meeting with a party who discharged some arrows at him, fell upon them,
and slew twenty-eight of them. Mahomet sent one of his helpers to bid
him desist from the slaughter; but the messenger delivered quite the
contrary order, commanding him to show them no mercy. Afterward, when
Mahomet said to the helper, "Did not I bid you tell Kaled not to kill
anybody in Mecca?"
"It is true," said the helper, "and I would have done as you directed
me, but God would have it otherwise, and God's will was done."
When all was quiet, Mahomet went to the Kaaba, and rode round it upon
his camel seven times, and touched with his cane a corner of the black
stone with great reverence. Having alighted, he went into the Kaaba,
where he found images of angels, and a figure of Abraham holding in his
hand a bundle of arrows, which had been made use of for deciding things
by lot. All these, as well as three hundred and sixty idols which stood
on the outside of the Kaaba, he caused to be thrown down and broken in
pieces. As he entered the Kaaba, he cried with a loud voice, "Allah
acbar," seven times, turning round to all the sides of the Kaaba. He
also appointed it to be the Kebla, or place toward which the Mussulmans
should turn themselves when they pray. Remounting his camel, he now rode
once more seven times round the Kaaba, and again alighting, bowed
himself twice before it. He next visited the well Zem-zem, and from
thence passed to the station of Abraham. Here he stopped awhile, and
ordering a pail of water to be brought from the Zem-zem, he drank
several large draughts, and then made the holy washing called _wodhu_.
Immediately all his followers imitated his example, purifying themselves
and washing their faces. After this, Mahomet, standing at the door of
the Kaaba, made a harangue to the following effect: "There is no other
god but God, who has fulfilled his promise to his servant, and who alone
has put to flight his enemies, and put under my feet everything that is
visible, men, animals, goods, riches, except only the government of the
Kaaba and the keeping of the cup for the pilgrims to drink out of. As
for you, O ye Koreishites, God hath taken from you the pride of
paganism, which caused you to worship as deities our fathers Abraham and
Ishmael, though they were men descended from Adam, who was created out
of the earth." Having a mind to bestow on one of his own friends the
prefecture of the Kaaba, he took the keys of it from Othman the son of
Telha, and was about to give them to Al Abbas, who had asked for them,
when a direction came to him from heaven, in these words, "Give the
charge to whom it belongs." Whereupon he returned the keys by Ali to
Othman, who, being agreeably surprised, thanked Mahomet, and made a new
profession of his faith. The pilgrim's cup, however, he consigned to the
care of Al Abbas, in whose family it became hereditary.
The people of Mecca were next summoned to the hill Al Safa, to witness
Mahomet's inauguration. The prophet having first taken an oath to them,
the men first, and then the women, bound themselves by oath to be
faithful and obedient to whatsoever he should command them. After this
he summoned an extraordinary assembly, in which it was decreed that
Mecca should be henceforward an asylum or inviolable sanctuary, within
which it should be unlawful to shed the blood of man, or even to fell a
tree.
After telling the Meccans they were his slaves by conquest, he pardoned
and declared them free, with the exception of eleven men and six women,
whom, as his most inveterate enemies, he proscribed, ordering his
followers to kill them wherever they should find them. Most of them
obtained their pardon by embracing Islamism, and were ever after the
most zealous of Mussulmans. One of these, Abdallah, who had greatly
offended Mahomet, was brought to him by Othman, upon whose intercession
Mahomet pardoned him. Before he granted his pardon, he maintained a long
silence, in expectation, as he afterward owned, that some of those about
him would fall upon Abdallah and kill him. Of the women, three embraced
Islamism and were pardoned, the rest were put to death, one being
crucified.
Mahomet now sent out Kaled and others to destroy the idols which were
still retained by some of the tribes, and to invite them to Islamism.
