives of the land who accepted What course they will Muslims, as might have been expected. As Rushas pushed down toward the Persian and Afghanistan borders she has taken in more and more tribes of Mohammedans. Profe or Arm in i us Vamb^ry, an intelligent tho not unprejusia diced witne , in writing of these Muslim portions of the Ru ian Empire, has said: In the cities of Central Asia, where Islam has taken, much firmer root than in the Caucasus or the other parts of the Mohammedan world, ther can be no probability of th& old and knotty trunk of religious education being soon shaken. On the whole, Islam stands everywhere firmly oa its feet, nor can Christianity succeed in weakening it. Indeed, when subjected to Christian rule, it seems to become stronger and more stubborn, and to gain in expansive force. This we see in India, where, in spite of the zeal of the Christian mi ionaries and the millions spent in their support, th& conversions to Islam become daily more frequent. We see this, too, in Ru ia, where statistics prove that the number of mosques has considerably increased in the course of this century, and that the heathen among the Ural-Altaic people are more easily converted by the moU ah than by the pope. Bokhara will still long continue to boast of being the brightest spot in Islam, and her colleges will not soon lose their attraction for the studious youth among the Muslims of Inner Asia. • recent data: Islam. 494 take is by no means certain. Mohammedanism in European Ru ia is largely — confined to Southern and Eastern Ru ia territory which for centuries has been occupied by ” Tatars,” etc., who are neither more nor le than Turks of near kin to the Ottomans. There are Baid to be 20,000 muftis, mollahs, and other teachers in European Ru ia. A majority of the population of the Transcaucasus district are... The British Empire is the greatest Mohammedan power in the world, in that it rules over more followers of the Prophet than does anjr other one sovereignty. The statistics for India are elaborately worked out. The figures given in the table are those for 1901. It is often sai i that Mohammedanism is making rapid growth. But the census does not bear out this theory. In speaking of the growth of Islam in India, Sir William Hunter says: “Islam is progre ing ia India neither more quickly nor more slowly than the rest of the population. If you take a hasty view of India and add up totals, you will find that Islam now has a great many more followers than it had ten years ago. But you will find that the whole population has increased.” This statement had reference to 1881. The increase of Mohammedans in India during the decade 1891-1901 has been a little le than 9 per cent., which is also about the rate of increase of the population of India as a whole. The extent of Islam in China must remain conjectural for many years, but it is probable that 30,000,000 of Muslims is a conservative estimate for China. The wide spread of Mohammedanism in Malaysia is is becoming more and more evident. It spreading among the whole Malay race, and a umes a peculiar type. It established itself Malay Peninsula, in the 14th century, and cro ed into Sumatra, Java, and adjacent in the islands in the 15th century, thus anticipating the Portuguese by only a few years. There are large numbers of Malay Muslims on the Malay Peninsula, in the native states, and under the English flag. Sumatra has a population of whom 70 per cent, are strict Mohammedans. Java before 1478 was Hindu in religion. In that year Islam overthrew the chief Hindu principality of Majapahit, and the conversion of the whole island to Mohammedanism followed within the century. The Celebes, with a population of over 800,000, is largely Mohammedan religion. Islam had just been introduced when the Portuguese landed in 1525. It spread in a hundred years over all the districts it now occupies. The south peninsula is divided into nine native Muslim states, which form a kind of Bugfs confederacy. They are in alliance with the Dutch. North of this is a smaller Mandar confederacy of states, only partly Mohammedan. There are Muslims also along the north coast of Celebes, m 496 altho we have a Christian majority in the Min a Concerning Islam in the ha a peninsula. Dutch po e ions, the Rev. Dr. Schreiber of the Rhenish Mi ionary Society says: Wherever Mohammedans and heathen are in contact Islam is winning ground, sometimes slowly, sometimes more Only a small portion of the whole popuspeedily.; lati on remains still heathen, and those only small and insignificant tribes scatt red in the forests of Sumatra and Borneo. There are some strong and unmistakable signs of According to the increasing vigor of Islam in Dutch India. the official statements there is a steady increase in the number Those Mohammedan sects of pilgrims to Mecca. whose well known hostile and aggre ive tendencies make them so dangerous are more and more supplanting the more placable-spirited folks, formerly so common among especially of Java. the Mohammedans of Dutch India, Another hardly le ominous sign is the astonishing growth In 1882 there were in Java of Mohammedan schools. 