probably contributed from the first to inflame But the line of argument adopted by Ma. his imagination, and raise in him the frantic homet involved him in difficulties which piety which lifted him above himself. more than outbalanced the advantages he

Many sacred legends will be found from derived from it. The miracles performed which no particular inference seems to be by the sacred characters to whom he strove drawn or intended, and it appears, therefore, to assimilate himself, formed the most strikto have been one of the author's objects to ing part of their histories, and he was nat. draw together every tradition that was like- urally urged by those whom he addressed to ly to impose on his hearers, and by making bring the same proof of his divine commisthe work a receptacle of all that was holy, sion. His continual and contradictory ex. to raise a presumption that it was holy itself. cuses on this point form a leading topic of From the 18th chapter, which is entirely of the work, and prove how much vexation it this nature, we extract one of the very few occasioned him. He often contents himself passages which is likely to interest the cur- with expatiating on the inscrutable ways of sory reader:

God till he loses sight of the question. “ Then they found one of our servants to Sometimes he assures them that they would whom we had been gracious, and given him be unable to endure the terrors they de. instruction from ourselves. Moses said, may manded. Sometimes that they were too ob. I follow thee, that thou mayest instruct me in stinate to be affected by them. His adversome of what thou art directed in? He said, saries saw their advantage, and daily in the thou wilt not be able to bear with me; how streets of Mecca the preacher was surroundshould you bear with what you do not comprehend? He replied, thou shalt find me ed and interrupted by scoffers, who defied patient, I will not be disobedient in aught. him to overwhelm them with the vengeance He said, then if thou followest nie, ask not he predicted. “I am a preacher, not an of any thing until I mention it to thee. So angel,” was the disconsolate reply. · Ven. they went on, till they entered a boat which geance will come with the hour appointed he split. Have you split it, cried Moses, by God—that hour none can accelerate, any that you may drown the owners of it? You have done a strange thing. Did I not tell more than they can avert it when it arrives. thee, said he, that thou couldest not bear with

Here, however, was another difficulty. In me ? Chide me not, said Moses, in that I his unbounded jealousy for the glory of God, forget; and be not harsh at my behaviour. Mahomet asserted the doctrine of predestiThen ihey went on till they met a child, nation in its utmost strictness, and even while which he killed. What, exclaimed Moses, reproaching his hearers for their incredulity, have you killed an innocent person without he inconsistently assured then that belief his having killed another ! truly you have and disbelief were the immediate effects of done a grievous deed. Did I noi tell you,

he
divine agency.

In one of the chapters said, you could not bear with me? Moses replied, if I ask you about any thing after!

above

ed, he will be found vainly enthis, take me with you no longer, verily my deavouring to solve the problem by which excuses are sincere. So they went on till the vastest intellects of every other age and they came to a village, where they asked its country have been baffled and bewildered. inmates for refreshment, but they refused to If the reader supposes these arguments to entertain them, and they found in it a wall have been advanced, or these disputes car. that was about to tumble, and he set it ried on, in any connected form, or with any straight. If you pleased, said Moses, you might here requite them. This, said the ho. logical precision, he has a very imperfect noly man, is a separation between thee and me; tion of the Korann, where every proposition but I will explain to thee that which thou is involved and entangled in the fury of denun. couldest not bear with. The boat belonged ciation, or the rhapsody of piety and praise : to some poor people who labour on the sea, and I wished to injure it, because a tyrant “God's treasures are the secret stores, none was in search of them who takes every ves- knows of them but He; sel by force. As to the child, his parents To Him each atom stands revealed, in earth, were righteous, and I feared he would afflict or in the sea; them with his unruliness and impiety, and I 'Tis He that steals thy soul at night, and wished the Lord mightgive them in exchange watches thee by day, a better than he, innocent and dutiful. The And guides thee still to do His will, resist it wall was the property of two children, or- how you may.” phans in the city, and beneath it was a hidden treasure belonging to them; and their father

Such are the incoherent, and often im. was righteous, therefore the Lord wished pressive ravings which form the ground,

. obtain their treasure, a tender mercy from work of the whole text. But the more mys. the Lord. I did it not of my own suggestion. tic fancies prevalent among his countrymen This is the explanation of what you could were too congenial to the enthusiasm and not bear with.'