Kaled executed his commission with great brutality. The Jodhamites had
formerly robbed and murdered Kaled's uncle as he journeyed from Arabia
Felix. Kaled having proposed Islamism to them, they cried out, "they
professed Sabæism." This was what he wanted. He immediately fell upon
them, killing some, and making others prisoners: of these, he
distributed some among his men, and reserved others for himself. As for
the latter, having tied their hands behind them, he put them all to the
sword. On hearing of this slaughter Mahomet lifted up his eyes and
protested his innocence of this murder, and immediately sent Ali with a
sum of money to make satisfaction for the bloodshed, and to restore the
plunder. Ali paid to the surviving Jodhamites as much as they demanded,
and generously divided the overplus among them. This action Mahomet
applauded and afterward reproved Kaled for his cruelty.
Upon the conquest of Mecca, many of the tribes of the Arabs came and
submitted to Mahomet; but the Hawazanites, the Thakishites, and part of
the Saadites, assembled to the number of four thousand effective men,
besides women and children, to oppose him. He went against them at the
head of twelve thousand fighting men. At the first onset the Mussulmans,
being received with a thick shower of arrows, were put to flight; but
Mahomet, with great courage, rallied his men, and finally obtained the
victory. The next considerable action was the siege of Taif, a town
sixty miles east from Mecca. The Mussulmans set down before it and,
having made several breaches with their engines, marched resolutely up
to them, but were vigorously repulsed by the besieged. Mahomet, having
by a herald proclaimed liberty to all the slaves who should come over to
him, twenty-three deserted, to each of whom he assigned a Mussulman for
a comrade. So inconsiderable a defection did not in the least abate the
courage of the besieged; so that the prophet began to despair of
reducing the place, and, after a dream, which Abu-Bekr interpreted
unfavorably to the attempt, determined to raise the siege. His men,
however, on being ordered to prepare for a retreat, began to murmur;
whereupon he commanded them to be ready for an assault the next day. The
assault being made the assailants were beaten back with great loss. To
console them in their retreat, the prophet smiled, and said, "We will
come here again, if it please God." When the army reached Jesana, where
all the booty taken from the Hawazanites had been left, a deputation
arrived from that tribe to beg it might be restored. The prophet having
given them their option between the captives or their goods, they chose
to have their wives and children again. Their goods being divided among
the Mussulmans, Mahomet, in order to indemnify those who had been
obliged to give up their slaves, gave up his own share of the plunder
and divided it among them. To Malec, however, son of Awf, the general of
the Hawazanites, he intimated that if he would embrace Islamism he
should have all his goods as well as his family, and a present of one
hundred camels besides. By this promise Malec was brought over to be so
good a Mussulman that he had the command given him of all his countrymen
who should at any time be converts, and was very serviceable against the
Thakishites.
The prophet, after this, made a holy visit to Mecca, where he appointed
Otab, son of Osaid, governor, though not quite twenty years of age;
Maad, son of Jabal, _imam_, or chief priest, to teach the people
Islamism, and direct them in solemnizing the pilgrimage. Upon his return
to Medina his concubine, Mary, brought him a son, whom he named Ibrahim,
celebrating his birth with a great feast. The child, however, lived but
fifteen months.
In the ninth year of the Hegira envoys from all parts of Arabia came to
Mahomet at Medina, to declare the readiness of their several tribes to
profess his religion.
The same year Mahomet, with an army of thirty thousand men, marched
toward Syria, to a place called Tobuc, against the Romans and Syrians,
who were making preparation against him, but, upon his approach,
retreated. The Mussulmans, in their march back toward Medina, took
several forts of the Christian Arabs, and made them tributaries. Upon
his return to Medina the Thakishites, having been blockaded in the Taif
by the Mussulman tribes, sent deputies offering to embrace Islamism,
upon condition of being allowed to retain a little longer an idol to
which their people were bigotedly attached. When Mahomet insisted upon
its being immediately demolished, they desired to be at least excused
from using the Mussulmans' prayers, but to this he answered very justly,
"That a religion without prayers was good for nothing." At last they
submitted absolutely.
During the same year Mahomet sent Abu-Bekr to Mecca, to perform the
pilgrimage, and sacrifice in his behalf twenty camels. Presently
afterward he sent Ali to publish the ninth chapter of the _Koran_,
which, though so placed in the present confused copy, is generally
supposed to have been the last that was revealed. It is called "Barat,"
or Immunity; the purport of it is that the associators with whom Mahomet
had made a treaty must, after four months' liberty of conscience, either
embrace Islamism or pay tribute. The command runs thus: "When those holy
months are expired, kill the idolaters wherever ye shall find them."
