ornithology. See Corvus.

Mahometans, those who believe in the religion and divine mission of Mahomet, or Mohammed.

It will not be improper here to give a general account of this extraordinary person, and the religion which he had the address to propagate over most of the eastern nations.

Mohammed was born in the reign of Anushirwan the Just, emperor of Persia, about the end of the 6th century of the Christian era. He came into the world under some disadvantages. His father Abd'allah was a younger son of Abd'almutalleb, and, dying very young, and in his father's life time, left his widow and infant son in very mean circumstances, his whole substance consisting but of five camels and one Ethiopian slave. Abd'almutalleb was therefore obliged to take care of his grandchild Mohammed, which he not only did during his life, but at his death enjoined his eldest son Abu Taleb, who was brother to Abd'allah by the same mother, to provide for him for the future; which he very affectionately did, and instructed him in the business of a merchant which he followed; and to that end he took him into Syria when he was but thirteen, and and afterwards recommended him to Khadijah, a noble and rich widow, for her factor; in whose service he behaved himself so well, that by making him her husband he soon raised him to an equality with the richest in Mecca.

After he began by this advantageous match to live at his ease, it was that he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient one, 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, and weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the latter Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the worship of one only God.

Before he made any attempt abroad, 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 acquainted 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, with those other circumstances of this first appearance, which are related by the Mohammedan writers. Khadijah received the news with great joy; swearing by him in whose hands her soul was, that she trusted he would be the prophet of his nation; and immediately communicated what she had 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; and he as readily came into her opinion, assuring her that the same angel who had formerly appeared unto Moses was now sent to Mohammed. The first overture the prophet made 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 he could do by private persuasion, not daring to hazard the whole affair by exposing it too suddenly to the public. He soon made profelytes of those under his own roof, viz. his wife Khadijah, his servant Zeid Ebn Haretha (to whom he gave his freedom on that occasion, which afterwards became a rule to his followers) 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 Mohammed applied to was Abd'allah Ebn Abi Kohafa, surnamed Abu Beir, a man of great authority among the Koreish, and one whose interest he well knew would be of great service to him; as it soon appeared: for Abu Beir, being gained over, prevailed also on Othman Ebn Affan, Abd'alrahman Ebn Awf, Saad Ebn Abi Wakkas, al Zobeir Ebn al Awan, and Telha Ebn Obeid'allah, all principal men of Mecca, to follow his example. These men were the six chief companions, who, with a few more, were converted in the space of three years; at the end of which, Mohammed having, as he hoped, a sufficient interest to support him, made his mission no longer a secret, but gave out that God had commanded him to admonish his near relations, and, in order to do it with more convenience and prospect of success, he directed Ali to prepare an entertainment, and invite the sons and descendants of Abd'almotalleb, intending then to open his mind to them: this was done, and about forty of them came; but Abu Laheb, one of his uncles, making the company break up before Mohammed 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 among 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. Mohammed upon this 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 a great laughter, telling Abu Taleb that he must now pay obedience to his son.

This repulse however was so far from discouraging Mohammed, that he began to preach in public to the people, who heard him with some patience, till he came to upbraid them with the idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness of themselves and their fathers; which so highly provoked 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 he was attempting; which proving ineffectual, they at length threatened him with an open rupture, if he did not prevail on Mohammed 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 he and his friends must otherwise run. But Mohammed 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 leave 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 they could prevail neither by fair words nor menaces, tried what they could do by force and ill treatment; using Mohammed's followers so very injuriously, that it was not safe for them to continue at Mecca any longer; whereupon Mohammed gave leave to such of them as had not friends to protect them to seek for refuge elsewhere. And accordingly, in the fifth year of the prophet's mission, fifteen of them, four of whom were women, fled into Ethiopia; and among them Othman Ebn Affan and his wife Rakiah, Mohammed's daughter. This was the first flight; but afterwards several others followed them, retiring one after another, to the number of eighty-three men and eighteen women, besides 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 Arab writers unanimously attest, even professed the Mohammedan religion.

In the sixth year of his mission Mohammed 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 Khattab, a person highly esteemed, and once a violent opposer of the prophet. As persecution generally advances rather than obstructs the spreading of a religion, Islamism made to great a progress among the Arab tribes, that the Koreish, to suppress it effectually, if possible, in the seventh year of Mohammed's mission, made a solemn league or covenant against the Hashemites and the family of Abd'almoraleb, engaging themselves to contract no marriages with any of them, and to have no communication with them; and, to give it 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; except only Abd'al Uzza, named Abu Labeb, who, out of his inveterate hatred to his nephew and his doctrine, went over to the opposite party, whose chief was Abu Sofian Ebn Harb, of the family of Ommeya.

The families continued thus at variance for three years; but, in the tenth year of his mission, Mohammed told his uncle Abu Taleb, that God had manifestly shewed 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 Mohammed had probably 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 they had made 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; and the league was thereupon 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 Mohammedism, and produce some passages out of his poetical compositions to confirm their assertion. About a month, or, as some write, three days after the death of this great benefactor and patron, Mohammed had the additional mortification to lose his wife Khadijah, who had so generously made his fortune. For which reason this year is called the year of mourning.

On the death of these two persons the Koreish began to be more troublesome than ever to their prophet, and especially some who had formerly been his intimate friends; insomuch that he found himself obliged to seek for shelter elsewhere, and first pitched upon Tayef, about sixty miles east from Mecca, for the place for his retreat. Thither therefore he went, accompanied by his servant Zied, and applied himself to two of the chief of the tribe of Thakif who were the inhabitants of that place; but they received them 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 Mecca; where he put himself under the protection of al Motaam Ebn Adi.

This repulse greatly discouraged his followers: however, Mohammed was not wanting to himself, but boldly continued to preach to the public assemblies at the pilgrimage, and gained several profelytes, and among them 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.

In the twelfth year of his mission it was that Mohammed gave out that he had made his night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven, so much spoken of by all that wrote of him. Dr Prideaux thinks he invented it, 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 Mohammed himself ever expected to great a regard should be paid to his sayings, as his followers have since done; and seeing 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 instructions immediately from him, whereas before he contented himself with persuading them that he had all by the ministry of Gabriel.

However, this story seemed so absurd and incredible, that several of his followers left him upon it; and had probably ruined the whole design, had not Abu Beer vouched for his veracity, and declared that, if Mohammed affirmed it to be true, he verily believed the whole. Which 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 to impose on them for the future. And this fiction, notwithstanding its extravagance, was one of the most artful contrivances Mohammed ever put in practice, and what chiefly contributed to the raising of his reputation to that great height to which it afterwards arrived.

In this year, called by the Mohammedans the accepted year, twelve men of Yathreb or Medina, of whom ten were of the tribe of Khazraj, and the other two of that of Aws, came to Mecca, and took an oath of fidelity to Mohammed 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 Mohammed or his religion; it being the same oath that was afterwards exacted of the women, the form of which we have in the Koran, and is to this effect; viz. That they should renounce all idolatry; and they should not steal, nor commit fornication, nor kill their children (as the Pagan 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, Mohammed sent one of his disciples, named Mafab Ebn Omair, home with them, to instruct them more fully in the grounds and ceremonies of his new religion.

Mafab being arrived at Medina, by the assistance of those who had been formerly converted, gained several proselytes, particularly Osaïd Ebn Hodeira, a chief man of the city, and Saad Ebn Moadh, prince of the tribe of Aws; Mohammedism spreading so fast, that there was scarce a house wherein there were not some who had embraced it.

The next year, being the thirteenth of Mohammed's mission, Mafab returned to Mecca, 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 went to Mohammed, and offered him their assistance, of which he was now in great need; for his adversaries were by this time grown so powerful in Mecca, 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, wherein he told them, that as Mohammed 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 professing their sincerity, Mohammed 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; he answered, paradise. Whereupon they pledged their faith to him, and so returned home; after Mohammed had chosen twelve out of their number, who were to have the same authority among them as the twelve apostles of Christ had among his disciples.

Hitherto Mohammed had propagated his religion by fair means, so that the whole success of his enterprise, before his flight to Medina, must be attributed to persuasion only, and not to compulsion. For before this 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 Mecca, he declares 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 believe or not, was none of his concern, 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, chose rather to quit the place of his birth, and retire to

Medina, than to make any resistance. But this great passiveness and moderation seem entirely owing to his want of power, and the great superiority of his opposers 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 leave even to attack them; and to destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the sword; finding, by experience, that his designs would otherwise proceed very slowly, if they were not utterly overthrown; and knowing, on the other hand, that innovators, when they depend solely on their own strength, and can compel, seldom run any risque; from whence, says Machiavel, it follows, that all the armed 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 Mohammed 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 revealed.

