

nfloa 



nmd petty tetea, whose pxmHlriwni of character, mode 



MOHAWMKD. 



lit 



NsMnitie*. a*>d petty elate*, who 



A ^.-J . J tin*. I ** 1 ft fttl*1n>Bi sU 



even from the 



tin* W tbe Palriarofa* in tie book of Genesis. The mounUinoa* 

 taMrluid of ewtral Arabia, abounding in ii-b pa*tunu>e and fertile 

 vsJUys, tut at the MOM tin* mtsneatod and skirted with dreary 

 Mil MM! ).ly plains, was ecoupted by tho** roviur. tribe* who, in 

 opposition to the wttM inhabitants, an prood of the turns of 

 BidTio*. or people of th. pUin. Most of them were addicted to a 

 wandering natural life, but from being *tion ly disposed to war and 

 ohivalrcns adventure*. thir r.a*e*hU occupations were interrupted, 



er by eoadncling a caravan of oierohacte, or still oftener by assailing 

 robbing their fellow-tribe*. Every tribe wa* governed by the 

 Met **ed or worthy Sheikh of that family which bad been exalted 

 above it* brethren by fortune and heroic deeds, or even by eloquence 

 and poetry. For as tbe heroic bird* were at once the historian* and 

 moralists, by whom th* vice* and virtues of their countrymen were 

 impartially censured or praised, a not le enthusiasm for poetry animated 

 those Arabs, end at an annual fair at Ukbad, thirty day* were come- 

 orated to poetical emulation, after which the sucoesrful poem wa* 

 in letter* of gold and suspended in the temple of Mecca. 

 nuatiif" however formed only a very feebU bond of union 

 the independent and hostile tribes, who only occasionally, and 

 hi thna* of danger and warfare, submitted to a supreme chief, or Kniir 

 of Kmirs, and bad never yet been uuiwd into one body. And tbe tie 

 wa* 'still leas binding on thoee inhabitant* who, bein* collected in 

 Boorisbing town* and citu* on the eoasta of the peninsula, and mottly 

 employed in trade and agriculture, were regarded with supreme 

 cootoeapt by the free Bed nine, aa a weak and degenerate race of lave*. 

 The religious worship of the Arab* chiefly consisted in the adoration 

 of tke heavenly lominarie*, which were considered a* so many tutelar 

 deities of tbe different tribe* ; and among which, after tbe sun and 

 moon, tbe planet Venn* had acquired such |culiar pre-eminence, 

 that even to the pious Moslems Friday ever after remained the sacred 

 day of tbe week. These deities, with many other image* of the per- 

 soamed powers of nature, rudely represented by idols of every variety 

 of shape, were principally gnthered round the ancient Caaba, or square 

 temple, tbe Panthton of Arabian idolatry at Mecca ; and their worship 

 was accompanied, not only with the moat horrid rite* and shocking 

 ceremonies of a degraded papanUm, but evn with human ascrifice* 

 and cruelties of every description. Even children were immolated by 

 one of tbe ruder dans to the idols ; while others, a* tbe Kenditea, 

 buried their daughter* alive ('Sur.' vl, 137; xvi, 5$; Ixxxi., 8), and 

 wo need scarcely remark, that, except a vagna belief of the soul 

 becoming transformed into an owl, and hovering round the grave, there 

 i* no indication that tbe Arabian idolater* believed in a future life and 

 final retribution. (Poeocke, 'Specimen HUtorUc Arabum,' ed. White, 

 1604.) Among the foreign settlers in Arabia, we. pan over iu silence 

 tbe few adbeiontaof Zoroaster, scattered along the Persian Gulf, snd 

 the H basin*, on tbe onthem coast of the peninsula, who, even from 

 tbe time of David and Solomon, stored their rich emporium* of Ophir, 

 Saba, and afterward* Aden, with Indian merchandise, and who, as is 

 clear from mnay good argument*, were undoubtedly of Hindoo origin. 

