=Islâm after Mohammed.=—Nothing gives a better idea of the hold Mohammed
possessed over the hearts of his people than their sorrow when he lay
sick and dying, or the outburst of grief which rent the city at the news
of his death. At first they could hardly believe that the Master who had
led them from darkness into light, from death unto life, could really
be subject to the same laws as other beings. The words of the venerable
Abû Bakr allayed the excitement: ‘Mussulmans,’ said he, ‘if you adored
Mohammed, know that Mohammed is dead; if it is God that you adore, know
that He liveth, He never dies. Forget not this verse of the Koran,
“Mohammed is only a man charged with a Mission; before him there have
been men who received the heavenly mission and died”; nor this verse,
“Thou too, Mohammed, shall die as others have died before thee.”’
A great fabric had been built up, under divine guidance, by a
master-mind; its foundations were laid in the conscience of mankind. But
Islâm was yet in its infancy, at the mercy of hostile forces bent on its
destruction. To keep alive the Faith and maintain intact the structure
raised by him, it was necessary to elect, with all despatch, a successor
to the Prophet.
=Election of Abû Bakr as the Prophet’s Vicegerent.=—The choice fell on
Abû Bakr, who, by virtue of his age and position in Mecca, held a high
place in the estimation of the Arabs.
=His Allocution.=—After his election the venerable patriarch addressed
the following allocution to the people: ‘Ye people! now verily I am
charged with the cares of government over you, although I am not the
best amongst you. I need all your advice and all your help. If I do
well, support me; if I mistake, counsel me. To tell truth to a person
commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance; to conceal it is perfidy.
In my sight the powerful and the weak are alike, and to both I wish to
render justice.... Wherefore obey ye me, even as I obey the Lord and His
apostle: if I neglect the laws of God and the Prophet, I have no more
right to your obedience.’
=Revolt of the Tribes.=—No sooner was the death of the Prophet bruited
abroad than the tribes who had only recently adopted Islâm broke out in
revolt. The discipline of Islâm and its rules and principles were too
irksome to them. They repudiated their adhesion to the new religion and
reverted to paganism. Medîna was hemmed in again by surging hordes of
angry idolaters. Undaunted by his own danger, the aged Caliph sped on the
expedition to Syria the Prophet had prepared to seek reparation for the
murder of the Moslem envoy. Before sending them forth on their distant
errand, in the spirit of the Master, he gave to the captain of his army
the following injunction:—
=His Injunction to the Troops.=—‘See that thou avoidest treachery,
injustice, and oppression. Depart not in any wise from the right. Thou
shalt mutilate none, neither shalt thou kill child or aged man, nor any
woman. Destroy no palm-tree, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut not down
any tree wherein is food for man or beast. Slay not the flocks or herds
or camels, saving for needful sustenance. When thou makest a covenant,
stand to it, and be as good as thy word. Ye may eat of the meat which
the men of the land shall bring unto you in their vessels, making
mention thereon of the name of the Lord. As you go on you will find
some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to
themselves to serve God that way: let them alone, and neither kill them
nor destroy their monasteries. And the monks with shaven heads, if they
submit, leave them unmolested. Now march forward in the name of the Lord,
and may He protect you from sword and pestilence!’
How different this sounds to the command given to the ancient Jews: ‘Now
go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and spare
them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep,
camel and ass.’[36]
The Moslems believed in the righteousness of their cause, and in divine
help in defence of their Faith; they were surrounded by formidable
enemies; the very existence of their new life depended on their energy
and self-sacrifice, but trust in God and enthusiasm led them to victory.
The Syrians received a well-merited chastisement, whilst the revolted
tribes were beaten back and gradually reduced to submission. Within the
space of a few months the entire peninsula acknowledged once more the
creed of Islâm.
=Death of Abû Bakr and Election of Omar.=—Abû Bakr held the reins of
office for less than two years. He died on the 22nd August 634 A.C., and
the great Omar was elected to the vicegerency of the Prophet.
