Jenghiz Khan was already ruler of Tatary and Northern China when he

directed his movements westward and menaced Mawarannahar (1219). This

province belonged at the time to Muhammed, sultan of Khwarizm, who

was at war with Nasir, caliph of Baghdad, for a very serious cause.

Nasir, alarmed at the growing power of Muhammed, had armed the Ghurid

princes against him; whereat Muhammed had summoned to a grand council

in his palace a number of doctors and jurists whose decision could not

be doubtful, and had declared the reign of the Abbasids, usurpers of

the caliphate, to be at an end. A descendant of Ali, Ala ad-Din, was

proclaimed caliph in place of Nasir, and a mighty expedition was prepared

against Baghdad. Nasir was saved by the arrival of the Mongols at that

juncture, the sultan being obliged to direct his entire force toward

Mawarannahar, where it was cut to pieces. Muhammed himself fled to an

island in the Caspian Sea, leaving his son Jelal ad-Din to meet and

resist the invaders as best he might (1220). Courageous to foolhardiness,

this prince would actually have opposed a successful resistance to the

terrible enemy had he been supported by a people determined to defend

their homes at any cost; but betrayed and abandoned by those upon whom

he should have been able to rely, he experienced the sorrow of seeing

the hordes of Jenghiz Khan sweep devastatingly through Mawarannahar,

Khwarizm, Gilan, and Aderbaijan. When the conqueror, master of 1,700

square leagues, retired to his own capital, Karakorum (1220-1227), Jelal

ad-Din, who had taken refuge in India, returned, and all the populations

who had escaped subjugation flocked to his banners. Out of the remains

of his father’s possessions he formed a new empire which extended from

the source of the Ganges to Mosul, and for yet a little while Baghdad

was secure against attack by the Mongols. But Ogdai became khan by the

consent of his father, Jenghiz, and all the greatest chiefs immediately

set out to invade the domains of Jelal ad-Din, so that the latter was

again reduced to flight, and later found death at the hands of an

assassin.

Ogdai was less fortunate in his attempts against the sultan of

Iconium and against Baghdad, which was ably defended by the caliph

Mustansir (1235-1241). Kuyuk his successor (1241-1251) also made but

little progress and had to be content with driving from his court the

ambassadors of the caliph and of the sultan. Mangu Khan, who reigned

next, was seized with a desire for conquest, and sent his brothers Kublai

and Hulagu on missions of aggrandisement. While Kublai was occupied in

completing the submission of China, Hulagu left Karakorum at the head

of a numerous army and besieged Baghdad, with which he had already held

secret communication. The caliph Mustasim, informed of his approach,

made no attempt at resistance, and for seven days his capital was at

the mercy of the Mongols, who pillaged and destroyed on all sides,

burning many priceless manuscripts that they found in the libraries and

colleges. Mustasim was strangled and his corpse dragged around the walls

of Baghdad, which had been witnesses of all the different phases of the

Abbasids’ rise and fall--their grandeur, their decadence, and their

closing ignominy.

The Mongols had now only a step to take to seek the conquest of Egypt

and Syria; but they encountered the mamelukes, whom they were unable to

vanquish. As their name indicates, the mamelukes were Circassian slaves

whom Saladin’s successors had imported to their palaces, and who renewed

at Cairo the insubordination and excesses of which the Turkish soldiery

had been guilty at Baghdad.

When the Khwarizmians fled to Syria before Jenghiz Khan, the sultan of

Damascus gave to the Franks Tiberius, Jerusalem, and Ascalon in return

for their aid. Now the sultan of Egypt and his mamelukes joined forces

with the Khwarizmians, and during a series of combats in which Jerusalem

was taken and retaken several times, they concluded by turning upon their

own allies and almost destroying them (1240-1245). Three years later they

repulsed at Massur the attack of St. Louis, who had begun an invasion of

Egypt. In 1250 a revolution occurred which changed the whole face of the

country.

[Sidenote: [1258-1517 A.D.]]

The mamelukes, dissatisfied with the treaty they had concluded with

the king of France, their prisoner, rose in revolt and proclaimed one

of their chiefs, Muiz ad-Din, sultan. St. Louis, who had retired to

Palestine, sought in vain to raise up enemies against the mamelukes by

entering into relations with the khan of the Mongols, and the leader of

the Ismailians. Syria, after having been briefly occupied by Hulagu, who

put an end to the sultanates of Aleppo and Damascus (1258), remained

permanently, together with Jezireh, in the hands of the mamelukes. The

Franks lost successively their remaining possessions and a new dynasty of

Abbasid caliphs arose, who for over two centuries exercised no higher

function than that of bestowing a sort of religious consecration upon

the sovereigns of Egypt. In 1517 the Ottoman Turks, already masters of

Constantinople and Asia Minor, exterminated the mamelukes, and extended

their authority over all the countries known to-day under the name of

Asiatic Turkey.

Situated as they were in the midst of incessant revolutions, and

suffering from the onslaught of barbarian races from the north, the Arabs

began gradually to disappear; but the great movement they imparted to

civilisation has never been lost in Asia, and traces of their beneficent

influence are still everywhere apparent. We have seen the Seljuk, Malik

Shah, borrow from the school of Baghdad the reforms he introduced into

the Persian calendar; before him Mahmud, the Ghaznevid, had called to

his councils a universal genius--Albiruni, who exercised a remarkable

influence upon the century in which he lived; the Mongul, Hulagu, who

could not save from the flames the precious instruments and records that

had been the result of years of enlightened research, permitted the

celebrated mathematician, Nasir ad-Din Thusi, to build a magnificent

observatory at Meraga; and lastly his brother Kublai, when he became

emperor of China, carried with him into the celestial empire all the lore

and wisdom of the Occident.

Under the first Ottoman emperors we shall note the use by eminent writers

of the old dialect of the Abbasids; but this is the last faint effulgence

of a protracted period of glory. The tyranny of the sword is to usurp

power over all the Asiatic continent--among the Manchurian Tatars in the

east, the Usbegs in the north, the Sophia in Persia, and the Ottoman

Turks in the west. From an intellectual point of view the Orient is to

fall again into immobility and torpor, until the nations of the west,

carrying out on a grander scale the work begun by the Arabs, shall so

develop all the forces of science and of human industry as to react on

Asia, and infuse into the swarming populations of those vast spaces the

spirit of a new life.[b]

We have now seen the sceptre of Mohammed pass from his own race. It

remains to resume the story of the Arabs in Spain.[a]

FOOTNOTES

[40] [Also spelled Harun-er-Rashid and Harun al-Rashid.]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IX. THE DECLINE OF THE MOSLEMS IN SPAIN

[Sidenote: [961-1492 A.D.]]

Al-Hakam II, the son and successor of Abd ar-Rahman, inherited all the

great qualities of his father. He was, however, averse to war, fond

of tranquillity, and immoderately attached to literature. His agents

were constantly employed in the East in purchasing scarce and curious

books; he himself wrote to every author of reputation for a copy of

that author’s works, for which he paid royally; and wherever he could

not purchase a book, he caused it to be transcribed. By this means he

collected an extensive library, the unfinished catalogue of which, in the

time of Ibn Hayan, reached forty-four volumes. On his accession, that he

might devote his chief time to the public administration yet not neglect

interests so dear to him, he confided to one of his brothers the care of

his library, and to another the duty of protecting literary institutions

and of rewarding the learned. His reign is the golden age of Arabian

literature in Spain.

He appears never to have been engaged in war with the Christians; for

though the Arabian writers mention the siege and reduction of an Estefano

de Gormas by the king in person, no mention is made of such a fact by

the contemporary bishop of Astorga. In Africa, his general, Khalib,

successfully repressed an insurrection of two local governors, and

rendered the walis of Fez again dependent on the throne of Cordova.

As Hisham II, the son and successor of Al-Hakam, was but eleven years

old when he ascended the throne, the regency was conferred by the

queen-mother on her secretary, Muhammed ben Abdallah, a man of great

genius, valour, and activity. Muhammed, better known as Almansor, may,

in fact, be regarded as the king; for he alone throughout life governed

the realm. Hisham was too feeble, too despicable, too much addicted to

slothful pleasures, to command even the passing notice of the people.

ALMANSOR

[Sidenote: [977-998 A.D.]]

The wars of Almansor with the Christians, which proved so fatal to them,

occupy the most prominent part of his administration. Without acquainting

them with his intention to disturb a peace which had continued during

the reign of Al-Hakam, in 977 A.D. he penetrated into Galicia, where

booty and captives in abundance rewarded the avarice of his followers.

In the two years succeeding, he frequently renewed his incursions, both

into Galicia and Tarragona, without encountering much opposition. Under

an infant king, the Christians were too much occupied with their internal

dissensions to unite even in defence of their country. In short, his

destructive inroads are said to have occurred twice every year during a

great part of his life.

In 981 Almansor not only reduced Zamora, but took possession of many

other fortresses in the neighbourhood. The ensuing campaigns were no

less successful; they are, however, too numerous to be particularised.

It will be sufficient to state that in 983 A.D. he took Gormaz; in

984, Simancas; in 986, Sepulveda; in 987, he destroyed Coimbra, which,

however, the Moors themselves soon rebuilt; in 989, he reduced Artienza,

Osma, and Alcova; in 992, Montemayor; in 994, San Estevan and Corunna; in

995, Aguilar; in 996, the important cities of Leon and Astorga, with a

great number of inferior places; and in the same year he laid waste the

whole of Galicia, not sparing even the holy precincts of Compostella. His

restless barbarity, and still more his innumerable acts of sacrilege,

are dwelt upon with indignant wonder by the old chroniclers. But many

precious things escaped his fury; and many more, such as the bodies of

saints and kings, were removed by the terrified Christians from Leon to

Oviedo--for the mountains of the Asturias again became the inaccessible

asylum of the native monarchy. The bells of Compostella were sent to

Cordova, to be melted into lamps for the famous mosque of that city.

But the indignant saint sought for revenge; for, on their return to

Cordova, the misbelievers were seized with a violent dysentery, which

carried off the greater portion of them; comparatively few (if the bishop

of Astorga[b] is to be believed, not one) returned to the Mohammedan

capital. Later writers than Sampiro assign--perhaps with truth--much of

the honour to the Christians, who, on learning the extent of the disease,

pursued the misbelievers, and cut off such as Santiago would have spared.

However this be, on the departure of the invaders, the Christians issued

from their mountains, rebuilt their towns, and restored the church of

Compostella.

During these successful operations against the kings of Leon, Almansor

had time to signalise his administration in other parts. In 985 he seized

on Barcelona; and would have carried his victorious banners to the

Pyrenees, had not his march been arrested by intelligence from Africa.

Al-Hasam, an emir of Almaghreb, who during the late reign had usurped the

government of the whole province, and been expelled by Khalib, had fled

to Egypt. By Nazar, the sultan of that country, he had been favourably

received; and on his return he bore an order to the governor of Tunis

to provide him with three thousand horse, and some Berber infantry. His

little army was speedily reinforced; for in that country, more perhaps

than any other on the face of the earth, he who endeavoured to disturb

existing institutions was sure to receive some degree of co-operation.

The general of Almansor--for Hisham was nobody--was defeated and

compelled to seek refuge in Ceuta. But Abdul-Malik, the son of Almansor,

hastened to the scene of strife, and in two battles annihilated the

forces of his enemy, whom he made prisoner; and who, though relying on

the faith of treaties, was sent to Spain and executed. With Al-Hasam

ended the dynasty of the Edris, which had ruled in Fez about two hundred

years. In 987, however, the flames of war were rekindled by Balkin ben

Zeiri, and nourished by his son and successor. After various alternations

of fortune the country was pacified by the victories of Abdul-Malik, who

was rewarded by the dignity of emir of Almaghreb.

DECAY OF POWER

[Sidenote: [998-1009 A.D.]]

But the chief attention of the hajib was always turned to the natural

enemy of his nation. From his elevation he had meditated the destruction

of the Christian power. Now that Africa was pacified, and his son able to

send him a supply of Berber troops, he resolved to execute his project,

and as usual to commence with Leon. His preparations which he had been

long making were immense; but this circumstance saved Spain. Terrified at

the approaching danger, Sancho king of Navarre, and another of the same

name, the count of Castile, entered into a confederacy with the regency

of Leon (Alfonso V, who then reigned, was only in his eighth year), to

repel the common foe. This was the first time during the administration

of Almansor that the three powers thus united; they were, in fact,

generally at war with one another; a circumstance which, coupled with

the frequent minority of the kings of Leon, will fully account for the

unparalleled triumphs of that hero.

In 1001 the Mohammedan army, in two formidable bodies, ascended the

Duero, and encountered the Christians in the vicinity of Calatanazar,

a place between Soria and Medina Cœli. When Almansor perceived the

widespread tents of the Christians, he was struck with surprise. The

battle commenced with break of day, and was maintained with unexampled

obstinacy until darkness separated the combatants.

That the loss on both sides was immense, may well be conceived from

the desperate valour of the two armies. If Almansor by his frequent

and impetuous assaults broke the adverse line, it was soon reformed,

and the next moment saw the Christian knights in the very heart of the

infidels. Overcome with fatigue, with anxiety, and still more with the

mortification of having been so unexpectedly repelled, he slowly retired

to his tent, to await the customary visits of his generals. The extent

of his disaster was unknown to him, until he learned, from the few who

arrived, the fate of their brother chiefs. To hazard a second field,

he well saw, would be destruction; and burning with shame he ordered

a retreat. Whether the Mohammedans were disturbed or not in their

retreat is uncertain, but Almansor himself proceeded no further than the

frontiers of Castile, before he sank under the weight of his despair.

