{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70136/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70136","id":"gutenberg_70136","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70136","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Islam"],"text":"RELIGIONS ANCIENT AND MODERN\n\nISL\u00c2M\n\n\n\n\nRELIGIONS: ANCIENT AND MODERN.\n\n\nANIMISM.\n\n    By EDWARD CLODD, Author of _The Story of Creation_.\n\nPANTHEISM.\n\n    By JAMES ALLANSON PICTON, Author of _The Religion of the\n    Universe_.\n\nTHE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA.\n\n    By Professor GILES, LL.D., Professor of Chinese in the\n    University of Cambridge.\n\nTHE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE.\n\n    By JANE HARRISON, Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge,\n    Author of _Prolegomena to Study of Greek Religion_.\n\nISL\u00c2M.\n\n    By AMEER ALI SYED, M.A., C.I.E., late of H.M.\u2019s High Court of\n    Judicature in Bengal, Author of _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_ and _The\n    Ethics of Isl\u00e2m_.\n\nMAGIC AND FETISHISM.\n\n    By Dr. A. C. HADDON, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at Cambridge\n    University.\n\nTHE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.\n\n    By Professor W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, F.R.S.\n\nTHE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.\n\n    By THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, late of the British Museum.\n\nEARLY BUDDHISM.\n\n    By Professor RHYS DAVIDS, LL.D., late Secretary of The Royal\n    Asiatic Society.\n\nHINDUISM.\n\n    By Dr. L. D. BARNETT, of the Department of Oriental Printed\n    Books and MSS., British Museum.\n\nSCANDINAVIAN RELIGION.\n\n    By WILLIAM A. CRAIGIE, Joint Editor of the _Oxford English\n    Dictionary_.\n\nCELTIC RELIGION.\n\n    By Professor ANWYL, Professor of Welsh at University College,\n    Aberystwyth.\n\nTHE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.\n\n    By CHARLES SQUIRE, Author of _The Mythology of the British\n    Islands_.\n\nJUDAISM.\n\n    By ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in\n    Cambridge University, Author of _Jewish Life in the Middle\n    Ages_.\n\nTHE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME.\n\n    By CYRIL BAILEY, M.A.\n\nSHINTO, THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF JAPAN.\n\n    By W. G. ASTON, C.M.G.\n\nTHE RELIGION OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU.\n\n    By LEWIS SPENCE, M.A.\n\nEARLY CHRISTIANITY.\n\n    By S. B. SLACK, Professor at M\u2019Gill University.\n\nTHE PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGIN AND NATURE OF RELIGION.\n\n    By Professor J. H. LEUBA.\n\nTHE RELIGION OF ANCIENT PALESTINE.\n\n    By STANLEY A. COOK.\n\n\n\n\n                                  ISL\u00c2M\n\n                                    By\n                      AMEER ALI, SYED, M.A., C.I.E.\n        LATE A JUDGE OF H.M.\u2019S HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE IN BENGAL,\n         AUTHOR OF \u2018THE SPIRIT OF ISL\u00c2M,\u2019 \u2018THE ETHICS OF ISL\u00c2M,\u2019\n           \u2018A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SARACENS,\u2019 \u2018MAHOMMEDAN LAW,\u2019\n            (2 VOLS.), \u2018STUDENT\u2019S HANDBOOK OF MAHOMMEDAN LAW,\u2019\n             JOINT AUTHOR OF \u2018THE LAW OF EVIDENCE APPLICABLE\n                 TO BRITISH INDIA,\u2019 AND \u2018A COMMENTARY ON\n                         THE BENGAL TENANCY ACT\u2019\n\n                                  LONDON\n                         CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD\n                    10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE\n                                   1909\n\n                             _Published 1906_\n\n                             _Reprinted 1909_\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nIt is difficult, if not impossible, for any one not endowed with a spirit\nof sympathy, or the faculty of transporting the mind to the social\nconditions and moral needs of other times, to do justice to the Teacher\nof another Faith, especially if that Faith is imagined to be in rivalry\nwith his own.\n\nGenerally speaking, the attitude of Christian writers towards Mohammed\nand his religion is akin to that of the critical Jew towards the Teacher\nof Nazareth, or of the philosophical Celsus towards Christianity.\n\nIn the brochure which the liberalism and enterprise of the publishers\nenables me to place before the public, I have endeavoured to outline\nfrom inside the essential teachings of Isl\u00e2m and the prominent features\nof its History. For a fuller and more developed treatment of its ethics\nand philosophy, of the history of its civilisation and its work in\nthe advancement of culture and humanitarian science, I must refer the\nstudent, with all diffidence, to my larger expositions.\n\nIt is to be hoped that this little book, by helping to give an insight\ninto Isl\u00e2m as it is understood by its professors, may become the means of\nremoving some of the misapprehensions regarding its true aims and ideals,\nwhich are undoubtedly the cause of much of the antipathy prevalent in the\nWest, and of the frequent incentives to a modern crusade.\n\nA little more knowledge on both sides, a little more sympathy between two\nreligions which have a common aspiration\u2014the elevation of mankind\u2014will\nlargely conduce to the promotion of peace and good-will on earth.\n\n                                                                AMEER ALI.\n\nREFORM CLUB, 1906.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                       PAGE\n\n  CHAPTER I.\u2014Foreword\u2014Isl\u00e2m, its meaning\u2014Its Cardinal Principle\u2014Belief\n    in a Future Life\u2014Conception of Evolution\u2014Moral Responsibility\u2014The\n    Ethical Code of Isl\u00e2m\u2014Toleration\u2014Position of Women\u2014Bondsmen and\n    Bondswomen\u2014Intellectualism,                                        1-34\n\n  CHAPTER II.\u2014Mohammed\u2014His Birth\u2014His Call\u2014The Persecution\u2014The\n    Hegira\u2014Mohammed at Med\u00eena\u2014His Charter to the\n    Christians\u2014Conquest of Mecca\u2014The Sermon on the Mount\u2014The\n    Fulfilment of the Mission\u2014The Prophet\u2019s Death,                    35-55\n\n  CHAPTER III.\u2014The Election of Ab\u00fb Bakr as Caliph\u2014His Allocution\u2014His\n    Injunction to the Troops\u2014Revolt of the Tribes\u2014War with\n    Persia\u2014Defeat of the Persians\u2014War with Byzantium\u2014Its\n    Causes\u2014Death of Ab\u00fb Bakr\u2014Election of Omar\u2014Conquest of\n    Syria\u2014Capitulation of Jerusalem\u2014Assassination of Omar\u2014Election\n    of Osm\u00e2n\u2014Conquest of Egypt\u2014Death of Osm\u00e2n\u2014Election of\n    Ali\u2014Rebellion of Mu\u00e2wiyah\u2014Death of Ali\u2014The Ommeyades\u2014Butchery\n    of Kerbela\u2014The Martyrdom of Hussain\u2014Conquest of Spain\u2014The\n    Abbassides\u2014Destruction of Bagdad\u2014The Title of the Ottoman\n    Caliphs\u2014The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain\u2014The Fatimide Caliphate\n    of North Africa\u2014The Crusades\u2014Their Effect on Isl\u00e2m\u2014The\n    Eruption of the Tartars\u2014Destruction of Science and Learning in\n    Isl\u00e2m\u2014Granada\u2014The Sunni and Shiah Church\u2014The Sects of\n    Isl\u00e2m\u2014Ashaar\u00efsm\u2014Mutazalaism,                                      56-78\n\n    SELECTED WORKS ON ISL\u00c2M,                                             79\n\n\n\n\nISL\u00c2M\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\n\n=Foreword.=\u2014In the history of human development probably no subject is\nmore interesting than the gradual evolution of spiritual ideals, or the\nendeavour to regulate man\u2019s conduct in the ordinary relations of life by\ndeterminate ethical standards.\n\nOf all the great systems that aim at the elevation of mankind by an\nappeal to their religious consciousness, the latest-born is the religion\npreached by the Prophet of Arabia. The fundamental principles of right\nand wrong are common to all moral creeds; it is in their vitalising\nforce, the life they infuse into humanity and the direction they give to\nhuman energies, that we must seek for elements of differentiation. Some\nhave taken centuries to expand beyond their original circles, others have\nhad to absorb foreign conceptions time after time until their primitive\nform became entirely changed before they could influence large masses of\npeople. The religion of Mohammed, unaided by any extraneous help, under\nthe impulse of a great and dominating Idea, within the space of eighty\nyears from its birth, had spread from the Indus to the Tagus, from the\nVolga to the Arabian Sea. No Darius, Asoka, or Constantine came to its\nassistance with royal mandates and imperial homage.\n\nUnder its influence a congeries of warring tribes consolidated into a\nnation carried aloft for centuries the torch of knowledge. With the\nfall of their empire, they ceased to be the preceptors of mankind. The\nyounger nations who succeeded to their heritage continued some of their\nglory in arms, but less in arts and literature. They too declined in\npower and influence, and now the greatest of them is but a shadow of its\nformer self. And yet, as an active living Faith Isl\u00e2m has lost none of\nits pristine force nor the magic hold it possesses over its followers.\nIn certain parts of the world it is spreading with greater rapidity than\nany other creed, and its acceptance among the less advanced races has\ninvariably tended to raise them in the moral scale.\n\n\u2018Had the Arabs,\u2019 says an able writer, \u2018propagated Isl\u00e2m only, had they\nonly known that single period of marvellous expansion wherein they\nassimilated to their creed, speech, and even physical type, more aliens\nthan any stock before or since, not excepting the Hellenic, the Roman,\nthe Anglo-Saxon, or the Russian, even so the Arabs would still make a\nparamount claim on the Western mind.\u2019 But the interest becomes deeper\n\u2018when we remember that, not only as the head and fount of pure Semitism\nthey originated Judaism and largely determined both its character and\nthat of Christianity, but also the expansion of the Arabian conception\nof the relations of man to God and man to man (the Arabian social\nsystem, in a word) is still proceeding faster and further than any other\npropagandism.\u2019[1]\n\n=Meaning of Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014Isl\u00e2m is the name which the followers of the Arabian\nProphet give to their religion. It means peace, greeting, safety,\nsalvation. It does not involve, however, any idea of fatalism. In its\nethical sense it signifies _striving after righteousness_. Man is a free\nagent within his limited sphere: the ordinances of God lay down the\neternal principles of human conduct. He has pointed out two courses\u2014the\none leading away from Him, and that is _evil_; the other bringing man to\nHim, and that is _good_. Every individual is free to choose and follow\nwhichever course he likes, and receives his deserts accordingly. \u2018By a\nsoul and Him who balanced it, and breathed into it its wickedness and\nits piety, blessed now is he who hath kept it pure, and undone is he who\nhath corrupted it.\u2019[2] But the mercy and help of God are always nigh to\ndirect the humble seeker for divine guidance to take the right path. The\nfaithful observance of one\u2019s duty to his fellow beings is the preparation\nfor the future life, which every human being should strive for in this.\n\n=The Cardinal Principle of Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014A belief in the unity, power, mercy,\nand supreme love of the Creator is the cardinal principle of Isl\u00e2m, for,\nin its essence, it is pure Theism, coupled with some definite rules of\nconduct without which no religion can exercise any abiding influence on\nlower natures. The whole creation with its manifold phenomena, so varied\nand yet so uniform, from the single blade of grass springing up in the\nfield to the mighty stars soaring in the firmament, is a proof of His\nexistence, His mercy, His love, and His divine Providence \u2018God: there is\nno God but He\u2014the Living, the Eternal, no slumber seizeth Him. Whatsoever\nis in Heaven or in Earth is His.\u2019 \u2018He created the sun, moon, and stars\nand subjected them to law by His behests.\u2019 \u2018He taketh your souls in the\nnight and knoweth what the work of your day deserveth.\u2019[3] \u2018He it is who\nordaineth the day for awakening up to life.\u2019[4] \u2018In the alternations of\nnight and day, and in the ship which saileth on the sea laden with what\nis profitable to mankind, and in the rain-water which God sendeth from\nheaven, quickening again the dead earth, and the animals of all sorts\nwhich cover its surface; and in the change of the winds and the clouds\nbalanced between heaven and earth, are signs to people of understanding.\u2019\nThe God of Isl\u00e2m is One and indivisible\u2014\u2018the All-mighty, the All-knowing,\nthe All-just, the Lord of the worlds, the Author of the heavens and\nearth, the Creator of life and death, in whose hand is dominion and\nirresistible power; the great, all-powerful Lord of the glorious throne.