The Koran (Al-Qur'an) Part 2

The kings of Yaman, as well as the princes of Mecca and Medina, are alsolutely independent and not at all subject to the Turk, as some late authors have imagined. These princes often making cruel wars among themselves, gave an opportunity to Selim I. and his son Soliman, to make themselves masters of the coasts of Arabia on the Red Sea, and of part of Yaman, by means of a fleet built at Sues: but their successors have not been able to maintain their conquests; for, except the port of Jodda, where they have a Basha whose authority is very small, they possess nothing considerable in Arabia.

Thus have the Arabs preserved their liberty, of which few nations can produce so ancient monuments, with very little interruption, from the very Deluge; for though very great armies have been sent against them, all attempts to subdue them were unsuccessful. The a.s.syrian or Median empires never got footing among them. The Persian monarchs, though they were their friends, and so far respected by them as to have an annual present of frankincense, yet could never make them tributary; and were so far from being their masters, that Cambyses, on his expedition against Egypt, was obliged to ask their leave to pa.s.s through their territories; and when Alexander had subdued that mighty empire, yet the Arabians had so little apprehension of him, that they alone, of all the neighbouring nations, sent no amba.s.sadors to him, either first or last; which, with a desire of possessing so rich a country, made him form a design against it, and had he not died before he could put it in execution, this people might possibly have convinced him that he was not invincible: and I do not find that any of his successors, either in Asia or Egypt, ever made any attempt against them. The Romans never conquered any part of Arabia properly so called; the most they did was to make some tribes in Syria tributary to them, as Pompey did one commanded by Sampsiceramus or Shams'alkeram, who reigned at Hems or Emesa; but none of the Romans, or any other nations that we know of, ever penetrated so far into Arabia as Alius Gallus under Augustus Caesar; yet he was so far from subduing it, as some authors pretend, that he was soon obliged to return without effecting anything considerable, having lost the best part of his army by sickness and other accidents. This ill success probably discouraged the Romans from attacking them any more; for Trajan, notwithstanding the flatteries of the historians and orators of his time, and the medals struck by him, did not subdue the Arabs; the province of Arabia, which it is said he added to the Roman empire, scarce reaching farther than Arabia Petraea, or the very skirts of the country. And we are told by one author, that this prince, marching against the Agarens who had revolted, met with such a reception that he was obliged to return without doing anything.

The religion of the Arabs before Mohammed, which they call the state of ignorance, in opposition to the knowledge of G.o.d'S true wors.h.i.+p revealed to them by their prophet, was chiefly gross idolatry; the Sabian religion having almost overrun the whole nation, though there were also great numbers of Christians, Jews, and Magians among them.

I shall not here transcribe what Dr. Prideaux has written of the original of the Sabian religion; but instead thereof insert a brief account of the tenets and wors.h.i.+p of that sect. They do not only believe one G.o.d, but produce many strong arguments for His unity, though they also pay an adoration to the stars, or the angels and intelligences which they suppose reside in them, and govern the world under the Supreme Deity. They endeavour to perfect themselves in the four intellectual virtues, and believe the souls of the wicked men will be punished for nine thousand ages, but will afterwards be received to mercy. They are obliged to pray three times a day; the first, half an hour or less before sunrise, ordering it so that they may, just as the sun rises, finish eight adorations, each containing three prostrations; the second prayer they end at noon, when the sun begins to decline, in saying which they perform five such adorations as the former: and in the same they do the third time, ending just as the sun sets. They fast three times a year, the first time thirty days, the next nine days, and the last seven. They offer many sacrifices, but eat no part of them, burning them all. They abstain from beans, garlic, and some other pulse and vegetables. Asto the Sabian Kebla, or part to which they turn their faces in praying, authors greatly differ; one will have it to be the north, another the south, a third Mecca, and a fourth the star to which they pay their devotions: and perhaps there may be some variety in their practice in this respect. They go on pilgrimage to a place near the city of Harran in Mesopotamia, where great numbers of them dwell, and they have also a great respect for the temple of Mecca, and the pyramids of Egypt; fancying these last to be the sepulchres of Seth, and of Enoch and Sabi his two sons, whom they look on as the first propagators of their religion; at these structures they sacrifice a c.o.c.k and a black calf, and offer up incense.

Besides the book of Psalms, the only true scripture they read, they have other books which they esteem equally sacred, particularly one in the Chaldee tongue which they call the book of Seth, and is full of moral discourses. This sect say they took the name of Sabians from the above-mentioned Sabi, though it seems rather to be derived from Saba, or the host of heaven, which they wors.h.i.+p. Travellers commonly call them Christians of St. John the Baptist, whose disciples also they pretend to be, using a kind of baptism, which is the greatest mark they bear of Christianity. This is one of the religions, the practice of which Mohammed tolerated (on paying tribute), and the professors of it are often included in that expression of the Koran, "those to whom the scriptures have been given," or literally, the people of the book.

The idolatry of the Arabs then, as Sabians, chiefly consisted in wors.h.i.+pping the fixed stars and planets, and the angels and their images, which they honoured as inferior deities, and whose intercession they begged, as their mediators with G.o.d. For the Arabs acknowledged one supreme G.o.d, the Creator and LORD of the universe, whom they called Allah Taala, the most high G.o.d; and their other deities, who were subordinate to him, they called simply al Ilahat, i.e., the G.o.ddesses; which words the Grecians not understanding, and it being their constant custom to resolve the religion of every other nation into their own, and find out G.o.ds of their to match the others', they pretend that the Arabs wors.h.i.+pped only two deities, Orotalt and Alilat, as those names are corruptly written, whom they will have to be the same with Bacchus and Urania; pitching on the former as one of the greatest of their own G.o.ds, and educated in Arabia, and on the other, because of the veneration shown by the Arabs to the stars.

That they acknowledged one supreme G.o.d, appears, to omit other proof, from their usual form of addressing themselves to him, which was this, "I dedicate myself to thy service, O G.o.d! Thou hast no companion, except thy companion of whom thou art absolute master, and of whatever is his." So that they supposed the idols not to be sui juris, though they offered sacrifices and other offerings to them, as well as to G.o.d, who was also often put off with the least portion, as Mohammed upbraids them. Thus when they planted fruit trees, or sowed a field, they divided it by a line into two parts, setting one apartfor their idols, and the other for G.o.d; if any of the fruits happened to fall from the idol's part into G.o.d'S, they made rest.i.tution; but if from G.o.d'S part into the idol's, they made no rest.i.tution. So when they watered the idol's grounds, if the water broke over the channels made for that purpose, and ran on G.o.d'S part, they d.a.m.ned it up again; but if the contrary, they let it run on, saying, they wanted what was G.o.d'S, but he wanted nothing. In the same manner, if the offering designed for G.o.d happened to be better than that designed for the idol, they made an exchange, but not otherwise.