=War with Persia—Its Cause.=—The pacification of the north-eastern
corner of Arabia brought the Moslems into collision with the kingdom
of Hira, a feudatory state subject to Persia. The raids from Hira led
to an expedition into that country which ended in its annexation. The
subjugation of Hira and Chaldæa brought the Persian forces into the field.
=Battle of Kâdessia, 636 A.C.=—The king of Persia was not willing to let
a valuable part of his kingdom go into the hands of the despised Arabs.
His pride was broken on the field of Kâdessia.
One of the first acts of the new Caliph was to prohibit any expedition
beyond the Zagros Mountains, which he considered should always form
the boundary between the Caliphate and the Persian dominions; but the
subjects of the King of Kings had not laid to heart the lessons of
Kâdessia, and harassed the Moslem territories by constant raids. The
Caliph was compelled to withdraw his prohibition, and an army marched
into Persia.
=Battle of Nehâwand, 642 A.C.=—The battle of Nehâwand shattered for ever
the empire of the Chosroes. ‘The administration of Persia was regulated
by an actual survey of the people, the cattle, and the fruits of the
earth; and this monument which attests the vigilance of the Caliphs might
have instructed the philosophers of every age.’[37]
A similar survey was made, under the Caliph’s orders, of Chaldæa and
Mesopotamia; peasants and proprietors alike were guaranteed in the
possession of their lands and in the free enjoyment of their religion;
the assessment was revised, and a network of canals for the improvement
of irrigation was taken in hand.
=War with Byzantium.=—In the west the defeat of the Syrians had led
Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, to send large armies to drive back the
Arabs.
=Battle of Yermuk, Aug. 634 A.C.—Battle of Ajnâdin, 636 A.C.=—The
victories of Yermuk and Ajnâdin put an end to Byzantine rule in Syria.
=Capitulation of Jerusalem.=—Jerusalem submitted to the Caliph in person.
Travelling with a single attendant, without escort and without any pomp
or ceremony, Omar arrived at Jâbia, where he was met by a deputation
of Christian notables. To them he accorded the free exercise of their
religion, and the possession of their churches, subject to a light tax.
Accompanied by the deputation, he proceeded towards Jerusalem, where he
was received by Sophronius the Patriarch. The Chief of Islâm and the
head of the Christians entered the sacred city together, conversing on
its antiquities. The Caliph declined to perform his devotions in the
church where he chanced to be at the hour of prayer, ‘for,’ he said to
the Patriarch, ‘had I done so, the Mussulmans in a future age might have
infringed the treaty under colour of imitating my example.’[38]
The critics of Islâm have indulged in many theories to explain the
marvellous victories of the Moslems over such great powers as Byzantium
and Persia. ‘Rhetorical expressions about the decaying condition of both
empires and the youthful energies of the Moslems are unsatisfying to the
inquirer who keeps the concrete facts before him.’[39] ‘Both Byzantium
and Persia had at their command genuine soldiers regularly armed and
disciplined. The traditions of Roman warfare were not yet entirely lost,
and the Persians still possessed their dreaded cuirassiers, before whom,
in better times, even the armies of Rome had often fled.... The Emperor
Heraclius was certainly the greatest man who had held the empire since
Constantine and Julian. He was an astute diplomatist, a very competent
general, and, as a soldier, bold even to rashness.’ How was it then that
‘the wretchedly armed Arabs, fighting not in regularly organised military
divisions, but by families and clans, and under leaders who never before
had faced disciplined troops,’ shattered the armies of both Chosroes and
Cæsar? And be it noted that in every battle—at Kâdessia, at Nehâwand,
Yermuk, and Ajnâdin—they were outnumbered sometimes as six to one.[40]
The Moslem explanation is Biblical in its simplicity: ‘God took the
heart out of the polytheists.’ The Christian historian offers divers
explanations, ‘yet the phenomenon continues mysterious as before.’[41]
The conquest of Persia had brought to Medîna many Magian fanatics
desirous of avenging on the Caliph the fall of their country. The
simplicity of life led by Omar and the utter absence of guards and
attendants favoured their design. One day, whilst sitting as usual in
the mosque listening to the petitions of the people, he was attacked and
mortally wounded by one of them.
=Death of Omar, 644 A.C.=—His death was an irreparable loss to Islâm.