\nGod is the Mighty, the Strong, the Most High, the Producer, the Maker,\nthe Fashioner, the Wise, the Just, the True, the Swift in reckoning, who\nknoweth every ant\u2019s weight of good and of ill that each man hath done,\nand who suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish.\u2019 But the\nAll-mighty, the All-wise, is also \u2018the King, the Holy, the Peaceful, the\nFaithful, the Guardian over His servants, the Shelterer of the orphan,\nthe Guide of the erring, the Deliverer from every affliction, the Friend\nof the bereaved, the Consoler of the afflicted; in His hand is good,\nand He is the Generous Lord, the Gracious Hearer, the Near-at-hand, the\nCompassionate, the Merciful, the Very Forgiving.\u2019 ... \u2018Forgiver of sin\nand Receiver of penitence.\u2019 \u2018He knoweth the secret whisper, the hidden\nand the manifest.\u2019[5]\n\n=Latitude to Human Conscience.=\u2014Isl\u00e2m implies the acceptance of Divine\nUnity and the Mission of Mohammed; whoever acknowledges the verity of\nthese two conceptions is a Moslem (_Muslim_)\u2014an Isl\u00e2mist. Belief in\nGod\u2019s providence carries with it obedience to His commandments, which\nlay down the primary bases of human conduct; but failure to observe the\nmere ritual or to conform to disciplinary rules does not exclude one\nfrom Isl\u00e2m or deprive him of the rights and privileges attached to its\nprofession. So long as the central doctrine of the Unity of God and\nthe message of the Prophet is recognised and accepted, Isl\u00e2m allows the\nwidest latitude to the human conscience.\n\nThe Gospel of Isl\u00e2m is the Koran\u2014the BOOK\u2014in which are embodied the\nteachings and precepts of the Arabian Prophet.\n\nFrom this first principle, the belief in God, spring all the duties human\nbeings owe to Him and to each other. The recognition by man of God\u2019s\ndivine grace and mercy, and the constant remembrance of His benefactions\nis the very essence of the Isl\u00e2mic Faith. Thus it is enjoined, \u2018Be\nconstant at prayer, for prayer preserveth from crimes and from that which\nis blamable, and the remembrance of God is surely a most sacred duty.\u2019[6]\n\n=Insistence on the Remembrance of God.=\u2014In order to make the remembrance\nof the Eternal Giver of all-good a part of man\u2019s daily life, certain\ntimes in the day are set apart to offer Him thanksgiving, to pray for\nhelp and guidance in the struggle with earthly passions, and to strive\nto bring the human soul into communion with its Creator. The following\nprayer will give an idea of the moral element in the teachings of Isl\u00e2m.\n\n=The Moral Element in Moslem Prayers.=\u2014\u2018O Lord, I supplicate Thee for\nfirmness in faith and direction towards rectitude, and to assist me\nin being grateful to Thee and in adoring Thee in every good way; and\nI supplicate Thee for an innocent heart, which shall not incline to\nwickedness; and I supplicate Thee for a true tongue and for that virtue\nwhich Thou knowest; and I pray Thee to defend me from that vice which\nThou knowest, and for forgiveness of those faults which Thou knowest. O\nmy Defender! Assist me in remembering Thee and being grateful to Thee\nand in worshipping Thee with the excess of my strength. O Lord! I have\ninjured my own soul, and no one can pardon the faults of Thy servants but\nThou; forgive me out of Thy loving kindness and have mercy on me; for\nverily Thou art the forgiver of offences and the bestower of blessings on\nThy servants.\u2019\n\n=Rules for Devotions.=\u2014Although the practice of the Teacher has\nconsecrated certain rules for the performance of the devotions, the\nritual of the Koran itself is astonishing in its simplicity.[7] The\nforms were prescribed for disciplinary purposes and to maintain in Isl\u00e2m\nuniformity of practice and cohesiveness. But the main essentials are\npurity of heart and forgetfulness of self. \u2018It is not righteousness\nthat ye turn your faces in prayer towards the east or the west; but\nrighteousness is of him who believeth in God.... Who giveth money for\nGod\u2019s sake unto his kindred, and unto orphans and the needy, and the\nstranger, and those who ask, and for the redemption of captives; who\nis constant at prayer and giveth alms; and of those who perform their\ncovenants when they have covenanted, and who behave themselves patiently\nin hardship and adversity and in times of violence, these are they who\nare the true.\u2019\n\n=Every Place Sacred to God.=\u2014As God\u2019s mercy and power pervade the\nuniverse, and every spot is consecrated to His holy name, the orisons\nmay be offered at any place where the worshipper happens to be at the\nappointed hour. A remembrance even, a humble prayer whispered in the\nrecesses of the heart, is enough to bring down the grace of the Lord, to\ncleanse it from impurity and strengthen it for the battle of life. And\nwhen the Moslem stands before his God, his first prayer is for divine\nguidance. \u2018Praise to God, the Lord of the Worlds, the compassionate and\nmerciful. The Sovereign of the Day of Judgment, to Thee we offer our\nworship, and from Thee we seek help and succour. Guide us in the right\npath, the path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, and not of those\nwith whom Thou art angered or who have gone astray.\u2019\n\n=Purification.=\u2014Physical cleanliness was an essential part of worship\nin almost all the ancient theurgic creeds. In Isl\u00e2m it is a natural\nconcomitant to the idea of moral purity, for no man is supposed to\napproach God in a state of uncleanliness. And as an unclean body implies\nan unclean mind, purification of those parts most likely to be soiled\u2014the\nhands, feet, and face\u2014is considered necessary before devotional\nexercise. But it is not indispensable; conditions may exist which may\nrender frequent ablutions impossible. The soldier on the battlefield,\nthe traveller in the desert, the denizen of a wintry land, and others\nsimilarly circumstanced may offer their prayers without undergoing any\nsuch formality. The rule, though thus liable to qualification, is most\nbeneficent in its tendency. It prevents the growth of that class which is\neuphemistically described in England as \u2018the great unwashed,\u2019 whilst it\npromotes in an eminent degree hygienic and sanitary conditions among the\nmasses.\n\nAt the same time it is especially inculcated that the Almighty can only\nbe approached in purity and humility of spirit, and that the most\nimportant purification is the cleansing of the heart from all blamable\ninclinations and frailties, and the mind from all vicious ideas and\nthoughts which distract the attention from God.\n\n=No Priesthood in Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014The absence of a specially interested class\nto act as intermediaries between God and man differentiates Isl\u00e2m from\nall other creeds. In the Isl\u00e2mic system every man is his own priest\nand pleads for himself for forgiveness and mercy. \u2018No sacrifice, no\nceremonial invented by vested interests is needed to bring the anxious\nheart nearer to its Comforter.\u2019[8]\n\nEssentially a democratic creed, it recognises no distinction of race or\ncolour among its followers. High or low, rich or poor, white, yellow, or\nblack are on the same level in the sight of their Lord.\n\nThe democratic character of its appeal, its repudiation of all\nadventitious barriers of caste, explain the powerful fascination it\nexercises over divers races of mankind.\n\n=Belief in a Future Life.=\u2014Belief in a future life and accountability\nfor human actions in another existence are two principal doctrines of\nthe Isl\u00e2mic creed. Both ideas take different shapes in different minds\naccording to individual culture and environment. Man is not a fortuitous\nitem in creation; nor does the cessation of life on earth mean an end\nof the human soul. Physical death only releases it from its earthly\nhabiliments. The soul, which is an emanation from God, exists for ever.\n\n=Judaism.=\u2014Early Judaism does not show any trace of a belief in a future\nlife or in future rewards and punishment. It is only after the Babylonian\nCaptivity the Jewish mind rose to that conception, and the Zoroastrian\n_Bihasht_ and _Duzakh_[9] became the prototypes of the Jewish hell and\nheaven.[10]\n\n=Zoroastrianism.=\u2014Similarly the vivid descriptions of the kingdom of\nHeaven contained in the Christian Scriptures are without doubt a reflex\nof the Zoroastrian conception. Thus, at the time of Mohammed\u2019s advent,\nJew, Christian, and Zoroastrian all looked to material rewards and\npunishments in a future existence.[11] In Isl\u00e2m the pains and joys of the\nHereafter were used as a lever for raising the people from the fetishism\nand soulless life to which they had become wedded,\u2014to a conception of\nspiritual ideals and of the duties imposed by God on man.\n\n=The Koranic Conception of a Future Existence.=\u2014The pictures of a future\nexistence in the Koran are all drawn to suit the comprehension of the\npeople among whom and the age in which the New Gospel was preached. To\nthe famished, thirsty Arab of the desert what could be more comforting\nor more consonant to his ideas of paradise than rivers of unsullied,\nincorruptible water, or of milk and honey; or anything more acceptable\nthan unlimited fruit, luxuriant vegetation, inexhaustible fertility?\nLarge masses of Moslems, no doubt, accept in their literal sense all\nthe word-paintings of the Koran, a characteristic by no means confined\nto the followers of Isl\u00e2m. But it is a calumny even against those\nMussulman literalists to say that they look forward to sensual enjoyment\nin the next world. The pictures in the Koran of the joys and pains\nof after-life, although poetical and vivid, give no warrant for such\nan assertion. \u2018But those who are pious shall dwell in gardens amid\nfountains; (they shall say unto them) Enter ye therein in peace and\nsecurity; and all rancour will We remove from their bosoms; they shall\nsit as brethren face to face; weariness shall not affect them therein,\nneither shall they be repelled thence for ever.\u2019 \u2018For those who do good\nis excellent reward and superabundant addition; neither blackness nor\nshame shall cover their faces. These are the inhabitants of Paradise;\ntherein do they abide for ever. But those who have wrought evil shall\nreceive the reward of evil equal thereunto.\u2019... \u2018Blessed are they who\nfulfil the covenant of God and break not their compact; and who join\ntogether what God hath bidden to be joined; and who fear their Lord and\ndread an ill-reckoning; and who from a sincere desire to please their\nLord are constant amid trials, and observe prayers and give alms, in\nsecret and openly, out of what we have bestowed on them; and turn aside\nevil with good; for them there is the recompense of that abode, gardens\nof eternal habitation, into which they shall enter, together with such as\nshall have acted rightly from among their fathers, their wives, and their\nposterity, and the angels shall go in unto them by every portal (saying),\n\u201cPeace be with you! because you have endured with patience.\u201d\u2019 \u2018Excellent\nis the reward in that abode!\u2019[12] \u2018No soul knoweth the joy which is\nsecretly prepared for it as a reward for that it may have wrought.\u2019[13]\n\n=The Spirituality of Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014Thus behind the description of material\nhappiness portrayed in objects like trees, rivers, and beautiful\nmansions, with fairy attendants lies a deeper meaning:\u2014\u2018O thou soul which\nart at rest, return unto thy Lord, pleased and pleasing Him; enter thou\namong My servants; and enter thou My garden of felicity.\u2019\n\n=Sufi Ideas.=\u2014A large section of Moslems, especially those inclined to\nSufiism, believe, however, that as the human soul is an emanation from\nGod, the highest joy would consist in its fusion with the Universal Soul,\nwhilst the greatest pain would be in a state of separation from the\nDivine Essence.\n\n=The Conception of Evolution.=\u2014This idea, with the conception of\nprogressive evolution, has been expressed in a poem of untranslatable\nbeauty by the great poet of Isl\u00e2mic mysticism which may be paraphrased\nthus: \u2018Dying from the inorganic we developed into the vegetable kingdom.\nDying from the vegetable we rose to the animal. And leaving the animal we\nbecame men. Then why should we fear that death will lower us? The next\ntransition will make us angels. From angels we shall rise and become what\nno mind can conceive; we shall merge in Infinity as in the beginning.\nHave we not been told,[14] \u201cAll of us will return unto Him\u201d?\u2019[15]\n\n=The Isl\u00e2mic Conception of the Great Account.=\u2014Human conduct in the\nrelations of life consists of a connected sequence of acts the effect of\nnone of which is isolated. The faithful observance of the primary rules\nof ethics justly regarded as the Divine Laws, like their transgression,\nstretches far into futurity. Every son of man is thus responsible to\nhis Lord for the use he makes of his life. He will be asked whether the\npowers he had been endowed with were applied to promote the good and the\nhappiness of his fellow beings or to their detriment; and his reward or\npunishment, his happiness or misery, will depend on the result of the\nreckoning at the Great Account as to the manner in fact in which he had\nobeyed the behests of his Creator.