RELIGIONS ANCIENT AND MODERN
ISLÂM
RELIGIONS: ANCIENT AND MODERN.
ANIMISM.
By EDWARD CLODD, Author of _The Story of Creation_.
PANTHEISM.
By JAMES ALLANSON PICTON, Author of _The Religion of the
Universe_.
THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA.
By Professor GILES, LL.D., Professor of Chinese in the
University of Cambridge.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE.
By JANE HARRISON, Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge,
Author of _Prolegomena to Study of Greek Religion_.
ISLÂM.
By AMEER ALI SYED, M.A., C.I.E., late of H.M.’s High Court of
Judicature in Bengal, Author of _The Spirit of Islâm_ and _The
Ethics of Islâm_.
MAGIC AND FETISHISM.
By Dr. A. C. HADDON, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at Cambridge
University.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
By Professor W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, F.R.S.
THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA.
By THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, late of the British Museum.
EARLY BUDDHISM.
By Professor RHYS DAVIDS, LL.D., late Secretary of The Royal
Asiatic Society.
HINDUISM.
By Dr. L. D. BARNETT, of the Department of Oriental Printed
Books and MSS., British Museum.
SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION.
By WILLIAM A. CRAIGIE, Joint Editor of the _Oxford English
Dictionary_.
CELTIC RELIGION.
By Professor ANWYL, Professor of Welsh at University College,
Aberystwyth.
THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
By CHARLES SQUIRE, Author of _The Mythology of the British
Islands_.
JUDAISM.
By ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in
Cambridge University, Author of _Jewish Life in the Middle
Ages_.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME.
By CYRIL BAILEY, M.A.
SHINTO, THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF JAPAN.
By W. G. ASTON, C.M.G.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT MEXICO AND PERU.
By LEWIS SPENCE, M.A.
EARLY CHRISTIANITY.
By S. B. SLACK, Professor at M’Gill University.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ORIGIN AND NATURE OF RELIGION.
By Professor J. H. LEUBA.
THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT PALESTINE.
By STANLEY A. COOK.
ISLÂM
By
AMEER ALI, SYED, M.A., C.I.E.
LATE A JUDGE OF H.M.’S HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE IN BENGAL,
AUTHOR OF ‘THE SPIRIT OF ISLÂM,’ ‘THE ETHICS OF ISLÂM,’
‘A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SARACENS,’ ‘MAHOMMEDAN LAW,’
(2 VOLS.), ‘STUDENT’S HANDBOOK OF MAHOMMEDAN LAW,’
JOINT AUTHOR OF ‘THE LAW OF EVIDENCE APPLICABLE
TO BRITISH INDIA,’ AND ‘A COMMENTARY ON
THE BENGAL TENANCY ACT’
LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD
10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE
1909
_Published 1906_
_Reprinted 1909_
PREFACE
It is difficult, if not impossible, for any one not endowed with a spirit
of sympathy, or the faculty of transporting the mind to the social
conditions and moral needs of other times, to do justice to the Teacher
of another Faith, especially if that Faith is imagined to be in rivalry
with his own.
Generally speaking, the attitude of Christian writers towards Mohammed
and his religion is akin to that of the critical Jew towards the Teacher
of Nazareth, or of the philosophical Celsus towards Christianity.
In the brochure which the liberalism and enterprise of the publishers
enables me to place before the public, I have endeavoured to outline
from inside the essential teachings of Islâm and the prominent features
of its History. For a fuller and more developed treatment of its ethics
and philosophy, of the history of its civilisation and its work in
the advancement of culture and humanitarian science, I must refer the
student, with all diffidence, to my larger expositions.
It is to be hoped that this little book, by helping to give an insight
into Islâm as it is understood by its professors, may become the means of
removing some of the misapprehensions regarding its true aims and ideals,
which are undoubtedly the cause of much of the antipathy prevalent in the
West, and of the frequent incentives to a modern crusade.
A little more knowledge on both sides, a little more sympathy between two
religions which have a common aspiration—the elevation of mankind—will
largely conduce to the promotion of peace and good-will on earth.
AMEER ALI.
