By James Allanson Picton, Author of The Religion of the
Universe.
THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA.
By Professor Giles, LL.D., Professor of Chinese in the University
of Cambridge.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE.
By Jane Harrison, Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge,
Author of Prolegomena to Study of Greek Religion.
ISLÂM.
By Ameer Ali Syed, M.A., C.I.E., late of H.M.’s High Court
of Judicature in Bengal, Author of The Spirit of Islâm and The
Ethics of Islâm.
MAGIC AND FETISHISM.
By Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at Cambridge
University.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
By Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie, F.R.S.
THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.
By Theophilus G. Pinches, late of the British Museum.
EARLY BUDDHISM.
By Professor Rhys Davids, LL.D., late Secretary of The Royal
Asiatic Society.
HINDUISM.
By Dr. L. D. Barnett, of the Department of Oriental Printed
Books and MSS., British Museum.
SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION.
By William A. Craigie, Joint Editor of the Oxford English
Dictionary.
CELTIC RELIGION.
By Professor Anwyl, Professor of Welsh at University College,
Aberystwyth.
THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
By Charles Squire, Author of The Mythology of the British
Islands.
JUDAISM.
By Israel Abrahams, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in
Cambridge University, Author of Jewish Life in the Middle Ages.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME.
By Cyril Bailey, M.A.
SHINTO, THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF JAPAN.
By W. G. Aston, C.M.G.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU.
By Lewis Spence, M.A.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY.
By S. B. Slack, Professor at M’Gill University.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGIN AND NATURE OF RELIGION.
By Professor J. H. Leuba.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT PALESTINE.
By Stanley A. Cook.
ISLÂM
By AMEER ALI, SYED, M.A., C.I.E. LATE A JUDGE OF H.M.’S HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE IN BENGAL,
AUTHOR OF ‘THE SPIRIT OF ISLÂM,’ ‘THE ETHICS OF ISLÂM,’
‘A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SARACENS,’ ‘MAHOMMEDAN LAW,’
(2 VOLS.), ‘STUDENT’S HANDBOOK OF MAHOMMEDAN LAW,’
JOINT AUTHOR OF ‘THE LAW OF EVIDENCE APPLICABLE
TO BRITISH INDIA,’ AND ‘A COMMENTARY ON
THE BENGAL TENANCY ACT’
LONDON CONSTABLE & COMPANY Ltd 10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE
1909
Published 1906
Reprinted 1909
PREFACE
It is difficult, if not impossible, for any one not
endowed with a spirit of sympathy, or the faculty
of transporting the mind to the social conditions
and moral needs of other times, to do justice to
the Teacher of another Faith, especially if that
Faith is imagined to be in rivalry with his own.
Generally speaking, the attitude of Christian
writers towards Mohammed and his religion is
akin to that of the critical Jew towards the
Teacher of Nazareth, or of the philosophical
Celsus towards Christianity.
In the brochure which the liberalism and
enterprise of the publishers enables me to place
before the public, I have endeavoured to outline
from inside the essential teachings of Islâm and
the prominent features of its History. For a
fuller and more developed treatment of its ethics
and philosophy, of the history of its civilisation
and its work in the advancement of culture and
humanitarian science, I must refer the student,
with all diffidence, to my larger expositions.
It is to be hoped that this little book, by
helping to give an insight into Islâm as it is
understood by its professors, may become the
means of removing some of the misapprehensions
regarding its true aims and ideals, which are
undoubtedly the cause of much of the antipathy
prevalent in the West, and of the frequent incentives
to a modern crusade.
A little more knowledge on both sides, a little
more sympathy between two religions which have
a common aspiration—the elevation of mankind—will
largely conduce to the promotion of
peace and good-will on earth.
AMEER ALI.
Reform Club, 1906.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Chapter i.—Foreword—Islâm, its meaning—Its Cardinal
Principle—Belief in a Future Life—Conception
of Evolution—Moral Responsibility—The
Ethical Code of Islâm—Toleration—Position of
Women—Bondsmen and Bondswomen—Intellectualism,
Chapter ii.—Mohammed—His Birth—His Call—The
Persecution—The Hegira—Mohammed at Medîna—His
Charter to the Christians—Conquest of
Mecca—The Sermon on the Mount—The Fulfilment
of the Mission—The Prophet’s Death,
Chapter iii.—The Election of Abû Bakr as Caliph—His
Allocution—His Injunction to the Troops—Revolt
of the Tribes—War with Persia—Defeat of
the Persians—War with Byzantium—Its Causes—Death
of Abû Bakr—Election of Omar—Conquest
of Syria—Capitulation of Jerusalem—Assassination
of Omar—Election of Osmân—Conquest of
Egypt—Death of Osmân—Election of Ali—Rebellion
of Muâwiyah—Death of Ali—The Ommeyades—Butchery
of Kerbela—The Martyrdom of
Hussain—Conquest of Spain—The Abbassides—Destruction
of Bagdad—The Title of the Ottoman
Caliphs—The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain—The
Fatimide Caliphate of North Africa—The
Crusades—Their Effect on Islâm—The Eruption
of the Tartars—Destruction of Science and Learning
in Islâm—Granada—The Sunni and Shiah
Church—The Sects of Islâm—Ashaarïsm—Mutazalaism,
Foreword.—In the history of human development
probably no subject is more interesting
than the gradual evolution of spiritual ideals, or
the endeavour to regulate man’s conduct in the
ordinary relations of life by determinate ethical
standards.
Of all the great systems that aim at the elevation
of mankind by an appeal to their religious
consciousness, the latest-born is the religion
preached by the Prophet of Arabia. The fundamental
principles of right and wrong are common
to all moral creeds; it is in their vitalising force,
the life they infuse into humanity and the direction
they give to human energies, that we must
seek for elements of differentiation. Some have
taken centuries to expand beyond their original
circles, others have had to absorb foreign conceptions
time after time until their primitive
form became entirely changed before they could
influence large masses of people. The religion of
Mohammed, unaided by any extraneous help,
under the impulse of a great and dominating
Idea, within the space of eighty years from its
birth, had spread from the Indus to the Tagus,
from the Volga to the Arabian Sea. No Darius,
Asoka, or Constantine came to its assistance with
royal mandates and imperial homage.
Under its influence a congeries of warring
tribes consolidated into a nation carried aloft
for centuries the torch of knowledge. With the
fall of their empire, they ceased to be the preceptors
of mankind. The younger nations who
succeeded to their heritage continued some of
their glory in arms, but less in arts and literature.
They too declined in power and influence, and
now the greatest of them is but a shadow of its
former self. And yet, as an active living Faith
Islâm has lost none of its pristine force nor the
magic hold it possesses over its followers. In
certain parts of the world it is spreading with
greater rapidity than any other creed, and its
acceptance among the less advanced races has
invariably tended to raise them in the moral
scale.
‘Had the Arabs,’ says an able writer, ‘propagated
Islâm only, had they only known that
single period of marvellous expansion wherein
they assimilated to their creed, speech, and even
physical type, more aliens than any stock before
or since, not excepting the Hellenic, the Roman,
the Anglo-Saxon, or the Russian, even so the
Arabs would still make a paramount claim on
the Western mind.’ But the interest becomes
deeper ‘when we remember that, not only as the
head and fount of pure Semitism they originated
Judaism and largely determined both its character
and that of Christianity, but also the
expansion of the Arabian conception of the
relations of man to God and man to man (the
Arabian social system, in a word) is still proceeding
faster and further than any other
propagandism.’[1]
Meaning of Islâm.—Islâm is the name which
the followers of the Arabian Prophet give to
their religion. It means peace, greeting, safety,
salvation. It does not involve, however, any
idea of fatalism. In its ethical sense it signifies
striving after righteousness. Man is a free
agent within his limited sphere: the ordinances
of God lay down the eternal principles of human
conduct. He has pointed out two courses—the
one leading away from Him, and that is evil; the
other bringing man to Him, and that is good.
Every individual is free to choose and follow
whichever course he likes, and receives his
deserts accordingly. ‘By a soul and Him who
balanced it, and breathed into it its wickedness
and its piety, blessed now is he who hath kept it
pure, and undone is he who hath corrupted it.’[2]
But the mercy and help of God are always nigh to
direct the humble seeker for divine guidance to
take the right path. The faithful observance of
one’s duty to his fellow beings is the preparation
for the future life, which every human being
should strive for in this.
The Cardinal Principle of Islâm.—A belief in
the unity, power, mercy, and supreme love of the
Creator is the cardinal principle of Islâm, for,
in its essence, it is pure Theism, coupled with
some definite rules of conduct without which
no religion can exercise any abiding influence
on lower natures. The whole creation with its
manifold phenomena, so varied and yet so uniform,
from the single blade of grass springing
up in the field to the mighty stars soaring in
the firmament, is a proof of His existence, His
mercy, His love, and His divine Providence
‘God: there is no God but He—the Living, the
Eternal, no slumber seizeth Him. Whatsoever
is in Heaven or in Earth is His.’ ‘He created
the sun, moon, and stars and subjected them to
law by His behests.’ ‘He taketh your souls in
the night and knoweth what the work of your
day deserveth.’[3] ‘He it is who ordaineth the day
for awakening up to life.’[4] ‘In the alternations
of night and day, and in the ship which saileth
on the sea laden with what is profitable to mankind,
and in the rain-water which God sendeth
from heaven, quickening again the dead earth,
and the animals of all sorts which cover its surface;
and in the change of the winds and the
clouds balanced between heaven and earth, are
signs to people of understanding.’ The God of
Islâm is One and indivisible—‘the All-mighty,
the All-knowing, the All-just, the Lord of the
worlds, the Author of the heavens and earth,
the Creator of life and death, in whose hand is
dominion and irresistible power; the great, all-powerful
Lord of the glorious throne. God is
the Mighty, the Strong, the Most High, the
Producer, the Maker, the Fashioner, the Wise,
the Just, the True, the Swift in reckoning, who
knoweth every ant’s weight of good and of ill
that each man hath done, and who suffereth not
the reward of the faithful to perish.’ But the
All-mighty, the All-wise, is also ‘the King, the
Holy, the Peaceful, the Faithful, the Guardian
over His servants, the Shelterer of the orphan,
the Guide of the erring, the Deliverer from every
affliction, the Friend of the bereaved, the Consoler
of the afflicted; in His hand is good, and
He is the Generous Lord, the Gracious Hearer,
the Near-at-hand, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
the Very Forgiving.’ ... ‘Forgiver of sin
and Receiver of penitence.’ ‘He knoweth the
secret whisper, the hidden and the manifest.’[5]
Latitude to Human Conscience.—Islâm implies
the acceptance of Divine Unity and the
Mission of Mohammed; whoever acknowledges
the verity of these two conceptions is a Moslem
(Muslim)—an Islâmist. Belief in God’s providence
carries with it obedience to His commandments,
which lay down the primary bases
of human conduct; but failure to observe the
mere ritual or to conform to disciplinary rules
does not exclude one from Islâm or deprive him
of the rights and privileges attached to its
profession. So long as the central doctrine of
the Unity of God and the message of the
Prophet is recognised and accepted, Islâm allows
the widest latitude to the human conscience.
