Mohammed, "the Praised One", the prophet of Islam and the founder of
Mohammedanism, was born at Mecca (20 August?) A.D. 570.
Arabia was then torn by warring factions. The tribe of Fihr, or
Quarish, to which Mohammed belonged, had established itself in the
south of Hijas (Hedjaz), near Mecca, which was, even then, the
principal religious and commercial centre of Arabia. The power of the
tribe was continually increasing; they had become the masters and the
acknowledged guardians of the sacred Kaaba, within the town of Mecca —
then visited in annual pilgrimage by the heathen Arabs with their
offerings and tributes — and had thereby gained such preeminence that
it was comparatively easy for Mohammed to inaugurate his religious
reform and his political campaign, which ended with the conquest of
all Arabia and the fusion of the numerous Arab tribes into one nation,
with one religion, one code, and one sanctuary. (See ARABIA,
Christianity in Arabia.)
Mohammed's father was Abdallah, of the family of Hashim, who died soon
after his son's birth. At the age of six the boy lost his mother and
was thereafter taken care of by his uncle Abu-Talib. He spent his
early life as a shepherd and an attendant of caravans, and at the age
of twenty-five married a rich widow, Khadeejah, fifteen years his
senior. She bore him six children, all of whom died very young except
Fatima, his beloved daughter.
On his commercial journeys to Syria and Palestine he became acquainted
with Jews and Christians, and acquired an imperfect knowledge of their
religion and traditions. He was a man of retiring disposition,
addicted to prayer and fasting, and was subject to epileptic fits. In
his fortieth year (A.D. 612), he claimed to have received a call from
the Angel Gabriel, and thus began his active career as the prophet of
Allah and the apostle of Arabia. His converts were about forty in all,
including his wife, his daughter, his father-in-law Abu Bakr, his
adopted son Ali Omar, and his slave Zayd. By his preaching and his
attack on heathenism, Mohammed provoked persecution which drove him
from Mecca to Medina in 622, the year of the Hejira (Flight) and the
beginning of the Mohammedan Era. At Medina he was recognized as the
prophet of God, and his followers increased. He took the field against
his enemies, conquered several Arabian, Jewish, and Christian tribes,
entered Mecca in triumph in 630, demolished the idols of the Kaaba,
became master of Arabia, and finally united all the tribes under one
emblem and one religion. In 632 he made his last pilgrimage to Mecca
at the head of forty thousand followers, and soon after his return
died of a violent fever in the sixty-third year of his age, the
eleventh of the Hejira, and the year 633 of the Christian era.
The sources of Mohammed's biography are numerous, but on the whole
untrustworthy, being crowded with fictitious details, legends, and
stories. None of his biographies were compiled during his lifetime,
and the earliest was written a century and a half after his death. The
Koran is perhaps the only reliable source for the leading events in
his career. His earliest and chief biographers are Ibn Ishaq (A.H.
151=A.D. 768), Wakidi (207=822), Ibn Hisham (213=828), Ibn Sa'd
(230=845), Tirmidhi (279=892), Tabari (310-929), the "Lives of the
Companions of Mohammed", the numerous Koranic commentators [especially
Tabari, quoted above, Zamakhshari 538=1144), and Baidawi (691=1292)],
the "Musnad", or collection of traditions of Ahmad ibn Hanbal
(241=855), the collections of Bokhari (256=870), the "Isabah", or
"Dictionary of Persons who knew Mohammed", by Ibn Hajar, etc. All
these collections and biographies are based on the so-called Hadiths,
or "traditions", the historical value of which is more than doubtful.
These traditions, in fact, represent a gradual, and more or less
artificial, legendary development, rather than supplementary
historical information. According to them, Mohammed was simple in his
habits, but most careful of his personal appearance. He loved perfumes
and hated strong drink. Of a highly nervous temperament, he shrank
from bodily pain. Though gifted with great powers of imagination, he
was taciturn. He was affectionate and magnanimous, pious and austere
in the practice of his religion, brave, zealous, and above reproach in
his personal and family conduct. Palgrave, however, wisely remarks
that "the ideals of Arab virtue were first conceived and then
attributed to him". Nevertheless, with every allowance for
exaggeration, Mohammed is shown by his life and deeds to have been a
man of dauntless courage, great generalship, strong patriotism,
merciful by nature, and quick to forgive. And yet he was ruthless in
his dealings with the Jews, when once he had ceased to hope for their
submission. He approved of assassination, when it furthered his cause;
however barbarous or treacherous the means, the end justified it in
his eyes; and in more than one case he not only approved, but also
instigated the crime.