\n\n=The Idea of Eternal Punishment Repellent to Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014The idea of eternal\npunishment is repellent to Isl\u00e2m. The Lord of the Worlds, who is swift\nin meting out justice, is withal pitiful and compassionate. Mercy is His\nchief attribute; with mercy is joined a supreme love which surpasseth\nall other love of which the human mind has any conception. Justice is\ntempered with mercy; and whatever punishment man undergoes here or\nhereafter is only for purifying and fitting him to enter that state of\nperfection which will bring him \u2018nigh unto God.\u2019\n\n=Moral Responsibility.=\u2014\u2018Just balances will He set up for the day of\nResurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though were a\nwork but the weight of a grain of mustard seed We would bring it forth to\nbe weighed; and Our reckoning will suffice.\u2019... \u2018O our Lord! forgive us\nthen our sin, and hide away from us our evil deeds, and cause us to die\nwith the righteous.\u2019...\n\n\u2018And their Lord answereth them: I will not suffer the work of him among\nyou that worketh, whether of male or female, to be lost.\u2019... \u2018O My\nservant, who have transgressed to your own injury, despair not of God\u2019s\nmercy, for all sins doth God forgive, gracious and merciful is He.\u2019[16]\n\u2018Seek pardon of your Lord and be turned unto Him, verily my Lord is\nmerciful, loving.\u2019[17] \u2018And your Lord saith, \u201cCall upon Me and I will\nhearken unto you.\u201d\u2019[18]\n\nThis is the pivot on which the Isl\u00e2mic doctrine of future life turns, and\nit is the only doctrinal point an Isl\u00e2mist is required to accept. \u2018All\nthe other elements caught up and syncretised from the floating traditions\nof the races and peoples of the time are mere accessories.\u2019[19]\n\nNor is the Isl\u00e2mic belief in disharmony with scientific thought.\nTo quote a recent writer, \u2018The religious doctrine of ceaseless\nmoral accountability is identical with the scientific doctrine of\nceaseless cause and effect. As science postulates matter and force\nare indestructible, so religion postulates that the human soul is\nindestructible.\u2019[20]\n\n=Suicide Unusual in Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014The belief that the human soul will have to\nrender to its Creator an account of how it has carried out in this life\nthe duties imposed on it has had one important result on Moslem society,\nthe significance of which has often escaped the notice of non-Moslem\nwriters. It has inspired the Moslem with a sense of dignity and feeling\nof responsibility, which have made self-destruction practically unknown\nin Isl\u00e2m.\n\nSuicide was as common among the pagan Arabs as it is now in Christendom.\nEcclesiasticism attempted to prevent self-destruction by attaching\nthe most cruel penalties to the offence. The body of a _felo-de-se_\ncould not be interred in consecrated ground; it could only be buried\nsurreptitiously in the dark hours of the night by the roadside where\nfour cross roads met, with a stake through it; his family were subjected\nto ignominy. None of these forcible rules are needed in Isl\u00e2m. The\nbelief that divine help is always nigh to relieve the distressed, to\nhelp the suffering, to assist the forsaken, arrests the hand of the most\ndespondent or desperate, the most sick and weary with life, from taking\nhis or her own life. Whilst the idea of appearing in the presence of\nthe Almighty Judge before the Summons has come acts as the strongest\ndeterrent to self-destruction. The Moslem will fight even unto death, but\nwill never take his own life, which he regards as a trust from God. Never\nbackward or hesitant in the performance of his duty, he considers it an\nact of cowardice to fly from personal danger or present unhappiness by\nputting an end to his existence.\n\n=Idea of Corporeal Resurrection.=\u2014As in Christianity, some Moslems\nbelieve in corporeal resurrection, others do not. Some believe that God\ncan be seen by corporeal sight, others entirely deny it. But all believe\nthat when the human souls are gathered up in the Great Account, the\nDivine Presence will enfold the Universe.\n\nThese outlines represent in brief the Isl\u00e2mic conception of man\u2019s\nrelation to God. Regarding his duties towards himself and his fellow\nbeings it is probably more emphatic and certainly more explicit than\nany other older system. It denounces self-indulgence, insists upon\nself-discipline, and makes self-restraint a part of the religious law.\n\n=The Ethical Code of Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014The ethical code of Isl\u00e2m is summarised\nas follows in the fourth chapter (_Sura_) of the Koran: \u2018Come, I will\nrehearse what your Lord hath enjoined on you: that ye assign not to Him\na partner; that ye be good to your parents; and that ye slay not your\nchildren because of poverty; for them and for you We will provide; and\nthat ye come not near to pollutions, outward or inward; and that ye slay\nnot a soul whom God hath forbidden unless by right ... and draw not nigh\nto the wealth of the orphan, save so as to better it ... and when ye\npronounce judgment then be just, though it be the affair of a kinsman.\nAnd God\u2019s compact fulfil ye; that is, what He hath ordained to you,\nVerily this is My right way; follow it then.\u2019... \u2018Blessed are they who\nbelieve and humbly offer their thanksgiving to their Lord ... who are\nconstant in their charity, and who guard their chastity, and who observe\ntheir trust and covenants.... Verily, God bids you do justice and good\nand give to kindred their due; and He forbids you to sin and do wrong and\noppress.\u2019\n\n=Fasting.=\u2014Periodical fasting is prescribed as a lesson in the exercise\nof the subjugation of the senses. Its practical usefulness is most\nperceptible among coarser natures, for whom in reality it was intended as\na measure of discipline of the highest value. \u2018O ye that have believed,\na fast is ordained to you ... that ye may practise piety, a fast of a\ncomputed number of days. But he among you who shall be ailing, or on a\njourney (shall fast) an equal number of other days; and they that are\nable to keep it (and do not) shall make atonement by maintaining a poor\nman.\u2019\n\n=Prohibition of Wine.=\u2014Isl\u00e2m characterises drink as \u2018the mother of all\nwickedness,\u2019 and inebriation, a sin. The prohibition of drunkenness has\nsaved the lower strata of Mussulmans from the degradation and misery\nwhich so constantly meet the eye in Western countries; and from the\ncrimes that are usually committed under its effect. We do not hear of\nparents maddened by drink murdering their offspring; of human beings\nturning into beasts under the influence of liquor.\n\n=Asceticism.=\u2014Men and women are not called upon to abandon the world or\nto practise asceticism in order to attain heavenly life. God has placed\nhuman beings on earth that they may work, do their duty by His creatures,\nand further the Divine purpose. To withdraw oneself from the service of\nman is to forsake the dictates of duty.\n\n=The Dignity of Labour.=\u2014The dignity of labour is recognised in express\nterms; and the man who earns his living by \u2018the sweat of his brow\u2019 is a\nfar better being than one who does not work for his daily sustenance.\n\n=Industry and Thrift.=\u2014Industry and thrift are virtues just as\nextravagance is a sin.\n\n\u2018And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor yet open it with all\nopenness, lest thou sit thee down in rebuke and beggary.\u2019 \u2018And to him who\nis of kin render his due, and also to the poor and to the wayfarer; yet\nwaste not wastefully.\u2019\n\nOstentation and vain display of wealth are as reprehensible as\nniggardliness. \u2018Woe to them that make a show of piety and refuse help\nto the needy.\u2019 \u2018He who spendeth his substance to be seen of men is like\na rock with thin soil over it, whereon the rain falleth and leaveth it\nhard. But they who expend their substance to please God and establish\ntheir souls are like a garden on a hill, on which the rain falleth and\nit yieldeth its fruits twofold; and even if the rain doth not fall,\nyet is there a dew.\u2019 \u2018Give of that which hath been given you before\nthe day cometh when there shall be no trafficking, nor friendship, nor\nintercession.\u2019 \u2018Those who abstain from vanities and the indulgence of\ntheir passions, give alms, offer prayers, and tend well their trusts and\ntheir covenants, these shall be the heirs of eternal happiness.\u2019\n\nHe who makes a provision for himself and for his family performs a\npious act; whilst the person whose thoughts are centred in his personal\nindulgence and present enjoyment is unworthy of God\u2019s favour.\n\n=Envy Reprehended.=\u2014The feeling of envy and the desire of mischief-making\nare condemned in strong terms: \u2018Covet not the gifts by which God hath\nraised some of you above others.\u2019[21] \u2018He who shall mediate between men\nfor a good purpose shall be the gainer by it, but he who shall mediate\nwith an evil mediation shall reap the fruit of it. And God keepeth watch\nover everything.\u2019\n\n=Truthfulness Commanded.=\u2014Truthfulness is prescribed as a commandment\nfrom God. \u2018O ye Moslems, stand fast to justice, when ye bear witness\nbefore God, though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your\nkindred, whether the party be rich or poor. God is nearer than you to\nboth. Therefore follow not passion, lest ye swerve from truth.\u2019\n\n=Justice enjoined on Moslems.=\u2014Justice is emphatically enjoined. \u2018Judge\nbetween men with truth and follow not thy passions.\u2019 \u2018Touch not the goods\nof the orphan.\u2019 \u2018Perform your covenants and walk not proudly on the\nearth.\u2019[22]\n\n=Filial Devotion.=\u2014Filial devotion is placed in the first rank of duties.\n\u2018Defer humbly to your parents; with humility and tenderness say, \u201cO Lord,\nbe merciful to them even as they brought me up when I was helpless.\u201d\u2019\n\u2018Show kindness to your parents, whether one or both of them attain to\nold age with thee; and say not to them \u201cFie,\u201d neither reproach them;\nbut speak to them both with respectful speech and tender affection.\u2019\n\u2018Moreover we have enjoined on man to show kindness to his parents. With\npain his mother beareth him; with pain she bringeth him forth; and he\nsaith, \u201cO my Lord! Stir me up to be grateful for Thy favours wherewith\nThou hast favoured me and my parents, and to do good works which shall\nplease Thee; and prosper me in my offspring: for to Thee am I turned and\nam resigned to Thy will.\u201d\u2019 \u2018Reverence your mothers, be good to parents.\u2019\n\n=Charity.=\u2014Those who are kind and compassionate to their fellow beings\nare the favoured of God. Every act of kindness is charity. \u2018Every soul\nshall bear the good and the evil for which it has laboured; and God will\nburden none beyond his power.\u2019\n\n\u2018Blessed is he who giveth away his substance that he may become pure,\nand who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense ...\nbut only as seeking approval of his Lord the most High.\u2019 \u2018Wouldst thou\nbe taught the _steep_ (path)? It is to ransom the captive, to feed the\nhungry, the kindred, the orphan, and him whose mouth is in the dust.\u2019 \u2018Be\ngood to parents and to kindred and to orphans, and to the poor, and to\na neighbour, whether kinsman, or new comer, and to the slaves whom your\nright hands hold.\u2019\n\n=Pride and Vanity Condemned.=\u2014Pride and vanity are condemned as sins,\nwhilst forgiveness of offences, meekness, and humility are prescribed as\nduties. \u2018Verily God loveth not the proud, the vain boaster\u2019; \u2018Call on\nHim with fear and longing\u2019; \u2018Verily the mercy of God is nigh unto the\nrighteous\u2019; \u2018Turn aside evil with that which is better\u2019; \u2018Be of those who\nenjoin steadfastness and compassion on others\u2019; \u2018Forgiveness and kind\nspeech are better than favours with annoyance\u2019; \u2018Blessed are the patient,\nthe truthful, the lowly, and the charitable ... the forbearing who bridle\ntheir anger and forgive\u2014God loveth those who do good to others\u2019; \u2018The\nservants of the Merciful are they that walk upon the earth softly; and\nwhen the ignorant speak unto them, they reply \u201cPeace\u201d ... those that\ninvoke not with God any other God, and slay not a soul that God hath\nforbidden otherwise than by right; and commit not fornication ... they\nwho bear not witness to that which is false; and when they pass by vain\nsport they pass it by with dignity: who say, \u201cO our Lord, grant us of\nour wives and children such as shall be a comfort unto us, and make us\nexamples unto the pious,\u201d these shall be the rewarded, for that they\npersevered; and they shall be accosted in Paradise with welcome and\nsalutation. For ever therein,\u2014a fair abode and resting-place!