His knowledge of the character of his people, his extraordinary breadth
of vision, his sagacity and vigour of mind, enabled him to exercise an
influence over the Arabs which none of his successors ever achieved.
=Election of Osmân.=—An aged member of the family of Ommeya,[42] named
Osmân, was now elected to the vacant chair.
=His Death, 656 A.C.=—His partiality for and favouritism towards his
kinsfolk gave rise to a mutiny in which he lost his life.
=Conquest of Egypt under Osmân.=—During Osmân’s Caliphate Byzantine
incursions from Alexandria into Syria had led the Moslem Government to
despatch an expedition into Egypt, which completed its conquest in two
battles. The addition of Northern Africa beyond Egypt was due to similar
causes. The same destiny which led the English from Bengal to the Punjab,
and still leads them on in Nigeria, led the Arabs from the confines of
Egypt to the shores of the Atlantic.
On Osmân’s tragical death, Ali, the cousin of the Prophet and the husband
of his daughter Fâtima, was elected to the Caliphate. The legitimate heir
to the spiritual headship of Islâm, as a temporal chief, Ali came before
his time. Chivalrous, brave, and gifted, his humanity and gentleness
were mistaken for weakness; and his short government was disturbed by
rebellions. The first was suppressed without difficulty; whilst engaged
in dealing with the second, headed by Muâwiyah, a kinsman of Osmân, who
held the governorship of Syria, Ali was assassinated by a zealot, one
of a body who wanted to bring peace to Islâm by the murder of both the
Caliph and the rebel governor.
=Death of Ali, 661 A.C.=—The latter escaped, but Ali fell a victim to
their fanaticism.
On the murder of Ali his eldest son, Hassan, was elected to the
Caliphate, but, fond of ease, he was easily induced to renounce the
dignity in favour of Muâwiyah.
=Accession of the Ommeyades to Power.=—With the death of Ali and the
renunciation of Hassan came to an end the Republic of Islâm. Up to this
time the office of Caliph was elective, and the government essentially
democratic. Muâwiyah, whilst retaining the form of election, made it in
reality hereditary and autocratic. The seat of government was removed
from Medîna to Damascus, where the head of the state surrounded himself
by Syrian mercenaries.
=The Butchery of Kerbela—The Martyrdom of Hussain.=—Muâwiyah died in 680
A.C., and was succeeded by his son Yezîd, the Domitian of the Arabs.
Hussain, the second son of the Caliph Ali, had never acknowledged the
title of Yezîd, whose vices he despised and whose character he abhorred;
and when the Moslems of Mesopotamia invited him to release them from
the Ommeyade yoke he felt it his duty to respond to their appeal.
Accompanied by his family and a few retainers he left for Irâk. On the
way, at a place called Kerbela, on the western bank of the Euphrates,
they were overtaken by an Ommeyade army, and, after a heroic struggle,
lasting over several days, were all slaughtered save the women and a
sickly child, also named Ali, who were carried as captives to Damascus.
The butchery of Kerbela caused a thrill of horror throughout Islâm, and
gave birth in Persia to an undying national sentiment.[43]
=Conquest of Spain, 712 A.C.=—Under Walid the fifth sovereign of this
family, Spain was conquered and added to the Caliphate. The seventh
Ommeyade ruler was the pious Omar II., deservedly called the Marcus
Aurelius of the Arabs.
The Ommeyades held the reins of government for nearly ninety years.
=The Rise of the House of Abbâs.=—In the middle of the eighth century
of the Christian era Western Asia was the scene of a great revolution,
which resulted in the downfall of the Ommeyades. The revolt was headed by
a descendant of Abbâs, an uncle of the Prophet. The contest between the
Ommeyades and Abbassides reminds us, in its bitterness and cruelty, of
the later quarrel between the White and the Red Rose of England.
=Foundation of the Ommeyade Caliphate in Spain, 756 A.C.=—The Abbassides
were successful and the Ommeyades were practically annihilated. Only
one solitary scion of this ill-fated family escaped to Spain, where he
founded the brilliant empire of Cordova. The Abbassides held the Eastern
Caliphate with its seat in Bagdad from 756 A.C. to 1258 A.C.