Concerning his moral character and sincerity, contradictory opinions
have been expressed by scholars in the last three centuries. Many of
these opinions are biased either by an extreme hatred of Islam and its
founder or by an exaggerated admiration, coupled with a hatred of
Christianity.
Luther looked upon him as "a devil and first-born child of Satan".
Maracci held that Mohammed and Mohammedanism were not very dissimilar
to Luther and Protestantism. Spanheim and D'Herbelot characterize him
as a "wicked impostor", and a "dastardly liar", while Prideaux stamps
him as a wilful deceiver. Such indiscriminate abuse is unsupported by
facts.
Modern scholars, such as Sprenger, Noldeke, Weil, Muir, Koelle,
Grimme, Margoliouth, give us a more correct and unbiased estimate of
Mohammed's life and character, and substantially agree as to his
motives, prophetic call, personal qualifications, and sincerity. The
various estimates of several recent critics have been ably collected
and summarized by Zwemer, in his "Islam, a Challenge to Faith" (New
York, 1907). According to Sir William Muir, Marcus Dods, and some
others, Mohammed was at first sincere, but later, carried away by
success, he practised deception wherever it would gain his end. Koelle
"finds the key to the first period of Mohammed's life in Khadija, his
first wife", after whose death he became a prey to his evil passions.
Sprenger attributes the alleged revelations to epileptic fits, or to
"a paroxysm of cataleptic insanity".
Zwemer himself goes on to criticize the life of Mohammed by the
standards, first, of the Old and New Testaments, both of which
Mohammed acknowledged as Divine revelation; second, by the pagan
morality of his Arabian compatriots; lastly, by the new law of which
he pretended to be the "divinely appointed medium and custodian".
According to this author, the prophet was false even to the ethical
traditions of the idolatrous brigands among whom he lived, and grossly
violated the easy sexual morality of his own system. After this, it is
hardly necessary to say that, in Zwemer's opinion, Mohammed fell very
far short of the most elementary requirements of Scriptural morality.
Quoting Johnstone, Zwemer concludes by remarking that the judgment of
these modern scholars, however harsh, rests on evidence which "comes
all from the lips and the pens of his own devoted adherents. . .And
the followers of the prophet can scarcely complain if, even on such
evidence, the verdict of history goes against him".
The system
Geographical extent, divisions, and distribution of Mohammedans
After Mohammed's death Mohammedanism aspired to become a world power
and a universal religion. The weakness of the Byzantine Empire, the
unfortunate rivalry between the Greek and Latin Churches, the schisms
of Nestorius and Eutyches, the failing power of the Sassanian dynasty
of Persia, the lax moral code of the new religion, the power of the
sword and of fanaticism, the hope of plunder and the love of conquest
— all these factors combined with the genius of the caliphs, the
successors of Mohammed, to effect the conquest, in considerably less
than a century, of Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa,
and the South of Spain. The Moslems even crossed the Pyrenees,
threatening to stable their horses in St. Peter's at Rome, but were at
last defeated by Charles Martel at Tours, in 732, just one hundred
years from the death of Mohammed. This defeat arrested their western
conquests and saved Europe.
In the eighth and ninth centuries they conquered Persia, Afghanistan,
and a large part of India, and in the twelfth century they had already
become the absolute masters of all Western Asia, Spain and North
Africa, Sicily, etc. They were finally conquered by the Mongols and
Turks, in the thirteenth century, but the new conquerors adopted
Mohammed's religion and, in the fifteenth century, overthrew the
tottering Byzantine Empire (1453). From that stronghold
(Constantinople) they even threatened the German Empire, but were
successfully defeated at the gates of Vienna, and driven back across
the Danube, in 1683.