 The Christian religion bad long been eeteblUhed in Mveral part* of 

 Arabia, but the Christianity of the Oriental church, at that time, 

 almost r seen bled paganism, being aasooiated with monachism and 

 with the worship of martyr*, relic*, and image*. Among th heretical 

 >aotari, who, absorbed in their mouophyottiesl and other abatrnse 

 dogmatical roinlroveiai**, looked upon each other with the utmost 

 hntred, we And particularly mentioned tbe Neetorian*. Jacobite*, 

 Marcionit.*, and Manic) teaos, beside* some other obscure sect*, snch 

 idiana. who, deifying the mother of Christ, and adoring 

 her a* tbe third person in the Trinity, probably gave rise to the 

 Cbri*uen trilaiiiui so often dwelt on by th* author of tbe Koran. 

 After tbe destruction of Jerutslem. the Jew* bad retired in great 

 number* to Arabia, when, owinic to the too** connection and the 



jeelotwy of taw *horit>el tribe*, they bad gained oonaiderabUi power. 

 Many . f them, adoptisw tbe Aero* manner* of tbe desert, chose a 

 In, life, eonoectod with all iu dangers and adventurons strife, 

 awl a poem composed by a Jewish Heduin has been preserved in the 

 Haamaae. which breathes tbe true spirit of Arabian chivalry. 

 mica, 1 p. 40, Frejt) But in graenl tbe Jews were peacefully settled 

 in towu* aod fortified ca.Ues. principally along the coast, or diipened 

 amo* the aheUtente of large oh***. It was to the Jews of hi* 



country that the Arabian reformer first and moat eagerly looked for 

 proarlytea, and bit early predilection in favour of the " pOMeeson of 

 Scripture," as tbey are honourably called, might be attested by innu- 

 merab'e psaesgii of tbe Koran. He nnt only appeal* frequently to 

 their teatimony in order to verify the revelation* of former times, and 

 eaaeeqnratJy the truth of hie own divine minion ('.Sur.' n., 134 ; x., 

 9, XIT.I . 77 ; xxtii, 25 ; xlv., Id), but to gratify the Jewiah super. 

 stition. be even iostruoted his first dimple* to direct their prater* 

 towards tbe holy shrine of Jerusalem, which wa. afterward* altered in 

 favour of tbe Caaba, ('gar.' ii.. !.; 148.) But th. follower* of the 

 Mosaic sMtHution, though alraady entengM in their fanciful 1 aimudic 

 lore, were by no means ineiiiiod to aoscpt the tenet* of Islam, and 

 when the moat parraaaiv* aummoose* of the prophet were repeatedly 



answered by ironical meen and undisguised contempt, hi* former 

 bfandehip waa converted into implacable hatred, and the Jew* were 

 accordingly (tigmatited a* the enemy of the Modems, the murderers 

 of their prophet*, a* interpolator* of sacred Scripture, and, in pre- 

 tending to be tbe chosen people of Clod, aa the haughty foe* of 

 mankind. C Sur.' it. 58, 73; v., 21, 74, 65.) 



NevertbeleM it is to his Jewih instructor*, and particularly to the 

 above-mentioned rabbi, Abdollab Ibu Slaam, that Mohammed was 

 indebted for that ample knowledge of biblical history, and for thoee 

 dogmatical legend*, fanciful ornaments, and absurd interpretation* of 

 Scripture, with which almost every page of hi*' Koran is stamped. 



er, ' Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judcnthume aufgenom 

 Ponn, 1833.) This lead* us to that singular work, which ha* been 

 acknowledged aa the fundamental code of civil snd criminal law for 

 many millions of mankind; a work which, from the force and 

 sublimity of its style, ha* boen for centuries admired, and ha* become 

 the model and standard of all Arabic writers, and whose language i* 

 even now the vehicle of communication for nations between the 

 Polynesian Isle* and the Columns of Hercules ; a work which is con- 

 sidered by all these nations as the inexhaustible source of th. i. 

 hsppinee* on earth, and a* the only mean* of their eternal bliss and 

 salvation hereafter ; a work which, according to pious Moslems, wan 

 written before the throne of Ood with a pen of light on the table 

 of his everlasting decree*, and of which a mere copy was brought down 

 and revealed to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. 