It was from this gross idolatry, or the wors.h.i.+p of inferior deities, or companions of G.o.d, as the Arabs continue to call them, that Mohammed reclaimed his countrymen, establis.h.i.+ng the sole wors.h.i.+p of the true G.o.d among them; so that how much soever the Mohammedans are to blame in other points, they are far from being idolaters, as some ignorant writers have pretended.

The wors.h.i.+p of the stars the Arabs might easily be led into, from their observing the changes of weather to happen at the rising and setting of certain of them, which after a long course of experience induced them to ascribe a divine power to those stars, and to think themselves indebted to them for their rains, a very great benefit and refreshment to their parched country: this superst.i.tion the Koran particularly takes notice of.

The ancient Arabians and Indians, between which two nations was a great conformity of religions, had seven celebrated temples, dedicated to the seven planets; one of which in particular, called Beit Ghomdan, was built in Sanaa, the metropolis of Yaman, by Dahac, to the honour of al Zoharah or the planet Venus, and was demolished by the Khalif Othman; by whose murder was fulfilled the prophetical inscription set, as is reported, over this temple, viz., "Ghomdan, he who destroyeth thee shall be slain. The temple of Mecca is also said to have been consecrated to Zohal, or Saturn.

Though these deities were generally reverenced by the whole nation, yet each tribe chose some one as the more peculiar object of their wors.h.i.+p.

Thus as to the stars and planets, the tribe of Hamyar chiefly wors.h.i.+pped the sun; Misam, al Debaran, or the Bull's-eye; Lakhm and Jodam, al Moshtari, or Jupiter; Tay, Sohail, or Canopus; Kais, Sirius, or the Dog-star; and Asad, Otared, or Mercury. Among the wors.h.i.+ppers of Sirius, one Abu Cabsha was very famous; some will have him to be the same with Waheb, Mohammed's grandfather by the mother, but others say he was of the tribe of Khozaah.

This man used his utmost endeavours to persuade the Koreish to leave their images and wors.h.i.+p this star; for which reason Mohammed, who endeavoured also to make them leave their images, was by them nicknamed the son of Abu Cabsha. The wors.h.i.+p of this star is particularly hinted at in the Koran.

Of the angels or intelligences which they wors.h.i.+pped, the Koran, makes mention only of three, which were wors.h.i.+pped under female names; Allat, al Uzza, and Manah. These were by them called G.o.ddesses, and the daughters of G.o.d; an appellation they gave not only to the angels, but also to their images, which they either believed to be inspired with life by G.o.d, or else to become the tabernacles of the angels, and to be animated by them; and they gave them divine wors.h.i.+p, because they imagined they interceded for them with G.o.d.

Allat was the idol of the tribe of Thakif who dwelt at Tayef, and had a temple consecrated to her in a place called Nakhlah. This idol al Mogheirah destroyed by Mohammed's order, who sent him and Abu Sofian on that commission in the ninth year of the Hejra. The inhabitants of Tayef, especially the women, bitterly lamented the loss of this their deity, which they were so fond of, that they begged of Mohammed as a condition of peace, that it might not be destroyed for three years, and not obtaining that, asked only a month's respite; but he absolutely denied it. There are several derivations of this word which the curious may learn from Dr. Poc.o.c.k: it seems most probably to be derived from the same root with Allah, to which it may be a feminine, and will then signify the G.o.ddess.

Al Uzza, as some affirm, was the idol of the tribes of Koreish and Kenanah, and part of the tribe of Salim: others tell us it was a tree called the Egyptian thorn, or acacia, wors.h.i.+pped by the tribe of Ghatfan, first consecrated by one Dhalem, who built a chapel over it, called Boss, so contrived as to give a sound when any person entered. Khaled Ebn Walid being sent by Mohammed in the eighth year of the Hejra to destroy this idol, demolished the chapel, and cutting down this tree or image, burnt it: he also slew the priestess, who ran out with her hair dishevelled, and her hands on her head as a suppliant. Yet the author who relates this, in another place says, the chapel was pulled down, and Dhalem himself killed by one Zohair, because he consecrated this chapel with design to draw the pilgrims thither from Mecca, and lessen the reputation of the Caaba.

The name of this deity is derived from the root azza, and signifies the most mighty.

Manah was the object of wors.h.i.+p of the tribes of Hodhail and Khazaah, who dwelt between Mecca and Medina, and, as some say, of the tribes of Aws, Khazraj, and Thakif also. This idol was a large stone, demolished by one Saad, in the eighth year of the Hejra, a year so fatal to the idols of Arabia. The name seems derived from mana, to flow, from the flowing of the blood of the victims sacrificed to the deity; whence the valley of Mina, near Mecca, had also its name, where the pilgrims at this day slay their sacrifices.

Before we proceed to the other idols, let us take notice of five more, which with the former three are all the Koran mentions by name, and they are Wadd, Sawa, Yaghuth, Yauk, and Nasr. These are said to have been antediluvian idols, which Noah preached against, and were afterwards taken by the Arabs for G.o.ds, having been men of great merit and piety in their time, whose statues they reverenced at first with a civil honour only, which in process of time became heightened to a divine wors.h.i.+p.

Wadd was supposed to be the heaven, and was wors.h.i.+pped under the form of a man by the tribe of Calb in Daumat al Jandal.

Sawa was adored under the shape of a woman by the tribe of Hamadan, or, as others write, of Hodhail in Rohat. This idol lying under water for some time after the Deluge, was at length, it is said, discovered by the devil, and was wors.h.i.+pped by those of Hodhail, who inst.i.tuted pilgrimages to it.

Yaghuth was an idol in the shape of a lion, and was the deity of the tribe of Madhaj and others who dwelt in Yaman. Its name seems to be derived from ghatha, which signifies to help.

Yauk was wors.h.i.+pped by the tribe of Morad, or, according to others, by that of Hamadan, under the figure of a horse. It is said he was a man of great piety, and his death much regretted; whereupon the devil appeared to his friends in a human form, and undertaking to represent him to the life, persuaded them, by way of comfort, to place his effigies in their temples, that they might have it in view when at their devotions. This was done, and seven others of extraordinary merit had the same honours shown them, till at length their posterity made idols of them in earnest. The name Yauk probably comes from the verb aka, to prevent or avert.

Nasr was a deity adored by the tribe of Hamyar, or at Dhu'l Khalaah in their territories, under the image of an eagle, which the name signifies.