Mohammedanism now comprises various theological schools and political
factions. The Orthodox (Sunni) uphold the legitimacy of the succession
of the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr, Omar, and Uthman, while the
Schismatics (Shiah) champion the Divine right of Ali as against the
successions of these caliphs whom they call "usurpers", and whose
names, tombs, and memorials they insult and detest. The Shiah number
at present about twelve million adherents, or about one-twentieth of
the whole Mohammedan world, and are scattered over Persia and India.
The Sunni are subdivided into four principal theological schools, or
sects, viz., the Hanifites, found mostly in Turkey, Central Asia, and
Northern India; the Shafites in Southern India and Egypt; the
Malikites, in Morocco, Barbary, and parts of Arabia; and the
Hanbalites in Central and Eastern Arabia and in some parts of Africa.
The Shiah are also subdivided into various, but less important, sects.
Of the proverbial seventy-three sects of Islam, thirty-two are
assigned to the Shiah. The principal differences between the two are:
as to the legitimate successors of Mohammed;
the Shiah observe the ceremonies of the month of fasting, Muharram, in
commemoration of Ali, Hasan, Husain, and Bibi Fatimah, whilst the
Sunnites only regard the tenth day of that month as sacred, and as
being the day on which God created Adam and Eve;
the Shiah permit temporary marriages, contracted for a certain sum of
money, whilst the Sunnites maintain that Mohammed forbade them;
the Shi'ites include the Fire-Worshippers among the "People of the
Book", whilst the Sunnites acknowledge only Jews, Christians, and
Moslems as such;
several minor differences in the ceremonies of prayer and ablution;
the Shiah admit a principle of religious compromise in order to escape
persecution and death, whilst the Sunni regard this as apostasy.
There are also minor sects, the principal of which are the Aliites, or
Fatimites, the Asharians, Azaragites, Babakites, Babbis, Idrisites,
Ismailians and Assassins, Jabrians, Kaissanites, Karmathians,
Kharjites, followers of the Mahdi, Mu'tazilites, Qadrains, Safrians,
Sifatians, Sufis, Wahabis, and Zaidites. The distinctive features of
these various sects are political as well as religious; only three or
four of them now possess any influence.
In spite of these divisions, however, the principal articles of faith
and morality, and the ritual, are substantially uniform.
According to the latest and most reliable accounts (1907), the number
of Mohammedans in the world is about 233 millions, although some
estimate the number as high as 300 millions, others, again, as low as
175 millions. Nearly 60 millions are in Africa, 170 millions in Asia,
and about 5 millions in Europe. Their total number amounts to about
one-fourth of the population of Asia, and one-seventh that of the
whole world. Their geographical distribution is as follows:
Asia
India, 62 millions; other British possessions (such as Aden, Bahrein,
Ceylon, and Cyprus), about one million and a half; Russia (Asiatic and
European), the Caucasus, Russian Turkestan, and the Amur region, about
13 millions; Philippine Islands, 350,000; Dutch East Indies (including
Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, etc.) about 30 millions; French
possessions in Asia (Pondicherry, Annam, Cambodia, Cochin-China,
Tonking, Laos), about one million and a half; Bokhara, 1,200,000;
Khiva, 800,000; Persia, 8,800,000; Afghanistan, 4,000,000; China and
Chinese Turkestan, 30,000,000; Japan and Formosa, 30,000; Korea,
10,000; Siam, 1,000,000; Asia Minor; Armenia and Kurdistan, 1,795,000;
Mesopotamia, 1,200,000; Syria, 1,100,000; Arabia, 4,500,000. Total,
170,000,000.
Africa
Egypt, 9,000,000; Tripoli, 1,250,000; Tunis, 1,700,000; Algeria,
4,000,000; Morocco, 5,600,000; Eritrea, 150,000; Anglo-Egyptian Sudan,
1,000,000; Senegambia-Niger, 18,000,000; Abyssinia, 350,000; Kamerun,
2,000,000; Nigeria, 6,000,000; Dahomey, 350,000; Ivory Coast, 800,000;
Liberia, 600,000; Sierra Leone, 333,000; French Guinea, 1,500,000;
French, British, and Italian Somaliland, British East African
Protectorate, Uganda, Togoland, Gambia and Senegal, about 2,000,000;
Zanzibar, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, Rhodesia, Congo
Free State, and French Congo, about 4,000,000; South Africa and
adjacent island, about 235,000.-Approximate total, 60,000,000.
