THE SWORD OF ISLAM
'The sword of Mohammed and the Korân are the most stubborn opponents
of civilization, liberty, and truth the world has ever known.'--SIR
WILLIAM MUIR.
[Sidenote: Civil War.]
It is a small step from 'robbery under arms' to civil war. The
logical consequence of a small expedition, if it is successful, is a
larger one. Mohammed soon had a chance, which it was not in him to
refuse. He heard that the large caravan which had eluded him in the
autumn was returning in the spring, crawling down the sea route on
its way to Mecca, heavily laden with goods, to the value of 500,000
francs. Its leader was Abu Sufyan, the chief of the Koreish, and, as
usual, every Meccan who could afford it had a stake in the venture.
Mohammed appealed to the men of Medina, 'Here is a caravan of the
Koreish in which they have embarked much wealth. Come! {80}
perchance the Lord will enrich you with the same.' The appeal was
not in vain. With an army of 305 men and 70 camels he marched to
meet it at Badr, still a halting-place on the pilgrim road from Syria
to Mecca. Meanwhile, through spies or traitors, the news reached Abu
Sufyan, who sent to Mecca for help. The men of Mecca, not without
misgivings at making war upon their relatives, turned out for battle
nearly a thousand strong. This was more than Mohammed had reckoned
on, but he was not dismayed. He could count on the fiery courage of
his followers, the fanaticism of his 'refugees' had destroyed all
their remembrance of the ties of kindred; he reckoned, too, no doubt,
on hesitation and divided councils among his foes. He was cheered in
the night with visions of success, and with stern confidence he
ordered the battle himself.
[Sidenote: Battle of Badr.]
The field of battle was a valley between the two most western spurs
of a range of mountains which here drop into the plain which protects
them from the sea. A rivulet, rising in the inland mountains, runs
through the valley, and in its course a number of cisterns had been
dug for the {81} use of travellers. Mohammed ordered all of these to
be filled up, except the one nearest to the enemy, and this one he
made his base of operations. He was quite aware that 'the general
should not risk his life,' and, accordingly, a temporary hut was
built for the Prophet beside the well, and fleet camels were picketed
ready for his flight in case of sudden need.
The battle began, like many another in those parts, by single
contests of the champions of either army. In these the Moslems won
all along the line. It was an ominous beginning for the Koreish, and
their spirits sank. It was a wild, stormy, winter day, and the rain
poured in the face of the Meccan archers, as upon the hapless French
at Agincourt. To Mohammed the fierce blasts that swept the valley
were a legion of angels under Gabriel and Michael fighting for the
believers--as the 'Great Twin Brethren' had fought for Rome at Lake
Regillus. The Moslems fought, it seems, in a sort of threefold
phalanx formation, and at first stood on the defensive. The Koreish
were without commander, without order, or {82} discipline, or any
concerted plan, though they were three to one.
The battle raged fiercely: at last the fiery valour of the Moslems
prevailed. As the foe wavered Mohammed stooped, threw a handful of
pebbles towards them, and cried: 'Confusion seize their faces.'
Wavering turned into defeat, defeat into rout. The Koreish cast away
their arms and fled, abandoning their camp and baggage and beasts of
burden. Eagerly the Moslems followed them, slaying and taking
captive all who came within reach. Forty-nine were killed, and about
the same number taken prisoners. Mohammed lost only fourteen, of
whom six were refugees from Medina. Many of the principal men of the
Koreish were slain, among them one of Mohammed's bitterest opponents,
Abu Jahl. As he lay wounded on the field Mohammed's servant ran upon
him and cut off his head and carried it to his master.
'The head of the enemy of God,' exclaimed Mohammed.
'God, there is none other but He,' responded the servant, as he cast
the gory head at the Prophet's feet.
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'It is more acceptable to me than the choicest camel in Arabia.'