That Mohammed had a right to take up arms for his own defence against his unjust persecutors, may, perhaps, be allowed; but whether he ought afterwards to have made use of that means for the establishing of his religion, is not so easy to determine. How far the secular power may or ought to interpose in affairs of this nature, mankind are not agreed. The method of converting by the sword gives no very favourable idea of the faith which is so propagated, and is disallowed by every body 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 those who suffer the violence. It is certainly one of the most convincing proofs that Mohammedism 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 original of Christianity, that it prevailed against all the force and powers of the world by the mere dint 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 thereto; after which time, indeed, this proof seems to fail, Christianity being then established, and Paganism abolished, by public authority, which has had great influence in the propagation of the one and destruction of the other ever since. But to return:

Mohammed, 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 himself with Abu Beer and Ali stayed behind, having not yet received the divine permission, as he pretended, to leave Mecca, The Koreish, fearing the consequence of this new alliance, began to think it absolutely necessary to prevent Mohammed'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, that the guilt of his blood might fall equally on 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 scarce formed, when, by some means or other, it came to Mohammed's knowledge; and he gave out that it was revealed to him by the angel Gabriel, who had now ordered him to retire to Medina. Whereupon, 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 Mohammed appeared miraculously, as they pretend, to Abu Bekr's house, unperceived by the conspirators, who had already assembled at the prophet's door. They, in the mean time, looking through the crevice, and seeing Ali, whom they took to be Mohammed himself, asleep, continued watching there till morning, when Ali arose, and they found themselves deceived.

From Abu Bekr's house Mohammed and he went to a cave in mount Thur, to the south-east of Mecca, accompanied only by Amer Ebn Foheirah, Abu Bekr's servant, and Abd'allah Ebn Oreitah, an idolater whom they had hired for a guide. In this cave they lay hid 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; others, that after Mohammed and his companions were 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; whereupon Mohammed comforted him with these words, recorded in the Koran, Be not grieved, for God is with us. Their enemies being retired, they left the cave, and set out for Medina, by a by road; and having fortunately, or, as the Mohammedans 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 Mecca.

The first thing Mohammed did after his arrival at Medina, was to build a temple for his religious worship, and a house for himself, which he did on a parcel of ground which had before served to put camels in, or, as others tell us, for a burying-ground and belonged to Sahal and Sohal the sons of Amru, who were orphans. This action Dr Prideaux exclaims against, representing it as a flagrant instance of injustice; for that, says he, he violently disposed of these poor orphans, the sons of an inferior artificer (whom the author he quotes calls a carpenter) of this ground, and so founded the first fabric of his worship with the like wickedness as he did his religion. But, to say nothing of the improbability that Mohammed should act in so impolitic a manner at his first coming, the Moham-

median writers set this affair in a quite different light: one tells us that he treated with the lads about the price of the ground, but they desired he would accept it as a present: however, as historians of good credit assure us, he actually bought it; and the money was paid by Abu Bekr. Besides, had Mohammed accepted it as a present, the orphans were in circumstances sufficient to have afforded it; for they were of a very good family, of the tribe of Najjar, one of the most illustrious among the Arabs, and not the sons of a carpenter, as Dr Prideaux's author writes, who took the word Najjar, which signifies a carpenter, for an appellative, whereas it is a proper name.

Mohammed, 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, who intercepted and plundered a caravan belonging to that tribe, and in the action took two prisoners. But what established his affairs very much, and was 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 Hejra, and is so famous in the Mohammedan history. Some reckon no less than twenty-seven expeditions wherein Mohammed 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 zacat or alms, and the paying 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 likewise pretended to act by the divine direction.

In a few years by the success of his arms (notwithstanding he sometimes came off by the worst) he considerably raised his credit and power. In the sixth year of the Hejra, he set out with 1400 men to visit the temple of Mecca, not with any intent of committing hostilities, but in a peaceable manner. However, when he came to al Hodeibiya, which is situate partly within and partly without the sacred territory, the Koreish sent to let him know that they would not permit him to enter Mecca, unless he forced his way; whereupon he called his troops about him and they all took a solemn oath of fealty or homage to him, and he resolved to attack the city; but those of Mecca sending Arwa Ebn Mafud, prince of the tribe of Thakif, as their ambassador, to define peace, a truce was concluded between them for ten years, by which any person was allowed to enter into league either with Mohammed, or with the Koreish, as he thought fit.

It may not be improper to shew the inconceivable veneration and respect the Mohammedans by this time had for their prophet, to mention the account which the above-mentioned ambassador gave the Koreish, at his return 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 Mohammed was by his companions; for, whenever he made the ablution, in order to say his prayers, they ran and fetched the water that he had used; and, whenever he spit, they immediately licked it up, and gathered ed up every hair that fell from him with great superstition.

In the seventh year of the Hejra, Mohammed began to think of propagating his religion beyond the bounds of Arabia, and sent messengers to the neighbouring princes, with letters to invite them to Mohammedism. Nor was this project without some success. Khofru 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 Mohammed heard, he said, God shall tear his kingdom. And soon after a messenger came to Mohammed from Badhan king of Yanan, who was a dependent on the Persians, to acquaint him that he had received orders to send him to Khofru. Mohammed put off his answer till the next morning, and then told the messenger it had been revealed to him that night that Khofru was slain by his son Shiruyeh; adding, that he was well assured his new religion and empire should rise to as great a height as that of Khofru; and therefore bid him advise his master to embrace Mohammedism. The messenger being 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. Whereupon Badhan and the Persians with him turned Mohammedans.

The emperor Heraclius, as the Arabian historians assure us, received Mohammed'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.

Mohammed wrote to the same effect to the king of Ethiopia, though he had been converted before, according to the Arab writers; and to Mokawkas, governor of Egypt, who gave the messenger a very favourable reception, and sent several valuable presents to Mohammed, and among the rest two girls, one of which, named Mary, became a great favourite with him. He also sent letters of the like purport to several Arab princes; particularly one to al Hareth Ebn Abi Shamer king of Ghaffean, who returning for answer that he would go to Mohammed himself, the prophet said, May his kingdom perish; another to Hawdha Ebn Ali, king of Yamama, who was a Christian, and, having some time before professed Islamism, had lately returned to his former faith; this prince sent back a very rough answer, upon which Mohammed cursing him, he died soon after; and a third to al Mondar Ebn Sawa, king of Bahrein, who embraced Mohammedism, and all the Arabs of that country followed his example.

The eighth year of the Hejra was a very fortunate year to Mohammed. In the beginning of it, Khaled Ebn al Walid and Amru Ebn al As, both excellent soldiers, the first of whom afterwards conquered Syria and other countries, and the latter Egypt, became professed of Mohammedism. And soon after the prophet sent 3000 men against the Grecian forces, to revenge the death of one of his ambassadors, who being sent to the governor of Bofra on the same errand as those who went to the above-mentioned princes, were slain by an Arab, of the tribe of Ghaffan, at Muta, a town in the territory of Balka in Syria, about three days journey eastward from Jerusalem, near which town they encountered. The Grecians being vastly superior in number (for, including the auxiliary Arabs, they had an army of 100,000 men) the Mohammedans were repulsed in the first attack, and lost successively three of their generals, viz. Zeid Ebn Hareth, Mohammed'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 a great slaughter, and brought away abundance of rich spoil; on occasion of which action Mohammed gave him the honourable title of Seif min foyuf Allah, one of the swords of God.

In this year also Mohammed took the city of Mecca, the inhabitants whereof had broken the truce concluded on two years before. For the tribe of Beer, who were confederates with the Koreish, attacking those of Khozaab, who were allies of Mohammed, 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 Sofian himself made a journey to Medina on purpose to heal the breach and renew the truce; but in vain: for Mohammed, glad of this opportunity, refused to see him: whereupon he applied to Abu Beer and Ali; but they giving him no answer, he was obliged to return to Mecca as he came.

Mohammed immediately gave orders for preparations to be made, that he might surprise the Meccans while they were unprovided to receive him: in a little time he began his march thither, and by that time he came near the city his forces were increased to 10,000 men. Those of Mecca, being not in a condition to defend themselves against so formidable an army, surrendered at discretion; and Abu Sofian saved his life by turning Mohammedan. About twenty-eight of the idolaters were killed by a party under the command of Khaled; but this happened contrary to Mohammed'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 ordinary (some of them having apostatized) and were solemnly proscribed by the prophet himself; but of these no more than threenum and one woman were put to death, the rest obtaining pardon on their embracing Mohammedism, and one of the women making her escape.

The remainder of this year Mohammed employed in destroying the idols in and round Mecca, sending several of his generals on expeditions for that purpose, and to invite the Arabs to Islamism; wherein it is no wonder if they now met with success.