Europe
Turkey in Europe, 2,100,000; Greece, Servia, Rumania, and Bulgaria,
about 1,369,000. Total, about 3,500,000.
America and Australia
About 70,000.
About 7,000,000 (i.e., four-fifths) of the Persian Mohammedans and
about 5,000,000 of the Indian Mohammedans are Shiahs; the rest of the
Mohammedan world — about 221,000,000 — are almost all Sunnites.
Tenets
The principal tents of Mohammedanism are laid down in the Koran. As
aids in interpreting the religious system of the Koran we have: first,
the so-called "Traditions", which are supposed to contain
supplementary teachings and doctrine of Mohammed, a very considerable
part of which, however, is decidedly spurious; second, the consensus
of the doctors of Islam represented by the most celebrated imâms, the
founders of the various Islamic sects, the Koranic commentators and
the masters of Mohammedans jurisprudence; third, the analogy, or
deduction from recognized principles admitted in the Koran and in the
Traditions. Mohammed's religion, known among its adherents as Islam,
contains practically nothing original; it is a confused combination of
native Arabian heathenism, Judaism, Christianity, Sabiism
(Mandoeanism), Hanifism, and Zoroastrianism.
The system may be divided into two parts: dogma, or theory; and
morals, or practice. The whole fabric is built on five fundamental
points, one belonging to faith, or theory, and the other four to
morals, or practice. All Mohammedan dogma is supposed to be expressed
in the one formula: "there is no God but the true God; and Mohammed is
His prophet." But this one confession implies for Mohammedans six
distinct articles:
belief in the unity of God;
in His angels;
in His Scripture;
in His prophets;
in the Resurrection and Day of Judgment; and
in God's absolute and irrevocable decree and predetermination both of
good and of evil.
The four points relating to morals, or practice, are:
prayer, ablutions, and purifications;
alms:
fasting; and
pilgrimage to Mecca.
(1) Dogma
The doctrines of Islam concerning God — His unity and Divine
attributes — are essentially those of the Bible; but to the doctrines
of the Trinity and of the Divine Sonship of Christ Mohammed had the
strongest antipathy. As Noldeke remarks, Mohammed's acquaintance with
those two dogmas was superficial; even the clauses of the Creed that
referred to them were not properly known to him, and thus he felt that
it was quite impossible to bring them into harmony with the simple
Semitic Monotheism; probably, too, it was this consideration alone
that hindered him from embracing Christianity (Sketches from Eastern
History, 62).
The number of prophets sent by God is said to have been about 124,000,
and of apostles, 315. Of the former, 22 are mentioned by name in the
Koran — such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus.
According to the Sunni, the Prophets and Apostles were sinless and
superior to the angels, and they had the power of performing miracles.
Mohammedan angelology and demonology are almost wholly based on later
Jewish and early Christian traditions. The angels are believed to be
free from all sin; they neither eat nor drink; there is no distinction
of sex among them. They are, as a rule, invisible, save to animals,
although, at times, they appear in human form. The principal angels
are: Gabriel, the guardian and communicator of God's revelation to
man; Michael, the guardian of men; Azrail, the angel of death, whose
duty is to receive men's souls when they die; and Israfil, the angel
of the Resurrection.
In addition to these there are the Seraphim, who surround the throne
of God, constantly chanting His praises; the Secretaries, who record
the actions of men; the Observers, who spy on every word and deed of
mankind; the Travellers, whose duty it is to traverse the whole earth
in order to know whether, and when, men utter the name of God; the
Angels of the Seven Planets; the Angels who have charge of hell; and a
countless multitude of heavenly beings who fill all space. The chief
devil is Iblis, who, like his numerous companions, was once the
nearest to God, but was cast out for refusing to pay homage to Adam at
the command of God. These devils are harmful both to the souls and to
the bodies of men, although their evil influence is constantly checked
by Divine interference.
Besides angels and devils, there are also jinns, or genii, creatures
of fire, able to eat, drink, propagate, and die; some good, others
bad, but all capable of future salvation and damnation.