The Kor&n (lecture), or with the Arabic article, Alkoran, com- 

 monly culled the book, or book of Allah, both in imitation of the 

 rabbinical denomination* of the Scripture, nam< ly Mikra and Kbitab, 

 is a collection of all those various fragmeute which the prophet, during 

 the time of hi* apostolic office, *ncoe**ively promulgated as so many 

 revelations from heaven. It would be almost impossible to characteriso 

 the leading feature* of the Koran, or even to give a full and clear 

 account of it* contents ; for the chronological order of the incoherent 

 rhapsodies ha* been neglected, and we are at a loas either to trace any 

 logical connection betwt en them, or to reconcile the many glaring 

 contradiction* in a work which otherwise might have served as an 

 official journal of the progrees of Islam. According to the momentary 

 feelings of the prophet, bis frame of mind, or the mere suggestions of 

 bis fancy, pious meditations and fervent prayers aru suddenly inter- 

 rupted by hortatory speeches snd admonitory discourses. Apostrophes 

 of Allah to the listening apostle, and of course to the refractory 

 unbelievers, are interrupted by legendary tales and fabulous traditions 

 of ancient Arabic heroes and tribes; and religious customs and cere- 

 monies, enforced with moral sentences and the most energetic 

 lws*nmendations of gratitude, charity, patience, and piety, are occa- 

 sionally illustrated or strengthened by the examples of the biblical 

 patriarchs aad prophets derived from rabbinical authority. Add to 

 this the purity of the language, which is the moat refined dialect uf 

 Uejaz, and the harmony and copiousness of the style, which in 

 splendid imagery, bold metaphors, snd occasional ryhiue, rather 

 resembles poetry thn prose, and, though sometimes obscure or 

 verging upon tumidity, is generally vigorous and suolime, and w>> 

 may readily acquiesce in the judgment of Gotbe, that the Kor, 

 work with whose dulnes* the reader is at first disgusted, but i* alter- 

 ward* attracted by it* charm*, and finally ravished by it* many 

 beauties. 



Tho revelations of the Korftn bod been originally preserved by oral 

 tradition, or handed about iu fragment*, written, on palm-leaves and 

 pieces of parchment by the slave of Mohammed, Said ben Thubet. 

 The scattered leave* were collected into a volume by Abubeker, two 

 year* after the death of the prophet ; but many apocryphal addition* 

 having crept into the collection, on authentic copy wa* afterwards 

 revised and sanctioned by the Caliph Utnar (''>'->. The code in 

 divided into 114 chapter*, or suras, which are inscribed with the name 

 of Micca or Medina, where they had been promulgated, and with tbe 

 number of verse* which they contain ; tut they are mostly arranged 

 according to their length, and without any regard to chronology, 

 the sev. iity-fuiirth and ninety. .-ixtli chapters being supposed to have 

 been tbe lint revealed. Among the numerous illustrations of the 

 Koran we may notice the celebrated oomuienterie* of Abul Kasem 

 Mohammed Al-Sanachshari, and Nazireddin Al-Beidhnvi (in the 1'Jtli 

 and Ittth centuries), both of whom havo endeavoured to reconcile the 

 many discrepancies and contradiction* of tho work, and to explain 

 it* occasional obscurity, mostly by mean* of that recognised oral 

 tradition which, recording in more than 7000 anecdotes, the private 

 life, opinion*, discourse*, and sentence* of the prophet, hod been 

 collected by Abu Abdollab Mohammed Al liocharl in the 0th century. 

 Tiii* collection, combined with a previous controversy respecting the 

 exduiive right of Ali or of Abubeker and the two following caliphs to 

 the supreme pontificate slid secular sovereignty over the Moslems, 

 gave rise to the great division of the whole Mohammedan community 

 into Buittea, or eenteriane, by whom the authority of tradition is 

 rejected, and Munnitoe, or orthodox believer*. [ABBASIDBO.] Tho 

 first printed edition of the Koran, by Pagnintu Brixienais (Rome, 

 1430), wa* burnt by order of the pope; and that of Lud. Marraccius 

 was not allowed to appear unlras attended with a ' Prodromus ad 

 Jtefutatiouein Aloorani,' Padua, 168, folio. A quarto edition of the 

 text by Abr. Hinkelmann (Hamb., 1691) wa* critically revised and 