Six of the prisoners were executed as avowed enemies of Mohammed's
creed. The remainder were treated with kindness, and most embraced
the faith. A trench was dug upon the field into which the bodies of
the slain were cast, and before it was filled in, Mohammed himself
addressed them in the presence of his followers: 'Have you not found
the promise of your Lord to come true? Woe to you who rejected me
your Prophet. Verily, my Lord's promise to me hath been made good.'
The spoil was very rich; it was thrown into one great heap, of which
Mohammed retained a fifth, and divided the rest among his followers.
Two camels fell to the lot of every man in the army.
The battle of Badr was to Moslem history all, and more than all, that
Hastings means in the history of England. To Mohammed, and to every
man who fought under him, it was the seal of the Almighty upon the
Cause. Obviously for purposes of war one Moslem was worth ten
unbelievers! A course of plundering so favoured by God Himself was
not to be desisted {84} from--each fresh marauding expedition added
to the wealth of Medina and the reputation of the Prophet.
[Sidenote: Siege of Medina.]
Once, twice, indeed, the life of Mohammed and the cause of Islam yet
hung in the balance. The Koreish, as we might guess, had not taken
the defeat of Badr easily, and were resolved on revenge. A year
later, with an army of 3,000 men, they marched on Medina, and so
narrowly was Islam saved that we are told Mohammed was himself struck
down during a panic of his followers. Two years later, summoning all
their allies, the Koreish marched upon Medina and besieged it with an
army 10,000 strong. But finding earthworks and trenches barring
their way, and plot and stratagem met by counter-plot, their
provisions ran out and they were forced to beat an ignominious
retreat. Even temporary set-backs hurt little the reputation of the
Prophet. He was the unquestioned master of Medina now, and each
succeeding month brought fresh tribes within his suzerainty; his
reputation extended wherever Arab orators contended for eloquence.
But as yet he was only a local notability. Arabia still looked to
{85} Mecca as the pivot of the country; the men of Arabia still
returned to Mecca and the Kaaba for their yearly pilgrimage.
Clearly, if Mohammed would rule Arabia, he must rule from Mecca.
Under truce he visited his old haunts, the home of his youth and the
sacred 'cube,' but he was only there on sufferance. The visit
intensified the burning desire, and the urgent necessity for the
Prophet of God to be Master of Mecca.
[Sidenote: Conquest of Mecca.]
So, passing over several years studded with incident and adventure,
we must follow our hero with his organized and disciplined army of
10,000 men as he marches upon Mecca. Such an army Araby has never
known and the Koreish make but small show of resistance. A few
fanatics keep up a running and ineffectual fight, and Mohammed stands
lord of the city from which eight years before he had fled a hunted
fugitive. It is still full of enemies. But the greatness of his
triumph has softened his heart, and by his moderation he wins theirs.
The men of Mecca give in their adhesion, and become 'believers' in a
body.
The first act of the Conqueror was one {86} of clemency. What was
the second? Remounting his old favourite Al Caswa he rode to the
Kaaba--the pictures had been removed, and Mohammed now ordered the
idols to be hewn down. Uzza and Lât fell with a terrible crash, and
with them crashed down the whole fabric of Arab idolatry, which has
never been restored.
Mohammed was an old man now, and as he contemplated the work of
destruction, he must have felt that the labour of twenty years had
not been in vain.
[Sidenote: Mecca the Centre of Islam.]
To him, however, the destruction of the idols was not so much the end
of the old as the beginning of the new. The Kaaba itself was left
untouched, and was consecrated to be the new centre of the new faith,
and from its roof Bilâl sounded the call to prayer. The keys were
returned to their old keeper, and the right of attending the pilgrims
was entrusted again to Mohammed's uncle Abbas.
Mecca should still be the pivot of Arabia, its sacred shrine the
centre of its religion, the Koreish its guardians, but not
henceforth, as in the 'days of ignorance,' a house of helpless idols,
but the centre of the new religion--'God and His Prophet.'
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It was the stroke of a master statesman, as well as of a religious
enthusiast. It silenced the scruples of the Koreish lest Mecca
should lose its position and they their chance of livelihood. It was
the crowning act of Mohammed's achievement. Verily the hand of God
must be with the Prophet when he could conquer Mecca and defy with
impunity the ancient deities of Arabia!