God rewards good and punishes evil deeds. He is merciful and is easily
propitiated by repentance. The punishment of the impenitent wicked
will be fearful, and the reward of the faithful great. All men will
have to rise from the dead and submit to the universal judgment. The
Day of Resurrection and of Judgment will be preceded and accompanied
by seventeen fearful, or greater, signs in heaven and on earth, and
eight lesser ones, some of which are identical with those mentioned in
the New Testament. The Resurrection will be general and will extend to
all creatures — angels, jinns, men, and brutes. The torments of hell
and the pleasures of Paradise, but especially the latter, are
proverbially crass and sensual. Hell is divided into seven regions:
Jahannam, reserved for faithless Mohammedans; Laza, for the Jews;
Al-Hutama, for the Christians; Al-Sair, for the Sabians; Al-Saqar, for
the Magians; Al-Jahim, for idolaters; Al-Hawiyat, for hypocrites. As
to the torments of hell, it is believed that the damned will dwell
amid pestilential winds and in scalding water, and in the shadow of a
black smoke. Draughts of boiling water will be forced down their
throats. They will be dragged by the scalp, flung into the fire,
wrapped in garments of flame, and beaten with iron maces. When their
skins are well burned, other skins will be given them for their
greater torture. While the damnation of all infidels will be hopeless
and eternal, the Moslems, who, though holding the true religion, have
been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered from hell after
expiating their crimes.
The joys and glories of Paradise are as fantastic and sensual as the
lascivious Arabian mind could possibly imagine. "As plenty of water is
one of the greatest additions to the delights of the Bedouin Arab, the
Koran often speaks of the rivers of Paradise as a principal ornament
thereof; some of these streams flow with water, some with wine and
others with honey, besides many other lesser springs and fountains,
whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, while their earth consists of
camphor, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron. But all these
glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls, or
houris, of Paradise, the enjoyment of whose company will be the
principal felicity of the faithful. These maidens are created not of
clay, as in the case of mortal women, but of pure musk, and free from
all natural impurities, defects, and inconveniences. They will be
beautiful and modest and secluded from public view in pavilions of
hollow pearls. The pleasures of Paradise will be so overwhelming that
God will give to everyone the potentialities of a hundred individuals.
To each individuals a large mansion will be assigned, and the very
meanest will have at his disposal at least 80,000 servants and
seventy-two wives of the girls of Paradise. While eating they will be
waited on by 300 attendants, the food being served in dishes of gold,
whereof 300 shall be set before him at once, containing each a
different kind of food, and an inexhaustible supply of wine and
liquors. The magnificence of the garments and gems is conformable to
the delicacy of their diet. For they will be clothed in the richest
silks and brocades, and adorned with bracelets of gold and silver, and
crowns set with pearls, and will make use of silken carpets, couches,
pillows, etc., and in order that they may enjoy all these pleasures,
God will grant them perpetual youth, beauty, and vigour. Music and
singing will also be ravishing and everlasting" (Wollaston, "Muhammed,
His Life and Doctrines").
The Mohammedan doctrine of predestination is equivalent to fatalism.
They believe in God's absolute decree and predetermination both of
good and of evil; viz., whatever has been or shall be in the world,
whether good or bad, proceeds entirely from the Divine will, and is
irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity. The possession and
the exercise of our own free will is, accordingly, futile and useless.
The absurdity of this doctrine was felt by later Mohammedan
theologians, who sought in vain by various subtile distinctions to
minimize it.
(2) Practice
The five pillars of the practical and of the ritualistic side of Islam
are the recital of the Creed and prayers, fasting, almsgiving, and the
pilgrimage to Mecca.
The formula of the Creed has been given above, and its recital is
necessary for salvation.
The daily prayers are five in number: before sunrise, at midday, at
four in the afternoon, at sunset, and shortly before midnight. The
forms of prayer and the postures are prescribed in a very limited
Koranic liturgy. All prayers must be made looking towards Mecca, and
must be preceded by washing, neglect of which renders the prayers of
no effect. Public prayer is made on Friday in the mosque, and is led
by an imâm. Only men attend the public prayers, as women seldom pray
even at home. Prayers for the dead are meritorious and commended.
