m 
to the court of Delhi, and establish themselves as independent 
princes; by which means the power of the emperors gradually 
declined, and instead of one Mahomedan despot, a number of in- 
ferior sovereigns, styled nabobs, o^ nawabs, arose in different parts 
of the empire; so that there is now hardly a place of note in Hin- 
dostan, where the followers of the Arabian prophet are not found; 
being tolerated under the Hindoo rajahs, and protected by all the 
European governments. 
It is unnecessary to discuss the tenets of the Koran, which 
is the standard of the Mussulmaun faith; its rules for religious 
and moral conduct, are as much attended to in Hindustan, as in 
other countries professing the same religion. This book, which 
was composed by Mahomed, a native of Mecca, in Arabia, 
assisted by a monk, named Sergius, is a most extraordinary in- 
stance of imposture. 
Mahomed, the only son of Abdallah, a prince of Mecca, was 
born in that city in the year of Christ 571, and died at Medina in 
631. At the age of forty, he publicly assumed the character of 
a prophet sent by Cod to establish in its purity the religion of 
the patriarchs. Being desirous of superseding the missions of 
the Jewish and Christian law-givers, he admitted their divine 
origin; but from having proved ineffectual to accomplish their 
intended purpose, the artful Arabian announced himself to be the 
Paraclete promised by Jesus Christ, and asserted that the Almighty 
had sent him with more ample powers; and had especially com- 
missioned him to compel those by force, who resisted gentler 
means, to embrace the doctrines of the Koran, which had been 
revealed to him from heaven by the angel Gabriel. By his un- 