The Gospel of Islâm is the Koran—the Book—in
which are embodied the teachings and precepts
of the Arabian Prophet.
From this first principle, the belief in God,
spring all the duties human beings owe to Him
and to each other. The recognition by man of
God’s divine grace and mercy, and the constant
remembrance of His benefactions is the very
essence of the Islâmic Faith. Thus it is enjoined,
‘Be constant at prayer, for prayer preserveth
from crimes and from that which is
blamable, and the remembrance of God is surely
a most sacred duty.’[6]
Insistence on the Remembrance of God.—In
order to make the remembrance of the Eternal
Giver of all-good a part of man’s daily life,
certain times in the day are set apart to offer
Him thanksgiving, to pray for help and guidance
in the struggle with earthly passions, and to
strive to bring the human soul into communion
with its Creator. The following prayer will give
an idea of the moral element in the teachings of
Islâm.
The Moral Element in Moslem Prayers.—‘O
Lord, I supplicate Thee for firmness in faith and
direction towards rectitude, and to assist me in
being grateful to Thee and in adoring Thee in
every good way; and I supplicate Thee for an
innocent heart, which shall not incline to wickedness;
and I supplicate Thee for a true tongue and
for that virtue which Thou knowest; and I pray
Thee to defend me from that vice which Thou
knowest, and for forgiveness of those faults which
Thou knowest. O my Defender! Assist me in
remembering Thee and being grateful to Thee
and in worshipping Thee with the excess of my
strength. O Lord! I have injured my own soul,
and no one can pardon the faults of Thy servants
but Thou; forgive me out of Thy loving kindness
and have mercy on me; for verily Thou art the
forgiver of offences and the bestower of blessings
on Thy servants.’
Rules for Devotions.—Although the practice
of the Teacher has consecrated certain rules for
the performance of the devotions, the ritual of
the Koran itself is astonishing in its simplicity.[7]
The forms were prescribed for disciplinary purposes
and to maintain in Islâm uniformity of practice
and cohesiveness. But the main essentials are
purity of heart and forgetfulness of self. ‘It is
not righteousness that ye turn your faces in
prayer towards the east or the west; but righteousness
is of him who believeth in God.... Who
giveth money for God’s sake unto his kindred,
and unto orphans and the needy, and the stranger,
and those who ask, and for the redemption of
captives; who is constant at prayer and giveth
alms; and of those who perform their covenants
when they have covenanted, and who behave
themselves patiently in hardship and adversity
and in times of violence, these are they who are
the true.’
Every Place Sacred to God.—As God’s mercy
and power pervade the universe, and every spot is
consecrated to His holy name, the orisons may be
offered at any place where the worshipper happens
to be at the appointed hour. A remembrance
even, a humble prayer whispered in the recesses
of the heart, is enough to bring down the grace
of the Lord, to cleanse it from impurity and
strengthen it for the battle of life. And when
the Moslem stands before his God, his first prayer
is for divine guidance. ‘Praise to God, the Lord
of the Worlds, the compassionate and merciful.
The Sovereign of the Day of Judgment, to Thee
we offer our worship, and from Thee we seek help
and succour. Guide us in the right path, the
path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
and not of those with whom Thou art angered or
who have gone astray.’
Purification.—Physical cleanliness was an
essential part of worship in almost all the ancient
theurgic creeds. In Islâm it is a natural concomitant
to the idea of moral purity, for no man
is supposed to approach God in a state of uncleanliness.
And as an unclean body implies an
unclean mind, purification of those parts most
likely to be soiled—the hands, feet, and face—is
considered necessary before devotional exercise.
But it is not indispensable; conditions may exist
which may render frequent ablutions impossible.
The soldier on the battlefield, the traveller in the
desert, the denizen of a wintry land, and others
similarly circumstanced may offer their prayers
without undergoing any such formality. The
rule, though thus liable to qualification, is most
beneficent in its tendency. It prevents the
growth of that class which is euphemistically
described in England as ‘the great unwashed,’
whilst it promotes in an eminent degree hygienic
and sanitary conditions among the masses.
At the same time it is especially inculcated that
the Almighty can only be approached in purity
and humility of spirit, and that the most important
purification is the cleansing of the heart from all
blamable inclinations and frailties, and the mind
from all vicious ideas and thoughts which distract
the attention from God.
No Priesthood in Islâm.—The absence of a
specially interested class to act as intermediaries
between God and man differentiates Islâm from
all other creeds. In the Islâmic system every
man is his own priest and pleads for himself
for forgiveness and mercy. ‘No sacrifice, no
ceremonial invented by vested interests is
needed to bring the anxious heart nearer to its
Comforter.’[8]
Essentially a democratic creed, it recognises no
distinction of race or colour among its followers.
High or low, rich or poor, white, yellow, or black
are on the same level in the sight of their Lord.
The democratic character of its appeal, its
repudiation of all adventitious barriers of caste,
explain the powerful fascination it exercises over
divers races of mankind.
Belief in a Future Life.—Belief in a future life
and accountability for human actions in another
existence are two principal doctrines of the Islâmic
creed. Both ideas take different shapes in different
minds according to individual culture and environment.
Man is not a fortuitous item in
creation; nor does the cessation of life on earth
mean an end of the human soul. Physical death
only releases it from its earthly habiliments.
The soul, which is an emanation from God, exists
for ever.
Judaism.—Early Judaism does not show any
trace of a belief in a future life or in future
rewards and punishment. It is only after the
Babylonian Captivity the Jewish mind rose to
that conception, and the Zoroastrian Bihasht
and Duzakh[9] became the prototypes of the
Jewish hell and heaven.[10]
Zoroastrianism.—Similarly the vivid descriptions
of the kingdom of Heaven contained in the
Christian Scriptures are without doubt a reflex of
the Zoroastrian conception. Thus, at the time of
Mohammed’s advent, Jew, Christian, and Zoroastrian
all looked to material rewards and punishments
in a future existence.[11] In Islâm the pains
and joys of the Hereafter were used as a lever for
raising the people from the fetishism and soulless
life to which they had become wedded,—to a
conception of spiritual ideals and of the duties
imposed by God on man.
The Koranic Conception of a Future Existence.—The
pictures of a future existence in the
Koran are all drawn to suit the comprehension of
the people among whom and the age in which
the New Gospel was preached. To the famished,
thirsty Arab of the desert what could be more
comforting or more consonant to his ideas of
paradise than rivers of unsullied, incorruptible
water, or of milk and honey; or anything more
acceptable than unlimited fruit, luxuriant vegetation,
inexhaustible fertility? Large masses of
Moslems, no doubt, accept in their literal sense
all the word-paintings of the Koran, a characteristic
by no means confined to the followers of
Islâm. But it is a calumny even against those
Mussulman literalists to say that they look forward
to sensual enjoyment in the next world. The
pictures in the Koran of the joys and pains of
after-life, although poetical and vivid, give no
warrant for such an assertion. ‘But those who
are pious shall dwell in gardens amid fountains;
(they shall say unto them) Enter ye therein in
peace and security; and all rancour will We
remove from their bosoms; they shall sit as
brethren face to face; weariness shall not affect
them therein, neither shall they be repelled thence
for ever.’ ‘For those who do good is excellent
reward and superabundant addition; neither
blackness nor shame shall cover their faces.
These are the inhabitants of Paradise; therein do
they abide for ever. But those who have wrought
evil shall receive the reward of evil equal thereunto.’...
‘Blessed are they who fulfil the covenant
of God and break not their compact; and
who join together what God hath bidden to be
joined; and who fear their Lord and dread an ill-reckoning;
and who from a sincere desire to
please their Lord are constant amid trials, and
observe prayers and give alms, in secret and
openly, out of what we have bestowed on them;
and turn aside evil with good; for them there is
the recompense of that abode, gardens of eternal
habitation, into which they shall enter, together
with such as shall have acted rightly from among
their fathers, their wives, and their posterity, and
the angels shall go in unto them by every portal
(saying), “Peace be with you! because you have
endured with patience.”’ ‘Excellent is the reward
in that abode!’[12] ‘No soul knoweth the joy which
is secretly prepared for it as a reward for that it
may have wrought.’[13]
The Spirituality of Islâm.—Thus behind the
description of material happiness portrayed in
objects like trees, rivers, and beautiful mansions,
with fairy attendants lies a deeper meaning:—‘O
thou soul which art at rest, return unto thy
Lord, pleased and pleasing Him; enter thou
among My servants; and enter thou My garden
of felicity.’
Sufi Ideas.—A large section of Moslems, especially
those inclined to Sufiism, believe, however,
that as the human soul is an emanation from
God, the highest joy would consist in its fusion
with the Universal Soul, whilst the greatest pain
would be in a state of separation from the Divine
Essence.
The Conception of Evolution.—This idea, with
the conception of progressive evolution, has been
expressed in a poem of untranslatable beauty by
the great poet of Islâmic mysticism which may
be paraphrased thus: ‘Dying from the inorganic
we developed into the vegetable kingdom. Dying
from the vegetable we rose to the animal. And
leaving the animal we became men. Then why
should we fear that death will lower us? The
next transition will make us angels. From angels
we shall rise and become what no mind can conceive;
we shall merge in Infinity as in the
beginning. Have we not been told,[14] “All of us
will return unto Him”?’[15]
The Islâmic Conception of the Great Account.—Human
conduct in the relations of life consists
of a connected sequence of acts the effect of none
of which is isolated. The faithful observance of
the primary rules of ethics justly regarded as the
Divine Laws, like their transgression, stretches
far into futurity. Every son of man is thus
responsible to his Lord for the use he makes of
his life. He will be asked whether the powers
he had been endowed with were applied to promote
the good and the happiness of his fellow
beings or to their detriment; and his reward or
punishment, his happiness or misery, will depend
on the result of the reckoning at the Great
Account as to the manner in fact in which he had
obeyed the behests of his Creator.