REFORM CLUB, 1906.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.—Foreword—Islâm, its meaning—Its Cardinal Principle—Belief
in a Future Life—Conception of Evolution—Moral Responsibility—The
Ethical Code of Islâm—Toleration—Position of Women—Bondsmen and
Bondswomen—Intellectualism, 1-34
CHAPTER II.—Mohammed—His Birth—His Call—The Persecution—The
Hegira—Mohammed at Medîna—His Charter to the
Christians—Conquest of Mecca—The Sermon on the Mount—The
Fulfilment of the Mission—The Prophet’s Death, 35-55
CHAPTER III.—The Election of Abû Bakr as Caliph—His Allocution—His
Injunction to the Troops—Revolt of the Tribes—War with
Persia—Defeat of the Persians—War with Byzantium—Its
Causes—Death of Abû Bakr—Election of Omar—Conquest of
Syria—Capitulation of Jerusalem—Assassination of Omar—Election
of Osmân—Conquest of Egypt—Death of Osmân—Election of
Ali—Rebellion of Muâwiyah—Death of Ali—The Ommeyades—Butchery
of Kerbela—The Martyrdom of Hussain—Conquest of Spain—The
Abbassides—Destruction of Bagdad—The Title of the Ottoman
Caliphs—The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain—The Fatimide Caliphate
of North Africa—The Crusades—Their Effect on Islâm—The
Eruption of the Tartars—Destruction of Science and Learning in
Islâm—Granada—The Sunni and Shiah Church—The Sects of
Islâm—Ashaarïsm—Mutazalaism, 56-78
SELECTED WORKS ON ISLÂM, 79
ISLÂM
CHAPTER I
=Foreword.=—In the history of human development probably no subject is
more interesting than the gradual evolution of spiritual ideals, or the
endeavour to regulate man’s conduct in the ordinary relations of life by
determinate ethical standards.
Of all the great systems that aim at the elevation of mankind by an
appeal to their religious consciousness, the latest-born is the religion
preached by the Prophet of Arabia. The fundamental principles of right
and wrong are common to all moral creeds; it is in their vitalising
force, the life they infuse into humanity and the direction they give to
human energies, that we must seek for elements of differentiation. Some
have taken centuries to expand beyond their original circles, others have
had to absorb foreign conceptions time after time until their primitive
form became entirely changed before they could influence large masses of
people. The religion of Mohammed, unaided by any extraneous help, under
the impulse of a great and dominating Idea, within the space of eighty
years from its birth, had spread from the Indus to the Tagus, from the
Volga to the Arabian Sea. No Darius, Asoka, or Constantine came to its
assistance with royal mandates and imperial homage.
Under its influence a congeries of warring tribes consolidated into a
nation carried aloft for centuries the torch of knowledge. With the
fall of their empire, they ceased to be the preceptors of mankind. The
younger nations who succeeded to their heritage continued some of their
glory in arms, but less in arts and literature. They too declined in
power and influence, and now the greatest of them is but a shadow of its
former self. And yet, as an active living Faith Islâm has lost none of
its pristine force nor the magic hold it possesses over its followers.
In certain parts of the world it is spreading with greater rapidity than
any other creed, and its acceptance among the less advanced races has
invariably tended to raise them in the moral scale.
‘Had the Arabs,’ says an able writer, ‘propagated Islâm only, had they
only known that single period of marvellous expansion wherein they
assimilated to their creed, speech, and even physical type, more aliens
than any stock before or since, not excepting the Hellenic, the Roman,
the Anglo-Saxon, or the Russian, even so the Arabs would still make a
paramount claim on the Western mind.’ But the interest becomes deeper
‘when we remember that, not only as the head and fount of pure Semitism
they originated Judaism and largely determined both its character and
that of Christianity, but also the expansion of the Arabian conception
of the relations of man to God and man to man (the Arabian social
system, in a word) is still proceeding faster and further than any other
propagandism.’[1]
=Meaning of Islâm.=—Islâm is the name which the followers of the Arabian
Prophet give to their religion. It means peace, greeting, safety,
salvation. It does not involve, however, any idea of fatalism. In its
ethical sense it signifies _striving after righteousness_. Man is a free
agent within his limited sphere: the ordinances of God lay down the
eternal principles of human conduct. He has pointed out two courses—the
one leading away from Him, and that is _evil_; the other bringing man to
Him, and that is _good_. Every individual is free to choose and follow
whichever course he likes, and receives his deserts accordingly. ‘By a
soul and Him who balanced it, and breathed into it its wickedness and
its piety, blessed now is he who hath kept it pure, and undone is he who
hath corrupted it.’[2] But the mercy and help of God are always nigh to
direct the humble seeker for divine guidance to take the right path. The
faithful observance of one’s duty to his fellow beings is the preparation
for the future life, which every human being should strive for in this.
=The Cardinal Principle of Islâm.=—A belief in the unity, power, mercy,
and supreme love of the Creator is the cardinal principle of Islâm, for,
in its essence, it is pure Theism, coupled with some definite rules of
conduct without which no religion can exercise any abiding influence on
lower natures. The whole creation with its manifold phenomena, so varied
and yet so uniform, from the single blade of grass springing up in the
field to the mighty stars soaring in the firmament, is a proof of His
existence, His mercy, His love, and His divine Providence ‘God: there is
no God but He—the Living, the Eternal, no slumber seizeth Him. Whatsoever
is in Heaven or in Earth is His.’ ‘He created the sun, moon, and stars
and subjected them to law by His behests.’ ‘He taketh your souls in the
night and knoweth what the work of your day deserveth.’[3] ‘He it is who
ordaineth the day for awakening up to life.’[4] ‘In the alternations of
night and day, and in the ship which saileth on the sea laden with what
is profitable to mankind, and in the rain-water which God sendeth from
heaven, quickening again the dead earth, and the animals of all sorts
which cover its surface; and in the change of the winds and the clouds
balanced between heaven and earth, are signs to people of understanding.’