character of Mahomet, and too conducive

to the aid he sought, not to find a place. necessity few and simple, since their number
The secret inspection of angelic ministers was not yet sufficient to require more, and
-the invisible crowds of genii, that thronged his attention was engrossed in the endeavour
alike the wilderness and the city—the im. to increase it.
perceptible energies and inscrutable essences We have already remarked the excessive
of the animal and material worlds-are to. austerity of devotion which he at first en.
pics he delights to dwell on. In the wild. joined, and in chapter 20 we find him again
ness of his fanatic fancy he sought till he exhorted not to distress himself in his reli.
imagined he had found, among these myste. gious service. As his experience increased,
rious beings, the kindly reception he in vain and his enthusiasm was diverted into another
solicited from his fellow men. The genii, channel by the opposition he had to encoun.
he affirmed, had heard and believed; and ter, he adopted a course better suited to the
his idle hearers recoiled around him as they infirmities of mankind. Three hours were
were told of the airy beings even then throng. appointed for prayer; the two twilights and
ing to listen to his words. In chapters 46, the first watch of the night :—the noon and
50, and 72, the reader will find enough to afternoon prayers, which complete the five,
gratify his curiosity on this subject.

were not added till after the Higera.
The precepts and regulations of Mahomet The only particular of ritual devotion he
will generally be of a later date than his as yet insisted on, was the annual pilgrimage
mere exhortations, since they imply that he to the Caaba. The ceremonials prescribed
gained attentive and zealous hearers. They on this occasion are detailed in chapters 22
will be found in chapters 6, 20, 45, 31, 17, and 2. Mahomet's motives in confirming
26, 30, 70, and 42. The two first, being of this singular practice have often been mis-
a general and prohibitory nature, may per- understood. Savary supposes him to have
haps have been among the earliest com- been guided by political considerations; and,
posed, but, for the sake of classification, we in point of fact, the periodical assemblage of
have preferred noticing them with the rest. the discordant tribes of Arabia, at this com.
By no European writer has the demoraliza- mon object of their veneration, would do
tion of the Arabs at that period been ade. much towards softening their mutual animo.
quately described. In addition to the lawless sities, and strengthening the resources of the
and ferocious habits which seem inseparable country by combination. Sale imagines
from the peculiarities of the country they that he himself was averse to the practice,
inhabit, they lived in the grossest supersti. on account of the superstitions tha: had
tions, and in the habitual violation of the mingled with it, but that he was compelled
plainest rules of domestic morality. Guided to sacrifice his own inclinations to the over-
in every important contingency of life by powering prejudices of his countrymen. In
superstitious fancies, they seem only to have this supposition he is countenanced by the
exercised free-will when roused by anger or fact, that the first chapter in which it is ac.
solicited by cupidity. This extreme of men- tually prescribed was revealed only a short
tal debasement produced, as is usual, the time previous to the Higera. But Mahomet
opposite excess in the more enlightened few; seems, on every other occasion, to have
and we find Mahomet, induced by the scep. been so entirely guided by religious feeling,
ticism of some among his adversaries, io and to have so sternly resisted the slightest
argue repeatedly on the abstract possibility compromise with any thing his conscience
of resurrection after death. His moral in. condemned, that we are compelled to seek
structions were well suited, by their simpli- some more satisfactory solution of the
city, lo reforin the perverted feelings of his question.
countryinen, and many rude converts to the Let us hear him speak for himself.—" To
beauiy of truth ignorantly ascribed to him every sect have we appointed a place of
the excellences that in reality belonged to sacrifice—where they might call upon the
his doctrine. Besides the prohibition of in. name of God over what he has bestowed on
terest, (a law adopted on misapprehension them of animals and cattle.” Here he evi.
from the Jewish code) his rules merely em- dently alludes to the temple at Jerusalem,
body those broad principles of rectitude and the three great feasts, at which all the
which the unperverted reason of man must males among the Jews were bound to appear
universally acknowledge. They form, it there before the Lord. And this is not the
must be observed, a very small part even of only particular in which he seems to have
the few chapters in which they occur—not borrowed from the Mosaic ritual, for no other
being in their nature adapted to the amplifi- reason than because it was a divine one.
cation in which he was, on other topics, so The tradition, too, which referred the build.
fond of indulging in. The internal rules he ing of the Caaba 10 Abraham, and which is
prescribed to his followers were likewise of fully recognised by the prophet in chapters