The Idea of Eternal Punishment Repellent to
Islâm.—The idea of eternal punishment is repellent
to Islâm. The Lord of the Worlds, who is
swift in meting out justice, is withal pitiful and
compassionate. Mercy is His chief attribute;
with mercy is joined a supreme love which surpasseth
all other love of which the human mind
has any conception. Justice is tempered with
mercy; and whatever punishment man undergoes
here or hereafter is only for purifying and fitting
him to enter that state of perfection which will
bring him ‘nigh unto God.’
Moral Responsibility.—‘Just balances will He
set up for the day of Resurrection, neither shall any
soul be wronged in aught; though were a work but
the weight of a grain of mustard seed We would
bring it forth to be weighed; and Our reckoning
will suffice.’... ‘O our Lord! forgive us then
our sin, and hide away from us our evil deeds,
and cause us to die with the righteous.’...
‘And their Lord answereth them: I will not suffer
the work of him among you that worketh,
whether of male or female, to be lost.’... ‘O
My servant, who have transgressed to your own
injury, despair not of God’s mercy, for all sins
doth God forgive, gracious and merciful is He.’[16]
‘Seek pardon of your Lord and be turned unto
Him, verily my Lord is merciful, loving.’[17] ‘And
your Lord saith, “Call upon Me and I will hearken
unto you.”’[18]
This is the pivot on which the Islâmic doctrine
of future life turns, and it is the only doctrinal
point an Islâmist is required to accept. ‘All the
other elements caught up and syncretised from
the floating traditions of the races and peoples of
the time are mere accessories.’[19]
Nor is the Islâmic belief in disharmony with
scientific thought. To quote a recent writer, ‘The
religious doctrine of ceaseless moral accountability
is identical with the scientific doctrine
of ceaseless cause and effect. As science
postulates matter and force are indestructible,
so religion postulates that the human soul is
indestructible.’[20]
Suicide Unusual in Islâm.—The belief that
the human soul will have to render to its Creator
an account of how it has carried out in this life
the duties imposed on it has had one important
result on Moslem society, the significance of which
has often escaped the notice of non-Moslem
writers. It has inspired the Moslem with a sense
of dignity and feeling of responsibility, which have
made self-destruction practically unknown in
Islâm.
Suicide was as common among the pagan Arabs
as it is now in Christendom. Ecclesiasticism
attempted to prevent self-destruction by attaching
the most cruel penalties to the offence. The
body of a felo-de-se could not be interred in consecrated
ground; it could only be buried surreptitiously
in the dark hours of the night by the
roadside where four cross roads met, with a stake
through it; his family were subjected to ignominy.
None of these forcible rules are needed in Islâm.
The belief that divine help is always nigh to
relieve the distressed, to help the suffering, to
assist the forsaken, arrests the hand of the most
despondent or desperate, the most sick and
weary with life, from taking his or her own life.
Whilst the idea of appearing in the presence of
the Almighty Judge before the Summons has
come acts as the strongest deterrent to self-destruction.
The Moslem will fight even unto
death, but will never take his own life, which he
regards as a trust from God. Never backward or
hesitant in the performance of his duty, he considers
it an act of cowardice to fly from personal
danger or present unhappiness by putting an end
to his existence.
Idea of Corporeal Resurrection.—As in Christianity,
some Moslems believe in corporeal resurrection,
others do not. Some believe that God
can be seen by corporeal sight, others entirely
deny it. But all believe that when the human
souls are gathered up in the Great Account, the
Divine Presence will enfold the Universe.
These outlines represent in brief the Islâmic conception
of man’s relation to God. Regarding his
duties towards himself and his fellow beings it is
probably more emphatic and certainly more explicit
than any other older system. It denounces self-indulgence,
insists upon self-discipline, and makes
self-restraint a part of the religious law.
The Ethical Code of Islâm.—The ethical code
of Islâm is summarised as follows in the fourth
chapter (Sura) of the Koran: ‘Come, I will
rehearse what your Lord hath enjoined on you:
that ye assign not to Him a partner; that ye be
good to your parents; and that ye slay not your
children because of poverty; for them and for
you We will provide; and that ye come not near
to pollutions, outward or inward; and that ye
slay not a soul whom God hath forbidden unless
by right ... and draw not nigh to the wealth of
the orphan, save so as to better it ... and when
ye pronounce judgment then be just, though it
be the affair of a kinsman. And God’s compact
fulfil ye; that is, what He hath ordained to you,
Verily this is My right way; follow it then.’...
‘Blessed are they who believe and humbly offer
their thanksgiving to their Lord ... who are
constant in their charity, and who guard their
chastity, and who observe their trust and covenants....
Verily, God bids you do justice and good
and give to kindred their due; and He forbids
you to sin and do wrong and oppress.’
Fasting.—Periodical fasting is prescribed as a
lesson in the exercise of the subjugation of the
senses. Its practical usefulness is most perceptible
among coarser natures, for whom in reality
it was intended as a measure of discipline of the
highest value. ‘O ye that have believed, a fast
is ordained to you ... that ye may practise piety,
a fast of a computed number of days. But he
among you who shall be ailing, or on a journey
(shall fast) an equal number of other days; and
they that are able to keep it (and do not) shall
make atonement by maintaining a poor man.’
Prohibition of Wine.—Islâm characterises
drink as ‘the mother of all wickedness,’ and
inebriation, a sin. The prohibition of drunkenness
has saved the lower strata of Mussulmans
from the degradation and misery which so constantly
meet the eye in Western countries; and
from the crimes that are usually committed under
its effect. We do not hear of parents maddened
by drink murdering their offspring; of human
beings turning into beasts under the influence of
liquor.
Asceticism.—Men and women are not called
upon to abandon the world or to practise asceticism
in order to attain heavenly life. God has
placed human beings on earth that they may
work, do their duty by His creatures, and further
the Divine purpose. To withdraw oneself from
the service of man is to forsake the dictates of
duty.
The Dignity of Labour.—The dignity of labour
is recognised in express terms; and the man who
earns his living by ‘the sweat of his brow’ is a
far better being than one who does not work for
his daily sustenance.
Industry and Thrift.—Industry and thrift are
virtues just as extravagance is a sin.
‘And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck;
nor yet open it with all openness, lest thou sit
thee down in rebuke and beggary.’ ‘And to him
who is of kin render his due, and also to the poor
and to the wayfarer; yet waste not wastefully.’
Ostentation and vain display of wealth are as
reprehensible as niggardliness. ‘Woe to them
that make a show of piety and refuse help to the
needy.’ ‘He who spendeth his substance to be
seen of men is like a rock with thin soil over it,
whereon the rain falleth and leaveth it hard. But
they who expend their substance to please God
and establish their souls are like a garden on a
hill, on which the rain falleth and it yieldeth its
fruits twofold; and even if the rain doth not fall,
yet is there a dew.’ ‘Give of that which hath
been given you before the day cometh when there
shall be no trafficking, nor friendship, nor intercession.’
‘Those who abstain from vanities and
the indulgence of their passions, give alms, offer
prayers, and tend well their trusts and their
covenants, these shall be the heirs of eternal
happiness.’
He who makes a provision for himself and for
his family performs a pious act; whilst the person
whose thoughts are centred in his personal indulgence
and present enjoyment is unworthy of
God’s favour.
Envy Reprehended.—The feeling of envy and
the desire of mischief-making are condemned in
strong terms: ‘Covet not the gifts by which God
hath raised some of you above others.’[21] ‘He who
shall mediate between men for a good purpose
shall be the gainer by it, but he who shall mediate
with an evil mediation shall reap the fruit of it.
And God keepeth watch over everything.’
Truthfulness Commanded.—Truthfulness is
prescribed as a commandment from God. ‘O ye
Moslems, stand fast to justice, when ye bear
witness before God, though it be against yourselves,
or your parents, or your kindred, whether
the party be rich or poor. God is nearer than
you to both. Therefore follow not passion, lest
ye swerve from truth.’
Justice enjoined on Moslems.—Justice is emphatically
enjoined. ‘Judge between men with
truth and follow not thy passions.’ ‘Touch not
the goods of the orphan.’ ‘Perform your covenants
and walk not proudly on the earth.’[22]
Filial Devotion.—Filial devotion is placed in
the first rank of duties. ‘Defer humbly to your
parents; with humility and tenderness say, “O
Lord, be merciful to them even as they brought
me up when I was helpless.”’ ‘Show kindness
to your parents, whether one or both of them
attain to old age with thee; and say not to
them “Fie,” neither reproach them; but speak
to them both with respectful speech and tender
affection.’ ‘Moreover we have enjoined on man
to show kindness to his parents. With pain his
mother beareth him; with pain she bringeth him
forth; and he saith, “O my Lord! Stir me up to
be grateful for Thy favours wherewith Thou hast
favoured me and my parents, and to do good
works which shall please Thee; and prosper me
in my offspring: for to Thee am I turned and am
resigned to Thy will.”’ ‘Reverence your mothers,
be good to parents.’
Charity.—Those who are kind and compassionate
to their fellow beings are the favoured of
God. Every act of kindness is charity. ‘Every
soul shall bear the good and the evil for which it
has laboured; and God will burden none beyond
his power.’
‘Blessed is he who giveth away his substance
that he may become pure, and who offereth not
favours to any one for the sake of recompense
... but only as seeking approval of his Lord the
most High.’ ‘Wouldst thou be taught the steep
(path)? It is to ransom the captive, to feed the
hungry, the kindred, the orphan, and him whose
mouth is in the dust.’ ‘Be good to parents and
to kindred and to orphans, and to the poor, and
to a neighbour, whether kinsman, or new comer,
and to the slaves whom your right hands hold.’
Pride and Vanity Condemned.—Pride and
vanity are condemned as sins, whilst forgiveness
of offences, meekness, and humility are prescribed
as duties. ‘Verily God loveth not the proud, the
vain boaster’; ‘Call on Him with fear and longing’;
‘Verily the mercy of God is nigh unto the
righteous’; ‘Turn aside evil with that which
is better’; ‘Be of those who enjoin steadfastness
and compassion on others’; ‘Forgiveness
and kind speech are better than favours with
annoyance’; ‘Blessed are the patient, the truthful,
the lowly, and the charitable ... the forbearing
who bridle their anger and forgive—God
loveth those who do good to others’; ‘The
servants of the Merciful are they that walk upon
the earth softly; and when the ignorant speak
unto them, they reply “Peace” ... those that
invoke not with God any other God, and slay not
a soul that God hath forbidden otherwise than
by right; and commit not fornication ... they
who bear not witness to that which is false; and
when they pass by vain sport they pass it by
with dignity: who say, “O our Lord, grant us
of our wives and children such as shall be a
comfort unto us, and make us examples unto
the pious,” these shall be the rewarded, for that
they persevered; and they shall be accosted in
Paradise with welcome and salutation. For ever
therein,—a fair abode and resting-place!’ ‘Adhere
to those who forsake you; speak truth to
your own heart; do good to every one that does
ill to you!’