The God of Islâm is One and indivisible—‘the All-mighty, the All-knowing,
the All-just, the Lord of the worlds, the Author of the heavens and
earth, the Creator of life and death, in whose hand is dominion and
irresistible power; the great, all-powerful Lord of the glorious throne.
God is the Mighty, the Strong, the Most High, the Producer, the Maker,
the Fashioner, the Wise, the Just, the True, the Swift in reckoning, who
knoweth every ant’s weight of good and of ill that each man hath done,
and who suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish.’ But the
All-mighty, the All-wise, is also ‘the King, the Holy, the Peaceful, the
Faithful, the Guardian over His servants, the Shelterer of the orphan,
the Guide of the erring, the Deliverer from every affliction, the Friend
of the bereaved, the Consoler of the afflicted; in His hand is good,
and He is the Generous Lord, the Gracious Hearer, the Near-at-hand, the
Compassionate, the Merciful, the Very Forgiving.’ ... ‘Forgiver of sin
and Receiver of penitence.’ ‘He knoweth the secret whisper, the hidden
and the manifest.’[5]
=Latitude to Human Conscience.=—Islâm implies the acceptance of Divine
Unity and the Mission of Mohammed; whoever acknowledges the verity of
these two conceptions is a Moslem (_Muslim_)—an Islâmist. Belief in
God’s providence carries with it obedience to His commandments, which
lay down the primary bases of human conduct; but failure to observe the
mere ritual or to conform to disciplinary rules does not exclude one
from Islâm or deprive him of the rights and privileges attached to its
profession. So long as the central doctrine of the Unity of God and
the message of the Prophet is recognised and accepted, Islâm allows the
widest latitude to the human conscience.
The Gospel of Islâm is the Koran—the BOOK—in which are embodied the
teachings and precepts of the Arabian Prophet.
From this first principle, the belief in God, spring all the duties human
beings owe to Him and to each other. The recognition by man of God’s
divine grace and mercy, and the constant remembrance of His benefactions
is the very essence of the Islâmic Faith. Thus it is enjoined, ‘Be
constant at prayer, for prayer preserveth from crimes and from that which
is blamable, and the remembrance of God is surely a most sacred duty.’[6]
=Insistence on the Remembrance of God.=—In order to make the remembrance
of the Eternal Giver of all-good a part of man’s daily life, certain
times in the day are set apart to offer Him thanksgiving, to pray for
help and guidance in the struggle with earthly passions, and to strive
to bring the human soul into communion with its Creator. The following
prayer will give an idea of the moral element in the teachings of Islâm.
=The Moral Element in Moslem Prayers.=—‘O Lord, I supplicate Thee for
firmness in faith and direction towards rectitude, and to assist me
in being grateful to Thee and in adoring Thee in every good way; and
I supplicate Thee for an innocent heart, which shall not incline to
wickedness; and I supplicate Thee for a true tongue and for that virtue
which Thou knowest; and I pray Thee to defend me from that vice which
Thou knowest, and for forgiveness of those faults which Thou knowest. O
my Defender! Assist me in remembering Thee and being grateful to Thee
and in worshipping Thee with the excess of my strength. O Lord! I have
injured my own soul, and no one can pardon the faults of Thy servants but
Thou; forgive me out of Thy loving kindness and have mercy on me; for
verily Thou art the forgiver of offences and the bestower of blessings on
Thy servants.’
=Rules for Devotions.=—Although the practice of the Teacher has
consecrated certain rules for the performance of the devotions, the
ritual of the Koran itself is astonishing in its simplicity.[7] The
forms were prescribed for disciplinary purposes and to maintain in Islâm
uniformity of practice and cohesiveness. But the main essentials are
purity of heart and forgetfulness of self. ‘It is not righteousness
that ye turn your faces in prayer towards the east or the west; but
righteousness is of him who believeth in God.... Who giveth money for
God’s sake unto his kindred, and unto orphans and the needy, and the
stranger, and those who ask, and for the redemption of captives; who
is constant at prayer and giveth alms; and of those who perform their
covenants when they have covenanted, and who behave themselves patiently
in hardship and adversity and in times of violence, these are they who
are the true.’
=Every Place Sacred to God.=—As God’s mercy and power pervade the
universe, and every spot is consecrated to His holy name, the orisons
may be offered at any place where the worshipper happens to be at the
appointed hour. A remembrance even, a humble prayer whispered in the
recesses of the heart, is enough to bring down the grace of the Lord, to
cleanse it from impurity and strengthen it for the battle of life. And
when the Moslem stands before his God, his first prayer is for divine
guidance. ‘Praise to God, the Lord of the Worlds, the compassionate and
merciful. The Sovereign of the Day of Judgment, to Thee we offer our
worship, and from Thee we seek help and succour. Guide us in the right
path, the path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, and not of those
with whom Thou art angered or who have gone astray.’