There are, or were, two statues at Bamiyan, a city of Cabul in the Indies, 50 cubits high, which some writers suppose to be the same with Yaghuth and Yauk, or else with Manah and Allat; and they also speak of a third standing near the others, but something less, in the shape of an old woman, called Nesrem or Nesr. These statues were hollow within, for the secret giving of oracles; but they seem to have been different from the Arabian idols. There was also an idol at Sumenat in the Indies, called Lat or al Lat, whose statue was 50 fathoms high, of a single stone, and placed in the midst of a temple supported by 56 pillars of ma.s.sy gold: this idol Mahmud Ebn Sebecteghin, who conquered that part of India, broke to pieces with his own hands.

Besides the idols we have mentioned, the Arabs also wors.h.i.+pped great numbers of others, which would take up too much time to have distinct accounts given of them; and not being named in the Koran, are not so much to our present purpose: for besides that every housekeeper had his household G.o.d or G.o.ds, which he last took leave of and first saluted at his going abroad and returning home, there were no less than 360 idols, equalling in number the days of their year, in and about the Caaba of Mecca; the chief of whom was Hobal, brought from Belka in Syria into Arabia by Amru Ebn Lohai, pretending it would procure them rain when they wanted it. It was the statue of a man, made of agate, which having by some accident lost a hand, the Koreish repaired it with one of gold: he held in his hand seven arrows without heads or feathers, such as the Arabs used in divination. This idol is supposed to have been the same with the image of Abraham, found and destroyed by Mohammed in the Caaba, on his entering it, in the eighth year of the Hejra, when he took Mecca, and surrounded with a great number of angels and prophets, as inferior deities; among whom, as some say, was Ismael, with divining arrows in his hand also.

Asaf and Nayelah, the former the image of a man, the latter of a woman, were also two idols brought with Hobal from Syria, and placed the one on Mount Safa, and the other on Mount Merwa. They tell us Asaf was the son of Amru, and Nayelah the daughter of Sahal, both of the tribe of Jorham, who committing wh.o.r.edom together in the Caaba, were by G.o.d converted into stone, and afterwards wors.h.i.+pped by the Koreish, and so much reverenced by them, that though this superst.i.tion was condemned by Mohammed, yet he was forced to allow them to visit those mountains as monuments of divine justice.

I shall mention but one idol more of this nation, and that was a lump of dough wors.h.i.+pped by the tribe of Hanifa, who used it with more respect than the Papists do theirs, presuming not to eat it till they were compelled to it by famine.

Several of their idols, as Manah in particular, were no more than large rude stones, the wors.h.i.+p of which the posterity of Ismael first introduced; for as they multiplied, and the territory of Mecca grew too strait for them, great numbers were obliged to seek new abodes; and on such migrations it was usual for them to take with them some of the stones of that reputed holy land, and set them up in the places where they fixed; and these stones they at first only compa.s.sed out of devotion, as they had accustomed to do the Caaba. But this at last ended in rank idolatry, the Ismaelites forgetting the religion left them by their father so far as to pay divine wors.h.i.+p to any fine stone they met with.

Some of the pagan Arabs believed neither a creation past, nor a resurrection to come, attributing the origin of things to nature, and their dissolution to age.

Others believed both, among whom were those who, when they died, had their camel tied by their sepulchre, and so left, without meat or drink, to perish, and accompany them to the other world, lest they should be obliged, at the resurrection, to go on foot, which was reckoned very scandalous. Some believed a metem-psychosis, and that of the blood near the dead person's brain was formed a bird named Hamah, which once in a hundred years visited the sepulchre; though others say this bird is animated by the soul of him that is unjustly slain, and continually cries, Oscuni, Oscuni, i.e., "give me to drink"-- meaning of the murderer's blood--till his death be revenged, and then it flies away. This was forbidden by the Koran to be believed.

I might here mention several superst.i.tious rites and customs of the ancient Arabs, some of which were abolished and others retained by Mohammed; but I apprehend it will be more convenient to take notice of them, hereafter occasionally, as the negative or positive precepts of the Koran, forbidding or allowing such practices, shall be considered.

Let us now turn our view from the idolatrous Arabs, to those among them who had embraced more rational religions.

The Persians had, by their vicinity and frequent intercourse with the Arabians, introduced the Magian religion among some of their tribes, particularly that of Tamim, a long time before Mohammed, who was so far from being unacquainted with that religion, that he borrowed many of his own inst.i.tutions from it, as will be observed in the progress of this work. I refer those who are desirous to have some notion of Magism, to Dr. Hyde's curious account of it, a succinct abridgment of which may be read with much pleasure in another learned performance.

The Jews, who fled in great numbers into Arabia from the fearful destruction of their country by the Romans, made proselytes of several tribes, those of Kenanah, al Hareth Ebn Caaba, and Kendah in particular, and in time became very powerful, and possessed of several towns and fortresses there. But the Jewish religion was not unknown to the Arabs, at least above a century before; Abu Carb Asad, taken notice of in the Koran, who was king of Yaman, about 700 years before Mohammed, is said to have introduced Judaism among the idolatrous Hamyarites. Some of his successors also embraced the same religion, one of whom, Yusef, surnamed Dhu Nowas, was remarkable for his zeal and terrible persecution of all who would not turn Jews, putting them to death by various tortures, the most common of which was throwing them into a glowing pit of fire, whence he had the opprobrious appellation of the Lord of the Pit. This persecution is also mentioned in the Koran.

Christianity had likewise made a very great progress among this nation before Mohammed. Whether St. Paul preached in any part of Arabia, properly so called, is uncertain; but the persecutions and disorders which happened in the eastern church soon after the beginning of the third century, obliged great numbers of Christians to seek for shelter in that country of liberty, who, being for the most part of the Jacobite communion, that sect generally prevailed among the Arabs. The princ.i.p.al tribes that embraced Christianity were Hamyar, Gha.s.san, Rabia, Taghlab, Bahra, Tonuch, part of the tribes of Tay and Kodaa, the inhabitants of Najran, and the Arabs of Hira. As to the two last, it may be observed that those of Najran became Christians in the time of Dhu Nowas, and very probably, if the story be true, were some of those who were converted on the following occasion, which happened about that time, or not long before. The Jews of Hamyar challenged some neighbouring Christians to a public disputation, which was held sub dio for three days before the king and his n.o.bility and all the people, the disputants being Gregentius, bishop of Tephra (which I take to be Dhafar) for the Christians, and Herba.n.u.s for the Jews. On the third day, Herba.n.u.s, to end the dispute, demanded that Jesus of Nazareth, if he were really living and in heaven, and could hear the prayers of his wors.h.i.+ppers, should appear from heaven in their sight, and they would then believe in him; the Jews crying out with one voice, "Show us your Christ, alas!

and we will become Christians." Whereupon, after a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, Jesus Christ appeared in the air, surrounded with rays of glory, walking on a purple cloud, having a sword in his hand, and an inestimable diadem on his head, and spake these words over the heads of the a.s.sembly: "Behold I appear to you in your sight, I, who was crucified by your fathers." After which the cloud received him from their sight. The Christians cried out, "Kyrie eleeson," i.e., "Lord, have mercy upon us;" but the Jews were stricken blind, and recovered not till they were all baptized.