Obstinately refusing all consolation--some accounts say all support--he

died in the arms of his son Abdul-Malik, who had hastened from Africa to

see him, the third day of the moon Shaffal (1002).

Almansor was formed for a great sovereign. He was not only the most able

of generals, and the most valiant of soldiers, but he was an enlightened

statesman, an active governor, an encourager of science and the arts,

and a magnificent rewarder of merit. His loss was fatal to Cordova.

The national sorrow was mitigated for a moment by the appointment of

Abdul-Malik to the vacant post of hajib. This minister promised to

tread in the steps of his illustrious father; his administration both

in Africa and Spain was signalised by great spirit and valour; but,

unlike Almansor, he found the Christians too well prepared to be taken

by surprise. He was suddenly seized with excruciating pains--the effect,

probably, of poison; and he died in 1008, in the seventh year of his

administration. With him ended the prosperity of Mohammedan Spain.

[Sidenote: [1009-1012 A.D.]]

Abd ar-Rahman, the brother of Abdul-Malik, was next advanced to the

post of hajib. He prevailed on the childless monarch to designate him

as successor to the throne. This rash act occasioned his ruin, and was

one of those which accelerated with fearful rapidity the decline of the

state. The race of the Omayyads was not extinct; and Muhammed, a prince

of that house, resolved to chastise the presumption of the hajib. He

rapidly marched on the city, forcibly seized on the palace and king, and

proclaimed the deposition of the hajib, who later was wounded, taken, and

crucified by the barbarous victor.

Muhammed first caused himself to be appointed hajib; but the modest title

soon displeased, and he aspired to that of king. He who had successfully

rebelled against his sovereign, and who held that sovereign a prisoner in

the palace, was not likely to hesitate at greater crimes. By his orders

Hisham was secretly conveyed to an obscure fortress, and there confined.

At the same time the death of the king was publicly announced; a person

resembling him in stature and countenance was, we are told, substituted

for him, and laid in the royal sepulchre; and Muhammed, in conformity

with the pretended will of his predecessor, was hailed as prince of the

believers.

But the usurper was far from secure in his seat of power. The dangerous

example which he himself had set of successful rebellion, was too

attractive not to be followed; and his own acts hastened the invitation.

Incensed against the African guard which had supported the factions of

Abd ar-Rahman, he dissolved that formidable body, and ordered them to

be expelled the city. They naturally resisted; but with the aid of the

populace he at length forced them beyond the walls, and threw after them

the head of their chief. The exasperated Africans swore to be revenged,

and proclaimed Suleiman, of the royal blood of the Omayyads, the

successor of Hisham. As the forces of Suleiman were too few to make an

open attack on Cordova, he traversed the country in search of partisans,

and added greatly to the number of his followers. He even procured many

Christian auxiliaries from Sancho, count of Castile. In an obstinately

contended battle he overthrew the usurper; twenty thousand troops of

the latter being left on the field. The victor hastened to Cordova, and

assumed the reins of sovereignty. There, however, he did not long remain;

he felt he was unpopular; and to avoid assassination, he shut himself up

in the palace of Azhara.

The African domination--for such his was--became odious to the native

Moslems; nor was the feeling lessened by the presence of the Christian

auxiliaries. The latter were honourably dismissed; but still there was

no solid security for Suleiman, against whom plots were frequent. To

add to his vexations, Muhammed, aided by Count Raymond of Barcelona and

several walis, advanced against Cordova. The African party was defeated,

its chief forced to flee, and Muhammed again recognised as king. But

throughout these contentions, the vicissitudes of success and failure

followed each other with amazing celerity. Though pursued by a superior

force headed in person by his bitter rival, Suleiman turned round and

inflicted a terrible defeat on Muhammed, who precipitately fled, almost

alone, to the capital. The victor followed him, seized on the heights

in the vicinity of Cordova, and laid siege to the place. Muhammed was

weakened by the desertion of his Christian allies, and still more by

the disaffection of the mob, which bears about the same feeling to

unfortunate princes as the kindred cur towards the meanly clad visitant.

The hajib Uhada, a man who had contrived to keep his post in every recent

change of government, took advantage of this alienation of popular

feeling; he did not declare for Suleiman, as little of a favourite as the

present ruler; but he suddenly drew Hisham from confinement, and showed

him to the astonished populace. Astonishment gave way to transport; and

transport, as usual, to excesses. Muhammed was beheaded, his corpse torn

in pieces by the new converts to legitimacy (1012 A.D.), and the head

thrown into the camp of Suleiman.

[Sidenote: [1012-1023 A.D.]]

But Suleiman refused to recognise the grandson of the great Abd

ar-Rahman. Having formed an alliance with Obaid Allah, the son of

Muhammed and wali of Toledo, he aimed at nothing less than the deposition

of the king. At first his efforts were unpromising; his ally was

defeated, made prisoner, and beheaded. Fortune favoured him in other

respects. Suleiman marched on Cordova. In vain did the hajib Khairan, the

successor of Uhada, whom Hisham in a fit of suspicion had put to death,

attempt to defend the city. The inhabitants opened one of the gates;

the Africans entered, fought, and conquered; their chief was a second

time saluted as king, and Hisham forever disappeared from the stage of

royalty--probably at the same moment from that of life.

Suleiman began his reign--for so long as Hisham lived he cannot be

properly ranked among the kings of Cordova--by rewarding his adherents

in the most lavish manner. He confirmed them, as he had promised, in the

hereditary possession of their fiefs; thus engrafting on a strangely

foreign stock the feudal institution of more northern nations. This

was the signal for the creation of numerous independent sovereignties,

and consequently for the ruin of Mohammedan Spain. The strength of the

misbelievers had consisted in their unity under the religious sway of

their caliphs; when this strong bulwark was dissolved the scattered

fragments of their empire might for a moment resist the eager assaults of

the Christians; but these must inevitably be swept away in the end by the

overwhelming flood.

The hajib Khairan, who had escaped to his government of Almeria, swore to

be revenged on this new usurper. As, however, no forces which he could

bring into the field could contend for a moment with those of Suleiman,

he passed over to Ceuta to interest the governor, Ali ben Hammud, in his

project. Suleiman was forsaken by most of the walis, his allies--they can

no longer be called subjects; his troops deserted to swell the ranks of

his enemy; and in a battle near Seville, his Andalusian adherents turned

against him, and thereby decided his fate.

Ali was proclaimed king of Mohammedan Spain, but not until search had

been vainly made for Hisham. The crown was not destined to sit more

lightly on his head than on that of his immediate predecessor. He found

an enemy where he least expected one; he was stifled in the bath by his

Slavonic attendants, and the report circulated that his death was natural.

Al-Kasim ben Hammud, brother of the deceased king, seized on the throne.

A powerful conspiracy was formed to dethrone him. His palace was

assailed; and though, by the valour of his guards, it held out fifty

days, at the end of that time most of them fell in an attempt to effect

their escape. Some of the more humane of the assailants secretly conveyed

Kasim beyond the walls and provided him with a small escort of cavalry,

which conveyed him to Xeres. When this intelligence was known at Cordova,

the Alameris, or party of the family of the great Almansor, which acted

a conspicuous part in all these commotions and which adhered to the

fortunes of the Omayyads, proclaimed as king Abd ar-Rahman ben Hisham,

brother of the usurper Muhammed.

Muhammed ben Abd ar-Rahman, cousin of the king, a man of boundless

wealth, succeeded in corrupting the chief nobles of the city. In the

silence of night he armed a resolute band of his creatures, who hastened

to the palace, and massacred the soldiers on duty. After a reign of only

forty-seven days, the king’s bedchamber was entered and he was pierced

with a thousand wounds.

END OF THE OMAYYADS

[Sidenote: [1023-1238 A.D.]]

Muhammed II reaped the reward of his crime. His successor was Yahya,

who perished in an ambuscade (1025). The next prince on whom the choice

of the Cordovans fell, Hisham III, brother of Abd ar-Rahman al-Mortada,

was naturally loth to accept a crown which had destroyed so many of its

wearers. In the end, however, being rather forced than persuaded to

relinquish his scruples, he left his retirement. Unhappily, he had but

too much reason to find that neither private virtues nor public services

have much influence over the bulk of mankind; and that the absolute king

who has not the power to make himself feared will not long be suffered

to reign. In 1031 a licentious mob paraded the streets of Cordova, and

loudly demanded his deposition. He did not wait the effects of their

violence; with unfeigned satisfaction he retired to private life, in

which he passed unmolested the remainder of his days. The remembrance

of his virtues long survived him; and by all the Arabic writers of his

country he is represented as too good for his age.

[Illustration: THE ALHAMBRA]

With Hisham III ended the caliphate of the West, and the noble race of

the Omayyads. If the succession was interrupted by Ali, and Al-Kasim, and

Yahya, who though descended from a kindred stock were not of the same

family, that interruption was but momentary; especially as Abd ar-Rahman

IV reigned at Jaen, while the last two princes were acknowledged at

Cordova. From this period 1031 A.D. to the establishment of the kingdom

of Grenada in 1238 A.D., there was no supreme chief of Mohammedan Spain,

if we except the fleeting conquerors who arrived from Africa, the fabric

of whose dominion was as suddenly destroyed as it was erected.

Vicious as is the constitution of all Mohammedan governments, and

destructible as are the bases on which they are founded, the reader

cannot fail to have been struck with the fate of this great kingdom. It

can scarcely be said to have declined; it fell at once. Not thirty years

have elapsed since the great Almansor wielded the resources of Africa

and Spain, and threatened the entire destruction of the Christians,

whom he had driven into an obscure corner of this vast peninsula. Now

Africa is lost; the Christians hold two-thirds of the country; the petty

but independent governors, the boldest of whom trembled at the name of

Almansor, openly insult the ruler of Cordova, whose authority extends

little further than the walls of his capital. Assuredly, so astounding

a catastrophe has no parallel in all history. Other kingdoms, indeed,

as powerful as Cordova, have been perhaps as speedily deprived of their

independence; but if they have been subdued by invading enemies, their

resources, their vigour, to a certain extent their greatness have long

survived their loss of that blessing. Cordova, in the very fullness of

her strength, was torn to pieces by her turbulent children.

INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS

[Sidenote: [1031-1094 A.D.]]

The decline and dissolution of the Mohammedan monarchy, or western

caliphate afforded the ambitious local governors throughout the peninsula

the opportunity for which they had long sighed--that of openly asserting

their independence of Cordova and of assuming the title of kings.

But Cordova, however weakened, was not willing thus suddenly to lose

her hold on her ancient subjects; she resolved to elect a sovereign

who should endeavour to subdue these audacious rebels, and restore her

ancient splendour. The disasters which had accompanied the last reigns

of the Omayyad princes had strongly indisposed the people to the claims

of that illustrious house. Jehwar ben Muhammed surrounded himself by a

council which comprised some of the most distinguished citizens, and

without the advice of which he undertook no one thing, not even the

nomination to public offices. Of that council he was but the president,

possessing but one vote like the remaining members; so that Cordova

presented the appearance rather of a republic than of a monarchy. He

introduced a degree of tranquillity and commercial activity unknown since

the death of the great Almansor. But the same success did not attend him

in his efforts to restore the supremacy of Cordova. Whatever might be the

internal dissensions of the petty kings, the success of some, the failure

of others, none thought of recognising his superiority. To recount the

perpetually recurring struggles of these reguli for the increase of their

states, their alliances, their transient successes or hopeless failures,

or even their existence, would afford neither interest nor instruction

to the reader. Such events only can be noticed as are either signal in

themselves, or exercised more than a passing influence on the condition

of the Mohammedan portion of the peninsula.

After triumphing over some neighbouring kings, who dreaded his increasing

power, the sovereign of Seville prepared to invade the possessions of

Jehwar; but death surprised him before those preparations were completed.

His son, Muhammed Al-Mucteded, who succeeded him, was as ambitious as

himself, but more luxurious. All southern Andalusia came into the power

of Al-Mucteded, yet his ambition was far from satisfied. For some time he

remained in alliance with Muhammed, the son and successor of Jehwar, in

the throne of Cordova; but he gained possession of that ancient capital

by stratagem. After many years of continued warfare, the king of Seville

and Cordova became, not merely the most powerful, but almost the only

independent sovereign of Mohammedan Spain.

Yahya al-Kadi, the son and successor of Ibn Dylnun on the throne of

Toledo, inherited neither the courage nor the abilities of that prince.

Sunk in the lowest sensuality, he regarded with indifference the growing

success of Muhammed. He became at length so contemptible that his very

subjects rose and expelled him. He applied for aid to the ally of his

father, Alfonso VI king of Leon; but that prince, though under the

greatest obligations to the memory of the father, was persuaded by the

king of Seville to adopt a hostile policy towards the son. It seems,

indeed, as if Muhammed and Alfonso, in the treaty which they concluded

at the instance of the former, had tacitly agreed not to interrupt

each other in the execution of the designs each had long formed. The

victorious Alfonso triumphed over all opposition, and prosecuted

the siege with a vigour which might have shown the misbelievers how

formidable an enemy awaited them all, and how necessary were their

combined efforts to resist him. But Muhammed, the only enemy whom the

Christian hero had to dread, was no less occupied in deriving his share

of the advantages secured by the treaty--in reducing the strong towns

of Murcia and Granada. After a siege of three years, Toledo was reduced

to the last extremity, and was compelled to capitulate. On the 25th of

May, 1085 A.D., Alfonso triumphantly entered this ancient capital of the

Goths, which had remained in the power of the misbelievers about 374

years.