Afterward come these words, "If they repent, and observe the times of
prayer and give alms, they are to be looked upon as your brethren in
religion." The same chapter also orders, "That nobody should, not having
on the sacred habit, perform the holy circuits round the Kaaba; and that
no idolater should make the pilgrimage to Mecca." In consequence, no
person except a Mahometan may approach the Kaaba, on pain of death.
The following account of Mahomet's farewell pilgrimage is from Jaber,
son of Abdallah, who was one of the company: "The apostle of God had not
made the pilgrimage for nine years (for when he conquered Mecca he only
made a visitation). In the tenth year of the Hegira, he publicly
proclaimed his intention to perform the pilgrimage, whereupon a
prodigious multitude of people (some make the number near one hundred
thousand) flocked from all parts to Medina. Our chief desire was to
follow the apostle of God, and imitate him. When we came to Dhul
Holaifa, the apostle of God prayed in the mosque there; then mounting
his camel he rode hastily to the plain Baida, where he began to praise
God in the form that professes his unity, saying, 'Here I am, O God,
ready to obey thee; thou hast no partner,' etc. When he came to the
Kaaba, he kissed the corner of the black stone, went seven times
round--three times in a trot, four times walking--then went to the
station of Abraham, and coming again to the black stone, reverently
kissed it. Afterward he went through the gate of the sons of Madhumi to
the hill Safa, and went up it till he could see the Kaaba; when, turning
toward the Kebla, he professed again the unity of God, saying, 'There is
no God but one, his is the kingdom, to him be praises, he is powerful
above everything,' etc. After this profession he went down toward the
hill Merwan, I following him all the way through the valley; he then
ascended the hill slowly till he came to the top of Merwan; from thence
he ascended Mount Arafa. It being toward the going down of the sun, he
preached here till sunset; then going to Mosdalefa, between Arafa and
the valley of Mena, he made the evening and the late prayers, with two
calls to prayer, and two risings up. Then he lay down till the dawn,
and, having made the morning prayer, went to the enclosure of the Kaaba,
where he remained standing till it grew very light. Hence he proceeded
hastily, before the sun was up, to the valley of Mena; where, throwing
up seven stones, he repeated at each throw, 'God is great,' etc. Leaving
now the valley, he went to the place of sacrifice. Having made free
sixty-three slaves, he slew sixty-three victims[63] with his own hand,
being then sixty-three years old, and then ordered Ali to sacrifice as
many more victims as would make up the number to one hundred. The next
thing the apostle did was to shave his head, beginning on the right side
of it, and finishing it on the left. His hair, as he cut it off, he cast
upon a tree, that the wind might scatter it among the people. Kaled was
fortunate enough to catch a part of the fore-lock, which he fixed upon
his turban; the virtue whereof he experienced in every battle he
afterward fought. The limbs of the victims being now boiled, the apostle
sat down with no other companion but Ali to eat some of the flesh and
drink some of the broth. The repast being over, he mounted his camel
again and rode to the Kaaba; where he made the noon-tide prayer, and
drank seven large draughts of the well Zem-zem, made seven circuits
round the Kaaba, and concluded his career between the hills Safa and
Merwan.
"The ninth day of the feast he went to perform his devotions on Mount
Arafa. This hill, situated about a mile from Mecca, is held in great
veneration by the Mussulmans as a place very proper for penitence. Its
fitness in this respect is accounted for by a tradition that Adam and
Eve, on being banished out of paradise, in order to do penance for their
transgression were parted from each other, and after a separation of
sixscore years met again upon this mountain."
At the conclusion of this farewell pilgrimage, as it was called, being
the last he ever made, Mahomet reformed the calendar in two points: In
the first place, he appointed the year to be exactly lunar, consisting
of twelve lunar months; whereas before, in order to reduce the lunar to
the solar year, they used to make every third year consist of thirteen
months. And secondly, whereas the ancient Arabians held four months
sacred, wherein it was unlawful to commit any act of hostility, he took
away that prohibition, by this command, "Attack the idolaters in all the
months of the year, as they attack you in all." (_Koran_, ix.)