=Destruction of Bagdad.=—When Bagdad was destroyed by the Mongols, a
member of the Abbasside family succeeded in escaping to Cairo. Here he
was recognised as Caliph by the Sultan of Egypt, and was surrounded by
all the dignity attached to the pontifical office. The eighth Pontiff,
by a formal act, renounced the Caliphate in favour of Sultan Selim, the
great Ottoman conqueror.
=The Title of the Ottoman Caliphs.=—The title of the Sultans of Turkey to
the spiritual headship of Islâm is based on this renunciation, and on the
possession by them of the seal, mantle, and staff of the Prophet; and
their claim is recognised as valid by the whole of the Sunni world.
=Mansûr, the second Abbasside Caliph.=—The first eight Caliphs of the
house of Abbâs were men of great ability and force of character. Mansûr,
the second sovereign, was the real founder of the Abbasside polity and
system of administration, which became in after years the model for all
civilised Mussulman States, and which were copied in later times by the
Christian countries of Europe.
=Hârûn-ar-Rashîd and Mâmûn.=—Under Hârûn-ar-Rashîd, the hero of the
_Arabian Nights_, and his son Mâmûn the Caliphate of Bagdad attained its
zenith. It was indeed the Augustan age of the Arabs. But the achievements
of the Moslems in the domain of intellect extend over the whole period
during which the Abbassides exercised their suzerainty over Western Asia
and Egypt.
=The Ommeyade Caliphate of Spain.=—The Empire founded in Spain by the
Ommeyade Abdur Rahmân, surnamed _Dâkhil_ (the ‘Enterer’), rivalled that
of Bagdad in the glory of arms and learning. The eighth sovereign of this
dynasty, Abdur Rahmân (an-Nâsir), who assumed the title and dignity of
Caliph, was the most gifted monarch who has ever ruled over Spain. With
the disintegration of the Cordovan Caliphate, in the eleventh century
of the Christian era, the country split up into several small kingdoms,
until they were re-united under the ægis of the Almoravide monarchs of
North Africa.[44]
=The Fatimide Caliphate of North Africa.=—In the beginning of the tenth
century, a descendant of Ali, Obaidullah, surnamed _al-Mahdi_ (the
‘Guide’), founded the great Fatimide Empire of Northern Africa.
The Fatimides conquered Sicily and Calabria and held Genoa for a
considerable time. They were not only redoubtable conquerors but lavish
patrons of learning, arts, and sciences. They established colleges,
public libraries, and scientific institutes. To the central scientific
institute at Cairo[45] was attached a grand Lodge for initiating
candidates into the esoteric doctrines of _Ismailism_.[46] This Lodge
became the model of all the lodges created afterwards in Asia and
Europe. Among the Druses of Lebanon who follow this cult, the sixth
Fatimide Caliph, the eccentric al-Hakam, believed by them to be still
alive, receives divine honours.
With the death of the fourteenth sovereign of this house and the
assumption of power in Egypt by Saladin[47] the Fatimide dynasty
disappeared from the scene.
=The Rise of Learning and Philosophy in Islâm.=—Even in the early days of
the Caliphate, the pursuit of knowledge was not neglected at Medîna, and
all the energies of the Moslem nation were not taken up in the struggle
in which they had become involved with the surrounding nations. The
Caliph Ali lectured to large multitudes of people on various branches of
learning.
The sack of Medîna by the Ommeyades destroyed the primitive school. It
was revived by Ali’s great-grandson, Jaafar the Trusty, who died in 765
A.C. He is the real founder of speculative philosophy among the Moslems.
The thinkers and scholars who flourished later derived their inspiration
from him.
The Mutazalite or rationalistic school was founded by Wâsil, who died in
785 A.C. Mâmûn, the sixth Abbasside Caliph, was a strenuous upholder of
his doctrines.
=‘The Brothers of Purity.’=—Towards the close of the tenth century a
body of thinkers, whose researches extended to every department of the
human mind, and whose great aim was to introduce a spirit of eclecticism
in Islâm, established a brotherhood of intellect, which was to embrace
all men animated with the single purpose of promoting the moral and
intellectual welfare of the nation.
