138 THEOLOGY. 



a new revelation, to propagate his religion by the sword. He stimu- 

 lated his followers, by the doctrine of predestination, by the hope of 

 booty and revelry, and by the promise of a paradise of delights to all 

 who should fall in battle. His first success in arms, was the capture 

 of a rich caravan, in the valley of Beder ; but at Mount Ohud, in 625, 

 Mohamed was defeated, and wounded, and pursued into Medina, by 

 Abu-Sophian. In 628, he made a truce with the Koreishites, and 

 the next year he sent embassies to summon the neighboring princes 

 to receive his religion. In 630, his army, inspired by the valor of 

 Khaled, (or Caled), defeated that of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, 

 near Muta, to the east of Jerusalem ; and Mohamed entered Mecca 

 in triumph ; proclaiming it the holy city, and its kaaba, (caaba), or 

 temple, the sanctuary of Moharriedanism. In 631, called the year 

 of embassies, several of the Arabian chiefs announced to Mohamed 

 their conversion to his religion. In 632, he made his last pompous 

 pilgrimage to Mecca ; and he died, probably of slow poison, at 

 Medina, in the same year. His religion spread rapidly over Egypt, 

 Persia, Turkey, and Barbary ; westward into Spain ; and eastward 

 into Hindoostan ; as will be farther illustrated in the department of 

 Chronography. 



2. The Doctrines of the Mohamedans, are embodied in the 

 Koran : for although they admit our Scriptures, or at least the Penta- 

 teuch, Psalms, and Gospels, to have been divinely inspired, they 

 maintain that the copies which we now possess are corrupted, and 

 unworthy of trust. They believe that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, 

 and Jesus Christ, were the five great prophets who preceded Mohamed, 

 the sixth and last. The Koran, improperly called the Alcoran, is 

 fabled to have been delivered to Mohamed, by the angel Gabriel, in 

 successive small portions, at various intervals, during a period v of 

 twenty-three years. JH-koran, in Arabic, signifies The Reading ; 

 and it is also called al Kitah, the book ; al Moshaf, the volume ; al 

 Dhikr, the recollection ; and al Forkan, because it is divided into 

 one hundred and fourteen chapters. The parts were collected into a 

 volume by Abu-beker, the father-in-law, and successor of Mohamed ; 

 but the numerous manuscripts, it is said, differed so much, that Oth- 

 man, the third caliph, burnt them all, after compiling the whole anew. 



The Mohamedans believe that there is but one Go d, who created 

 all things, and predestined all events ; Mohamed being his prophet. 

 They believe in Jlngels, of whom Gabriel, and Michael; and Asrace, 

 the angel of death; and Israfil, who will sound the trump of judg- 

 ment ; are the chief. They also believe in Devils, of whom Eblis 

 is the chief; and in Genii, the connecting link between men and 

 angels. They believe also in a Heaven and Hell; each consisting 

 of seven divisions ; and that Mohamed ascended through the seven 

 heavens, to the throne of God, in a single night ; this ascent being 

 called the Mesra, or night journey. In the first heaven, made of 

 silver, he found Adam ; in the second, of gold, he found Noah ; in the 

 third, of precious stones, Abraham ; in the fourth, of emerald, Joseph ; 

 in the fifth, of diamond, Moses; in the sixth, of carbuncle, John the 

 Baptist ; and in the seventh, composed of divine light, he found Jesus 

 Christ. Above this is, they believe, the Mohamedan Paradise, called 