[Sidenote: The Subduing of Arabia.]
So the fire of Islam was kindled in Arabia. A few more fierce
stubborn contests yet remained, a guerilla fight with the powerful
and bellicose Arab clan, the Beni Hawazin, the blockade of Taif, a
powerful hostile city, and the subjugation of the Jews, and all
Arabia was aflame. From Yaman and Hadramaut and Oman, from the
borders of Syria and Persia, envoys poured in, bringing the
allegiance of the tribes, flocking to the white standard of the
Prophet. Within a year Mohammed, at the head of such an army as no
Arab had ever dreamt of, consisting of 10,000 horse and 20,000
foot-men, marched northwards to the borders of Syria, and subduing
the Christian and semi-Christian tribes of the north, carried the
fire of Islam beyond the borders.
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[Sidenote: Religious and Social Life.]
Busy and occupied with fighting as those last years of Mohammed's
life were, his work as religious prophet was not neglected. He
poured forth fresh suras as each new occasion demanded. True, they
seem to have lost their old rugged earnestness now, and much of their
sense of God, but he declares them still to be the revelation of the
Almighty, and to have existed in heaven from the beginning of
eternity. Many suras are concerned with the most trivial and
unimportant matters treated in the most commonplace way. Some show
his unrivalled skill in getting out of difficult personal or
political situations. Some are to give 'divine authority' for his
own violations of his own law, or for those actions of his which
outraged even the primitive conscience of Arabia. One instance of
this should be given. Within a year of his reaching Medina the
Prophet greatly admired Zainab, the wife of his foster-son Zaid, and
coveted her for his wife. Marriage to one who was reckoned a
daughter-in-law was utterly abhorrent to the conscience of the Arabs,
but he justified this by obtaining a divine commission--a divine
blessing forsooth--for the act. We {89} have more than once seen how
the Prophet fell into the very convenient habit of retracting or
'abrogating' any previous suras which he found it convenient to
alter. One would have thought this would have shaken the faith of
the 'believers' in the revelations, but Mohammed waved their scruples
aside with a high hand, and they soon grew accustomed to such
vagaries.
Interspersed among these very minor matters was much advice as to the
conduct of the faith, the obligations of Moslem brotherhood, the
relation of the faithful to unbelievers, to women and to slaves.
Many Arabian customs were commended for adoption. There were
disquisitions on criminal and civil law and punishments, on political
economy and tax-collecting, and florid descriptions of the believers'
Paradise and the fires of the unbelievers' Hell.
[Sidenote: Mohammed's Death, 632 A.D.]
A man's age is not reckoned by his years, but by the life he has
lived. The last twenty-three years of Mohammed's life had been
enough to shatter the strongest of constitutions. Privation,
persecution, struggle, anxiety, fear, and still more, the lust,
excitement, and excesses of victory, {90} and, as he said, 'the toil
of inspiration and the striking' had streaked his hair with grey, and
made him old when he was sixty-three. But he was game to the end,
and fought his fever inch by inch. When it was sore upon him he
struggled to the mosque to lead the Friday service. Throughout
Sunday he was unconscious. On the Monday he rallied so far as to be
able to walk feebly into the mosque next door, where Abu Bakr led the
prayers at his request. He returned exhausted by the effort, and
quietly sank to rest in Ayesha's loving arms, muttering a few broken
prayers for forgiveness 'for the former and the latter sins,' and
exclaiming 'The blessed companionship on high!' Around him were
gathered his wives and those who had been his closest friends and
comrades through good report and ill--Abu Bakr, Omar, and Zaid.