=The Crusades.=—The Crusades, which devastated Western Asia for two
centuries, and inflicted untold miseries on the unfortunate people
exposed to the merciless raids of the hordes of Europe who professed
‘the religion of peace,’ involved the Moslem nations in a life-and-death
struggle, during which intellectual development came to a standstill.
=Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, 1099 A.C.=—Tripoli, a famous seat
of learning in those days, was reduced to ashes; Antioch and other cities
were turned into shambles. On the 15th July 1099 Jerusalem was taken by
storm; and the triumph of the Cross was celebrated by a slaughter of
over seventy thousand people. Neither age nor sex met with mercy. The
squares, the streets, and the houses were strewn with the dead bodies of
men and women, and the mangled limbs of children. Many were burnt alive
under the portico of the principal mosque, the blood of the victims
‘reached the horses’ bridles.’ ‘The carnage,’ says Michaud, ‘lasted a
week: the few who escaped were reduced to horrible servitude.’
=Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187.=—In 1187 A.C. Saladin recaptured
the city. He released all prisoners, supplied them with food and money,
and allowed them to depart with a safe conduct; no woman was insulted; no
child was hurt; no person was slain.
=Eruption of the Tartars.=—Hardly had the Moslems recovered from the
destruction and havoc wrought by the Crusades, when the eruption of the
Mongolian savages from the steppes of Tartary, falling like an avalanche,
swept away all vestiges of culture and civilisation, and converted Middle
and Western Asia into a charnel-house. And although centuries have passed
since the sack of Bagdad and other famed centres of Moslem learning and
arts, Islâm has not regained yet its true life and progressive vitality.
After the fall of Cordova the continuity of Islâmic civilisation in
Spain was maintained, not only by the petty principalities which sprang
up in its place, but also by the Almoravide and Almohade sovereigns,
who reunited in their vigorous hands the greater part of the Ommeyade
Caliphate.
=Granada.=—The break-up of the Almohade Empire, in 1227 A.C., led to
the gradual destruction by the Christian hordes of the minor Moslem
kingdoms. Granada alone, for nearly two centuries, held aloft the torch
of knowledge and civilisation. But the fires of the Inquisition had
already been lighted in Christian Spain by the ‘pious’ Ferdinand and the
‘saintly’ Isabella.
=The Fall of Granada—Destruction of Moslem Civilisation, 1498 A.C.=—And
when, after a heroic struggle, the city of the Banu-Nasr, the home of
culture, chivalry, and arts, capitulated to its Christian assailants, the
glory of Moorish Spain died with the martyrs who were burnt at the stake
or slaughtered like sheep regardless of age or sex, or suffocated in the
caverns to which they betook themselves for refuge.
=The Sunni Church.=—The spiritual allegiance of Christendom is divided
between four Churches; of the world of Islâm between two—the Sunni and
the Shiah. The foundation of the Sunni Church, which owns nowadays the
largest number of followers, was laid by Mansûr, the second Caliph of
the House of Abbâs.[48] And although the superstructure was completed
under his successors, its whole character and organisation are due to his
genius.
The wide extent of the Abbasside Caliphate helped in the diffusion of
its power and influence. At the present moment out of nearly seventy
millions of Mohammedans in India subject to the British Crown, fifty
belong to the Sunni Church. So do the Mussulmans of China, Tartary,
Afghanistan, Asiatic and European Turkey, Arabia, Egypt, Northern and
Central Africa, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Russia, Ceylon, the Straits and the
Malayan Peninsula. And almost all acknowledge the spiritual headship of
the Ottoman Sovereign.
=Shiahism.=—The Shiah Church traces its foundation to the Caliph Ali
and the immediate descendants of the Prophet, regarded as the rightful
expounders of his teachings. Some twenty millions of Indian Mussulmans
are Shiahs; Shiahism is also the State religion of Persia. There are
large numbers of Shiahs in the Hijaz, in Egypt and other parts of
the world, but always in a minority. The question of the title to the
spiritual and temporal headship of Islâm forms the chief point of
difference between the two churches. The Sunnis are the advocates of the
principle of election; the Shiahs of apostolical descent by appointment
and succession; and this difference, which is essentially of a dynastic
character,[49] gave birth to constant quarrels.