The next year, being the ninth of the Hejra, the Mohammedans call the year of embassies: for the Arabs had been hitherto expecting the issue of the war between Mohammed and the Koreish; but, so 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 Mohammed, and therefore began to come in to him in great numbers, and to send embassies to make their submissions to him, both to Mecca, while he staid there, and also to Medina, whither he returned this year. Among the rest; five kings of the tribe of Hamyar professed Mohammedism, and sent ambassadors to notify the same. In the tenth year Ali was sent into Yaman to propagate the Mohammedan faith there, and, as it is said, converted the whole tribe of Hamdan in one day. Their example was quickly followed by all the inhabitants of that province, except only those of Najran, who, being Christians, chose rather to pay tribute.

Thus was Mohammedism established, and idolatry rooted out, even in Mohammed's life-time (for he died the next year) throughout all Arabia, except only Yamma, where Mofellama, who set up also for a prophet as Mohammed's competitor, had a great party, and was not reduced till the Khalifat of Abu Becr: and the Arabs, being then united in one faith and under one prince, found themselves in a condition of making those conquests, which extended the Mohammedan faith over so great a part of the world.

Of the Koran. The word Koran, derived from the verb karaa, to read, signifies properly, in Arabic, the reading, or, rather, that which ought to be read; by which name the Mohammedans denote not only the entire book or volume of the Koran, but also any particular chapter or section of it; just as the Jews call either the whole scripture, or any part of it, by the name of Karah, or Mikra, words of the same origin and import. See ALCORAN.

Beside this peculiar name, the Koran is also honoured with several appellations, common to other books of scripture: as, al Farkan, from the verb foraka, to divide or distinguish; not, as the Mohammedan doctors say, because those books are divided into chapters or sections, or distinguish between good and evil; but in the same notion that the Jews use the word Perek, or Pirka, from the same root, to denote a section or portion of scripture. It is also called al Mohaf, the volume, and all Kitab, the book, by way of eminence, which answers to the Biblia of the Greeks; and al Dhikr, the admonition, which name is also given to the Pentateuch and Gospel.

The Koran is divided into 114 larger portions of very unequal length, which we call chapters, but the Arabians Sowar, in the singular Sura, a word rarely used on any other occasion, and properly signifying a row, order, or a regular series; as a course of bricks in building, or a rank of soldiers in an army; and is the same in use and import with the Sura, or Tora of the Jews, who also call the fifty-three sections of the Pentateuch Sedairim, a word of the same signification.

These chapters are not in the manuscript copies distinguished by their numerical order, but by particular titles, which are taken sometimes from a particular matter treated of, or person mentioned therein; but usually from the first word of note, exactly in the same manner as the Jews have named their Sedairim; though the word from which some chapters are denominated be very far distant, towards the middle, or perhaps the end of the chapter; which seems ridiculous. But the occasion of this seems to have been, that the verse or passage wherein such word occurs, was, in point of time, revealed and committed to writing before the other verses of the same chapter which precede it in order; and the title being given to the chapter before it was completed, or the passages reduced to their present order, the verse from whence such title was taken did not always happen to begin the chapter. Some chapters have two or more titles, occasioned by the difference of the copies.

Some of the chapters having been revealed at Mecca, and others at Medina, the noting this difference makes a part of the title: but the reader will observe that several of the chapters are said to have been revealed partly at Mecca, and partly at Medina; and, as to others, it is yet a dispute among the commentators to which place of the two they belong.

Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions, of very unequal length also, which we customarily call verses: but the Arabic word is Ayat, the same with the Hebrew Otah, and signifies signs, or wonders; such as are the secrets of God, his attributes, works, judgments, and ordinances, delivered in those verses; many of which have their particular titles also, imposed in the same manner as those of the chapters.

Besides these unequal divisions of chapter and verse, the Mohammedans have also divided their Koran into sixty equal portions, which they call Abzab, in the singular Hizb, each subdivided into four equal parts; which is also an imitation of the Jews, who have an ancient division of their Mishma into sixty portions called Massicotth: but the Koran is more usually divided into thirty sections only, named Ajza, from the singular Joz, each of twice the length of the former, and in the like manner subdivided into four parts. These divisions are for the use of the readers of the Koran in the royal temples, or in the adjoining chapels where the emperors and great men are interred. There are thirty of these readers belonging to every chapel, and each reads his section every day, so that the whole Koran is read over once a day.

Nextafter the title, at the head of every chapter, except only the ninth, is prefixed the following solemn form, by the Mohammedans called the Bismallah, IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD: which form they constantly place at the beginning of all their books and writings in general, as a peculiar mark or distinguishing characteristic of their religion, it being counted a sort of impiety to omit it. The Jews, for the same purpose, make use of the form, IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, OR, IN THE NAME OF THE GREAT GOD: and the eastern Christians that of, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST. But Mohammed probably took this form, as he did many other things, from the Persian Magi, who used to begin their books in these words, Benam Yazdan bakh/bai/gher dadar; that is, IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL JUST GOD.

There are twenty-nine chapters of the Koran, which have this peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters of the alphabet, some with a single one, others with more. These letters the Mohammedans believe to be the peculiar marks of the Koran, and to conceal several profound mysteries, the certain understanding of which, the more intelligent confess, has not been communicated to any mortal, their prophet only excepted. Notwithstanding which, some will take the liberty of guessing at their meaning by that species of Cabala called by the Jews Notarikon, and suppose the letters to stand for as many words, expressing expressing the names and attributes of God, his works, ordinances, and decrees; and therefore these mysterious letters, as well as the verses themselves, seem in the Koran to be called signs. Others explain the intent of these letters from their nature or organ, or else from their value in numbers, according to another species of the Jewish Cabala called Gematria; the uncertainty of which conjectures sufficiently appears from their disagreement. Thus, for example, five chapters, one of which is the second, begin with these letters, A. L. M. which some imagine to stand for, Allah latif magid; God is gracious and to be glorified; or, Ana li minni, to me and from me, viz. belongs all perfection, and proceeds all good; or else for Ana Allah alam, I am the most wise God, taking the first letter to mark the beginning of the first word, the second the middle of the second word, and the third the last of the third word; or for Allah, Gabriel, Mohammed, the author, revealer, and preacher of the Koran. Others say, that as the letter A belongs to the lower part of the throat, the first of the organs of speech; L to the palate, the middle organ; and M to the lips, which are the last organ; so these letters signify that God is the beginning, middle, and end, or ought to be praised in the beginning, middle, and end, of all our words and actions: or, as the total value of those three letters, in numbers, is seventy-one, they signify, that, in the space of so many years, the religion preached in the Koran should be fully established. The conjecture of a learned Christian is at least as certain as any of the former, who supposes those letters were set there by the amanuensis, for Amar li Mohammed, i.e. At the command of Mohammed, as the five letters prefixed to the nineteenth chapter seem to be there written by a Jewish scribe, for Cob yaar, i.e. Thus he commanded.

The Koran is universally allowed to be written with the utmost elegance and purity of language, in the dialect of the tribe of Koreish, the most noble and polite of all the Arabians, but with some mixture, though very rarely, of other dialects. It is confessedly the standard of the Arabic tongue, and, as the more orthodox believe, and are taught by the book itself, imitable by any human pen, (though some sectaries have been of another opinion) and therefore insisted on as a permanent miracle, greater than that of raising the dead, and alone sufficient to convince the world of its divine original.

And to this miracle did Mohammed himself chiefly appeal for the confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging the most eloquent men in Arabia, which was at that time stocked with thousands, whose sole study and ambition it was to excel in elegance of style and composition, to produce even a single chapter that might be compared with it.

The general design of the Koran seems to be this: to unite the professors of the three different religions then followed in the populous country of Arabia, who, for the most part, lived promiscuously, and wandered without guides, the far greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians mostly of erroneous and heterodox belief, in the knowledge and worship of one eternal, invisible God, by whose power all things were made, and those which are not may be; the supreme Governor, Judge, and absolute Lord of the creation; established under the sanction of certain laws, and the outward signs of certain ceremonies, partly of ancient, and partly of novel institution, and enforced by setting before them rewards and punishments, both temporal and eternal; and to bring them all to the obedience of Mohammed, as the prophet and ambassador of God, who, after the repeated admonitions, promises and threats of former ages, was at last to establish and propagate God's religion on earth by force of arms, and to be acknowledged chief pontiff in spiritual matters, as well as supreme prince in temporal.

The great doctrine then of the Koran is the unity of God; to restore which point Mohammed pretended was the chief end of his mission; it being laid down by him, as a fundamental truth, that there never was, nor ever can be, more than one true orthodox religion. For, though the particular laws or ceremonies are only temporary, and subject to alteration, according to the divine direction; yet, the substance of it, being eternal truth, is not liable to change, but continues immutably the same. And he taught, that, whenever this religion became neglected, or corrupted in essentials, God had the goodness to re-inform and re-admonish mankind thereof, by several prophets, of whom Moses and Jesus were the most distinguished, till the appearance of Mohammed, who is their seal, no other being to be expected after him. And the more effectually to engage people to hearken to him, great part of the Koran is employed in relating examples of dreadful punishments formerly inflicted by God on those who rejected and abused his messengers; several of which stories, or some circumstances of them, are taken from the Old and New Testament, but many more from the apocryphal books and traditions of the Jews and Christians of those ages, set up in the Koran as truths in opposition to the scriptures, which the Jews and Christians are charged with having altered; and indeed few or none of the relations or circumstances in the Koran were invented by Mohammed, as is generally supposed, it being easy to trace the greatest part of them much higher, as the rest might be, were more of those books extant, and it was worth while to make the inquiry.