We may, in fancy, stand with that little company and gaze deep into
that quiet face, for thereon is written not only a life that is past,
but a forecast of a history that is yet to be. Yes, Mohammed, the
story of thy life is there, a story unique in glory and in shame; in
glory because, rising {91} above thy fellows and realizing God, thou
didst preach Him to men; in shame, because, being greater than thy
fellows, thou didst think thyself almost a god. And in the pages of
world-history thy life is written large across the nations, for, as
is the prophet so are the people, and where the shepherd leads the
sheep follow. And so thy life, its glory and its shame, its moral
earnestness, its sordid ambitions; its rugged sincerity, its obvious
self-deception; its high moral teaching, its gross sensual sins; its
gentleness, its cruelty; its faithfulness, its broken oaths; its
daring, its cowardice; its saintliness and its brigandage; will live
again in the lives of thy followers wherever men call themselves
Mohammedans.
[Sidenote: Mohammed claimed a final Revelation.]
With the passing of the Prophet, Moslem revelation is for ever
closed, the last word has been said, no more is possible. At his
death there can be no successor to his office as mediator and
Prophet. The two assets upon which the huge and complex structure of
Islam have been built are the historical records of _the Prophet's
life_ and _the Korân_, and it is important that we grasp the meaning
of this fact. Zwemer {92} has described the magic of the Prophet's
influence.
'He is at once the sealer and abrogator of all former prophets and
revelations. They have not only been succeeded, but also supplanted
by Mohammed. No Moslem prays to him, but every Moslem daily prays
for him in endless repetition. He is the only powerful intercessor
in the Day of Judgment. Every detail of his early life is attributed
to divine permission or command, and so the very faults of his
character are his endless glory and his sign of superiority. God
favoured him above all creatures. He dwells in the highest heaven,
and is several degrees above Jesus in honour and station. His name
is never uttered or written without the addition of a prayer. "Ya
Mohammed" is the open sesame to every door of difficulty--temporal or
spiritual. One hears that name in the bazaar and in the street, in
the mosque and from the minaret. Sailors sing it while hoisting
their sails; hammals groan it to raise a burden; the beggar howls it
to obtain alms; it is the Bedouin's cry in attacking a caravan; it
hushes babes to sleep, as a cradle-song; it is the pillow of the
sick, and the last word of the dying; it is written on the door posts
and in their hearts, as well as, since eternity, on the throne of
God; it is to the devout Moslem the name above every name;
grammarians can tell you how its four letters are representative of
all the sciences and mysteries by their wonderful combination. The
name of Mohammed is the best to give a child, {93} and the best to
swear by for an end of all dispute in a close bargain.... Mohammed
holds the keys of heaven and hell. No Moslem, however bad his
character, will perish finally; no unbeliever, however good his life,
can be saved except through Mohammed.'[1]
[Sidenote: The Korân.]
Then there was the book, the Korân. At the time of Mohammed's death
the suras had never been gathered together, and no book of them
existed. Many had been written down by those who heard them, some
the faithful knew by heart. Soon after the Prophet's death Abu Bakr
gave orders that all these should be gathered together. Zaid
therefore collected all that could be found on parchment, leather,
palm leaves, shoulder-blades of mutton, stones, and other materials,
and with those suras which could be repeated from memory he completed
the collection of Mohammed's suras in the Korân. Every word within
the covers of that book was, and always has been, regarded by all
Moslems as the veritable word of God, 'eternal and uncreate,' brought
down from heaven by Gabriel and delivered to Mohammed. 'The whole of
the contents of the Korân, from {94} the sublimest doctrine down to
the most trivial command abrogated perhaps a week or two after it was
revealed; from the passage describing the ineffableness of God down
to the passage authorizing Mohammed's marriage with the divorced wife
of his adopted son--all is equally, in kind and in degree, inspired,
eternal, and divine.' The word of God to man was, in fact, a
book,--this book. This book was the word of God.
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI
1. What led to the battle of Badr? Why was it so important?
2. How came it that the Meccans failed to take Medina?
3. How was Mecca conquered? How did Mohammed manage to destroy all
idols there without rousing much opposition?
4. What should you think is the effect now of keeping Mecca as the
centre of Islam?
5. How was Arabia subdued?
6. How far was Mohammed's death a sequel to his life? What was his
real claim as the founder of a religion?
[1] Zwemer, _A Challenge to Faith_, pp. 46-48.
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