Signs, however, are not wanting that owing to the pressure of extraneous
circumstances both Sunnis and Shiahs have begun to realise the necessity
of greater harmony and goodwill.
=The Sects of Islâm.=—Difference of opinion concerning doctrines and
dogmas has given birth in Islâm, as it has in Christianity, to numerous
sects.
The Sunni Church is divided into four principal ‘persuasions’—the
Hanafi, Shâfeï, Mâliki and Hanbali—designated after their respective
founders. The followers of any one of these communions may validly offer
their prayers under the leadership of a member of another. Hanafïsm is
professed by the bulk of the Indian Mussulmans and Arabs, by the Afghans
and almost all Central Asian Moslems, the Turks and Egyptians.
The Shiah Church also is divided into several sub-sects, of which the
principal (the Asnâ-aasharia)[50] constitutes the state religion of
Persia.
=Ashaarïsm.=—The philosophical side of Islâm is represented nowadays by
_Ashaarïsm_ and _Mutazalaism_. The first embodies the orthodox doctrines
of the Sunni Church. It holds to the belief in corporeal resurrection at
the Last Account, and affirms that the Koran is eternal and uncreated;
and that God will be visible in the next world to human sight. Whilst
maintaining that the evolution of principles ceased in the third and
fourth centuries of the Hegira, in order to bring the rules enunciated
by the great expounders of law and religion into conformity with the
change of times and conditions of society, it generally allows the widest
latitude in their interpretation and application.
With regard to the doctrine of free-will, it holds that there is neither
absolute compulsion nor absolute freedom, but ‘God does whatever He
pleases, for He is Sovereign Lord.’
=Mutazalaism.=—Mutazalaism, on the other hand, denies the doctrine of
corporeal resurrection and corporeal vision. It enunciates that the
Koran is the created word of God and not eternal, that God alone is
Eternal, that man is the ‘creative efficient of his actions, good and
bad, and gets reward and punishment in the future world by merit for
what he does’; ‘that the All-Wise does only that which is beneficial and
good.’ It further holds that the Divine ordinances which regulate the
conduct of men are the results of growth and development. It maintains
that the knowledge of God is within the province of reason, and with the
exception of Himself everything else is liable to change or to suffer
extinction.[51]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Hogarth’s _Penetration of Arabia_, p. 7.
[2] Koran, sura xci.
[3] Sura vi. 59-60.
[4] Sura xl. 1.
[5] Sura vi. 95.
[6] Sura xxix. 44.
[7] See _The Spirit of Islâm_ (Pop. Ed.), p. 145.
[8] _The Spirit of Islâm_ (Pop. Ed.), p. 144.
[9] These terms are still in use among non-Arab Moslems to describe the
Arabian _Jinnat_ (‘garden’) and _Jehannum_ (‘hell’).
[10] Paradise itself seems to be the hellenised ‘firdous’ of the
Zoroastrians.
[11] See _The Spirit of Islâm_, chapter on the ‘Idea of Future Life.’
[12] Sura xiii. 20-24.
[13] Sura xxxi.
[14] That is, in the Koran.
[15] The _Masnawi_ of Jalâl-ud-dîn of Rûm; see _The Spirit of Islâm_, p.
393.
[16] Sura xxxix. 54.
[17] Sura xi. 92.
[18] Sura xi. 62.
[19] See _The Spirit of Islâm_, p. 236.
[20] An interesting pamphlet called _The Agreement between Science and
Religion_, by Orlando J. Smith (New York: Farrell).
[21] Sura iv. 36.
[22] Sura xvii. 36.
[23] Sura ii. 257, delivered at Medîna.
[24] See _The Spirit of Islâm_, chapter on ‘Slavery.’
[25] See _The Spirit of Islâm_, chapter on the ‘Literary and Scientific
Spirit of Islâm.’
[26] 29th August 570 A.C.
[27] Like Balâl, the first muezzin of Islâm, originally a negro slave.
