MOHAMMEDANISM 



MOHAWKS 



251 



object of execration, and lias forfeited his life in 

 this world as well as in the world to come. At 

 first all the enemies taken in battle were ruthlessly 

 slain. Later, however, it became the law to give 

 the people of a different faith against whom war 

 was declared the choice of three things : either to 

 embrace Islam, in which case they became Moslems 

 at once, free in their persons and fortunes, and 

 entitled to all the privileges of Moslems ; or to 

 submit to pay tribute in which case they were 

 allowed to continue in their religion, if it did not 

 imply gross idolatry or otherwise offend against 

 the moral law ; or to decide the quarrel by the 

 fortune of war in which case the captive women 

 and children were made slaves, and the men either 

 slain, unless they became converts at the last 

 moment, or were otherwise disposed of by the 

 prince. The fifth part of the spoil belongs ' to 

 God,' that is, the Sanctuary, to the apostle and 

 his kindred, to the orphans, the poor, and the 

 traveller. 



In cases for which subsequent ages found no 

 written rules laid down by the Prophet, traditional 

 oral dicta were taken as the norm, and later still 

 precedents of the califs were binding. Hence con- 

 tradictions in theory and practice have crept in, 

 according to the different traditions and decisions 

 of the Imams or expounders of the Law, besides 

 the various interpretations put upon the Ixxik 

 itself within the pale of the different Mohammedan 

 sects. The secular tribunals, therefore, not un- 

 frequently differ in their decisions from the judicial 

 tribunals ; and the distinction l>etween the written 

 civil Law of the ecclesiastical courts and the com- 

 mon Law, aided by the executive power, is, fortu- 

 nately for the cause of civilisation, getting clearer 

 and clearer every day. 



That part of Islam which has undergone least 

 change in the course of time, and which most 

 distinctly reveals the mind of its author, is also 

 its most complete and its most admirable part 

 we mean the ethics of the Koran. They are not 

 found, any more than the other laws, brought 

 toother in one, or two, or three Surahs, but 'like 

 Bullion threads' they are woven into the huge 

 fabric of the religious constitution of Mohammed. 

 Injustice, falsehood, pride, revengeful ness, calumny, 

 mockery, avarice, prodigality, debauchery, mis- 

 trust, and suspicion are inveighed against as un- 

 godly and wicked ; while l>enevolence, liberality, 

 modesty, forbearance, patience and endurance, 

 frugality, sincerity, straightforwardness, decency, 

 love of peace and truth, and, alwve all, trust in 

 G<xl and submission to His will are considered as 

 the pillars of true piety, and the principal signs of 

 a true believer. Nor must we omit to point out 

 expressly that Mohammed never laid down that 

 doctrine of alwolute predestination which destroys 

 all liuman will and freedom, because the individual's 

 deeds cannot alter one iota in his destiny either in 

 this world or in the next. So far from it, fool- 

 hardiness is distinctly prohibited in the Koran ( ii. 

 196). Caution is recommended. And a glance at 

 the whole system of faith, which is built on hope 

 and fear, rewards and punishments, paradise and 

 hell, destined to le man s portion according to his 

 acts in this life, as well as the incessant exhorta- 

 tions to virtue and denunciations of vice, are 

 sufficient to prove that the extreme doctrine of 

 predestination is not in the Koran. But sub- 

 mission to the Lord's will, hope during misfortune, 

 modesty in prosperity, and entire confidence in the 

 Divine plans are supported by the argument that 

 everything ist in the hands of the Highest Being, 

 and that there is no appeal against His absolute 

 decrees. 



That the worst side of Mohammed's character, 

 the often wanton cruelty with which he pursued the 



propagation of his faith, should by his successors 

 have been taken as a thing to be imitated is not 

 wonderful if we consider how brilliant the results 

 of the policy of the bloody sword had proved. 

 The progress of the Moslem arms is described in 

 the article CALIF. Eighty years after Moham- 

 med's death Islam reigned supreme over Arabia, 

 Syria, Persia, Egypt, the whole of the northern 

 coast of Africa, and over Spain ; and notwithstand- 

 ing the subsequent strifes and divisions in the 

 interior of this gigantic realm, it grew and grew 

 outwardly, until the Crescent was made to gleam 

 from the spires of St Sophia at Constantinople 

 (1453), ami the war-cry, 'Lft ilahn ill' Allfth!' 

 resounded before the gates of Vienna ( 1 529 ). From 

 that time, however, the splendour and the power of 

 Mohammedanism began to wane. Two Hundred 

 millions, or 14 per cent, of the human race, profess 

 Islam. Two-thirds of these are found from Turkey 

 to farthest Malaysia, the rest in Africa. There 

 are upwards of 45 millions of Moslems in British 

 India alone. Among the African races Mohammed- 

 anism has lately made great progress. Yet since 

 it left off conquering it has lost also that energy 

 and elasticity which promises great things. Its 

 future fate will depend chiefly on the progress of 

 European conquest in the East, and the amount 

 of Western civilisation which it will, for good or 

 evil, import thither. 



The strong points of Mohammedanism, its so- 

 briety, its pure theism, its simple and intelligible 

 creed, are heavily counterbalanced by its slavery, 

 its degradation of woman, its stereotyping of laws 

 and science, and its belief in the past rather than 

 in the future. Yet over a great part of the world 

 it is what Mohammed declared every prophet before 

 him to have been, a pioneer of better things. 



Besides the Koran, the Sunna, and the native (Arabic, 

 Persian, Turkish, &c. ) writers on the foregoing subject, 

 we mention as further references the works of the Euro- 

 pean scholars D'Herbelot, Sale, De Sacy, Hammer-Purg- 

 nt.-UI, Burcklmrdt, Sprenger, Burton, Muir, Garcin de 

 Tassy, Lane, Weil, Geiger, Noldeke, Kremer. See also 

 the articles on ARABIA, CALIF, CRUSADES, DK..MOX- 

 OLOOT, KOBAN, MECCA, SHIITES, SUNNITES, TURKEY, 

 WAHABIB. 



Mohammed, the name of four sultans of 

 Turkey, of whom the most noted is MOHAMMED II., 

 the conqueror of Constantinople ; born 1430, suc- 

 ceeded 1451, died 1481. See TURKEY. 



Moliammrrah (Mtihammrah), a town of 

 Khuzistan, Persia, near the Turkish frontier. It 

 stands on the lower Kanin, where the latter con- 

 nects by the Haffar Canal with the Shat-el-Arab. 

 It has about 5000 inhabitants, and has become of 

 commercial importance since the opening of the 

 navigation of the Karun ( q. v. ). 



Moharrnin, or MUHARREM, the first month of 

 the Mohammedan year, kept by the Shiite Moham- 

 medans as a month of fasting and mourning, in 

 commemoration of the sufferings of Hassan and 

 Hussein (Hasan and Hosain), nephews of the 

 Prophet. A celebrated passion play ( Eng. version 

 by Sir Lewis Pelly in 1879) is performed during 

 this month in honour of the two saints at several 

 towns in Persia and India. 



Moha've Desert, a basin, with little water 

 or vegetation, chiefly in the SE. of California, 

 and extending into Arizona. The Mohave River 

 rises in the San Bernardino range, and finally dis- 

 appears in the Mohave Sink. 



.Mohawks. The Mohock or Mohawk Club, 

 mentioned in the Spectator by Steele (No. 324) 

 and Budgell (No. 347), was a scandalous club 

 existing in London in 1711-12. 'The avowed 

 design of their institution was mischief." Gay 

 mentions, in Trivia, that the Mohawks rolled 



