A.D. 622-651.
MAHOMET.—CONQUEST OF ARABIA, PERSIA, SYRIA, AND EGYPT.
Mahomet was born at Mecca, in the April of the year 569. His father
Abdallah, and his mother Amina, belonged to the illustrious tribe of
the Koreish; and the guardianship of the Kaaba,[71] the great centre
of Arabian worship, was hereditary in his family. Brought up in a
priestly household, a man of his intelligent mind would naturally
be drawn to examine the received traditions and ceremonial of the
national faith; and, considering how corrupt and degraded this had
become in his day, we can well understand how an earnest desire
to reform and purify it would suggest itself to him. That Mahomet
was, in a certain sense, an impostor cannot be denied; though he
cannot fairly be considered such at the outset of his career. But
his genuine wish to rescue religion from the grossness of idolatry,
and his enthusiastic belief in the sacredness of his mission,
became gradually lessened by the admixture of worldly policy,
which is ever the besetting danger of reformers. Then pious frauds
were resorted to, to ensure the success which zeal and honesty had
failed to obtain. When these, too, failed, simple imposture was
employed—though, so far as we can judge, his belief in his divine
office remained unimpaired to the last. Such has been the history of
many a religious zealot before, and since, his time, though none have
ventured to put forth claims so daring, or have produced results so
vast and enduring.
All sorts of portents are related to have occurred coincidently with
his birth. A divine light illuminated Mecca and its vicinity; the
palace of the Persian kings tottered to its foundations; the sacred
fire of the Magi was extinguished in the Gheber temples; the newborn
infant raised his eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, ‘God is great.’ But
notwithstanding these, and many other, divine tokens of the mission
he was to accomplish, he continued to lead the life of an ordinary
Arab, until at the age of twenty-five a marriage with a wealthy
widow, named Kadijah, lifted him to a position of importance amongst
his countrymen.
Some fifteen years afterwards the corrupt state of the national
religion[72]—which, it is probable, had always more or less engaged
his thoughts—seems wholly to have engrossed them. He withdrew from
society, passing his days and nights in mountain caverns, visited by
continual dreams and visions. The idea took possession of his mind
that the Deity had sent into the world a succession of Prophets, each
of whom was to restore to its pristine purity the faith, which had
been gradually declining since the removal of his predecessor. Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, had all in this manner succeeded one
another. Now the time had arrived for the appearance of another—that
other being himself. This was the revelation which had been
vouchsafed to him; this was the message[73] he was to deliver to men.
He returned home, and began to attempt the conversion of proselytes
to this belief; but his progress was slow, and the opposition he
provoked bitter and deadly. He was in his fifty-third year when the
crisis of his career arrived, and he had to fly, at the imminent
peril of his life, from Mecca to Medina. This is regarded by the
disciples of Islam as the first open promulgation of their faith. At
Medina he found himself at the head of an armed force, with which
he resolved to enter on his mission of converting the world. At the
same time he determined that the instrument by which this was to be
effected was the sword.
The attempt seemed a wild one. Yet we must remark that the condition
of the world at that period was unusually favourable to it. There
existed then but two powerful sovereignties—the Eastern Empire,
governed by Heraclius, and the Persian kingdom of Chosroes and
afterwards of Yezdegird. The two last named were men of very
ordinary capacity; and either indolence or the pressure of external
circumstances kept Heraclius inactive. Nor could they command
the services of any great soldier, such as Aetius, or Narses, or
Belisarius, whose military genius might avail in driving back the
invasion of barbarous and fanatic hordes. They were also greatly
weakened by long and desolating wars. But, however propitious the
occasion may have been, it is obvious that Mahomet, whatever might be
his ultimate views, could not then attempt hostile measures against
them. Necessarily his first task must be to reduce to obedience the
inhabitants of Arabia itself; and the most formidable of these were
the various Jewish communities, with which the land was at that time
overspread.
For many centuries previously to this time, seven or eight at the
least, a Jewish kingdom had been established in that district of
Yemen which was known as Homeritis. During the long ages when their
brethren, in the Holy Land and elsewhere, were experiencing the
most terrible miseries, the Jews of Homeritis seem to have lived in
unbroken peace and prosperity in the lovely and fertile valleys of
Arabia Felix. The Arians, after a while, had made their way into
the country; and with them, as seems always to have been the case,
the Jews lived on terms of amity. But when the Catholic Christians
also obtained a domicile in the country, under the protection of the
neighbouring King of Ethiopia, Dunaan, the Homeritic king, made an
effort to exterminate them. He attacked their principal city, Nagra,
with a large army, induced it to capitulate, and then, breaking
faith, slew and imprisoned the chief men among the Christians.