The other part of the Koran is taken up in giving necessary laws and directions, in frequent admonitions to moral and divine virtues, and, above all, to the worshipping and reverencing of the only true God, and resignation to his will; among which are many excellent things intermixed, not unworthy even a Christian's perusal.

But besides these, there are a great number of passages which are occasional, and relate to particular emergencies. For whenever anything happened which perplexed and gravelled Mohammed, and which he could not otherwise get over, he had constant recourse to a new revelation, as an infallible expedient in all nice cases; and he found the success of this method answer his expectation. It was certainly an admirable and politic contrivance of his to bring down the whole Koran at once to the lowest heaven only, and not to the earth, as a bungling prophet would probably have done; for if the whole had been published at once, innumerable objections might have been made, which it would have been very hard, if not impossible, impossible, for him to solve: but as he pretended to have received it by parcels, as God saw proper that they should be published for the conversion and instruction of the people, he had a sure way to answer all emergencies, and to extricate himself with honour from any difficulty which might occur.

That Mohammed was really the author and chief contriver of the Koran, is beyond dispute; though it be highly probable that he had no small assistance in his design from others, as his countrymen raised not to object to him; however, they differed so much in their conjectures as to the particular persons who gave him such assistance, that they were not able, it seems, to prove the charge; Mohammed, it is to be presumed, having taken his measures too well to be discovered. Dr. Prideaux has given the most probable account of this matter, though chiefly from Christian writers, who generally mix such ridiculous fables with what they deliver, that they deserve not much credit.

However it be, the Mohammedans absolutely deny the Koran was composed by their prophet himself, or any other for him; it being their general and orthodox belief that it is of divine original, nay, that it is eternal and uncreated, remaining, as some express it, in the very essence of God; that the first transcript has been from everlasting by God's throne, written on a table of vast bigness, called the preserved table, in which are also recorded the divine decrees past and future: that a copy from this table, in one volume on paper, was by the ministry of the angel Gabriel sent down to the lowest heaven, in the month of Ramadan, on the night of power: from whence Gabriel revealed it to Mohammed by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Medina, at different times, during the space of twenty-three years, as the exigency of affairs required; giving him, however, the consolation to show him the whole (which they tell us was bound in silk, and adorned with gold and precious stones of paradise) once a year; but in the last year of his life he had the favour to see it twice. They say that few chapters were delivered entire, the most part being revealed piece-meal, and written down from time to time by the prophet's amanuenses in such or such a part of such or such a chapter, till they were completed according to the directions of the angel. The first parcel that was revealed is generally agreed to have been the first five verses of the ninety-sixth chapter.

After the new revealed passages had been from the prophet's mouth taken down in writing by his scribe, they were published to his followers, several of whom took copies for their private use, but the far greater number got them by heart. The originals, when returned, were put promiscuously into a chest, observing no order of time, for which reason it is uncertain when many passages were revealed.

When Mohammed died, he left his revelations in the same disorder, and not digested into the method, such as it is, which we now find them in. This was the work of his successor Abu Bekr, who, conferring that a great number of passages were committed to the memory of Mohammed's followers, many of whom were slain in their wars, ordered the whole to be collected, not only from the palm-leaves and skins on which they had been written, and which were kept between two boards or covers, but also from the mouths of such as had gotten them by heart. And this transcript, when completed, he committed to the custody of Hafsa the daughter of Omar, one of the prophet's widows.

From this relation it is generally imagined that Abu Bekr was really the compiler of the Koran; though, for aught appears to the contrary, Mohammed left the chapters complete as we now have them, excepting such passages as his successor might add or correct from those who had gotten them by heart; what Abu Bekr did else being, perhaps, no more than to range the chapters in their present order, which he seems to have done without any regard to time, having generally placed the longest first.

However, in the thirtieth year of the Hijra, Othman being then Khalif, and observing the great disagreement in the copies of the Koran in the several provinces of the empire, those of Irak, for example, following the reading of Abu Musa al Ashari, and the Syrians that of Mas'ud Ebn Afwad, he, by advice of the companions, ordered a great number of copies to be transcribed from that of Abu Bekr, in Hafsa's care, under the inspection of Zeid Ebn Thabet, Abd'allah Ebn Zobair, Said Ebn al As, and Ad'alrahman Ebn al Fiareth the Makhzumite; whom he directed, that, wherever they disagreed about any word, they should write it in the dialect of the Koreish, in which it was at first delivered. These copies, when made, were dispersed in the several provinces of the empire, and the old ones burnt and suppressed. Though many things in Hafsa's copy were corrected by the above-mentioned supervisors, yet some few various readings still occur.

The fundamental position, on which Mohammed erected the superstructure of his religion, was, That, from the beginning to the end of the world, there has been, and for ever will be, but one true orthodox belief; consisting, as to matter of faith, in the acknowledging of the only true God, and the believing in and obeying such messengers or prophets as he should from time to time send, with proper credentials, to reveal his will to mankind; and, as to matter of practice, in the observance of the immutable and eternal laws of right and wrong, together with such other precepts and ceremonies as God should think fit to order for the time being, according to the different dispensations in different ages of the world: for these last, he allowed, were things indifferent in their own nature, and became obligatory by God's positive precept only; and were therefore temporary, and subject to alteration, according to his will and pleasure. And to this religion he gives the name of Islam, which word signifies resignation, or submission to the service and commands of God; and is used as the proper name of the Mohammedan religion, which they will also have to be the same at bottom with that of all the prophets from Adam.

Under pretext that this eternal religion was in its time corrupted, and professed in its purity by no one less of men, Mohammed pretended to be a prophet sent by God, to reform those abuses which had crept into it, and to reduce it to its primitive simplicity; with the addition, however. however of peculiar laws and ceremonies, some of which had been used in former times, and others were now first instituted. And he comprehended the whole substance of his doctrine under these two propositions, or articles of faith, viz. that there is but one God, and that himself was the apostle of God; in consequence of which latter article, all such ordinances and institutions as he thought fit to establish must be received as obligatory and of divine authority.

The Mohammedans divide their religion, which they call Islam, into two distinct parts; Iman, i.e. faith, or theory; and Din, i.e. religion, or practice; and teach that it is built on five fundamental points, one belonging to faith, and the other four to practice.

The first is, that there is no god but the true God; and that Mohammed is his apostle. Under which they comprehend six distinct branches, viz. 1. Belief in God; 2. In his angels; 3. In his scriptures; 4. In his prophets; 5. In the resurrection and day of judgment; and, 6. In God's absolute decree and predetermination both of good and evil.

The four points relating to practice are, 1. Prayer, under which are comprehended those washings or purifications which are necessary preparations required before prayer; 2. Alms; 3. Fasting; and, 4. The pilgrimage to Mecca.

That both Mohammed, and those among his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had and continue to have just and true notions of God and his attributes, appears so plain from the Koran itself, and all the Mohammedan divines, that it would be lost of time to refute those who suppose the God of Mohammed to be different from the true God, and only a fictitious deity, or idol of his own creation.

The existence of angels, and their purity, are absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them, or affirms any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and subtle bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat nor drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices; some adoring God in different postures, others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold, that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men, others in carrying the throne of God and other services.

The four angels, whom they look on as more eminently in God's favour, and often mention on account of the offices assigned them, are Gabriel, to whom they give several titles, particularly those of the holy spirit, and the angel of revelations, supposing him to be honoured by God with a greater confidence than any other, and to be employed in writing down the divine decrees; Michael, the friend and protector of the Jews; Azrael, the angel of death, who separates men's souls from their bodies; and Israfel, whose office it will be to sound the trumpet at the resurrection. The Mohammedans also believe, that two guardian angels attend on every man, to observe and write down his actions, being changed every day, and therefore called al Moakkibat, or the angels who continually succeed one another,

The devil, whom Mohammed names Eblis, from his despair, was once one of those angels who are nearest to God's presence, called Azazil; and fell, according to the doctrine of the Koran, for refusing to pay homage to Adam at the command of God.

Besides angels and devils, the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran to believe an intermediate order of creatures, which they call Jin or Genii, created also of fire, but of a groser fabric than angels; since they eat and drink, and propagate their species, and are subject to death. Some of these are supposed to be good, and others bad, and capable of future salvation or damnation, as men are; whence Mohammed pretended to be sent for the conversion of genii as well as men.