[28] See _The Spirit of Islâm_, p. 24.
[29] About Mohammed’s marriages after the death of Khadîja, see _The
Spirit of Islâm_, pp. 193-198.
[30] See _The Spirit of Islâm_, p. 52.
[31] In the annals of Islâm the pre-Islâmite period is called by this
name.
[32] See _Short History of the Saracens_, pp. 27-34.
[33] Jews and Christians.
[34] Koran, sura cx.
[35] The Mishkât.
[36] 1 Sam. xv. 3. Neither the lapse of ages nor the influence of
Christianity in the West has made much difference in the nature of the
ordinary man, since the Prophet of Israel gave this ferocious command to
his people. The passion for vengeance, the desire to strike fear, are as
strong as ever. The demands of rage, the dictates of expediency still
stifle the voice of pity, the claims of justice. Rapine and slaughter,
havoc and destruction, are still the gospel of the strong.
[37] Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. vi. chap. i.
p. 298.
[38] _Short History of the Saracens_, p. 39.
[39] Nöldeke, _Sketches from Eastern History_, p. 76.
[40] At the battle of Yermuk the army of Heraclius numbered 240,000,
whilst the Saracens were only 40,000 all told. At Kâdessia 30,000 Arabs
were opposed to 100,000 Persians. At the battle of Medîna Sidonia, which
won Spain to the Caliphate, Târik had only 12,000 men against Roderick’s
host, at least five times as large.
[41] Nöldeke.
[42] The family of Hâshim and the family of Ommeya, distantly connected
with each other, were two of the most prominent in Mecca; and for a long
time there had existed among the latter a bitter feeling of hatred and
jealousy towards the Hâshimides on account of their pre-eminence and
worth. Mohammed belonged to the family of Hâshim; and the bulk of the
Ommeyades were amongst his foremost persecutors. Osmân was one of the few
among them who had accepted Islâm before the Hegira.
[43] For an account of this tragedy, see Gibbon, vol. vi. p. 279, and
_Short History of the Saracens_, pp. 83-87. Hussain was married to a
daughter of Yezdjard the last King of Persia. The life of the lad, saved
by the indomitable Arab courage of Zainab, the sister of Hussain, gave to
Islâm its nobility, for in him was united the blood of the Prophet with
that of the Sassanide monarchs of Persia.
[44] See _Short History of the Saracens_, chap. xxix.
[45] Cairo (_al-Kâhira_) was founded by one of the generals of al-Muiz
the contemporary and rival of an-Nâsir the Ommeyade Caliph of Cordova;
see _Short History of the Saracens_.
[46] See _The Spirit of Islâm_.
[47] See _Short History of the Saracens_, p. 348.
[48] See _Short History of the Saracens_.
[49] See _The Spirit of Islâm_.
[50] The Duo-decemian. So called as it recognises the spiritual headship
of the twelve Apostles of the House of Mohammed.
[51] For a full elucidation of their doctrines, see _The Spirit of
Islâm_.
SELECTED WORKS ON ISLÂM
_Selections from the Koran_, by Stanley Lane-Poole.
_Studies in a Mosque_, by Stanley Lane-Poole.
_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. vi., by Gibbon.
_History of the Saracens_, by Simon Ockley.
_Mahommed and Mahommedanism_, by Bosworth Smith.
_The Spirit of Islâm_, by Ameer Ali (popular edition; Lahiri, Calcutta).
_A Short History of the Saracens_, by Ameer Ali (Macmillan).
_The Ethics of Islâm_, by Ameer Ali (Thacker, Calcutta and London).
_Heroes and Hero-Worship_ (Hero as a Prophet), by T. Carlyle.
_Mahomet_, by Barthelemy St. Hilaire.
_Mahommed’s Place in the Church_, by Ernest de Bunsen.
_The Future of Islâm_, by W. Scawen Blunt.
_Histoire des Arabes_, by Louis Amélie Sédillot.
_Histoire des Arabes_, by Caussin de Perceval.
_The Moors in Spain_, by Stanley Lane-Poole.
_The Preaching of Islâm_, by T. W. Arnold.
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press