\u2019 \u2018Adhere to\nthose who forsake you; speak truth to your own heart; do good to every\none that does ill to you!\u2019\n\nFoulness is forbidden: \u2018Truly my Lord hath forbidden filthy actions,\nwhether open or secret and iniquity and violence\u2019; \u2018Commit not adultery,\nfor it is a foul thing and an evil way\u2019; \u2018Let the believer restrain his\neyes from lust.\u2019\n\nQuarrelsomeness and public and private disturbance are prohibited. \u2018And\ncommit not disorders on the well-ordered earth.\u2019\n\nCharity is not left to individual discretion, it is made part of the\nlegal prescriptions. Every man possessed of income has to contribute a\ncertain proportion of his wealth at the end of the year for the keep of\nthe poor and the distressed.\n\n=Compulsion in Religion Forbidden.=\u2014Compulsion in religion is strictly\nforbidden. \u2018What wilt thou force man to believe when belief can only\ncome from God?\u2019 \u2018Let there be no compulsion in religion.\u2019 Whilst the\nattitude towards other creeds is one of humanity and toleration. \u2018Verily\nthose who believe [the Moslems] and those who are Jews, Christians, or\nSab\u00e6ans, whoever hath faith in God and the last day (future existence),\nand worketh that which is right and good\u2014for them shall be the reward\nwith their Lord; there will come no fear on them; neither shall they be\ngrieved.\u2019\n\n=Human Duty to Animals.=\u2014The new gospel does not overlook in its\nteachings the duties of man towards the dumb creatures of God. Kind\ntreatment of animals and birds is part of the religion, and a provision\nfor their comfort is equal to charity to human beings. \u2018There is no\nbeast on earth nor bird which flieth, but the same is a people like unto\nyou\u2014unto God shall they return.\u2019[23]\n\n=Pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj).=\u2014The ancient shrine of the Kaaba was\nthe honoured memorial of the Arab race. It was the centre of their\nnational life, and its foundation was traced back to Abraham and\nIshmael. Tradition had associated certain rites and ceremonies with\nthe pilgrimages the people of the peninsula were accustomed to make to\nthe Temple. Mohammed gave another meaning to the custom. To keep alive\nthe feeling of brotherhood among the Moslems all over the world and\nperpetuate among the inhabitants of distant lands the memory of the spot\nwhere the great Message was brought to mankind, they were directed,\ncircumstances permitting, to visit the Holy Shrine once in their lives.\nSome of the old ceremonies, shorn of their pagan significance, were\nretained; a few new ones, simple in meaning, were introduced; and the\n_Hajj_ is now the common meeting ground of Moslems of divers races and\ncountries.\n\n=Women.=\u2014Women, to whom most of the older systems assigned a very\ninferior position in relation to the stronger sex, obtained in Isl\u00e2m the\nplace God meant them to occupy in the economy of creation. The right of\npossessing property, of dealing with what was their own, of exercising\nall the privileges and powers which belonged to them as sentient beings,\nwere accorded to them equally with the other sex. Marriage made no\ndifference in their status or capacity. And a Mussulman wife became as\ncompetent to hold property and make dispositions as a single woman. Nor\nwere they denied a share in the patrimony of their parents or kinsfolk\nin favour of their male relations. Marriage was declared \u2018to be an\ninstitution ordained for the protection of society, and in order that\nhuman beings may guard themselves from foulness and unchastity.\u2019\n\n=Polygamy.=\u2014Polygamy was recognised as lawful among all the nations\nof antiquity; and its practice had received the sanction of the holy\npersonages of Judaism. As among the Kulin Brahmins, the Pagan Arabs put\nno limit on the number of wives a man might have. In certain stages of\ndevelopment polygamy is not an evil. The Arabian Prophet, with a true\nconception of the social and moral conditions and necessities of the age\nand the people, dealt with the question in a manner which harmonises with\nthe most advanced standard, and at the same time meets the needs and\nrequirements of the least progressed.\n\nA Mussulman is allowed to marry one, two, three, or four wives, provided\nhe can deal with all of them \u2018with equity.\u2019 If that be not possible he\ncan marry but one.\n\nMany of the best minds of Isl\u00e2m have perceived in this rule a virtual\nprohibition of polygamy. The moral effect of the institution on Mussulman\nsociety as a whole can hardly be ignored: it has prevented the growth in\nMussulman countries, untainted by foreign social ideas, of that class\nwhose existence is alike an outrage on our humanity and a disgrace to\ncivilisation. Considering how the profession of the _hetairai_, honoured\namong some nations, despised among others, but tolerated by most, has\nflourished through all ages, it is no small credit to the Arabian\nTeacher that it was so effectually stopped in Isl\u00e2m.\n\n=Divorce.=\u2014As in the Jewish system, option was given to the husband to\ndissolve the marriage tie. At the same time the act was pronounced to be\n\u2018the most abominable in the sight of the Lord.\u2019\n\n=Bondsmen and Bondswomen.=\u2014Only persons taken in lawful warfare were\npermitted to be held in bondage. The emancipation of bonds-folk was\ndeclared one of the highest acts of piety.[24] And any person who made\na provision for their ransom was the favoured of God. Traffic in human\nbeings was strictly forbidden, and the man who dealt in slaves was\npronounced to be the accursed of God. In a word, human chattelhood is\nunknown in Isl\u00e2m; and the institution which is called \u2018slavery\u2019 in Europe\nand America has no existence in Mohammedan countries. In Isl\u00e2m, parents\nwere not to be separated from children; brothers from brothers, or one\nrelation from another. The Moslem bondsman and bondswoman were members of\nthe master\u2019s family; were on no account to be ill-treated; were to be fed\nand clothed like the masters and mistresses. Once emancipated they could\nintermarry with the master\u2019s sons or daughters. Relations with bondswomen\nwere sanctioned by the Rabbinical Laws. They were common in Christian\ncommunities, and were freely practised in the Southern States of North\nAmerica until very recent times by people who considered themselves and\nwere regarded by many others as highly civilised. Among them the issue of\na slave-woman was for ever a slave: the smallest taint of slave-blood,\nhowever remote, subjected the unfortunate being to be sold as a slave.\nAlthough the system of Mohammed, with the object of avoiding a drastic\nsolution, tolerated relations with bondswomen,\u2014with far greater humanity\nit declared that the issue of such connections were legitimate, and\nthat the bondswoman who bore children to her master was _ipso facto_\nemancipated; that thenceforth she was no more his bondswoman, but \u2018the\nmother of his child.\u2019\n\n=Intellectualism.=\u2014In the domains of intellect the teachings of Isl\u00e2m\ngive every encouragement to the cultivation of the mind and make the\npursuit of knowledge a religious duty. \u2018Acquire knowledge,\u2019 said the\nProphet of Isl\u00e2m, \u2018because he who acquires it, performs an act of piety;\nwho speaks of it, praises the Lord; who seeks it, adores God; who\ndispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and who imparts it to its\nfitting objects, performs an act of devotion to God. Knowledge enables\nits possessor to distinguish what is forbidden from what is not; it\nlights the way to Heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society\nin solitude, our companion when bereft of friends; it guides us to\nhappiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament in the company\nof friends; it serves as an armour against our enemies. With knowledge\nthe servant of God rises to the heights of goodness and to a noble\nposition, associates with the sovereigns of the world, and attains to\nthe perfection of happiness in the next.\u2019 \u2018The ink of the scholar is\nmore holy than the blood of the martyr.\u2019 \u2018He who leaves his home in\nsearch of knowledge walks in the path of God.\u2019 \u2018He who travels in search\nof knowledge, to him God shows the way to Paradise.\u2019 \u2018To listen to the\ninstructions of science and learning for one hour is more meritorious\nthan attending the funerals of a thousand martyrs\u2014more meritorious than\nstanding up in prayer for a thousand nights.\u2019[25]\n\nThis brief summary of the principal teachings of Isl\u00e2m will probably\nenable the reader to form a fairly accurate notion of the aims and\naspirations of the new Gospel and of its work in the elevation of mankind\nin the moral and social scale. But the conception will hardly be clear\nwithout some knowledge of the history of the Teacher or some idea of his\nwonderful and engaging personality.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\n\n=Mohammed.=\u2014Mohammed\u2014the Praised\u2014as his name implies, was born in Mecca\nin the year 570 of the Christian era.[26] The foundation of this city\nlies in the dim past. It was held by many tribes before it came into the\npossession of the Koreish, the noblest of them all. Its famous temple,\nnow the holy shrine of the Kaaba, gave it pre-eminence over all the\ncities of Arabia, and made it the commercial and religious capital of the\npeninsula. At the time of the Prophet\u2019s birth, the government of Mecca\nwas vested in a Decemvirate, of which his grandfather was the chief.\nMohammed\u2019s father died before his birth; his mother when he was only six\nyears old.\n\nThe doubly orphaned child, bereft of all that parental tenderness which\nforms the blessing of early childhood remained in his grandfather\u2019s\ncharge for three years, when the death of the venerable patriarch threw\nhim on the care of his uncle\u2014Ab\u00fb T\u00e2lib. Mohammed spent his youth as a\nmember of Ab\u00fb T\u00e2lib\u2019s family.\n\n=His Love of Solitude and Communion with God.=\u2014Fond of solitude, he spent\nmany an hour in the desert in communion with the mighty living Soul of\nthe Universe. Deeply versed in the language of nature, \u2018the signs of God\u2019\naround him, and the folklore and traditions of the people amongst whom he\nlived, education in the conventional sense of the term he had none. And\nthe proud title of the \u2018Unlearned Prophet\u2019 was ever his.\n\nThus the orphan son of \u00c2mina, the sweet lady with the sweet name, which\nto this day evokes a pathetic remembrance in the heart of every Moslem,\ngrew from infancy to youth, and from youth to manhood with many thoughts\nin his mind, brooding over the moral desolation that surrounded him,\u2014for\nhis people were sunk in the grossest idolatry, wedded to outrageous\npractices, given over to female infanticide. The religion and ways of\ntheir Jewish and Christian neighbours were equally debased, barbarous,\nand inhuman. In early manhood he made two journeys to Syria, where was\nopened before him a page which naturally revolted a sensitive mind. He\nfound Christian sects rending each other to pieces; he saw the effect\nof incessant wars and strifes on the people, their utter misery and\ndegradation. And he returned filled with pity and disgust.\n\n=Marriage with Khad\u00eeja.=\u2014In his twenty-fifth year he married Khad\u00eeja, a\nwidow of noble birth and much wealth, fifteen years his senior in age.\nHis marriage lifted him above the ordinary cares of this world. But\nit did more. It gave him not only a loved wife, but a devoted friend\nwho brought him solace when he needed it most on his return torn and\ndistressed from his solitary meditations; who gave him comfort when\nhunted by his enemies, who ever stood by his side in the darkest hours of\nhis ministry.\n\n=Wins the Title of al-Am\u00een or the Trusty.=\u2014For fifteen years he\nthus lived leading a life which won him the love and respect of his\ntowns-folk, who, in their admiration for his character, bestowed on him\nthe title of _al-Am\u00een_\u2014the Trusty. He spent most of his time in solitude,\nin meditation, and musing. When \u2018the Call\u2019 came he was frightened.\nReturning to his wife he told her the story of his vision, of his agony\nat the thought that he was losing his mind. Her belief that he was to be\nthe destined Messenger of God to his people was balm to his heart; and\nbrought back the faith, the hope, the trust in God\u2019s merciful Providence\nand love for mankind. One night, when lying wrapt in thought, the Voice\nof God spoke to his soul in unmistakable notes.\n\nHenceforth his life is a record of unceasing struggle to reclaim the\nKoreish and the surrounding people from idolatry and the practices of\nheathenism, to teach them their duty to God and man. The first to accept\nhis mission were his beloved wife, his cousin Ali, the son of Ab\u00fb T\u00e2lib,\nhis uncle, the brave and chivalrous Hamza, the faithful Ab\u00fb Bakr, and\nseveral other men and women who knew him intimately and loved and revered\nhim. Most of them were people of position, wealth, and intelligence;\nothers were simple, honest folk in the lower walks of life.