10,913 of those schools, numbering 164,667 pupils; in 1885 we are told there were 16,760 schools, with not le than 225,148 pupils; thus, within three years, an increase of not Even in the residency of Tapanoeli in le than 55 per cent. Sumatra, where the whole of Mohammedanism is of comparatively recent date, we find 210 such schools and 2,479 pupils...... Turning eastward from the Dutch po e ions, find Mohammedanism constantly pushing we The large islands of Butu and Muna forward. The coast are inhabited by Muslim Malays. villages of Buru, west of Ceram, are inhabited by semi-civilized Mohammedans. In Ceram we have villages nominally Mohammedan. In Amboyna, Banda, Coram, Manowolke, Ka, Mysol and Sumbawa there are considerable numbers of Bali and Lombok are the only islands Mjslims. in the Malay Archipelago which maintain their old Hindu religion. The Sulu Archipelago, belonging to the Philippine Islands, comprises 150 islands, inhabited by Mohammedans of the Malay race, speaking a peculiar language, which Taking they write with the Arabic character. all these facts into consideration, the figures set down in the table for Islam in Malaysia may be too small. Turning to Africa, we find ourselves in still greater difficulty. The data for Egypt, Zanzibar, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli are correct enough. For the interior we are obliged to use the gue es of oflEicers engaged in pre ing forward the interests of the various European governments. The figures in the table are no more than estimates. It should be said, however, that the more the Niger region is explored the more clear does it become that we have been overestimating the number of Mohammedans among the tribes, many of whom are Mohammedan subjects, but have not even been invited to accept the Mohammedan religion. Cro ing the Atlantic to South America, we find the Protestant mi ionaries asking for Arabic Bibles to use with Muslims who have immigrated for purposes of trade. X. Sects in Islam: It is related that Mohammed aid: “Verily it will happen to my people as it did to the children of Israel. The children of Israel were divided into seventy-two sects, and my people will be divided into seventy-three. Every one of these will go to hell except one sect.” If the number was put too low for the Christian iects (probably confused with the Jews), the corresponding number is far too low for the Muslim world, and the bitterne of feeling indicated by the traditional utterance of the prophet holds true to-day in the fanatical world of Islam. Sheikh Abdu’l-Kadir says there are 150 sects in Islam; but there are infinite shades between them which make them practically innumerable. 5^e two grand divisions of the Muslim world are MohainmedanlsiA Upon the death of Mo’awiya (a. h. 60), Yezid obtained the position of Imam or caliph without the form of election, and hence arose the great schism, which is aa strong to-day as ever, between the Sunni and the Shi’i Muslims; the Sunni, being close observers of the traditions as to the example of Mohammed, and the Shi’i considering many of the traditions too uncertain to be binding. The Sunni Muslims account Abu Bekr, Omar and Othman as legitimate caliphs. The Sunni embrace by far the larger part of the Muslim world, and this article is written rather from Sunnites and Shi’ites. their standpoint. They are divided into four parties or sects; (1) Hanafiye, in Turkey, Central Asia, and Northern India; (2) Shafiye, in Southern India and Egypt; (3) MalakiyS in Morocco and North Africa, and (4) Hambaliye in Eastern Arabia and Eastern Africa. These four divergencies of practise, however, are not considered as forming any break in the unity of Islam, since they have discu ed and agreed that the divergence is permi ible. The division between Sunni and Shi’i is of a different nature, involving a bitterne that is quite unappeasable, since the Shi’i reject the first three caliphs and exalt Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of the prophet, as the only legitimate caliph, and as nearly the equal of Mohammed in the sanctity of his calling. Tht peculiarities of the Shi’i Muslims must, however, be discu ed in a separate article. Other sects of Islam are the Dervish orders,, into Islam everywhere foreign elements from India, Greece, and Persia under the name of Sufism {Tesawvmf or Theosophy) and the Babis of Persia, who have carried to an extreme some of the Sufi doctrines, and used them to exalt the doctrine of the Mahdi. In Arabia we find the Wahhabis, founded in 1691, by Mohammed, son of AbduT Wahhab. This sect grew out of the Hambaliya sect. Its founder was the Luther of Mohammedanism, calling Muslims back to the original scriptures of Islam. He proposed to do away with saint worship, which permeated the Muslim world. The Wahhabis call themselves “unitarians,” and claim that any man who can read the Koran and sacred traditions can judge for himself in matters of doctrine. They forbid prayers to any prophet, who have introduced; wall, pir, or saint. ment-day They hold that at the judg- Mohammed will obtain permi ion of God to intercede for his people. They forbid the illumination of shrines, or prayers, and ceremonies in or about them, not excepting Mohammed’s must not visit graves, because shrine. they weep so violently. This lect has always been fanatical. The sword was appealed to. Abdu’l Aziz, the leader after 1765, pushed his conquest to the limits of Arabia. He was a as His son Sa’ud carried the vicsinated in 1803. Women banner beyond the peninsula, and threatened the Turkish empire. Mecca was conquered in 1803. All sorts of ornaments and Tobacco was prohibited on pipes were burned. pain of death. Sa’ud sent commands to Mohammedan sovereigns in every direction that pilgrims to Mecca must conform to these puritan regula Disturb Mi ionaries were sent out. tions. ances were occasioned in Northern India. A little later, Mohammed Ali of Egypt sent a strong The force into Arabia under Ibrahim