The conquest of Toledo was far from satisfying the ambition of Alfonso;

he rapidly seized on the fortresses of Madrid, Maqueda, Guadalajara, and

established his dominion on both banks of the Tagus. Muhammed now began

seriously to repent his treaty with the Christian, and to tremble even

for his own possessions. He vainly endeavoured to divert his ally from

the projects of aggrandisement which that ally had evidently formed.

Muhammed saw that unless he leagued himself with those whose subjugation

had hitherto been his constant object,--the princes of his faith,--his

and their destruction was inevitable. The magnitude of the danger

compelled him to solicit their alliance. Such resistance as Mohammedan

Spain alone could offer seemed hopeless. With this conviction in their

hearts two of the most influential cadis proposed an appeal to the

celebrated African conqueror, Yusuf ben Tashufin, whose arm alone seemed

able to preserve the faith of Islam in the peninsula. The proposal was

received with general applause by all present; they did not make the

very obvious reflection that when a nation admits into its bosom an

ally more powerful than itself, it admits at the same time a conqueror.

The wali of Malaga alone, Abdallah ben Zagut, had courage to oppose the

dangerous embassy under consideration. “You mean to call in the aid of

the Almoravids! Are you ignorant that these fierce inhabitants of the

deserts resemble their own native tigers? Suffer them not, I beseech you,

to enter the fertile plains of Andalusia and Granada! Doubtless they

would break the iron sceptre which Alfonso intends for us; but you would

still be doomed to wear the chains of slavery. Do you not know that Yusuf

has taken all the cities of Almaghreb, that he has subdued the powerful

tribes of the East and West, that he has everywhere substituted despotism

for liberty and independence?” The aged Zagut spoke in vain.

THE ALMORAVIDS

Beyond the chain of Mount Atlas, in the deserts of ancient Gætulia, dwelt

two tribes of Arabian descent. At what time they had been expelled,

or had voluntarily exiled themselves from their native Yemen, they

knew not; but tradition taught them that they had been located in the

African deserts from ages immemorial. Yahya ben Ibrahim, belonging to

one of these tribes (that of Gudala), made the pilgrimage of Mecca.

Being questioned by his new friend as to the religion and manners of

his countrymen, he replied that they were sunk in ignorance, both from

their isolated situation in the desert and from their want of teachers.

He entreated the alfaqui to allow some one of his disciples to accompany

him into his native country. With considerable difficulty Abdallah ben

Yassim, the disciple of another alfaqui, was persuaded to accompany

the patriotic Yahya. Abdallah was one of those ruling minds which,

fortunately for the peace of society, nature so seldom produces. Seeing

his enthusiastic reception by the tribe of Gudala, and the influence

he was sure of maintaining over it, he formed the design of founding

a sovereignty in the heart of these vast regions. He prevailed on his

obedient disciples to make war on the kindred tribe of Lamtuna. His

ambition naturally increased with his success; in a short time he had

reduced, in a similar manner, the isolated tribes around him.

To his valiant followers of Lamtuna, he now gave the name of

Al-Morabethun, or Almoravids, which signifies men consecrated to the

service of God. The whole country of Darah was gradually subdued by this

new apostle, and his authority was acknowledged over a region extensive

enough to form a respectable kingdom. But though he exercised all the

rights of sovereignty, he prudently abstained from assuming the title. He

left to the emir of Lamtuna the ostensible exercise of temporal power;

and when, in 1058 A.D., that emir fell in battle, he nominated Abu Bekr

ben Omar to the vacant dignity. His own death, which was that of a

warrior, left Abu Bekr in possession of an undivided sovereignty. The

power, and consequently the reputation of the emir, spread far and wide.

Abu Bekr looked around for a site on which he might lay the foundations

of a great city, the destined metropolis of a great empire; and the city

of Morocco began to rear its head from the valley of Eylana. Before,

however, his great work was half completed, he received intelligence that

the tribe of Gudala had declared a deadly war against that of Lamtuna.

As he belonged to the latter, he naturally trembled for the fate of

his kindred; and at the head of his cavalry he departed for his native

deserts, leaving the command of the army, during his absence, to his

cousin, Yusuf ben Tashufin.

[Sidenote: [1070-1103 A.D.]]

Whatever were Yusuf’s other virtues, it will be seen that gratitude,

honour, and good faith were not among the number. Scarcely had his

kinsman left the city than, in pursuance of the design he had formed

of usurping the supreme authority, he began to win the affections of

the troops, partly by his gifts and partly by affability. Nor was his

success in war less agreeable to so fierce and martial a people as the

Almoravids. The Berbers were quickly subdued by him. He had long aspired

to the hope of marrying the beautiful Zainab, sister of Abu Bekr; but

the fear of a repulse from the proud chief of his family had caused him

to smother his inclination. He now disdained to supplicate for that

chief’s consent; he married the lady. Having put the finishing touch to

his magnificent city of Morocco, he transferred thither the seat of his

empire. The augmentation of his army was his next great object; and so

well did he succeed in it that he found his troops exceeded one hundred

thousand.

Yusuf had just completed the subjugation of Fez when Abu Bekr returned

from the desert, and encamped in the vicinity of Agmat. With a force

so far inferior to his rival’s, so far from demanding the restitution

of his rights, he durst not even utter one word of complaint; on the

contrary, he pretended that he had long renounced empire, and that his

only wish was to pass the remainder of his days in the retirement of the

desert. With equal hypocrisy Yusuf humbly thanked him for his abdication;

the sheikhs and walis were summoned to witness the renewed declaration

of the emir, after which the two princes separated. The following day,

however, Abu Bekr received a magnificent present from Yusuf, who, indeed,

continued to send him one every year to the period of his death.

Yusuf had just exchanged his humble title of emir for that of

_al-muslimin_, or prince of the believers, and of _nazir ed-din_, or

defender of the faith, when letters from Muhammed reached him. Before

he returned a final answer to the king of Seville, he insisted that the

fortress of Algeciras should be placed in his hands, on the pretence that

if fortune were unpropitious he should have some place to which he might

retreat. That Muhammed should have been so blind as not to perceive the

designs involved in the insidious proposal is almost enough to make one

agree with the Arabic historians, that destiny had decreed he should fall

by his own measures.

Alfonso was besieging Saragossa, which he had every expectation of

reducing, when intelligence reached him of Yusuf’s disembarkation. He

resolved to meet the approaching storm. At the head of all the forces he

could muster he advanced towards Andalusia, and encountered Yusuf on the

plains of Zallaka (1086). Alfonso was severely wounded and compelled to

retreat, but not until nightfall, nor until he had displayed a valour

worthy of the greatest heroes. Yusuf now proclaimed the Al-hijed, or

holy war, and invited all the Andalusian princes to join him. But this

demonstration of force proved as useless as the preceding; it ended in

nothing; owing partly to the dissensions of the Mohammedans and partly

to the activity of the Christians, who not only rendered abortive the

measures of the enemy but gained some signal advantages over them.

Yusuf was forced to retreat on Almeida. Whether through the distrust of

the Mohammedan princes, who appear to have penetrated his intention of

subjecting them to his empire, or through his apprehension of Alfonso, he

again returned to Africa, to procure new and more considerable levies. He

landed a third time at Algeciras, not so much with the view of humbling

the Christian king as of executing the perfidious design he had so long

formed. For form’s sake, indeed, he invested Toledo, but he could have

entertained no expectation of reducing it; and when he perceived that

the Andalusian princes refused to join him, he eagerly left that city,

and proceeded to secure far dearer and easier interests. He openly threw

off the mask, and commenced his career of spoliation. After the fall of

Muhammed, Yusuf had little difficulty in subduing the remaining princes

of Andalusia.

Thus ended the petty kingdoms of Andalusia, after a stormy existence of

about sixty years, and thus commenced the dynasty of the Almoravids. For

some years after the usurpation of Yusuf, peace appears to have subsisted

in Spain between the Mohammedans and the Christians. Fearing a new

irruption of Africans, Alfonso contented himself with fortifying Toledo;

and Yusuf felt little inclination to renew the war with one whose prowess

he had so fatally experienced. But Christian Spain was, at one moment,

near the brink of ruin. The passion for the Crusades was no less ardently

felt by the Spaniards than by other nations of Europe. Fortunately, Pope

Paschal II, in answer to the representations of Alfonso, declared that

the proper post of every Spaniard was at home, and there were his true

enemies. Yusuf returned to Morocco in 1103, where he died in 1106, after

living one hundred Arabian or about ninety-seven Christian years.

[Sidenote: [1103-1130 A.D.]]

Ali was only in his twenty-third year when he succeeded his father, whose

military talents he inherited, and whom he surpassed in generosity.

On the death of Alfonso, in 1109 A.D., Ali entered Spain at the head

of one hundred thousand men, to prosecute in person the war against

the Christians. But though he laid waste the territory of Toledo, and

invested that city, he soon abandoned the siege. A second army sent by

Ali had no better success. In 1118 Saragossa, after a siege of some

months, fell into the power of the Christians, and the north of Spain was

forever freed from the domination of the Mohammedans. The following year

the Aragonian hero destroyed twenty thousand of the Africans, who had

advanced as far as the environs of Daroca; while another division of the

Almoravids, under Ali in person, was compelled to retreat before the army

of Leon and Castile.

At this very time the empire of the Almoravids was tottering to its fall.

It had never been agreeable to the Mohammedans of Spain, whose manners,

from their intercourse with a civilised people, were comparatively

refined. The sheikhs of Lamtuna were so many insupportable tyrants; the

Jews, the universal agents for the collection of the revenues, were here,

as in Poland, the most pitiless extortioners; every savage from the

desert looked with contempt on the milder inhabitant of the peninsula.

The domination of those strangers was indeed so odious that, except for

the divisions between Alfonso and his ambitious queen, Donna Urraca, who

was sovereign in her own right, all Andalusia might speedily have been

subjected to the Christian yoke. Even while Ali remained in Spain, there

was an open revolt of the inhabitants, who could not longer support the

excesses of the barbarian guard.

But the cause which most menaced the existence of Ali’s throne, and

which was destined to change the whole face of western Africa and

southern Spain, originated, like the power of Yusuf ben Tashufin, in

the deserts bordering on Mount Atlas. Muhammed ben Abdallah, the son of

a lamp-lighter in the mosque of Cordova, was distinguished for great

curiosity and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Whether Muhammed was a

fanatic or a knave, or composed of a large mixture of both, is not easy

to be determined. He wandered from place to place, zealously preaching

doctrines dangerous to the faith of Islam. His reception, however, was

long cool; and from one town, where he had held forth in the mosque, he

was compelled to flee to Tlemcen. On his way he fell in with a youth,

Abdul-Mumin by name, whom he persuaded to share his fortunes. The two

friends subsequently travelled to Fez, and thence to Morocco.

The artful rebel was permitted to follow his vocation till the excitement

produced by his fanatic appeals to the ignorant populace was too great

to be overlooked, and he was ordered to leave Morocco. At a short

distance from the city, however, probably in its public cemetery, he

built a hut among the graves, as a residence for himself and his faithful

Abdul-Mumin. As he had anticipated, he was soon followed by crowds

who venerated his prophetic character, and who listened with pleasure

to vehement denunciations which fell with terrific effect on their

superiors. He inveighed against the impiety of the Almoravids, who appear

not to have been more popular in Mauretania than in Spain. Ali ordered

the rebel to be secured. Muhammed, who had timely notice of the fate

intended him, fled to Agmat, accompanied by a host of proselytes; but

finding that his liberty was still in danger, he hastily retreated to

Tinmal in the province of Sus. His success in this region was so great

that he had soon an army of disciples, all devoted to his will, because

all believed in his divine mission. For some time he preached to them

the coming of the great mahdi, who should teach all men the right way

and cause virtue and happiness to reign over the whole earth; but he

carefully refrained from acknowledging himself to be the mighty prophet,

doubtless because he was fearful of shocking the credulity even of his

own followers. One day, in conformity with a preconcerted plan, as he was

expatiating on the change to be effected by the long-promised teacher and

ruler, Abdul-Mumin and nine other men arose, saying: “Thou announcest a

mahdi; the description applies only to thyself. Be our mahdi and imam; we

swear to obey thee!” The Berbers, influenced by the example, in the same

manner arose and vowed fidelity even unto death.

[Sidenote: [1130-1143 A.D.]]

From this moment he assumed the high title of mahdi, and proclaimed

himself as the founder of a new people. He instituted a regular

government, confiding the administration to Abdul-Mumin, his minister,

with nine associates, but reserving the control to himself. Seventy

Berbers or Alarabs formed the council of the new government. An army

of ten thousand horse and a far greater number of foot was speedily

organised, with which he took the road to Agmat just as Ali returned to

Morocco from Spain. The Almohads [_Unitarians_], for such was the name

assumed by the followers of Muhammed, defeated the troops of Ali four

times.

