MAHOMMED, MOHAMMED, or MAHOMET, surnamed Abul-Cassem, prophet and legislator of the Moslemims, and founder of the Arabian empire, as well as of the religion to which he has given his name, was born at Mekka on the 10th of November 570 of our era, according to the more probable opinion. He came into the world under considerable disadvantages. His father Abd'allah was a younger son of Abd'almotaleb, and having died young, left his widow and infant son in very mean circumstances, his whole substance consisting only of five camels and one Ethiopian female slave. Abd'almotaleb was, therefore, obliged to take care of his grandchild Mahommed, which he not only did during his own lifetime, but at his death enjoined his eldest son Abu Taleb, who was brother to Abd'allah by the same mother, to provide for him in future, which he very affectionately did, and having instructed him in the business of a merchant, took him into Syria when he was only thirteen, with a view to engage him in that calling. He afterwards recommended him as factor to Khadijah, a noble and rich widow, in whose service he conducted himself so well, that she made him her husband, and thus raised him to an equality with the richest in Mekka.
Soon afterwards, when he began to live at his ease, in consequence of this advantageous match, he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion; or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient faith professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry into which the generality of his countrymen had fallen, weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and restoring it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the worship of one only God.
Before he made any attempt abroad, however, he rightly judged that it was necessary for him to begin with the conversion of his own household. Having, therefore, retired with his family, as he had done several times before, to a cave in Mount Hara, he there opened the secret of his mission to his wife Khadijah, and informed her that the angel Gabriel had just before appeared to him, and told him that he was appointed the apostle of God. He also repeated to her a passage which he pretended had been revealed to him by the ministry of the angel, and mentioned those other circumstances of this first appearance which are related by the Mahommedan writers. Khadijah received the news with great joy, swearing by him in whose hands her soul was, that she trusted he would become the prophet of his nation; and she immediately communicated what she had
Mahommed. heard to her cousin Warakah Ebn Nawfal, who, being a Christian, could write in the Hebrew character, and was tolerably well versed in the Scriptures; whilst he as readily came into her opinion, assuring her that the same angel who had formerly appeared unto Moses was now sent to Mahommed. The first overture made by the prophet was in the month of Ramadan, in the fortieth year of his age, which is therefore usually called the year of his mission.
Encouraged by so good a beginning, he resolved to proceed, and try for some time what could be done by private persuasion, not daring to hazard the whole affair by exposing it too suddenly to the public. He soon made proselytes of those under his own roof, namely, his wife Khadijah, his servant Zeid Ebn Harethah, to whom he gave his freedom on that occasion, and his cousin and pupil Ali, the son of Abu Taleb, though then very young; but this last, making no account of the other two, used to style himself the "first of believers." The next person to whom Mahommed applied was Abd'allah Ebn Abi Kohafa, surnamed Abu Bekr, a man of great authority amongst the Koreish, and one whose influence he well knew would be of great service to him. This soon appeared; for Abu Bekr having been gained over, prevailed also on Othman Ebn Affan, Abd'alrahman Ebn Awf, Saad Ebn Abbi Wakkas, Al Zobeir Ebn al Awam, and Telha Ebn Obeid'allah, all principal men of Mekka, to follow his example. These were the six chief companions, who, with a few more, were converted in the space of three years; at the end of which, Mahommed having, as he hoped, a sufficient interest to support him, no longer kept his mission a secret, but gave out that God had commanded him to admonish his near relations; and in order to do it more conveniently, and with a greater prospect of success, he directed Ali to prepare an entertainment, and invite the sons and descendants of Abd'almotaleb, intending then to open his mind to them. This was done, and about forty of them came; but Abu Labeb, one of his uncles, making the company break up before Mahommed had an opportunity of speaking, obliged him to give them a second invitation the next day, and when they were come he made them the following speech: "I know no man in all Arabia who can offer his kindred a more excellent thing than I now do you; I offer you happiness both in this life and in that which is to come; God Almighty hath commanded me to call you unto him. Who, therefore, amongst you will be assistant to me herein, and become my brother and my vicegerent?" All of them hesitating, and declining the matter, Ali at length rose up, and declared that he would be his assistant, and vehemently threatened those who should oppose him. Upon this Mahommed embraced Ali with great demonstrations of affection, and desired all who were present to hearken to and obey him as his deputy; at which the company broke out into loud laughter, telling Abu Taleb that he must now pay obedience to his son.
This repulse, however, was so far from discouraging Mahommed, that he began to preach in public to the people, who heard him with some patience, until he came to upbraid them with the idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness of themselves and their fathers; but this so highly incensed them, that they declared themselves his enemies, and would soon have procured his ruin, had he not been protected by Abu Taleb. The chief of the Koreish warmly solicited this person to desert his nephew, making frequent remonstrances against the innovations which he was attempting to introduce; and when these proved ineffectual, they at length threatened him with an open rupture, if he did not prevail upon Mahommed to desist. At this Abu Taleb was so far moved, that he earnestly dissuaded his nephew from pursuing the affair any farther, representing the great danger which he and his friends must otherwise run. But Mahommed was not to be intimidated, telling
his uncle plainly, "that if they set the sun against him on his right hand, and the moon on his left he would not abandon his enterprise;" and Abu Taleb, seeing him so firmly resolved to proceed, used no further arguments, but promised to stand by him against all his enemies.