Fasting is commended at all seasons, but prescribed only in the month
of Ramadan. It begins at sunrise and ends at sunset, and is very
rigorous, especially when the fasting season falls in summer. At the
end of Ramadan comes the great feast-day, generally called Bairam, or
Fitr, i.e., "Breaking of the Fast". The other great festival is that
of Azha, borrowed with modifications from the Jewish Day of Atonement.
Almsgiving is highly commended: on the feast-day after Ramadan it is
obligatory, and is to be directed to the "faithful" (Mohammedans)
only.
Pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime is a duty incumbent on every
free Moslem of sufficient means and bodily strength; the merit of it
cannot be obtained by deputy, and the ceremonies are strictly similar
to those performed by the Prophet himself (see MECCA). Pilgrimages to
the tombs of saints are very common nowadays, especially in Persia and
India, although they were absolutely forbidden by Mohammed.
Morals
It is hardly necessary here to emphasize the fact that the ethics of
Islam are far inferior to those of Judaism and even more inferior to
those of the New Testament. Furthermore, we cannot agree with Noldeke
when he maintains that, although in many respects the ethics of Islam
are not to be compared even with such Christianity as prevailed, and
still prevails, in the East, nevertheless, in other points, the new
faith — simple, robust, in the vigour of its youth — far surpassed the
religion of the Syrian and Egyptian Christians, which was in a
stagnating condition, and steadily sinking lower and lower into the
depths of barbarism (op. cit., Wollaston, 71, 72). The history and the
development, as well as the past and present religious, social, and
ethical condition of all the Christian nations and countries, no
matter of what sect or school they may be, as compared with these of
the various Mohammedan countries, in all ages, is a sufficient
refutation of Noldeke's assertion. That in the ethics of Islam there
is a great deal to admire and to approve, is beyond dispute; but of
originality or superiority, there is none. What is really good in
Mohammedan ethics is either commonplace or borrowed from some other
religions, whereas what is characteristic is nearly always imperfect
or wicked.
The principal sins forbidden by Mohammed are idolatry and apostasy,
adultery, false witness against a brother Moslem, games of chance, the
drinking of wine or other intoxicants, usury, and divination by
arrows. Brotherly love is confined in Islam to Mohammedans. Any form
of idolatry or apostasy is severely punished in Islam, but the
violation of any of the other ordinances is generally allowed to go
unpunished, unless it seriously conflicts with the social welfare or
the political order of the State. Among other prohibitions mention
must be made of the eating of blood, of swine's flesh, of whatever
dies of itself, or is slain in honour of any idol, or is strangled, or
killed by a blow, or a fall, or by another beast. In case of dire
necessity, however, these restrictions may be dispensed with.
Infanticide, extensively practiced by the pre-Islamic Arabs, is
strictly forbidden by Mohammed, as is also the sacrificing of children
to idols in fulfilment of vows, etc. The crime of infanticide commonly
took the form of burying newborn females, lest the parents should be
reduced to poverty by providing for them, or else that they might
avoid the sorrow and disgrace which would follow, if their daughters
should be made captives or become scandalous by their behaviour.
Religion and the State are not separated in Islam. Hence Mohammedan
jurisprudence, civil and criminal, is mainly based on the Koran and on
the "Traditions". Thousands of judicial decisions are attributed to
Mohammed and incorporated in the various collections of Hadith.
Mohammed commanded reverence and obedience to parents, and kindness to
wives and slaves. Slander and backbiting are strongly denounced,
although false evidence is allowed to hide a Moslem's crime and to
save his reputation or life.