At length Muhammed resolved to reduce the capital of Morocco. At his

voice forty thousand men took the field. The preparations of Ali were

immense; one hundred thousand men were ranged round his standard. They

were again defeated, were pursued to the very walls of Morocco, and that

capital was invested with a vigour which showed that the Almohads were

intent on its reduction. But Ali led his troops against the rebels, whom

he completely routed. Abdul-Mumin rallied the fugitives, and effected

an orderly retreat. But time was necessary to repair the misfortune,

especially as some of the savage tribes of the desert withdrew from

Muhammed’s banner, on finding that his power was that of a mere mortal.

In 1130 the mahdi commanded all to assemble the following day near the

great mosque, to bid adieu to their chief. All wondered at the command,

except such as were acquainted with his long hidden disease. He exhorted

them to persevere in the doctrine he had taught them; announced his

approaching death; and when he saw them dissolved in tears, inculcated

the duty of resignation to the divine will. He then retired with his

beloved disciple, to whom he presented the book containing the tenets

of his faith--a book which he had received from the hands of Al-Gazali.

The fourth day he expired. The chiefs of the state were soon afterwards

assembled to deliberate on the form of government; a monarchy was chosen;

and by their unanimous suffrages Abdul-Mumin was proclaimed imam and

almumenin.

For the next three years the new caliph was diligently employed in

extending his conquests. The whole country, from the mountains of Darah

to Salee, all Fez and Tasa, received his spiritual and temporal yoke.

The empire of the Almoravids was now bounded within a narrow sphere.

Ali became dejected and unhappy; his troops were everywhere defeated;

his towns were rapidly delivered into the power of a savage enemy, who

had vowed his destruction; and though, in compliance with the advice of

his counsellors, he associated with him in the empire his son Tashufin,

whose exploits in Spain had obtained him much celebrity, that prince was

too busily occupied with the Christians and his discontented subjects of

Andalusia to prop the declining empire in Africa.

[Sidenote: [1143-1145 A.D.]]

Tashufin ben Ali succeeded in 1143 to his father, who died at

Morocco--more from grief at the declining state of affairs than from

any other cause. His first object was to assemble an army to strike

another blow for the defence of his empire. At first he was successful.

Abdul-Mumin was compelled to fall back on his mountain; but in a second

action Tashufin was defeated; in a third he was also compelled to

retreat. Ali saw that his only hope of safety lay in an escape to Spain.

One night he resolved to make a desperate effort to gain the port where

his vessels were still riding at anchor. Unfortunately either he mistook

his way or his mule was terrified by the roaring of the waves, for the

next morning his mangled corpse was found at the foot of a precipice on

the beach.

[Illustration: ARAB SOLDIER]

But Morocco, Fez, and some other cities were yet in the power of the

Almoravids, who raised Ibrahim Abu Ishak, son of Tashufin, to the throne.

The vindictive Abdul-Mumin, however, left them little time to breathe.

Tlemcen he took by assault, and massacred the inhabitants; Fez he also

reduced. The siege of Morocco was prosecuted with vigour. The inhabitants

were so fatally repulsed in a sortie that they durst no longer venture

outside the walls. Famine soon aided the sword; the number who died

of starvation is said to have amounted to three-fourths of the whole

population. Such a place could not long hold out; and accordingly it was

carried in the first general assault. Ibrahim and the surviving sheikhs

were instantly brought before the conqueror. Not only were he and his

chiefs led out to instant execution, but a general massacre of the

surviving inhabitants was ordered. The few who were spared were sold as

slaves; the mosques were destroyed and new ones erected; and the tribes

of the desert were called to re-people the now solitary streets.

During these memorable exploits in Africa, the Christians were rapidly

increasing their dominions. Coria, Mora, etc., were in the power of

Alfonso, styled the emperor; and almost every contest between the two

natural enemies had turned to the advantage of the Christians. So long,

indeed, as the walis were eager only to preserve or to extend their

authority, independent of each other and of every superior, this success

need not surprise us; we may rather be surprised that the Mohammedans

were allowed to retain any footing in the peninsula. Probably they would

at this time have been driven from it but for the seasonable arrival of

the victorious Almohads. Both Christians and Africans now contended for

the superiority. While the troops of Alfonso reduced Baeza, and with

a Mohammedan ally even Cordova, Malaga and Seville acknowledged Abu

Amram. Calatrava and Almeria next fell to the Christian emperor, about

the same time that Lisbon and the neighbouring towns received Dom Henry

(Henrique), the new sovereign of Portugal. Most of these conquests,

however, were subsequently recovered by the Almohads. Being reinforced by

a new army from Africa, the latter pursued their successes with greater

vigour. They reduced Cordova, which was held by an ally of Alfonso;

defeated, and forever paralysed, the expiring efforts of the Almoravids;

and proclaimed their emperor Abdul-Mumin as sovereign of all Mohammedan

Spain (1146).

DYNASTY OF THE ALMOHADS

[Sidenote: [1145-1198 A.D.]]

Abdul-Mumin, as if desirous of subduing not merely what had formed the

empire of the Almoravids but all the regions which owned the faith

of Islam, levied army after army; so that from Portugal to Tunis and

Kairwan his wild hordes spread devastation and dismay. To detail the

events of the wars sustained by his general, or his son the cid Yusuf,

in Andalusia, would afford little interest to the reader. It will be

sufficient to observe that, by slow but sure degrees, the whole of

Andalusia was incorporated with his empire. Once only did he visit Spain,

if remaining a few hours at Gibraltar can deserve the name. In 1162

he breathed his last. On his accession, Yusuf Abu Yakub dismissed the

enormous army which had been collected. During the following few years he

appears to have cultivated the blessings of peace; it was not until 1170

that he entered Spain, and all Mohammedan Spain owned the emperor.

Notwithstanding the destructive wars which had prevailed near a century,

neither Moors nor Christians had acquired much advantage by them. From

the reduction of Saragossa to the present time, the victory, indeed,

had generally declared for the Christians; but their conquests, with

the exception of Lisbon and a few fortresses in central Spain, were

lost almost as soon as gained; and the same fate attended the equally

transient successes of the Mohammedans. The reason why the former did not

permanently extend their territories, was their internal dissensions.

The Christians, when at peace among themselves, were always too many for

their Mohammedan neighbours, even when the latter were aided by the whole

power of western Africa.

Yakub ben Yusuf, from his victories afterwards named Al-Mansur, was

declared successor to his father. For some years he was not personally

opposed to the Christians, though his walis carried on a desultory

indecisive war. In 1194 he landed in Andalusia, and proceeded towards

Valencia, where the Christian army then lay. There Alfonso VIII, king of

Castile, was awaiting the expected reinforcements from his allies, the

kings of Leon and Navarre. Both armies pitched their tents on the plains

of Alarcon. The chiefs of both naturally felt anxious for the result; but

the charge of rashness cannot be erased from the memory of Alfonso, for

venturing to withstand alone a conflict with the overwhelming force of

the enemy, instead of falling back to effect a junction with his allies.

His loss must have been immense, amounting probably to twenty thousand

men. With a generosity very rare in a Mohammedan, and still more in an

African, Yakub restored his prisoners to liberty--an action for which,

we are informed, he received few thanks from his followers. After this

signal victory Yakub rapidly reduced Calatrava, Guadalaxara, Madrid and

Esalona, Salamanca, etc. Toledo, too, he invested, but in vain. He

returned to Africa, caused his son Muhammed to be declared wali alhadi,

and died (1199). He was, beyond doubt, the greatest and best of the

Almohads.

[Sidenote: [1198-1212 A.D.]]

The character of Muhammed Abu Abdallah, surnamed An-Nasir, was very

different from that of his great father. Much as the world had been

astounded at the preparations of his grandfather Yusuf, they were not

surpassed by his own, if, as we are credibly informed, one alone of the

five divisions of his army amounted to 160,000 men. It is certain that

a year was required for the assembling of this vast armament, that two

months were necessary to convey it across the straits, and that all

Christian Europe was filled with alarm at its disembarkation. Innocent

III proclaimed a crusade to Spain; and Rodrigo of Toledo, the celebrated

historian, accompanied by several prelates, went from one court to

another to rouse the Christian princes. While the kings of Aragon and

Navarre promised to unite their forces with their brother of Castile to

repel the common danger, great numbers of volunteers from Portugal and

southern France hastened to the general rendezvous at Toledo, the pope

ordered fasting, prayers, and processions to be made, to propitiate the

favour of heaven, and to avert from Christendom the greatest danger that

had threatened it since the days of the emir Abd ar-Rahman.

THE BATTLE OF LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA (1212 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1212-1270 A.D.]]

Muhammed opened the campaign by the siege of Salvatierra, a strong

but not important fortress of Estremadura, defended by the knights of

Calatrava. That he should waste his forces on objects so incommensurate

with their extent, proves how little he was qualified to wield them.

The place stood out for several months, and did not surrender until the

emperor had sustained a heavy loss, nor until the season was too far

advanced to permit any advantage to be derived from this partial success.

By suspending the execution of his great design until the following

season, he allowed Alfonso time to prepare for the contest. The following

June, the kings of Leon and Castile having assembled at Toledo, and been

joined by a considerable number of foreign volunteers, the Christian army

advanced towards the south.

On July 12th, the crusaders reached the mountainous chain which divides

New Castile from Andalusia. They found not only the passes, but the

summits of the mountains occupied by the Almohads. To force a passage

was impossible; and they even deliberated on retreating, so as to

draw out, if possible, the enemy from positions so formidable, when

a shepherd entered the camp of Alfonso, and proposed to conduct the

Christian army, by a path unknown to both armies, to the summit of this

elevated chain--by a path, too, which would be invisible to the enemy’s

outposts. A few companies having accompanied the man, and found him

equally faithful and well informed, the whole army silently ascended, and

entrenched themselves on the summit, the level of which was extensive

enough to contain them all. Below appeared the widespread tents of

the Moslems, whose surprise was great on perceiving the heights thus

occupied by the crusaders. For two days the latter, whose fatigues had

been harassing, kept their position; but on the third day they descended

into the plains of Tolosa, which were about to be immortalised by their

valour. Their right wing was led by the king of Navarre, their left by

the king of Aragon, while Alfonso took his station in the centre. The

attack was made by the Christian centre against that of the Mohammedans;

and immediately the two wings moved against those of the enemy.

The struggle was terrific, but short; myriads of the barbarians fell, the

boundary was first broken down by the king of Navarre, the Castilians and

Aragonese followed, all opponents were massacred or fled, and the victors

began to ascend the eminence on which Muhammed still remained. Muhammed

mounted a mule and soon outstripped not only the pursuers but the

fugitives. The carnage of the latter was dreadful, until darkness put an

end to it. The victors now occupied the tents of the Mohammedans, while

the two martial prelates sounded the _Te Deum_ for the most splendid

success which had shone on the banners of the Christians since the time

of Charles Martel. The loss of the Africans, even according to the

Arabian writers, who admit that the centre was wholly destroyed, could

not fall short of 160,000 men.

The reduction of several towns, from Tolosa to Baeza, immediately

followed this glorious victory--a victory in which Don Alfonso nobly

redeemed his failure in the field of Zallaka, and which, in its immediate

consequences, involved the ruin of the Mohammedan empire in Spain.

After an unsuccessful attempt on Ubeda, as the hot season was raging,

the allies returned to Toledo, satisfied that the power of Muhammed was

forever broken. That emperor, indeed, did not long survive his disaster.

Having precipitately fled to Morocco, he abandoned himself to licentious

pleasures, left the cares of government to his son, or rather his

ministers, and died in 1213, not without suspicion of poison.[c]

THE DECLINE OF ARAB POWER

After the dissolution of the Almohad empire Africa and Spain, without

severing any of the ties that bound their populations together, ceased

forever to obey the same government. This separation would have had no

disastrous consequences for Islam if the tribes of Maghreb had not set

so high a price upon their assistance that the Spanish Arabs were unable

to accept it. The Maghrebites did indeed cross the strait several times

after 1232, but these expeditions served merely to assure the triumphs of

the Christians, who drew together in closer and closer union.

The defeat of Tolosa had, by demonstrating the incapacity of Muhammed

an-Nasir, precipitated the insurrection of Andalusia; and in Africa the

power founded by Abdul-Mumin was as rapidly declining, owing to the

failure of the Almohad princes to display the necessary decision and

address. As early as 1242 the wali of Tunis refused to renew the tribute

which as vassal he was bound to pay, caused himself to be proclaimed an

independent sovereign, and founded on the most solid basis the dynasty

of the house of Abu Hass, which was destined to endure through several

centuries. Farther to the west, in 1248, the Beni Zian family established

their supremacy at Tlemcen, Algiers, and in the neighbourhood of Fez;

while in the Maghreb the tribe of Beni Merin raised the standard of

revolt and menaced Fez, Tasa, and Morocco. For twenty years the Almohads

held their ground against their enemies; but all the courage they

displayed was rendered useless by their own intestine strife, and in 1270

the Merinid, Abu Yusuf, received the allegiance of the Arabian Moors, or

Berbers, of western Africa.

[Sidenote: [1270-1359 A.D.]]

