MAHOMETANS. 
, Creator. A few days after, praying upon by the holy fire of fanaticism, success 
the same mountain of Hira, Mahomet again attended almost all their engagements, 
saw the ansel of the Cord, seated in the Mahomet, thus elevated, formed the stu- 
midst of the clouds on a glittering throne, 
with the second chapter of the Koran ; and 
was addressed by him in the following 
words: “ O thou who art covered with a 
celestial mantle, arise and preach ! ’ Thus 
the angel Gabriel communicated, by com- 
mand of the Eternal, to his prophet, in the 
twenty-three last years of his life, the whole 
book of the Koran, leaf by leaf, chapter by 
chapter. There are, however, ditferent ac- 
counts respecting the portions or parcels in 
which the Koran was given to Mahomet. 
See Alcoran. 
During the first thirteen years of the 
prophet’s mission he appears to have made 
very slow progress ; but the last ten were 
employed with greater success. Finding 
that visions, ecstasies, revelations, and argu- 
ments did not succeed so rapidly as he 
could have wished in making proselytes, he 
determined to try the more powerful and 
adventurous inducements of coercion. Af- 
ter his flight from Mecca to Medina, which 
took place A. D. 622, and from which his 
followers compute their time, the prophet 
made rapid progress. Thousands flocked 
to his standard, and he soon convinced his 
enemies, that if they refused to admit the 
divinity of his mission, they should feel the 
weight of his arm. He declared, that God 
sent him into the world not only to teach 
his will, but to compel mankind to em- 
brace it. “ The word,” said he, “ is the 
key of heaven and hell ; a drop of 
blood shed in the cause of God, or a night 
spent in arms, is of more avail than two 
months of fasting and prayer. Whosoever 
falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the 
day of judgment ; his wounds shall be re- 
splendant as vermilion, and odoriferous as 
musk, the loss of his limbs shall be supplied 
by the wings of angels and cherubim.” Who 
would not die to be acquitted at the bar of 
heaven ? Who w'ould not prefer a night in 
arms to a fast of two months ? And what 
mortal but would prefer the odours of musk 
to the stench of plaisters or foetid ointments ; 
the wings of angels to the cumbrous appen- 
dages of human limbs ? These representa- 
tions were attended with the desired effect 
on the minds and conduct of the prophet’s 
admirers. They assembled in numbers to 
fight for God and his prophet. Headed by 
a chieftain of invincible courage, attractive 
eloquence, and astonishing genius, guarded 
by angels (as they supposed), and enflamed 
pendous design of creating a new empire. 
Here again success crowned his efforts. 
His plan was executed with such intrepi- 
dity, that he died, A. D. 632, master of all 
Arabia, besides several adjacent provinces. 
It is not our business, nor will our limits 
admit of it, to account for the rapid progress 
of the Mahometan faith. We may, how- 
ever, summarily state, as causes of the 
eastern prophet’s success : the terror of his 
arms; the artful nature of his law, which 
offered such rewards to the faitliful, and 
such punishments to the infidels, as were 
best suited to the luxuriant fancies of the 
Arabians ; the plainness and simplicity of 
some of his doctrines ; the adaptation of 
the duties wbich his law enjoined to the 
passions and appetites of mankind ; the pro-, 
found ignorance under which the Arabians, 
Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part of 
the eastern nations, then laboured; and, 
lastly, the dissentions and animosities that 
then ravaged the peace, and destroyed the 
union of the Christian sects, particularly the 
Greeks, Nestoriaris, Eutychians, and Mono- 
physites, and which rendered the very name 
of Christianity odious do many. These are 
some of the causes which gave life and 
strength to the Mahometan religion in the 
east. 
The religion of Mahomet is divided into 
two general parts : faith and practice. The 
fundamental article of the Maliometan creed 
is contained in this confession : there is 
BUT ONE God, and Mahomet is his 
PROPHET. Under these two propositions 
are comprehended six distinct branches : 
viz. belief in God ; in his angels ; in his 
scriptures; in his prophets; in the resur- 
rection and judgment ; and in God’s abso- 
lute decrees, or predestination. They 
reckon five points relating to practice ; viz. 
prayer with washings, &c. ; alms ; fastihg ; 
pilgrimage to Mecca; and circumcision. 
Mahomet admitted die divine mission of 
both Moses and of Jesus Christ, Dr. Jortin 
says, that Mahometism is a borrowed sys- 
tem, made up for the most part of Judaism 
and Christianity ; and if it be considered, 
the same writer observes, in the most fa- 
vourable point of view, might possibly be 
accounted a sort of Christian heresy. Ach- 
met Benabdalla, in his letter to Maurice, 
Prince of Orange, says, “ The Lord Jesus 
Christ is held by us (Mahometans) to be a 
prophet, and the messenger of God, and our 
