Southeast of Palestine the large peninsula of Arabia is situated. Here
lived about the year 600 a man named Mohammed. He was a merchant, who
for the sake of commerce visited many countries, and became acquainted
with both the Jewish and the Christian religion. He was a clever man,
and had great gifts as a speaker. He determined to start a new religion,
composed partly of what he had heard and partly of his own inventions.
He pretended, perhaps imagined, that the angel Gabriel had appeared to
him in a cave, and had instructed him what to teach. His chief doctrine
was: There is one God, and Mohammed is his prophet. God had sent many
prophets into the world, such as Moses and Christ; but Mohammed was the
last and the greatest. He promised his followers a paradise of sensual
pleasures. There was at this time a great deal of division in the
Church, and no single country was powerful enough to resist the
Arabians. At the time of Mohammed’s death he ruled over all of Arabia;
and his successors, called Caliphs, conquered many countries in Asia and
Africa, and they nearly exterminated Christianity where they came into
power. The Arabians penetrated even into Europe, and conquered Spain,
where they existed for about eight centuries.
The teachings of Mohammed are contained in a book called the Koran. His
adherents are called Mohammedans. The Turks are Mohammedans, but have
taken the power from the Arabians, and the sultan of Turkey, residing in
Constantinople, is the head of the “faithful.”