It would be impossible to-day to determine exactly the extent of the

territories controlled by the revolting tribes, but in the beginning

their domains, without doubt, included Bougie and Algiers and extended

from Tlemcen to the Atlantic. Their frontier lines must, in any case,

have been constantly changing, as the rulers of the three states waged

incessant war against each other, and emigration and displacements

were continually taking place. A chronological list of the princes who

succeeded each other at Tunis, Tlemcen, and Morocco, during the period

that extended from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, would teach

us little of an epoch concerning which very few documents exist. The most

we know is that the cities of Tunis, Bougie, Algiers, Tlemcen, Fez, and

Morocco retained under the Abu Hass, the Beni Zian, and the Beni Merin

the importance and splendour that had been theirs under the Zairites and

the Omayyads, and could still cite with pride the names of many great

artists and scholars. The ancient maritime power of the Aghlabites had

fallen never to rise again; but bands of pirates were organised which

inflicted great damage on Christians, and vessels leaving the Atlantic

ports began to descend the coasts of Africa to the tropics, where they

carried on a great trade in gold, amber, and negro slaves.

[Illustration: SPANISH HERALD, THIRTEENTH CENTURY]

Naturally the Arabs were drawn into all the disputes that arose between

the different sovereigns of Africa, but they experienced no serious

results from any of them. Once in 1347, and again in 1359, the Merinid

chiefs had succeeded in overcoming Tlemcen and Tunis; but the deposed

rulers soon recovered their thrones and continued to reign over the

populations they had trained to obedience. Of the three African dynasties

that of Abu Hass experienced the fewest turmoils and disorders. While

in Maghreb two rivals of equal force disputed for supremacy over the

capitals of Fez and Morocco, and in Tlemcen the Beni Zian were obliged

to resist the encroachments of formidable neighbours, the kings in Tunis

were powerful enough to command the respect of all other cities near, and

to wrest Tripoli from the warlike mamelukes of Egypt, the rulers who had

succeeded to the Eyyubid sultans.

Having apparently accomplished their mission, the Arabs no longer sought

to make the cause of Islam triumph, but little by little withdrew to the

obscurity and monotony of a desert life. Even in 1270, at the time of

the last crusade of St. Louis, they displayed nothing like the courage

that had characterised them on former occasions, being content to sign

a disadvantageous treaty with Charles of Anjou, by which they bound

themselves to receive French and Italian merchandise free of duty, and to

permit the free practice of Catholicism throughout their states.

[Sidenote: [1343-1534 A.D.]]

Later the Spaniards and the Portuguese conquered the African cities

which command the Straits of Gibraltar, and sent into the interior as

many troops as the Africans had formerly sent into Spain. When they

had become masters of Algeciras and Tarifa, the Portuguese, who first

undertook these enterprises, seized Alemtejo and Algarve and then decided

to carry into other countries that spirit of adventure which had led them

to demand on sea the wealth and power that were denied them on land. In

1415 they took possession of Ceuta, which they had to defend against

Edward, second of the house of Braganza, but were finally able to retain

by allowing to remain in irons a child that they had delivered over as

hostage. Between 1439-1481 Alfonso V conquered the important cities of

Tangiers and Arzillo. Nevertheless the Portuguese had little thought

of extending their conquests further, but were devoting themselves to

commerce and navigation, in the interests of which they made those

maritime discoveries that were to raise them so high among nations and

send their ships into so many unknown waters of the globe.

It has not been sufficiently pointed out how fatal to the Arabs of Spain

was the occupancy by the Portuguese of Tangiers, Ceuta, and Arzillo.

Hitherto the Moslems in Maghreb could come to the assistance of their

brothers in Spain without looking upon themselves as interested parties

to the dispute. But after the Portuguese came to command the strait, with

power to intercept all communications between the two continents, the

last blow to Mohammedan unity was struck by the Christian princes.

Once the Catholic sovereigns had become masters of the Mediterranean

ports of the peninsula, they enlarged their navy that the Moslem fleets

might be constantly held in check, and after the fall of the monarchy of

Granada they penetrated deep into Africa. In 1504 Diego of Cordova took

several places between Ceuta and Oran, and in 1509 Cardinal Ximenes,

minister to Ferdinand of Aragon, organised and directed a much more

important expedition. Instead of attacking the younger branch of the

Merinids at Morocco, he advanced on Tlemcen and Algiers, the double realm

of the Beni Zian, and taking the city of Oran established there a strong

garrison.

These encroachments on the part of Christians must be stopped at any

cost. Meeting with nothing but supineness and indifference among the

Moors and Arabs whom he approached, Eutemi, king of Algiers, finally

implored the assistance of Horuj, the celebrated pirate of Mytilene, who

was at the head of a considerable fleet. Accepting these overtures with

alacrity, Horuj repaired to Algiers with a force of five thousand men

(1516); but after entering the city he caused Eutemi to be assassinated,

and himself usurped the government. He further profited by the terror he

had caused to attack Tlemcen and drive forth the Beni Zian; but in 1518

the Spaniards engaged him in a battle in which he lost his life, leaving

Tlemcen in the hands of his enemies.

In no wise discouraged by this reverse, the brother of Horuj, Khair

ad-Din, better known under the name of Barbarossa, succeeded in

getting himself acknowledged ruler by the inhabitants of Algiers and

establishing his dominion on solid foundations throughout the country;

he drove the Spaniards back into Oran, where he kept them confined.

Fear, nevertheless, of the superior numbers of the Christians and the

mutability of the Arab spirit caused him to seek for his states the

protection of the supreme ruler who, at his request, sent him troops

of Turkish militia from Constantinople. Barbarossa then took the title

of regent, and in the name of the Ottoman sultan exercised the highest

authority over all the states of Algiers.

We have witnessed in Asia the gradual substitution of the Turks for the

Arabs as defenders of the Moslem faith; and we shall now assist at a

repetition of the same process in Africa. This was, too, the epoch of

greatest power of the sultans in Constantinople. Suleiman, master of

Egypt, of Asia Minor, of Greece, and Bulgaria, threatened simultaneously

Persia and Hungary, and he alone was capable of protecting Africa against

the redoubtable might of Charles V. Far from injuring the cause of Islam,

the arrival of these new auxiliaries in the Maghreb should have given

it a fresh impetus; but exactly the reverse took place. From the day

the Arabs came under subjection to the Turks, all the noble sentiments

and generous impulses that had before characterised them gave place to

a hopeless condition of servility and degradation; bowed under the yoke

of an insolent military body that enforced obedience at the point of the

sword, they lost that natural pride that had set them apart from other

races, and little by little fell into the brutish torpor that has been

their prevailing state in modern times, and which has caused us to judge

them wrongfully as showing antagonism to all ideas of civilisation.

[Sidenote: [1534-1541 A.D.]]

The Turks had sway not only over Algiers but over Tunis and Tripoli, and

it was to Barbarossa that they owed these further triumphs. Placed by

Suleiman in command of the Ottoman fleet, the brother of Horuj thought

it necessary to repay this distinction by brilliant services. Having

given refuge in Algiers to a deposed prince of the house of Abu Hass,

Barbarossa presented himself at Tunis, ostensibly for the purpose of

re-establishing its legitimate ruler, but in reality to pave the way

for Ottoman dominion. Suleiman, acquainted with his designs, publicly

conferred the investiture on the restored prince, who was immediately

afterward spirited away: and Barbarossa seized the fort and town of

Goletta, and put down the revolt of the inhabitants in the name of the

Ottoman ruler, to whom they remained long under subjection.

Meanwhile Christian sovereigns looked on with anxiety while the capitals

of the Barbary states were passing into the possession of a power already

so formidable; and Charles V, king of Spain and emperor of Germany,

determined to check at once the increase of Ottoman dominion. Taking

sides with the Abu Hass he embarked in 1535 with troops gathered from

the Netherlands, Italy, and Sicily, and landed not far from the ruins of

Carthage. Barbarossa had been able to provision the fort of Goletta, but

could not rally to his standard the Arab tribes; and Goletta, bravely

defended by Sinan, the renegade Jew, was taken by the Christian forces.

Tunis itself, Barbarossa being defeated, was forced to open its doors to

the victors, and all its riches became the prey of the European soldiers.

The prince of the house of Abu Hass, whose interests Charles V had

espoused, was reinstated on the throne under the following conditions:

(1) that he was to hold the kingdom of Tunis as a fief to the crown

of Spain; (2) that all Christian slaves should be restored to liberty

without ransom; (3) that the subjects of the emperor in his domain should

be free to engage in commerce and practise the Christian religion;

(4) that twelve thousand crowns should be contributed towards the

maintenance of a Spanish garrison in Goletta; and (5) that all the ports

of the kingdom of Tunis should be delivered over into the hands of the

emperor. Brilliant as was this expedition, it did not completely destroy

African piracy, Algiers having been left still undisturbed. Barbarossa’s

successor, Hassan Aga, committed new depredations, and soon intercepted

all the commerce of the Mediterranean Sea. It became necessary to

establish guards along the coasts of Italy, Sicily, and Spain to keep off

the incursions of Barbary pirates who, it was asserted, were secretly

encouraged by the Arabs still residing on the continent. Charles V

got together a new fleet and undertook to reduce Algiers (1541). But

the elements were against him from the start, and being assailed at a

propitious moment by the Algerian Turks and certain tribes of Arabs

whose religious fanaticism had been excited, the imperial army suffered

complete and disastrous defeat.

[Sidenote: [1541-1800 A.D.]]

This unfortunate enterprise also restored the preponderance to the Turks.

As soon as circumstances permitted they sent a fleet against the knights

of St. John whom Charles V had made masters of Tripoli and reconquered

the state in 1551. The government was given into the hands of the

celebrated Dragut, who ten years later in concert with Piali Pasha was to

achieve another great naval victory.

After the battle of Lepanto, John of Austria marched on Tunis, which

offered but a feeble resistance; hardly had he turned his back, however,

on the conquered domain, when Sinan Pasha hurried from Tripoli and

everywhere re-established the authority of the sultan. Henceforth the

Turks were masters over all Tunis and Algiers, and expeditions directed

against them had no longer any object save to demand reparation or to

punish them for acts of piracy.

Morocco, on the other hand, always remained independent of the Ottoman

rule. The Merinids were succeeded in the fifteenth century by the

Oatazes, who were in turn replaced by the Sherifs, whose dynasty

continues to this day. The adroit personages who had created the grandeur

of Morocco were looked upon as the legitimate descendants of Mohammed,

and to the brothers of the reigning king, not his children, fell the

succession to the throne. This law was the cause of much disturbance in

the state, and in 1578 it formed the pretext for a famous expedition

directed against Morocco by Dom Sebastian, king of Portugal. The sherif

Abdallah having died, his son, Mulei Muhammed, had at first had the

advantage over his uncle in the dispute for the succession; but being

at last defeated Muhammed betook himself to Portugal, where he hoped

to persuade the king, by the promise of large rewards, to assist him

in gaining the crown. Carried away by enthusiasm, Sebastian embarked;

and having in his possession the coat of arms worn by Charles V at his

entry into Tunis, he imagined that he should exceed all that emperor’s

exploits, and perhaps place the cross over the mosques of Morocco and

Fez. He was taken at a disadvantage, however, by the Arabs at Kasr

al-Kebir, and he and his little troop found themselves confronted by

the dire alternative of achieving victory or meeting death. In this

supreme moment Sebastian’s courage did not desert him; it served to

make illustrious his defeat and dying moments. The two competitors also

perished the same day; one by drowning in the river Mucazin, and the

other as the result of a fever which he had disregarded in the haste and

ardour of his preparations. Made wise by this terrible experience, the

Portuguese did not renew their attempts against Africa, and the sherifs

had further only to repress the internal dissensions that so frequently

arose in their domains.

Such was the situation of the Arabs in Africa during the seventeenth

century. They had still a sort of preponderance in Morocco; but in

Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli the Turks had become masters of the cities of

the coast, and imposed upon them the severest rule. The different tribes,

armed against each other by the astute policy of their oppressors, and

terrorised by frequent and sanguinary executions, paid the tribute

demanded of them without daring to murmur, and never even dreamed of

throwing off the yoke under which they laboured.

We will return now to the Arabs in Spain, who had struck the first and

most damaging blow at the empire of the Almohads. In addition to the

garrisons the Africans placed among them, the populations had still to

resist the domination of the Christians; and in order to effect this the

most perfect unity would have been necessary, with the complete sacrifice

of all private interests to the national welfare. But, as we have seen,

instead of possessing a strongly constituted central government, the

Spanish Arabs were divided up into a number of independent states, and

the Catholic princes took advantage of this dismemberment to separately

overcome them. James I, not content with the conquest of the Balearic

Isles, undertook to gain possession of Valencia, and in his enthusiasm

for this project abstained from urging against Thibaut de Champagne

the rights his birth gave him to the crown of Navarre, thus gaining

for himself an ally in the person of a prince who could furnish him

with substantial aid. The king of Valencia struggled hard to defend his

possessions, but the disunion among the Moslems and the bad faith of

the walis, who for bribes delivered over to the enemy all the cities

adjacent to the capital, caused Valencia finally to be invested both by

land and by sea. Too feeble to resist longer, the Moslem king invoked the

aid of the other sovereigns of Africa, but all were too busy with their

own affairs, and Valencia fell into the hands of James (Jayme), under

conditions that enabled the inhabitants to leave in freedom, or to remain

with full protection for their property and religious liberty (1238).

[Sidenote: [1238-1245 A.D.]]