[27] They\nwere followed by Omar, at one time a staunch opponent, but after his\nconversion a pillar of strength to the new Faith.\n\n=Beginning of Persecution.=\u2014Mohammed\u2019s preachings evoked a furious\noutburst of persecution against him and his followers, but he did not\nfalter in his purpose or flinch from the task God had imposed on him.\nWhen the sufferings of his disciples became unbearable, he advised them\nto seek refuge in the kingdom of the Negus, of whose tolerance and\nhospitality he had heard reports. Some immediately availed themselves of\nthe advice and betook themselves to Abyssinia. But Koreishite hostility\npursued them even here. When the Meccan envoys arrived to demand the\ndelivery of the refugees, that they might be put to death for abjuration\nof their old religion, the Negus sent for the exiles and asked them\nwhether the charge was true. The reply of the brother of Ali, who was\nspokesman, is memorable in the history of Isl\u00e2m. \u2018O king, we were\nplunged in the depth of ignorance and barbarism; we adored idols, we\nlived in unchastity; we ate dead bodies and we spoke abominations; we\ndisregarded every feeling of humanity and the duties of hospitality and\nneighbourhood; we knew no law but that of the strong, when God raised\namong us a man of whose birth, truthfulness, honesty, and purity we\nwere aware; and he called us to the Unity of God, and taught us not to\nassociate anything with Him; he forbade us the worship of idols; and\nenjoined us to speak the truth, to be faithful to our trusts, to be\nmerciful and to regard the rights of neighbours; he forbade us to speak\nevil of women, or to eat the substance of orphans; he ordered us to fly\nfrom vices and to abstain from evil; to offer prayers, to render alms, to\nobserve the fast. We have believed in him; we accept his teachings and\nhis injunctions to worship God and not to associate anything with Him.\nFor this reason our people have risen against us, have persecuted us in\norder to make us forego the worship of God and to return to the worship\nof idols of wood and stone and other abominations. They have tortured us\nand injured us, until finding no safety among them we have come to thy\ncountry.\u2019\n\nWhilst his disciples were seeking shelter in distant lands, Mohammed\nremained steadfast at his post. Undeterred by the cruelties to which\nhe was subjected, he preached unceasingly amongst the Meccans and the\noutsiders who came to the city on business or pilgrimage. He adjured them\n\u2018by the noon-day brightness, by the night when she spreadeth her veil, by\nthe day when it appeareth in glory,\u2019 by all the manifestations of nature\nas the evidences of God, to abandon their evil ways and abominations. He\ntold them of \u2018the day of reckoning when the deeds done by man in this\nworld shall be weighed before the Eternal Judge, when the children who\nhad been buried alive shall be asked for what crime they had been put\nto death, and when Heaven and Earth shall be folded up and none be near\nbut God.\u2019[28] The Koreish came several times to tempt him from his duty.\nThey offered him wealth, even to make him their king, to induce him to\ndesist from attacking their ancient deities and their old institutions.\nHis refusal to listen to their messages made them still more furious.\n\n=Is Driven out of T\u00e2yef.=\u2014Finding the Koreish obdurate, he proceeded to\nthe neighbouring city of T\u00e2yef, hoping to find the people there more\nwilling to give heed to his preachings. He found them even more bigoted\nthan the Meccans; they pelted him with stones and drove him from their\nmidst. Wounded and bleeding, Mohammed returned to pursue his mission in\nhis native city. His persistence led the Koreish to plan his murder. In\nthe meantime came an invitation to him from the rival city of Yathreb\nto the north, some of whose inhabitants had already accepted Isl\u00e2m. And\nthere he and his followers betook themselves for safety.\n\n=The Hegira.=\u2014On the 16th of July 622 A.C. the Prophet, accompanied by\nAb\u00fb Bakr, left Mecca; and after three days wandering attended with many\ndangers from the pursuing Koreish, enraged at his escape, they reached\nYathreb. This is the _Hijrat_, the exile of the Prophet.\n\nBefore this happened, the devoted and loving Khad\u00eeja had died. She had\nborne him several children: the sons all died in infancy. Three daughters\nsurvived. The youngest, F\u00e2tima (_az-zahra_\u2014the Beautiful), \u2018Our Lady,\u2019\nmarried Ali, and from her are descended the nobility of Isl\u00e2m, the\n\u2018Syeds\u2019 and \u2018Sherifs.\u2019[29]\n\n=Mohammed at Med\u00eena.=\u2014At Yathreb the Teacher was received with wonderful\nenthusiasm; the city changed its name and was henceforth the City of the\nProphet\u2014_Med\u00eenat-un-Nabi_, or shortly Med\u00eena. Special homes were allotted\nto the exiles\u2014the _Muh\u00e2jir\u00een_; whilst the Medinites received the noble\ndesignation of Helpers\u2014the _Ans\u00e2r_. A new brotherhood was created which\nunited the Exiles and the Helpers by a tie stronger than the tie of\nblood\u2014as many a later page in the history of Isl\u00e2m proves.\n\n=Mohammed\u2019s Charter.=\u2014Mohammed was now not merely a prophet, a preacher\nof glad tidings, but the unanimously elected chief magistrate of a\nprosperous city. His first act was to issue a charter defining the\nduties of the citizens, and the obligations of the allied Jews who lived\nin the neighbourhood, forbidding intestine warfare and bloodshed which\nhad hitherto torn Yathreb to pieces, and requiring all disputes to be\nreferred to the decision of the Prophet.[30]\n\n=Beginning of the Commonwealth of Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014This was the beginning of the\nCommonwealth of Isl\u00e2m. A humble, unpretentious place of worship was\nerected where Mohammed preached to enthusiastic throngs on charity,\nbrotherhood, and the duty man owed to God and his fellow creatures.\n\nIn conjunction with other tribes the Meccans made several attempts to\ncapture Med\u00eena. They even seduced the neighbouring Jews to assist in\nthe design. The attacks were repulsed, and the safety of Med\u00eena and the\nprogress of the new Gospel were permanently assured. The refractory and\ntreacherous Jewish clans were ordered to quit the Medinite territories;\none which had nearly brought destruction on the Moslems was more severely\ndealt with. Expeditions were now sent out to repress the raids of hostile\ntribes, and to punish crimes against unoffending people. They were\nenjoined \u2018in no case to use deceit or perfidy, or to kill a woman or\na child.\u2019 They were told, \u2018in avenging the injuries inflicted upon us,\nmolest not the harmless inmates of domestic seclusion, spare the weakness\nof the female sex, injure not the infant at the breast or those who are\nill in bed. Abstain from demolishing the dwellings of the unresisting\ninhabitants; destroy not the means of their subsistence, nor their fruit\ntrees, and touch not the palm.\u2019\n\n=Charter to the Christians.=\u2014In the ninth year of the Hegira, the Prophet\ngranted to the Christians a charter which forms one of the noblest\nmonuments of enlightened tolerance: \u2018To the Christians of Najr\u00e2n and\nthe neighbouring territories the security of God and the pledge of\nHis Prophet are extended for their lives, their religion, and their\nproperty\u2014to the present as well as the absent and others besides; there\nshall be no interference with [the practice of] their faith or their\nobservances; nor any change in their rights or privileges; no bishop\nshall be removed from his bishopric; nor any monk from his monastery,\nnor any priest from his priesthood, and they shall continue to enjoy\neverything great and small as heretofore; no image or cross shall be\ndestroyed; they shall not oppress or be oppressed; they shall not\npractise the rights of blood vengeance as in the Days of Ignorance;[31]\nno tithes shall be levied from them, nor shall they be required to\nfurnish provision for the troops.\u2019\n\n=Truce with the Meccans.=\u2014After great difficulty, a truce of ten years\nwas concluded with the Meccans. The Exiles seized the occasion to perform\nthe time-honoured pilgrimage to the Kaaba. To avoid coming in contact\nwith the hated Faithful, the heathen Koreish retired to the hills, whence\nthey watched the large concourse that came with the Prophet to visit\nthe Holy Shrine. The simple dignity and benevolence of Mohammed, the\nquietness and purity of behaviour of his followers perceptibly affected\nthe Koreish; and before he left Mecca many came and accepted the Faith.\nThe same old pledge which had been exacted from the early converts was\ntaken from them. \u2018They would not associate anything with God; they would\nnot commit larceny, adultery, or infanticide; they would not utter\nfalsehood, nor speak evil.\u2019\n\n=Embassies to Heraclius and the Chosroes.=\u2014On his return from the\npilgrimage, Mohammed sent envoys to Heraclius the Emperor of the Greeks,\nand to the Chosroes of Persia to invite them to Isl\u00e2m. Heraclius\nreturned a polite reply; whilst the proud Persian tore the missive to\npieces and drove the messenger from his presence with contumely. \u2018Thus\nwill the empire of the Khusr\u00fb [the Chosroes] be torn asunder,\u2019 remarked\nthe Prophet on hearing of the incident. The fate of Persia is engraved on\nthe pages of history.[32]\n\nHardly a year was over before the Meccans broke the truce by murdering a\nnumber of tribesmen allied to the Medinites. The reign of iniquity had\nlasted long enough, and the time had arrived when the paganism of Mecca\nshould come to an end.\n\n=Conquest of Mecca.=\u2014In 630 A.C. the Prophet marched with ten thousand\nmen on the city from which he and his followers had been so cruelly\ndriven only nine years before. The proud Koreish were thoroughly\ndemoralised at the rapid approach of the Moslems and offered slight\nresistance. The people who had pursued Mohammed with unrelenting hatred,\nhad subjected him and his followers to a fierce persecution, and had\nall this time endeavoured by every means to compass their destruction,\nwere now at his mercy. But in the moment of the Faith\u2019s triumph every\ninjury was forgotten, and the Koreish were treated with a kindness and\ngenerosity which have but few parallels in history. Not a house was\nrobbed, not a citizen molested. The idols of the nation were, however,\nrelentlessly struck down. Weeping the heathens stood round, fully hoping\nthat the sacrilegious Moslems would be overwhelmed with some dire\ncalamity. But as one idol after another fell to pieces and no help came\nfrom outside to stop the hands of the iconoclasts, they felt the force of\nthe words at which they were used to scoff: \u2018Truth has come and falsehood\nvanisheth, for verily it is evanescent.\u2019 And they adopted Isl\u00e2m in a body.\n\n=Year of Deputations.=\u2014The ninth year of the Hegira is famous in\nthe annals of Isl\u00e2m for the number of deputations that arrived at\nMed\u00eena from all quarters to accept the Faith. They were received with\nconsideration and treated with hospitality. A written treaty guaranteeing\nthe privileges of the tribes was always granted to the deputies, who\nwent back to their homes accompanied by a disciple to teach the newly\nconverted people the duties of Isl\u00e2m. To the missionaries whom he sent\nto the provinces, Mohammed always gave the following admonition. \u2018Deal\ngently with the people, and be not harsh, cheer them, and contemn them\nnot. And ye will meet with many people of the Book[33] who will question\nthee, \u2018What is the key to Heaven?\u2019 Reply to them, \u2018The key to Heaven is\nto testify to the truth of God, and to do good work.\u2019\n\n=The Final Pilgrimage.=\u2014In the year 632 A.C., Mohammed, accompanied by\nover one hundred thousand of his followers, made a final pilgrimage to\nthe Kaaba.\n\n=The Sermon on the Mount.=\u2014On this occasion standing on the Mount of\nAraf\u00e2t he delivered to the vast multitude his famous sermon, only part of\nwhich has been preserved:\u2014\n\n\u2018Ye people! listen to my words, for I know not whether another year will\nbe vouchsafed to me after this year to find myself amongst you. Your\nlives and property are sacred and inviolable amongst one another until\nye appear before the Lord, as this day and this month is sacred for all;\nand remember ye shall have to appear before your Lord, who shall demand\nfrom you an account of all your actions. Ye people, ye have rights over\nyour wives, and your wives have rights over you ... treat your wives with\nkindness ... verily ye have taken them on the security of God, and made\nthem lawful unto you by the words of God.\n\n\u2018And your bondsmen and bondswomen. See that ye feed them with such food\nas ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the stuff ye wear; and if they\ncommit a fault which ye are not inclined to forgive, then part from them,\nfor they are the servants of the Lord, and are not to be harshly treated.