The Koreish, finding that they could not prevail either by fair words or menaces, tried what they could do by force and ill treatment, using Mahommed's followers so very injuriously, that it was not safe for them to continue any longer at Mekka; whereupon Mahommed gave leave to such of them as had not friends to protect them, to seek refuge elsewhere. And accordingly, in the fifth year of the prophet's mission, sixteen of them, four of whom were women, fled into Ethiopia; and amongst these were Othman Ebn Affan and his wife Rakiyah, Mahommed's daughter. This was the first flight; but afterwards several others followed, his adherents retiring one after another, to the number of eighty-three men and eighteen women, besides children. These refugees were kindly received by the Najashi, or king of Ethiopia, who refused to deliver them up to those whom the Koreish sent to demand them, and, as the Arabian writers unanimously attest, even professed the Mahomedan religion.
In the sixth year of his mission, Mahommed had the pleasure of seeing his party strengthened by the conversion of his uncle Hamza, a man of great valour and merit; and of Omar Ebn al Kattab, a person highly esteemed, and once a violent opponent of the prophet. As persecution generally advances rather than obstructs the spreading of a religion, Islamism made so great progress amongst the Arabian tribes, that the Koreish, in order, if possible, to suppress it effectually, in the seventh year of Mahommed's mission, made a solemn league or covenant against the Hashemites and the family of Abd'almotaleb, engaging themselves to contract no marriages with any of them, and to have no communication with them; and, to give this compact the greater sanction, reduced it into writing, and laid it up in the Kaaba. Upon this the tribe became divided into two factions; and the family of Hashem all repaired to Abu Taleb as their head, excepting only Abd'al Uzza, surnamed Abu Labeb, who, out of inveterate hatred to his nephew and his doctrine, went over to the opposite party, whose chief was Abu Sosian Ebn Harb, of the family of Ommeya.
The families continued thus at variance for three years; but in the tenth year of his mission, Mahommed told his uncle Abu Taleb, that God had manifestly showed his disapprobation of the league which the Koreish had made against them, by sending a worm to eat out every word of the instrument except the name of God. Of this accident Mahommed had probably received some private notice; for Abu Taleb went immediately to the Koreish, and acquainted them with it, offering, if it proved false, to deliver his nephew up to them; but in case it were true, he insisted that they ought to lay aside their animosity, and annul the league which they had entered into against the Hashemites. To this they acquiesced, and, going to inspect the writing, to their great astonishment found it to be as Abu Taleb had said; upon which the league was declared void.
In the same year Abu Taleb died, at the age of above fourscore; and it is the general opinion that he died an infidel, though others say, that when he was at the point of death he embraced Mahomedanism, and produce some passages from his poetical compositions to confirm their assertion. About a month, or, as some state, only three days, after the death of this great benefactor and patron, Mahommed had the additional mortification to lose his wife Khadijah, who had so generously made his fortune; for which reason this year is denominated the "year of mourning."
On the death of these two persons, the Koreish began
Mahommed. to be more troublesome than ever to the prophet, and especially some who had formerly been his intimate friends; insomuch that he found himself obliged to seek shelter elsewhere, and first pitched upon Tayef, about sixty miles east from Mekka, as the place of his retreat. Thither therefore he went, accompanied by his servant Zeid, and applied himself to two of the chief of the tribe of Thakif, who were the inhabitants of that place; but they received him very coldly. However, he staid there a month, and some of the more considerate and better sort of men treated him with a little respect; but the slaves and inferior people at length rose against him, and bringing him to the wall of the city, obliged him to depart and return to Mekka, where, on his arrival, he put himself under the protection of Al Motaam Ebn Adi.
This repulse greatly discouraged his followers. However, Mahommed was not wanting to himself, but boldly continued to preach to the public assemblies at the pilgrimage, and gained several proselytes, amongst whom were six of the inhabitants of Yathreb, of the Jewish tribe of Khazraj, who, on their return home, failed not to speak much in commendation of their new religion, and exhorted their fellow-citizens to embrace the same.
It was in the twelfth year of his mission that Mahommed gave out that he had made his night journey from Mekka to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven. Dr Prideaux thinks he invented this fable, either to answer the expectations of those who demanded some miracle as a proof of his mission, or else, by pretending to have conversed with God, to establish the authority of whatever he should think fit to leave behind by way of oral tradition, and make his sayings to serve the same purpose as the oral law of the Jews. But it does not appear that Mahommed himself ever expected that so great respect should be paid to his sayings as his followers have since shown; and seeing that he all along disclaimed any power of performing miracles, it seems rather to have been a fetch of policy to raise his reputation, by pretending to have actually conversed with God in heaven, as Moses had heretofore done in the mount, and to have received several institutions immediately from Him, whereas before he contented himself with persuading them that he had received all by the ministry of Gabriel.
However, this story seemed so absurd and incredible, that several of his followers left him on its promulgation; and it would probably have ruined the whole design, had not Abu Bekr vouched for his veracity, and declared, that if Mahommed affirmed it to be true, he verily believed the whole. This happy incident not only retrieved the prophet's credit, but increased it to such a degree that he was secure of being able to make his disciples swallow whatever he pleased in future to impose on them. And this fiction, notwithstanding its extravagance, was one of the most artful contrivances Mahommed ever put in practice, and what chiefly contributed to raise his reputation to the great height to which it afterwards attained.