Valencia conquered, James next sought to extend his dominion over the

kingdom of Murcia, but the king of Castile, by a powerful intervention

(1241), succeeded in turning him from all schemes of aggrandisement. The

kingdom of Murcia, less powerful than that of Valencia, was divided among

a great many different tribes whose chiefs, all jealous of each other’s

authority, hastened to submit to Ferdinand III under the best conditions

they could obtain. The wali of Lorca alone held out for independence; but

two years later his cities were also taken by assault, and the entire

kingdom of Murcia passed over to the crown of Castile.

Another acquisition of far greater importance had, moreover, been made by

this crown since 1232. In the coveted regions of Guadalquivir, Ibn Hud

had at first been able to take an energetic stand against Ferdinand III;

but lacking utterly the resources necessary for carrying on a protracted

struggle, he was at last obliged to surrender Ubeda and Andujar, and

could not prevent siege being laid to Cordova. The peril which threatened

the capital should have aroused the courage and ardour of the Moslems in

its defence, but nothing of the sort occurred; Ibn Hud was assassinated

in the midst of his preparations for resistance, and the city was obliged

to capitulate. Thus was extinguished the glory of the Islam metropolis in

the West, the city of arts and Moslem luxury and magnificence. Ferdinand

III placed the cross on the minarets of the great mosques, and returned

to Compostella the bells of St. James that Almansor had carried away as

trophies.

[Sidenote: [1245-1249 A.D.]]

The time had come for the Arabs to bid farewell to the memories of their

past triumphs and glories; they witnessed the profanation of all their

sanctuaries without venturing to make the supreme effort that might still

have saved them. Ferdinand’s victories now followed in quick succession.

After taking several cities he encountered and defeated, before Alcala,

Muhammed ben al-Akhmar, who had gotten himself acknowledged in the states

of Ibn Hud. The Moslems displayed great courage in this engagement; and

Ferdinand, after taking possession of the vast domain ceded to him by

Muhammed ben al-Akhmar, agreed to leave him in peace provided he would

pay him an annual tribute, furnish a certain number of troops in case of

war, and appear in person at the assemblies or _cortes_ of Castile. He

reserved to himself the right of aggression against the Arabs of the

Algarve and Guadalquivir, who were still divided into many small states.

Seville, the ancient capital of the Almoravids and the Almohads, the

capture of which would forever prevent the union of the Algarve with the

Sierra Nevada Moslems, was suddenly invested, and in the camp of the

enemy were plainly to be seen Muhammed ben al-Akhmar and his five hundred

horsemen. The city resisted long, being in constant receipt of supplies

from Moslem sources by way of the Guadalquivir, and it was not until

Ferdinand III equipped a small fleet and surrounded the mouth of the

Guadalquivir that the inhabitants, threatened by famine, capitulated. The

same favourable terms were accorded to them as to the Arabs of Valencia

(1248).

[Illustration: SPANISH WAR VESSEL, THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES]

Upon the taking of Seville ensued the submission of all the states lying

upon the right bank of the Guadalquivir; hence the complete downfall of

the Arab race could not be far distant. Yet the inevitable result was

somewhat retarded by Muhammed ben al-Akhmar, whose courage and ability

reminded the Arabs of the qualities of the famed Almansor, and who

brought into being a powerful Moslem state which for a while opposed a

formidable barrier to the spread of Christian influence. Granada, its

capital, became soon the rallying-point of the Moslems dispersed all

over the country, and the beneficence of this remarkable prince’s rule

attracted to his states all who were not disposed to accept the Spanish

domination. Emigrants from Cordova and Seville found a cordial welcome

at Muhammed’s court, and their number was also increased by the Moslem

population which James expelled, in 1249, from the plains about Valencia.

It can readily be seen what an advantage to Granada was the presence of

all these active, intelligent inhabitants; the elements of wealth and

success that the Arabs had strewn all over the peninsula now returned

upon them in a single flood; and Islam, rising once more under the

astonished gaze of Spain, enjoyed a second period of glory (1238-1492).

The luxury and gallantry of the court of Granada have remained famous

to this day. Tourneys and jousts were given, and frequent bull-fights

and races. The people were often invited by the sovereign to solemn

festivals and splendid banquets, and all this opulence was by no means

the result of oppression, but sprang naturally from the condition of

ease which prevailed among all classes. La Veja, the fertile plain which

surrounds Granada, produced in that day three times what it does in this,

and could easily support a considerable population. The manufacture of

silks and other stuffs attained the highest point of excellence, the fine

arts were cultivated as successfully as at Cordova, and to stimulate

invention prizes were offered in every department of endeavour. The names

Alhambra and Generalif awaken in the mind images of the greatest richness

and splendour. The Alhambra was at once the palace and fortress of the

Moorish kings; Generalif was a magnificent pleasure palace built near the

Alhambra on the summit of a hill, and serving as a summer residence for

the nobles of the court.

Astronomy, medicine, chemistry, and mathematics were widely encouraged,

and from that period dates the discovery of gunpowder. In the

universities, which were restricted in their method of instruction, were

taught grammar, geography, dialectics, and an obscurely formulated system

of theology; also a great impulsion was given to the writing of those

stories and romances which, in spite of their numerous affectations,

have so many warm admirers to-day. In regard to political institutions

the sovereigns of Granada accomplished much that was too important

to be passed by in silence. In every city they established a sort of

national guard by placing all the citizens under arms; and in order that

the frontiers might be more effectively protected, soldiers were given

grants of land on the borders, sufficient to maintain themselves and

their families. The price of the necessaries of life was never allowed to

rise beyond a certain point, and the kings themselves saw to it that the

markets were always well supplied.

All the details of life in the capital were strictly regulated, and a

capital police force patrolled the streets at night. Certain of the

princes, following the rigorous proscriptions of the _Koran_, prohibited

the use of spirituous liquors; but for the most part it was the abuse

alone that was severely punished. A successful effort was made to prevent

Jews from practising usury with as great freedom as elsewhere; and to

avoid litigation and dispute, public acts and private treaties were

drawn up in terms of great clearness and precision. Wise measures were

adopted in all that pertained to the practice of religion. The feasts of

Ramadhan, instead of being set apart for folly and debauchery, were made

the occasion of good deeds and charity toward the poor; and processions

for the purpose of imploring rain were prohibited, as also all nocturnal

public gatherings. Imprisonment was substituted for whipping in penal

offences, and lapidation was completely abolished; criminals condemned to

death were still buried alive, as was the law in all Moslem states.

[Sidenote: [1275-1432 A.D.]]

Strong as was Granada’s claim to an honourable place in history, it had

no fixed laws of succession, and beside princes worthy of all admiration

we see cruel and incapable despots who precipitated the ruin of the

Moslem races. Muhammed ben al-Akhmar and Muhammed II (1273-1302) were

able to repress all attempts at disorder in their states, but Muhammed

III was not so fortunate. One of his brothers, Nasar Abul-Jinz, incited

an insurrection in Granada and got himself proclaimed king, only to be

deposed in his turn four years later by his nephew, Ismail ben Faraj.

This prince reigned twelve years and was succeeded by his two sons,

Muhammed IV (1325-1333) and Yusuf I (1333-1354). The latter was the

author of many of the reforms we have noted above, and was, without

doubt, the most remarkable of the rulers of Granada, notwithstanding

the defeat he suffered at Rio Salado at the hands of the Christians. At

the death of Yusuf, Muhammed (V) Guadix, his son, was excluded from

the throne by family intrigues and jealousies, but finally mounted it

in 1362 and reigned until 1391. The succession next fell to Yusuf II,

and Muhammed VI, who condemned his elder brother Yusuf to death. Yusuf

was playing chess when the executioner appeared before him; he asked and

obtained leave to finish the game; but before it was ended messengers

from the court arrived with the news that Muhammed VI was dead, and

that he, Yusuf, was to ascend the throne. Yusuf III (1408) retained the

crown until 1423, when there broke out all over the realm those civil

dissensions that were to bring about the fall of Granada, and in which

the powerful families of the Zegris, the Abencerrages, and the Vanegas

played so prominent a part.

From the time of their accession to power the Castilians were the only

enemies the kings of Granada had to fear; hence they strove to conciliate

them by receiving them honourably at their court, or by arbitrating

personally in any disputes that might arise. But the differences in

race and religion were too great to allow of any real friendship being

established, and the Castilians were only withheld by their own internal

troubles from carrying out further the projects of Ferdinand III. If

the princes of Granada had seized the opportunity offered them by these

disorders among the Castilians, the standard of the prophet might yet

have been raised in Spain; but the spirit of conquest had completely

abandoned them, and the warfare in which they were engaged during a long

period of time was confined to attacking a few places, among which were

Gibraltar, Tarifa, and Almeria. One last effort was made, however, in

1275, by Muhammed II, who delivered over Tarifa and Algeciras to Abu

Yusuf, and together the two princes invaded Algarve. Sancho the Brave was

not intimidated, and successfully defended the interior of the country.

Later, when the states had awarded him the crown as a return for his

valour, his father, Alfonso X, begged aid of the king of Granada against

his rebellious son, and if the Arab ruler had yielded his subjects would

have had an excellent opportunity of penetrating to the heart of Castile.

But Muhammed II preferred, by entering an alliance with Sancho, to gain

for himself the friendship of a powerful warrior.

In 1308 the Castilians took Gibraltar and laid siege to Algeciras; to

induce them to raise the siege it was necessary to cede to them several

cities. During the minority of Alfonso XI two of the _infante_ or

regents of Castile united their forces and made a hostile advance on

Granada; but their ardour made them neglect all prudence and they were

completely defeated on the spot that is called to this day the Sierra de

los Infantes (1319). This victory encouraged the king of Granada, who

immediately sent out expeditions to reconquer the places he had lost,

even Gibraltar. The advantage might have been pushed still further had

the Africans supported Muhammed V, but on the contrary they took from

him Algeciras, Marbella, and Ronda. It was not until the accession of

Yusuf II that a genuine alliance united all the Moslems under one banner.

In concert with the Merinid prince, Abul-Hassan, Yusuf attacked Tarifa;

but the allied forces met with severe defeat and Abul-Hassan, after

surrendering all his possessions to Spain, went to hide his shame in Fez

(1340). His fleet was shortly afterward destroyed by the European galleys

which had united to assure the empire of the sea to the Christians.

[Sidenote: [1432-1491 A.D.]]

Henceforth the Arabs in Spain were thrown entirely on their own

resources, and situated as they were at the extremity of the peninsula,

they asked for nothing but to remain in complete obscurity. Not until

1432 was war again resumed; at that time Yusuf IV and Muhammed VII

disputed for the crown, and one of the two competitors implored aid of

the Castilians, who assisted him to victory. Now followed a series of

isolated frontier-combats caused by incursions of Castilian nobles and

Arab sheikhs into one another’s territory; but they brought about no

general war, being, as it were, preliminary jousts that served to prepare

the public spirit for the supreme struggle that was to come.

Granada was in no condition to resist the Castilians when Mulei Hassan

ascended the throne in 1466. Despite his courage and patriotism, that

new king was not received with favour by the people, who accused him of

cruelty and arrogance and resented the power he had allowed a Christian

slave-woman to gain over him; many even went so far as to assert that

he would name the son of this slave his successor, to the exclusion

of Abu Abdallah (Boabdil), the son of the sultana Zoraya. In Castile,

on the contrary, the nobles had united to form a faction around the

infanta Isabella, who was married to Ferdinand, king of Sicily, who was,

moreover, the heir presumptive to the crown of Aragon. Disposing of the

revenues of three kingdoms, the husband and wife were about to establish

forever the unity and power of Spain by destroying the Arab domination in

the peninsula. Mulei Hassan aroused their resentment by refusing to pay

the tribute agreed to by his father; he even carried hostilities to the

point of attacking Zahara, which he took in 1480. But the ruins of the

conquered city were destined to fall upon the heads of the victors; their

own Alhama, the main support of Granada, was taken by the Castilians, who

shortly afterward advanced upon the capital.

Here all was trouble, the partisans of Abu Abdallah having just deposed

Mulei Hassan, who abandoned by the most of his supporters was obliged to

retire to the provinces. The Castilians carried on the war for a while

longer, but without great energy; and when Abu Abdallah finally fell into

their hands they immediately restored him to liberty, thinking that his

culpable ambitions would serve them better than the most signal victory.

Mulei Hassan recovered the throne for a short time, but was forced to

abdicate in favour of his uncle, Az-Zagal. Abu Abdallah, who had incurred

the contempt of his compatriots, sought aid of Ferdinand; and that king

immediately invaded the kingdom of Granada, taking the cities of La Vega,

after which Az-Zagal delivered over to him Granada (1486). Ferdinand

had attained the object of his expedition; but instead of retiring he

concluded a new compact with Abdallah, which authorised him to pursue

Az-Zagal and take from him all the strongholds in which he might seek

refuge. Armed with this pretext he besieged and captured Malaga, then

directed his troops against Almeria, Baza, and Vera. Convinced that

further struggle was useless, Az-Zagal proposed a general capitulation to

Spain. Ferdinand accepted and displayed great generosity and moderation.

In return for all the states he delivered over, the Moslem king was to

receive full proprietary right over vast domains, and his subjects were

to become subjects of Castile, retaining all their property and liberties

on payment of a tribute.

[Sidenote: [1491-1525 A.D.]]