\n\n\u2018Ye people! listen to my words, and understand the same. Know that all\nMoslems are brothers unto one another. Ye are one brotherhood. Nothing\nwhich belongs to another is lawful unto his brother, unless freely given\nout of good will. Guard yourselves from committing injustice.\n\n\u2018Let him that is present tell it unto him that is absent. Haply he that\nshall be told may remember better than he who hath heard it.\u2019\n\n=The Last Days of the Prophet.=\u2014On his return to Med\u00eena he settled\nthe organisation of the provinces and the tribal communities. Whilst\ndelegates were despatched to every quarter to teach the people the\nprinciples and duties of the Faith, to put an end to blood-feud,\ninfanticide, and the practices of heathenism.\n\nThe stress and strain of twenty-five years\u2019 incessant labour was now\ntelling on a constitution which was by no means robust. Ever since he\nhad come to Med\u00eena he had been engaged in an unceasing struggle with\npaganism, a struggle in which was involved the very existence of the\nlittle community over whom he was called to preside\u2014a struggle from\nwhich, says the Moslem, divine help alone enabled him to emerge with\nsafety. At the end, when success had crowned his ministry, and he saw\nthe hosts of Arabia flocking to the fold of God, it left him exhausted;\nhe felt that his work was finished and the end was near. Had it not been\ntold him, \u2018When thou seest men enter in hosts the religion of God, then\nutter thou the praise of thy Lord and implore His pardon, for He loveth\nto turn in mercy to those who seek Him.\u2019[34] The poison given to him\nsome years before by a Jewess was also undermining the system. But up\nto the last he maintained his usual calmness and serenity of mind; and\nofficiated at the public prayers until within three days of his death.\nThe last time he appeared at the public service amidst the tears and\nsobs of the people, he recommended to all the observance of religious\nduties, and the practice of peace and good-will. He implored Heaven\u2019s\nmercy for all those present, and all who had fallen in the persecution\nof their enemies, and concluded with the following words of the Koran,\n\u2018The dwelling of the other life we will give unto them who do not seek\nto exalt themselves on earth or to do wrong; for the happy issue shall\nattend the pious.\u2019\n\nThe exertion, however, was too much for the feeble frame, and on his\nreturn to his apartments he lay down fainting on his bed, never to rise\nagain.\n\n=Death of the Prophet, 632 A.C.=\u2014On Monday the 8th of June 632 A.C.,\nwhilst praying in whispers, the spirit of the Prophet took flight to \u2018the\nblessed companionship on high,\u2019 the last words which fell from his lips.\n\nThus disappeared from the scene one of the greatest, if not in very truth\nthe greatest, of God\u2019s servants, who have lived and worked for the good\nof mankind. He found the bulk of his own people sunk in the grossest\nfetishism, decimated by tribal feuds, addicted to infanticide and the\nworst forms of pagan practices. Here and there individuals had broken\naway from the old cults, but were still groping in darkness in search\nof the road to truth and salvation, unsatisfied spirits to whom neither\nJudaism nor Christianity brought any solution to the enigmas of life.\n\nIn less than a decade he not only stamped out the pagan ways and habits\nwhich held the heart of Arabia, but infused into his folk a new life,\nimparted to them a new conception of duty, of moral responsibilities of\nwhich they had been wholly devoid before. The beneficence of his work\nwas not confined to his own countrymen. His words revived the religious\nspirit of surrounding nations, whose moral abasement was equally\ndeplorable.\n\n=Mohammed\u2019s Character.=\u2014Mohammed\u2019s character has been described by many\nhands in the West, mostly hostile. The picture is naturally not always\nfriendly. People do not easily put aside prejudices born of centuries\nof political and religious antagonism. It may, therefore, be of some\ninterest to know the estimate of the Arabian Teacher formed by his\nimmediate followers and disciples, many of whom were unquestionably men\nof great intelligence and moral vigour, who readily sacrificed for his\nTeachings, at a time when he was only a humble and persecuted preacher,\nwealth, position, and influence, and who, by their character and\nenvironment, were not likely to be influenced by light or common worldly\nmotives.\n\nHis singular elevation of mind, his extreme delicacy and refinement of\nfeeling, his purity and truth, form the constant theme of the traditions.\nCourteous to the great, affable to the humble, indulgent to his\ninferiors, he won the love and admiration of all with whom he came in\ncontact.\n\nThe humble preacher had risen to be the arbiter of the destinies of a\nnation, but the same humility of spirit, the same nobility of soul,\nausterity of conduct and stern devotion to duty, which had won him\nfrom his compatriots the designation of _al-Am\u00een_, ever formed the\ndistinguishing traits of his character. Whilst the virtual ruler of\nArabia, the equal of Chosroes and the C\u00e6sars, \u2018he visited the sick,\nfollowed any bier he met, accepted the invitation of the lowliest, mended\nhis own clothes, milked his goats, and waited upon himself.\u2019\n\n\u2018He never first withdrew his hand out of another\u2019s clasp and turned not\nbefore the other had turned. His hand was the most generous, his breast\nthe most courageous, his tongue the most truthful; those who saw him were\nfilled with reverence, those who came near him loved him. Modesty and\nkindness, patience, self-denial, and generosity pervaded his conduct and\nriveted the affections of all round him. With the bereaved and afflicted\nhe sympathised tenderly ... he would stop in the streets listening to the\nsorrows of the humblest. He would go to the houses of the lowliest to\nconsole the stricken and comfort the heartbroken.\u2019[35]\n\n\u2018There is something so tender and womanly and withal so heroic about\nthe man,\u2019 says Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, \u2018that one is in peril of finding\nthe judgment unconsciously blinded by the feeling of reverence and\nwell nigh love that such a nature inspires. He who, standing alone,\nbraved for years the hatred of his people, is the same who was never\nthe first to withdraw his hand from another\u2019s clasp; the beloved of\nchildren, who never passed a group of little ones without a smile from\nhis wonderful eyes and a kind word for them, sounding all the kinder in\nthat sweet-toned voice. The frank friendship, the noble generosity, the\ndauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt criticism in\nadmiration.\u2019\n\n\u2018He was an enthusiast, in that noblest sense when enthusiasm becomes the\nsalt of the earth, the one thing that keeps men from rotting whilst they\nlive.... He was an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thing needed to\nset the world aflame, and his enthusiasm was noble for a noble cause. He\nwas one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making\none great truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the One\nGod; and never to his life\u2019s end did he forget who he was, or the message\nwhich was the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings to his people\nwith a grand dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high office,\ntogether with the most sweet humility, whose roots lay in the knowledge\nof his own weakness.\u2019\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\n\n=Isl\u00e2m after Mohammed.=\u2014Nothing gives a better idea of the hold Mohammed\npossessed over the hearts of his people than their sorrow when he lay\nsick and dying, or the outburst of grief which rent the city at the news\nof his death. At first they could hardly believe that the Master who had\nled them from darkness into light, from death unto life, could really\nbe subject to the same laws as other beings. The words of the venerable\nAb\u00fb Bakr allayed the excitement: \u2018Mussulmans,\u2019 said he, \u2018if you adored\nMohammed, know that Mohammed is dead; if it is God that you adore, know\nthat He liveth, He never dies. Forget not this verse of the Koran,\n\u201cMohammed is only a man charged with a Mission; before him there have\nbeen men who received the heavenly mission and died\u201d; nor this verse,\n\u201cThou too, Mohammed, shall die as others have died before thee.\u201d\u2019\n\nA great fabric had been built up, under divine guidance, by a\nmaster-mind; its foundations were laid in the conscience of mankind. But\nIsl\u00e2m was yet in its infancy, at the mercy of hostile forces bent on its\ndestruction. To keep alive the Faith and maintain intact the structure\nraised by him, it was necessary to elect, with all despatch, a successor\nto the Prophet.\n\n=Election of Ab\u00fb Bakr as the Prophet\u2019s Vicegerent.=\u2014The choice fell on\nAb\u00fb Bakr, who, by virtue of his age and position in Mecca, held a high\nplace in the estimation of the Arabs.\n\n=His Allocution.=\u2014After his election the venerable patriarch addressed\nthe following allocution to the people: \u2018Ye people! now verily I am\ncharged with the cares of government over you, although I am not the\nbest amongst you. I need all your advice and all your help. If I do\nwell, support me; if I mistake, counsel me. To tell truth to a person\ncommissioned to rule is faithful allegiance; to conceal it is perfidy.\nIn my sight the powerful and the weak are alike, and to both I wish to\nrender justice.... Wherefore obey ye me, even as I obey the Lord and His\napostle: if I neglect the laws of God and the Prophet, I have no more\nright to your obedience.\u2019\n\n=Revolt of the Tribes.=\u2014No sooner was the death of the Prophet bruited\nabroad than the tribes who had only recently adopted Isl\u00e2m broke out in\nrevolt. The discipline of Isl\u00e2m and its rules and principles were too\nirksome to them. They repudiated their adhesion to the new religion and\nreverted to paganism. Med\u00eena was hemmed in again by surging hordes of\nangry idolaters. Undaunted by his own danger, the aged Caliph sped on the\nexpedition to Syria the Prophet had prepared to seek reparation for the\nmurder of the Moslem envoy. Before sending them forth on their distant\nerrand, in the spirit of the Master, he gave to the captain of his army\nthe following injunction:\u2014\n\n=His Injunction to the Troops.=\u2014\u2018See that thou avoidest treachery,\ninjustice, and oppression. Depart not in any wise from the right. Thou\nshalt mutilate none, neither shalt thou kill child or aged man, nor any\nwoman. Destroy no palm-tree, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut not down\nany tree wherein is food for man or beast. Slay not the flocks or herds\nor camels, saving for needful sustenance. When thou makest a covenant,\nstand to it, and be as good as thy word. Ye may eat of the meat which\nthe men of the land shall bring unto you in their vessels, making\nmention thereon of the name of the Lord. As you go on you will find\nsome religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to\nthemselves to serve God that way: let them alone, and neither kill them\nnor destroy their monasteries. And the monks with shaven heads, if they\nsubmit, leave them unmolested. Now march forward in the name of the Lord,\nand may He protect you from sword and pestilence!\u2019\n\nHow different this sounds to the command given to the ancient Jews: \u2018Now\ngo and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and spare\nthem not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep,\ncamel and ass.\u2019[36]\n\nThe Moslems believed in the righteousness of their cause, and in divine\nhelp in defence of their Faith; they were surrounded by formidable\nenemies; the very existence of their new life depended on their energy\nand self-sacrifice, but trust in God and enthusiasm led them to victory.\nThe Syrians received a well-merited chastisement, whilst the revolted\ntribes were beaten back and gradually reduced to submission. Within the\nspace of a few months the entire peninsula acknowledged once more the\ncreed of Isl\u00e2m.\n\n=Death of Ab\u00fb Bakr and Election of Omar.=\u2014Ab\u00fb Bakr held the reins of\noffice for less than two years. He died on the 22nd August 634 A.C., and\nthe great Omar was elected to the vicegerency of the Prophet.\n\n=War with Persia\u2014Its Cause.=\u2014The pacification of the north-eastern\ncorner of Arabia brought the Moslems into collision with the kingdom\nof Hira, a feudatory state subject to Persia. The raids from Hira led\nto an expedition into that country which ended in its annexation. The\nsubjugation of Hira and Chald\u00e6a brought the Persian forces into the field.\n\n=Battle of K\u00e2dessia, 636 A.C.=\u2014The king of Persia was not willing to let\na valuable part of his kingdom go into the hands of the despised Arabs.\nHis pride was broken on the field of K\u00e2dessia.