As regards marriage, polygamy, and divorce, the Koran explicitly (sura
iv, v. 3) allows four lawful wives at a time, whom the husband may
divorce whenever he pleases. Slave-mistresses and concubines are
permitted in any number. At present, however, owing to economic
reasons, concubinage is not as commonly practiced as Western popular
opinion seems to hold. Seclusion of wives is commanded, and in case of
unfaithfulness, the wife's evidence, either in her own defense or
against her husband, is not admitted, while that of the husband
invariably is. In this, as in there judicial cases, the evidence of
two women, if admitted, is sometimes allowed to be worth that of one
man. The man is allowed to repudiate his wife on the slightest
pretext, but the woman is not permitted even to separate herself from
her husband unless it be for ill-usage, want of proper maintenance, or
neglect of conjugal duty; and even then she generally loses her dowry,
when she does not if divorced by her husband, unless she has been
guilty of immodesty or notorious disobedience. Both husband and wife
are explicitly forbidden by Mohammed to seek divorce on any slight
occasion or the prompting of a whim, but this warning was not heeded
either by Mohammed himself or by his followers. A divorced wife, in
order to ascertain the paternity of a possible or probable offspring,
must wait three months before she marries again. A widow, on the other
hand, must wait four months and ten days. Immorality in general is
severely condemned and punished by the Koran, but the moral laxity and
depraved sensualism of the Mohammedans at large have practically
nullified its effects.
Slavery is not only tolerated in the Koran, but is looked upon as a
practical necessity, while the manumission of slaves is regarded as a
meritorious deed. It must be observed, however, that among
Mohammedans, the children of slaves and of concubines are generally
considered equally legitimate with those of legal wives, none being
accounted bastards except such as are born of public prostitutes, and
whose fathers are unknown. The accusation often brought against the
Koran that it teaches that women have no souls is without foundation.
The Koranic law concerning inheritance insists that women and orphans
be treated with justice and kindness. Generally speaking, however,
males are entitled to twice as much as females. Contracts are to be
conscientiously drawn up in the presence of witnesses. Murder,
manslaughter, and suicide are explicitly forbidden, although blood
revenge is allowed. In case of personal injury, the law of retaliation
is approved.
In conclusion, reference must be made here to the sacred months, and
to the weekly holy day. The Arabs had a year of twelve lunar months,
and this, as often as seemed necessary, they brought roughly into
accordance with the solar year by the intercalation of a thirteenth
month. The Mohammedan year, however, has a mean duration of 354 days,
and is ten or eleven days shorter than the solar year, and Mohammedan
festivals, accordingly, move in succession through all the seasons.
The Mohammedan Era begins with the Hegira, which is assumed to have
taken place on the 16th day of July, A.D. 622. To find what year of
the Christian Era (A.D.) is represented by a given year of the
Mohammedan Era (A.H.), the rule is: Subtract from the Mohammedan date
the product of three times the last completed number of centuries, and
add 621 to the remainder. (This rule, however, gives an exact result
only for the first day of a Mohammedan century. Thus, e.g., the first
day of the fourteenth century came in the course of the year of Our
Lord 1883.) The first, seven, eleventh and twelfth months of the
Mohammedan year are sacred; during these months it is not lawful to
wage war. The twelfth month is consecrated to the annual pilgrimage to
Mecca, and, in order to protect pilgrims, the preceding (eleventh)
month and the following (first of the new year) are also inviolable.
The seventh month is reserved for the fast which Mohammed substituted
for a month (the ninth) devoted by the Arabs in pre-Islamic times to
excessive eating and drinking. Mohammed selected Friday as the sacred
day of the week, and several fanciful reasons are adduced by the
Prophet himself and by his followers for the selection; the most
probable motive was the desire to have a holy day different from that
of the Jews and that of the Christians. It is certain, however, that
Friday was a day of solemn gatherings and public festivities among the
pre-Islamic Arabs. Abstinence from work is not enjoined on Friday, but
it is commanded that public prayers and worship must be performed on
that day. Another custom dating from antiquity and still universally
observed by all Mohammedans, although not explicitly enjoined in the
Koran, is circumcision. It is looked upon as a semi-religious
practice, and its performance is preceded and accompanied by great
festivities.
In matters political Islam is a system of despotism at home and
aggression abroad. The Prophet commanded absolute submission to the
imâm. In no case was the sword to be raised against him. The rights of
non-Moslem subjects are of the vaguest and most limited kind, and a
religious war is a sacred duty whenever there is a chance of success
against the "Infidel". Medieval and modern Mohammedan, especially
Turkish, persecutions of both Jews and Christians are perhaps the best
illustration of this fanatical religious and political spirit.
--
President of The United States
Guy Ralph Perea Sr President of The United States
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