The Christians at Hira received a great accession by several tribes, who fled thither for refuge from the persecution of Dhu Nowas. Al Nooman, surnamed Abu Kabus, king of Hira, who was slain a few months before Mohammed's birth, professed himself a Christian on the following occasion.

This prince, in a drunken fit, ordered two of his intimate companions, who overcame with liquor had fallen asleep, to be buried alive. When he came to himself, he was extremely concerned at what he had done, and to expiate his crime, not only raised a monument to the memory of his friends, but set apart two days, one of which he called the unfortunate, and the other the fortunate day; making it a perpetual rule to himself, that whoever met him on the former day should be slain, and his blood sprinkled on the monument, but he that met him on the other day should be dismissed in safety, with magnificent gifts. On one of those unfortunate days there came before him accidentally an Arab, of the tribe of Tay, who had once entertained this king, when fatigued with hunting, and separated from his attendants. The king, who could neither discharge him, contrary to the order of the day, nor put him to death, against the laws of hospitality, which the Arabians religiously observe, proposed, as an expedient, to give the unhappy man a year's respite, and to send him home with rich gifts for the support of his family, on condition that he found a surety for his returning at the year's end to suffer death. One of the prince's court, out of compa.s.sion, offered himself as his surety, and the Arab was discharged.

When the last day of the term came, and no news of the Arab, the king, not at all displeased to save his host's life, ordered the surety to prepare himself to die. Those who were by represented to the king that the day was not yet expired, and therefore he ought to have patience till the evening: but in the middle of their discourse the Arab appeared. The king, admiring the man's generosity, in offering himself to certain death, which he might have avoided by letting his surety suffer, asked him what was his motive for his so doing?

to which he answered, that he had been taught to act in that manner by the religion he professed; and al Nooman demanding what religion that was, he replied, the Christian. Whereupon the king desiring to have the doctrines of Christianity explained to him, was baptized, he and his subjects; and not only pardoned the man and his surety, but abolished his barbarous custom. This prince, however, was not the first king of Hira who embraced Christianity; al Mondar, his grandfather, having also professed the same faith, and built large churches in his capital.

Since Christianity had made so great a progress in Arabia, we may consequently suppose they had bishops in several parts, for the more orderly governing of the churches. A bishop of Dhafar has been already named, and we are told that Najran was also a bishop's see. The Jacobites (of which sect we have observed the Arabs generally were) had two bishops of the Arabs subject to their Mafrian, or metropolitan of the east; one was called the bishop of the Arabs absolutely, whose seat was for the most part at Akula, which some others make the same with Cufa, others a different town near Baghdad.

The other had the t.i.tle of bishop of the Scenite Arabs, of the tribe of Thaalab in Hira, or Hirta, as the Syrians call it, whose seat was in that city. The Nestorians ahd but one bishop, who presided over both these dioceses of Hira and Akula, and was immediately subject to their patriarch.

These were the princ.i.p.al religions which obtained among the ancient Arabs; but as freedom of thought was the natural consequence of their political liberty and independence, some of them fell into other different opinions. The Koreish, in particular, were infected with Zendicism, an error supposed to have very near affinity with that of the Sadducees among the Jews, and, perhaps, not greatly different from Deism; for there were several of that tribe, even before the time of Mohammed, who wors.h.i.+pped one G.o.d, and were free from idolatry, and yet embraced none of the other religions of the country.

The Arabians before Mohammed were, as they yet are, divided into two sorts, those who dwell in cities and towns, and those who dwell in tents. The former lived by tillage, the cultivation of palm trees, breeding and feeding of cattle, and the exercise of all sorts of trades, particularly merchandising, wherein they were very eminent, even in the time of Jacob. The tribe of Koreish were much addicted to commerce, and Mohammed, in his younger years, was brought up to the same business; it being customary for the Arabians to exercise the same trade that their parents did. The Arabs who dwelt in tents, employed themselves in pasturage, and sometimes in pillaging of pa.s.sengers; they lived chiefly on the milk and flesh of camels; they often changed their habitations, as the convenience of water and of pasture for their cattle invited them, staying in a place no longer than that lasted, and then removing in search of other. They generally wintered in Irak and the confines of Syria. This way of life is what the greater part of Ismael's posterity have used, as more agreeable to the temper and way of life of their father; and is so well described by a late author, that I cannot do better than refer the reader to his account of them.

The Arabic language is undoubtedly one of the most ancient in the world, and arose soon after, if not at, the confusion of Babel. There were several dialects of it, very different from each other: the most remarkable were that spoken by the tribes of Hammyar and the other genuine Arabs, and that of the Koreish. The Hamyaritic seems to have approached nearer ot the purity of the Syriac, than the dialect of any other tribe; for the Arabs acknowledge their father Yarab to have been the first whose tongue deviated from the Syriac (which was his mother tongue, and is almost generally acknowledged by the Asiatics to be the most ancient) to the Arabic. The dialect of the Koreish is usually termed the pure Arabic, or, as the Koran, which is written in this dialect, calls it, the perspicuous and clear Arabic; perhaps, says Dr. Poc.o.c.k, because Ismael, their father, brought the Arabic he had learned of the Jorhamites nearer to the original Hebrew. But the politeness and elegance of the dialect of the Koreish, is rather to be attributed to their having the custody of the Caaba, and dwelling in Mecca, the centre of Arabia, as well more remote from intercourse with foreigners, who might corrupt their language, as frequented by the Arabs from the country all around, not only on a religious account, but also for the composing of their differences, from whose discourse and verses they took whatever words or phrases they judged more pure and elegant; by which means the beauties of the whole tongue became transfused into this dialect. The Arabians are full of the commendations of their language, and not altogether without reason; for it claims the preference of most others in many respects, as being very harmonious and expressive, and withal so copious, that they say no man without inspiration can be a perfect master of it in its utmost extent; and yet they tell us, at the same time, that the greatest part of it has been lost; which will not be thought strange, if we consider how late the art of writing was practised among them. For though it was known to Job, their countryman, and also the Hamyarites (who used a perplexed character called al Mosnad, wherein the letters were not distinctly separate, and which was neither publicly taught, nor suffered to be used without permission first obtained) many centuries before Mohammed, as appears from some ancient monuments, said to be remaining in their character; yet the other Arabs, and those of Mecca in particular, were, for many ages, perfectly ignorant of it, unless such of them as were Jews or Christians: Moramer Ebn Morra of Anbar, a city of Irak, who lived not many years before Mohammed, was the inventor of the Arabic character, which Bashar the Kendian is said to have learned from those of Anbar, and to have introduced at Mecca but a little while before the inst.i.tution of Mohammedism. These letters of Maramer were different from the Hamyaritic; and though they were very rude, being either the same with, or very much like the Cufic, which character is still found in inscriptions and some ancient books, yet they were those which the Arabs used for many years, the Koran itself being at first written therein; for the beautiful character they now use was first formed from the Cufic by Ebn Moklah, Wazir (or Visir) to the Khalifs al Moktader, al Kaher, and al Radi, who lived about three hundred years after Mohammed, and was brought to great perfection by Ali Ebn Bowab, who flourished in the following century, and whose name is yet famous among them on that account; yet, it is said, the person who completed it, and reduced it to its present form, was Yakut al Mostasemi, secretary to al Mostasem, the last of the Khalifs of the family of Abbas, for which reason he was surnamed al Khattat, or the Scribe.