In this year, called by the Mahommedans the "accepted year," twelve men of Yathreb or Medina, of whom ten were of the tribe of Kahzraj, and the other two of that of Aws, came to Mekka, and took an oath of fidelity to Mahommed at Al Akaba, a hill on the north of that city. This oath was called the "women's oath;" not that any women were present at this time, but because a man was not thereby obliged to take up arms in defence of Mahommed or his religion. In fact, this was the same oath that was afterwards exacted of the women, the form of which we have in the Koran, and it is to this effect: That they should renounce all idolatry; that they should not steal nor commit fornication, nor kill their children (as the Pagan Arabs used to do when they apprehended they should not be able to maintain them), nor forge calumnies; and that they should
obey the prophet in all things that were reasonable. When they had solemnly engaged to all this, Mahommed sent home with them one of his disciples, named Masab Ebn Omair, to instruct them more fully in the grounds and ceremonies of his new religion. Masab being arrived at Medina, by the assistance of those who had been formerly converted, gained several proselytes, particularly Osaid Ebn Hodeira, a chief man of the city, and Sand Ebn Moadh, prince of the tribe of Aws; and Mahommedanism spread so fast, that there was scarcely a house in which there were not some who had embraced it.
The next year, being the thirteenth of Mahommed's mission, Masab returned to Mekka, accompanied by seventy-three men and two women of Medina who had professed Islamism, besides some others who were as yet unbelievers. On their arrival they immediately sent to Mahommed, and offered him their assistance, of which he was now in great need; for by this time his adversaries were grown so powerful in Mekka, that he could not stay there much longer without imminent danger. Wherefore he accepted their proposal, and met them one night, by appointment, at Al Akaba above mentioned, attended by his uncle Al Abbas, who, though he was not then a believer, wished his nephew well, and made a speech to those of Medina, in which he told them, that as Mahommed was obliged to quit his native city, and seek an asylum elsewhere, and they had offered him their protection, they would do well not to deceive him; that if they were not firmly resolved to defend, and not betray him, they had better declare their minds, and let him provide for his safety in some other manner. Upon their protesting their sincerity, Mahommed swore to be faithful to them, on condition that they should protect him against all insults as heartily as they would their own wives and families. They then asked him what recompense they were to expect if they should happen to be killed in his quarrel; to which he answered, Paradise. They then pledged their faith to him, and so returned home, after Mahommed had chosen twelve out of their number, who were to have the same authority amongst them as the twelve apostles of Christ had amongst his disciples.
Hitherto Mahommed had propagated his religion by fair means, so that the whole success of his enterprise, prior to his flight to Medina, must be attributed to persuasion only, and not to compulsion. For, before the second oath of fealty or inauguration at Al Akaba, he had no permission to use any force at all: and in several places of the Koran, which he pretended were revealed during his stay at Mekka, he declares that his business was only to preach and admonish; that he had no authority to compel any person to embrace his religion; and that, whether people believed or not was no concern of his, but belonged solely unto God. And he was so far from allowing his followers to use force, that he exhorted them to bear patiently those injuries which were offered them on account of their faith; and, when persecuted himself, he chose rather to quit the place of his birth and retire to Medina, than to make any resistance. But this passiveness and moderation seem to have been entirely owing to his want of power, and the great superiority of his opponents for the first twelve years of his mission. For no sooner was he enabled, by the assistance of those of Medina, to make head against his enemies, than he gave out that God had allowed him and his followers to defend themselves against the infidels; and at length, as his forces increased, he pretended to have the divine permission to attack them, destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the sword. Finding, by experience, that his designs would proceed very slowly if they were not utterly overthrown, and knowing that innovators, when they depend solely on their own strength, and can employ compulsion, seldom run any risk, he scrupled not to do so; and hence Machiavelli has observed, that all the armed
Mahommed. prophets have succeeded, and the unarmed ones have failed. Moses, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus, would not have been able to establish the observance of their institutions for any length of time, had they not been armed. The first passage of the Koran which gave Mahommed the permission of defending himself by arms, is said to have been that in the twenty-second chapter; after which a great number to the same purpose were opportunely revealed.
That Mahommed had a right to take up arms in his own defence against his unjust persecutors, may perhaps be allowed; but whether he ought afterwards to have made use of them for the establishing of his religion, it is not so easy to determine. How far the secular power may or ought to interpose in affairs of this nature, mankind are by no means agreed. The method of converting by the sword gives no very favourable idea of the faith which is so propagated, and is disallowed by everybody in those of another religion, though the same persons are willing to admit of it for the advancement of their own, supposing that, though a false religion ought not to be established by authority, yet a true one may; and accordingly force is almost as constantly employed in these cases by those who have the power in their hands, as it is constantly complained of by the parties who suffer the violence. It is certainly one of the most convincing proofs that Mahommedism was no other than a human invention, that it owed its progress and establishment almost entirely to the sword; and it is one of the strongest demonstrations of the divine origin of Christianity, that it prevailed against all the force and powers of the world by the mere efficacy of its own truth, after having stood the assaults of all manner of persecutions, as well as other oppositions, for three hundred years together, and at length made the Roman emperors themselves submit to its authority. After this time, indeed, the proof seems to fail; Christianity being then established and Paganism abolished by public authority, a circumstance which has had great influence in the propagation of the one and the destruction of the other.