Pasha. Wahhabis were thoroughly subdued, and Mecca released from the strict rule of this Protestant torious Mohaminedanlsin Molnccn, Islands phase of Islam. The sect since that day has made little if any progre , altho its tenets have found adherents among the Dervishes of the Sudan. In India some call Sikhism a sect of Mohammedanism. This is hardly correct, altho it is a mixture of Hindu and Mohammedan ideas, and has its chief strongholds in the Punjab. There are, however, in India several new sects of Mohammedans which claim to be seeking to improve the religion by adapting it to modern Aligarh movement. requirements, like the In Africa the great Senou iye movement is in To what it may grow fact a new sect in Islam. is not as yet clear, but it represents force, and appeal fanaticism, and such to the consciences of Mohammedans that it has swept through the Barbary states with tremendous vigor of popularity. XI. The effect of Mi ions on Islam: Such being the state of the Muslim world, what succe has up to this time attended the efforts of the Christian Church to win Mohammedans? We must believe that God has some beneficent aim in view even when He allows Islam to arise and spread from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Could we fully understand, we should probably see some underlying scheme of Providence which is being worked out before our eyes, even tho the conversion of idolaters and fetish-worshipers to Islam seems to fill them with a perennial satisfaction in themselves which resists Christianity far more succe fully than does heathendom itself. Mohammedanism has undoubtedly some elevating influence upon the heathen it wins. It develops a strong individuality, it theoretically and most frequently practically frees from drunkenne , cannibalism, and other degrading heathen practises. It elevates womanhood and the family to a certain degree. It gives a regular order of life, and has introduced letters to some extent wherever it has gone. It leaves the people stranded at its own low level, and its use of the sword to bring them to that level recalls to some the method by which Christianity made its largest territorial conquests in Germany, Spain, South and Central America, Siberia, etc. The answer to this suggestion is that such conquests were never universally approved in the Christian Church, nor were they continued century after century, nor with the widespread and wilful devastation of territory that has been a usual accompaniment of Mohammedan propaganda. We have only to look at the English government reports from the Hausa and Fulani regions in Nigeria to discover that so lately as 1902 the Mohammedan advance, in that part of Africa, loudly proclaimed as most peaceful, is accompanied by the spectacle of armies sweeping through a peaceful land to carry off herds of slaves for the uses of the Mohammedan territory, and to force the survivors into submi ion and tribute-paying. Because of this contrast in methods the fact is startling that, altho Christian mi ions have been in contact with Islam for so many years, so little real progre has been made in winning individual Mohammedans to Christ. The task has appeared so formidable, even in lands like India, under Christian control, that no great mi ionary society has been organized with the special object of reaching them, altho we have several societies for the conversion of the Jews, who number at most eight millions as 496 contrasted with two hundred million Muslims. The number of Mohammedans who have been won to Christ is comparatively very small. In the Turkish empire the government uses its whole power to prevent Muslims from embracing Christianity. Neverthele , some have done so and have proved their sincerity by. useful and unspotted lives. A few in Africa have become Christians, but a larger number of nominal converts to Christianity have fallen away to Islam. In Persia, Mohammedanism seems to be disintegrating through internal forces. That country stands midway in the Mohammedan world. Over a hundred conflicting Muslim sects are found among the seven or eight millions of Aryan race dwelling between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Persia is a strategic point in Islam. If it could be won to Christ, Asiatic Islam would be cut in two. The naturally speculative Persian mind is open to new influences, and a few Persian Mohammedans have become Christians. In India, converts from Islam have been more numerous, and in some cases men of great weight in the community have been converted and have become preachers of Christ, with power. But the most interesting succe es have been achieved in the Dutch East Indies, where some 40,000 Muslims have become Christians, nearly half of that number in Java alone. It should be noted, however, that in all Mohammedan lands you sands of copies of Scriptures are sold to Muslims every year, and it is rare that the sale is due to mere curiosity. Neverthele , it is impo ible to avoid the conviction that the Christian Church is dealing with Islam incidentally. The best that can be said is that up to this time has been laying foundations, and perhaps this have been done, for the obstacles are very great. XII. Obstacles and the means used to overcome it is all that could them: (1) The Mohammedan religion contains truth that has come from God. The heart which desires to find God recognizes this truth, and clings to the error that goes with it with all the power of a faith that is hungry to be fed. (2) The Mohammedan is taught that God’s decree has made him one of the elect