Foulness is forbidden: ‘Truly my Lord hath
forbidden filthy actions, whether open or secret
and iniquity and violence’; ‘Commit not adultery,
for it is a foul thing and an evil way’;
‘Let the believer restrain his eyes from lust.’
Quarrelsomeness and public and private disturbance
are prohibited. ‘And commit not disorders
on the well-ordered earth.’
Charity is not left to individual discretion, it is
made part of the legal prescriptions. Every man
possessed of income has to contribute a certain
proportion of his wealth at the end of the year
for the keep of the poor and the distressed.
Compulsion in Religion Forbidden.—Compulsion
in religion is strictly forbidden. ‘What wilt
thou force man to believe when belief can only
come from God?’ ‘Let there be no compulsion
in religion.’ Whilst the attitude towards other
creeds is one of humanity and toleration. ‘Verily
those who believe [the Moslems] and those who
are Jews, Christians, or Sabæans, whoever hath
faith in God and the last day (future existence),
and worketh that which is right and good—for
them shall be the reward with their Lord; there
will come no fear on them; neither shall they
be grieved.’
Human Duty to Animals.—The new gospel
does not overlook in its teachings the duties of
man towards the dumb creatures of God. Kind
treatment of animals and birds is part of the
religion, and a provision for their comfort is equal
to charity to human beings. ‘There is no beast
on earth nor bird which flieth, but the same is
a people like unto you—unto God shall they
return.’[23]
Pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj).—The ancient
shrine of the Kaaba was the honoured memorial
of the Arab race. It was the centre of their
national life, and its foundation was traced back
to Abraham and Ishmael. Tradition had associated
certain rites and ceremonies with the
pilgrimages the people of the peninsula were
accustomed to make to the Temple. Mohammed
gave another meaning to the custom. To keep
alive the feeling of brotherhood among the
Moslems all over the world and perpetuate
among the inhabitants of distant lands the
memory of the spot where the great Message was
brought to mankind, they were directed, circumstances
permitting, to visit the Holy Shrine once
in their lives. Some of the old ceremonies, shorn
of their pagan significance, were retained; a few
new ones, simple in meaning, were introduced;
and the Hajj is now the common meeting
ground of Moslems of divers races and countries.
Women.—Women, to whom most of the older
systems assigned a very inferior position in relation
to the stronger sex, obtained in Islâm the
place God meant them to occupy in the economy
of creation. The right of possessing property, of
dealing with what was their own, of exercising
all the privileges and powers which belonged to
them as sentient beings, were accorded to them
equally with the other sex. Marriage made no
difference in their status or capacity. And a
Mussulman wife became as competent to hold
property and make dispositions as a single
woman. Nor were they denied a share in the
patrimony of their parents or kinsfolk in favour
of their male relations. Marriage was declared
‘to be an institution ordained for the protection
of society, and in order that human beings may
guard themselves from foulness and unchastity.’
Polygamy.—Polygamy was recognised as lawful
among all the nations of antiquity; and its practice
had received the sanction of the holy
personages of Judaism. As among the Kulin
Brahmins, the Pagan Arabs put no limit on the
number of wives a man might have. In certain
stages of development polygamy is not an evil.
The Arabian Prophet, with a true conception of
the social and moral conditions and necessities of
the age and the people, dealt with the question
in a manner which harmonises with the most
advanced standard, and at the same time meets
the needs and requirements of the least progressed.
A Mussulman is allowed to marry one, two,
three, or four wives, provided he can deal with
all of them ‘with equity.’ If that be not possible
he can marry but one.
Many of the best minds of Islâm have perceived
in this rule a virtual prohibition of polygamy.
The moral effect of the institution on
Mussulman society as a whole can hardly be
ignored: it has prevented the growth in Mussulman
countries, untainted by foreign social ideas,
of that class whose existence is alike an outrage
on our humanity and a disgrace to civilisation.
Considering how the profession of the hetairai,
honoured among some nations, despised among
others, but tolerated by most, has flourished
through all ages, it is no small credit to the
Arabian Teacher that it was so effectually stopped
in Islâm.
Divorce.—As in the Jewish system, option was
given to the husband to dissolve the marriage
tie. At the same time the act was pronounced
to be ‘the most abominable in the sight of
the Lord.’
Bondsmen and Bondswomen.—Only persons
taken in lawful warfare were permitted to be held
in bondage. The emancipation of bonds-folk
was declared one of the highest acts of piety.[24]
And any person who made a provision for their
ransom was the favoured of God. Traffic in
human beings was strictly forbidden, and the man
who dealt in slaves was pronounced to be the
accursed of God. In a word, human chattelhood
is unknown in Islâm; and the institution which
is called ‘slavery’ in Europe and America has
no existence in Mohammedan countries. In
Islâm, parents were not to be separated from
children; brothers from brothers, or one relation
from another. The Moslem bondsman and bondswoman
were members of the master’s family;
were on no account to be ill-treated; were to be
fed and clothed like the masters and mistresses.
Once emancipated they could intermarry with
the master’s sons or daughters. Relations with
bondswomen were sanctioned by the Rabbinical
Laws. They were common in Christian communities,
and were freely practised in the Southern
States of North America until very recent times
by people who considered themselves and were
regarded by many others as highly civilised.
Among them the issue of a slave-woman was for
ever a slave: the smallest taint of slave-blood,
however remote, subjected the unfortunate being
to be sold as a slave. Although the system of
Mohammed, with the object of avoiding a drastic
solution, tolerated relations with bondswomen,—with
far greater humanity it declared that the
issue of such connections were legitimate, and
that the bondswoman who bore children to her
master was ipso facto emancipated; that thenceforth
she was no more his bondswoman, but ‘the
mother of his child.’
Intellectualism.—In the domains of intellect
the teachings of Islâm give every encouragement
to the cultivation of the mind and make the
pursuit of knowledge a religious duty. ‘Acquire
knowledge,’ said the Prophet of Islâm, ‘because
he who acquires it, performs an act of piety; who
speaks of it, praises the Lord; who seeks it,
adores God; who dispenses instruction in it,
bestows alms; and who imparts it to its fitting
objects, performs an act of devotion to God.
Knowledge enables its possessor to distinguish
what is forbidden from what is not; it lights the
way to Heaven; it is our friend in the desert,
our society in solitude, our companion when
bereft of friends; it guides us to happiness; it
sustains us in misery; it is an ornament in the
company of friends; it serves as an armour
against our enemies. With knowledge the servant
of God rises to the heights of goodness and to a
noble position, associates with the sovereigns of the
world, and attains to the perfection of happiness
in the next.’ ‘The ink of the scholar is more holy
than the blood of the martyr.’ ‘He who leaves his
home in search of knowledge walks in the path of
God.’ ‘He who travels in search of knowledge, to
him God shows the way to Paradise.’ ‘To listen
to the instructions of science and learning for
one hour is more meritorious than attending the
funerals of a thousand martyrs—more meritorious
than standing up in prayer for a thousand nights.’[25]
This brief summary of the principal teachings
of Islâm will probably enable the reader to form
a fairly accurate notion of the aims and aspirations
of the new Gospel and of its work in the
elevation of mankind in the moral and social
scale. But the conception will hardly be clear
without some knowledge of the history of the
Teacher or some idea of his wonderful and
engaging personality.
CHAPTER II
Mohammed.—Mohammed—the Praised—as his
name implies, was born in Mecca in the year
570 of the Christian era.[26] The foundation of this
city lies in the dim past. It was held by many
tribes before it came into the possession of the
Koreish, the noblest of them all. Its famous
temple, now the holy shrine of the Kaaba, gave
it pre-eminence over all the cities of Arabia, and
made it the commercial and religious capital of
the peninsula. At the time of the Prophet’s
birth, the government of Mecca was vested in a
Decemvirate, of which his grandfather was the
chief. Mohammed’s father died before his birth;
his mother when he was only six years old.
The doubly orphaned child, bereft of all that
parental tenderness which forms the blessing of
early childhood remained in his grandfather’s
charge for three years, when the death of the
venerable patriarch threw him on the care of his
uncle—Abû Tâlib. Mohammed spent his youth
as a member of Abû Tâlib’s family.
His Love of Solitude and Communion with
God.—Fond of solitude, he spent many an hour
in the desert in communion with the mighty
living Soul of the Universe. Deeply versed in the
language of nature, ‘the signs of God’ around
him, and the folklore and traditions of the people
amongst whom he lived, education in the conventional
sense of the term he had none. And the
proud title of the ‘Unlearned Prophet’ was ever
his.
Thus the orphan son of Âmina, the sweet lady
with the sweet name, which to this day evokes
a pathetic remembrance in the heart of every
Moslem, grew from infancy to youth, and from
youth to manhood with many thoughts in his
mind, brooding over the moral desolation that
surrounded him,—for his people were sunk in the
grossest idolatry, wedded to outrageous practices,
given over to female infanticide. The religion
and ways of their Jewish and Christian neighbours
were equally debased, barbarous, and inhuman.
In early manhood he made two journeys
to Syria, where was opened before him a page
which naturally revolted a sensitive mind. He
found Christian sects rending each other to
pieces; he saw the effect of incessant wars and
strifes on the people, their utter misery and
degradation. And he returned filled with pity
and disgust.
Marriage with Khadîja.—In his twenty-fifth
year he married Khadîja, a widow of noble birth
and much wealth, fifteen years his senior in age.
His marriage lifted him above the ordinary cares
of this world. But it did more. It gave him
not only a loved wife, but a devoted friend who
brought him solace when he needed it most on
his return torn and distressed from his solitary
meditations; who gave him comfort when hunted
by his enemies, who ever stood by his side in the
darkest hours of his ministry.
Wins the Title of al-Amîn or the Trusty.—For
fifteen years he thus lived leading a life which
won him the love and respect of his towns-folk,
who, in their admiration for his character,
bestowed on him the title of al-Amîn—the
Trusty. He spent most of his time in solitude,
in meditation, and musing. When ‘the Call’
came he was frightened. Returning to his wife
he told her the story of his vision, of his agony
at the thought that he was losing his mind. Her
belief that he was to be the destined Messenger
of God to his people was balm to his heart; and
brought back the faith, the hope, the trust in
God’s merciful Providence and love for mankind.
One night, when lying wrapt in thought, the
Voice of God spoke to his soul in unmistakable
notes.