14 and 2, gave it a specific sanctity in his excited expectation even where they failed own eyes, which probably prevented him of credence—which, however, they often from inquiring into the causes or effects of obtained. A king of Ethiopia dispatched a its being similarly regarded by others. present to the prophet, and declared himself

The injunctions most frequently repeated a believer. An ambassador, who arrived on throughout these chapters relate to a point a public mission, had the curiosity to visit of considerable importance—the intercourse the man of whom he had heard so much ; of his followers with the unbelievers. Men and, after a short conversation, espoused his of rude intellects are more influenced by faith, which he promulgated among his counfeelings than by reason ; and the prophet trymen on his return. The different feelings therefore prohibited them from forming or entertained towards him within and without indulging in friendship with the unconverted. of Mecca, must have forcibly struck the proRidicule, the sharpest weapon to which feel. phet, and matured the latent resentment ing can be opposed, was all in the hands of which ten years of patience had nursed. The their adversaries; and consequently his dis- country seemed ripe for change. The high ciples were forbidden to engage in disputes. destinies he had promised himself were at

It must not be forgotten that many expres- hand, and he might now flatter himself, withsions and ideas are borrowed, and many out extravagance, with the hope of fulfilling passages copied from the Jewish and Chris. his sacred mission. But Mecca stood as å tian Scriptures; and the Korann, formed blot on the fair picture. What wonder if upon both, may be considered as occupying he panted to wash it away? Fiercer thoughts a middle place between the two. Mahomet mingled with his holy dreams-the interests himself at first practised as well as recom- of his religion, he might say, were changed mended much of the meekness and humility —the policy of it must be changed likewise. of the Gospel. “ Be gentle towards those Other circumstances contributed to confirm believers ihat follow thee; and if they are him in this train of thought. Abutalib, unruly, say, Verily I am blameless in what though an infidel, his most powerful friend you do.” (chap. 26.) During a period of and protector, had died, and the violence of ten years that he was exposed to daily in his enemies was proportionably augmented. sult and daily peril, he never once offered His wife, Khadijeh, whose confidence had to repel by violence the violence that he en. supported him in his misgivings, and whose dured. But the hatred and ferocity of his affection had soothed him in his humiliations, enemies drove him to the policy which was now no more—and nightly the prophet changed the history of the world. The returned from a hating city to a lonely home. fierceness of Hamza and the zeal of Ali The exasperated state of his feelings may be scorned to acquiesce in a doctrine of sub- traced in chapter 36, of all others the most mission ; and on one or two occasions, when pregnant with resentment against his advertheir sacred relative had been treated with saries, and the most calculated to excite a more than wonted indigniiy, they took the similar feeling among his followers. Chap. liberty of signally avenging him.' The feel- ter 23 had pointed to the sword, but chapter ings of the man were too strong for those of 42 took it up-revenge of injuries is there the prophet. Mahomet allowed the act to reckoned among the virtues of a believer. pass uncensured. The noble pair became Could the Coreysh have moderated their his defenders on every emergency, and the animosity, Mahomet, thwarted and incensed comfort of such a safeguard grew the more as he was, might still have been reluctant to indispensable the more it was enjoyed. By leave the holy city of his affections and his chapter 23 the divine sanction was given, for faith—he might have lived, tolerated by some the first time, to a hostile principle : “Repel and revered by others, till the spirit of his evil by whatever means are best.” How party-perhaps his own-burnt feebly and widely such a precept may be interpreted it faintly io a close. Unfortunately he was is needless to observe. The rule of endur. forced into immediate contact with his par. ance being once departed from, the mutual tizans. The Coreysh, tired of the disorders animosity of the parties necessarily led to they experienced in their own city, and alarm. the opposite excess. The hardships to which ed at the hostile feeling of the surrounding the early converts were exposed in Mecca country, resolved 10 take his life. The time, had induced them, by Mahomet’s advice, to place, and manner of executing their purpose seek security elsewhere; dispersing through was agreed on. Mahomet obtained' intelli.

: . out the surrounding country, they carried gence of it-published the verses of the 22d with them, wherever they went, the story of chapter, inculcating resistance against per. their prophet's sanctity, and (in their eyes) secution, and flight, for the free exercise of the proof of his inspiration. The contagion religion, and escaped with difficulty to Me. of enthusiasm and the beauties of the Korann'dina.

2

a

VOL. XXIV.