Mahommed having provided for the security of his companions as well as his own, by the league offensive and defensive which he had now concluded with those of Medina, directed them to repair thither, which they accordingly did; but he himself, along with Abu Bekr and Ali, staid behind, having not yet received the divine permission, as he pretended, to leave Mekka. The Koreish fearing the consequences of this new alliance, began to think it absolutely necessary to prevent Mahommed's escape to Medina; and having held a council thereon, after several milder expedients had been rejected, they came to a resolution that he should be killed, and agreed that a man should be chosen out of every tribe for the execution of this design, and that each man should have a blow at him with his sword, in order that the guilt of his blood might fall equally upon all the tribes, to whose united power the Hashemites were much inferior, and therefore durst not attempt to revenge their kinsman's death.
This conspiracy was scarcely formed, when, by some means or other, it came to Mahommed's knowledge; and he gave out that it had been revealed to him by the angel Gabriel, who had also ordered him to retire to Medina. Wherefore, to amuse his enemies, he directed Ali to lie down in his place, and wrap himself up in his green cloak, which he did; and Mahommed escaped, miraculously as they pretend, to Abu Bekr's house, unperceived by the conspirators, who had already assembled at the prophet's door. The latter, in the mean time, looking through the crevice, and seeing Ali, whom they took to be Mahommed himself, asleep, continued watching there till morning, when Ali arose, and they found themselves deceived.
From Abu Bekr's house Mahommed and he went to a
cave in Mount Thur, to the south-east of Mekka, accompanied only by Amer Ebn Foheirah, Abu Bekr's servant, and Abd'Allah Ebn Oreitah, an idolater whom they had hired as a guide. In this cave they lay concealed three days, to avoid the search of their enemies, which they very narrowly escaped, and not without the assistance of more miracles than one; for some say that the Koreish were struck with blindness, so that they could not find the cave, and others, that after Mahommed and his companions had got in, two pigeons laid their eggs at the entrance, and a spider covered the mouth of the cave with her web, which made them look no farther. Abu Bekr seeing the prophet in such imminent danger, became very sorrowful; upon which Mahommed comforted him with these words, recorded in the Koran, "Be not grieved, for God is with us." Their enemies having retired, they left the cave, and set out for Medina by a by-road; and having fortunately, or, as the Mahommedans tell us, miraculously, escaped some who were sent to pursue them, arrived safely at that city, whither Ali followed them in three days, after he had settled some affairs at Mekka.
The first thing Mahommed did after his arrival at Medina, was to build a temple for his religious worship, and a house for himself, which he did upon a piece of ground that had before served to put camels in, or, as others tell us, for a burying-ground, and belonged to Sahal and Soheil, the sons of Amru, who were orphans. This action Dr Prideaux exclaims against, representing it as a flagrant instance of injustice; for, says he, Mahommed violently dispossessed these two orphans, the sons of an inferior artificer, of this ground, and so founded the first fabric of his worship with the same wickedness as he did his religion. But, to say nothing of the improbability that Mahommed should act in so impolitic a manner at such a time, and in such circumstances, the Mahommedian writers set this affair in a quite different light. One tells us that he treated with the youths about the price of the ground, but they desired he would accept it as a present; whilst other historians of good credit assure us that he actually bought it, and that the money was paid by Abu Bekr. Besides, had Mahommed accepted it as a present, the orphans were in circumstances sufficient to afford it; for they were of a very good family, of the tribe of Najjer, one of the most illustrious amongst the Arabs, and not the sons of a carpenter, as Dr Prideaux imagines, taking the word Najjer, which signifies a carpenter, for an appellative, whereas it is a proper name.
Mahommed, being securely settled at Medina, and able not only to defend himself against the insults of his enemies, but to attack them, began to send out small parties to make reprisals on the Koreish. The first party, consisting of no more than nine men, intercepted and plundered a caravan belonging to that tribe, and in the action took two prisoners. But what established his affairs, and proved the foundation on which he built all his succeeding greatness, was the gaining of the battle of Bedr, which was fought in the second year of the Hejira, and is so famous in the Mahommedian history. Some reckon no less than twenty-seven expeditions in which Mahommed was personally present, in nine of which he gave battle, besides several other expeditions in which he was not present. His forces he maintained partly by the contributions of his followers for this purpose, which he called by the name of zakat or alms, the payment of which he very artfully made one main article of his religion; and partly by ordering a fifth part of the plunder to be brought into the public treasury for that purpose, in which matter he also pretended to act by the divine direction.
In a few years, by the success of his arms, he raised considerably his credit and power. In the sixth year of the Hejira he set out with fourteen hundred men to visit
Mahommed. the temple of Mekka, though not with any intent of committing hostilities. However, when he came to Al Hodebiya, which is situated partly within and partly without the sacred territory, the Koreish sent to let him know that they would not permit him to enter Mekka unless he forced his way; upon which he called his troops around him, and they having all taken a solemn oath of fealty or homage to him, he resolved to attack the city; but those of Mekka sending Arwa Ebn Masun, prince of the tribe of Thakif, as their ambassador, to desire peace, a truce was concluded between them for ten years, by which any person was allowed to enter into a league either with Mahommed or with the Koreish, as he thought fit.