Henceforth his life is a record of unceasing
struggle to reclaim the Koreish and the surrounding
people from idolatry and the practices of
heathenism, to teach them their duty to God and
man. The first to accept his mission were his
beloved wife, his cousin Ali, the son of Abû Tâlib,
his uncle, the brave and chivalrous Hamza, the
faithful Abû Bakr, and several other men and
women who knew him intimately and loved and
revered him. Most of them were people of
position, wealth, and intelligence; others were
simple, honest folk in the lower walks of life.[27]
They were followed by Omar, at one time a
staunch opponent, but after his conversion a
pillar of strength to the new Faith.
Beginning of Persecution.—Mohammed’s
preachings evoked a furious outburst of persecution
against him and his followers, but he did
not falter in his purpose or flinch from the task
God had imposed on him. When the sufferings
of his disciples became unbearable, he advised
them to seek refuge in the kingdom of the Negus,
of whose tolerance and hospitality he had heard
reports. Some immediately availed themselves
of the advice and betook themselves to Abyssinia.
But Koreishite hostility pursued them even here.
When the Meccan envoys arrived to demand the
delivery of the refugees, that they might be put
to death for abjuration of their old religion, the
Negus sent for the exiles and asked them whether
the charge was true. The reply of the brother
of Ali, who was spokesman, is memorable in the
history of Islâm. ‘O king, we were plunged in
the depth of ignorance and barbarism; we adored
idols, we lived in unchastity; we ate dead bodies
and we spoke abominations; we disregarded every
feeling of humanity and the duties of hospitality
and neighbourhood; we knew no law but that of
the strong, when God raised among us a man of
whose birth, truthfulness, honesty, and purity we
were aware; and he called us to the Unity of God,
and taught us not to associate anything with
Him; he forbade us the worship of idols; and
enjoined us to speak the truth, to be faithful to
our trusts, to be merciful and to regard the rights
of neighbours; he forbade us to speak evil of
women, or to eat the substance of orphans; he
ordered us to fly from vices and to abstain from
evil; to offer prayers, to render alms, to observe
the fast. We have believed in him; we accept his
teachings and his injunctions to worship God and
not to associate anything with Him. For this
reason our people have risen against us, have
persecuted us in order to make us forego the
worship of God and to return to the worship of
idols of wood and stone and other abominations.
They have tortured us and injured us, until finding
no safety among them we have come to thy
country.’
Whilst his disciples were seeking shelter in
distant lands, Mohammed remained steadfast at
his post. Undeterred by the cruelties to which
he was subjected, he preached unceasingly amongst
the Meccans and the outsiders who came to the
city on business or pilgrimage. He adjured them
‘by the noon-day brightness, by the night when
she spreadeth her veil, by the day when it
appeareth in glory,’ by all the manifestations of
nature as the evidences of God, to abandon their
evil ways and abominations. He told them of
‘the day of reckoning when the deeds done by
man in this world shall be weighed before the
Eternal Judge, when the children who had been
buried alive shall be asked for what crime they
had been put to death, and when Heaven and
Earth shall be folded up and none be near but
God.’[28] The Koreish came several times to tempt
him from his duty. They offered him wealth,
even to make him their king, to induce him to
desist from attacking their ancient deities and
their old institutions. His refusal to listen to
their messages made them still more furious.
Is Driven out of Tâyef.—Finding the Koreish
obdurate, he proceeded to the neighbouring city
of Tâyef, hoping to find the people there more
willing to give heed to his preachings. He found
them even more bigoted than the Meccans; they
pelted him with stones and drove him from their
midst. Wounded and bleeding, Mohammed returned
to pursue his mission in his native city.
His persistence led the Koreish to plan his murder.
In the meantime came an invitation to him from
the rival city of Yathreb to the north, some of
whose inhabitants had already accepted Islâm.
And there he and his followers betook themselves
for safety.
The Hegira.—On the 16th of July 622 A.C. the
Prophet, accompanied by Abû Bakr, left Mecca;
and after three days wandering attended with
many dangers from the pursuing Koreish, enraged
at his escape, they reached Yathreb. This is the
Hijrat, the exile of the Prophet.
Before this happened, the devoted and loving
Khadîja had died. She had borne him several
children: the sons all died in infancy. Three
daughters survived. The youngest, Fâtima (az-zahra—the
Beautiful), ‘Our Lady,’ married Ali,
and from her are descended the nobility of Islâm,
the ‘Syeds’ and ‘Sherifs.’[29]
Mohammed at Medîna.—At Yathreb the
Teacher was received with wonderful enthusiasm;
the city changed its name and was henceforth
the City of the Prophet—Medînat-un-Nabi, or
shortly Medîna. Special homes were allotted to
the exiles—the Muhâjirîn; whilst the Medinites
received the noble designation of Helpers—the
Ansâr. A new brotherhood was created which
united the Exiles and the Helpers by a tie stronger
than the tie of blood—as many a later page in
the history of Islâm proves.
Mohammed’s Charter.—Mohammed was now
not merely a prophet, a preacher of glad tidings,
but the unanimously elected chief magistrate of
a prosperous city. His first act was to issue a
charter defining the duties of the citizens, and
the obligations of the allied Jews who lived in the
neighbourhood, forbidding intestine warfare and
bloodshed which had hitherto torn Yathreb to
pieces, and requiring all disputes to be referred to
the decision of the Prophet.[30]
Beginning of the Commonwealth of Islâm.—This
was the beginning of the Commonwealth
of Islâm. A humble, unpretentious place of
worship was erected where Mohammed preached
to enthusiastic throngs on charity, brotherhood,
and the duty man owed to God and his fellow
creatures.
In conjunction with other tribes the Meccans
made several attempts to capture Medîna. They
even seduced the neighbouring Jews to assist in
the design. The attacks were repulsed, and the
safety of Medîna and the progress of the new
Gospel were permanently assured. The refractory
and treacherous Jewish clans were ordered to
quit the Medinite territories; one which had
nearly brought destruction on the Moslems was
more severely dealt with. Expeditions were now
sent out to repress the raids of hostile tribes, and
to punish crimes against unoffending people.
They were enjoined ‘in no case to use deceit or
perfidy, or to kill a woman or a child.’ They
were told, ‘in avenging the injuries inflicted upon
us, molest not the harmless inmates of domestic
seclusion, spare the weakness of the female sex,
injure not the infant at the breast or those who
are ill in bed. Abstain from demolishing the
dwellings of the unresisting inhabitants; destroy
not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit
trees, and touch not the palm.’
Charter to the Christians.—In the ninth year
of the Hegira, the Prophet granted to the Christians
a charter which forms one of the noblest monuments
of enlightened tolerance: ‘To the Christians
of Najrân and the neighbouring territories the
security of God and the pledge of His Prophet
are extended for their lives, their religion, and
their property—to the present as well as the
absent and others besides; there shall be no
interference with [the practice of] their faith or
their observances; nor any change in their rights
or privileges; no bishop shall be removed from
his bishopric; nor any monk from his monastery,
nor any priest from his priesthood, and they shall
continue to enjoy everything great and small as
heretofore; no image or cross shall be destroyed;
they shall not oppress or be oppressed; they shall
not practise the rights of blood vengeance as in
the Days of Ignorance;[31] no tithes shall be levied
from them, nor shall they be required to furnish
provision for the troops.’
Truce with the Meccans.—After great difficulty,
a truce of ten years was concluded with the
Meccans. The Exiles seized the occasion to
perform the time-honoured pilgrimage to the
Kaaba. To avoid coming in contact with the
hated Faithful, the heathen Koreish retired to the
hills, whence they watched the large concourse that
came with the Prophet to visit the Holy Shrine.
The simple dignity and benevolence of Mohammed,
the quietness and purity of behaviour of his
followers perceptibly affected the Koreish; and
before he left Mecca many came and accepted
the Faith. The same old pledge which had been
exacted from the early converts was taken from
them. ‘They would not associate anything with
God; they would not commit larceny, adultery,
or infanticide; they would not utter falsehood,
nor speak evil.’
Embassies to Heraclius and the Chosroes.—On
his return from the pilgrimage, Mohammed
sent envoys to Heraclius the Emperor of the
Greeks, and to the Chosroes of Persia to invite
them to Islâm. Heraclius returned a polite
reply; whilst the proud Persian tore the missive
to pieces and drove the messenger from his
presence with contumely. ‘Thus will the empire
of the Khusrû [the Chosroes] be torn asunder,’
remarked the Prophet on hearing of the incident.
The fate of Persia is engraved on the pages of
history.[32]
Hardly a year was over before the Meccans
broke the truce by murdering a number of
tribesmen allied to the Medinites. The reign of
iniquity had lasted long enough, and the time
had arrived when the paganism of Mecca should
come to an end.
Conquest of Mecca.—In 630 A.C. the Prophet
marched with ten thousand men on the city from
which he and his followers had been so cruelly
driven only nine years before. The proud Koreish
were thoroughly demoralised at the rapid approach
of the Moslems and offered slight resistance.
The people who had pursued Mohammed with
unrelenting hatred, had subjected him and his
followers to a fierce persecution, and had all this
time endeavoured by every means to compass
their destruction, were now at his mercy. But in
the moment of the Faith’s triumph every injury
was forgotten, and the Koreish were treated with
a kindness and generosity which have but few
parallels in history. Not a house was robbed,
not a citizen molested. The idols of the nation
were, however, relentlessly struck down. Weeping
the heathens stood round, fully hoping that
the sacrilegious Moslems would be overwhelmed
with some dire calamity. But as one idol after
another fell to pieces and no help came from
outside to stop the hands of the iconoclasts, they
felt the force of the words at which they were
used to scoff: ‘Truth has come and falsehood
vanisheth, for verily it is evanescent.’ And they
adopted Islâm in a body.
Year of Deputations.—The ninth year of the
Hegira is famous in the annals of Islâm for the
number of deputations that arrived at Medîna
from all quarters to accept the Faith. They
were received with consideration and treated with
hospitality. A written treaty guaranteeing the
privileges of the tribes was always granted to the
deputies, who went back to their homes accompanied
by a disciple to teach the newly converted
people the duties of Islâm. To the missionaries
whom he sent to the provinces, Mohammed
always gave the following admonition. ‘Deal
gently with the people, and be not harsh, cheer
them, and contemn them not. And ye will meet
with many people of the Book[33] who will question
thee, ‘What is the key to Heaven?’ Reply to
them, ‘The key to Heaven is to testify to the
truth of God, and to do good work.’
The Final Pilgrimage.—In the year 632 A.C.,
Mohammed, accompanied by over one hundred
thousand of his followers, made a final pilgrimage
to the Kaaba.