=Purification.=—Physical cleanliness was an essential part of worship
in almost all the ancient theurgic creeds. In Islâm it is a natural
concomitant to the idea of moral purity, for no man is supposed to
approach God in a state of uncleanliness. And as an unclean body implies
an unclean mind, purification of those parts most likely to be soiled—the
hands, feet, and face—is considered necessary before devotional
exercise. But it is not indispensable; conditions may exist which may
render frequent ablutions impossible. The soldier on the battlefield,
the traveller in the desert, the denizen of a wintry land, and others
similarly circumstanced may offer their prayers without undergoing any
such formality. The rule, though thus liable to qualification, is most
beneficent in its tendency. It prevents the growth of that class which is
euphemistically described in England as ‘the great unwashed,’ whilst it
promotes in an eminent degree hygienic and sanitary conditions among the
masses.
At the same time it is especially inculcated that the Almighty can only
be approached in purity and humility of spirit, and that the most
important purification is the cleansing of the heart from all blamable
inclinations and frailties, and the mind from all vicious ideas and
thoughts which distract the attention from God.
=No Priesthood in Islâm.=—The absence of a specially interested class
to act as intermediaries between God and man differentiates Islâm from
all other creeds. In the Islâmic system every man is his own priest
and pleads for himself for forgiveness and mercy. ‘No sacrifice, no
ceremonial invented by vested interests is needed to bring the anxious
heart nearer to its Comforter.’[8]
Essentially a democratic creed, it recognises no distinction of race or
colour among its followers. High or low, rich or poor, white, yellow, or
black are on the same level in the sight of their Lord.
The democratic character of its appeal, its repudiation of all
adventitious barriers of caste, explain the powerful fascination it
exercises over divers races of mankind.
=Belief in a Future Life.=—Belief in a future life and accountability
for human actions in another existence are two principal doctrines of
the Islâmic creed. Both ideas take different shapes in different minds
according to individual culture and environment. Man is not a fortuitous
item in creation; nor does the cessation of life on earth mean an end
of the human soul. Physical death only releases it from its earthly
habiliments. The soul, which is an emanation from God, exists for ever.
=Judaism.=—Early Judaism does not show any trace of a belief in a future
life or in future rewards and punishment. It is only after the Babylonian
Captivity the Jewish mind rose to that conception, and the Zoroastrian
_Bihasht_ and _Duzakh_[9] became the prototypes of the Jewish hell and
heaven.[10]
=Zoroastrianism.=—Similarly the vivid descriptions of the kingdom of
Heaven contained in the Christian Scriptures are without doubt a reflex
of the Zoroastrian conception. Thus, at the time of Mohammed’s advent,
Jew, Christian, and Zoroastrian all looked to material rewards and
punishments in a future existence.[11] In Islâm the pains and joys of the
Hereafter were used as a lever for raising the people from the fetishism
and soulless life to which they had become wedded,—to a conception of
spiritual ideals and of the duties imposed by God on man.
=The Koranic Conception of a Future Existence.=—The pictures of a future
existence in the Koran are all drawn to suit the comprehension of the
people among whom and the age in which the New Gospel was preached. To
the famished, thirsty Arab of the desert what could be more comforting
or more consonant to his ideas of paradise than rivers of unsullied,
incorruptible water, or of milk and honey; or anything more acceptable
than unlimited fruit, luxuriant vegetation, inexhaustible fertility?
Large masses of Moslems, no doubt, accept in their literal sense all
the word-paintings of the Koran, a characteristic by no means confined
to the followers of Islâm. But it is a calumny even against those
Mussulman literalists to say that they look forward to sensual enjoyment
in the next world. The pictures in the Koran of the joys and pains
of after-life, although poetical and vivid, give no warrant for such
an assertion. ‘But those who are pious shall dwell in gardens amid
fountains; (they shall say unto them) Enter ye therein in peace and
security; and all rancour will We remove from their bosoms; they shall
sit as brethren face to face; weariness shall not affect them therein,
neither shall they be repelled thence for ever.’ ‘For those who do good
is excellent reward and superabundant addition; neither blackness nor
shame shall cover their faces. These are the inhabitants of Paradise;
therein do they abide for ever. But those who have wrought evil shall
receive the reward of evil equal thereunto.’... ‘Blessed are they who
fulfil the covenant of God and break not their compact; and who join
together what God hath bidden to be joined; and who fear their Lord and
dread an ill-reckoning; and who from a sincere desire to please their
Lord are constant amid trials, and observe prayers and give alms, in
secret and openly, out of what we have bestowed on them; and turn aside
evil with good; for them there is the recompense of that abode, gardens
of eternal habitation, into which they shall enter, together with such as
shall have acted rightly from among their fathers, their wives, and their
posterity, and the angels shall go in unto them by every portal (saying),
“Peace be with you! because you have endured with patience.”’ ‘Excellent
is the reward in that abode!’[12] ‘No soul knoweth the joy which is
secretly prepared for it as a reward for that it may have wrought.’[13]
=The Spirituality of Islâm.=—Thus behind the description of material
happiness portrayed in objects like trees, rivers, and beautiful
mansions, with fairy attendants lies a deeper meaning:—‘O thou soul which
art at rest, return unto thy Lord, pleased and pleasing Him; enter thou
among My servants; and enter thou My garden of felicity.’