As to the scriptures, the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran, that God, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every word of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to them, 104. Of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham; and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mohammed; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now cloed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree to be now entirely lost, and their contents unknown; though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that, though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians. The Mohammedans have also a gospel in Arabic, attributed to St Barnabas, wherein the history of Jesus Christ is related in a manner very different from what we find in the true Gospels, and correspondent to those traditions which Mohammed has followed in his Koran. Of this Gospel the Moriscos in Africa have a translation in Spanish; and there is, in the library of prince Eugene of Savoy, a manuscript of some antiquity, containing an Italian translation of the same Gospel, made, it is to be supposed, for the use of renegades. This book appears to be no original forgery of the Mohammedans, though they have no doubt interpolated and altered it since, the better to serve their purpose; and in particular, instead of the Paraclete or Comforter, they have in this apocryphal gospel inserted the word Periclyte, that is, the famous or illustrious, by which they pretend their prophet was foretold by name, that being the signification of Mohammed in Arabic: and this they say to justify that passage of the Koran, where Jesus Christ is formally asserted to have foretold his coming, under his other name of Ahmed, which is derived from the same root as Mohammed, and of the same import. From these or some other forgeries of the same stamp, it is that the Mohammedans quote several passages, of which there are not the least footsteps in the New Testament.

The number of the prophets, which have been from time time to time sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mohammedan tradition, or to 124,000, according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. All the prophets in general, the Mohammedans believe to have been free from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, Islam, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more excellent and honourable than others. The first place they give to the revealers and establishers of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles.

In this great number of prophets, they not only reckon divers patriarchs and persons named in scripture, but not recorded to have been prophets, (wherein the Jewish and Christian writers have sometimes led the way,) as Adam, Seth, Lot, Ishmael, Nun, Joshua, &c. and introduce some of them under different names, as Enoch, Heber, and Jethro, who are called, in the Koran, Edris, Hud, and Shoaib; but several others whose very names do not appear in scripture (though they endeavour to find some persons there to fix them on) as, Saleh, Khedr, Dhu'lkef, &c.

The next article of faith required by the Koran is the belief of a general resurrection and a future judgment.

When a corpse is laid in the grave, they say he is received by an angel, who gives him notice of the coming of the two Examiners; which are two black livid angels, of a terrible appearance, named Monker and Nakir. These order the dead person to sit upright, and examine him concerning his faith, as to the unity of God, and the mission of Mohammed: if he answer rightly, they suffer the body to rest in peace, and it is refreshed by the air of paradise; but, if not, they beat him on the temples with iron maces, till he roars out for anguish so loud that he is heard by all from east to west, except men and genii. Then they press the earth on the corpse, which is gnawed and stung till the resurrection by ninety-nine dragons, with seven heads each; or, as others say, their fins will become venomous beasts, the grievous ones stinging like dragons, the smaller like scorpions, and the others like serpents: circumstances which some understand in a figurative sense.

As to the soul, they hold, that, when it is separated from the body by the angel of death, who performs his office with ease and gentleness towards the good, and with violence towards the wicked, it enters into that state which they call al Berzakh, or the interval between death and the resurrection. If the departed person was a believer, they say two angels meet it, who convey it to heaven, that its place there may be assigned, according to its merit and degree. For they distinguish the souls of the faithful into three classes; the first of prophets, whose souls are admitted into paradise immediately; the second of martyrs, whose spirits, according to a tradition of Mohammed, rest in the crops of green birds, which eat

of the fruits and drink of the rivers of paradise; and the third of other believers, concerning the state of whose souls before the resurrection there are various opinions.

Though some among the Mohammedans have thought that the resurrection will be merely spiritual, and no more than the returning of the soul to the place whence it first came (an opinion defended by Ebn Sina, and called by some the opinion of the philosophers;) and others, who allow man to consist of body only, that it will be merely corporeal; the received opinion is, that both body and soul will be raised; and their doctors argue strenuously for the possibility of the resurrection of the body, and dispute with great subtlety concerning the manner of it. But Mohammed has taken care to preserve one part of the body, whatever becomes of the rest, to serve for a basis of the future edifice, or rather a leaven for the mass which is to be joined to it. For he taught, that a man's body was entirely consumed by the earth, except only the bone called al Ajb, which we name the os coccygis, or rump bone; and that, as it was the first formed in the human body, it will also remain uncorrupted till the last day, as a seed from whence the whole is to be renewed: and this, he said, would be effected by a forty days rain, which God should send, and which would cover the earth to the height of twelve cubits, and cause the bodies to sprout forth like plants. Herein, also, is Mohammed beholden to the Jews; who say the same things of the bone Luz, excepting that what he attributes to a great rain, will be effected, according to them, by a dew, impregnating the dust of the earth.

The time of the resurrection the Mohammedans allow to be a perfect secret to all but God alone; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance in this point, when Mohammed asked him about it. However, they say, the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it. These signs they distinguish into two sorts, the lesser, and the greater.

The lesser signs are, 1. The decay of faith among men. 2. The advancing of the meanest persons to eminent dignity. 3. That a maid-servant shall become the mother of her mistress (or master;) by which is meant, either that towards the end of the world men shall be much given to sensuality, or that the Mohammedans shall then take many captives. 4. Tumults and seditions. 5. A war with the Turks. 6. Great distress in the world, so that a man when he passes by another's grave, shall say, Would to God I were in his place. 7. That the provinces of Irak and Syria shall refuse to pay their tribute. And, 8. That the buildings of Medina shall reach to Ahab, or Yahab.

The greater signs are,

1. The sun's rising in the west; which some have imagined it originally did.

2. The appearance of the beast, which shall rise out of the earth, in the temple of Mecca, or on mount Safa, or in the territory of Tayef, or some other place. This beast, they say, is to be sixty cubits high; though others, not satisfied with so small a size, will have her reach to the clouds and to heaven, when her head only is out; and that she will appear for three days, but shew only a third part of her body. They describe this monster, as to her form, to be a compound of various species; having the head of a bull, the eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant, the horns of a stag, the neck of an ostrich, the breast of a lion, the colour of a tiger, the back of a cat, the tail of a ram, the legs of a camel, and the voice of an ass. Some say this beast is to appear three times in several places, and that she will bring with her the rod of Moses and the seal of Solomon; and, being so swift that none can overtake or escape her, will with the first strike all the believers on the face, and mark them with the word maimen i.e., believer; and with the latter will mark the unbelievers on the face likewise, with the word Cafer, i.e., infidel, that every person may be known for what he really is. They add that the same beast is to demonstrate the vanity of all religions except Islam, and to speak Arabic. All this stuff seems to be the result of a confused idea of the beast in the Revelations.

3. War with the Greeks, and the taking Constantinople by 70,000 of the posterity of Isaac, who shall not win that city by force of arms, but the walls shall fall down while they cry out, There is no God but God: God is most great! As they are dividing the spoil, news will come to them of the appearance of Antichrist; whereupon they shall leave all, and return back.

4. The coming of Antichrist, whom the Mohammedans call Mahib al Dajjal, i.e., the false or lying Christ, and simply al Dajjal. He is to be one eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters C. F. R., signifying Cafer, or infidel. They say that the Jews give him the name of Messiah Ben David, and pretend he is to come in the last days, and to be lord both of land and sea, and that he will restore the kingdom to them.

5. The descent of Jesus on earth. They pretend that he is to descend near the white tower to the east of Damascus, when the people are returned from the taking of Constantinople; that he is to embrace the Mohammedan religion, marry a wife, get children, kill Antichrist, and at length die after forty years, or, according to others, twenty-four years continuance on earth. Under him, they say, there will be great security, and plenty in the world, all hatred and malice being laid aside; when lions and camels, bears and sheep, shall live in peace, and a child shall play with serpents unharmed.

6. War with the Jews; of whom the Mohammedans are to make a prodigious slaughter. The very trees and stones discovering such of them as hide themselves, except only the tree called Gharkad, which is the tree of the Jews.

7. The eruption of Gog and Magog, or, as they are called in the east, Yajuj and Majuj; of whom many things are related in the Koran and the traditions of Mohammed. These barbarians, they tell us, having passed the lake of Tiberias, which the vanguard of their vast army will drink dry, will come to Jerusalem, and there greatly distress Jesus and his companions; till, at his request, God will destroy them, and fill the earth with their carcases, which, after some time, God will send birds to carry away, at the prayers of Jesus and his followers. Their bows, arrows, and quivers, the Molesms will burn for seven years together; and, at last, God will send a rain to cleanse the earth, and to make it fertile.

8. A smoke, which shall fill the whole earth.

9. An eclipse of the moon. Mohammed is reported to have said, that there would be three eclipses before the last hour; one to be seen in the east, another in the west, and the third in Arabia.