They were avenged in the ensuing year by the King of Ethiopia, who
marched against Dunaan with 120,000 men, conquered, dethroned, and
slew him. With him the Homeritic kingdom expired; but the subjects
of Dunaan formed themselves into a number of independent tribes,
more difficult, probably, to subdue than any single community would
have been. Mahomet seems to have hoped at first to bring these over
to his views. As has been pointed out, their faith was nearly the
same as that proclaimed by himself, except as regarded that one
article of his own supernatural claims. But the fact of his descent
from Ishmael, instead of Isaac, was an insuperable obstacle to any
acknowledgment of him by them; and he was obliged to resort to the
method of conversion which he had himself proclaimed. The tribes of
Kainoka and of Nadir, the inhabitants of Koraidha, Fadai, and Khaibar
were attacked in turn, and in every instance overpowered and almost
exterminated. The most merciless severity was shown to the conquered.
Seven hundred Koraidhites, who had surrendered to his mercy, were
dragged into the city of Medina, and slaughtered in cold blood, in
the presence of the Prophet, who himself enjoined and applauded the
deed.
In the same spirit, after the capture of the citadel of Khaibar,
Kenana, the gallant Jewish prince, was put by the conquerors to the
severest tortures, to induce him to confess where he had concealed
his treasure; and when these failed to accomplish their purpose, his
head was struck off with a sabre. But Mahomet narrowly escaped, at
this time, feeling the vengeance of the Jewish people, by the act of
a woman. On his arrival within the citadel, he required that some
food should be served, and a shoulder of lamb was placed before him
and his followers. But the first mouthful caused him severe internal
pain; and though he instantly vomited forth what he had eaten,
his system had imbibed so much of the poison which the meat had
contained, as to cause him continual paroxysms of suffering during
the remainder of his life. The Jewish woman by whom the lamb had
been poisoned calmly avowed and justified the deed.[74] Her fate is
uncertain.
Having now attained the position of an independent potentate,
Mahomet despatched letters to Heraclius, Chosroes, and the Governor
of Egypt, inviting them to adopt his faith. By Chosroes these were
received with scorn and anger; by the other two, we are told, with
civility and feigned respect. Nevertheless, reports were brought that
Heraclius was assembling an army for the purpose of crushing him; and
it is probable that Mahomet would now have followed out what had long
been his persistent purpose, and entered on the forcible conversion
of neighbouring nations, if he had not felt the approaching decay
of the powers of life. He did go so far as to assemble an army, and
advance across the country to Tabuc; but the tidings brought him that
the Syrians had collected large bodies of troops, and the experience
of the battle of Muta, in which they had proved themselves formidable
enemies, induced him to withdraw to Medina.
But after his death, Abu Beker, the first Caliph, prepared to carry
out without delay the programme of his predecessor. An army was sent
into Irak, the ancient Chaldæa and Babylonia, under Khaled, called
the ‘Sword of God,’ and one of the most able of the Moslem leaders,
with orders to overrun and subdue Hira, Cufa, and Aila, all of them
tributary kingdoms owning the suzerainty of Persia.[75] Khaled
accomplished his task with astonishing rapidity and completeness; and
when he was withdrawn to take the command in Syria, his successors
followed up his victories, with but few reverses, into the very heart
of Persia, won great battles, captured Modayn, Hamadan, and Istakan
(the ancient Ctesiphon, Ecbatana, and Persepolis), and finally hunted
down and slew the hapless Yezdegird. With him the Sassanian dynasty
came to an end, and the whole of Persia, A.D. 651, submitted to the
dominion of the Caliphs.
The like amazing success marked the progress of the warriors of Islam
in Syria and Egypt. In the former country, notwithstanding that they
were opposed to disciplined troops, who still retained the tradition
of ancient Roman warfare, their fiery valour proved everywhere
victorious. The light Arab horsemen recoiled indeed from the serried
ranks of the Grecian phalanx; but only to return again and again to
the encounter, till their trained antagonists were daunted or wearied
out. Whether they fought behind the ramparts of a fortified city or
in the open plain, it was the same. Bosra, Damascus, Baalbec, Emesa,
after protracted sieges, were compelled to open their gates to the
conquerors. At Aizhadin, and on the banks of the Yermouk, military
skill and superior numbers were alike of no avail to check the
overwhelming tide of conquest.