=Sufi Ideas.=—A large section of Moslems, especially those inclined to
Sufiism, believe, however, that as the human soul is an emanation from
God, the highest joy would consist in its fusion with the Universal Soul,
whilst the greatest pain would be in a state of separation from the
Divine Essence.
=The Conception of Evolution.=—This idea, with the conception of
progressive evolution, has been expressed in a poem of untranslatable
beauty by the great poet of Islâmic mysticism which may be paraphrased
thus: ‘Dying from the inorganic we developed into the vegetable kingdom.
Dying from the vegetable we rose to the animal. And leaving the animal we
became men. Then why should we fear that death will lower us? The next
transition will make us angels. From angels we shall rise and become what
no mind can conceive; we shall merge in Infinity as in the beginning.
Have we not been told,[14] “All of us will return unto Him”?’[15]
=The Islâmic Conception of the Great Account.=—Human conduct in the
relations of life consists of a connected sequence of acts the effect of
none of which is isolated. The faithful observance of the primary rules
of ethics justly regarded as the Divine Laws, like their transgression,
stretches far into futurity. Every son of man is thus responsible to
his Lord for the use he makes of his life. He will be asked whether the
powers he had been endowed with were applied to promote the good and the
happiness of his fellow beings or to their detriment; and his reward or
punishment, his happiness or misery, will depend on the result of the
reckoning at the Great Account as to the manner in fact in which he had
obeyed the behests of his Creator.
=The Idea of Eternal Punishment Repellent to Islâm.=—The idea of eternal
punishment is repellent to Islâm. The Lord of the Worlds, who is swift
in meting out justice, is withal pitiful and compassionate. Mercy is His
chief attribute; with mercy is joined a supreme love which surpasseth
all other love of which the human mind has any conception. Justice is
tempered with mercy; and whatever punishment man undergoes here or
hereafter is only for purifying and fitting him to enter that state of
perfection which will bring him ‘nigh unto God.’
=Moral Responsibility.=—‘Just balances will He set up for the day of
Resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though were a
work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed We would bring it forth to
be weighed; and Our reckoning will suffice.’... ‘O our Lord! forgive us
then our sin, and hide away from us our evil deeds, and cause us to die
with the righteous.’...
‘And their Lord answereth them: I will not suffer the work of him among
you that worketh, whether of male or female, to be lost.’... ‘O My
servant, who have transgressed to your own injury, despair not of God’s
mercy, for all sins doth God forgive, gracious and merciful is He.’[16]
‘Seek pardon of your Lord and be turned unto Him, verily my Lord is
merciful, loving.’[17] ‘And your Lord saith, “Call upon Me and I will
hearken unto you.”’[18]
This is the pivot on which the Islâmic doctrine of future life turns, and
it is the only doctrinal point an Islâmist is required to accept. ‘All
the other elements caught up and syncretised from the floating traditions
of the races and peoples of the time are mere accessories.’[19]
Nor is the Islâmic belief in disharmony with scientific thought.
To quote a recent writer, ‘The religious doctrine of ceaseless
moral accountability is identical with the scientific doctrine of
ceaseless cause and effect. As science postulates matter and force
are indestructible, so religion postulates that the human soul is
indestructible.’[20]
=Suicide Unusual in Islâm.=—The belief that the human soul will have to
render to its Creator an account of how it has carried out in this life
the duties imposed on it has had one important result on Moslem society,
the significance of which has often escaped the notice of non-Moslem
writers. It has inspired the Moslem with a sense of dignity and feeling
of responsibility, which have made self-destruction practically unknown
in Islâm.
Suicide was as common among the pagan Arabs as it is now in Christendom.
Ecclesiasticism attempted to prevent self-destruction by attaching
the most cruel penalties to the offence. The body of a _felo-de-se_
could not be interred in consecrated ground; it could only be buried
surreptitiously in the dark hours of the night by the roadside where
four cross roads met, with a stake through it; his family were subjected
to ignominy. None of these forcible rules are needed in Islâm. The
belief that divine help is always nigh to relieve the distressed, to
help the suffering, to assist the forsaken, arrests the hand of the most
despondent or desperate, the most sick and weary with life, from taking
his or her own life. Whilst the idea of appearing in the presence of
the Almighty Judge before the Summons has come acts as the strongest
deterrent to self-destruction. The Moslem will fight even unto death, but
will never take his own life, which he regards as a trust from God. Never
backward or hesitant in the performance of his duty, he considers it an
act of cowardice to fly from personal danger or present unhappiness by
putting an end to his existence.