10. The returning of the Arabs to the worship of Allat and al Uzzah, and the rest of their ancient idols, after the decease of every one in whose heart there was faith equal to a grain of mustard-seed, none but the very worst of men being left alive. For God, they say, will send a cold odoriferous wind, blowing from Syria Damascus, which shall sweep away the souls of all the faithful, and the Koran itself, so that men will remain in the grossest ignorance for a hundred years.

11. The discovery of a vast heap of gold and silver by the retreating of the Euphrates, which will be the destruction of many.

12. The demolition of the Caaba, or temple of Mecca, by the Ethiopians.

13. The speaking of beasts and inanimate things.

14. The breaking out of fire in the province of Hejaz; or, according to others, in Yemen.

15. The appearance of a man of the descendants of Kahtan, who shall drive men before him with his staff.

16. The coming of the Mohdi, or director; concerning whom Mohammed prophesied, that the world should not have an end till one of his own family should govern the Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own name, and whose father's name should also be the same with his father's name; and who should fill the earth with righteous souls. This person the Shiites believe to be now alive, and concealed in some secret place, till the time of his manifestation; for they suppose him no other than the last of the twelve Imams, named Mohammed Abu'l-Kafem, as their prophet was; and the son of Hassan al Askari, the eleventh of that succession. He was born at Sermanrai in the 255th year of the Hijra. From this tradition, it is to be presumed, an opinion pretty current among the Christians took its rise, that the Mohammedans are in expectation of their prophet's return.

17. A wind which shall sweep away the souls of all who have but a grain of faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth sign.

These are the greater signs, which, according to their doctrine, are to precede the resurrection, but still leave the hour of it uncertain; for the immediate sign of its being come will be the first blast of the trumpet; which they believe will be sounded three times. The first they call the blast of consternation; at the hearing of which all creatures in heaven and earth shall be struck with terror, except those whom God shall please to exempt from it. The effects attributed to this first sound of the trumpet are very wonderful; for they say, the earth will be shaken, and not only all buildings, but the very mountains levelled; that the heavens shall melt, the sun be darkened, the stars fall, on the death of the angels, who, as some imagine, hold them suspended between heaven and earth; and the sea shall be troubled and dried up, or, according to others, turned into flames, the sun, moon, and stars being thrown into it: the Koran, to express the greatness of the terror of that day, adds, that women who give give suck shall abandon the care of their infants, and even the she camels which have gone ten months with young (a most valuable part of the substance of that nation) shall be utterly neglected. A farther effect of this blast will be that concourse of beasts mentioned in the Koran, though some doubt whether it be to precede the resurrection or not. They who suppose it will precede, think that all kinds of animals, forgetting their respective natural fierceness and timidity, will run together into one place, being terrified by the sound of the trumpet and the sudden shock of nature.

The Mohammedans believe that this first blast will be followed by a second, which they call the blast of examination; when all creatures both in heaven and earth shall die or be annihilated, except those which God shall please to exempt from the common fate; and this, they say, shall happen in the twinkling of an eye, nay in an instant; nothing surviving except God alone, with paradise and hell, and the inhabitants of those two places, and the throne of glory. The last who shall die will be the angel of death.

Forty years after this will be heard the blast of resurrection, when the trumpet shall be sounded the third time by Israfil, who, together with Gabriel and Michael, will be previously restored to life, and, standing on the rock of the temple of Jerusalem, shall, at God's command, call together all the dry and rotten bones, and other dispersed parts of the bodies, and the very hairs, to judgment. This angel, having, by the divine order, set the trumpet to his mouth, and called together all the souls from all parts, will throw them into his trumpet, from whence, on his giving the last sound, at the command of God, they will fly forth like bees, and fill the whole space between heaven and earth, and then repair to their respective bodies, which the opening earth will suffer to arise; and the first who shall so arise, according to a tradition of Mohammed, will be himself. For this birth the earth will be prepared by the rain above mentioned, which is to fall continually for forty years, and will resemble the seed of a man, and be supplied from the water under the throne of God, which is called living water; by the efficacy and virtue of which the dead bodies shall spring forth from their graves, as they did in their mother's womb, or as corn sprouts forth by common rain, till they become perfect, after which breath will be breathed into them, and they will sleep in their sepulchres till they are raised to life at the last trump.

When those who have risen shall have waited the limited time, the Mohammedans believe God will at length appear to judge them; Mohammed undertaking the office of intercessor, after it shall have been declined by Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus, who shall beg deliverance only for their own souls. They say, that on this solemn occasion God will come in the clouds, surrounded by angels, and will produce the books wherein the actions of every person are recorded by their guardian angels, and will command the prophets to bear witness against those to whom they have been respectively sent. Then every one will be examined concerning all his words and actions, uttered and done by him in this life; not as if God needed any information in these respects, but to oblige the person to make public confession and acknowledgment of God's justice. The particulars of which they shall give an account, as Mohammed himself enumerated them, are, of their time, how they spent it; of their wealth, by what means they acquired it, and how they employed it; of their bodies, wherein they exercised them; of their knowledge and learning, what use they made of them. To the questions we have mentioned each person shall answer, and make his defence in the best manner he can, endeavouring to excuse himself by casting the blame of his evil deeds on others; so that a dispute shall arise even between the soul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to be imputed: the soul saying, O Lord, my body I received from thee; for thou createdst me without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye to see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, till I came and entered into this body; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me. The body, on the other side, will make this apology: O Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood, having neither hand that I could lay hold with, nor foot that I could walk with, till this soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me. But God will propound to them the following parable of the blind man and the lame man, which, as well as the preceding dispute, was borrowed by the Mohammedans from the Jews. A certain king, having a pleasant garden, in which were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind, and the other lame; the former not being able to see the fruit, nor the latter to gather it; the lame man, however, seeing the fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him upon his shoulders and by that means he easily gathered the fruit, which they divided between them. The lord of the garden coming some time after, and inquiring after his fruit, each began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes to see with, and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the trees. But the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence on and punished them both. And in the same manner will God deal with the body and the soul. As these apologies will not avail on that day, so will it also be in vain for any one to deny his evil actions, since men and angels, and his own members, nay, the very earth itself, will be ready to bear witness against him.

At this examination they also believe, that each person will have the book wherein all the actions of his life are written delivered to him; which books the righteous will receive in their right hand, and read with great pleasure and satisfaction; but the ungodly will be obliged to take them, against their wills, in their left, which will be bound behind their backs, their right hand being tied up to their necks.

To shew the exact justice which will be observed on this great day of trial, the next thing they describe is the balance, wherein all things shall be weighed. They say it will be held by Gabriel; and that it is of so vast a size, that its two scales, one of which hangs over paradise, and the other over hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth. Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Koran concerning this this balance allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of God's equity; yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is, that they are to be taken literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being themselves weighed, they say that the books wherein they are written will be thrown into the scales, and according as those wherein the good or evil actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given: those whose balances laden with good works shall be heavy, will be saved; but those whose balances are light, will be condemned. Nor will any one have cause to complain that God suffers any good action to pass unrewarded, because the wicked for the good they do have their reward in this life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.

This examination being past, and every one's works weighed in a just balance, that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And, since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it. Which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say, Lord, we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person's good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant, God will, of his mercy, caute it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God's dealing with mankind. As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, he will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being referred to more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes, Would to God that we were dust also. As to the genii, many Mohammedans are of opinion, that such of them as are true believers, will undergo the same fate as the irrational animals, and have no other reward than the favour of being converted into dust; and for this they quote the authority of their prophet.

The trials being over, and the assembly dissolved, the Mohammedans hold, that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right hand way, and those who are destined to hell fire will take the left; but both of them must first pass the bridge called in Arabic al Sirat, which they say is laid over the midst of hell, and describe to be finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword; for that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it: for which reason, most of the sect of the Motazilites reject it as a fable; though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article, that it was ferociously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet; who, to add to the difficulty of the passage, has likewise declared, that this bridge is beset on each side with briars and hooked thorns; which will however be no impediment to the good, for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Mohammed and his Moslems leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the former to paradise, will soon misplace their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.

As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mohammedans are taught, that hell is divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned. The first, which they call Jehennam, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mohammedans, who, after having there been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released. The second, named Ladha, they assign to the Jews; the third, named al Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, named al Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth, named Sakar, to the Magians; the sixth, named al Jam, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which is the lowest and worst of all, and is called al Hawyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were none. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.

Mohammed has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer both from intense heat and excessive cold. We shall however enter into no detail of them here, but only observe, that the degrees of these pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and that he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the fervor of which will cause his skull to boil like a cauldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches; as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called either life or death; and their misery will be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to that frequent expression in the Koran, they must remain therein for ever. It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternity of damnation; for the Moslems, or those who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. The time which these believers shall be detained there, according to a tradition handed down from their prophet, will not be less than 900 years, nor more than 7000. And, as to the manner of their delivery, they say that they shall be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will therefore have no power; and that, being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the mercy of God, at the intercession cession of Mohammed and the blessed; whereupon those who shall have been dead, will be restored to life, as has been said; and those whose bodies shall have contracted any footiness or filth from the flames and smoke of hell, will be immersed in one of the rivers of paradise, called the river of life, which will wash them whiter than pearls.