\n\nOne of the first acts of the new Caliph was to prohibit any expedition\nbeyond the Zagros Mountains, which he considered should always form\nthe boundary between the Caliphate and the Persian dominions; but the\nsubjects of the King of Kings had not laid to heart the lessons of\nK\u00e2dessia, and harassed the Moslem territories by constant raids. The\nCaliph was compelled to withdraw his prohibition, and an army marched\ninto Persia.\n\n=Battle of Neh\u00e2wand, 642 A.C.=\u2014The battle of Neh\u00e2wand shattered for ever\nthe empire of the Chosroes. \u2018The administration of Persia was regulated\nby an actual survey of the people, the cattle, and the fruits of the\nearth; and this monument which attests the vigilance of the Caliphs might\nhave instructed the philosophers of every age.\u2019[37]\n\nA similar survey was made, under the Caliph\u2019s orders, of Chald\u00e6a and\nMesopotamia; peasants and proprietors alike were guaranteed in the\npossession of their lands and in the free enjoyment of their religion;\nthe assessment was revised, and a network of canals for the improvement\nof irrigation was taken in hand.\n\n=War with Byzantium.=\u2014In the west the defeat of the Syrians had led\nHeraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, to send large armies to drive back the\nArabs.\n\n=Battle of Yermuk, Aug. 634 A.C.\u2014Battle of Ajn\u00e2din, 636 A.C.=\u2014The\nvictories of Yermuk and Ajn\u00e2din put an end to Byzantine rule in Syria.\n\n=Capitulation of Jerusalem.=\u2014Jerusalem submitted to the Caliph in person.\nTravelling with a single attendant, without escort and without any pomp\nor ceremony, Omar arrived at J\u00e2bia, where he was met by a deputation\nof Christian notables. To them he accorded the free exercise of their\nreligion, and the possession of their churches, subject to a light tax.\nAccompanied by the deputation, he proceeded towards Jerusalem, where he\nwas received by Sophronius the Patriarch. The Chief of Isl\u00e2m and the\nhead of the Christians entered the sacred city together, conversing on\nits antiquities. The Caliph declined to perform his devotions in the\nchurch where he chanced to be at the hour of prayer, \u2018for,\u2019 he said to\nthe Patriarch, \u2018had I done so, the Mussulmans in a future age might have\ninfringed the treaty under colour of imitating my example.\u2019[38]\n\nThe critics of Isl\u00e2m have indulged in many theories to explain the\nmarvellous victories of the Moslems over such great powers as Byzantium\nand Persia. \u2018Rhetorical expressions about the decaying condition of both\nempires and the youthful energies of the Moslems are unsatisfying to the\ninquirer who keeps the concrete facts before him.\u2019[39] \u2018Both Byzantium\nand Persia had at their command genuine soldiers regularly armed and\ndisciplined. The traditions of Roman warfare were not yet entirely lost,\nand the Persians still possessed their dreaded cuirassiers, before whom,\nin better times, even the armies of Rome had often fled.... The Emperor\nHeraclius was certainly the greatest man who had held the empire since\nConstantine and Julian. He was an astute diplomatist, a very competent\ngeneral, and, as a soldier, bold even to rashness.\u2019 How was it then that\n\u2018the wretchedly armed Arabs, fighting not in regularly organised military\ndivisions, but by families and clans, and under leaders who never before\nhad faced disciplined troops,\u2019 shattered the armies of both Chosroes and\nC\u00e6sar? And be it noted that in every battle\u2014at K\u00e2dessia, at Neh\u00e2wand,\nYermuk, and Ajn\u00e2din\u2014they were outnumbered sometimes as six to one.[40]\nThe Moslem explanation is Biblical in its simplicity: \u2018God took the\nheart out of the polytheists.\u2019 The Christian historian offers divers\nexplanations, \u2018yet the phenomenon continues mysterious as before.\u2019[41]\n\nThe conquest of Persia had brought to Med\u00eena many Magian fanatics\ndesirous of avenging on the Caliph the fall of their country. The\nsimplicity of life led by Omar and the utter absence of guards and\nattendants favoured their design. One day, whilst sitting as usual in\nthe mosque listening to the petitions of the people, he was attacked and\nmortally wounded by one of them.\n\n=Death of Omar, 644 A.C.=\u2014His death was an irreparable loss to Isl\u00e2m.\nHis knowledge of the character of his people, his extraordinary breadth\nof vision, his sagacity and vigour of mind, enabled him to exercise an\ninfluence over the Arabs which none of his successors ever achieved.\n\n=Election of Osm\u00e2n.=\u2014An aged member of the family of Ommeya,[42] named\nOsm\u00e2n, was now elected to the vacant chair.\n\n=His Death, 656 A.C.=\u2014His partiality for and favouritism towards his\nkinsfolk gave rise to a mutiny in which he lost his life.\n\n=Conquest of Egypt under Osm\u00e2n.=\u2014During Osm\u00e2n\u2019s Caliphate Byzantine\nincursions from Alexandria into Syria had led the Moslem Government to\ndespatch an expedition into Egypt, which completed its conquest in two\nbattles. The addition of Northern Africa beyond Egypt was due to similar\ncauses. The same destiny which led the English from Bengal to the Punjab,\nand still leads them on in Nigeria, led the Arabs from the confines of\nEgypt to the shores of the Atlantic.\n\nOn Osm\u00e2n\u2019s tragical death, Ali, the cousin of the Prophet and the husband\nof his daughter F\u00e2tima, was elected to the Caliphate. The legitimate heir\nto the spiritual headship of Isl\u00e2m, as a temporal chief, Ali came before\nhis time. Chivalrous, brave, and gifted, his humanity and gentleness\nwere mistaken for weakness; and his short government was disturbed by\nrebellions. The first was suppressed without difficulty; whilst engaged\nin dealing with the second, headed by Mu\u00e2wiyah, a kinsman of Osm\u00e2n, who\nheld the governorship of Syria, Ali was assassinated by a zealot, one\nof a body who wanted to bring peace to Isl\u00e2m by the murder of both the\nCaliph and the rebel governor.\n\n=Death of Ali, 661 A.C.=\u2014The latter escaped, but Ali fell a victim to\ntheir fanaticism.\n\nOn the murder of Ali his eldest son, Hassan, was elected to the\nCaliphate, but, fond of ease, he was easily induced to renounce the\ndignity in favour of Mu\u00e2wiyah.\n\n=Accession of the Ommeyades to Power.=\u2014With the death of Ali and the\nrenunciation of Hassan came to an end the Republic of Isl\u00e2m. Up to this\ntime the office of Caliph was elective, and the government essentially\ndemocratic. Mu\u00e2wiyah, whilst retaining the form of election, made it in\nreality hereditary and autocratic. The seat of government was removed\nfrom Med\u00eena to Damascus, where the head of the state surrounded himself\nby Syrian mercenaries.\n\n=The Butchery of Kerbela\u2014The Martyrdom of Hussain.=\u2014Mu\u00e2wiyah died in 680\nA.C., and was succeeded by his son Yez\u00eed, the Domitian of the Arabs.\nHussain, the second son of the Caliph Ali, had never acknowledged the\ntitle of Yez\u00eed, whose vices he despised and whose character he abhorred;\nand when the Moslems of Mesopotamia invited him to release them from\nthe Ommeyade yoke he felt it his duty to respond to their appeal.\nAccompanied by his family and a few retainers he left for Ir\u00e2k. On the\nway, at a place called Kerbela, on the western bank of the Euphrates,\nthey were overtaken by an Ommeyade army, and, after a heroic struggle,\nlasting over several days, were all slaughtered save the women and a\nsickly child, also named Ali, who were carried as captives to Damascus.\n\nThe butchery of Kerbela caused a thrill of horror throughout Isl\u00e2m, and\ngave birth in Persia to an undying national sentiment.[43]\n\n=Conquest of Spain, 712 A.C.=\u2014Under Walid the fifth sovereign of this\nfamily, Spain was conquered and added to the Caliphate. The seventh\nOmmeyade ruler was the pious Omar II., deservedly called the Marcus\nAurelius of the Arabs.\n\nThe Ommeyades held the reins of government for nearly ninety years.\n\n=The Rise of the House of Abb\u00e2s.=\u2014In the middle of the eighth century\nof the Christian era Western Asia was the scene of a great revolution,\nwhich resulted in the downfall of the Ommeyades. The revolt was headed by\na descendant of Abb\u00e2s, an uncle of the Prophet. The contest between the\nOmmeyades and Abbassides reminds us, in its bitterness and cruelty, of\nthe later quarrel between the White and the Red Rose of England.\n\n=Foundation of the Ommeyade Caliphate in Spain, 756 A.C.=\u2014The Abbassides\nwere successful and the Ommeyades were practically annihilated. Only\none solitary scion of this ill-fated family escaped to Spain, where he\nfounded the brilliant empire of Cordova. The Abbassides held the Eastern\nCaliphate with its seat in Bagdad from 756 A.C. to 1258 A.C.\n\n=Destruction of Bagdad.=\u2014When Bagdad was destroyed by the Mongols, a\nmember of the Abbasside family succeeded in escaping to Cairo. Here he\nwas recognised as Caliph by the Sultan of Egypt, and was surrounded by\nall the dignity attached to the pontifical office. The eighth Pontiff,\nby a formal act, renounced the Caliphate in favour of Sultan Selim, the\ngreat Ottoman conqueror.\n\n=The Title of the Ottoman Caliphs.=\u2014The title of the Sultans of Turkey to\nthe spiritual headship of Isl\u00e2m is based on this renunciation, and on the\npossession by them of the seal, mantle, and staff of the Prophet; and\ntheir claim is recognised as valid by the whole of the Sunni world.\n\n=Mans\u00fbr, the second Abbasside Caliph.=\u2014The first eight Caliphs of the\nhouse of Abb\u00e2s were men of great ability and force of character. Mans\u00fbr,\nthe second sovereign, was the real founder of the Abbasside polity and\nsystem of administration, which became in after years the model for all\ncivilised Mussulman States, and which were copied in later times by the\nChristian countries of Europe.\n\n=H\u00e2r\u00fbn-ar-Rash\u00eed and M\u00e2m\u00fbn.=\u2014Under H\u00e2r\u00fbn-ar-Rash\u00eed, the hero of the\n_Arabian Nights_, and his son M\u00e2m\u00fbn the Caliphate of Bagdad attained its\nzenith. It was indeed the Augustan age of the Arabs. But the achievements\nof the Moslems in the domain of intellect extend over the whole period\nduring which the Abbassides exercised their suzerainty over Western Asia\nand Egypt.\n\n=The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain.=\u2014The Empire founded in Spain by the\nOmmeyade Abdur Rahm\u00e2n, surnamed _D\u00e2khil_ (the \u2018Enterer\u2019), rivalled that\nof Bagdad in the glory of arms and learning. The eighth sovereign of this\ndynasty, Abdur Rahm\u00e2n (an-N\u00e2sir), who assumed the title and dignity of\nCaliph, was the most gifted monarch who has ever ruled over Spain. With\nthe disintegration of the Cordovan Caliphate, in the eleventh century\nof the Christian era, the country split up into several small kingdoms,\nuntil they were re-united under the \u00e6gis of the Almoravide monarchs of\nNorth Africa.[44]\n\n=The Fatimide Caliphate of North Africa.=\u2014In the beginning of the tenth\ncentury, a descendant of Ali, Obaidullah, surnamed _al-Mahdi_ (the\n\u2018Guide\u2019), founded the great Fatimide Empire of Northern Africa.\n\nThe Fatimides conquered Sicily and Calabria and held Genoa for a\nconsiderable time. They were not only redoubtable conquerors but lavish\npatrons of learning, arts, and sciences. They established colleges,\npublic libraries, and scientific institutes. To the central scientific\ninstitute at Cairo[45] was attached a grand Lodge for initiating\ncandidates into the esoteric doctrines of _Ismailism_.[46] This Lodge\nbecame the model of all the lodges created afterwards in Asia and\nEurope. Among the Druses of Lebanon who follow this cult, the sixth\nFatimide Caliph, the eccentric al-Hakam, believed by them to be still\nalive, receives divine honours.\n\nWith the death of the fourteenth sovereign of this house and the\nassumption of power in Egypt by Saladin[47] the Fatimide dynasty\ndisappeared from the scene.\n\n=The Rise of Learning and Philosophy in Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014Even in the early days of\nthe Caliphate, the pursuit of knowledge was not neglected at Med\u00eena, and\nall the energies of the Moslem nation were not taken up in the struggle\nin which they had become involved with the surrounding nations. The\nCaliph Ali lectured to large multitudes of people on various branches of\nlearning.\n\nThe sack of Med\u00eena by the Ommeyades destroyed the primitive school. It\nwas revived by Ali\u2019s great-grandson, Jaafar the Trusty, who died in 765\nA.C. He is the real founder of speculative philosophy among the Moslems.\nThe thinkers and scholars who flourished later derived their inspiration\nfrom him.\n\nThe Mutazalite or rationalistic school was founded by W\u00e2sil, who died in\n785 A.C. M\u00e2m\u00fbn, the sixth Abbasside Caliph, was a strenuous upholder of\nhis doctrines.\n\n=\u2018The Brothers of Purity.\u2019=\u2014Towards the close of the tenth century a\nbody of thinkers, whose researches extended to every department of the\nhuman mind, and whose great aim was to introduce a spirit of eclecticism\nin Isl\u00e2m, established a brotherhood of intellect, which was to embrace\nall men animated with the single purpose of promoting the moral and\nintellectual welfare of the nation.\n\n=The Crusades.