The Sermon on the Mount.—On this occasion
standing on the Mount of Arafât he delivered to
the vast multitude his famous sermon, only part
of which has been preserved:—
‘Ye people! listen to my words, for I know not
whether another year will be vouchsafed to me
after this year to find myself amongst you. Your
lives and property are sacred and inviolable
amongst one another until ye appear before the
Lord, as this day and this month is sacred for all;
and remember ye shall have to appear before your
Lord, who shall demand from you an account of
all your actions. Ye people, ye have rights over
your wives, and your wives have rights over you
... treat your wives with kindness ... verily ye
have taken them on the security of God, and
made them lawful unto you by the words of God.
‘And your bondsmen and bondswomen. See
that ye feed them with such food as ye eat yourselves,
and clothe them with the stuff ye wear;
and if they commit a fault which ye are not
inclined to forgive, then part from them, for they
are the servants of the Lord, and are not to be
harshly treated.
‘Ye people! listen to my words, and understand
the same. Know that all Moslems are brothers
unto one another. Ye are one brotherhood.
Nothing which belongs to another is lawful unto
his brother, unless freely given out of good will.
Guard yourselves from committing injustice.
‘Let him that is present tell it unto him that
is absent. Haply he that shall be told may
remember better than he who hath heard it.’
The Last Days of the Prophet.—On his return
to Medîna he settled the organisation of the
provinces and the tribal communities. Whilst
delegates were despatched to every quarter to
teach the people the principles and duties of the
Faith, to put an end to blood-feud, infanticide,
and the practices of heathenism.
The stress and strain of twenty-five years’
incessant labour was now telling on a constitution
which was by no means robust. Ever since he
had come to Medîna he had been engaged in an
unceasing struggle with paganism, a struggle in
which was involved the very existence of the
little community over whom he was called to
preside—a struggle from which, says the Moslem,
divine help alone enabled him to emerge with
safety. At the end, when success had crowned
his ministry, and he saw the hosts of Arabia
flocking to the fold of God, it left him exhausted;
he felt that his work was finished and the end
was near. Had it not been told him, ‘When thou
seest men enter in hosts the religion of God, then
utter thou the praise of thy Lord and implore
His pardon, for He loveth to turn in mercy to
those who seek Him.’[34] The poison given to him
some years before by a Jewess was also undermining
the system. But up to the last he maintained
his usual calmness and serenity of mind;
and officiated at the public prayers until within
three days of his death. The last time he
appeared at the public service amidst the tears
and sobs of the people, he recommended to all
the observance of religious duties, and the practice
of peace and good-will. He implored Heaven’s
mercy for all those present, and all who had
fallen in the persecution of their enemies, and
concluded with the following words of the Koran,
‘The dwelling of the other life we will give unto
them who do not seek to exalt themselves on
earth or to do wrong; for the happy issue shall
attend the pious.’
The exertion, however, was too much for the
feeble frame, and on his return to his apartments
he lay down fainting on his bed, never to rise
again.
Death of the Prophet, 632 A.C.—On Monday
the 8th of June 632 A.C., whilst praying in
whispers, the spirit of the Prophet took flight to
‘the blessed companionship on high,’ the last
words which fell from his lips.
Thus disappeared from the scene one of the
greatest, if not in very truth the greatest, of God’s
servants, who have lived and worked for the good
of mankind. He found the bulk of his own
people sunk in the grossest fetishism, decimated
by tribal feuds, addicted to infanticide and the
worst forms of pagan practices. Here and there
individuals had broken away from the old cults,
but were still groping in darkness in search of the
road to truth and salvation, unsatisfied spirits to
whom neither Judaism nor Christianity brought
any solution to the enigmas of life.
In less than a decade he not only stamped out
the pagan ways and habits which held the heart
of Arabia, but infused into his folk a new life,
imparted to them a new conception of duty, of
moral responsibilities of which they had been
wholly devoid before. The beneficence of his
work was not confined to his own countrymen.
His words revived the religious spirit of surrounding
nations, whose moral abasement was equally
deplorable.
Mohammed’s Character.—Mohammed’s character
has been described by many hands in the
West, mostly hostile. The picture is naturally
not always friendly. People do not easily put
aside prejudices born of centuries of political and
religious antagonism. It may, therefore, be of
some interest to know the estimate of the Arabian
Teacher formed by his immediate followers and
disciples, many of whom were unquestionably
men of great intelligence and moral vigour, who
readily sacrificed for his Teachings, at a time when
he was only a humble and persecuted preacher,
wealth, position, and influence, and who, by their
character and environment, were not likely to be
influenced by light or common worldly motives.
His singular elevation of mind, his extreme
delicacy and refinement of feeling, his purity and
truth, form the constant theme of the traditions.
Courteous to the great, affable to the humble,
indulgent to his inferiors, he won the love
and admiration of all with whom he came in
contact.
The humble preacher had risen to be the arbiter
of the destinies of a nation, but the same humility
of spirit, the same nobility of soul, austerity of
conduct and stern devotion to duty, which had
won him from his compatriots the designation of
al-Amîn, ever formed the distinguishing traits
of his character. Whilst the virtual ruler of
Arabia, the equal of Chosroes and the Cæsars,
‘he visited the sick, followed any bier he met,
accepted the invitation of the lowliest, mended
his own clothes, milked his goats, and waited
upon himself.’
‘He never first withdrew his hand out of
another’s clasp and turned not before the other
had turned. His hand was the most generous,
his breast the most courageous, his tongue the
most truthful; those who saw him were filled
with reverence, those who came near him loved
him. Modesty and kindness, patience, self-denial,
and generosity pervaded his conduct and riveted
the affections of all round him. With the bereaved
and afflicted he sympathised tenderly ... he
would stop in the streets listening to the sorrows
of the humblest. He would go to the houses of
the lowliest to console the stricken and comfort
the heartbroken.’[35]
‘There is something so tender and womanly
and withal so heroic about the man,’ says Mr.
Stanley Lane-Poole, ‘that one is in peril of finding
the judgment unconsciously blinded by the feeling
of reverence and well nigh love that such a
nature inspires. He who, standing alone, braved
for years the hatred of his people, is the same
who was never the first to withdraw his hand
from another’s clasp; the beloved of children,
who never passed a group of little ones without
a smile from his wonderful eyes and a kind word
for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet-toned
voice. The frank friendship, the noble
generosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the
man, all tend to melt criticism in admiration.’
‘He was an enthusiast, in that noblest sense
when enthusiasm becomes the salt of the earth,
the one thing that keeps men from rotting whilst
they live.... He was an enthusiast when enthusiasm
was the one thing needed to set the world
aflame, and his enthusiasm was noble for a noble
cause. He was one of those happy few who have
attained the supreme joy of making one great
truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger
of the One God; and never to his life’s end did
he forget who he was, or the message which was
the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings
to his people with a grand dignity sprung from
the consciousness of his high office, together with
the most sweet humility, whose roots lay in the
knowledge of his own weakness.’
CHAPTER III
Islâm after Mohammed.—Nothing gives a better
idea of the hold Mohammed possessed over the
hearts of his people than their sorrow when he
lay sick and dying, or the outburst of grief which
rent the city at the news of his death. At first
they could hardly believe that the Master who
had led them from darkness into light, from
death unto life, could really be subject to the
same laws as other beings. The words of the
venerable Abû Bakr allayed the excitement:
‘Mussulmans,’ said he, ‘if you adored Mohammed,
know that Mohammed is dead; if it is God that
you adore, know that He liveth, He never dies.
Forget not this verse of the Koran, “Mohammed
is only a man charged with a Mission; before
him there have been men who received the
heavenly mission and died”; nor this verse,
“Thou too, Mohammed, shall die as others have
died before thee.”’
A great fabric had been built up, under divine
guidance, by a master-mind; its foundations were
laid in the conscience of mankind. But Islâm
was yet in its infancy, at the mercy of hostile
forces bent on its destruction. To keep alive the
Faith and maintain intact the structure raised by
him, it was necessary to elect, with all despatch,
a successor to the Prophet.
Election of Abû Bakr as the Prophet’s Vicegerent.—The
choice fell on Abû Bakr, who, by
virtue of his age and position in Mecca, held a
high place in the estimation of the Arabs.
His Allocution.—After his election the venerable
patriarch addressed the following allocution
to the people: ‘Ye people! now verily I am
charged with the cares of government over you,
although I am not the best amongst you. I need
all your advice and all your help. If I do well,
support me; if I mistake, counsel me. To tell
truth to a person commissioned to rule is faithful
allegiance; to conceal it is perfidy. In my sight
the powerful and the weak are alike, and to both
I wish to render justice.... Wherefore obey ye
me, even as I obey the Lord and His apostle: if I
neglect the laws of God and the Prophet, I have
no more right to your obedience.’
Revolt of the Tribes.—No sooner was the
death of the Prophet bruited abroad than the
tribes who had only recently adopted Islâm
broke out in revolt. The discipline of Islâm
and its rules and principles were too irksome to
them. They repudiated their adhesion to the
new religion and reverted to paganism. Medîna
was hemmed in again by surging hordes of angry
idolaters. Undaunted by his own danger, the
aged Caliph sped on the expedition to Syria the
Prophet had prepared to seek reparation for the
murder of the Moslem envoy. Before sending
them forth on their distant errand, in the spirit
of the Master, he gave to the captain of his army
the following injunction:—
His Injunction to the Troops.—‘See that
thou avoidest treachery, injustice, and oppression.
Depart not in any wise from the right. Thou
shalt mutilate none, neither shalt thou kill child
or aged man, nor any woman. Destroy no palm-tree,
nor burn any fields of corn. Cut not down
any tree wherein is food for man or beast. Slay
not the flocks or herds or camels, saving for needful
sustenance. When thou makest a covenant,
stand to it, and be as good as thy word. Ye may
eat of the meat which the men of the land shall
bring unto you in their vessels, making mention
thereon of the name of the Lord. As you go on
you will find some religious persons who live
retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves
to serve God that way: let them alone, and neither
kill them nor destroy their monasteries. And
the monks with shaven heads, if they submit,
leave them unmolested. Now march forward in
the name of the Lord, and may He protect you
from sword and pestilence!’
How different this sounds to the command
given to the ancient Jews: ‘Now go and smite
Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have
and spare them not; but slay both man and
woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel
and ass.’[36]
The Moslems believed in the righteousness of
their cause, and in divine help in defence of their
Faith; they were surrounded by formidable
enemies; the very existence of their new life
depended on their energy and self-sacrifice, but
trust in God and enthusiasm led them to victory.