The greater number of the Arabs of Granada saw in this treaty the

assurance of future peace, and were willing to submit to the Christian

domination; but the orthodox Moslems flew to arms, and forcing Az-Zagal

to take flight in Africa they fortified Granada and determined to

successfully defend it or be buried under its ruins. The 9th of May,

1491, Ferdinand appeared before the walls of the city at the head of

eighty thousand men. The ablest of the Arab generals had organised

the defence; but despite that fact and the bravery with which all the

inhabitants, men, women, and children, endured the hardships and horrors

of a siege, Ferdinand and Isabella had superior might on their side, as

well as indomitable perseverance, and were bound to succeed.

As a proof of her determination not to recede until her purpose had been

accomplished, Isabella built a town about Granada, which exists to this

day under the name of Santa Fé. Moats and entrenchments guarded the

Spanish camp from surprises in any direction, and Ferdinand occupied

himself in intercepting all communication from outside. The Moslems

risked their last chance of safety in a general battle which resulted in

victory for the Christians. Contrary to the advice of many sheikhs, who

preferred death to surrender, Abu Abdallah entered into negotiations with

Ferdinand. The treaty ran that Granada was to be given up at the end of

two months, provided reinforcements did not arrive by sea or land within

that time. The Arabs had made appeal to the sovereigns of Africa, and

even to the sultan of Constantinople, but none would undertake the risk

of such an enterprise, and Granada was forced to succumb.

Not wishing to remain in the country that had witnessed his ignominy

and disgrace, Abu Abdallah went to Africa to finish his days in the

silence of the deserts. The inhabitants of Granada withdrew to the inmost

chambers of their dwellings, and let the Christians take possession of

their city, which had the air of being completely deserted. The banner

of Castile was flown from the summit of the Alhambra, and the great

mosque was straightway decorated with the ornaments of the Catholic

religion. There was not one among the vanquished who raised a protesting

voice at anything that took place; they even seemed indifferent to the

terms of surrender by which they retained their personal liberty, their

property, their religion, their usages, and even their former legislative

institutions. The fall of Granada seemed to be the sentence of death of

the whole Arab race, as indeed it did mark the end of their domination in

Spain, which had lasted 781 years (711-1492).

Ferdinand had no intention of faithfully carrying out the terms of the

contract; he possessed Granada--that was the end and aim of his ambition.

Accustomed as he was in politics to sacrificing everything to his own

interests, he determined to force the Arabs gradually to abjure their

religion and mode of life until they became merged into the rest of the

population. He went prudently to work by charging his inquisitioners to

convert the Moslems to Catholicism only by degrees. The Jews were first

to be attacked, and forced by tortures and horrible executions to deny

the faith of their fathers, that the Arabs might see what fate was in

store for them should they refuse allegiance to Christianity. A little

later all Moslem religious exercises were prohibited in public, and in

1499 Ferdinand boldly threw aside the mask, and pronounced sentence of

expulsion against any Moslems who should refuse to be baptised. In vain

were the cries of indignation that arose in the kingdom of Granada; the

inhabitants of the cities went to church to worship the Christian God,

and then in the privacy of their own homes asked pardon of the prophet

for the sacrilege they had committed. The mountaineers of Alpujarras, the

most energetic among the Moslem populations, openly refused to obey, and

took up arms; but Ferdinand marched upon them with a superior force, and

after having devastated their lands added confiscation to the sentence of

exile pronounced against them.

[Sidenote: [1525-1609 A.D.]]

The Moslems of Valencia, whose industries formed one of Spain’s principal

sources of prosperity, were tolerated as late as the reign of Charles

V. During that period the nobles of the country forced them to submit

to baptism. In 1525 an edict, instigated by the archbishop of Seville

who was grand inquisitor, called upon the Arabs of Seville to renounce

immediately their customs, language, and style of dress. In 1565 the

Moslems attempted to gain some amelioration of these hard conditions by

paying Philip II the sum of eight hundred thousand ducats; but though the

government and the inquisition relaxed their severity in some degree,

the Spanish people, carrying intolerance to its highest limits, pursued

even into their mountain fastnesses the unfortunate Arabs who refused to

become converted.

In 1568 the few faithful Moslems who were left armed themselves for

revolt and entered into relations with their co-religionists in Africa,

hoping to surprise and take Granada. Under the leadership of Muhammed ben

Omayyah, who claimed to descend from the Cordovan caliphs, the struggle

was carried on for several years; but finally divisions arose in the

rebel camp, and Muhammed was assassinated. Mulei Abdallah who succeeded

him was outwitted by John of Austria, and most of his soldiers deserted

him--some to submit to the Christian rule, others to be transported to

Africa. Mulei himself was reduced to negotiating terms with his victor.

The mountaineers of Alpujarras were dispersed through the provinces of

Asturias, Galicia, and Castile, and there kept under close surveillance.

A last blow was dealt the Arabs in 1609. Despite the protestations of a

few generous nobles, the Moslem populations of Murcia and Valencia were

crowded, by order of Philip III, on transports which carried them to

the shores of Africa. A great many passed over into the Pyrenees, where

they were received with kindness by Henry IV; this generous king offered

many of them a refuge in his own domains, and to others he gave means of

embarking for the ports of Guienne and Languedoc. It has been calculated

that, from the time of the conquest of Granada until 1609, three millions

of Arabs were exiled from Spanish soil; and never have the plains of

Valencia, Murcia, and Granada recovered the flourishing aspect that they

wore when cultivated by their former masters. The decree of 1609 was as

fatal to Spain as the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was to France

nearly a hundred years later.[d]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X. ARAB CIVILISATION

THE _KORAN_

The _Koran_ is held by the Mohammedans in the greatest veneration. The

book must not be touched by anybody but a Moslem; nor even by a believer,

except he be free from pollution. Whether the _Koran_ be created or

uncreated, has been the subject of a controversy fruitful of the most

violent persecutions. The orthodox opinion is that the original has been

written from all eternity on the preserved table. Of this, they believe,

a complete transcript was brought down to the lower heaven (that of the

moon) by the angel Gabriel: and thence taken and shown to Mohammed once

every year of his mission; and twice in the last year of his life. They

assert however that it was only piecemeal, that the several parts were

revealed by the angel to the prophet, and that he immediately dictated

what had been revealed to his secretary, who wrote it down. Each part,

as soon as it was thus copied out, was communicated to his disciples, to

get by heart; and was afterwards deposited in what he called the chest

of his apostleship. This chest the prophet left in the custody of his

wife Hafsa. The present book was compiled, partly out of these detached

scraps, and partly out of the memories of his companions.

When we consider the way in which the _Koran_ was compiled, we cannot

wonder that it is so incoherent a piece as we find it; the book is

divided into chapters; of these some are very long; others again,

especially a few towards the end, very short. Each chapter has a title

prefixed, taken from the first word, or from some one particular

thing mentioned in it, rarely from the subject-matter of it; for if a

chapter be of any length, it usually runs into various subjects that

have no connection with each other. A celebrated commentator divides

the contents of the _Koran_ into three general heads: (1) Precepts

or directions, relating either to religion, as prayers, fasting,

pilgrimages; or to civil polity, as marriages, inheritances, judicatures.

(2) Histories--whereof some are taken from the Scriptures, but falsified

with fabulous additions; others are wholly false, having no foundation

in fact. (3) Admonitions: under which head are comprised exhortations

to receive Islamism; to fight for it, to practise its precepts, prayer,

alms, etc.; the moral duties, such as justice, temperance, etc.,

promises of everlasting felicity to the obedient, dissuasives from

sin, threatenings of the punishments of hell to the unbelieving and

disobedient. Many of the threatenings are levelled against particular

persons, and those sometimes of Mohammed’s own family, who had opposed

him in propagating his religion.

In the _Koran_, God is brought in, saying, “We have given you a book.”

By this it appears that the impostor published early, in writing, some

of his principal doctrines, as also some of his historical relations.

Thus, in his _Life_, p. 16, we find his disciples reading the twentieth

chapter of the _Koran_ before his flight from Mecca; after which he

pretended many of the revelations in other chapters were brought to him.

Undoubtedly, all those said to be revealed at Medina must be posterior

to what he had then published at Mecca; because he had not yet been at

Medina. Many parts of the _Koran_ he declared were brought to him by

the angel Gabriel, on special occasions. Accordingly, the commentators

on the _Koran_ often explain passages in it by relating the occasion on

which they were first revealed. Without such a key, many of them would be

perfectly unintelligible.

There are several contradictions in the _Koran_. To reconcile these,

the Moslem doctors have invented the doctrine of abrogation--_i.e._,

that what was revealed at one time was revoked by a new revelation.

A great deal of it is so absurd, trifling, and full of tautology,

that it requires no little patience to read much of it at a time.

Notwithstanding, the _Koran_ is cried up by the Mussulmans as inimitable.

Accordingly, when Mohammed was called upon, as he often was, to work

miracles in proof of his divine mission, he excused himself by various

pretences, and appealed to the _Koran_ as a standing miracle. Each

chapter of the _Koran_ is divided into verses, that is, lines of

different length, terminated with the same letter, so as to make a

different rhyme, but without any regard to the measure of the syllables.

The Mohammedan religion consists of two parts, faith and practice. Faith

they divide into six articles: (1) A belief in the unity of God, in

opposition to those whom they call associators; by which name they mean

not only those who, besides the true God, worship idols or inferior gods

or goddesses, but the Christians also, who hold Christ’s divinity and the

doctrine of the Trinity. (2) A belief in angels, to whom they attribute

various shapes, names, and offices, borrowed from the Jews and Persians.

(3) The Scriptures. (4) The prophets; on this head the _Koran_ teaches

that God revealed his will to various prophets, in divers ages of the

world, and gave it in writing to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham, etc.; but

these books are lost; that afterwards he gave the Pentateuch to Moses,

the Psalms to David, the Gospel to Jesus, and the _Koran_ to Mohammed.

The _Koran_ speaks with great reverence of Moses and Jesus, but says the

Scriptures left by them have been greatly mutilated and corrupted. Under

this pretence, it adds a great many fabulous relations to the history

contained in those sacred books, and charges the Jews and Christians

with suppressing many prophecies concerning Mohammed (a calumny easily

refuted, the Scriptures having been translated into various languages,

long before Mohammed was born). (5) The fifth article of belief is the

resurrection and day of judgment, while about the intermediate state

Mohammedan divines have various opinions. The happiness promised to the

Moslems in paradise is wholly sensual, consisting of fine gardens, rich

furniture, sparkling with gems and gold, delicious fruits, and wines that

neither cloy nor intoxicate; but above all, affording the fruition of all

the delights of love in the society of women having large black eyes,

and every trait of exquisite beauty, who shall ever continue young and

perfect. Some of their writers speak of these females of paradise in very

lofty strains; telling us, for instance, that if one of them were to look

down from heaven in the night, she would illuminate the earth as the sun

does; and if she did but spit into the ocean, it would be immediately

turned as sweet as honey. These delights of paradise were certainly, at

first, understood literally; however, Mohammedan divines may have since

allegorised them into a spiritual sense. As to the punishments threatened

to the wicked, they are hell-fire, breathing hot winds, the drinking of

boiling and stinking water, eating briers and thorns, and the bitter

fruit of the tree Zakum, which in their bellies will feel like boiling

pitch. These punishments are to be everlasting to all except those who

embrace Islamism; for the latter, after suffering a number of years, in

proportion to their demerits, will then, if they have had but so much

faith as is equal to the weight of an ant, be released by the mercy of

God, and, upon the intercession of Mohammed, admitted into paradise.

The sixth article of belief is that God decrees everything that is to

happen, not only all events, but the actions and thoughts of men, their

belief or infidelity; that everything that has or will come to pass has

been, from eternity, written in the preserved or secret table, which is a

white stone of an immense size, preserved in heaven, near the throne of

God. Agreeable to this notion, one of their poets thus expresses himself:

“Whatever is written against thee will come to pass, what is written

for thee shall not fail; resign thyself to God, and know thy Lord to be

powerful, his decrees will certainly take place; his servants ought to be

silent.”

Of their four fundamental points of practice, the first is prayer. This

duty is to be performed five times in the twenty-four hours: (1) In

the morning before sunrise; (2) when noon is past; (3) a little before

sunset; (4) a little after sunset; (5) before the first watch of the

night. Previous to prayer they are to purify themselves by washing.

Some kinds of pollution require the whole body to be immersed in water,

but commonly it is enough to wash some parts only, the head, the face

and neck, hands and feet. In the latter ablution, called _wodhu_, fine

sand or dust may be used when water cannot be had; in such case, the

palm of the hand being first laid upon the sand, is then to be drawn

over the part required to be washed. The Mohammedans, out of respect to

the divine Majesty before whom they are to appear, are required to be

clean and decent when they go to public prayers in their mosques; but

are yet forbidden to appear there in sumptuous apparel, particularly

clothes trimmed with gold or silver, lest they should make them vain and

arrogant. The women are not allowed to be in their mosques at the same

time with the men; this they think would make their thoughts wander from

their proper business there. On this account they reproach the Christians

with the impropriety of the contrary usage.

The next point of practice is alms-giving, which is frequently enjoined

in the _Koran_, and looked upon as highly meritorious. Many of them have

been very exemplary in the performance of this duty. The third point of

practical religion is fasting the whole month Ramadhan, during which

they are every day to abstain from eating, or drinking, or touching a

woman, from daybreak to sunset; after that they are at liberty to enjoy

themselves as at other times. From this fast an exception is made in

favour of old persons and children; those also that are sick, or on a

journey; and women pregnant or nursing are also excused in this month.