=\u2014The Crusades, which devastated Western Asia for two\ncenturies, and inflicted untold miseries on the unfortunate people\nexposed to the merciless raids of the hordes of Europe who professed\n\u2018the religion of peace,\u2019 involved the Moslem nations in a life-and-death\nstruggle, during which intellectual development came to a standstill.\n\n=Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, 1099 A.C.=\u2014Tripoli, a famous seat\nof learning in those days, was reduced to ashes; Antioch and other cities\nwere turned into shambles. On the 15th July 1099 Jerusalem was taken by\nstorm; and the triumph of the Cross was celebrated by a slaughter of\nover seventy thousand people. Neither age nor sex met with mercy. The\nsquares, the streets, and the houses were strewn with the dead bodies of\nmen and women, and the mangled limbs of children. Many were burnt alive\nunder the portico of the principal mosque, the blood of the victims\n\u2018reached the horses\u2019 bridles.\u2019 \u2018The carnage,\u2019 says Michaud, \u2018lasted a\nweek: the few who escaped were reduced to horrible servitude.\u2019\n\n=Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187.=\u2014In 1187 A.C. Saladin recaptured\nthe city. He released all prisoners, supplied them with food and money,\nand allowed them to depart with a safe conduct; no woman was insulted; no\nchild was hurt; no person was slain.\n\n=Eruption of the Tartars.=\u2014Hardly had the Moslems recovered from the\ndestruction and havoc wrought by the Crusades, when the eruption of the\nMongolian savages from the steppes of Tartary, falling like an avalanche,\nswept away all vestiges of culture and civilisation, and converted Middle\nand Western Asia into a charnel-house. And although centuries have passed\nsince the sack of Bagdad and other famed centres of Moslem learning and\narts, Isl\u00e2m has not regained yet its true life and progressive vitality.\n\nAfter the fall of Cordova the continuity of Isl\u00e2mic civilisation in\nSpain was maintained, not only by the petty principalities which sprang\nup in its place, but also by the Almoravide and Almohade sovereigns,\nwho reunited in their vigorous hands the greater part of the Ommeyade\nCaliphate.\n\n=Granada.=\u2014The break-up of the Almohade Empire, in 1227 A.C., led to\nthe gradual destruction by the Christian hordes of the minor Moslem\nkingdoms. Granada alone, for nearly two centuries, held aloft the torch\nof knowledge and civilisation. But the fires of the Inquisition had\nalready been lighted in Christian Spain by the \u2018pious\u2019 Ferdinand and the\n\u2018saintly\u2019 Isabella.\n\n=The Fall of Granada\u2014Destruction of Moslem Civilisation, 1498 A.C.=\u2014And\nwhen, after a heroic struggle, the city of the Banu-Nasr, the home of\nculture, chivalry, and arts, capitulated to its Christian assailants, the\nglory of Moorish Spain died with the martyrs who were burnt at the stake\nor slaughtered like sheep regardless of age or sex, or suffocated in the\ncaverns to which they betook themselves for refuge.\n\n=The Sunni Church.=\u2014The spiritual allegiance of Christendom is divided\nbetween four Churches; of the world of Isl\u00e2m between two\u2014the Sunni and\nthe Shiah. The foundation of the Sunni Church, which owns nowadays the\nlargest number of followers, was laid by Mans\u00fbr, the second Caliph of\nthe House of Abb\u00e2s.[48] And although the superstructure was completed\nunder his successors, its whole character and organisation are due to his\ngenius.\n\nThe wide extent of the Abbasside Caliphate helped in the diffusion of\nits power and influence. At the present moment out of nearly seventy\nmillions of Mohammedans in India subject to the British Crown, fifty\nbelong to the Sunni Church. So do the Mussulmans of China, Tartary,\nAfghanistan, Asiatic and European Turkey, Arabia, Egypt, Northern and\nCentral Africa, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Russia, Ceylon, the Straits and the\nMalayan Peninsula. And almost all acknowledge the spiritual headship of\nthe Ottoman Sovereign.\n\n=Shiahism.=\u2014The Shiah Church traces its foundation to the Caliph Ali\nand the immediate descendants of the Prophet, regarded as the rightful\nexpounders of his teachings. Some twenty millions of Indian Mussulmans\nare Shiahs; Shiahism is also the State religion of Persia. There are\nlarge numbers of Shiahs in the Hijaz, in Egypt and other parts of\nthe world, but always in a minority. The question of the title to the\nspiritual and temporal headship of Isl\u00e2m forms the chief point of\ndifference between the two churches. The Sunnis are the advocates of the\nprinciple of election; the Shiahs of apostolical descent by appointment\nand succession; and this difference, which is essentially of a dynastic\ncharacter,[49] gave birth to constant quarrels.\n\nSigns, however, are not wanting that owing to the pressure of extraneous\ncircumstances both Sunnis and Shiahs have begun to realise the necessity\nof greater harmony and goodwill.\n\n=The Sects of Isl\u00e2m.=\u2014Difference of opinion concerning doctrines and\ndogmas has given birth in Isl\u00e2m, as it has in Christianity, to numerous\nsects.\n\nThe Sunni Church is divided into four principal \u2018persuasions\u2019\u2014the\nHanafi, Sh\u00e2fe\u00ef, M\u00e2liki and Hanbali\u2014designated after their respective\nfounders. The followers of any one of these communions may validly offer\ntheir prayers under the leadership of a member of another. Hanaf\u00efsm is\nprofessed by the bulk of the Indian Mussulmans and Arabs, by the Afghans\nand almost all Central Asian Moslems, the Turks and Egyptians.\n\nThe Shiah Church also is divided into several sub-sects, of which the\nprincipal (the Asn\u00e2-aasharia)[50] constitutes the state religion of\nPersia.\n\n=Ashaar\u00efsm.=\u2014The philosophical side of Isl\u00e2m is represented nowadays by\n_Ashaar\u00efsm_ and _Mutazalaism_. The first embodies the orthodox doctrines\nof the Sunni Church. It holds to the belief in corporeal resurrection at\nthe Last Account, and affirms that the Koran is eternal and uncreated;\nand that God will be visible in the next world to human sight. Whilst\nmaintaining that the evolution of principles ceased in the third and\nfourth centuries of the Hegira, in order to bring the rules enunciated\nby the great expounders of law and religion into conformity with the\nchange of times and conditions of society, it generally allows the widest\nlatitude in their interpretation and application.\n\nWith regard to the doctrine of free-will, it holds that there is neither\nabsolute compulsion nor absolute freedom, but \u2018God does whatever He\npleases, for He is Sovereign Lord.\u2019\n\n=Mutazalaism.=\u2014Mutazalaism, on the other hand, denies the doctrine of\ncorporeal resurrection and corporeal vision. It enunciates that the\nKoran is the created word of God and not eternal, that God alone is\nEternal, that man is the \u2018creative efficient of his actions, good and\nbad, and gets reward and punishment in the future world by merit for\nwhat he does\u2019; \u2018that the All-Wise does only that which is beneficial and\ngood.\u2019 It further holds that the Divine ordinances which regulate the\nconduct of men are the results of growth and development. It maintains\nthat the knowledge of God is within the province of reason, and with the\nexception of Himself everything else is liable to change or to suffer\nextinction.[51]\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] Hogarth\u2019s _Penetration of Arabia_, p. 7.\n\n[2] Koran, sura xci.\n\n[3] Sura vi. 59-60.\n\n[4] Sura xl. 1.\n\n[5] Sura vi. 95.\n\n[6] Sura xxix. 44.\n\n[7] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_ (Pop. Ed.), p. 145.\n\n[8] _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_ (Pop. Ed.), p. 144.\n\n[9] These terms are still in use among non-Arab Moslems to describe the\nArabian _Jinnat_ (\u2018garden\u2019) and _Jehannum_ (\u2018hell\u2019).\n\n[10] Paradise itself seems to be the hellenised \u2018firdous\u2019 of the\nZoroastrians.\n\n[11] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, chapter on the \u2018Idea of Future Life.\u2019\n\n[12] Sura xiii. 20-24.\n\n[13] Sura xxxi.\n\n[14] That is, in the Koran.\n\n[15] The _Masnawi_ of Jal\u00e2l-ud-d\u00een of R\u00fbm; see _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, p.\n393.\n\n[16] Sura xxxix. 54.\n\n[17] Sura xi. 92.\n\n[18] Sura xi. 62.\n\n[19] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, p. 236.\n\n[20] An interesting pamphlet called _The Agreement between Science and\nReligion_, by Orlando J. Smith (New York: Farrell).\n\n[21] Sura iv. 36.\n\n[22] Sura xvii. 36.\n\n[23] Sura ii. 257, delivered at Med\u00eena.\n\n[24] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, chapter on \u2018Slavery.\u2019\n\n[25] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, chapter on the \u2018Literary and Scientific\nSpirit of Isl\u00e2m.\u2019\n\n[26] 29th August 570 A.C.\n\n[27] Like Bal\u00e2l, the first muezzin of Isl\u00e2m, originally a negro slave.\n\n[28] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, p. 24.\n\n[29] About Mohammed\u2019s marriages after the death of Khad\u00eeja, see _The\nSpirit of Isl\u00e2m_, pp. 193-198.\n\n[30] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, p. 52.\n\n[31] In the annals of Isl\u00e2m the pre-Isl\u00e2mite period is called by this\nname.\n\n[32] See _Short History of the Saracens_, pp. 27-34.\n\n[33] Jews and Christians.\n\n[34] Koran, sura cx.\n\n[35] The Mishk\u00e2t.\n\n[36] 1 Sam. xv. 3. Neither the lapse of ages nor the influence of\nChristianity in the West has made much difference in the nature of the\nordinary man, since the Prophet of Israel gave this ferocious command to\nhis people. The passion for vengeance, the desire to strike fear, are as\nstrong as ever. The demands of rage, the dictates of expediency still\nstifle the voice of pity, the claims of justice. Rapine and slaughter,\nhavoc and destruction, are still the gospel of the strong.\n\n[37] Gibbon\u2019s _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. vi. chap. i.\np. 298.\n\n[38] _Short History of the Saracens_, p. 39.\n\n[39] N\u00f6ldeke, _Sketches from Eastern History_, p. 76.\n\n[40] At the battle of Yermuk the army of Heraclius numbered 240,000,\nwhilst the Saracens were only 40,000 all told. At K\u00e2dessia 30,000 Arabs\nwere opposed to 100,000 Persians. At the battle of Med\u00eena Sidonia, which\nwon Spain to the Caliphate, T\u00e2rik had only 12,000 men against Roderick\u2019s\nhost, at least five times as large.\n\n[41] N\u00f6ldeke.\n\n[42] The family of H\u00e2shim and the family of Ommeya, distantly connected\nwith each other, were two of the most prominent in Mecca; and for a long\ntime there had existed among the latter a bitter feeling of hatred and\njealousy towards the H\u00e2shimides on account of their pre-eminence and\nworth. Mohammed belonged to the family of H\u00e2shim; and the bulk of the\nOmmeyades were amongst his foremost persecutors. Osm\u00e2n was one of the few\namong them who had accepted Isl\u00e2m before the Hegira.\n\n[43] For an account of this tragedy, see Gibbon, vol. vi. p. 279, and\n_Short History of the Saracens_, pp. 83-87. Hussain was married to a\ndaughter of Yezdjard the last King of Persia. The life of the lad, saved\nby the indomitable Arab courage of Zainab, the sister of Hussain, gave to\nIsl\u00e2m its nobility, for in him was united the blood of the Prophet with\nthat of the Sassanide monarchs of Persia.\n\n[44] See _Short History of the Saracens_, chap. xxix.\n\n[45] Cairo (_al-K\u00e2hira_) was founded by one of the generals of al-Muiz\nthe contemporary and rival of an-N\u00e2sir the Ommeyade Caliph of Cordova;\nsee _Short History of the Saracens_.\n\n[46] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_.\n\n[47] See _Short History of the Saracens_, p. 348.\n\n[48] See _Short History of the Saracens_.\n\n[49] See _The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_.\n\n[50] The Duo-decemian. So called as it recognises the spiritual headship\nof the twelve Apostles of the House of Mohammed.\n\n[51] For a full elucidation of their doctrines, see _The Spirit of\nIsl\u00e2m_.\n\n\n\n\nSELECTED WORKS ON ISL\u00c2M\n\n\n_Selections from the Koran_, by Stanley Lane-Poole.\n\n_Studies in a Mosque_, by Stanley Lane-Poole.\n\n_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. vi., by Gibbon.\n\n_History of the Saracens_, by Simon Ockley.\n\n_Mahommed and Mahommedanism_, by Bosworth Smith.\n\n_The Spirit of Isl\u00e2m_, by Ameer Ali (popular edition; Lahiri, Calcutta).\n\n_A Short History of the Saracens_, by Ameer Ali (Macmillan).\n\n_The Ethics of Isl\u00e2m_, by Ameer Ali (Thacker, Calcutta and London).\n\n_Heroes and Hero-Worship_ (Hero as a Prophet), by T. Carlyle.\n\n_Mahomet_, by Barthelemy St. Hilaire.\n\n_Mahommed\u2019s Place in the Church_, by Ernest de Bunsen.\n\n_The Future of Isl\u00e2m_, by W. Scawen Blunt.\n\n_Histoire des Arabes_, by Louis Am\u00e9lie S\u00e9dillot.\n\n_Histoire des Arabes_, by Caussin de Perceval.\n\n_The Moors in Spain_, by Stanley Lane-Poole.\n\n_The Preaching of Isl\u00e2m_, by T. W. Arnold.\n\n\n         Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty\n                    at the Edinburgh University Press","title":"Isl\u00e2m","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":16578}