The accomplishments the Arabs valued themselves chiefly on, were, 1. Eloquence, and a perfect skill in their own tongue; 2. Expertness in the use of arms, and horsemans.h.i.+p; and 3. Hospitality. The first they exercised themselves in, by composing of orations and poems. Their orations were of two sorts, metrical, or prosaic, the one being compared to pearls strung, and the other to loose ones. They endeavoured to excel in both, and whoever was able, in an a.s.sembly, to persuade the people to a great enterprise, or dissuade them from a dangerous one, or gave them other wholesome advice, was honoured with the t.i.tle of Khateb, or orator, which is now given to the Mohammedan preachers. They pursued a method very different from that of the Greek and Roman orators; their sentences being like loose gems, without connection, so that this sort of composition struck the audience chiefly by the fulness of the periods, the elegance of the expression, and the acuteness of the proverbial sayings; and so persuaded were they of their excelling in this way, that they would not allow any nation to understand the art of speaking in public, except themselves and the Persians; which last were reckoned much inferior in that respect to the Arabians. Poetry was in so great esteem among them, that it was a great accomplishment, and a proof of ingenuous extraction, to be able to express one's self in verse with ease and elegance, on any extraordinary occurrence; and even in their common discourse they made frequent applications to celebrated pa.s.sages of their famous poets. In their poems were preserved the distinction of descents, the rights of tribes, the memory of great actions, and the propriety of their language; for which reasons an excellent poet reflected an honour on his tribe, so that as soon as any one began to be admired for his performances of this kind in a tribe, the other tribes sent publicly to congratulate them on the occasion, and themselves made entertainments, at which the women a.s.sisted, dressed in their nuptial ornaments, singing to the sound of timbrels the happiness of their tribe, who had now one to protect their honour, to preserve their genealogies and the purity of their language, and to transmit their actions to posterity; for this was all performed by their poems, to which they were solely obliged for their knowledge and instructions, moral and economical, and to which they had recourse, as to an oracle, in all doubts and differences. No wonder, then, that a public congratulation was made on this account, which honour they yet were so far from making cheap, that they never did it but on one of these three occasions, which were reckoned great points of felicity, viz., on the birth of a boy, the rise of a poet, and the fall of a foal of generous breed. To keep up an emulation among their poets, the tribes had, once a year, a general a.s.sembly at Ocadh, a place famous on this account, and where they kept a weekly mart or fair, which was held on our Sunday. This annual meeting lasted a whole month, during which time they employed themselves, not only in trading, but in repeating their poetical compositions, contending and vieing with each other for the prize; whence the place, it is said, took its name. The poems that were judged to excel, were laid up in their kings' treasuries, as were the seven celebrated poems, thence called al Moallakat, rather than from their being hung upon the Caaba, which honour they also had by public order, being written on Egyptian silk, and inn letters of gold; for which reason they had also the name of al Modhahabat, or the golden verses.

The fair and a.s.sembly at Ocadh were suppressed by Mohammed, in whose time, and for some years after, poetry seems to have been in some degree neglected by the Arabs, who were then employed in their conquests; which being completed, and themselves at peace, not only this study was revived, but almost all sorts of learning were encouraged and greatly improved by them.

This interruption, however, occasioned the loss of most of their ancient pieces of poetry, which were then chiefly preserved in memory; the use of writing being rare among them, in their time of ignorance. Though the Arabs were so early acquainted with poetry, they did not at first use to write poems of a just length, but only expressed themselves in verse occasionally; nor was their prosody digested into rules, till some time after Mohammed; for this was done, as it is said, by al Khalil Ahmed al Farahidi, who lived in the reign of the Khalif Harun al Ras.h.i.+d.

The exercise of arms and horsemans.h.i.+p they were in a manner obliged to practise and encourage, by reason of the independence of their tribes, whose frequent jarrings made wars almost continual; and they chiefly ended their disputes in field battles, it being a usual saying among them that G.o.d had bestowed four peculiar things on the Arabs--that their turbans should be to them instead of diadems, their tents instead of walls and houses, their swords instead of entrenchments, and their poems instead of written laws.

Hospitality was so habitual to them, and so much esteemed, that the examples of this kind among them exceed whatever can be produced from other nations. Hatem, of the tribe of Tay, and Hasn, of that of Fezarah, were particularly famous on this account; and the contrary vice was so much in contempt, that a certain poet upbraids the inhabitants of Waset, as with the greatest reproach, that none of their men ad the heart to give, nor their women to deny.