=Idea of Corporeal Resurrection.=—As in Christianity, some Moslems
believe in corporeal resurrection, others do not. Some believe that God
can be seen by corporeal sight, others entirely deny it. But all believe
that when the human souls are gathered up in the Great Account, the
Divine Presence will enfold the Universe.
These outlines represent in brief the Islâmic conception of man’s
relation to God. Regarding his duties towards himself and his fellow
beings it is probably more emphatic and certainly more explicit than
any other older system. It denounces self-indulgence, insists upon
self-discipline, and makes self-restraint a part of the religious law.
=The Ethical Code of Islâm.=—The ethical code of Islâm is summarised
as follows in the fourth chapter (_Sura_) of the Koran: ‘Come, I will
rehearse what your Lord hath enjoined on you: that ye assign not to Him
a partner; that ye be good to your parents; and that ye slay not your
children because of poverty; for them and for you We will provide; and
that ye come not near to pollutions, outward or inward; and that ye slay
not a soul whom God hath forbidden unless by right ... and draw not nigh
to the wealth of the orphan, save so as to better it ... and when ye
pronounce judgment then be just, though it be the affair of a kinsman.
And God’s compact fulfil ye; that is, what He hath ordained to you,
Verily this is My right way; follow it then.’... ‘Blessed are they who
believe and humbly offer their thanksgiving to their Lord ... who are
constant in their charity, and who guard their chastity, and who observe
their trust and covenants.... Verily, God bids you do justice and good
and give to kindred their due; and He forbids you to sin and do wrong and
oppress.’
=Fasting.=—Periodical fasting is prescribed as a lesson in the exercise
of the subjugation of the senses. Its practical usefulness is most
perceptible among coarser natures, for whom in reality it was intended as
a measure of discipline of the highest value. ‘O ye that have believed,
a fast is ordained to you ... that ye may practise piety, a fast of a
computed number of days. But he among you who shall be ailing, or on a
journey (shall fast) an equal number of other days; and they that are
able to keep it (and do not) shall make atonement by maintaining a poor
man.’
=Prohibition of Wine.=—Islâm characterises drink as ‘the mother of all
wickedness,’ and inebriation, a sin. The prohibition of drunkenness has
saved the lower strata of Mussulmans from the degradation and misery
which so constantly meet the eye in Western countries; and from the
crimes that are usually committed under its effect. We do not hear of
parents maddened by drink murdering their offspring; of human beings
turning into beasts under the influence of liquor.
=Asceticism.=—Men and women are not called upon to abandon the world or
to practise asceticism in order to attain heavenly life. God has placed
human beings on earth that they may work, do their duty by His creatures,
and further the Divine purpose. To withdraw oneself from the service of
man is to forsake the dictates of duty.
=The Dignity of Labour.=—The dignity of labour is recognised in express
terms; and the man who earns his living by ‘the sweat of his brow’ is a
far better being than one who does not work for his daily sustenance.
=Industry and Thrift.=—Industry and thrift are virtues just as
extravagance is a sin.
‘And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor yet open it with all
openness, lest thou sit thee down in rebuke and beggary.’ ‘And to him who
is of kin render his due, and also to the poor and to the wayfarer; yet
waste not wastefully.’
Ostentation and vain display of wealth are as reprehensible as
niggardliness. ‘Woe to them that make a show of piety and refuse help
to the needy.’ ‘He who spendeth his substance to be seen of men is like
a rock with thin soil over it, whereon the rain falleth and leaveth it
hard. But they who expend their substance to please God and establish
their souls are like a garden on a hill, on which the rain falleth and
it yieldeth its fruits twofold; and even if the rain doth not fall,
yet is there a dew.’ ‘Give of that which hath been given you before
the day cometh when there shall be no trafficking, nor friendship, nor
intercession.’ ‘Those who abstain from vanities and the indulgence of
their passions, give alms, offer prayers, and tend well their trusts and
their covenants, these shall be the heirs of eternal happiness.’
He who makes a provision for himself and for his family performs a
pious act; whilst the person whose thoughts are centred in his personal
indulgence and present enjoyment is unworthy of God’s favour.
=Envy Reprehended.=—The feeling of envy and the desire of mischief-making
are condemned in strong terms: ‘Covet not the gifts by which God hath
raised some of you above others.’[21] ‘He who shall mediate between men
for a good purpose shall be the gainer by it, but he who shall mediate
with an evil mediation shall reap the fruit of it. And God keepeth watch
over everything.’
=Truthfulness Commanded.=—Truthfulness is prescribed as a commandment
from God. ‘O ye Moslems, stand fast to justice, when ye bear witness
before God, though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your
kindred, whether the party be rich or poor. God is nearer than you to
both. Therefore follow not passion, lest ye swerve from truth.’
=Justice enjoined on Moslems.=—Justice is emphatically enjoined. ‘Judge
between men with truth and follow not thy passions.’ ‘Touch not the goods
of the orphan.’ ‘Perform your covenants and walk not proudly on the
earth.’[22]
=Filial Devotion.=—Filial devotion is placed in the first rank of duties.