But then, the person making use of this dispensation must expiate the

omission by fasting an equal number of days in some other month, and by

giving alms to the poor. There are also some other days of fasting, which

are, by the more religious, observed in the manner above described. The

last practical duty is going the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every man who

is able is obliged to perform once in his life. In the ceremonies of it

they strictly copy those observed by Mohammed. A pilgrimage can be made

only in the month of Dhul-Hija; but a visitation to Mecca may be made at

any other time of the year.[b]

DOZY’S ESTIMATE OF THE _KORAN_

The book which contains the revelations made to Mohammed, and which is,

at the same time, if not the most complete, at least the most trustworthy

source of his biography, presents more peculiarities and irregularities

than any other. It is a collection of stories, exhortations, laws, etc.,

placed side by side without attempt at chronological order or any other

order. The revelations were seldom long, most frequently they consist

of simple verses which were put into writing in Mohammed’s life-time,

or simply entrusted to memory; for, as is proved by the genealogies

and poems of paganism, which for long were only preserved by oral

tradition, Mohammed’s contemporaries had a memory of marvellous power,

as is generally the case with people who write little. Mohammed called

every complete revelation _sura_, or “_koran_.” The former of these two

words is Hebrew, and it literally means a series of stones in a wall,

and thence the line of a letter or of a book; in the _Koran_, as we

possess it, it has the wider meaning of a chapter. The word _koran_,

properly speaking, is an infinitive, and means “to read, to recite, to

expose”; this word is also borrowed from the Jews, who use the verb

_kara_ (to read) especially in the sense of to study the Scriptures; but

Mohammed himself included under the name _Koran_ not only each separate

revelation, but also the union of several or even of all of them.

[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF ARABIC WRITING

(From an old manuscript of the _Koran_)]

However, in the time of Mohammed no complete collection of the texts of

the _Koran_ existed; and had it not been for the care of the first three

caliphs it would have run a great risk of being forgotten. What reserves

are needed in admitting the entire authenticity of the text of the

sacred writings of the East! The example of the Jews shows this clearly.

Already in the time of Mohammed it was known that the Jews had altered

the text of the Old Testament in several places; they have been blamed

for doing so, and the fact has been positively proved; at the same time

in the history of Judaism itself reasons have been discovered for these

alterations, which from a certain point of view appear necessary. The

Mohammedans had not the same reason as the Jews for adding and altering;

but that does not prove that they had no other reasons.

However that may be, and whatever may be the judgment which posterity

will declare as to the greater or lesser authenticity of the _Koran_, it

is quite certain that the arrangement of this book and its division into

_suras_ or chapters is entirely arbitrary. And it could not be otherwise;

an arrangement according to subject was quite impossible, for Mohammed

often spoke in the same revelation of totally different things. Still

less could a chronological order be followed: first, because Mohammed

himself, in many places, added new revelations to more ancient ones;

next, because in those times there was no one still living who knew the

exact moment when each verse had been revealed. It was with perfect

justice that, at this period, a man who was asked if the fragments of the

_Koran_ were arranged in chronological order, replied: “Even if all men

and all _jinns_ (demons) attempted it, they could not succeed.” So the

length of the _suras_ was taken as a rule of the order to be followed,

without keeping too strictly to it; the longest came first, then the one

which was nearest in length, and so on; so that the last _sura_ is at

the same time the shortest. The consequence is that revelations dating

from very different epochs are now mixed without order, so that a similar

confusion is found in no other book; and this, above all else, makes the

reading of the _Koran_ so difficult and so tedious.

For believing Moslems the _Koran_, that is to say God’s Word which has

not been created, is the most perfect book which exists, both in matter

and form, and this opinion is what it should be in the natural order of

things; but it is somewhat strange that the prejudice of the Moslems

should have had more influence on us than would have been expected. The

pompous rhetoric and the so frequently foolish accumulation of metaphors

which are to be found in the Meccan _suras_ have been taken seriously for

poetry and admired in consequence; the style of the whole book has been

considered a model of purity of language. It is difficult to argue on the

question of taste; every man has his private opinion on this matter, and

he can seldom be persuaded to change it. But if we must give our own,

we must confess that, among the more famous of ancient Arab books, we

know none so wanting in taste and originality, so exceedingly prolix and

wearisome as the _Koran_.

Mohammed was not able to compose in verse, an art of which nearly all

were masters at that time; so he did not speak in verse, and he even

had a marked aversion for poetry. His taste was extremely peculiar;

he preferred very mediocre poets who could express pious thoughts in

bombastic verse, to the greatest Arab poets who were still living or

who had only lately died. Generally speaking he was opposed to poetry,

and very naturally; for it was the true expression of the former joyous

life of paganism. He was therefore forced to employ rhymed prose for his

revelations, which consists in using short sentences, two or more of

which rhyme together. In the oldest _suras_ Mohammed closely followed the

rules of this style of writing so that they resemble the oracles of the

old Arab soothsayers; later on however he neglected them more and more,

made sentences longer than they should have been, and took many licences

with the rhyme which, far from being attractive, are real blemishes. If

they were found in any other book than the Word of God, they would have

been severely criticised.

Moreover, he was not master of the language, which partly explains the

frequent repetitions to be found in the _Koran_. Mohammed had much

trouble in composing; he seldom found at once the right word to express

his thought; so he tried all methods, and hence it is that in the _Koran_

the same ideas recur continually and only the expression changes. The

_Koran_ is crowded with degenerate words, borrowed from the Jewish, the

Syrian, and the Ethiopian languages; the Arab commentators, who knew no

other language than their own, wearied their brains in trying to explain

them, without succeeding, however, in finding the true meaning. Moreover

the _Koran_ contains more than one infraction of the rules of grammar;

and if these are less noticeable, it is because Arab grammarians, wishing

to justify them, made these errors into rules or exceptions to the rules.

The _Koran_ had, moreover, very little influence on Mohammed’s

contemporaries. The Arabs had reached a very high degree of

civilisation and of development--I refer to intellectual and not to

material civilisation; while Mohammed was a mere enthusiast, like

many others elsewhere--a fanatic, who was surpassed in understanding,

science, intelligence, and even in morality by more than one of

his fellow-citizens. The greater number of his contemporaries were

indifferent to his pious effusions. And, in short, to find the _Koran_

fine and sublime, faith must first have stifled common sense. The

majority of the nation had not yet reached that stage. So the conversions

one reads of which are attributed to certain passages of the _Koran_

belong chiefly to the domain of pious legend and not to history; history,

in fact, teaches that the multitude knew little or nothing of the

_Koran_, and that they were moreover not at all anxious to know it.

DOCTRINE OF ISLAMISM

There is no religion less original than Islamism. It has as base

Hanifitism and Mosaism as it was developed under the influence of

Parseeism, together with facts borrowed from the ancient Arabic religion

and Christianity, with the additional dogma that Mohammed is the greatest

and the last prophet of God. That was the sum of the system preached by

the Meccan prophet.

The _Koran_ contains no deep thoughts, no poetic theories depicted in

sublime and moving language. It does not try to resolve great problems

by clothing them in a borrowed symbolic form. Islamism is certainly

the most prosaic and monotonous of religions, and at the same time the

least susceptible of modification and development. How explain this

phenomenon? By the very character of the Arab people, who, in effect,

hold specially to the positive. They seek even poetry in the form rather

than the substance; and, everything taken into consideration, they rather

resemble a developed and reasoning people of the nineteenth century than

an ancient nation, still animated by the poetry of youth which other

religions have produced.

Again, Mohammed counts for much. He was not a profound thinker, but

an enthusiast of mediocre talent. Far from aspiring to originality,

his great glory was to avoid it, since he never ceased repeating that

the doctrine he preached had been announced from all time by prophets

of old. There is a third reason still which must not be lost sight

of: In other countries religion developed gradually--it was not the

founder who wrote, but his disciples; thus each author imprinted more

or less his individuality on his book, and this circumstance, which

naturally excludes uniformity, imposed on future ages the duty of not

keeping to the letter but entering into the very spirit of the text.

There was nothing of this kind in Arabia. There, a single man regulated

everything--faith, customs, even the law. The _Koran_ is a book made by

one man who exposes the immutable will of God. Islamism has thus a great

fixity. One knows not how to contest it; but, far from being a cause of

satisfaction, this must be deplored; for continual progress is a task

imposed on humanity.

The laws of the _Koran_ still flourish and will do so as long as Islamism

exists. That they were good for those times, and then constituted real

progress, may be admitted without difficulty. But the laws of Charlemagne

were just as excellent for their epoch; yet where would now be all the

people over whom he reigned, had they been condemned always to preserve

and follow these laws? Would not progress have been impossible for

western Europe? The legislation of the _Koran_ hardly enters into the

scope of our subject, and we will keep to its doctrines. It has been so

often analysed, and moreover presents so little originality, that we

shall make a very rapid survey of it.

The unity of God is the first article of faith; the second, the divine

mission of Mohammed. The God of Mohammed resembles the Allah Taala of the

primitive Arabic religion, the Jehovah of Mosaism, and the Ahuramazda

of the Parsee monotheist not yet corrupted. The story of creation is

borrowed from the Jews. The jinns of primitive religion have been

preserved, transformed into angels and demons. That is what Zoroaster

did with regard to the Indian divinities, the devas. It is forbidden

to honour the angels, they are perishable and will die in the day of

judgment. The arch-fiend also has the Hebrew name of Satan and the Greek

one of Iblis (Diabolos); but as Ahriman of the duallist Neopardism has

never taken his true signification in Judaism, the idea the _Koran_

gives of the arch-fiend and his subjects is more Christian than Jewish.

However, Mohammed diverges in one point from church doctrine--the

impossibility of converting devils. According to him devils may be

converted, and he himself has converted many.

The revelations of God are worked by means of prophets and holy books.

Each period has its revelation which God modifies according to the needs

of the time, and this idea, beautiful in itself, would be fecund if

Mohammed had not given his revelation as the last and most perfect. Adam

had already received the gift of prophecy, and the number of prophets was

not inconsiderable, seeing they were ordinarily reckoned at 124,000, but

the six greatest are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. The

_Koran_ admits the miraculous birth of Jesus--for brevity’s sake we will

not speak of all the others--but he was not the Son of God but a man in

the proper sense of the word, and witnessed in speaking of himself that

he was only a servant of the Divinity; he declares that not he but God

alone is omniscient. On the judgment day, Allah will say: “Oh, Jesus, Son

of Mary, hast thou said to men, place my mother and myself as gods by the

side of God?” And Jesus will answer, “Far be the thought from me; how can

I pretend to a name which does not belong to me?” It is not so clearly

seen whether the _Koran_ admits the Ascension. As to miracles, Jesus did

a great number, even when his mother was still feeding him, and later he

raised the dead, etc. To crown all, it was not he who was crucified, but

a man whom they took for him. The principal object of his doctrine was,

like that of all prophets, to announce the unity of God.

Man has five great duties to fulfil. He must admit the two principal

dogmas of Islamism, pray, fast, give alms, and go on pilgrimage to

Mecca. These duties are called the Pillars of Islamism. According to the

revelation made to Mohammed when he journeyed to heaven, and which is

not noted in the _Koran_ (for this book only orders prayers three times

a day), all believers ought, after having gone through the prescribed

purifications, to pray at a given time for five minutes each day, by

preference at the mosque. Mohammed is a great deal more occupied with

the ceremonies of prayer than with the prayer itself, for there are

designated passages of the _Koran_ and consecrated formulas to be

recited; so there can be no question of spontaneous prayer, and if in the

Moslem countries the degenerate cult consists in a mechanical movement of

the lips, the fault to a large extent must be attributed to the prophet

himself. The attitudes, gestures, inflexions of the head and body are

exactly regulated by Mohammed himself, and even more by theologians who

came after. On Fridays there is gathering for common prayer, but the day

is not a time of repose like the Jewish Sabbath or the Christian Sunday.

With the exception of prayer-time, each follows his daily occupation.

Fasting is prescribed for the whole month of Ramadhan. It is only

after sunset that eating and drinking are permitted. Mohammed decreed

this law at Medina, in a time when the fixed lunar year was still

followed--that is, when the solar year was made up by the intercalation

of a supplementary month; consequently the month of Ramadhan regularly

fell in winter. But when afterwards Mohammed had established the vague

lunar year and the month of Ramadhan fell by chance in summer, it was a

severe trial not to dare to take a drop of water all through the long

and stifling summer day. It is not astonishing, then, that the Moslem

is generally morose and bad tempered during the fast and awaits its end

with impatience. But, once over, there is celebrated on the first day of

the month of Khauwal, the most joyous fête known to Islamism, that of

the fast-breaking (_aid-al-fitr_) or “little fête” (the little _bairam_

of the Turks), which, in certain countries, lasts three days. The fifth

great duty, which all Moslems of age and free, and of no matter which

sex, have to accomplish once in a life-time is the pilgrimage to Mecca.

THE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

This pilgrimage was borrowed from the ancient religion with all the

ceremonies which accompany it, although they have been modified in some

respects and received a touch of Islamism. In spite of their great

antiquity, they were not much observed by Arabs in the time of Mohammed

except mechanically. But, as Islamism retained them, it was necessary to

justify them.