Nor were the Arabs less propense to liberality after the coming of Mohammed than their ancestors had been. I could produce many remarkable instances of this commendable quality among them, but shall content myself with the following. Three men were disputing in the court of the Caaba, which was the most liberal person among the Arabs. One gave the preference to Abdallah, the son of Jaafar, the uncle of Mohammed; another to Kais Ebn Saad Ebn Obadah; and the third gave it to Arabah, of the tribe of Aws. After much debate, one that was present, to end the dispute, proposed that each of them should go to his friend and ask his a.s.sistance, that they might see what every one gave, and form a judgment accordingly. This was agreed to; and Abdallah's friend, going to him, found him with his foot in the stirrup, just mounting his camel for a journey, and thus accosted him: "Son of the uncle of the apostle of G.o.d, I am travelling and in necessity." Upon which Abdallah alighted, and bid him take the camel with all that was upon her, but desired him not to part with a sword which happened to be fixed to the saddle, because it had belonged to Ali, the son of Abutaleb. So he took the camel, and found on her some vests of silk and 4,000 pieces of gold; but the thing of greatest value was the sword. The second went to Kais Ebn Saad, whose servant told him that his master was asleep, and desired to know his business. The friend answered that he came to ask Kais's a.s.sistance, being in want on the road. Whereupon the servant said that he had rather supply his necessity than wake his master, and gave him a purse of 7,000 pieces of gold, a.s.suring him that it was all the money then in the house. He also directed him to go to those who had the charge of the camels, with a certain token, and take a camel and a slave, and return home with them. When Kais awoke, and his servant informed him of what he had done, he gave him his freedom, and asked him why he did not call him, "For,"

says he, "I would have given him more." The third man went to Arabah, and met him coming out of his house in order to go to prayers, and leaning on two slaves, because his eyesight failed him. The friend no sooner made known his case, but Arabah let go the slaves, and clapping his hands together, loudly lamented his misfortune in having no money, but desired him to take the two slaves, which the man refused to do, till Arabah protested that if he would not accept of them he gave them their liberty, and leaving the slaves, groped his way along by the wall. On the return of the adventurers, judgment was unanimously, and with great justice, given by all who were present, that Arabah was the most generous of the three.

Nor were these the only good qualities of the Arabs; they are commended by the ancients for being most exact to their words, and respectful to their kindred. And they have always been celebrated for their quickness of apprehension and penetration, and the vivacity of their wit, especially those of the desert.

As the Arabs have their excellencies, so have they, like other nations, their defects and vices. Their own writers acknowledge that they have a natural disposition to war, bloodshed, cruelty, and rapine, being so much addicted to bear malice that they scarce ever forget an old grudge; which vindictive temper some physicians say is occasioned by their frequent feeding on camel's flesh (the ordinary diet of the Arabs of the desert, who are therefore observed to be most inclined to these vices), that creature being most malicious and tenacious of anger, which account suggests a good reason for a distinction of meats.

The frequent robberies committed by these people on merchants and travellers have rendered the name of an Arab almost infamous in Europe; this they are sensible of, and endeavour to excuse themselves by alleging the hard usage of their father Ismael, who, being turned out of doors by Abraham, had the open plains and deserts given him by G.o.d for his patrimony, with permission to take whatever he could find there; and on this account they think they may, with a safe conscience, indemnify themselves as well as they can, not only on the posterity of Isaac, but also on everybody else, always supposing a sort of kindred between themselves and those they plunder. And in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of "I robbed a man of such or such a thing," to say, "I gained it." We must not, however, imagine that they are the less honest for this among themselves, or towards those whom they receive as friends; on the contrary, the strictest probity is observed in their camp, where everything is open and nothing ever known to be stolen.

The sciences the Arabians chiefly cultivated before Mohammedism, were three; that of their genealogies and history, such a knowledge of the stars as to foretell the changes of weather, and the interpretation of dreams.

They used to value themselves excessively on account of the n.o.bility of their families, and so many disputes happened on that occasion, that it is no wonder if they took great pains in settling their descents. What knowledge they had of the stars was gathered from long experience, and not from any regular study, or astronomical rules. The Arabians, as the Indians also did, chiefly applied themselves to observe the fixed stars, contrary to other nations, whose observations were almost confined to the planets, and they foretold their effects from their influences, not their nature; and hence, as has been said, arose the difference of the idolatry of the Greeks and Chaldeans, who chiefly wors.h.i.+pped the planets, and that of the Indians, who wors.h.i.+pped the fixed star. The stars or asterisms they most usually foretold the weather by, were those they called Anwa, or the houses of the moon. These are 28 in number, and divide the zodiac into as many parts, through one of which the moon pa.s.ses every night; as some of them set in the morning, others rise opposite to them, which happens every thirteenth night; and from their rising and setting, the Arabs, by long experience, observed what changes happened in the air, and at length, as has been said, came to ascribe divine power to them; saying, that their rain was from such or such a star: which expression Mohammed condemned, and absolutely forbade them to use it in the old sense; unless they meant no more by it, than that G.o.d had so ordered the seasons, that when the moon was in such or such a mansion or house, or at the rising or setting of such and such a star, it should rain or be windy, hot or cold.

The old Arabians therefore seem to have made no further progress in astronomy, which science they afterwards cultivated with so much success and applause, than to observe the influence of the stars on the weather, and to give them names; and this it was obvious for them to do, by reason of their pastoral way of life, lying night and day in the open plains. The names they imposed on the stars generally alluded to cattle and flocks, and they were so nice in distinguis.h.i.+ng them, that no language has so many names of stars and asterisms as the Arabic; for though they have since borrowed the names of several constellations from the Greeks, yet the far greater part are of their own growth, and much more ancient, particularly those of the more conspicuous stars, dispersed in several constellations, and those of the lesser constellations which are contained within the greater, and were not observed or named by the Greeks.

Thus have I given the most succinct account I have been able, of the state of the ancient Arabians before Mohammed, or, to use their expression, in the time of ignorance. I shall now proceed briefly to consider the state of religion in the east, and of the two great empires which divided that part of the world between them, at the time of Mohammed's setting up for a prophet, and what were the conducive circ.u.mstances and accidents that favoured his success.

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SECTION II.

OF THE STATE OF CHRISTIANITY, PARTICULARLY OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES, AND OF JUDAISM, AT THE TIME OF MOHAMMED'S APPEARANCE; AND OF THE METHODS TAKEN BY HIM FOR THE ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG OF HIS RELIGION, AND THE CIRc.u.mSTANCES WHICH CONCURRED THERETO.

IF WE look into the ecclesiastical historians even from the third century, we shall find the Christian world to have then had a very different aspect from what some authors have represented; and so far from being endued with active graces, zeal, and devotion, and established within itself with purity of doctrine, union, and firm profession of the faith, that on the contrary, what by the ambition of the clergy, and what by drawing the abstrusest niceties into controversy, and dividing and subdividing about them into endless schisms and contentions, they had so destroyed that peace, love, and charity from among them, which the Gospel was given to promote; and instead thereof continually provoked each other to that malice, rancour, and every evil work; that they had lost the whole substance of their religion, while they thus eagerly contended for their own imaginations concerning it; and in a manner quite drove Christianity out of the world by those very controversies in which they disputed with each other about it. In these dark ages it was that most of those superst.i.tions and corruptions we now justly abhor in the church of Rome were not only broached, but established; which gave great advantages to the propagation of Mohammedism. The wors.h.i.+p of saints and images, in particular, was then arrived at such a scandalous pitch that it even surpa.s.sed whatever is now practised among the Romanists.