‘Defer humbly to your parents; with humility and tenderness say, “O Lord,
be merciful to them even as they brought me up when I was helpless.”’
‘Show kindness to your parents, whether one or both of them attain to
old age with thee; and say not to them “Fie,” neither reproach them;
but speak to them both with respectful speech and tender affection.’
‘Moreover we have enjoined on man to show kindness to his parents. With
pain his mother beareth him; with pain she bringeth him forth; and he
saith, “O my Lord! Stir me up to be grateful for Thy favours wherewith
Thou hast favoured me and my parents, and to do good works which shall
please Thee; and prosper me in my offspring: for to Thee am I turned and
am resigned to Thy will.”’ ‘Reverence your mothers, be good to parents.’
=Charity.=—Those who are kind and compassionate to their fellow beings
are the favoured of God. Every act of kindness is charity. ‘Every soul
shall bear the good and the evil for which it has laboured; and God will
burden none beyond his power.’
‘Blessed is he who giveth away his substance that he may become pure,
and who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense ...
but only as seeking approval of his Lord the most High.’ ‘Wouldst thou
be taught the _steep_ (path)? It is to ransom the captive, to feed the
hungry, the kindred, the orphan, and him whose mouth is in the dust.’ ‘Be
good to parents and to kindred and to orphans, and to the poor, and to
a neighbour, whether kinsman, or new comer, and to the slaves whom your
right hands hold.’
=Pride and Vanity Condemned.=—Pride and vanity are condemned as sins,
whilst forgiveness of offences, meekness, and humility are prescribed as
duties. ‘Verily God loveth not the proud, the vain boaster’; ‘Call on
Him with fear and longing’; ‘Verily the mercy of God is nigh unto the
righteous’; ‘Turn aside evil with that which is better’; ‘Be of those who
enjoin steadfastness and compassion on others’; ‘Forgiveness and kind
speech are better than favours with annoyance’; ‘Blessed are the patient,
the truthful, the lowly, and the charitable ... the forbearing who bridle
their anger and forgive—God loveth those who do good to others’; ‘The
servants of the Merciful are they that walk upon the earth softly; and
when the ignorant speak unto them, they reply “Peace” ... those that
invoke not with God any other God, and slay not a soul that God hath
forbidden otherwise than by right; and commit not fornication ... they
who bear not witness to that which is false; and when they pass by vain
sport they pass it by with dignity: who say, “O our Lord, grant us of
our wives and children such as shall be a comfort unto us, and make us
examples unto the pious,” these shall be the rewarded, for that they
persevered; and they shall be accosted in Paradise with welcome and
salutation. For ever therein,—a fair abode and resting-place!’ ‘Adhere to
those who forsake you; speak truth to your own heart; do good to every
one that does ill to you!’
Foulness is forbidden: ‘Truly my Lord hath forbidden filthy actions,
whether open or secret and iniquity and violence’; ‘Commit not adultery,
for it is a foul thing and an evil way’; ‘Let the believer restrain his
eyes from lust.’
Quarrelsomeness and public and private disturbance are prohibited. ‘And
commit not disorders on the well-ordered earth.’
Charity is not left to individual discretion, it is made part of the
legal prescriptions. Every man possessed of income has to contribute a
certain proportion of his wealth at the end of the year for the keep of
the poor and the distressed.
=Compulsion in Religion Forbidden.=—Compulsion in religion is strictly
forbidden. ‘What wilt thou force man to believe when belief can only
come from God?’ ‘Let there be no compulsion in religion.’ Whilst the
attitude towards other creeds is one of humanity and toleration. ‘Verily
those who believe [the Moslems] and those who are Jews, Christians, or
Sabæans, whoever hath faith in God and the last day (future existence),
and worketh that which is right and good—for them shall be the reward
with their Lord; there will come no fear on them; neither shall they be
grieved.’
=Human Duty to Animals.=—The new gospel does not overlook in its
teachings the duties of man towards the dumb creatures of God. Kind
treatment of animals and birds is part of the religion, and a provision
for their comfort is equal to charity to human beings. ‘There is no
beast on earth nor bird which flieth, but the same is a people like unto
you—unto God shall they return.’[23]
=Pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj).=—The ancient shrine of the Kaaba was
the honoured memorial of the Arab race. It was the centre of their
national life, and its foundation was traced back to Abraham and
Ishmael. Tradition had associated certain rites and ceremonies with
the pilgrimages the people of the peninsula were accustomed to make to
the Temple. Mohammed gave another meaning to the custom. To keep alive
the feeling of brotherhood among the Moslems all over the world and
perpetuate among the inhabitants of distant lands the memory of the spot
where the great Message was brought to mankind, they were directed,
circumstances permitting, to visit the Holy Shrine once in their lives.
Some of the old ceremonies, shorn of their pagan significance, were
retained; a few new ones, simple in meaning, were introduced; and the
_Hajj_ is now the common meeting ground of Moslems of divers races and
countries.