It may not be improper, in order to show the inconceivable veneration and respect the Mahommedans by this time had for their prophet, to mention the account which the above-mentioned ambassador, at his return, gave the Koreish of their behaviour. He said he had been at the courts both of the Roman emperor and of the king of Persia, and never saw any prince so highly respected by his subjects as Mahommed was by his companions; for, whenever he made the ablution, in order to say his prayers, they ran and caught the water which he had used; and whenever he spit, they immediately licked it up, and gathered every hair that fell from him, with the most eager superstition.
In the seventh year of the Hejira, Mahommed began to think of propagating his religion beyond the limits of Arabia, and sent messengers to the neighbouring princes, with letters to invite them to espouse Mahommedanism. Nor was this project without some success. Khosru Parviz, then king of Persia, received his letter with great disdain, and tore it in a passion, sending away the messenger very abruptly; which, when Mahommed heard, he said, "God shall tear his kingdom." And soon afterwards a messenger came to Mahommed from Badhan king of Yemen, who was a dependent on the Persians, to acquaint him that he had received orders to send him to Khosru. Mahommed put off his answer till the next morning, and then told the messenger that it had been revealed to him during the night that Khosru was slain by his son Shiruyeh; adding, that he was well assured his new religion and empire would rise to as great a height as that of Khosru; and therefore bade him advise his master to embrace Mahommedanism. The messenger having returned, Badhan in a few days received a letter from Shiruyeh, informing him of his father's death, and ordering him to give the prophet no further disturbance; upon which Badhan and the Persians along with him turned Mahommedans.
The Emperor Heraclius, as the Arabian historians assure us, received Mahommed's letter with great respect, laying it on his pillow, and dismissed the bearer honourably; and some pretend that he would have professed this new faith, had he not been afraid of losing his crown.
Mahommed wrote to the same effect to the king of Ethiopia, though, according to the Arabian writers, he had been converted before; and to Mokawkas, governor of Egypt, who gave the messenger a very favourable reception, and sent several valuable presents to Mahommed, and amongst the rest two girls, one of whom, named Mary, became a great favourite with him. He also sent letters of similar purport to several Arabian princes, particularly one to Al Hareth Ebn Abi Shamar, king of Ghassan, who returning for answer that he would go to Mahommed himself, the prophet said, "May his kingdom perish;" another to Hawdha Ebn Ali, king of Yemanah, who was a Christian; and a third to Al Mander Ebn Sawa, king of Bahrein, who embraced Mahommedanism, and all the Arabians of that country followed his example.
The eighth year of the Hejira proved very fortunate for Mahommed. In the beginning of it, Khaled Ebn al
Walid and Amru Ebn al As, both excellent soldiers, the former of whom afterwards conquered Syria and other countries, and the latter Egypt, became proselytes to Mahommedanism. And soon afterwards the prophet sent three thousand men against the Grecian forces, to revenge the death of one of his ambassadors, who, being sent to the governor of Bosra, upon the same errand as those who went to the above-mentioned princes, was slain by an Arab of the tribe of Ghassan, at Muta, a town in the territory of Balka in Syria, about three days' journey eastward from Jerusalem, near which they encountered. The Grecians being vastly superior in number (for, including the auxiliary Arabs, they had an army of a hundred thousand men), the Mahommedans were repulsed in the first attack, and lost successively three of their generals, Zeid Ebn Hareth, Mahommed's freedman, Jaafar the son of Abu Taleb, and Abdallah Ebn Rawaha; but Khaled Ebn al Walid succeeding to the command, overthrew the Greeks with great slaughter, and brought away abundance of spoil. On occasion of this action Mahommed gave him the title of Seif min sayuf Allah, one of the swords of God.
In this year also Mahommed took the city of Mekka, the inhabitants of which had broken the truce concluded two years before. For the tribe of Bekr, who were confederates with the Koreish, attacking those of Khozaah, who were allies of Mahommed, killed several of them, being supported in the action by a party of the Koreish themselves. The consequence of this violation was soon apprehended, and Abu Sosian himself made a journey to Medina on purpose to heal the breach and renew the truce; but in vain. Mahommed, glad of this opportunity, refused to see him; upon which he applied to Abu Bekr and Ali, but they gave him no answer, and he was obliged to return to Mekka as he came.
Mahommed immediately gave orders for preparations to be made, that he might surprise the Mekkans whilst they were unprovided to receive him. In a little time he began his march thither; and by the time he came near the city, his forces were increased to about ten thousand men. Those of Mekka, not being in a condition to defend themselves against so formidable an army, surrendered at discretion; and Abu Sosian saved his life by turning Mahommedan. About twenty-eight of the idolaters were killed by a party under the command of Khaled; but this happened contrary to Mahommed's orders, who, when he entered the town, pardoned all the Koreish on their submission, except only six men and four women, who were more obnoxious than the rest, some of them having apostatized, and been solemnly proscribed by the prophet himself; but of these no more than three men and one woman were put to death, the rest obtained pardon on their embracing Mahommedanism, and one of the women made her escape. The remainder of this year Mahommed employed in destroying the idols in and around Mekka, at the same time sending several of his generals on expeditions for that purpose, and to invite the Arabs to espouse Islamism; in which also they now met with great success.