This city, the most populous of Hijaz, Mahomet's necessities, we trace the origin was situated in the heart of the country of the feelings and defects which have alwhere Mahomet's name had been celebrated ways prevailed in Mahommedan society. and his faith diffused by his disciples; and From the violent and continual excitements in this he was received with universal en- to war, they derived their restless and inthusiasm as a prophet and a prince. His domitable ferocity. From the assurance of confidence was restored and his conviction divine guidance and favour, arose their perstrengthened by the multitude of those who sonal pride and intolerance and their abject believed; and what before might have been submission to their rulers. the doubtful whispering of desponding fanati- If the Arabs had heard with dismay their cism, now assumed the decisive tone of cer- prophet's declaration of war against the tainty, when echoed by the ready credence world, it was owing to its extent rather than of thousands. Thus it was that the in- its nature. With that singular and un. credulity of his enemies appeared the more changing people rapine has always been a unreasonable and the more criminal, at the legitimate means of subsistence, and war very moment when they had raised his re- and rapine synonymous terms: it is not sentment to its utmost height. The result then surprising that they gladly embraced a was the 47th chapter of the Korann, in principle so congenial to their characters which war to extermination is openly de- and interests. Indeed, from Mahomet's clared against all the enemies of his faith. inveighing so repeatedly as he does, against The consternation of his followers cannot the lukewarm, the worldly-minded, the be better represented than in the words of hypocritical, and the refractory, it would the chapter itself: "They stared on thee seem that the majority of his newly-acquired with the stare of a dying man." From this followers were more influenced by that part time the Korann is a code of law, and a law of his religion than by any other. This was of blood. Chapters 61, 2, 65, 8, 57, 60, 62, particularly the case with the rougher tribes 63, 64, 102, 3, 58, 59, 4, 16 and 5, are of the desert, who are more than once de. successive and pretty clear records of the signated as peculiarly stupid and unfeeling. policy pursued by Mahomet during the first In the simplicity of their hearts some of five years, and the success with which it them had ventured to require the repayment was attended. It will evidently be impossi- of the loans they had made. It is amusing ble to comprise within the limits of this art enough to observe the indignation with cle, even the most cursory review of his which the prophet alludes to the circum. civil regulations, and our attention will ne- stance. cessarily be confined to the leading circum. After a series of skirmishes they had the stances and prominent feelings of the period good fortune to surprise a rich caravan and in which they were produced. It would be defeat a superior force which marched to expected from the energy of the prophet's its relief-but the contest had been severe, character, that when he had once recognised and in the ardour of their gratitude they atwar as a principle of religion, he would take tributed to the succour of angels what was the most decided means for prosecuting it really the effect of their own bravery and with effect; and accordingly, far the greater desperation. An anecdote follows, without part of the Medinian chapters are devoted to parallel in the annals of seif-deception. this purpose. All the unlimited resources The prisoners were the former persecutors of divine approbation and displeasure are of the prophet, and it might have been exexhausted in animating his followers-but pected that he would not omit to practise the the ardour which carried them to the field virtue he had inculcated-revenge-but he could not support them while they were dismissed them on ransoming themselves; there. A thousand expenses were to be and soon after being found in tears, he prodefrayed ;-unable to meet them himself, duced the following passages (chap. 8), and Mahomet resorted to religious contributions informed his friends that they had narrowly and loans without interest. From one or escaped being destroyed by God, together other of these species of co-operation no with himself, for this unseasonable clemone was excused, but those who were too ency :poor to give and too weak to fight. The men who, satisfied with the truth of his re- "The prophet may not keep prisoners ligion, would have sat down quietly to en- till he shall have destroyed (unbelievers) joy the profession of it, and left its farther throughout the earth.”

propagation to the Almighty Being whose

care it might be supposed to be, are stigma- Captives, however, were allowed the option tized as hypocrites and reviled as cowards. of becoming Moslims before execution. In these precepts, the results entirely of And again

"Say to those who reject thee, if they conversion from those sects. But the hopes will repent, what is past shall be forgiven he entertained on this subject never prevent. them; but if they return to their trans-ed him from inveighing against what he gressions the example of former ages is before thee.-Slay them till there is no resistance; and all religion is to God."

The

termed their departure from the original purity of their respective faiths. Christian tenets in particular were the subject of his repeated and most violent vituperations, from the grossness which the insufficiency of language renders unavoidable in expressing them.