CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



where, and to be a sign of the coming of the day 



subject by itself. The chapter on superstitions 

 will thus form a supplement applicable alike to 

 monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Without 

 adverting to this subject, the picture of no relig- 

 ious belief is complete ; even among well-educated 

 Christians, the man or woman is rare who is 

 altogether emancipated from polytheism in this 

 sense. 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 



The origin of Mohammedanism is generally 

 dated from 622 A.D., the year of the Hejrah, or 

 flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. 

 At this period the Mohammedan era begins, time 

 being reckoned from it backward and forward, as 

 it is from the birth of Christ throughout the 

 Christian world. The circumstances under which 

 the new religion was first preached, and the chief 

 features of its history and progress, having been 

 sketched in the HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 

 No. 60, we shall confine ourselves here to an 

 account of its doctrines and practices. With the 

 conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, and the 

 establishment of the Afghan and Tatar dominion 

 in India, the conquering progress of Mohammed- 

 anism may be said to have terminated. At 

 present, except that it is making considerable 

 progress among the tribes of Africa, it is station- 

 ary, and, though retaining its superficial bound- 

 aries, is declining in internal vitality and vigour. 

 Its professed adherents have been estimated at 

 1 80 millions ; but it is scarcely necessary to state 

 that in every estimate of this kind there is much 

 room for error. In one instance, that of our 

 I ndian province of Bengal, it is now known that, 

 previous to 1873, tne number of the Mohammedan 

 population was greatly under-estimated. 



The fundamental doctrines of Mohammedanism 

 are belief in one God, and belief in one true 

 religion a religion which has existed since the 

 beginning of the world, and been preached from 

 age to age by God's apostles and prophets, but 

 which was only fully revealed to mankind by 

 Mohammed, the last and greatest of the apostles. 

 These doctrines, embodied in the formula, ' There 

 is no God but God ; and Mohammed is God's 

 apostle,' are constantly on the lips of every 

 Mohammedan. The devout reception of them 

 involves everything included in the faith and duty 

 of the true believer. The devout expression of 

 them intimates that entire submission to God's 

 will which is the essence of piety. Islam is the 

 word which expresses this pious resignation to the 

 will and precepts of God, and this being, as it 

 were, the sum of all religion, Islam is the designa- 

 tion by which, among Mohammedans, the true 

 religion is customarily denoted. Mohammedan- 

 ism regards Adam, Moses, and Jesus as the 

 greatest among those who prepared the way for 

 the consummate teacher whose full and perfect 

 revelation has superseded all other teaching. To 

 Jesus it allows special honour. Deeming him a 

 mere man, though a great prophet and apostle, it 

 nevertheless admits that his birth was miraculous, 

 and declares that he was taken up unto God with- 

 out dying, the crucifixion being executed upon 

 another person. He is to come again upon the 



earth to 



418 



establish the Moslem religion every- 



of judgment. 



Mohammedanism, like Christianity, teaches that 

 the one God is the creator of all things in heaven 

 and earth ; that He rules and preserves all things ; 

 that He is eternal, unchangeable ; that He is omnip- 

 otent, omniscient, omnipresent, and full of mercy. 

 It differs from Christianity in holding that God is 

 one person, who 'begetteth not, nor is He begotten ;' 

 in repudiating the doctrine of the Trinity, and 

 denying the divinity of Christ. Between God and 

 man it places a hierarchy of angels, who wait upon 

 God and adore Him, who watch and guard men, 

 and intercede for them with God ; beings created of 

 fire, with pure and subtile bodies, which, though 

 like to those of men, and sometimes visible to 

 favoured mortals, are exempt from the conditions 

 and incidents of matter. Each order of the hier- 

 archy has its special duty. The four chief angels 

 are ' The Holy Spirit,' or ' Angel of Revelations,' 

 Gabriel ; the special protector and guardian of 

 the Jews, Michael; the 'Angel of Death,' Azrael; 

 and Israfil, whose office it will be to sound the 

 trumpet at the resurrection. It also recognises 

 another class of intermediate existences, the Jin 

 or Genii, who are of a grosser fabric than the 

 angels, and propagate their species, and are subject 

 to death. Of the genii, as of the angels, there are 

 orders, each with its special character and office 

 (e. g., pert, fairies ; div, giants ; takvin, fates) ; 

 some are good beings, some evil ; and all from 

 time to time take some part in unravelling or 

 entangling the web of human affairs. Chief among 

 the evil genii is Iblis (Despair), once called Azazil, 

 and ranked among the angels most favoured of 

 God, but who was cast down from this high estate 

 because he refused to pay homage to Adam, with 

 the other angels, at his creation. Coming down 

 to men, Mohammedanism teaches that God has at 

 all times had his chosen servants, through whom 

 He communicated his will to men, and that the 

 revelation of his will was from time to time 

 embodied in inspired and sacred writings. The 

 number of prophets commissioned by Him at vari- 

 ous times is stated variously at between two and 

 three hundred thousand; and of these, 313 were 

 apostles, while six were authorised to proclaim 

 new laws and dispensations, the later of which 

 superseded the earlier. The six were Adam, Noah, 

 Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, the last 

 being the greatest of all, the propagator of the 

 final dispensation, whose mission must not be 

 disbelieved in under the direst penalties. The 

 number of sacred Scriptures given to men is 

 stated as 104 ; but of these, only four survive 

 the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the 

 Koran ; and the first three are now imperfect, 

 having been mutilated and falsified. The Koran, 

 the Scriptures delivered by Mohammed, is now 

 the sole and sufficient rule of faith and duty. 



The chief belief which operates upon conduct 

 is, in the Mohammedan, as in the Christian 

 system, the tremendous doctrine of the resurrec- 

 tion from the dead to a day of judgment, and a 

 future of reward or of punishment, according to 

 the beliefs held, and the deeds done in the body. 

 And Mohammedanism has no trace of the 

 Christian doctrine of vicarious punishment. It 

 teaches, however, that while strict account will 

 be taken of every man's actions, and the good 

 weighed against the bad, it is not his own good 