After the Nicene council, the eastern church was engaged in perpetual controversies, and torn to pieces by the disputes of the Arians, Sabellians, Nestorians, and Eutychians: the heresies of the two last of which have been shown to have consisted more in the words and form of expression than in the doctrines themselves; and were rather the pretences than real motives of those frequent councils to and from which the contentious prelates were continually riding post, that they might bring everything to their own will and pleasure. And to support themselves by dependants and bribery, the clergy in any credit at court undertook the protection of some officer in the army, under the colour of which justice was publicly sold, and all corruption encouraged.

In the western church Damasus and Ursicinus carried their contests at Rome for the episcopal seat so high, that they came to open violence and murder, which Viventius the governor not being able to suppress, he retired into the country, and left them to themselves, till Damasus prevailed. It is said that on this occasion, in the church of Sicininus, there were no less than 137 found killed in one day. And no wonder they were so fond of these seats, when they became by that means enriched by the presents of matrons, and went abroad in their chariots and sedans in great state, feasting sumptuously even beyond the luxury of princes, quite contrary to the way of living of the country prelates, who alone seemed to have some temperance and modesty left.

These dissensions were greatly owing to the emperors, and particularly to Constantius, who, confounding the pure and simple Christian religion with anile superst.i.tions, and perplexing it with intricate questions, instead of reconciling different opinions, excited many disputes, which he fomented as they proceeded with infinite altercations. This grew worse in the time of Justinian, who, not to be behind the bishops to the fifth and sixth centuries in zeal, thought it no crime to condemn to death a man of a different persuasion from his own.

This corruption of doctrine and morals in the princes and clergy, was necessarily followed by a general depravity of the people; those of all conditions making it their sole business to get money by any means, and then to squander it away when they had got it in luxury and debauchery.

But, to be more particular as to the nation we are now writing of, Arabia was of old famous for heresies; which might be in some measure attributed to the liberty and independency of the tribes. Some of the Christians of that nation believed the soul died with the body, and was to be raised again with it at the last day: these Origen is said to have convinced. Among the Arabs it was that the heresies of Ebion, Beryllus, and the Nazaraens, and also that of the Collyridians, were broached, or at least propagated; the latter introduced the Virgin Mary for G.o.d, or wors.h.i.+pped her as such, offering her a sort of twisted cake called collyris, whence the sect had its name.

This notion of the divinity of the Virgin Mary was also believed by some at the council of Nice, who said there were two G.o.ds besides the Father, viz., Christ and the Virgin Mary, and were thence named Mariamites. Others imagined her to be exempt from humanity, and deified; which goes but little beyond the Popish superst.i.tion in calling her the complement of the Trinity, as if it were imperfect without her. This foolish imagination is justly condemned in the Koran as idolatrous, and gave a handle to Mohammed to attack the Trinity itself.

Other sects there were of many denominations within the borders of Arabia, which took refuge there from the proscriptions of the imperial edicts; several of whose notions Mohammed incorporated with his religion, as may be observed hereafter.

Though the Jews were an inconsiderable and despised people in other parts of the world, yet in Arabia, whither many of them fled from the destruction of Jerusalem, they grew very powerful, several tribes and princes embracing their religion; which made Mohammed at first show great regard to them, adopting many of their opinions, doctrines, and customs; thereby to draw them, if possible, into his interest. But that people, agreeably to their wonted obstinacy, were so far from being his proselytes, that they were some of the bitterest enemies he had, waging continual war with him, so that their reduction cost him infinite trouble and danger, and at last his life.

This aversion of theirs created at length as great a one in him to them, so that he used them, for the latter part of his life, much worse than he did the Christians, and frequently exclaims against them in his Koran; his followers to this day observe the same difference between them and the Christians, treating the former as the most abject and contemptible people on earth.

It has been observed by a great politician, that it is impossible a person should make himself a prince and found a state without opportunities. If the distracted state of religion favoured the designs of Mohammed on that side, the weakness of the Roman and Persian monarchies might flatter him with no less hopes in any attempt on those once formidable empires, either of which, had they been in their full vigour, must have crushed Mohammedism in its birth; whereas nothing nourished it more than the success the Arabians met with in their enterprises against those powers, which success they failed not to attribute to their new religion and the divine a.s.sistance thereof.

The Roman empire declined apace after Constantine, whose successors were for the generality remarkable for their ill qualities, especially cowardice and cruelty. By Mohammed's time, the western half of the empire was overrun by the Goths; and the eastern so reduced by the Huns on the one side, and the Persians on the other, that it was not in a capacity of stemming the violence of a powerful invasion. The emperor Maurice paid tribute to the Khagan or king of the Huns; and after Phocas had murdered his master, such lamentable havoc there was among the soldiers, that when Heraclius came, not above seven years after, to muster the army, there were only two soldiers left alive, of all those who had borne arms when Phocas first usurped the empire. And though Heraclius was a prince of admirable courage and conduct, and had done what possibly could be done to restore the discipline of the army, and had had great success against the Persians, so as to drive them not only out of his own dominions, but even out of part of their own; yet still the very vitals of the empire seemed to be mortally wounded; that there could no time have happened more fatal to the empire or more favourable to the enterprises of the Arabs, who seem to have been raised up on purpose by G.o.d, to be a scourge to the Christian church, for not living answerably to that most holy religion which they had received.

The general luxury and degeneracy of manners into which the Grecians were sunk, also contributed not a little to the enervating their forces, which were still further drained by those two great destroyers, monachism and persecution.

The Persians had also been in a declining condition for some time before Mohammed, occasioned chiefly by their intestine broils and dissensions; great part of which arose from the devilish doctrines of Manes and Mazdak. The opinions of the former are tolerably well known: the latter lived in the reign of Khosru Kobad, and pretended himself a prophet sent from G.o.d to preach a community of women and possessions, since all men were brothers and descended from the same common parents. This he imagined would put an end to all feuds and quarrels among men, which generally arose on account of one of the two. Kobad himself embraced the opinions of this impostor, to whom he gave leave, according to his new doctrine, to lie with the queen his wife; which permission a.n.u.s.h.i.+rwan, his son, with much difficulty prevailed on Mazdak not to make use of. These sects had certainly been the immediate ruin of the Persian empire, had not a.n.u.s.h.i.+rwan, as soon as he succeeded his father, put Mazdek to death with all his followers, and the Manicheans also, restoring the ancient Magian religion.