The righteous, as the Mohammedans are taught to believe, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradise, will be refreshed by drinking at the pond of their prophet, who describes it to be an exact square of a month's journey in compass; its water, which is supplied by two pipes from al Cawthar, one of the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set around it as there are stars in the firmament; of which water whoever drinks will thirst no more for ever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now near approaching felicity.

Though paradise be so very frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is a dispute among the Mohammedans whether it be already created, or to be created hereafter; the Motazites and some other sectaries afflicting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life will be different from that from which Adam was expelled. However, the orthodox profess the contrary, maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it, from their prophet's traditions, in the following manner.

They say it is situate above the seven heavens (or in the seventh heaven) and next under the throne of God; and, to express the amenity of the place, tell us, that the earth of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or, as others will have it, of saffron: that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver, and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold: among which the most remarkable is the tree called Tuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this tree, they fable, that it stands in the palace of Mohammed, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruit, of surprising bigness, and of tastes unknown to mortals. So that, if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented him; or, if he chuse flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. They add, that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse, would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in a hundred years.

As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal ornament thereof; some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey; all taking their rise from the root of the tree Tuba.

But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of paradise, called, from their large black eyes, Hur al gyn, the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk; being, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities, defects, and inconveniences incident to the sex, of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large, that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than four parasangs (or, as others say, sixty miles) long, and as many broad.

The name which the Mohammedans usually give to this happy mansion, is al Jannat, or the garden; and sometimes they call it, with an addition, Jannat al Ferdaws, the garden of paradise; Jannat Eden, the garden of Eden, (though they generally interpret the word Eden, not according to its acceptation in Hebrew, but according to its meaning in their own tongue, where-in it signifies a settled or perpetual habitation;) Jannat al Mawwa, the garden of above; Jannat al Naim, the garden of pleasure; and the like: by which several appellations, some understand so many different gardens, or at least places of different degrees of felicity, (for they reckon no less than a hundred such in all,) the very meanest whereof will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights, that one would conclude they must even think under them, had not Mohammed declared, that, in order to qualify the blessed for a full enjoyment of them, God will give to every one the abilities of an hundred men.

The sixth great point of faith, which the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran to believe, is God's absolute decree and predestination both of good and evil. For the orthodox doctrine is, that whatever hath or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good, or whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table: God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; which fate or predestination it is not possible, by any foresight or wisdom, to avoid.

Of this doctrine Mohammed makes great use in his Koran for the advancement of his designs; encouraging his followers to fight without fear, and even desperately, for the propagation of their faith, by representing to them that all their caution could not avert their inevitable destiny, or prolong their lives for a moment; and deterring them from disobeying or rejecting him as an impostor, by setting before them the danger they might thereby incur of being, by the just judgment of God, abandoned to destruction, hardness of heart, and a reprobate mind, as a punishment for their obstinacy.

Of the four fundamental points of religious practice required by the Koran, the first is prayer, under which are also comprehended those legal washings or purifications which are necessary preparations thereto. Of these purifications there are two degrees, one called Ghofl, being a total immersion or bathing of the body in water; and the other called Wudu. (by the Persians, Abdefi,) which is the walking of their faces, hands, and feet, after a certain manner. The first is required in some extraordinary cases only, as after having lain with a woman, or been polluted by emission of seed, or by approaching a dead body; women also being obliged to it after their courses or childbirth. The latter is the ordinary ablution in common cases, and before prayer, and must necessarily be used by every person before he can enter upon that duty. It is performed with certain formal ceremonies, which have been described by some writers, but much easier apprehended by seeing them done, than by the best description.

That his followers might be more punctual in this duty, Mohammed is said to have declared, that the practice of religion is founded on cleanliness, which is the one half of the faith, and the key of prayer, without which it will not be heard by God. That these expressions may be the better understood, al Ghazali reckons four degrees of purification; of which the first is the cleansing of the body from all pollution, filth, and excrements; the second, the cleansing of the members of the body from all wickednesses and unjust actions; the third, the cleansing the heart from all blameable inclinations and odious vices; and the fourth, the purging a man's secret thoughts from all affections which may divert their attendance on God: adding, that the body is but as the outward shell, in respect to the heart, which is as the kernel.

Circumcision, though it be not so much as once mentioned in the Koran, is yet held, by the Mohammedans, to be an ancient divine institution, confirmed by the religion of Islam, and, though not so absolutely necessary but that it may be dispensed with in some cases, yet highly proper and expedient. The Arabs used this rite for many ages before Mohammed, having probably learned it from Ishmael, though not only his descendants, but the Hamarites and other tribes practised the same. The Ishmaelites, we are told, used to circumcise their children, not on the eighth day, as is the custom of the Jews, but when about twelve or thirteen years old, at which age their father underwent that operation; and the Mohammedans imitate them so far as not to circumcise children before they be able at least distinctly to pronounce that profession of their faith, There is no God but God, Mohammed is the apostle of God; but pitch on what age they please for the purpose, between six or sixteen, or thereabouts.

Prayer was, by Mohammed, thought so necessary a duty, that he used to call it the pillar of religion, and the key of paradise; and when the Thakifites, who dwelt at Tayef, sending, in the ninth year of the Hijra, to make their submission to that prophet, after the keeping of their favourite idol had been denied them, begged, at least, that they might be dispensed with as to their saying of their appointed prayers, he answered, That there could be no good in that religion wherein was no prayer.

That so important a duty, therefore, might not be neglected, Mohammed obliged his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, at certain stated times; viz. 1. In the morning, before sunrise; 2. When noon is past, and the sun begins to decline from the meridian; 3. In the afternoon, before sunset; 4. In the evening, after sunset, and before day be shut in; and, 5. After the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night. For this institution he pretended to have received the divine command from the throne of God himself, when he took his night-journey to heaven; and the observing of the stated times of prayer is frequently insisted on in the Koran, though they be not particularly prescribed therein. Accordingly, at the aforesaid times, of which public notice is given by the Muedhdhins, or Criers, from the steeples of their Mosques, (for they use no bells,) every conscientious Muslim prepares himself for prayer, which he performs either in the Mosque or any other place, provided it be clean, after a prescribed form, and with a certain number of praises or ejaculations, (which the more scrupulous count by a string of beads and using certain postures of worship;) all which have been particularly set down and described, though with some few mistakes, by other writers, and ought not to be abridged, unless in some special cases, as on a journey, on preparing for battle, &c.

For the regular performance of the duty of prayer among the Mohammedans, besides the particulars above-mentioned, it is also requisite that they turn their faces, while they pray, towards the temple of Mecca; the quarter where the same is situate being, for that reason, pointed out within their mosques by a niche, which they call al Mehrab; and without, by the situation of the doors opening into the galleries of the steeples: there are, also, tables calculated for the ready finding out their Keblah, or part towards which they ought to pray, in places where they have no other direction.

The next point of the Mohammedan religion is the giving of alms; which are of two sorts, legal and voluntary. The legal alms are of indispensable obligation, being commanded by the law, which directs and determines both the portion which is to be given, and of what things ought to be given; but the voluntary alms are left to every one's liberty, to give more or less, as he shall see fit. The former kind of alms some think to be properly called Zacat, and the latter Sadakat; though this name be also frequently given to the legal alms. They are called Zacat, either because they increase a man's store by drawing down a blessing thereon, and produce in his soul the virtue of liberality; or because they purify the remaining part of one's substance from pollution, and the soul from the filth of avarice; and Sadakat, because they are a proof of a man's sincerity in the worship of God. Some writers have called the legal alms tithes, but improperly, since in some cases they fall short, and in others exceed that proportion.

The third point of religious practice is fasting; a duty of so great moment, that Mohammed used to say it was the gate of religion, and that the odour of the mouth of him who fasteth is more grateful to God than that of musk; and al Ghazali reckons fasting one fourth part of the faith. According to the Mohammedan divines, there are three degrees of fasting: 1. The restraining the belly and other parts of the body from satisfying their lusts; 2. The restraining the ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and other ther members from sin; and, 3. The fasting of the heart from worldly cares, and restraining the thoughts from every thing besides God.

The Mohammedans are obliged, by the express command of the Koran, to fast the whole month of Ramadan, from the time the new moon first appears, till the appearance of the next new moon; during which time they must abstain from eating, drinking, and women, from day-break till night or sun-set. And this injunction they observe so strictly, that, while they fast, they suffer nothing to enter their mouths, or other parts of their body, esteeming the fast broken and null, if they smell perfumes, take a clyster or injection, bathe, or even purposely swallow their spittle: some being so cautious, that they will not open their mouths to speak, lest they should breathe the air too freely: the fast is also deemed void, if a man kisses a woman, or if he vomit defecatedly. But after sun-set they are allowed to refresh themselves, and to eat and drink, and enjoy the company of their wives till day-break; though the more rigid begin the fast again at midnight. This fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying when the month of Ramadan happens to fall in summer, (for, the Arabian year being lunar, each month runs through all the different seasons in the course of thirty-three years) the length and heat of the days making the observance of it much more difficult and uneasy than in winter.