=Women.=—Women, to whom most of the older systems assigned a very
inferior position in relation to the stronger sex, obtained in Islâm the
place God meant them to occupy in the economy of creation. The right of
possessing property, of dealing with what was their own, of exercising
all the privileges and powers which belonged to them as sentient beings,
were accorded to them equally with the other sex. Marriage made no
difference in their status or capacity. And a Mussulman wife became as
competent to hold property and make dispositions as a single woman. Nor
were they denied a share in the patrimony of their parents or kinsfolk
in favour of their male relations. Marriage was declared ‘to be an
institution ordained for the protection of society, and in order that
human beings may guard themselves from foulness and unchastity.’
=Polygamy.=—Polygamy was recognised as lawful among all the nations
of antiquity; and its practice had received the sanction of the holy
personages of Judaism. As among the Kulin Brahmins, the Pagan Arabs put
no limit on the number of wives a man might have. In certain stages of
development polygamy is not an evil. The Arabian Prophet, with a true
conception of the social and moral conditions and necessities of the age
and the people, dealt with the question in a manner which harmonises with
the most advanced standard, and at the same time meets the needs and
requirements of the least progressed.
A Mussulman is allowed to marry one, two, three, or four wives, provided
he can deal with all of them ‘with equity.’ If that be not possible he
can marry but one.
Many of the best minds of Islâm have perceived in this rule a virtual
prohibition of polygamy. The moral effect of the institution on Mussulman
society as a whole can hardly be ignored: it has prevented the growth in
Mussulman countries, untainted by foreign social ideas, of that class
whose existence is alike an outrage on our humanity and a disgrace to
civilisation. Considering how the profession of the _hetairai_, honoured
among some nations, despised among others, but tolerated by most, has
flourished through all ages, it is no small credit to the Arabian
Teacher that it was so effectually stopped in Islâm.
=Divorce.=—As in the Jewish system, option was given to the husband to
dissolve the marriage tie. At the same time the act was pronounced to be
‘the most abominable in the sight of the Lord.’
=Bondsmen and Bondswomen.=—Only persons taken in lawful warfare were
permitted to be held in bondage. The emancipation of bonds-folk was
declared one of the highest acts of piety.[24] And any person who made
a provision for their ransom was the favoured of God. Traffic in human
beings was strictly forbidden, and the man who dealt in slaves was
pronounced to be the accursed of God. In a word, human chattelhood is
unknown in Islâm; and the institution which is called ‘slavery’ in Europe
and America has no existence in Mohammedan countries. In Islâm, parents
were not to be separated from children; brothers from brothers, or one
relation from another. The Moslem bondsman and bondswoman were members of
the master’s family; were on no account to be ill-treated; were to be fed
and clothed like the masters and mistresses. Once emancipated they could
intermarry with the master’s sons or daughters. Relations with bondswomen
were sanctioned by the Rabbinical Laws. They were common in Christian
communities, and were freely practised in the Southern States of North
America until very recent times by people who considered themselves and
were regarded by many others as highly civilised. Among them the issue of
a slave-woman was for ever a slave: the smallest taint of slave-blood,
however remote, subjected the unfortunate being to be sold as a slave.
Although the system of Mohammed, with the object of avoiding a drastic
solution, tolerated relations with bondswomen,—with far greater humanity
it declared that the issue of such connections were legitimate, and
that the bondswoman who bore children to her master was _ipso facto_
emancipated; that thenceforth she was no more his bondswoman, but ‘the
mother of his child.’
=Intellectualism.=—In the domains of intellect the teachings of Islâm
give every encouragement to the cultivation of the mind and make the
pursuit of knowledge a religious duty. ‘Acquire knowledge,’ said the
Prophet of Islâm, ‘because he who acquires it, performs an act of piety;
who speaks of it, praises the Lord; who seeks it, adores God; who
dispenses instruction in it, bestows alms; and who imparts it to its
fitting objects, performs an act of devotion to God. Knowledge enables
its possessor to distinguish what is forbidden from what is not; it
lights the way to Heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society
in solitude, our companion when bereft of friends; it guides us to
happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament in the company
of friends; it serves as an armour against our enemies. With knowledge
the servant of God rises to the heights of goodness and to a noble
position, associates with the sovereigns of the world, and attains to
the perfection of happiness in the next.’ ‘The ink of the scholar is
more holy than the blood of the martyr.’ ‘He who leaves his home in
search of knowledge walks in the path of God.’ ‘He who travels in search
of knowledge, to him God shows the way to Paradise.’ ‘To listen to the
instructions of science and learning for one hour is more meritorious
than attending the funerals of a thousand martyrs—more meritorious than
standing up in prayer for a thousand nights.’[25]
This brief summary of the principal teachings of Islâm will probably
enable the reader to form a fairly accurate notion of the aims and
aspirations of the new Gospel and of its work in the elevation of mankind
in the moral and social scale. But the conception will hardly be clear
without some knowledge of the history of the Teacher or some idea of his
wonderful and engaging personality.