from the foundation of the world. If he can cherish the thought of fighting against such a decree of the Most High, his pride in being one of the chosen people holds him back from listening to Christians who are not given this high favor by God. every Mohammedan land the law (3) In makes belief in Islam with fidelity to it a condition of civil rights, of liberty, and even of life. The man who turns from Islam after once having believed in it is an outlaw, dead in the eye of the law, and without a right that any one is bound to respect. (4) Acce to Mohammedans is obstructed because the Koran forbids intimate relations between Mohammedans and Christians. In Muslim lands the government will prevent social relations with Christians by police interference; and in lands where the police cannot be used for this purpose those of a man’s own household, as well as the whole Muslim community, will intervene to prevent the formation of any_ such intimate relation of friendship as would imply opportunity for quiet conversation in private. (5) allies “The itself Mohammedan religion impulses of man. Its e ence is a whole le noble as with the natural and an outward form; it has a glittering theory of lofty ethical aims, and at the same time it regards God as too merciful to insist on putting these noble theories Adhesion to Islam solves for a man in practise. the problem of yielding to selfish and sensual impulses and at the same time retaining the favor of God as a model of religious devotion. As to that which has been done toward overcoming these obstacles: In the first place the Christian Scriptures have been put into the sacred language of the Kor , and into all the other languages vernacular to any considerable ma es of Mohammedans. The Bible thoroughly Mohammedan regions is far more effective than an army of mi ionaries sent forth without the Book ready to hand. The second great agency for reachmg Mohammedans with Christian truth is the long array of Christian colleges and schools of le importance, which are now scattered over the larger part of the Mohamcirculated in med an world. Without considering the permanent effect of ideas implanted in the mmds of the young, we must give such educational institutions credit for a power of polemic that is gauged by the difference of level between the science of the time of Mohammed and that of this Mohammedanism is hopele ly ent an century. A gled with the science of the 7th century. third agency for reaching Mohammedans is the establishment of Christian homes, and to some extent bodies of truly Christian people, where Mohammedans are forced to see them and to draw comparisons and conclusions. Of the whole number of Mohammedan converts to Christianity it is probable that nine-tenths have been convinced by the powerful example of some native Christian neighbor. Without attempting to exhaust the catalog of agencies in use in reaching Mohammedans, we will mention lastly Protestant ism or evangelical Christianity as the only phase of Christianity likely to be succe ful in this great Pictures and images used in the_ service work. of the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Cop- Nestor i an, Aby in i an, and other decayed of Christianity are utterly revolting to followers of Mohammed, and churches using these can never hope to make headway among Mohammedans. The simple Gospel simply proclaimed must be the effective weapon. On the whole, there is everything to urge the Western Christian Church to move forward upon In the near this its greatest organized enemy. future the battle must be squarely joined. Civilization is slowly but surely opening the way. Before long all political opposition to the propagation of Christianity in Muslim lands will be over. The followers of Christ never had a more serious undertaking on hand when looked at from the theological, social, ethical, or political standpoint. It calls for the keenest minds and the most consecrated hearts. We must undertake the task at whatever cost.”Deus vult.” tic, forms Hughes (T. P.), Dictionary of Islam, London, 1885; Wherry (E. M.), Commentary on the Koran (with the text), London, 1882; Smith (R. B.), Mohammed and Mohammedanism, New York, 1889; Koelle (S. W.), Mohammed and Mohammedanism, London, 1889. (This book and that of R. B. Smith are both excellent; but they are diametrically opposed to each other. Neither should be read without reading the other.) Dwight (H. O.), Constantinople and Its Problems, New York, 1901; Burton (R. F.), A Pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca, London, (n. e.), 1880 (admirable for its translations of Muslim prayers and liturgy) Geiger (A.), Judaism and Islam, London (Society Tisdall for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge);; 32 1 I Mohainine(la.nlsin 497 Molucca Islauda (W. St. C), The Sources of Islam (translated by Sir W. Muir), Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark; Zwemer (S.), Arabia, the Cradle of Islam, New York, 1900; Sell (Canon E.), Historical Development of the Quran, London (CMS) E ays on London, Simnkln, Marshall & Co.; Mi ionary Review of the World, Vol. IX., p. 758 (worship); Vol. X., p. 225, 422 (in Persia); XI., 721; Malaysia), 359; XII., p. 277 (in China); 764 (a Muslim’s view); Vol. X:iV., p. 130; XV., p. 732 (Africa)- Islam and Christianity (American Tract Society), New York, 1902; Chatelier, L’Islam daT is VAfrique Occidental, Paris;.le up (H. H.), Kamil, Philadelphia (Pres. board of Pub.), 1899; Tisdall (W. St. ; Islam, Manual Clair), of Mohamtnedan Objections, London (SPCK). 515