The next year, being the ninth of the Hejira, the Mahommedans call "the year of embassies;" for the Arabs had been hitherto expecting the issue of the war between Mahommed and the Koreish; but as soon as that tribe, the principal of the whole nation, and the genuine descendants of Ishmael, whose prerogatives none offered to dispute, had submitted, they were satisfied that it was not in their power to oppose Mahommed, and therefore began to come in to him in great numbers, and to send embassies to make their submission to him, both at Mekka, whilst he staid there, and also at Medina, whither he returned this year. Amongst the rest, five kings of the tribe of Hamyar professed Mahommedanism, and sent ambassadors to notify their conversion.
In the tenth year, Ali was sent into Yemen, there to pro-
pagate the Mahommedan faith; and, it is said, he converted the whole tribe of Hamdan in one day. Their example was quickly followed by all the inhabitants of that province, excepting only those of Najran, who, being Christians, chose rather to pay tribute. Thus was Mahommedanism established, and idolatry rooted out, even in Mahommed's lifetime, throughout all Arabia, excepting only Yemanah, where Mosallamah, who had set up also for a prophet as Mahommed's competitor, had formed a great party, and was not reduced until the caliphate of Abu Bekr. The Arabs being then united in one faith, and under one prince, found themselves in a condition to make those conquests which extended the Mahommedan faith over so large a portion of the world.
Until his sixty-third year, Mahommed had sustained with undiminished vigour all the fatigues of his extraordinary mission. The infirmities of age had not impaired his constitution, and though his health had suffered a decline, he still continued equal to the duties which he found himself called upon to perform. But though master of Arabia, dreaded by the Greeks and the Persians, and respected by his disciples as a tutelary divinity, this famous legislator did not long enjoy the empire of which he had just laid the foundation. Two months after his return to Medina, whilst in the house of Zainab, one of his wives, he was attacked with a violent pain in the head, accompanied with fever, the cause of which he attributed to poison, which he had taken three years before. He immediately caused himself to be removed to the house of Aichah, another of his wives, to whom he was strongly attached. But his malady was increased by the intelligence he received of the progress of two apostates from his religion, who had revolted on two different points; namely, Mosallamah, in the province of Yemanah, and Aswad-el-Ansi, in that of Yemen. Mahommed did not see the end of the first of these rebellions; but before closing his career he had the consolation to ascertain that the second of these revolts had been suppressed by the death of him who was at its head. To allay the heat which consumed him, Mahommed ordered his women to pour a large quantity of cold water on his body. The affusion afforded him immediate relief, and he found himself so well in consequence, that next day, supported by Ali, and by Fadhl the son of Abba, he went to the mosque, where he celebrated the praises of God, humbly asked pardon of his sins, and expressed his readiness to make reparation to such as he might have unconsciously wronged. He prayed God for the Moslemans who had perished combating for the faith; and then gave his last orders to the most zealous and faithful of his disciples, recommending to them to expel all idolaters from Arabia, to grant to proselytes all the privileges enjoyed by natural-born Moslemans, and to be constant and regular in prayer. Notwithstanding his weakness, he continued to repair daily to the mosque; but on the Friday before his death, being no longer in a condition to perform the functions of imam, he ordered Abu Bekr to supply his place. One day, in an access of delirium, he demanded a pen and paper, in order to write a book which might serve as a guide to his disciples; but Omar opposed his request, because, said he, the Koran, which is the book of God, ought to be sufficient for this purpose. At length, after fifteen days of severe suffering, Mahommed having thrown a little water on his countenance, said, "Lord, be merciful to me, and place me amongst the number of those whom thou hast distinguished by thy grace and favour;" and immediately after expired. According to the most accurate computation, his death took place on the 13th of raby Ist, in the eleventh year of the Hejira (corresponding to the 8th of June 632 of the Christian era), after he had lived sixty-three years, prophesied twenty-three, commanded the Arabs about ten, and laid the foundations of an empire which, aggrandized by his successors, compre-
hended, in less than a century, more countries than the Romans had conquered during eight centuries; and also after he had seen established a religion which still predominates over the half of the ancient hemisphere. The death of Mahommed caused a great tumult at Medina. The people who besieged his door refused to believe that he was mortal, and pretended that he had been taken up into heaven like Jesus Christ; and this notion was espoused by Omar, who threatened to exterminate all those who should maintain the contrary opinion.
The personal appearance and private life of the prophet have been minutely described by the Arabian writers. He was of the middle height, and of a sanguine temperament; his head was large, and his complexion dark, but animated by ruddy hues; his features were regular and strongly formed, his eyes black, and full of fire; he had a prominent forehead, an aquiline nose, full cheeks, and well-proportioned jaws; his mouth, though rather wide, was well formed, and his teeth white but not closely set; his hair, before he had it shaved off, was black, and his thick bushy beard had scarcely begun to bleach at the time of his death; on the lower lip he had a small black mark, and between his eyebrows a vein which swelled under the excitement of choler. His physiognomy was at once mild and majestic, and his gait free notwithstanding his stoutness. His bones were thick and solid; the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands were strong and coarse; his ear was acute, his voice fine and sonorous; and between the shoulders he had an excrescence or wen, which the Mahommedans called "the seal of the prophecy," and which disappeared after his death. Such is the portrait which the Arabian authors have left us of Mahommed, and of which the exactness seems to be attested by the minuteness of the details.