In the reign of this prince, deservedly surnamed the Just, Mohammed was born. He was the last king of Persia who deserved the throne, which after him was almost perpetually contended for, till subverted by the Arabs. His son Hormuz lost the love of his subjects by his excessive cruelty; having had his eyes put out by his wife's brothers, he was obliged to resign the crown to his son Khosru Parviz, who at the instigation of Bahram Chubin had rebelled against him, and was afterwards strangled. Parviz was soon obliged to quit the throne to Bahram; but obtaining succours of the Greek emperor Maurice, he recovered the crown: yet towards the latter end of a long reign he grew so tyrannical and hateful to his subjects, that they held private correspondence with the Arabs; and he was at length deposed, imprisoned, and slain by his son s.h.i.+ruyeh. After Parviz no less than six princes possessed the throne in less than six years. These domestic broils effectually brought ruin upon the Persians; for though they did rather by the weakness of the Greeks, than their own force, ravage Syria, and sack Jerusalem and Damascus under Khosru Parviz; and, while the Arabs were divided and independent, had some power in the province of Yaman, where they set up the four last kings before Mohammed; yet when attacked by the Greeks under Heraclius, they not only lost their new conquests, but part of their own dominions; and no sooner were the Arabs united by Mohammedism, than they beat them in every battle, and in a few years totally subdued them.

As these empires were weak and declining, so Arabia, at Mohammed's setting up, was strong and flouris.h.i.+ng; having been peopled at the expense of the Grecian empire, whence the violent proceedings of the domineering sects forced many to seek refuge in a free country, as Arabia then was, where they who could not enjoy tranquility and their conscience at home, found a secure retreat. The Arabians were not only a populous nation, but unacquainted with the luxury and delicacies of the Greeks and Persians, and inured to hards.h.i.+ps of all sorts; living in a most parsimonious manner, seldom eating any flesh, drinking no wine, and sitting on the ground. Their political government was also such as favoured the designs of Mohammed; for the division and independency of their tribes were so necessary to the first propagation of his religion, and the foundation of his power, that it would have been scarce possible for him to have effected either, had the Arabs been united in one society. But when they had embraced his religion, the consequent union of their tribes was no less necessary and conducive to their future conquests and grandeur.

This posture of public affairs in the eastern world, both as to its religious and political state, it is more than probably Mohammed was well acquainted with; he having had sufficient opportunities of informing himself in those particulars, in his travels as a merchant in his younger years: and though it is not to be supposed his views at first were so extensive as afterwards, when they were enlarged by his good fortune, yet he might reasonably promise himself success in his first attempts from thence. As he was a man of extraordinary parts and address, he knew how to make the best of every incident, and turn what might seem dangerous to another, to his own advantage.

Mohammed came into the world under some disadvantages, which he soon surmounted. His father Abd'allah was a younger son of Abd'almotalleb, and dying very young and in his father's lifetime, left his widow and infant son in very mean circ.u.mstances, his whole substance consisting but of five camels and one Ethiopian she-slave. Abd'almotalleb was therefore obliged to take care of his grandchild Mohammed, which he not only did during his life, but at his death enjoined his eldest son Abu Taleb, who was brother to Abd'allah by the same mother, to provide for him for the future; which he very affectionately did, and instructed him in the business of a merchant, which he followed; and to that end he took him with him into Syria when he was but thirteen, and afterward recommended him to Khadijah, a n.o.ble and rich widow, for her factor, in whose service he behaved himself so well, that by making him her husband she soon raised him to an equality with the richest in Mecca.

After he began by this advantageous match to live at his ease, it was that he formed the scheme of establis.h.i.+ng a new religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient one, professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry into which the generality of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the corruptions and superst.i.tions which the latter Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the wors.h.i.+p of the one only G.o.d.

Whether this was the effect of enthusiasm, or only a design to raise himself to the supreme government of his country, I will not pretend to determine. The latter is the general opinion of the Christian writers, who agree that ambition, and the desire of satisfying his sensuality, were the motives of his undertaking. It may be so; yet his first views, perhaps, were not so interested. His original design of bringing the pagan Arabs to the knowledge of the true G.o.d, was certainly n.o.ble, and highly to be commended; for I cannot possibly subscribe to the a.s.sertion of a late learned writer, that he made the nation exchange their idolatry for another religion altogether as bad. Mohammed was no doubt fully satisfied in his conscience of the truth of his grand point, the unity of G.o.d, which was what he chiefly attended to; all his other doctrines and inst.i.tutions being rather accidental and unavoidable, than premeditated and designed.

Since then Mohammed was certainly himself persuaded of his grand article of faith, which, in his opinion, was violated by all the rest of the world; not only by the idolaters, but by the Christians, as well those who rightly wors.h.i.+pped Jesus as G.o.d, as those who superst.i.tiously adored the Virgin Mary, saints, and images; and also by the Jews, who are accused in the Koran of taking Ezra for the son of G.o.d; it is easy to conceive that he might think it a meritorious work to rescue the world from such ignorance and superst.i.tion; and by degrees, with the help of a warm imagination, which an Arab seldom wants, to suppose himself destined by providence for the effecting that great reformation. And this fancy of his might take still deeper root in his mind, during the solitude he thereupon affected, usually retiring for a month in the year to a cave in Mount Hara, near Mecca. One thing which may be probably urged against the enthusiasm of this prophet of the Arabs, is the wise conduct and great prudence he all along showed in pursuing his design, which seem inconsistent with the wild notions of a hot-brained religionist.

But though all enthusiasts or madmen do not behave with the same gravity and circ.u.mspection that he did, yet he will not be the first instance, by several, of a person who has been out of the way only quoad hoc, and in all other respects acted with the greatest decency and precaution.

The terrible destruction of the eastern churches, once so glorious and flouris.h.i.+ng, by the sudden spreading of Mohammedism, and the great successes of its professors against the Christians, necessarily inspire a horror of that religion in those to whom it has been so fatal; and no wonder if they endeavour to set the character of its founder, and its doctrines, in the most infamous light. But the damage done by Mohammed to Christianity seems to have been rather owing to his ignorance than malice; for his great misfortune was, his not having a competent knowledge of the real and pure doctrines of the Christian religion, which was in his time so abominably corrupted, that it is not surprising if he went too far, and resolved to abolish what he might think incapable of reformation.

It is scarce to be doubted but that Mohammed had a violent desire of being reckoned an extraordinary person, which he could attain to by no means more effectually, than by pretending to be a messenger sent from G.o.d, to inform mankind of his will. This might be at first his utmost ambition; and had his fellow-citizens treated him less injuriously, and not obliged him by their persecutions to seek refuge elsewhere, and to take up arms against them in his own defe