In the eleventh year of the Hegira there arrived an embassy from Arabia
Felix, consisting of about one hundred who had embraced Islamism. The
same year Mahomet ordered Osama to go to the place where Zaid his father
was slain at the battle of Muta, to revenge his death. This was the last
expedition he ever ordered, for, being taken ill two days after, he died
within thirteen days. The beginning of his sickness was a slow fever,
which made him delirious. In his frenzy he called for pen, ink, and
paper, and said he "would write a book that should keep them from erring
after his death." But Omar opposed it, saying the _Koran_ is sufficient,
and that the prophet, through the greatness of his malady, knew not what
he said. Others, however, expressing a desire that he would write, a
contention arose, which so disturbed Mahomet that he bade them all
begone. During his illness he complained of the poisoned meat he had
swallowed at Khaibar. Some say, when he was dying, Gabriel told him the
angel of death, who never before had been, nor would ever again be, so
ceremonious toward anybody, was waiting for his permission to come in.
As soon as Mahomet had answered, "I give him leave," the angel of death
entered and complimented the prophet, telling him God was very desirous
to have him, but had commanded he should take his soul or leave it, just
as he himself should please to order. Mahomet replied, "Take it, then."
[According to the testimony of all the Eastern authors Mahomet died on
Monday the 12th Reby 1st, in the year 11 of the Hegira, which answers in
reality to the 8th of June, A.D. 632.]
His grave was dug under the bed whereon he lay, in the chamber of
Ayesha. The Arabian writers are very particular to tell us everything
about the washing and embalming his body; who dug his grave, who put him
in, etc.[64]
The person of Mahomet is minutely described by Arabian writers. He was
of a middle stature, had a large head, thick beard, black eyes, hooked
nose, wide mouth, a thick neck, flowing hair. They also tell us that
what was called the seal of his apostleship, a hairy mole between his
shoulders, as large as a pigeon's egg, disappeared at his death. Its
disappearance seems to have convinced those who would not before believe
it that he was really dead. His intimate companion Abu Horaira said he
never saw a more beautiful man than the prophet. He was so reverenced by
his bigoted disciples they would gather his spittle up and swallow it.
The same writers extol Mahomet as a man of fine parts and a strong
memory, of few words, of a cheerful aspect, affable and complaisant in
his behavior. They also celebrate his justice, clemency, generosity,
modesty, abstinence, and humility. As an instance of the last virtue,
they tell us he mended his own clothes and shoes. However, to judge of
him by his actions as related by these same writers, we cannot help
concluding that he was a very subtle and crafty man, who put on the
appearance only of those good qualities, while the governing principles
of his soul were ambition and lust. For we see him, as soon as he found
himself strong enough to act upon the offensive, plundering caravans,
and, under a pretence of fighting for the true religion, attacking,
murdering, enslaving, and making tributaries of his neighbors, in order
to aggrandize and enrich himself and his greedy followers, and without
scruple making use of assassination to cut off those who opposed him. Of
his lustful disposition we have a sufficient proof, in the peculiar
privileges he claimed to himself of having as many wives as he pleased,
and of whom he chose, even though they were within forbidden degrees of
affinity. The authors who give him the smallest number of wives own that
he had fifteen; whereas the _Koran_ allows no Mussulman more than four.
As for himself, Mahomet had no shame in avowing that his chief pleasures
were perfumes and women.
THE KORAN
The _Koran_ is held by the Mahometans in the greatest veneration. The
book must not be touched by anybody but a Mussulman, 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
Mahomet, 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 afterward deposited in what
he called the chest of his apostleship. This chest the prophet left in
the custody of his wife Hafsa.
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 toward 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, prayers, 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 Mahomet'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 of himself 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, of which we have already met with
several instances in his biography. 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
Mussulman 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; and in the seventeenth chapter of the _Koran_ Mahomet is
commanded to say, "Verily if men and genii were purposely assembled,
that they might produce anything like the _Koran_, they could not
produce anything like unto it, though they assisted one another."
Accordingly, when the impostor 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.[65] 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.