After allowing themselves a brief repose, the victorious Saracens
advanced to besiege Jerusalem, a city regarded by them with a
reverence almost as deep as that of the Jews themselves.[76] The
reader has already been told how nature and art have combined to
render this city almost impregnable to assault. In the present
instance its fortifications had been carefully repaired and
strengthened, in expectation of a siege; it was well victualled,
and garrisoned by a large and disciplined force. Against an enemy
so inexperienced in the arts of warfare as the Saracens, it might
well have defied even the most persistent blockade. Yet but four
months elapsed before an offer of surrender was made and accepted,
and the Caliph Omar[77] arrived to arrange the terms. These were,
that the lives and property of the inhabitants should be spared, and
the free exercise of their religion allowed; but upon conditions
to which nothing but the fear of immediate and inevitable death
could have induced the Christians to submit. They were to build
no new churches; set up no new crosses; were to make no proselytes
to their faith; nor hinder any Christian from professing Islamism.
They were to wear a peculiar dress, carry no arms, possess no Moslem
slaves, and salute every Mussulman as a superior! On the site of the
Jewish temple, which had so long lain desolate, a Mahometan mosque
was erected: in which, from that day to this, with but a brief
intermission, the worship of Islam has been carried on.
If the narratives of the conquests of Persia and Syria appear to us
surprising, that of Egypt must be regarded with still greater wonder.
The empire of the Pharaohs had indeed greatly deteriorated from its
ancient consequence and strength; but it was still a powerful State,
capable of bringing numerous armies into the field. Nevertheless,
Amru, who was entrusted with the command of an expedition to overrun
and subdue it, had but five thousand men assigned him for the
purpose. With these he proceeded to invest Farwah, or Pelusium; and
having captured this city through the treachery of the governor,
marched on to Alexandria. That also, after a siege of fourteen
months, was surrendered to them, and the submission of all Egypt
followed.
In recording this extraordinary career of conquest, our concern of
course is, how it affected the Jews; and everywhere it will be found
that—as in the instance of the incursion of the Northern nations—what
was ruin and misery to others failed to injure, nay, benefited
them. In Persia, Yezdegird had visited them with the most cruel
persecutions, had shut up their synagogues and schools, and slain
numbers who refused to embrace Magianism. In Palestine they had been
subject to harsh laws, unmerited scorn, and exclusion from their
ancient capital. In Africa, they had similarly undergone violence
at the hands of Arian Vandals and Catholic Christians. All this had
now come to an end. Their new masters allowed them equal rights of
residence and citizenship, the free exercise of their religion, the
secure tenure of their property, equality of imports with their
Christian neighbours. Whoever else might have reason to lament the
change which had passed over the face of the world, they, at least,
had none.
FOOTNOTES:
[71] The Kaaba is said to have been built by Ishmael, aided by
his father Abraham, in imitation of the shrine which, according
to legend, existed in Paradise, and in which Adam worshipped. In
one corner of it stands the sacred stone, believed by the Arabs to
be the Guardian Angel of Adam and Eve, changed into that shape,
in punishment of the neglect which permitted their fall. It was
originally of a dazzling white colour, but the kisses of sinful men
have reduced it to its present blackness. To this shrine the Arabs
make their pilgrimages, performing seven circuits round it, in memory
of the seven circuits which the Angels in Paradise had been wont to
practise.
[72] The idolatry of the Arabs was, at this time, of the grossest
kind. No less than 360 idols had been set up in the Kaaba—many
of them gods of neighbouring nations, or of deceased kings and
patriarchs.
[73] The Koran claims to be, not the composition of Mahomet, but a
divine revelation, which he had to report with the minutest accuracy.
It professes to republish what had been already delivered to Abraham,
Moses, and Christ, and now more explicitly, to Mahomet. It teaches
I. The Unity of God. II. The Ministrations of Angels and Prophets.
III. Absolute Predestination, or Fatalism. IV. The Resurrection and
Future Judgment. It rejects the Trinity, and Godhead of our Lord, and
insists on the divine mission of Mahomet. In this last particular,
and in the respect shown to Christ, it differs from Judaism.
[74] ‘If he is the Messiah,’ she said, ‘the poison cannot hurt him;
if he is not, he is an impostor, and deserves death.’
[75] When Chosroes received Mahomet’s letter, inviting him to embrace
Islamism, he disdainfully tore it in pieces. When Mahomet heard of
this he exclaimed, ‘Even so shall his kingdom be torn.’ Doubtless Abu
Beker had this in mind when he sent out the expedition.
[76] On the morning of the assault on Jerusalem, the address of
Moses to the Israelites in the Koran, ‘Enter, O ye people, into the
Holy Land, which God hath destined for you,’ was shouted aloud after
morning prayer, by the whole besieging army.
[77] Omar had succeeded Abu Beker, A.D. 633, less than two years
after the death of the Prophet. He was the Caliph who burned the
Alexandrian library, and was the first of the Ommiades.