The Syrians received a well-merited chastisement,
whilst the revolted tribes were beaten
back and gradually reduced to submission.
Within the space of a few months the entire
peninsula acknowledged once more the creed of
Islâm.
Death of Abû Bakr and Election of Omar.—Abû
Bakr held the reins of office for less than
two years. He died on the 22nd August 634 A.C.,
and the great Omar was elected to the vicegerency
of the Prophet.
War with Persia—Its Cause.—The pacification
of the north-eastern corner of Arabia
brought the Moslems into collision with the
kingdom of Hira, a feudatory state subject to
Persia. The raids from Hira led to an expedition
into that country which ended in its annexation.
The subjugation of Hira and Chaldæa brought
the Persian forces into the field.
Battle of Kâdessia, 636 A.C.—The king of
Persia was not willing to let a valuable part of
his kingdom go into the hands of the despised
Arabs. His pride was broken on the field of
Kâdessia.
One of the first acts of the new Caliph was
to prohibit any expedition beyond the Zagros
Mountains, which he considered should always
form the boundary between the Caliphate and
the Persian dominions; but the subjects of the
King of Kings had not laid to heart the lessons of
Kâdessia, and harassed the Moslem territories by
constant raids. The Caliph was compelled to
withdraw his prohibition, and an army marched
into Persia.
Battle of Nehâwand, 642 A.C.—The battle of
Nehâwand shattered for ever the empire of the
Chosroes. ‘The administration of Persia was
regulated by an actual survey of the people, the
cattle, and the fruits of the earth; and this monument
which attests the vigilance of the Caliphs
might have instructed the philosophers of every
age.’[37]
A similar survey was made, under the Caliph’s
orders, of Chaldæa and Mesopotamia; peasants
and proprietors alike were guaranteed in the
possession of their lands and in the free enjoyment
of their religion; the assessment was
revised, and a network of canals for the improvement
of irrigation was taken in hand.
War with Byzantium.—In the west the defeat
of the Syrians had led Heraclius, the Byzantine
Emperor, to send large armies to drive back the
Arabs.
Battle of Yermuk, Aug. 634 A.C.—Battle of
Ajnâdin, 636 A.C.—The victories of Yermuk and
Ajnâdin put an end to Byzantine rule in Syria.
Capitulation of Jerusalem.—Jerusalem submitted
to the Caliph in person. Travelling with a
single attendant, without escort and without any
pomp or ceremony, Omar arrived at Jâbia, where
he was met by a deputation of Christian notables.
To them he accorded the free exercise of their
religion, and the possession of their churches,
subject to a light tax. Accompanied by the
deputation, he proceeded towards Jerusalem, where
he was received by Sophronius the Patriarch. The
Chief of Islâm and the head of the Christians
entered the sacred city together, conversing on its
antiquities. The Caliph declined to perform his
devotions in the church where he chanced to be
at the hour of prayer, ‘for,’ he said to the Patriarch,
‘had I done so, the Mussulmans in a future age
might have infringed the treaty under colour of
imitating my example.’[38]
The critics of Islâm have indulged in many
theories to explain the marvellous victories of
the Moslems over such great powers as Byzantium
and Persia. ‘Rhetorical expressions about
the decaying condition of both empires and the
youthful energies of the Moslems are unsatisfying
to the inquirer who keeps the concrete facts
before him.’[39] ‘Both Byzantium and Persia had
at their command genuine soldiers regularly
armed and disciplined. The traditions of Roman
warfare were not yet entirely lost, and the Persians
still possessed their dreaded cuirassiers, before
whom, in better times, even the armies of Rome
had often fled.... The Emperor Heraclius was
certainly the greatest man who had held the
empire since Constantine and Julian. He was an
astute diplomatist, a very competent general, and,
as a soldier, bold even to rashness.’ How was it
then that ‘the wretchedly armed Arabs, fighting
not in regularly organised military divisions, but
by families and clans, and under leaders who
never before had faced disciplined troops,’ shattered
the armies of both Chosroes and Cæsar?
And be it noted that in every battle—at Kâdessia,
at Nehâwand, Yermuk, and Ajnâdin—they were
outnumbered sometimes as six to one.[40] The
Moslem explanation is Biblical in its simplicity:
‘God took the heart out of the polytheists.’ The
Christian historian offers divers explanations, ‘yet
the phenomenon continues mysterious as before.’[41]
The conquest of Persia had brought to Medîna
many Magian fanatics desirous of avenging on
the Caliph the fall of their country. The simplicity
of life led by Omar and the utter absence
of guards and attendants favoured their design.
One day, whilst sitting as usual in the mosque
listening to the petitions of the people, he was
attacked and mortally wounded by one of them.
Death of Omar, 644 A.C.—His death was an
irreparable loss to Islâm. His knowledge of the
character of his people, his extraordinary breadth
of vision, his sagacity and vigour of mind, enabled
him to exercise an influence over the Arabs which
none of his successors ever achieved.
Election of Osmân.—An aged member of the
family of Ommeya,[42] named Osmân, was now
elected to the vacant chair.
His Death, 656 A.C.—His partiality for and
favouritism towards his kinsfolk gave rise to a
mutiny in which he lost his life.
Conquest of Egypt under Osmân.—During
Osmân’s Caliphate Byzantine incursions from
Alexandria into Syria had led the Moslem Government
to despatch an expedition into Egypt, which
completed its conquest in two battles. The
addition of Northern Africa beyond Egypt was
due to similar causes. The same destiny which
led the English from Bengal to the Punjab, and
still leads them on in Nigeria, led the Arabs
from the confines of Egypt to the shores of the
Atlantic.
On Osmân’s tragical death, Ali, the cousin of
the Prophet and the husband of his daughter
Fâtima, was elected to the Caliphate. The legitimate
heir to the spiritual headship of Islâm,
as a temporal chief, Ali came before his time.
Chivalrous, brave, and gifted, his humanity and
gentleness were mistaken for weakness; and his
short government was disturbed by rebellions.
The first was suppressed without difficulty; whilst
engaged in dealing with the second, headed by
Muâwiyah, a kinsman of Osmân, who held the
governorship of Syria, Ali was assassinated by a
zealot, one of a body who wanted to bring peace
to Islâm by the murder of both the Caliph and
the rebel governor.
Death of Ali, 661 A.C.—The latter escaped, but
Ali fell a victim to their fanaticism.
On the murder of Ali his eldest son, Hassan,
was elected to the Caliphate, but, fond of ease, he
was easily induced to renounce the dignity in
favour of Muâwiyah.
Accession of the Ommeyades to Power.—With
the death of Ali and the renunciation of Hassan
came to an end the Republic of Islâm. Up to
this time the office of Caliph was elective, and
the government essentially democratic. Muâwiyah,
whilst retaining the form of election, made
it in reality hereditary and autocratic. The seat
of government was removed from Medîna to
Damascus, where the head of the state surrounded
himself by Syrian mercenaries.
The Butchery of Kerbela—The Martyrdom
of Hussain.—Muâwiyah died in 680 A.C., and was
succeeded by his son Yezîd, the Domitian of the
Arabs. Hussain, the second son of the Caliph Ali,
had never acknowledged the title of Yezîd, whose
vices he despised and whose character he abhorred;
and when the Moslems of Mesopotamia invited
him to release them from the Ommeyade yoke
he felt it his duty to respond to their appeal.
Accompanied by his family and a few retainers
he left for Irâk. On the way, at a place called
Kerbela, on the western bank of the Euphrates,
they were overtaken by an Ommeyade army, and,
after a heroic struggle, lasting over several days,
were all slaughtered save the women and a sickly
child, also named Ali, who were carried as captives
to Damascus.
The butchery of Kerbela caused a thrill of horror
throughout Islâm, and gave birth in Persia to an
undying national sentiment.[43]
Conquest of Spain, 712 A.C.—Under Walid the
fifth sovereign of this family, Spain was conquered
and added to the Caliphate. The seventh
Ommeyade ruler was the pious Omar II., deservedly
called the Marcus Aurelius of the Arabs.
The Ommeyades held the reins of government
for nearly ninety years.
The Rise of the House of Abbâs.—In the
middle of the eighth century of the Christian era
Western Asia was the scene of a great revolution,
which resulted in the downfall of the Ommeyades.
The revolt was headed by a descendant of Abbâs,
an uncle of the Prophet. The contest between
the Ommeyades and Abbassides reminds us, in
its bitterness and cruelty, of the later quarrel
between the White and the Red Rose of England.
Foundation of the Ommeyade Caliphate in
Spain, 756 A.C.—The Abbassides were successful
and the Ommeyades were practically annihilated.
Only one solitary scion of this ill-fated family
escaped to Spain, where he founded the brilliant
empire of Cordova. The Abbassides held the
Eastern Caliphate with its seat in Bagdad from
756 A.C. to 1258 A.C.
Destruction of Bagdad.—When Bagdad was
destroyed by the Mongols, a member of the Abbasside
family succeeded in escaping to Cairo. Here
he was recognised as Caliph by the Sultan of
Egypt, and was surrounded by all the dignity
attached to the pontifical office. The eighth
Pontiff, by a formal act, renounced the Caliphate
in favour of Sultan Selim, the great Ottoman
conqueror.
The Title of the Ottoman Caliphs.—The title
of the Sultans of Turkey to the spiritual headship
of Islâm is based on this renunciation, and on
the possession by them of the seal, mantle, and
staff of the Prophet; and their claim is recognised
as valid by the whole of the Sunni world.
Mansûr, the second Abbasside Caliph.—The
first eight Caliphs of the house of Abbâs were
men of great ability and force of character.
Mansûr, the second sovereign, was the real
founder of the Abbasside polity and system of
administration, which became in after years the
model for all civilised Mussulman States, and
which were copied in later times by the Christian
countries of Europe.
Hârûn-ar-Rashîd and Mâmûn.—Under Hârûn-ar-Rashîd,
the hero of the Arabian Nights, and
his son Mâmûn the Caliphate of Bagdad attained
its zenith. It was indeed the Augustan age of the
Arabs. But the achievements of the Moslems in
the domain of intellect extend over the whole
period during which the Abbassides exercised
their suzerainty over Western Asia and Egypt.
The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain.—The
Empire founded in Spain by the Ommeyade
Abdur Rahmân, surnamed Dâkhil (the ‘Enterer’),
rivalled that of Bagdad in the glory of arms
and learning. The eighth sovereign of this
dynasty, Abdur Rahmân (an-Nâsir), who assumed
the title and dignity of Caliph, was the most
gifted monarch who has ever ruled over Spain.