From the same source may also be collected the principal traits of his character. They dwell upon his penetration and prudence, as well as the equity and severe impartiality of his judgments; his love for the poor; his constant endeavours to revive the worship of the true God; his aversion to futile conversation; the gentleness and safety of his intercourse; his manners noble and polished with strangers, gay and familiar with his friends, affable and indulgent with his domestics. Simple and moderate in his habits, he did not hesitate to milk his own goats, and also to repair his dress and his sandals when they required it. His sobriety was so great, that he lived on barley-bread, abstained from entirely satisfying his appetite, and frequently, to overcome the sensation of hunger, compressed his stomach with a stone strongly attached to it. His family, imitating his temperance, abstained from all luxuries, living on dates and pure water. Endowed with admirable fortitude and patience, he received the favours of fortune and the frowns of adversity with equal resignation. During his first campaign, having lost his daughter Rakiyah, who had been married to Othman, he learned the tidings of her death without emotion, and said without a tear, "Let us render thanks to God, and receive as a blessing even the death of our children." Mahommed was not insensible to gratitude, and constant in his friendships; he knew how to preserve his friends in adversity, and how to win his enemies in prosperity. He was religious in the observance of treaties, and seldom abused the privilege of victory; unless when, compelled by necessity to provide for his own safety, he thought it his duty to strike terror into a perfidious tribe by a terrible example. His natural clemency rarely belied itself, and there is no instance of his having committed in cold blood any of those horrible atrocities which sully so many pages in the history of the best governed nations. Whatever Mahommed may be reproached withal, the impartial judgment of history must assign a distinguished place to that extraordinary man, who, by his genius alone, caused the most astonishing revolution recorded in the annals of the world; who not only exercised
Mahommed. the greatest influence upon the age in which he lived, but has preserved it during the twelve centuries which have since elapsed; and whose doctrine, notwithstanding all its errors and imperfections, conveys noble ideas of the divinity, and recalls to man the dignity of his nature, and his final destination. The principal vice with which Mahommed is chargeable, is that of incontinence; a vice indeed of which his countrymen, and even the Koran itself, furnish indubitable proofs, and which, strange as it may appear, he first exhibited about the age of fifty, after the death of Khadijah, his first wife. It was then that he espoused successively some twelve or fifteen wives, although the Koran had only authorized four, and thus, by his example, gave great scandal to his followers.
To form a sound estimate of the character of Mahommed as the founder of a new religion and a new empire, we would require to know whether, from the commencement of this enterprise, he was moved by ambition, and the desire of conquest and domination; or whether, from the first, the only object which he proposed to himself was to substitute, for the idolatrous worship of his countrymen, a religion more worthy of the divinity, and more conformable to the interests of society and the nature of man. If attention be given to the conduct which he observed until the moment when the persecutions of his countrymen and neighbours forced him to seek an asylum at Medina, it will not be difficult to admit the second supposition as the more probable; and if he cannot be freed from the reproach of having deceived men by attributing to himself a divine mission which he had not received, it may perhaps be conceded that the end which he contemplated gives to his imposture a character less odious than would otherwise belong to it. The history, and the text even, of the Koran may satisfy us, that if, instead of abolishing a multitude of absurd or ridiculous practices which were in use amongst the Arabian idolaters, he had consecrated some of these by connecting them with the religion he preached, this would only have been an act of policy on his part, a species of condescension or accommodation which could not have entered into the plan of the religion he had at first formed, and which was but little removed from Judaism. We know not, it is true, what, upon this supposition, the public worship might have been; and it is possible that Mahommed, who had seen the Jews without altars, without priests, without victims, and without a ritual, might not at first have been disposed to think that a distinct scheme of worship, and ceremonies which speak to the senses, were necessary to form a national religion. But, however this may be, it should always be remembered that he abolished a great number of practices revolting to reason and humanity, and which ancient usage had naturalized amongst the inhabitants of Arabia. It is generally believed that Mahommed had declared that he had not received the power of working miracles in proof of the truth of his mission; and many passages of the Koran seem to justify this opinion. It was, in fact, the best means which Mahommed could employ to escape the importunity of the Jews, and particularly of the Christians, who were accustomed to consider supernatural works as the only irrefragable proof of an extraordinary mission. But it must not be concluded from this that Mahommed never supposed that God had wrought wonders in his favour, and that he disdained this means of making proselytes, or confirming the confidence of his followers. Not to mention the divine origin claimed for his pretended revelation, and the frequent defiance addressed to his adversaries, whom he challenged to compose any thing equal to the Koran in miraculous eloquence, and without adverting to the name of prodigies or signs given to each of the verses of that book; it is sufficient to observe, that the
miraculous voyage of Mahommed to Jerusalem, and his nocturnal ascension into heaven, form the subject of an entire chapter, and that more than once he speaks of the divine succours which he received from heaven in different encounters with the infidels, especially on the sanguinary day of Bedr. There is reason to believe, then, that the recitals to be found in the most accredited writers, of the marvellous circumstances in the life of Mahommed, were circulated amongst the Moslemims even during his life; and that if he himself did not invent these miracles, he at least permitted some of his first disciples to take advantage of the credulity of the people, in order to persuade them that at his voice the moon was cleft in twain, that the trees and the rocks had saluted him, and that the entrance of the cave where he lay concealed with Abu Bekr, after he had quitted Mekka to repair to Medina, was immediately covered by a spider's web, to screen from his pursuers the place of his retreat. It is no doubt true that these recitals were afterwards surcharged with a multitude of circumstances still less credible, and altogether unknown to the first Moslemims, and that new prodigies were hatched by fanaticism and the love of the marvellous; but this affords no reason for absolving Mahommed from a species of artifice so powerful over the multitude, or for acquitting his first disciples of a credulity which accords so well with their enthusiasm. And why should he who feigned divine revelations to excuse or to palliate the scandal of his incontinence, and to cloak the turpitude of his family, refuse or hesitate to employ also pretended prodigies to facilitate the success of his enterprise? Mahommed did not arrogate to himself the power of working miracles at pleasure, because such a part would have been too difficult to sustain; but he supposed miracles wrought in his favour, as he invented revelations, because his plan could only be realized by the concurrence of both these means. He also affected, though rarely, a knowledge of futurity; but he often boasted of having received from heaven the knowledge of ancient things, and, under this pretence, he employed a great part of the facts of sacred history, and of the Jewish traditions which he had collected in the conversations he held with both Jews and Christians.