The reason given why the month of Ramadan was pitched on for this purpose is, that on that month the Koran was sent down from heaven. Some pretend that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, received their respective revelations in the same month.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice, that, according to a tradition of Mohammed, he who dies without performing it may as well die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.

The temple of Mecca stands in the midst of the city, and is honoured with the title of Masjid al-haram, i.e., the sacred or inviolable temple. What is principally reverenced in this place, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, called the Caaba, as some fancy, from its height, which surpasses that of the other buildings in Mecca; but more probably from its quadrangular form, and Beit Allah, i.e., the house of God, being peculiarly hallowed and set apart for his worship. The length of this edifice, from north to south, is twenty-four cubits, its breadth from east to west twenty-three cubits, and its height twenty-seven cubits: the door, which is on the east side, stands about four cubits from the ground; the floor being level with the bottom of the door. In the corner next this door is the black stone. On the north side of the Caaba, within a semicircular inclosure fifty cubits long, lies the white stone, said to be the sepulchre of Ishmael, which receives the rain water that falls off the Caaba by a spout, formerly of wood, but now of gold. The Caaba has a double roof, supported within by three octagonal pillars of aloes wood; between which, on a bar of iron, hang some silver lamps. The outside is covered with rich black damask, adorned with an embroidered band of gold, which is changed every year, and was formerly sent by the Khalifs, afterwards by the Sultans of Egypt, and is now provided by the Turkish emperors. At a small distance from the Caaba, on the east side, is the station or place of Abraham, where is another stone much respected by the Mohammedans, of which something will be said hereafter.

The Caaba, at some distance, is surrounded, but not entirely, by a circular inclosure of pillars joined towards the bottom by a low balustrade, and towards the top by bars of silver. Just without this inner inclosure, on the south, north, and west sides of the Caaba, are three buildings, which are the oratories or places where three of the orthodox sects assemble to perform their devotions, (the fourth sect, viz., that of al-Shafei, making use of the station of Abraham for that purpose;) and, towards the south-east, stands the edifice which covers the well Zemzem, the treasury, and the cupola of al Abbas.

All these buildings are inclosed, at a considerable distance, by a magnificent piazza, or square colonnade, like that of the Royal Exchange in London, but much larger, covered with small domes or cupolas; from the four corners whereof rise as many minarets or steeples, with double galleries, and adorned with gilded spires and crescents, as are the cupolas which cover the piazza and the other buildings. Between the pillars of both inclosures hang a great number of lamps, which are constantly lighted at night.

This is properly all that is called the temple; but, the whole territory of Mecca being also Haram or sacred, there is a third inclosure distinguished at certain distances by small turrets, some five, some seven, and others ten miles distant from the city. Within this compass of ground it is not lawful to attack an enemy, or even to hunt or fowl, or cut a branch from a tree.

The temple of Mecca was a place of worship, and in singular veneration with the Arabs, from great antiquity, and many centuries before Mohammed. Though it was most probably dedicated at first to an idolatrous use, yet the Mohammedans are generally persuaded that the Caaba is almost coeval with the world.

After this edifice had undergone several reparations, it was a few years after the birth of Mohammed rebuilt by the Koreish on the old foundation, and afterwards repaired by Abd'allah Ebn Zobeir, the Khalif of Mecca; and at length again rebuilt by Yufof, surnamed al Hejaj, in the seventy-fourth year of the Hijra, with some alterations, in the form wherein it now remains. Some years after, however, the Khalif Harun al Rashid (or, as others write, his father al Mohdi, or his grandfather al Mansur) intended again to change what had been altered by al Hejaj, and to reduce the Caaba to the old form in which it was left by Abd'allah; but was dissuaded from meddling with it, lest so holy a place should become the sport of princes, and, being new-modelled after every one's fancy, should lose that reverence which was justly paid it. But notwithstanding the antiquity and holiness of this building, they have a prophecy, by tradition from Mohammed, that in the last times the Ethiopians shall come and utterly demolish it; after which it will not be rebuilt again for ever.

Before we leave the temple of Mecca, two or three particulars. particulars deserve further notice. One is the celebrated black stone, which is set in silver, and fixed in the south-east corner of the Caaba, being that which looks toward Bafra, about two cubits and one third, or, which is the same thing, seven spans from the ground. This stone is exceedingly respected by the Mohammedans, and is kissed by the pilgrims with great devotion, being called by some the right hand of God on earth. They fable, that it is one of the precious stones of paradise, and fell down to the earth with Adam, and, being taken up again, or otherwise preserved at the deluge, the angel Gabriel afterwards brought it back to Abraham, when he was building the Caaba. It was at first whiter than milk, but grew black long since by the touch of a menstrous woman, or, as others tell us, by the sins of mankind, or rather by the touches and kisses of so many people; the surfaces only being black, and the inside still remaining white.

To this temple every Mohammedan, who has health and means sufficient, ought once, at least, in his life to go on pilgrimage; nor are women excused from the performance of this duty. The pilgrims meet at different places near Mecca, according to the different parts from whence they come, during the months of Shawal and Dhu'kaada; being obliged to be there by the beginning of Dhu'lhajja; which month, as its name imports, is peculiarly set apart for the celebration of this solemnity.

At the place above-mentioned the pilgrims properly commence such; when the men put on the Ihram or sacred habit, which consists only of two woollen wrappers, one wrapped about their middle to cover their privities, and the other thrown over their shoulders, having their heads bare, and a kind of flippers which cover neither the heel nor the instep, and so enter the sacred territory in their way to Mecca. While they have this habit on, they must neither hunt nor fowl, (though they are allowed to fish;) which precept is so punctually observed, that they will not kill even a louse or a flea, if they find them on their bodies: there are some noxious animals, however, which they have permission to kill during the pilgrimage, as kites, ravens, scorpions, mice, and dogs given to bite. During the pilgrimage, it behoves a man to have a constant guard over his words and actions, and to avoid all quarrelling or ill language, and all converse with women and obscene discourse, and to apply his whole intention to the good work he is engaged in.

The pilgrims, being arrived at Mecca, immediately visit the temple, and then enter on the performance of the prescribed ceremonies which consist chiefly in going in procession round the Caaba, in running between the mounts Safa and Merwa, in making the station on mount Arafat, and slaying the victims, and shaving their heads in the valley of Mina.

In compassing the Caaba, which they do seven times, beginning at the corner where the black stone is fixed, they use a short quick pace the three first times they go round it, and a grave ordinary pace the four last; which, it is said, was ordered by Mohammed, that his followers might shew themselves strong and active, to cut off the hopes of the infidels, who gave out, that the immoderate heats of Medina had rendered them weak. But the a-

foresaid quick pace they are not obliged to use every time they perform this piece of devotion, but only at some particular times. So often as they pass by the black stone, they either kiss it, or touch it with their hand, and kiss that.

The running between Safa and Merwa is also performed seven times, partly with a slow pace, and partly running: for they walk gravely till they come to a place between two pillars; and there they run, and afterwards walk again; sometimes looking back, and sometimes stopping, like one who has lost something, to represent Hagar seeking water for her son; for the ceremony is said to be as ancient as her time.

On the ninth of Dhu'lhajja, after morning prayer, the pilgrims leave the valley of Mina. Whether they come the day before, and proceed in a tumultuous and rushing manner to mount Arafat, where they stay to perform their devotions till sun-set: then they go to Mozdalifa, an oratory between Arafat and Mina; and there spend the night in prayer, and reading the Koran. The next morning by day-break they visit al-Masler al-haram, or the sacred monument, and, departing thence before sunrise, haste by Batn Mohafler to the valley of Mina, where they throw seven stones at three marks or pillars, in imitation of Abraham, who, meeting the devil in that place, and being by him disturbed in his devotions, or tempted to disobedience, when he was going to sacrifice his son, was commanded by God to drive him away by throwing stones at him; though others pretend this rite to be as old as Adam, who also put the devil to flight in the same place and by the same means.

This ceremony being over, on the same day, the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, the pilgrims slay their victims in the said valley of Mina; of which they and their friends eat part, and the rest is given to the poor. These victims must be either sheep, goats, kine, or camels; males, if of either of the two former kinds; and females, if of either of the latter; and of a fit age. The sacrifices being over, they shave their heads and cut their nails, burying them in the same place; after which the pilgrimage is looked on as completed; though they again visit the Caaba, to take their leave of that sacred building.