With the disintegration of the Cordovan Caliphate,
in the eleventh century of the Christian era,
the country split up into several small kingdoms,
until they were re-united under the
ægis of the Almoravide monarchs of North
Africa.[44]
The Fatimide Caliphate of North Africa.—In
the beginning of the tenth century, a descendant of
Ali, Obaidullah, surnamed al-Mahdi (the ‘Guide’),
founded the great Fatimide Empire of Northern
Africa.
The Fatimides conquered Sicily and Calabria
and held Genoa for a considerable time. They
were not only redoubtable conquerors but lavish
patrons of learning, arts, and sciences. They
established colleges, public libraries, and scientific
institutes. To the central scientific institute at
Cairo[45] was attached a grand Lodge for initiating
candidates into the esoteric doctrines of Ismailism.[46]
This Lodge became the model of all the
lodges created afterwards in Asia and Europe.
Among the Druses of Lebanon who follow this
cult, the sixth Fatimide Caliph, the eccentric
al-Hakam, believed by them to be still alive,
receives divine honours.
With the death of the fourteenth sovereign of
this house and the assumption of power in Egypt
by Saladin[47] the Fatimide dynasty disappeared
from the scene.
The Rise of Learning and Philosophy in
Islâm.—Even in the early days of the Caliphate,
the pursuit of knowledge was not neglected at
Medîna, and all the energies of the Moslem
nation were not taken up in the struggle in
which they had become involved with the
surrounding nations. The Caliph Ali lectured to
large multitudes of people on various branches of
learning.
The sack of Medîna by the Ommeyades
destroyed the primitive school. It was revived by
Ali’s great-grandson, Jaafar the Trusty, who died
in 765 A.C. He is the real founder of speculative
philosophy among the Moslems. The thinkers
and scholars who flourished later derived their
inspiration from him.
The Mutazalite or rationalistic school was
founded by Wâsil, who died in 785 A.C. Mâmûn,
the sixth Abbasside Caliph, was a strenuous
upholder of his doctrines.
‘The Brothers of Purity.’—Towards the close
of the tenth century a body of thinkers, whose
researches extended to every department of the
human mind, and whose great aim was to introduce
a spirit of eclecticism in Islâm, established a
brotherhood of intellect, which was to embrace
all men animated with the single purpose of promoting
the moral and intellectual welfare of the
nation.
The Crusades.—The Crusades, which devastated
Western Asia for two centuries, and inflicted
untold miseries on the unfortunate people exposed
to the merciless raids of the hordes of
Europe who professed ‘the religion of peace,’
involved the Moslem nations in a life-and-death
struggle, during which intellectual development
came to a standstill.
Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, 1099
A.C.—Tripoli, a famous seat of learning in those
days, was reduced to ashes; Antioch and other
cities were turned into shambles. On the 15th
July 1099 Jerusalem was taken by storm; and
the triumph of the Cross was celebrated by a
slaughter of over seventy thousand people.
Neither age nor sex met with mercy. The
squares, the streets, and the houses were strewn
with the dead bodies of men and women, and the
mangled limbs of children. Many were burnt
alive under the portico of the principal mosque,
the blood of the victims ‘reached the horses’
bridles.’ ‘The carnage,’ says Michaud, ‘lasted a
week: the few who escaped were reduced to
horrible servitude.’
Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187.—In
1187 A.C. Saladin recaptured the city. He released
all prisoners, supplied them with food and money,
and allowed them to depart with a safe conduct;
no woman was insulted; no child was hurt; no
person was slain.
Eruption of the Tartars.—Hardly had the
Moslems recovered from the destruction and havoc
wrought by the Crusades, when the eruption of the
Mongolian savages from the steppes of Tartary,
falling like an avalanche, swept away all vestiges
of culture and civilisation, and converted Middle
and Western Asia into a charnel-house. And
although centuries have passed since the sack of
Bagdad and other famed centres of Moslem learning
and arts, Islâm has not regained yet its true
life and progressive vitality.
After the fall of Cordova the continuity of
Islâmic civilisation in Spain was maintained, not
only by the petty principalities which sprang up
in its place, but also by the Almoravide and
Almohade sovereigns, who reunited in their vigorous
hands the greater part of the Ommeyade
Caliphate.
Granada.—The break-up of the Almohade
Empire, in 1227 A.C., led to the gradual destruction
by the Christian hordes of the minor Moslem
kingdoms. Granada alone, for nearly two centuries,
held aloft the torch of knowledge and
civilisation. But the fires of the Inquisition had
already been lighted in Christian Spain by the
‘pious’ Ferdinand and the ‘saintly’ Isabella.
The Fall of Granada—Destruction of Moslem
Civilisation, 1498 A.C.—And when, after a heroic
struggle, the city of the Banu-Nasr, the home
of culture, chivalry, and arts, capitulated to its
Christian assailants, the glory of Moorish Spain
died with the martyrs who were burnt at the
stake or slaughtered like sheep regardless of age
or sex, or suffocated in the caverns to which they
betook themselves for refuge.
The Sunni Church.—The spiritual allegiance
of Christendom is divided between four Churches;
of the world of Islâm between two—the Sunni
and the Shiah. The foundation of the Sunni
Church, which owns nowadays the largest number
of followers, was laid by Mansûr, the second
Caliph of the House of Abbâs.[48] And although
the superstructure was completed under his successors,
its whole character and organisation are
due to his genius.
The wide extent of the Abbasside Caliphate
helped in the diffusion of its power and influence.
At the present moment out of nearly seventy
millions of Mohammedans in India subject to the
British Crown, fifty belong to the Sunni Church.
So do the Mussulmans of China, Tartary, Afghanistan,
Asiatic and European Turkey, Arabia, Egypt,
Northern and Central Africa, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
Russia, Ceylon, the Straits and the Malayan
Peninsula. And almost all acknowledge the
spiritual headship of the Ottoman Sovereign.
Shiahism.—The Shiah Church traces its foundation
to the Caliph Ali and the immediate descendants
of the Prophet, regarded as the rightful expounders
of his teachings. Some twenty millions
of Indian Mussulmans are Shiahs; Shiahism is
also the State religion of Persia. There are large
numbers of Shiahs in the Hijaz, in Egypt and other
parts of the world, but always in a minority. The
question of the title to the spiritual and temporal
headship of Islâm forms the chief point of difference
between the two churches. The Sunnis are
the advocates of the principle of election; the
Shiahs of apostolical descent by appointment and
succession; and this difference, which is essentially
of a dynastic character,[49] gave birth to constant
quarrels.
Signs, however, are not wanting that owing to
the pressure of extraneous circumstances both
Sunnis and Shiahs have begun to realise the
necessity of greater harmony and goodwill.
The Sects of Islâm.—Difference of opinion
concerning doctrines and dogmas has given birth
in Islâm, as it has in Christianity, to numerous
sects.
The Sunni Church is divided into four principal
‘persuasions’—the Hanafi, Shâfeï, Mâliki
and Hanbali—designated after their respective
founders. The followers of any one of these communions
may validly offer their prayers under
the leadership of a member of another. Hanafïsm
is professed by the bulk of the Indian Mussulmans
and Arabs, by the Afghans and almost all Central
Asian Moslems, the Turks and Egyptians.
The Shiah Church also is divided into several
sub-sects, of which the principal (the Asnâ-aasharia)[50]
constitutes the state religion of Persia.
Ashaarïsm.—The philosophical side of Islâm
is represented nowadays by Ashaarïsm and
Mutazalaism. The first embodies the orthodox
doctrines of the Sunni Church. It holds to the
belief in corporeal resurrection at the Last
Account, and affirms that the Koran is eternal and
uncreated; and that God will be visible in the next
world to human sight. Whilst maintaining that
the evolution of principles ceased in the third
and fourth centuries of the Hegira, in order
to bring the rules enunciated by the great expounders
of law and religion into conformity with
the change of times and conditions of society,
it generally allows the widest latitude in their
interpretation and application.
With regard to the doctrine of free-will, it
holds that there is neither absolute compulsion
nor absolute freedom, but ‘God does whatever
He pleases, for He is Sovereign Lord.’
Mutazalaism.—Mutazalaism, on the other hand,
denies the doctrine of corporeal resurrection and
corporeal vision. It enunciates that the Koran
is the created word of God and not eternal, that
God alone is Eternal, that man is the ‘creative
efficient of his actions, good and bad, and gets
reward and punishment in the future world by
merit for what he does’; ‘that the All-Wise does
only that which is beneficial and good.’ It further
holds that the Divine ordinances which regulate
the conduct of men are the results of growth and
development. It maintains that the knowledge
of God is within the province of reason, and with
the exception of Himself everything else is liable
to change or to suffer extinction.[51]
[36] 1 Sam. xv. 3. Neither the lapse of ages nor the influence
of Christianity in the West has made much difference in the
nature of the ordinary man, since the Prophet of Israel gave this
ferocious command to his people. The passion for vengeance,
the desire to strike fear, are as strong as ever. The demands of
rage, the dictates of expediency still stifle the voice of pity, the
claims of justice. Rapine and slaughter, havoc and destruction,
are still the gospel of the strong.
[37] Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. vi.
chap. i. p. 298.
[39] Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, p. 76.
[40] At the battle of Yermuk the army of Heraclius numbered
240,000, whilst the Saracens were only 40,000 all told. At
Kâdessia 30,000 Arabs were opposed to 100,000 Persians. At
the battle of Medîna Sidonia, which won Spain to the Caliphate,
Târik had only 12,000 men against Roderick’s host, at least
five times as large.
[42] The family of Hâshim and the family of Ommeya, distantly
connected with each other, were two of the most prominent
in Mecca; and for a long time there had existed among
the latter a bitter feeling of hatred and jealousy towards the
Hâshimides on account of their pre-eminence and worth.
Mohammed belonged to the family of Hâshim; and the bulk
of the Ommeyades were amongst his foremost persecutors.
Osmân was one of the few among them who had accepted
Islâm before the Hegira.
[43] For an account of this tragedy, see Gibbon, vol. vi. p. 279,
and Short History of the Saracens, pp. 83-87. Hussain was
married to a daughter of Yezdjard the last King of Persia.
The life of the lad, saved by the indomitable Arab courage of
Zainab, the sister of Hussain, gave to Islâm its nobility, for in
him was united the blood of the Prophet with that of the
Sassanide monarchs of Persia.
[44] See Short History of the Saracens, chap. xxix.
[45] Cairo (al-Kâhira) was founded by one of the generals
of al-Muiz the contemporary and rival of an-Nâsir the
Ommeyade Caliph of Cordova; see Short History of the
Saracens.