We cannot conclude this account of the life of Mahommed without some notice of the Koran; that prodigy always subsisting, according to the Moslemims,—that irresistible proof of the divinity of Islamism,—that book, in short, which, according to them, displays a sublime and truly celestial eloquence, that no man has ever been, or ever will be, able to reach. In support of this opinion, they have related a multitude of conversions operated by some verses of the Koran (amongst which that of Omar is the most celebrated), and the ecstasy of the poet Lebid at the reading of the second chapter, the most fanciful of all. But it has met with contradiction even in the bosom of Islamism itself; and it must be confessed that none but a Moslemim could in good faith subscribe to this pretended excellence of the Koran. That it contains some passages truly sublime cannot be disputed; but these are of very rare occurrence, and in order to find them it is necessary to wade through masses of dulness and absurdity. The language of the Koran is said to be the purest Arabic; although, to say the truth, neither we nor the Arabs themselves can now pretend to judge of the matter, seeing that there remain but few monuments contemporary with the Koran; and that all those who have written since the time of Mahommed have considered the style of the Koran as the model which they ought to imitate. But as Mahommed himself lays great stress on the elegance of the language in which the Koran is written, it may be allowed to possess this merit. Elegance, however, is not that which essentially constitutes eloquence; and, assuredly, if clearness
be the first merit in any composition, the Koran cannot pretend to a high degree of estimation, since a multitude of passages are so obscure that they admit of different and even contradictory interpretations. The slightest study of a commentary on the Koran, that of Beidhawi for instance, will be sufficient to establish the truth of what is here stated. Another cause of obscurity recognised by the commentators themselves is, that the Koran contains a number of expressions peculiar to the dialect of the Hedjaz, which, even at the period when it was composed, were unintelligible to the Arabians of other countries, and of which the true significance was early lost, or at least had become very problematical. In fine, it is only necessary to open the Koran, in order to be struck with the incoherence of the matters contained in a single chapter, the tedious repetition of the same narratives, and the vagueness which predominates in the legislative dispositions, not to mention contradictions and absurdities almost without number. These defects, however, may, in part at least, be ascribed to the manner in which the collection of the pretended revelations of Mahommed was made under Abu Bekr, by Zaid ben Thabet. Fanaticism rather than good taste presided in this undertaking. Every thing was religiously collected; fragments written on various substances, or preserved in the memory of those persons who alleged that they had received them medially or immediately from the prophet; and when one and the same fragment was produced by several persons with certain differences, Zaid appears to have adopted all the variations, and distributed them in different chapters. This is very clearly and strikingly exemplified by the Baron de Sacy in his Life of Mahommed.
Those who wish for more ample details respecting the history of the Arabian legislator and conqueror, and to inform themselves of all that concerns him even to the most minute particulars, may consult, 1. The Life of Mahommed by Prideaux, 1697, in 8vo; 2. The Life of Mahommed, derived from the Annals of Abulfeda, and published by Gagnier under the title of Ismaël Abulfeda de Vita et rebus gestis Mahommedis, Oxford, 1723, in folio; 3. The Life of Mahommed, translated from the Arabic of Abulfeda, by Murray, 1833; 4. Mahometis, auctoris Alcorani, vita rerumque gestarum Synopsis, prefixed to the work of Maracci, entitled Prodromus ad Refutationem Alcorani, Rome, 1691, in 8vo; 5. La Vie de Mahomet, avec des Réflexions sur la Religion Mahoméenne, by Boulainvilliers, London, 1730, in 8vo; 6. Histoire de la Vie de Mahomet, législateur de l'Arabie, by Turpin, Paris, 1773-1779, in three vols. 12mo; 7. Universal History, vol. xli.; 8. The article Mahomet in the Biographie Universelle; and, 9. The Introduction or Preliminary Discourse to the English Translation of the Koran by George Sale, whom Gibbon has characterized as half a Moslem. "Mahomet" is also the title of one of the dramatic productions of Voltaire; but in this "tragedy," which embraces the truce and capitulation of Mekka, the poet has disguised the history and character of the Arabian legislator. Sacrificing truth to scenic effect, and perhaps also to the pleasure of declaiming against what he calls fanaticism, he has represented his hero as a man of obscure origin, and a monster of cruelty and injustice, in order to present the contrast of extreme baseness with the most undeserved elevation. The poet's theory is "que celui qui fait la guerre à sa patrie au nom de Dieu est capable de tout."